Chapter 25 Promotion "Not only are you innocent, you have also made contributions."...
The light silk of Yang Fei's color was no longer tight, and was worn open a little, revealing a goose yellow and wine-colored dress underneath the layers of covering, and the scenery of the snow-capped mountains.
The victory of last night's battle gave the emperor a great help at this moment. Qingzan felt weak all over, like a fish flipped on the shore, unable to resist any bullying.
Seeing that her clothes were about to fall into the hands of the emperor, Qingzan's eyes were filled with tears and she sobbed as she made a final effort to escape.
The memorials that had just been pushed aside by someone were already piled up at the very edge of the desk. Now they were pushed aside again and suddenly fell off the platform and landed on the ground with a crackling sound.
After a startling noise, Xiao Fang finally let go of the person: "Why are you hiding? I'm not planning on doing anything."
He even kindly held her thin arm and pulled the person who was lying on her back up.
Qingzan turned her head and saw the scattered memorials on the ground, and immediately squatted down to pick them up.
There were no palace maids left in the palace.
As soon as he bent down, Xiao Fang grabbed him by the waist and hugged him back: "You don't have to do this."
Qing Zan said embarrassedly, "I don't want them to see it."
"Then I pick it up?" Xiao Fang laughed.
Qingzan didn't dare to nod in approval.
After barely satisfying his hunger, the emperor spoke to her about serious matters: "I will ask Concubine Hui to investigate further."
Qing Zan was stunned: "Let Concubine Hui investigate her cousin personally?"
Qingzan knew that she could at best identify a candidate; the rest, unraveling the mystery and following the clues, would require even more manpower and power. But she hadn't expected the emperor's final choice would be Concubine Hui.
The emperor glanced at her calmly and said, "I want to see if Concubine Hui can find out about her cousin."
Qingzan understood his meaning almost instantly. Suddenly, she felt that even the emperor's casual action of picking up a memorial and throwing it onto the table seemed extremely casual and cold.
Concubine Hui. If Concubine Hui enforces the law impartially and personally arrests Concubine Zhao, this matter will definitely be a knot in the hearts of the Zhao family. Will the Zheng and Zhao families still be able to work together in the future?
But the key to this matter was that Concubine Hui was unaware that the Emperor had already made a plan. If she chose to protect Zhao, she would lose the emperor's trust, and this would become a permanent stain and handle on her.
Therefore, no matter who investigates, it will not be more difficult than Concubine Hui.
For the first time, Qingzan truly witnessed the terrifying nature of the person beside her. She didn't dare look into those dark eyes, and only asked softly, "Your Majesty, do you wish to train Concubine Hui, or... do you also need a lone minister in the harem?"
Xiao Fang glanced at her expression and asked, "Are you trying to figure me out?"
Qing Zan did not hear any displeasure in the emperor's tone, which seemed more like teasing, but she still shook her head slowly: "I will not ask any more questions."
No matter what the emperor thought, she just needed to make her attitude clear.
She didn't want to do anything that would overstep her authority.
The emperor briefly considered explaining himself, but ultimately chuckled faintly, "I need to review the memorial. Would you like to have lunch in the Taiji Hall, or go back?"
Qingzan thought for a moment and bowed, "The lotus leaves are swaying in the wind. The Empress Dowager said that the lotus flowers only bloom for one season and asked me to cherish them in time. So I will go back first."
"Go ahead."
The emperor sat upright on the throne and never looked up again.
The corners of his lips were raised.
Qingzan walked past layers of stiff green bamboo curtains just as she had on her arrival, but this time, there were no palace maids guarding her side. On the dark tiled floor, only her shadow trudged forward. The deep, cavernous hall was filled with an eerie silence.
Qingzan remembered what the empress dowager had told her, that in fact, the late emperor, the empress dowager, and even the princess all owed the emperor a lot, and she suddenly stopped and turned back.
At this moment, the emperor happened to raise his eyes again, admiring the rare and brightly colored satin as she walked away gracefully. He unexpectedly met her gaze, but he did not shy away out of guilt.
He said meaningfully: "If you don't want to leave, come back."
He has always been the one who makes others feel guilty.
Qingzan fled in panic.
*
Under the corridor of Baoyuyou Pavilion, Suoying was sitting with several palace maids, making a hollowed-out long cylindrical bamboo cage with bamboo strips. There was also a finished one lying on the ground next to them.
It is said that it can be used as a pillow when sleeping on a summer night. It is called Bamboo Lady and has the same function as winter melon.
Doukou and Pingting noticed that Suoying was not as lively around them as she was around Qingzan. They would always mention Suoying intentionally or unintentionally during their casual conversations, fearing that she was shy and embarrassed to speak.
