6 Rumors
◎The playboy admired the princess's beauty, so...◎
When Princess Jing'an heard her drowsily calling "Xie Qi", she quickly brought her some medicine.
The Xie family is still a family of traitors hated by everyone in Da Ling. But the orphan of Prince Nannan is still calling the name of the traitor's son while he is sick. What will happen if someone hears it?
The court doctor examined Xu Qinghe's wound and said that it was nothing serious. It was almost noon when Xu Qinghe finally woke up.
"You are finally awake. Are you feeling unwell?" Princess Jing'an stayed by the bed and ordered someone to invite the court doctor over.
After the court physician examined her and told her in person that there was nothing serious, she was finally relieved and began to talk to her again.
"Early this morning, my men came to report last night's events to me. They told me to accompany you, but you refused. Now you're at a disadvantage, aren't you? I also told you to call for the guards if you get into trouble, but you insisted on being stubborn. How did you manage to knock someone out without making a sound?"
Xu Qinghe had a good memory, so he answered all the questions she had just asked, and then he talked about what happened last night in detail.
For example, he had already expected that this night outside the palace would be restless, so he did not fall asleep and covered his mouth and nose when the assassin set off the blinding light.
For example, she stabbed the assassin several times when he was not prepared, and finally, in order to conceal the matter of Wei Che, she lied and said that she was gifted and could knock the assassin unconscious with two vases.
However, this was the second time she had hidden something from Jing'an.
Jing'an is different from her. Although Emperor Yongshun doesn't care much about her, she still has her own biological mother in this world, and now she is married and has her own family.
In the past, when I was in the deep palace, I had no choice but to involve her in finding out the truth.
Now that she has Wei Che, who has evidence against her and will not kill her because he has designs on her, she should gradually distance Jing'an from this matter.
She was different, she deserved a brighter future.
Her words were so well-written that Jing'an couldn't detect any loopholes. Jing'an was just confused: "Who on earth bribed those assassins to kill the princess?"
Qinghe has always been kind to others and never takes the initiative to provoke others, but she is not the type to submit silently. Over the years, she has made several enemies in the palace.
"If those people in the palace have plenty of time to deal with me when they are in the palace, why would they be so anxious to take action when I am not in the palace?" Xu Qinghe obviously guessed what Princess Jing'an was thinking, so he spoke.
After she said this, Jing'an understood: "You mean, your enemies outside the palace? But you only go to a few banquets outside the palace throughout the year, so where do your enemies come from?"
Xu Qinghe said nothing, just took her hand and wrote two words on her palm stroke by stroke.
——Wei and Cen.
Princess Jing'an knew what she meant.
Xu Qinghe was raised by her mother, Concubine Jing'an, for some time, so the two became very good friends. Later, when it became known that she pushed Princess Yongyan into the lake to protect herself, she was sent to be raised by the Empress Dowager.
At that time, there was also a equally helpless nephew Wei Ming in the Empress Dowager's palace. He had always been very caring towards Xu Qinghe, and later even got a clear message from the Empress Dowager, saying that he would marry Xu Qinghe in the future.
Wei Ming is a handsome man with countless admirers in the capital. Although his relationship with Xu Qinghe has not been officially settled, the news has been spread openly and secretly by Empress Dowager Wei. Many noble ladies were depressed after learning about it, and Miss Cen San from the Shangshu Mansion was one of them.
Miss Cen San has always been ruthless, so it is not surprising that she would commit murder by hiring someone.
However, when talking about this, Jing'an could only sigh helplessly.
From beginning to end, Xu Qinghe didn't do much, but others were trying their best to make trouble for her.
But what she didn't know was that no matter how much Miss Cen San indulged in love, she had no power to send assassins to her house.
What happened yesterday was probably mixed with some court struggles.
"By the way, what happened to the guards you mentioned just now?" Xu Qinghe picked up the question that Jing'an had not finished.
"Oh, this morning the guard reported this to the nanny next to me, and then said--"
"The two assassins from last night are dead."
Last night, the guards detained the two men. In order to prevent them from committing suicide, they bandaged the more seriously injured one hastily and stuffed cloth into their mouths to prevent them from biting their tongues to commit suicide.
The guards took turns standing guard around, and just as daybreak approached, the guard suddenly fell asleep for some unknown reason.
Half an hour later, when the shift reliever arrived, they were shocked to find that the two people tied to the ground were no longer breathing, and their bodies had become stiff in the winter weather.
The blood gushing from their chests had already dried up; they had died from being stabbed in the heart by a sharp blade.
"How could two people who were still alive at night be killed so silently in one night?"
Jing'an felt strange, but Xu Qinghe thought about it and felt that this was expected.
"They failed to complete their mission of taking my life, and someone else will take their lives."
After completing the task, you will receive generous rewards.
If they fail to complete the task, they will have only one way to go: either die at the hands of the assassin, or more likely die at the hands of their employer.
This is to prevent them from accidentally leaking the news and giving others a handle. What the death warriors do is to live on the edge of a knife.
