In the Dasheng Dynasty, after an emperor dies, his body is kept for five days before he is dressed in a special burial garment, which is called Xiao Lian.
After the body is placed in the coffin, it will not be buried immediately. Instead, the body will be moved to a special place called the funeral palace.
Important officials and courtiers, as well as concubines, princes, and royal nobles, all had to mourn the emperor.
Bai Lingxi's task during this period was to transfer spiritual energy.
However, Bai Lingxi was still lying in bed and couldn't wake up. Xiao Qi knew that this was a side effect of having all her spiritual power drained, and her body would fall into a deep sleep for a period of time.
She was nearly five months pregnant. Xiao Qi watched as the Guardian Spirit worked hard to repair Bai Lingxi's body and the spiritual energy lingering in her belly, knowing that the boss was protecting the child.
Xiaoqi couldn't help but sigh inwardly: "The boss is really something else. It's rare to see someone cheat on themselves like this."
A night had passed, and as Bai Lingxi had instructed, no one dared to disturb her at night. However, now that so much time had gone by, and especially considering the child in her womb, the palace servants decided to go into the room to check on her.
Hanzhu was the first to be affected. She knew how much the Empress loved the Emperor and how sad she would be to hear of his death, so she wisely refrained from disturbing her. However, she couldn't remain immersed in this grief forever, and how could the young prince bear it?
Hanzhu: "I'll go in and check. You all go and prepare the meal, so the Empress doesn't go hungry."
After instructing the other palace maids, Hanzhu carefully pushed open the door and went inside. When she arrived at Bai Lingxi's bedside and saw Bai Lingxi's angelic face, she couldn't help but gasp.
After a while, she came to her senses and realized that she had been staring at the Empress in a daze and almost forgot the important matter. The Empress was still asleep, and she didn't want to disturb her.
Bai Lingxi's full chest rose and fell slightly, her red lips parted slightly, her small tongue peeking out from under her, extremely alluring. Her cheeks were also slightly flushed with a pleasant blush, showing that she was sleeping very soundly. Seeing that the Empress was sleeping so well and not getting up at this time, Hanzhu guessed that she must not have rested well last night.
Thinking of this, Hanzhu quietly withdrew, not daring to disturb her again, and afraid of waking the Empress, she almost tiptoed out.
When Hanzhu arrived at the door, she gestured for the palace servants to stay away so as not to disturb the Empress.
When they were about ten meters from the door, Hanzhu said, "Her Majesty must have had trouble sleeping after hearing about the Emperor's affairs, and has only just fallen asleep. Let's not disturb her and wait for her to wake up on her own."
The palace servants all agreed, and then sighed inwardly that Consort Rong and the Emperor were indeed deeply in love, and they could not sleep peacefully.
It can only be said that Hanzhu really has a silver tongue; that's how the rumors spread.
"Hey, have you heard? Consort Rong has been overthinking and is now in a deep sleep."
"Did you know? Consort Rong missed the late Emperor so much that she cried herself unconscious."
Zhao Qi saw several palace maids and eunuchs discussing the matter. Remembering his master's instructions, he also leaned over to listen to what it was all about.
Zhao Qi: "What happened to Consort Rong?"
Several enthusiastic palace maids became excited when they saw that the young eunuch had never heard of this matter before. They pulled him to the center and started chattering away, one after another, making quite a scene!
"Haven't you heard? I was on duty in the Imperial Kitchen this morning, and I heard that Consort Rong is unconscious because she misses the late Emperor and can't even eat."
"What? Your information is outdated. Listen to me, after Consort Rong heard the national mourning bells, she stayed indoors and sent away all her servants, and then—"
The round-faced palace maid paused here, wanting to keep the rest a secret.
Zhao Qi, however, was quite anxious and urged, "Good sister, stop keeping me in suspense and tell me!"
"Then Consort Rong cried so much that she didn't even eat dinner. She was heartbroken and couldn't sleep all night. She probably cried herself out and only just fell asleep in the morning."
After receiving the news, Zhao Qi saw that they had nothing more to add, and then said that he still had things to do, and hurriedly slipped away.
As Zhao Qi walked along the road, he pondered whether he should tell the prince.
The prince hasn't ascended the throne yet, and he's currently extremely busy. It's best not to tell him about such a trivial matter and cause him any distress.
Zhao Qi didn't expect that the situation would start to deteriorate just a few hours later. He could only be thankful that he hadn't told the prince that Consort Rong wasn't asleep, but unconscious!
——————
Here's what happened: Zhou Changling realized that he needed a high-ranking concubine from the harem to mourn his father, but his father had previously disbanded the harem, leaving the palace without anyone in charge.
Zhou Changling was extremely reluctant to hand over the reins of the palace to Zhao Xueqi, that foolish woman. He feared that Zhao Xueqi would develop unwarranted ambitions, and he did not believe that she had the ability to manage the harem, which would lead to lax management and even greater chaos in the palace.
In addition, he had some inexplicable feelings for Bai Lingxi and wanted to use this opportunity to see her as soon as possible to ease his longing.
If she could take over the palace power, he would have even more reason to contact her. With this in mind, Zhou Changling sent someone to the imperial palace to invite Bai Lingxi.
When the messenger arrived, it was 3:45 AM. Usually, Bai Lingxi would have woken up by then, but today, contrary to her usual behavior, she remained asleep.
"Aunt Hanzhu, someone from the palace has come to summon Her Majesty, but Her Majesty is still unconscious. What should we do?"
Hanzhu also knew the seriousness of the matter. After all, they didn't know what kind of person the new emperor was, but the Bai family had offended him severely before. However, she couldn't panic. She woke up the empress and asked her to make a decision.
Hanzhu said, "Now that things have come to this, I'll go wake the Empress. You shouldn't be idle either; serve that official the best tea and stall him for a while."
"Okay, Aunt Hanzhu."
Having received instructions from Hanzhu, the young palace maid had an idea: to find a way to stall the official and avoid arousing his displeasure, otherwise, if he exaggerated and said something dubious, the Empress's situation would be in danger.
Hanzhu also took action. She brought along the little palace maids who usually served Consort Rong when she washed and dressed, and had them wait outside while she went in to wake up the consort.
Hanzhu: "Your Majesty?"
Hanzhu: "Your Majesty?"
Hanzhu called out several times, but no one answered. Bai Lingxi lay there quietly, motionless. If it weren't for the rise and fall of her chest, Hanzhu would have thought something had happened to the Empress.
However, she also felt that something was very wrong. Why was the Empress still unconscious? What should she do? She couldn't fool the new emperor's people.
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