Chapter 25: The Crown Princess is about to give birth
Song Tingchen, under the order of Emperor Qinglong, led the Song family army to guard the Eastern Palace and surrounded it tightly. Anyone entering and leaving the Eastern Palace had to be carefully checked.
The last checkpoint to enter the inner courtyard was carefully guarded by Song Tingchen, with Liu Qingyin assisting on the side.
Liu Qingyin's injuries had not healed yet, and Song Tingchen originally didn't want to take her with him today.
But Liu Qingyin stood before him, delicate and graceful, and said in a gentle voice, "Brother Tingchen, you can carefully examine all the men who enter the inner courtyard, but what about the women?"
"Although the maids in the Eastern Palace are careful, they inevitably make mistakes. It's always safer to have me by your side. Young ladies won't feel humiliated when I interrogate them."
Liu Qingyin put on a gentle smile, "It's a good thing for the Crown Princess to give birth. If there is unpleasantness during the interrogation, it would be unpleasant."
Song Tingchen said no more at this point.
Liu Qingyin has always been careful. With her around, the possibility of outsiders entering the East Palace and doing bad things during the Crown Princess's childbirth is reduced.
After checking a group of people, a beautiful woman with a bulging belly, supported by two maids, walked towards the inner courtyard with a smile on her face.
As usual, she was stopped and questioned.
The beautiful woman looked at Liu Qingyin in front of her with good temper. When she spoke, her voice was gentle and tender, revealing a bit of ethereal feeling, which made people feel a little ethereal. "Now that the Crown Princess is giving birth, the young lady should be more careful."
"My maid and the maids have checked it out, and there's nothing wrong."
Several maids nodded to Liu Qingyin, indicating that her maids were fine and could be let go.
Liu Qingyin pursed her red lips. The beautiful woman in front of her had skin that was too fair. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was two shades whiter than fresh snow.
She saw that the other person was wearing a turquoise long jacket with a slanting collar. The jacket covered her skirt, so she couldn't tell what color the skirt was. However, the embroidery on it was mainly bright yellow with dark blue as a secondary color.
As the weather was a bit chilly, the beautiful woman was wrapped in a thick plum green cloak.
On the surface, she looks no different from an ordinary woman.
Liu Qingyin greeted the woman and pointed to the enclosed room next to her. "The Crown Princess's birth is a serious matter. Please come with me so I can examine it carefully."
The beautiful woman nodded good-naturedly, her voice falling through the wind and snow, "Okay."
She followed Liu Qingyin in.
The beautiful woman's hands, so white that they were almost transparent, untied her cloak. Liu Qingyin checked her repeatedly and made sure that she had no foreign objects on her body that could facilitate the assassination. Then she tied the cloak for the beautiful woman.
Noticing a thin red mark on the other person's neck, Liu Qingyin frowned and looked into the other person's eyes, "Madam, what's wrong with your neck?"
Perhaps because the beautiful woman was too fair, when she took off her cloak, the thin red mark on her neck was so abrupt and conspicuous.
Like a lonely red plum blossom blooming in the snow.
Eye-catching and dazzling.
The beautiful woman smiled gently, her voice soft and clear. From her tone, it seemed as if she was just talking about a trivial matter. "Once a woman becomes pregnant, there will be many right and wrongs."
"There will always be people who don't want you to have a safe birth, hoping that both you and your child will be harmed."
Liu Qingyin pursed her lips. This was quite true. When wives and concubines in the backyard were fighting, it was not surprising that they would ask someone to take out the wire to strangle someone when they got angry.
Not to mention that childbirth for women is also a daunting experience.
Just look at the situation in the East Palace right now and you will know.
The Crown Princess hasn't taken action yet, yet she's being so cautious.
When the Crown Princess enters the delivery room, the atmosphere in the Eastern Palace will only become more solemn and dignified.
Liu Qingyin lowered her eyes, escorted the beautiful woman out of the house, and let her into the inner courtyard.
She glanced at Song Tingchen, then lowered her head silently. She wanted to chat with him for a while, but she thought that there were many people here and that if she mentioned the difficulties of childbirth for women, he would inevitably think of Su Tan.
She had been working so hard for so long, not just to rekindle their old love.
There is a saying that goes, Speak of the devil and he will appear. Liu Qingyin hadn't even opened her mouth to mention it yet. She just thought about it in her mind, and the next moment, she saw a figure she never wanted to see again in her life.
A hint of disgust involuntarily emerged in Liu Qingyin's eyes.
It’s Su Tan, the abandoned woman again!
Why is this person haunting us?
In these troubled times, Su Tan showed up so brazenly in the East Palace. Song Tingchen's brows knitted tightly together. He fixed his gaze on Su Tan, and a hint of irritation in his tone that he himself hadn't noticed, "What are you doing here?"
Su Tan ignored Song Tingchen. She took out the invitation and handed it to the nanny of the Eastern Palace.
The nanny's eyes instantly became extremely respectful, and she hurriedly led the way, "Miss Su, please come this way."
Liu Qingyin's face changed, her fingertips unconsciously clenched into her palms, she stared at the nanny intently, and raised her foot to block Su Tan's way.
“Wait!”
Although Liu Qingyin had a smile on her face, her eyes were already tinged with gloom. She pinched her fingers into her palms and said, "Madam Qin, everyone entering the inner courtyard must be carefully checked. Why is it that when it comes to Sister Su Tan's turn, they don't even check her?"
Not to mention anything else, Su Tan was carrying such a big bag on his back!
Who knows if there is any dagger poison in there!
Nanny Qin paused, then turned to explain to Liu Qingyin, "On Miss Su's invitation, the Crown Prince wrote in his own handwriting that Duke Dingguo's daughter, Su Tan, is entering the inner courtyard without questioning. Any incident will be the responsibility of His Highness."
"It also has the seal of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Liu Qingyin clenched her fingers tighter and tighter, her eyes revealing a hint of unwillingness.
Song Tingchen's jawline was tightly drawn, and his eyes were colder than the white snow in the sky.
At this moment, he was just like Liu Qingyin, staring at Su Tan's receding back.
It was as if he was going to stare two nails out of her back.
Liu Qingyin lowered her head, feeling the cold aura emanating from Song Tingchen. Her eyes flickered, and she said in a gloomy tone, "Sister Su Tan is really different from before."
"When she returned to the capital this time, both His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and His Royal Highness the Prince of Chen seemed to treat her as a guest of honor."
Song Tingchen's eyes were cold and he didn't respond to the conversation. He withdrew his gaze. Su Tan had been dealing with the royal children recently, probably to make plans for Su Jinghong.
He was both amused and confused.
In this world, there could be someone like Su Tan who couldn't distinguish between relatives and strangers. She worried so much about her nephew, but left her own son aside.
He said expressionlessly, "Focus on the investigation and don't let irrelevant people or things distract you."
Song Tingchen's voice drifted into the snowstorm. "Auspicious snow signifies a good harvest, and today's snow is particularly heavy," he said. The Imperial Astronomical Observatory also said that the birth of a young child on these two days is a sign of auspicious arrival and a blessing from heaven.
If the Crown Princess gives birth to a Crown Prince, the situation in the court will probably change again.
Thinking of this, Song Tingchen frowned.
Su Tan should be determined to stand on the side of Prince Chen's party, but if it is really as Liu Qingyin said before, and Xiaoxiao is implicated - his face is as dark as ink, and his eyes slowly look towards the place where Su Tan has just stood.
He must find an opportunity to make things clear with Su Tan.
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