But in this way, they had no evidence to accuse the Cen family of hiring a killer, and yesterday's incident could only be left unresolved.
The two of them were silent for a while, and then Jing'an said, "I heard this morning that you were frightened yesterday. I have asked the court doctor to prepare it. Let her take a look at your injuries first."
Xu Qinghe nodded, and Princess Jing'an ordered someone to bring the palace physician over and sent everyone else away, leaving only the doctor and the patient together.
A moment later, the court doctor came out and reported Xu Qinghe's injury to her: "Princess, although the princess's wound opened last night, it is not serious. She must rest well for the next few days."
Princess Jing'an was relieved, but when she was about to go in, she was suddenly stopped by the two maids assigned to Xu Qinghe yesterday.
A maid covered her ear and whispered a few words to her. Then her face changed immediately and she quickly lifted her skirt and went into the room.
The two maids thought about it all night last night and still felt that they should tell their master about this matter. After all, the princess is the master's guest, and as the master's servants, they should think what the master thinks and worry about what the master worries about.
Since the princess is so worried about the princess, they should tell her everything about the princess.
When Jing'an entered the room, Xu Qinghe was tying the laces on the outer fir.
"Did the Empress Dowager punish you again?"
As soon as she entered the room, she lifted up Xu Qinghe's skirt. The latter was startled and quickly held her hand down: "What are you doing?"
Seeing her anxious expression, Xu Qinghe knew that it was the two maids who had told her about the injury on her knee yesterday, so he comforted her, "It's okay, it's just a minor injury, it's not the first time, I can bear it."
Jing'an felt a little helpless. Everyone said that she lived well with the Empress Dowager, but few people knew the truth behind it.
"What's the reason this time?"
Xu Qinghe thought for a moment and said, "When I went to pay my respects to her the other day, I was a quarter of an hour late."
"Just because of this?!" Princess Jing'an widened her eyes.
Xu Qinghe lowered his head and continued to tidy up his clothes nonchalantly. He replied, "Maybe it's because Wei Ming was there that day."
That makes sense.
Wei Ming is the nephew that Empress Dowager Wei values the most. The Spring Examination will be held after the New Year, and Empress Dowager Wei is very concerned about his studies. Now is the time when time is precious. Her nephew took the trouble to come to the palace to see Xu Qinghe, but she made him wait for a quarter of an hour in vain. Considering how much Empress Dowager Wei loves Wei Ming, she can indeed punish Xu Qinghe by making him kneel.
"You must never marry into the Wei family in the future. I'm torturing you like this before you even marry. As long as the Empress Dowager is still around, who knows how much more torture you'll endure once you become a Wei family woman."
Her words made Xu Qinghe think of what happened last night.
Wei Che helped him with something, so she agreed to do as he wished.
In fact, it doesn’t matter to her who she marries or who she becomes a spouse with now, because the person Xu Qinghe most wanted to marry had died five years ago.
"Let the court doctor take another look at your knee injury. It's cold in winter, so don't let it cause any serious problems."
Xu Qinghe thought about it and felt that Jing'an was right, so the two of them asked someone to bring back the court doctor who was already halfway there.
Only after the court doctor assured them that there would be no injuries did they feel relieved and had the long-delayed breakfast together.
Two quarters of an hour later, the nanny that Jing'an had sent to the palace to reply early in the morning finally returned to the mansion, bringing with her nanny Zhang who was with Empress Dowager Wei.
"Oh, my princess, the Queen Mother was so worried about you yesterday. When she heard that you were kidnapped, she immediately asked His Majesty to send the imperial guards to search for you. Now they have found you. The people sent by the princess said that you were injured. How serious is your injury? Have you changed the medicine this morning?"
Last night, Xu Qinghe and Jing'an exchanged their statements. They decided not to mention the fact that Xu Qinghe came back on her own, but to insist that it was the imperial guards who rescued her from the assassins, in order to stop the rumors.
Jing'an also sent a trustworthy person to inform Qi Sheng about this matter, and those imperial guards who had made great contributions to rescuing the princess would naturally be arranged by Qi Sheng himself. He would find some reliable people to collect the rewards.
Otherwise, if the princess was kidnapped by an assassin and finally escaped back on her own, some people might believe that she was innocent, but more people would speculate maliciously about the woman.
Nanny Zhang was the dowry brought into the palace by Empress Dowager Wei from the Wei family. She accompanied Empress Dowager Wei as she rose from a newly arrived court lady to one of the four concubines, and finally became the Empress Dowager.
Therefore, she could be said to be the most prominent figure in the Empress Dowager's palace. Even Emperor Yongshun, although he did not greet her with a smile, still gave her some respect because of the Empress Dowager.
Today, Queen Mother Wei sent someone to pick her up, obviously to show her importance.
"Qinghe is unfilial and has caused the Empress Dowager so much worry and distress. I should have gone to the palace to apologize last night, but I was so frightened by those assassins that I simply stayed overnight at Jing'an Mansion and could only return today."
