Chapter 29
Prince Jing's Mansion.
As soon as Xu Baoyin came back, she saw Zhu Mingqing feeding his daughter Yueyue wine.
Yueyue was so spicy from the wine that she kept shaking her head and saying "no" and "no". Zhu Mingqing pressed Yueyue's little head roughly and forced the wine into Yueyue's little mouth.
The maids and wet nurses in the palace did not dare to step forward to dissuade Zhu Mingqing, and they did not even dare to breathe.
Xu Baoyin took Yueyue from Zhu Mingqing's lap.
Zhu Mingqing stood up from his seat, slapped Xu Baoyin four or five times in the face, and reached out to snatch Yueyue.
Xu Baoyin started crying as she heard her daughter crying.
"Your Highness, Yueyue is not even three years old yet. Her little body can't handle drinking so much."
Zhu Mingqing slapped his crying daughter in his arms a few more times.
"Cry, cry, cry. All you do is cry all day long. You're just as useless as your mother."
Xu Baoyin knelt down and begged Zhu Mingqing not to beat his daughter to vent his anger on her.
Zhu Mingqing kicked Xu Baoyin and said, "I know exactly where you've been in the capital. Did you see your beloved Zhang Erlang in the Jiang Mansion? Have you rekindled your old relationship? Are you planning to abandon Yueyue and me to live with your Erlang?"
"I am your Highness's person in life and your Highness's ghost in death. I have never had any second thoughts about you." Xu Baoyin cried.
"Is that so?" Zhu Mingqing ordered someone to bring over an old butterfly kite. "I asked your personal maid, and she said that this butterfly kite was made for you by Zhang Erlang himself when you were little. How dare you keep this kite and say you don't miss him?"
Seeing that the maid followed Zhu Mingqing's order to burn the kite, Xu Baoyin quickly got up, snatched the kite from the maid's hand and held it in her arms. This was the only thought that Erlang left for her.
Zhu Mingqing was furious and threw his daughter in his arms to the ground.
Yueyue's little head hit the sharp corner of the square tripod, and bleeding immediately began to flow.
Xu Baoyin screamed, threw away the kite in her hand, and went to hug Yueyue who was lying in a pool of blood with her eyes closed.
When I checked my daughter's breath, she was already dead.
Xu Baoyin was heartbroken, and seeing that Zhu Mingqing had put her kite on the lamp and set it on fire, Xu Baoyin, who had lost all scruples, took out a dagger from her sleeve, put down Yueyue, rushed towards Zhu Mingqing and stabbed him again and again.
The maids and wet nurses in the palace had been tormenting Zhu Mingqing for a long time, and they pretended not to see or hear his cries for help.
Zhu Mingqing fell to the ground and died with his eyes open.
Xu Baoyin knelt dejectedly beside Zhu Mingqing's body. She looked at her hands covered in blood and sobbed. As she cried, she burst into laughter.
Zhu Mingqing is dead.
This is a relief for her.
*
Zhang Xihua saw Xu Baoyin with shackles on her hands and feet in the Ministry of Justice prison.
Xu Baoyin murdered the Prince of Daming and was supposed to be beheaded in public, but because Zhu Mingqing had been abusing Xu Baoyin and her daughter during his lifetime, Emperor Huiyuan, considering the circumstances excusable, issued an imperial decree to end Xu Baoyin's life with a cup of poisoned wine.
"In fact, you should use the last time to see your family."
Zhang Xihua stood behind the prison door, while Xu Baoyin sat against the north wall.
"I am ashamed to face my parents and brother, and I don't want you to see me in such a state, but I have something to tell you. You have to be careful of Cheng Ying. She is a lunatic."
Xu Baoyin thought that Erlang would probably believe her words and be wary of Cheng Ying because she was dying.
"I'm sorry, if I hadn't chosen to stand by and watch, maybe you could have had a good ending." Zhang Xihua knew it was too late to say this, but if she didn't say it, she was afraid that she would never have another chance.
Xu Baoyin wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks with the back of her hand. "You did nothing wrong. It was my excessive paranoia that led me down this path of no return. It was my bad luck in meeting the wrong person that killed my Yueyue. Erlang, I have never regretted ever liking you. Can you... give me a hug?"
Zhang Xihua stepped forward, bent down and gave Xu Baoyin a hug, but was caught off guard and was kissed on the cheek by Xu Baoyin.
Zhang Xihua didn't argue with her. After leaving the cell, he felt very upset and went to Sui'an Garden, the most famous restaurant in the capital.
The restaurant owner was familiar with Zhang Xihua and used his homemade rice wine to treat Zhang Xihua. Zhang Xihua felt that the rice wine was sweet and warming, so he drank bowl after bowl and even two jars.
After she paid the bill, the restaurant owner saw that she was alone and felt uneasy, so he asked a young man to take her back to Zhengchong Beifang.
After walking only two blocks, the young man had diarrhea and needed to go to the bathroom, so he asked Zhang Xihua to wait for him under a big tree.
The cool night breeze blew on Zhang Xihua's face, and he gradually felt dizzy. He held on to the tree trunk and tried hard to support his body to prevent himself from falling.
Five or six men in black suddenly appeared from nowhere. One of them put a sack on Zhang Xihua's head and tied up Zhang Xihua's hands and feet with a rope. Two more men in black carried a big box and stuffed Zhang Xihua into the box. The group of men in black and Zhang Xihua in the box disappeared into the night.
The young man returned to the tree but couldn't find Zhang Xihua, so he looked everywhere for her...
*
Kunning Palace.
Cheng Ying changed into a gauze nightgown and carefully combed her waterfall-like black hair in front of the mirror.
