Chapter 85: The Emperor and Empress are clearly intimate...
As soon as the rain stopped, the emperor set off from Chanxu Temple to return to the palace.
Changqiu Palace had been away from its mistress for more than half a month. With the return of the Empress, the palace staff were busy from afternoon until night, and the entire palace was once again full of life.
The torrential rain continued unabated.
Night rain dripped from the eaves, and every now and then a few raindrops would fall, hitting the figure walking through the covered walkway. The Empress, dressed in a flowing robe, slowly walked to the front of the Xuande Hall, led by palace servants with lanterns.
The Empress arrived in full regalia, and Zhong Changjun greeted her with a smile and a bow. After a short while, he went inside to report to the Empress.
However, the emperor, sitting behind his desk inside the palace, said upon hearing this, "Just say I'm working."
Zhong Changjun hesitated, wanting to say a few words of advice on behalf of the Empress, but saw that the Emperor seemed completely uninterested.
In fact, ever since the Emperor stumbled upon the scene at the temple in the afternoon where the Empress, Prince Yan, and General Helan were entangled in a dispute, the atmosphere around him had been extremely tense. It was only thanks to the Empress's timely intervention that the almost stagnant atmosphere was broken.
What awaited the Prince of Yan and General Helan? The emperor had not yet spoken. The sage's mood was as unpredictable as the weather overhead, impossible to fathom.
Zhong Changjun returned to Yuan Chaolu and said, "Your Majesty, please return. His Majesty still has memorials to review and is afraid he has no time to see Your Majesty."
“It’s alright,” she said with a smile, looking at the main hall behind him. “I’ll wait a bit.”
Zhong Changjun tried to persuade her again, but she insisted on doing so, so he could only step forward, take the umbrella from the palace servant, and hold it for her himself.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier. After a while, Zhong Changjun pushed open the door again to deliver a message to the Empress. After entering the inner palace, he saw that the Emperor was still sitting lazily behind the desk, maintaining the same posture as before. His fingertips were tapping the tabletop idly, but the memorials in front of him seemed to remain untouched.
"Your Majesty, the Empress is still outside at this hour. Should we invite her in...?"
Xiao Zhuo said calmly, "I am dealing with state affairs. Jia Li is staying in the palace tonight. Go and invite him here."
Zhong Changjun left the main hall. In the gap between the opening doors, Yuan Chaolu lifted her skirt and stepped over the threshold, walking straight into the hall.
She wore a smoky pink silk dress, the edges of which were stained by candlelight. She walked slowly across the floor, the hem of her dress rustling softly.
It was also afternoon when she was dressed in plain clothes, with only a simple hairpin holding her hair up, and without any makeup, looking like a pure and untouched mountain fairy.
Under Xiao Zhuo's gaze, she walked gracefully step by step, stopped beside the desk, and said, "Your Majesty, I greet you."
The flickering candlelight was reflected in his eyes. He raised his gaze to look at her, and suddenly remembered the last words he had spoken when he sent her to Chanxu Temple to reflect on her mistakes that day—
"I do not wish to see you again."
He sent the Empress to reflect on her actions and confined her to Chanxu Temple, but the truth was: anyone could go to Chanxu Temple to see her, except him.
Who exactly is under house arrest?
A self-deprecating smile appeared on Xiao Zhuo's lips.
Yuan Chaolu paused slightly as she put down the food box. Seeing his expression, she knew that he was still angry.
She took out a cup of tea from the food box. "This is tea that I made myself. When I was at Chanxu Temple, I did not forget Your Majesty while reflecting on my mistakes. Knowing that Your Majesty suffers from nightmares, I followed medical knowledge and picked herbs that can calm the mind and soothe the nerves."
Xiao Zhuo could tell from her deliberately gentle voice that she was using that he didn't need to look up to know how she would look at him with a seductive expression.
Yuan Chaolu said, "Let me help Your Majesty tidy up the desk."
"No need." He raised his hand to tidy himself up, but his hand brushed against her little finger, their skin touching.
Then she suddenly raised her arm, climbed onto his shoulder, and slid into his arms.
The woman's delicate fragrance mingled with the damp air wafted over. Xiao Zhuo hadn't smelled this scent in so long that he momentarily forgot to push her away.
Before she knew it, she was already sitting on his lap, her smooth dress clinging to his robes, the silk outlining the slender contours of her calves.
Xiao Zhuo squinted at her: "Jia Li will be here soon."
"Then there's still a while, Your Majesty." Yuan Chaolu's fingertips traced the back of his robe, her eyes bright and her lips almost touching his ear. "Have you seen the Buddhist scriptures that I wrote for Your Majesty?"
"What Buddhist scripture?" He stroked her wrist, but instead of grasping it, he pulled it away from behind her neck.
Yuan Chaolu was surprised, and took the opportunity to put her arm around his neck again, "The Buddhist scriptures that I asked Princess Zhenning to present to Your Majesty the other day were copied by me personally, and there was something hidden in them..."
Yuan Chaolu noticed the strange look in his eyes and asked, "Your Majesty has not received it?"
"Never."
Yuan Chao frowned, wondering if something had gone wrong. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Zhong Changjun opened the door and said, "Your Majesty, the Duke of Kaiguo has arrived."