These words showed a grandchild's respect and guilt for his elders, and he did not complain at all about the palace gates being locked early last night.
Aunt Zhang was relieved to hear this and said in a comforting tone, "How can it be the princess' fault that an assassin robbed someone in the street? The princess is frightened by this incident. The empress dowager is still waiting in the palace. Princess, please follow me into the palace."
The princess of the current dynasty was kidnapped by thieves. This was not a good thing in itself. There were too many overt and covert attacks in the palace, and there was also Concubine Zhao, who had already become her enemy. Princess Jing'an was worried that Xu Qinghe could not handle it, so she wanted to go with her.
But Xu Qinghe said, "You are weak and you were frightened all day because of me yesterday. Why bother making this trip?"
It was obvious that he didn't want her to get involved in this matter.
She had no choice but to give up.
It was precisely because there were too many trivial matters in the palace that Xu Qinghe didn't want her to worry anymore, so she got on the luxurious carriage that Nanny Zhang brought from the palace alone.
No matter how senior Nanny Zhang was, she was not the master after all. When she came, she rode in the sedan chair behind the carriage, and the same was true when she left.
As a sign of respect, Xu Qinghe gently parted the curtains on the carriage window and said softly, "There's charcoal burning in the carriage. Madam, your legs and feet have always been in bad condition and they always ache in winter. Why don't you come sit with me so you can talk to me?"
Aunt Zhang, however, was very abiding by the rules and said, "Thank you, Princess, for remembering me. However, there is a hierarchy of seniority and respect. Please just sit down and don't make the Empress Dowager anxious."
Xu Qinghe stopped talking, lowered the curtain again, and hugged the hand warmer tightly in his arms.
Regardless of whether the Queen Mother was worried about her or not, she had to do her best to save face so as not to be caught by others.
After all, now in the deep palace, her backer is still the empress dowager who raised her.
The carriage rumbled along, rolling through the long bluestone street, and the voices of pedestrians talking on the street were also carried into the carriage.
"Hey, have you heard? Princess Qinghe was kidnapped by an assassin yesterday!"
"Need I tell you? I was there yesterday and saw it with my own eyes. Dozens of assassins suddenly appeared in a black mass. They flew out in a flash. I didn't even know where they came from."
"They are really brave. They actually dared to kidnap the princess in the street. Are they really going to die?"
"Oh, that's not right. As the old saying goes, even if you die under the peony flowers, you will still be romantic. The princess's looks and temperament, wow, she might really tempt people to take risks!"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Don't you know? It's said that the assassin was hired by a few dandy young men in the capital. They've been coveting the princess's beauty for a long time, and after discussing it with each other, they sent the assassin to kidnap the princess. Their purpose was... Alas, the princess is also a pitiful person."
"You mean, the princess has already..."
"Who knows? Such a beautiful lady, raised in the deep palace with no grudges against anyone, could someone really hire someone to kill her? Isn't it all for the same little thing..."
"Then...then will the Wei family be happy? The princess is the tacitly known as the Wei Madam. If something like this happens, will the Queen Mother and the Wei family be happy?"
"We ordinary people don't know about this."
…
Xu Qinghe was inside the carriage, hugging the hot water bottle to warm herself.
She was robbed yesterday, and today the rumor has spread with great detail and verifiability. It is so fast that it is hard not to suspect that someone is behind it.
Aunt Zhang in the sedan chair behind the car obviously heard this as well. She lowered her already wrinkled eyelids to hide the emotions in her eyes.
The group walked forward, crossed several long streets, bypassed two alleys, and finally entered the palace from the Xing'an Gate in the north.
Then Xu Qinghe changed into the sedan chair specially prepared by the empress dowager and slowly headed to Kangning Palace where the empress dowager lived.
After all this trouble, half an hour had passed and it was noon when the sun had moved to the center of the dome.
The weather has been very good and sunny in the past few days after the heavy snow. The golden crow hangs high in the sky, bright and warm, making people feel warm and comfortable.
There was still piles of snow that had not completely melted under the red walls on both sides of the palace road. Palace servants walked past the sedan chair in twos and threes, with their heads lowered, not daring to look up at all.
When the sedan chair left, they all raised their heads and looked over secretly.
"Is that Princess Qinghe on the sedan chair?"
"It's her. I heard she successfully escaped from the assassins."
"Hey, what do you think... If the princess was kidnapped in broad daylight, would she..."
"Oh, of course she will. The princess is so beautiful, who wouldn't be moved by that face..."
"You probably don't know yet, but I heard that the princess was kidnapped for this very reason. It's said that a few playboys had been coveting the princess's beauty for a long time, so they sent assassins to kidnap her. Their purpose was..."
"Alas...it's a pity for Master Wei, I don't know..."
"Speaking nonsense about the master behind his back, is this what the palace rules teach you?"
A slightly angry voice came from behind the young palace maids.
Several people hurriedly turned around, and when they saw who was coming, they quickly knelt on the ground and greeted tremblingly:
"Wei... Young Master Wei..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
