The Queen Mother narrowed her eyes and asked again: "Look at the baby in the imperial concubine's belly, is there any sign of a prince?"
The head nanny pondered for a moment and said, "If it's a good baby, even if it's difficult to tell apart the three, one of them is definitely a prince."
The Queen Mother tapped the table with her fingertips, a calculating look in her eyes: "I must give Luan'er a prince to raise..."
In the Yangxin Palace, candlelight flickered. Xuan Ling was reviewing memorials, and Sheng Xiyan was leaning beside him with a dazed look on her face.
"Yanyan, are you sleepy?" Xuan Ling put down his red brush and gently pinched her cheek. "If you're sleepy, go to sleep first."
Sheng Xiyan pouted and shook her head: "No, I want to wait for you to finish your work and then hold me to sleep."
Xuan Ling smiled helplessly: "Okay, then I'll take a quick look."
He lowered his head to continue reviewing the memorials, but couldn't help but glance at her sideways.
In the candlelight, her eyelashes cast a shadow, her pregnant belly was round, and her whole body looked particularly soft.
He felt warm in his heart and whispered, "Yan Yan is becoming more and more attached to me..."
Sheng Xiyan murmured "hmm" in a daze and fell asleep on his shoulder.
At midnight, Xuan Ling finally finished reviewing the memorials, picked her up gently, and walked towards the dragon bed in the back hall.
He carefully took off her outer clothes, but Sheng Xiyan dazedly hugged his neck and murmured: "Hold me to sleep..."
Xuan Ling chuckled and kissed her lightly on the lips: "Okay, your husband will hold you to sleep."
The next day, General Duan and several court officials knelt in the Yangxin Palace and pleaded loudly: "Your Majesty! I wonder what crime the Empress has committed that has kept her under house arrest?"
Xuan Ling's eyes turned cold, and he said calmly, "I have confined the Empress for two reasons. First, the Empress is suspected of plotting to murder the Imperial Concubine and the heir to the throne through the art of warding off evil. Second, she is incompetent in managing the harem, and cannot escape the blame."
Upon hearing this, General Duan turned to Sheng Xiyan and said earnestly, "Your Highness, the Empress has always been virtuous. I believe there must be some misunderstanding..."
Sheng Xiyan sneered in her heart but remained expressionless on the surface.
She knew that General Duan was forcing her to beg for mercy, and if she didn't speak up, there would be turmoil in the previous dynasty.
She pretended to hesitate and whispered, "Your Majesty, the Queen has been under house arrest for many days. I believe she has realized her fault. Why not... lift the house arrest?"
Xuan Ling originally planned to wait until Sheng Xiyan gave birth before releasing the queen to avoid her doing anything bad.
But there is no solid evidence at the moment, and the previous dynasty is under great pressure. "Pass on my oral order to lift the Queen's house arrest."
General Duan was overjoyed and kowtowed repeatedly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"
Sheng Xiyan lowered her eyes, hiding the coldness in them. "So what if the Queen comes out? I have my own way of dealing with it."
Early the next morning.
When the morning light came in through the carved window lattices, Sheng Jingheng was standing in front of Ruan Niang's room holding a gold-painted food box.
The food box contained steamed chestnut flour cake with osmanthus sugar - Ruan Niang's favorite snack, and her favorite jasmine tea was warming under the steamer.
"Mrs. Ruan, would you like some breakfast?" He knocked gently on the door, his knuckles making three soft sounds on the sandalwood door panel.
No response.
Sheng Jingheng's heart skipped a beat. He set down his lunch box and pushed the door open. The carved wooden door creaked open, and the faint scent of jasmine lingered in the room. The quilt on the bed was neatly folded, and the jade hairpin he had given her was gone from the dressing table.
"Ruan Niang?" His voice echoed in the empty room.
A piece of Xue Tao letter was placed in front of the dressing mirror.
Sheng Jingheng's hands were shaking so much that he could barely hold the thin paper. The smudged ink read: "Seven years of marriage and love have ended. With this piece of paper, we part ways."
With a "bang", the food box fell to the ground.
The osmanthus cake rolled onto the green bricks.
Sheng Jingheng's knees softened and he knelt beside the bed. His fingertips touched a wet spot on the pillow - that was the mark of Ruan Niang's crying last night.
"Jingheng!" Sheng's mother rushed over and gasped when she saw her son's bloodshot eyes, "Ruan Niang... "
"She's gone... She doesn't want me anymore..." Sheng Jingheng repeated mechanically, his eyes empty.
"I'm the one who let her down. I'm a bastard!" He slapped himself hard.
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