Chapter 57: A Dream
At night, Zhaoyang Palace was brightly lit.
Yuzhu received the news in the morning that the empress would be back today, and she waited anxiously until noon and dusk, but she did not see the empress.
She went to negotiate with the guards at the door several times, but their answer was always to ask her to wait. Could the empress be missing in the palace?
It was not until the sky was completely dark and Yuzhu had given up hope that a little palace maid ran in and said happily, "Sister Yuzhu, the queen is back!"
Cheng Shouzhong escorted Jiang Shuyi to the palace and said with a smile, "It's getting late today, your Majesty should go to bed early. His Majesty said that the news of the lifting of the ban in Zhaoyang Palace will be spread to the six palaces tomorrow. You can go to the morning meetings these days if you want. If you feel uncomfortable after just coming back, it's okay not to go."
Pei Yan had already told Jiang Shuyi these words. She looked around the palace she had not visited for half a month and replied, "Thank you, eunuch. Yuzhu, give me the reward."
Cheng Shouzhong did not dare to accept the silver from Concubine Jiang, and respectfully took his leave.
Yuzhu's personality is different from Jinzhu's. She is not good at expressing intimacy. At this moment, looking at her master whom she has not seen for a long time, she has mixed feelings in her heart. Her eyes are red, but she does not take the initiative to step forward and say a word to please him.
Jiang Shuyi accidentally saw her crying, and immediately felt at a loss whether to laugh or cry, so she teased her: "Yuzhu, you look like the mother of your daughter who has just returned home."
Yuzhu quickly wiped away her tears and repeatedly said she didn't dare.
Jiang Shuyi pulled her to sit on the couch and asked if anything happened in the palace while she was away.
Yuzhu reported everything in detail: "Princess Jin and Concubine Qian came here several times, probably wanting to take advantage of the situation to mock the queen, but they were stopped by the guards at the door. They felt bored and never came again. Everything is fine in our palace, but the little prince..."
She stood up and knelt down in front of Jiang Shuyi, saying guiltily, "The little prince cried non-stop the past two days, and the nurse couldn't stop crying no matter how hard she tried. I told the guards to call the imperial physician, and after checking, the physician said that he had no symptoms. Later, when the nurse couldn't hide it any longer, she told me that Jinzhu had often gone to accompany the little prince after being driven away by the empress. Jinzhu was ill those two days and couldn't go over, so the little prince cried."
Jiang Shuyi's face darkened.
Yuzhu kowtowed and admitted her fault: "It is my fault for not discovering Jinzhu's intimacy with the little prince in time. Please punish me, Your Majesty!"
Jiang Shuyi did not deny that the fact that Jin Zhu was able to secretly stay with Pei Yu for such a long time was indeed due to her, the senior palace maid's fault for not keeping a good watch over her.
She only asked: "What about now? Is Jinzhu still serving Pei Yu?"
Yuzhu: "Jinzhu's illness has not yet healed. I dare not let her get close to the little prince. The little prince still cries these past two days, but he is better than before."
Jiang Shuyi said decisively: "Don't let Jinzhu get close to Pei Yu. If she wants to cry, let her cry for a while and she will be fine. As for Jinzhu, let her come to me when she recovers. The wet nurse should also be replaced."
Even if she didn't want the child she had given birth to with so much difficulty, she could give it to Miao Wangshu or Feng Yiyue for adoption, or simply send it to Wenhua Palace where she could out of sight and out of mind. Rather than give it to the person who had harmed her together with Jiang Wanqing in her previous life.
As for Yuzhu, Jiang Shuyi also warned her: "You are my confidant, and your greatest strength is your attentiveness. How could you let something like this happen under your nose? For the sake of our friendship as we grew up together, I will let it go this time. Be more careful in the future and don't let the unscrupulous people take advantage of you again."
Yuzhu felt ashamed and grateful, and kowtowed repeatedly and replied "yes".
It was indeed getting late. Jiang Shuyi had already had dinner in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, took a walk in the yard, and then went to bed.
Before going to bed, she was so excited thinking about how she could catch everyone in the six palaces by surprise tomorrow and show off her power that she tossed and turned until the late night before she fell asleep.
While I was in a daze, I suddenly heard the sound of chanting. I didn't know whether it was monks or Taoists. The sound of a group of people reciting scriptures was faintly heard, getting louder and louder, and finally became particularly harsh.
