Chapter 40 Chapter 40 He is dead
Layers of fragrance emanated from the square tripod furnace, and the whole room was filled with a unique earthy aroma mixed with a hint of the original scent of herbs.
The room was filled with sweet fragrance, but it couldn't conceal the suppressed anger.
"Bang!" Xiao Mao knocked the incense burner to the ground, stepping directly on the still-hot ashes. In his hasty steps, he inadvertently rolled and crushed them repeatedly. His eyelids felt sore and tight. "That old bastard Li Taifu is already dead. Who on earth would have the audacity to go against me?"
Ying lowered his eyes and stationed himself under the beam.
The Yunshui corruption case and the Fanxi illegal mining case were both reported back to the capital. His Majesty was furious upon hearing about it and, despite his illness, ordered a thorough investigation of the matter, and the Empress Dowager also agreed.
Fortunately, the weapons inside have been moved elsewhere.
"Let Fan Jingjiang clean up his mess. If he doesn't handle it well and His Majesty finds out, his family will be skinned alive and chopped into straw."
Ying Yi took the order and retreated. When he stepped over the threshold, the Crown Princess just came in. He lowered his head and brushed past her, then disappeared into the depths of the East Palace.
The Crown Princess saw the broken square tripod incense burner with diagonal patterns on the ground and the incense ash scattered all over the room, but there was no ripple in her eyes. She walked around the dirty ground and personally took out a few clothes that Xiao Mao usually wore.
Then he turned and left.
"Stop—" Xiao Mao strode up to her, breathing heavily, his back straight as he leaned forward, demanding sternly, "You don't know how to behave when you see me? Is this how you, a prestigious family that prides itself on being pure, teach your daughters?"
In a fit of rage, Xiao Mao pointed at the door with his arm held unsteadily.
The Crown Princess knelt and saluted without a single retort, her voice as smooth and cold as ever: "I greet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. If His Highness has nothing else to say, I will take my leave."
For a moment, she was choked and breathless, as if thick and sticky phlegm was blocking her heart, making her feel dizzy and deaf. In the blink of an eye, Xiao Mao lowered his gaze and saw several pieces of his underwear tightly held in her hands. His eyes immediately relaxed a little.
"What are you going to do with these clothes? Is it really necessary for the Crown Princess to do such a trivial task as washing clothes herself?"
"In reply to Your Highness, Master Pansu of the Western Regions made a fuss the other day. He said that Shunyi's three souls were unstable and his five souls were difficult to condense. He needed to burn a few of his biological father's underwear and send them to him. Only then would he be able to pass through the reincarnation peacefully and smoothly, and have no worries in the afterlife."
Shunyi was the nickname given by the Crown Princess to her deceased child, known only to the couple.
"A child is a child again! How dare you believe the words of a mediocre wizard? Today you burn my clothes, tomorrow you will burn my hair! The day after tomorrow you will burn the entire East Palace to bury the child!"
After saying these words with a sigh, Xiao Mao snatched the clothes from the Crown Princess's hand, his face as red as fire, and mercilessly threw them onto the incense ashes that had not yet been completely extinguished.
The wind suddenly blew, causing the incense ash to swirl and dance. The scene in front of him became blurred and unstable, like the boundary between yin and yang.
The Crown Princess was terrified and glared. She quickly knelt on the ground and carefully dusted the ash from the incense burner. She didn't care that the back of her hand was burned red. She picked up the clothes with a sad and sorrowful look, her mouth moving and sighing twice: "What a pity... What a pity, the clothes are dirty, and I can't burn them for Shunyi."
The eunuchs and maids who were originally waiting had already retreated, and they were the only two left.
The wind blew straight in from the door.
Xiao Mao put his hands on his waist, and all the demeanor and grace of a crown prince were thrown out of the window. He took a quick step and slammed the door shut.
Then he bent down and knelt on the ground. He held the Crown Princess's shoulders with both hands and pinched the soft flesh on her arm, as if dragging a dead person out of the coffin. He forced the Crown Princess to look into his eyes: "Shun Yi is dead, our child is dead!"
"He's dead, he's dead—did you hear?"
The sound grew louder and louder, reverberating repeatedly in the desolate and empty hall. The ashes from the incense burner blew up in the wind, flying towards the Crown Princess's hair and jewelry. She slowly raised her head, her expression numb as that of an old woman. She looked at the ruthless and indifferent man in front of her. Her blood instantly boiled and coagulated, the veins in her neck bulged terribly, and her pale face flushed and burned. She used all her strength to push him away, shouting until her voice was hoarse: "Yes, Shunyi is dead. It was you who killed him—"
"You're talking nonsense again, and you're being suspicious. Pei Lanyi, don't forget your identity. If these words of yours were to get out, I would be able to wipe out your entire clan!"
Xiao Mao lifted her up by the waist and forced her to look at every brick and tile, every blade of grass and every tree outside the window. "Look, open your eyes and look at the green pines brushing against the eaves and the magnolias surrounding the walls in front of you. Look at the Maotang Mountain Valley and the Feichi Pond over there. Which one was not built according to your wishes?"
Pei Lanyi had no strength to struggle and bit Xiao Maohu's mouth hard.
Blood gushed out, and the lines on his flesh became blurred, but he seemed to feel no pain and held the woman in his arms tighter. In a rage, he lifted her up into the air and walked towards the bed with great speed. Layers of curtains overlapped between the two of them. He didn't care if he was tripped, he just stood up and kicked her away.
