Chapter 573: Showing Good Will
After that day, Li Sheng did not question why Xiaohu brought the cloth tiger to his brother's room. He just lived in the mansion as a distant relative of the Si family.
The Yuxiu Palace where Si Linglong was located was peaceful for some time. The biggest change was that there was inexplicably a girl named Hua Yan following Xue Sha around.
She had clearly been afraid of Xue Sha and 朏朏 before and had even carefully avoided them, but after Li Sheng left, she simply replaced Li Sheng's position and became the little follower of Little Prince Xue Sha.
Apart from that, it’s Shu Hong’s business.
On this day, Shu Hong had just returned from the Internal Affairs Department with a young palace maid, and on the way she met Dai Jiangkuang who was leading a team of imperial guards.
Because of the previous incident with the green-clad assassin, Helian Yue re-evaluated the rewards after returning to the palace.
What is worth further investigation is that Dai Jiangkuan, who went alone to intercept the leather drum and restore all the horses from the chaos that day, only received some gold and silver rewards, but Lingsheng was promoted from the sixth rank of the imperial guards to the fifth rank, and became qualified to lead the team.
Shu Hong saw Dai Jiangkuan and his men coming towards her from the front, and her brows slightly frowned, but she did not panic at all. She led her men to make way and wait for the imperial guards to pass.
Unexpectedly, Dai Jiangkuang let the imperial guards move forward while he stopped in front of her and took out a paper bag from his arms.
"Miss Shuhong, I heard that you caught a cold two days ago. I asked someone to bring you this golden ginger candy from outside the palace. Try it and if you like it, I'll have someone bring it back to you another day."
As he said this, he was about to stuff the things into Shuhong's arms.
Shu Hong seemed to have expected this, and quickly took the maid next to her back a step. When she looked up at Dai Jiangkuang, there was a warning in her eyes.
"Deputy Commander Dai, although you are the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, snooping into the harem is a serious crime. Please respect yourself."
Even if a maid in Yuxiu Palace caught a cold, that was Yuxiu Palace's business and could not be spread outside.
What's more, her accidental cold didn't alarm anyone else.
On the contrary, Dai Jiangkuo had been "taking care" of her several times, openly and covertly, since he returned to Beijing, and many people in the palace looked at her with ambiguous eyes.
This made Shu Hong very unhappy.
"There are rules in the palace that prohibit palace maids from giving or receiving things privately. As the deputy commander of the imperial guards, Deputy Commander Dai should know the rules even better."
Shu Hong stopped talking and, without waiting for Dai Jiangkuang's reaction, she slightly bent her knees and quickly left with the little palace maid.
Dai Jiangkuan frowned as he watched her lead the group away, and his originally smiling face sank slightly.
Clearly, after he helped rebuke the imperial guards who had discussed Lang Zhaoyi's affairs at the Wenquan Villa, her attitude towards him had softened significantly. But after returning to the palace and trying to get close to her several times, she resumed her previous respectful and distant attitude.
Could it be that he feels that his status as deputy commander is not high enough?
Thinking of this, Dai Jiangkuan recalled the reward given by the emperor after he returned to the palace, and his eyes unconsciously became a little gloomy. He had clearly made contributions, but the emperor had no intention of promoting him at all.
Even Lingsheng has been promoted to a higher rank.
Dai Jiangkuo didn't understand what was wrong.
But being rejected by his beloved in this way, he couldn't help feeling unhappy. When he turned to leave, he threw the bag of golden ginger candies in his hand into the corner to vent his anger, and then strode forward and left.
On the other side, Shu Hong led the young palace maid towards the direction of Yuxiu Palace. The young palace maid was young and yearning for love. She could not help but speak for the deputy commander Dai, who was tall, mighty, handsome, and so protective of her sister.
"Sister Shuhong was too harsh just now. I think that Deputy Commander Dai seems a little sad."
The young palace maid was just saying this casually, but unexpectedly Shu Hong paused, turned her head, and looked at the young palace maid with a stern expression, "Shut up! What words should not be said and what should not be done in this palace? Do you still need me to teach you repeatedly?"
"Sister..." The little palace maid had followed Shu Hong since she was assigned to Yuxiu Palace. She could be said to be half a disciple. In addition, although Shu Hong was well-behaved on weekdays, her attitude was relatively gentle, so she spoke more casually. Seeing her so serious at this moment, she was a little scared.
"Sister, I was wrong."
Shuhong glanced at her and saw that she seemed to have admitted her mistake, so she stopped lecturing her and led the group forward again. However, her heart was still heavy and she was not very happy.