After washing and getting dressed, I sat in the yard and ate breakfast angrily. Unconsciously, I used my chopsticks to poke the white cloud cake on the plate into pieces. The "ding-dong-dong" sound made the sparrows in the tree turn their heads to look at me frequently.
"My lady," Xiao Tao was a little surprised: "Is this white cloud cake not tasty?"
"Yes, it's not delicious, very not delicious!" I replied subconsciously, completely forgetting that I usually look like I enjoy eating Baiyun cake.
"What a pity the princess isn't here," Xiao Tao muttered, "You always loved the snacks she made."
"Hmm? Princess?" I turned to look at her. They haven't told me anything about the princess yet. Is she Song Heng's younger sister or older sister?
"Oh, I forgot to tell you this!" Xiao Tao finally realized, "It's Princess Song Rushuang. You used to love the cakes she made the most, and you often praised her cooking skills in front of us!"
"It's just..." Xiaotao sighed with some regret.
"Just what?" I looked at her curiously.
"She left the palace a few months ago and is no longer in the palace." Xiaotao explained to me.
"Ah? Why?" My mind inexplicably popped up many plots from the novels: longing for freedom, escaping the imperial palace, chasing dreams, wandering the world...
"That...we don't know either." Xiao Tao lowered her voice, "His Majesty doesn't allow us to discuss this matter anymore."
"Hmm," I tapped the bowl with my chopsticks. "So, what else do you know?"
"Well, it's all spread by the servants themselves, so I can't tell whether it's true or not." Xiaotao shook her head, and I continued to blink at her curiously.
She thought for a moment and said, "His Majesty probably didn't want us to say anything more because he didn't want to anger the Queen Mother."
"Yes," I had figured this out before. "After all, they are her own flesh and blood. Any mother would feel bad if something like this happened. Your Majesty is doing this for the Queen Mother's own good."
"Oh, no," Xiao Tao added, "Princess Rushuang is not the Queen Mother's biological daughter. She was brought back from Daxiangguo Temple by the Queen Mother. At that time, a natural disaster struck Songhua Kingdom, and the Queen Mother brought the princess back the next day. The sun cleared up after she brought the princess back, and she thought it was an auspicious sign, so she made her a princess."
"I see." I responded while digesting Xiaotao's explanation.
"Yeah," Xiao Tao whispered to my ear, "I also heard from the servants that the Empress Dowager seemed very angry when she learned that the princess had escaped. Your Majesty even knelt in the Cining Palace for a whole day and night because of this..."
"So, my lady, if you ever meet the Queen Mother in the future, please don't mention the princess in front of her," Xiao Tao reminded me carefully. "Also, it's best not to mention it in front of outsiders. There's a lot of gossip in the palace, and it would be bad if someone took advantage of you..."
I nodded. There was actually such a thing. Thinking that Song Heng had actually knelt in the Cining Palace for a whole day and a night, I suddenly felt extremely distressed, and my anger in the morning immediately disappeared.
But when I thought about the fact that the princess was not Song Heng's biological daughter and that Song Heng had knelt for her for a whole day and night, another emotion inexplicably came up in my mind, but it was immediately swept away - why think so much based on hearsay?
Then I asked Xiaotao if the princess had been found and was safe. Xiaotao replied, "She should be safe, otherwise His Majesty and the Queen Mother wouldn't be as peaceful as they are now..."
I nodded and thought it made sense. Since I often ate the cakes made by the princess and praised her frequently, I thought she and I must have a good relationship. I also felt relieved to hear that she was safe.
*
It was still very cold in Songhua Kingdom in January, and Song Heng was taking a nap with his eyes closed.
Suddenly, Ah Fu called out to Song Heng in a panic, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
Song Heng had been alert the entire time and had already woken up when Ah Fu ran over: "What's going on?"
"The Queen Mother just went to Liuzhu Pavilion to look for the princess," Ah Fu said nervously, "I'm afraid the news of the princess leaving the palace can no longer be concealed..."
Song Heng frowned slightly: "Go to Liuzhu Pavilion."
As soon as Song Heng entered Liuzhu Pavilion, he heard his usually gentle mother's voice, now unusually angry: "You've been running away for so many days, and you actually—you actually kept it a secret from me!"
Song Heng quickly walked into the hall and signaled with his eyes for the rest of the servants to leave. Suddenly, only the empress dowager and Song Heng were left in the hall.
The Queen Mother turned and looked at Song Heng: "You, you..."
The Queen Mother waved her sleeves, turned around and stopped looking at Song Heng.
"Mother." Song Heng called softly.
"Do you still have eyes for me as your mother?" the Queen Mother asked. "Shuang'er ran away, such a big thing, and you asked people to hide it from me!"
"Your son is just worried about what you will feel now that you know about this, mother." Song Heng replied in a deep voice.
The Queen Mother was silent for a moment. "You should know that I'm not just talking about this one thing."
Song Heng lowered his eyes and did not reply.
The Queen Mother turned and walked right past him. After being helped up by the maid at the door, she said tiredly, "Let's go back to the Cining Palace."
Song Heng then rushed to the Cining Palace. The head nanny of the Cining Palace had always been by the Empress Dowager's side. In terms of seniority, the head nanny was one generation older than Song Heng: "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager said she doesn't want to see you. Please go back..."
Song Heng knew that some things would be less effective the longer they were delayed, not to mention that Chen Shuang was in a coma now, so he had to deal with these things.
He nodded: "I understand."
He immediately walked straight into the hall. He knew that the Queen Mother was behind the screen. With a "thump", he knelt straight on the ground, just like when he made a mistake or asked his mother to agree to something when he was a child.
"Your Majesty..." The head nanny stepped forward in surprise. Song Heng said in a deep voice, "Everyone, get out."
"Go down." Song Heng's voice became deeper. The maids and nannies in the hall looked at each other. The head nanny ran behind the screen and then hurried out, signaling everyone to go down.
The Queen Mother said nothing behind the screen of the Spring River Painting, while Song Heng knelt in front of the screen without moving.
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