The palace maid brought a wine pot. Cheng Ying took it and sat on the edge of the phoenix couch. He took a sip of the wine himself and then passed it mouth to mouth to the unconscious Zhang Xihua.
"Erlang, after tonight, you and I will be husband and wife. You have to obey me even if you don't want to."
Cheng Ying peeled off Zhang Xihua's shirt layer by layer, poured the pot of wine on Zhang Xihua's chest and waist, lowered her head and slowly licked the wine with her tongue.
Just as he was about to reach out to untie the belt of Zhang Xihua's underwear, he heard the palace attendant standing guard at the palace gate shout, "Your Majesty, the Queen has gone to bed now. Please come visit her another day."
The palace maids did not stop Zhu Mingji from entering the hall, and Cheng Ying had no time to stuff Zhang Xihua back into the big box. Because Zhang Xihua had long arms and legs and was tall, it was very difficult for Cheng Ying to drag Zhang Xihua off the bed.
"Someone has reported to me that the Queen has committed adultery in the palace. Although I have never slept with the Queen, we are nominally her husband."
Zhu Mingji lifted the brocade quilt on the phoenix couch, but unexpectedly, Cheng Ying's adulterer was Zhang Xihua, who was disheveled, flushed, and sleeping.
Cheng Ying's affair was revealed to him by the palace maids ordered by Empress Dowager Zhang. He actually didn't care who Cheng Ying committed adultery with, but as the male master of the harem, he should stop such obscene things in the palace.
"Your Majesty." Cheng Ying wept bitterly. She was a beauty, and the tears of a beauty always attracted pity. "My concubine, Mr. Zhang Er, and I are in love with each other. Tonight, I was tired of the long and lonely night, so I foolishly summoned Mr. Zhang Er to the palace to express my feelings."
Zhu Mingji picked up the wine jug on the high table, opened the golden lid, sniffed the wine inside, and poured the remaining wine in the jug onto Cheng Ying's head.
"You used an aphrodisiac like 'Snow is Burning' on Erlang, and you still dared to bring him up, saying that he and you were in love. Cheng Jingsi truly gave birth to a virtuous and loyal daughter."
"Since I entered the palace, Your Majesty has never touched me, nor has he summoned other concubines in the palace. All the ladies in the harem have resentment towards Your Majesty. I just did what they wanted to do but dared not do. I am a living person with seven emotions and six desires. Your Majesty's heart is not with me, and it is only human nature for me to find some fun for myself." Cheng Ying said righteously.
"It's human nature. You've wasted all the books you read." Zhu Mingji didn't want to hit the woman, but couldn't bring himself to do it. "Kneel here tonight and reflect on yourself. When daybreak comes, go to the Cining Palace and confess your sins to your aunt."
Zhu Mingji picked up Zhang Xihua, who was still in a coma, and returned to the bedroom of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. He asked Deqing to find a clean set of pajamas for Zhang Xihua, who was lying on the couch, to change into.
Zhang Xihua opened her eyes and regained some consciousness. She grabbed his wrist and said, "Don't... don't take off my clothes..."
Zhu Mingji stopped and touched her flushed cheeks. He didn't know how much "Xue Zaishao" Cheng Ying had fed her.
Deqing suggested, "Your Majesty, I'll have someone place a few more ice tripods in the bedroom to prevent Master Zhang Er from getting a fever."
"Just put an ice tripod there. There's too much cold air in the hall, and Erlang will easily get sick." Zhu Mingji took off his outer robe and only wore a thin inner garment. He held the ice tripod for a while and let Zhang Xihua lean on his arms to feel the coolness. After tossing back and forth for half the night, the heat in Zhang Xihua's body was completely dissipated.
Zhu Mingji, who was really sleepy, hugged Zhang Xihua and fell asleep with their foreheads against each other.
The dim morning light filtered through the window lattice, casting a golden glow into the hall.
Zhang Xihua opened his eyes while listening to the chirping of birds.
Zhu Mingji's forehead was still pressed tightly against hers.
She leaned back and touched his thick, curled eyelashes with her fingertips.
She didn't remember much about what happened last night, but she vaguely remembered that Zhu Mingji wanted to take off her clothes.
“Snap—”
Five clear fingerprints were left on Zhu Mingji's porcelain-white cheek.
Zhu Mingji grumbled, "Stop it! You kept me awake until the middle of the night. Please stay with me for a while longer."
It was rare for him to sleep as soundly as he did last night since he entered the palace. Her body was warm and soft, lying in his arms, making him feel extremely peaceful.
"If you put your palm on my waist again and rub it, I'll turn your nine fingers into eight." Zhang Xihua pinched his cheek. "Zhu Mingji, tell me quickly, why am I on your bed?"
"Kiss me first, and then I'll consider whether to tell you the truth." Zhu Mingji said.
“Snap—”
Now the palm prints on his left and right cheeks were symmetrical.
"Is this how you treat the person who saved your life?" Zhu Mingji leaned sideways, supporting his head with one hand, gazing at her charming figure with her thick, dark hair. "If I hadn't rushed to Kunning Palace last night, Cheng Ying would have stripped your underwear off. If she had really done it to you, you would have become a depraved criminal who defiled the palace."
Zhang Xihua sat up and checked whether her clothes were in order. Seeing that she was still wearing the same set of undershirt and underwear as yesterday, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhu Mingji stared at Zhang Xihua's lower body, as if thinking about something.
Why is Erlang's place so much smaller than mine?
But he didn't dare say it out loud, for fear that Erlang would feel inferior.
Anyway, Erlang won’t need that thing in the future.
Size doesn't matter to him.
It will not affect the relationship between him and Erlang at all.
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