"Let me go, you can't do this." The woman's cry for help was weak as the man was holding her.
Pei Lanyi was thrown heavily onto the couch. She grabbed the brocade quilt with blue bird pattern behind her. She had been married for many years, but she had never been treated so roughly. The fear in her eyes did not stop the murderer in front of her.
"My woman, I can do whatever I want with you." Xiao Mao knelt on the bed with his legs, looking down at Pei Lanyi's graceful and agile body. At this moment, his desire was ignited and he was a little crazy. The cold treatment of many days and the anger just now were released at the same time. His outermost clothes were thrown to the ground, and the jade pendant token and imperial brocade belt that he usually treasured were all thrown on the ground.
He tore Pei Lanyi's underwear with all his strength. After being married for many years, he knew which part to untie. The most noble lady in the capital was still charming and lovely. He bit her fiercely, and it was hard to tell whether there was more love or hatred in his eyes or eyebrows. He secretly exerted force on his waist. His palms were covered with calluses of different sizes from years of reading, writing, practicing archery, riding and playing the piano. His palms were swollen all the way.
Zi, a lady from a noble family who had been brought up to be dignified and virtuous since childhood, could only curse "beast" at most. The pain spread to the side of her leg, and tears of despair slid down the corners of her eyes, falling into the corners of her mouth with salty taste. She bit her lower lip tightly to prevent the shameful sound from escaping her mouth.
The fish trembled softly and played frolickingly, with a burst of pleasure dripping down their spines. The bamboos on the neighboring shore flew into the air, and the blades of the fish cut off pieces, tearing the white curtain. The wind moved them, but the blackness as ink invaded the bottom.
The waves on the bed are endless, and the red color merges into a trickle...
There was a creaking sound outside the door and a chaotic shoving and pushing. Nanny Zheng desperately shook the window and shouted, and the guards tried to stop her in a panic. Yi Xiren wished she could close her ears and escape, crying out in pain as she dragged the reckless old woman along with her.
It was unknown how long it took, but Roushui finally shook off the ignition, extinguished the anger accumulated in her body, and regained her perception.
All that was heard was Matron Zheng's wailing, her voice hoarse and earth-shaking. "Please, Your Highness, the Queen had a miscarriage late in life and hasn't recovered yet. She can't have such intense sex."
"This is going to cost the queen her life, Your Highness."
Xiao Mao finally came to his senses and suddenly touched down. There was a faint trace of blood on his palm. After a moment of panic, he put his other hand on the face that looked as miserable as a withered flower, and said as if he had survived a disaster: "It's okay... It's okay."
Nanny Zheng continued to plead loudly, her voice so loud that it could penetrate the door.
Xiao Mao's voice instantly turned cold: "Alright, I understand, you all can leave."
"I'm sorry, Lan Yi, I hurt you." Xiao Mao held her in his arms, as if holding a piece of soft cotton wool, afraid that it would fall apart if he exerted too much force. "I encountered some unhappy things today. My years of hard work have been disrupted by others. That's why I'm not very nice to you. But Lan Yi, can you please be more understanding of me?"
"I thought Your Highness had given up all feelings and didn't care about anything anymore." Pei Lanyi's voice was cold and she didn't have the strength to struggle anymore. The warmth from his body could make her feel better from the cold she had after giving birth.
Xiao Mao knew he was in the wrong after injuring someone, but since she seemed to be in a good mood, he started chatting with her.
"Zhi Ji hasn't attended court for a long time, and his body hasn't recovered yet. How about we go back to the Pei family to visit one day? It just so happens that you haven't seen your father-in-law, mother-in-law and brother-in-law for a long time." His hand gently stroked Pei Lanyi's hair.
In the past, although they were not deeply in love, they also treated each other as equals. Pei Lanyi knew Xiao Mao too well over the years and could hear his tentative intentions in just a few words.
"Zhiji has been weak and sickly since childhood, and he no longer trusts the doctors in Shangjing. This trip is also to seek medical treatment near Shangjing. I don't know when he will return, so Your Highness does not need to bother to visit him."
After saying all these words in one breath, Pei Lanyi's face turned even paler. She covered her lips and coughed. Xiao Mao personally fed her two sips of water and did not ask any more questions.
At night, Pei Lanyi wrote a note and handed it to Nanny Zheng. Not long after that, Xiao Feng came to meet her.
"This subordinate greets the Crown Princess."
He was Pei Zhiji's close associate, but he didn't go with him. Pei Lanyi knew something had happened and asked repeatedly, but Xiao Feng only told Pei Lanyi about Madam Pei's transfer of Yingta.
The matter has been resolved, so it doesn't matter if he tells her. Pei Lanyi also knows that her brother doesn't want to make her worry.
"Let me ask you, where is Zhiji now?"
Xiao Feng remained silent, looking embarrassed.
"Okay, I won't make it difficult for you, but you have to find a way to send a message to him. No matter what he is doing, tell him to come back quickly. The prince has become suspicious."
Xiao Feng nodded in acceptance, took two steps, and then turned back, saying to Pei Lanyi, "Miss, take care of yourself. My master has always been thinking of you."
After Xiao Feng left, Pei Lanyi looked at the towering palace in front of her, with its embroidered doors and carved eaves. Xiao Mao was right. Everything outside was built according to her wishes. Even the furnishings in the room were her favorites. Even the incense burner that was broken in the hall today was her favorite sweet pine incense.
That was the smell Xiao Mao hated the most, but it burned in the East Palace every day.
*
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