Yuan Chaolu felt a pat on her back, signaling her to stand up.
Yuan Chaolu remained completely still, still leaning against him.
When Founding Duke Jia Li entered, he saw the Empress sitting on the Emperor's lap, intimately embracing and conversing with him.
"His Majesty said that we must not let outsiders notice anything unusual," she whispered in Xiao Zhuo's ear.
He was the one who brought her out of Chanxu Temple, but he was also the one whose attitude remained indifferent. Yuan Chaolu was fluctuating with his behavior, her heart pounding with anxiety.
She didn't think the emperor's visit to Chanxu Temple was a spur-of-the-moment decision. He had clearly asked her to return to the palace, and all he had to do was send someone to deliver her.
Xiao Zhuo placed his hand on her waist, looked up at Jia Li and said, "My dear minister, you've arrived?"
Jia Li said, "Greetings, Your Majesty and Your Highness. Is Your Highness here as well?"
“She’s about to leave, so as not to disturb our discussion.” Xiao Zhuo patted her waist again, then lowered his voice, his warm breath brushing against her earlobe, “When I brought you out of Chanxu Temple, I said it wasn’t to forgive your sins, but for the Empress Dowager’s birthday.”
The actions were clearly intimate, but the words spoken contained not a trace of romance.
Since he had spoken, and Jia Li was present, Yuan Chaolu could not insist on staying. She simply said softly, "Then this concubine will take her leave. Your Majesty, please rest well."
The sound of the empress's flowing skirt finally faded into the distance.
After leaving Changqiu Palace and walking a distance, Yuan Chaolu could no longer see Zhong Changjun. Standing in the corridor, the cold rain poured into his sleeves, and a look of resentment appeared on his face. He turned back to look at Xuande Hall, which was radiating a gentle glow.
Unbeknownst to him, the Founding Duke Jia Li, who had already retired for the night but was awakened, asked with bloodshot eyes, "Your Majesty summoned me late at night; surely it is of great importance?"
The emperor was gazing intently at the night view outside the window when he heard this. He looked up, smiled, and said, "It's nothing important."
Jia Li: "..."
**
Regardless of the emperor's attitude, Yuan Chaolu has returned to Changqiu Palace.
To outsiders, the relationship between the Emperor and Empress seems to have remained unchanged. The Empress's recent stay at Chanxu Temple was merely an interlude following her miscarriage. His Majesty's personal visit to greet her demonstrates the depth of their affection.
As the Empress Dowager's birthday drew ever closer, the atmosphere in the palace grew increasingly tense. However, when the Empress, who had been absent for several days, reappeared at Penglai Palace, radiant and beautiful as ever, and greeted the Empress Dowager as usual in front of everyone, the Empress Dowager's expression became noticeably stiff.
Why did the Buddhist scriptures that Yuan Chaolu wrote for the emperor not reach him? It was because they were kept by the Empress Dowager.
Yuan Chaolu has already uncovered the truth. If anyone in the world wouldn't want to return to the palace, it would be the Lu family. Clearly, her appearance has only added the biggest obstacle to the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration.
In the afternoon, the Lu family sent someone again to invite Qingheng to the Lu residence for a medical consultation.
When the news reached Yuan Chaolu's ears, she had just woken up from her afternoon nap and was sitting in front of the mirror combing her hair. "Is that so?"
The palace maid who delivered the message withdrew, and Yuan Chaolu met the eyes of the person behind her in the mirror. "Sister, come here."
"Morning Dew, what do you want to tell me?"
“Lu Changli has summoned you several times, which is enough to reveal his thoughts.” She took the hand of the person in front of her.
In particular, Yuan Zhaobi, with a face completely different from before, even deliberately concealed her sharpness, seemed helpless in the face of Lu Changli's hand ailment, only occasionally sending him some pain-relieving ointment. Yet Lu Changli still seemed to have some inexplicable dependence on her, summoning her over every few days...
Each time, he did nothing else but watch Qingheng apply the medicine.
No matter how much a person changes their appearance, the impression they give off when interacting with others is hard to change.
Yuan Zhaobi said, "He did not discover my identity."
“But every time my sister went there, I became more and more worried, and my anxiety grew stronger and stronger.”
Even Yuan Chaolu was able to deduce Qingheng's true identity from the slightest clues, let alone her elder sister and Lu Changli, who had been husband and wife and shared a bed, and knew each other too well.
Yuan Chaolu said, "So I think that after waiting for so long, the time is almost right."
Yuan Zhaobi whispered, "Morning dew?"
"If nothing unexpected happens, this will be the last time my elder sister goes to the Lu family."
Yuan Chaolu smiled slightly, then raised her hand to gesture for her to come closer, and began to whisper instructions in her ear.
After hearing everything, Yuan Zhaobi picked up the medicine box on the table, took his leave, and departed.
Yuan Chaolu continued to do her makeup in front of the mirror, but her hand holding the hairpin was sweating. She lowered her eyes and saw that it was the hairpin her elder sister had given her a few days ago. She pressed it to her heart and held it tightly.
After lying low for so long, they finally found a breakthrough with the Lu family.
I sincerely hope that your trip goes smoothly, sister.
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