Jiang Shuyi couldn't open her eyes. She wanted to sit up, but her limbs had no strength to move. She was suddenly filled with fear.
Suddenly, a familiar voice came: "It has been 49 days. If your method is useless, I will chop off your heads and offer them as sacrifice to the Queen."
It’s Pei Yan!
Jiang Shuyi wanted to call him, but she was so anxious that she couldn't make a sound.
Then came the voice of an old man: "Your Majesty, bringing the dead back to life is against the will of heaven. When Empress Zhaoxi was alive, she had no merits and instead committed many sins. It is not easy for her to enter the reincarnation cycle. As for the matter of resurrection, I can only do my best and cannot force it."
Queen Zhaoxi?
Jiang Shuyi was frightened and confused. Queens usually had no title when they were alive, and were only given a posthumous title after they died. Shen Suzhen was dead?
Death has nothing to do with her. Although she harmed a lot of people in her previous life, she still cared about the relationship when she first entered the East Palace and did not harm the Queen.
"What if I insist?"
Pei Yan's voice was always warm and gentle, but at this moment it was cold and strange, like the sound of a poisonous snake spitting out its tongue, which made people shudder.
Jiang Shuyi felt that everything she heard was extremely strange. She was almost scared to death. She also realized that she was having a nightmare. She could only try her best to open her eyes and scream...
I heard the old Taoist sigh, and then the group of people chanted even louder.
"Pei Yan!"
Jiang Shuyi finally cried out, and at the same time opened her eyes, looking at the dark ceiling of the tent, she was so frightened that her whole body was cold.
Yuzhu, who was on night watch in the outer hall, heard the noise and hurried in. While lighting a candle, she asked, "What happened to the queen?"
Jiang Shuyi sat up, holding her chest. Her heart was beating so fast that it seemed like it was about to burst out.
Her hands trembled slightly as she clenched them, and her voice also trembled: "Yuzhu, I want to see His Majesty..."
The candles were already lit. Yuzhu walked to the bedside in her clothes. Seeing that the queen's forehead was covered with cold sweat, she asked with concern: "Did the queen have a nightmare? It's only the third watch now. We can't go to the Qianqing Palace. Can I accompany the queen?"
Jiang Shuyi was still frightened, and it seemed that the fear could only be relieved by being held in that man's arms.
But she also knew that she had just returned from the Palace of Heavenly Purity today, and it would be very unseemly to run back late at night just because of a nightmare, and it might even make Pei Yan angry.
It was pitch black outside the window. Jiang Shuyi no longer had the excitement of falling asleep. She just wanted the day to get brighter sooner. She wanted to go to the Palace of Heavenly Purity to see Pei Yan...
Afraid of having another nightmare when she fell asleep, Jiang Shuyi asked Yuzhu to light all the candles in the hall. Facing the bright palace, she finally felt a little relieved. However, she didn't dare to sleep. She sat on the bed, suppressing her sleepiness and waiting for dawn.
*
The sky was just beginning to turn pale when the emperor went to court.
The one who stayed on duty in the Palace of Heavenly Purity today was Cheng Shou. He was looking at the empty palace and missing his sister Fangchu when he suddenly heard a palace servant outside greet him: "Hello, Concubine Jiang."
He was startled and almost thought he had heard it wrong. However, when he turned around, he saw Concubine Jiang hurrying into the hall.
Cheng Shou's legs went limp and he immediately knelt on the ground, trembling as he said, "Madam Concubine Jiang, why are you here at this time?"
Jiang Shuyi glanced at him and said, "I have a jade pendant given by His Majesty. I can come to see His Majesty anytime. How dare you interfere?"
Cheng Shou was so frightened that he kowtowed repeatedly: "I dare not! I dare not!"
He was just afraid that the queen was still thinking about the twenty strokes of the cane and would specifically choose to beat him when His Majesty and Sister Fangchu were not around!
Jiang Shuyi had no time to deal with him. She was so sleepy that she went straight into the bedroom.
She took off her outer dress, lay down on the familiar bed, and covered herself with the quilt that smelled of Pei Yan. Only then did she feel completely at peace in her heart. She could no longer control herself and fell into a deep sleep.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