Suoying was called upon so often that she finally started chatting with them: "I don't know which state or county my hometown is from, I just know it's called Heguang Village. When I was little, the first time I went to the market with my family, I got separated. After that, I begged for a living along the way. I didn't know where to go, but I just went to where there were many people. Then I arrived in Shangjing. At that time, an aunt took me home, washed me, and changed my clothes. She led me to the palace gate and said I was her daughter and was going to participate in the selection to become a palace maid."
Doukou immediately understood the meaning: "She sold you to the palace, replaced her own daughter's place, and even took the money you earned from selling your body!"
Suo Ying was unaware of the truth, and thus her emotions were always complicated when she thought of that woman. "At least, it's easier to make a living in the palace than outside. If it weren't for her, I might have starved to death."
"Pfft, pfft, pfft!" Doukou was eager to cover the man's mouth. "How can you curse yourself with such unlucky words?"
Pingting was older than them, and her words were more measured. "It does seem like a blessing in disguise. Those who entered the palace before the age of seven could at least have the support of the palace to study and learn to write. If you entered later, you wouldn't have such a good thing."
Another palace maid tilted her head in thought, then said to Suoying, "You were able to make this bamboo cage when you were a kid. It must have come from the south! I heard people say that people in the south often use this to cool off."
A large group of people began to talk about the customs and utensils for cooling off in their hometowns. Even people passing by Chengluan Palace could hear the lively scene inside.
Qingzan was outside the palace gate, and she couldn't bear to disturb the scene inside.
This morning, Doukou will stay in Chengluan Palace to help Pingting check if there are any snakes that have escaped the net. Another young palace maid will accompany Qingzan to pay her respects.
The young palace maid couldn't help but sigh, "The atmosphere in our palace is truly wonderful. I'm willing to follow this beauty for the rest of my life!"
It was too hot outside, so the two of them went in without staying for long.
Qing Zan pretended to be majestic and said, "I heard your voices from a long way off. When there's no tiger in the mountain, the monkeys will make a scene."
Several palace maids came up to her with smiles on their faces. One wiped her sweat, another fanned her, and some poured her tea and moved a chair for her to sit with them in the corridor. They were all busy and intimate with each other.
Qing Zan thought of the newly acquired small kitchen and ordered, "I'll have to trouble you to make some mung bean soup and send it to the guards and eunuchs outside."
On the way back, she saw that a lot more people were patrolling near the palaces. She then realized that Concubine Hui had given the order, asking them to search for snakes to prevent them from scaring the masters.
Qingzan knew that it was his words that caused them to suffer such an unexpected disaster in such hot weather, and he couldn't help feeling guilty about it.
I can't find a single snake, I'm afraid I'll get scolded when I get back.
This was the first time the small kitchen had been fired, and the palace servants were all excited, rolling up their sleeves and clamoring to help.
"What's so hard about this? We'll each have a bowl when the time comes. Since it's a rare occasion for us to cook separately, I'll add some locust honey and red dates to the master's bowl!"
Being in the same position as the guards, they naturally didn't think their masters were being overly kind. On the contrary, it just showed that their masters had been through the same thing before, and that's why they treated their servants as human beings.
Pei Da, now the head chef of the small kitchen, knew Qingzan had returned from the outside and rowed a small boat to retrieve the traps from the lotus pond for Qingzan's inspection. In just one night, they had caught six or seven white snakes.
It can be seen that the person who released the snake was really ruthless.
Pingting was not a timid person. She did not show any fear when searching for snakes, but now, looking at the large group of poisonous snakes tangled together, she was still disgusted and turned her eyes away.
He simply went to help in the kitchen, cooled down the mung bean soup in two large wooden barrels, and organized two young eunuchs to go out and distribute it.
Although Chunhezhai was far away, Concubine Zhao had been paying extra attention to the movements outside for the past two days. She knew about this immediately and said sarcastically, "They really are good at buying people's hearts. Those who climbed up from below have ulterior motives."
The maidservant was still in a state of panic: "Master, what if those guards really find the poisonous snake..."
The hand holding the tea trembled and the scalding tea spilled out.
Just as Lady Zhao's brows knitted together, a eunuch came in with a stumbling message:
"Oh no, oh no, Lady Yang has been bitten!"
Lady Zhao had never expected such a pleasant surprise: "He really bit the right person."
However, after the hasty joy, she also felt a little nervous. She touched the back of the maid's hand, which was nervously holding hers, and said softly, "It's okay. It's all Lady Ying's fault."
It's fine.
If there can be mud snakes in the lotus pond, why can't there be poisonous snakes? They give birth to a litter, so it's normal for there to be a large number. Even if they really bit Lady Yang to death, no one would suspect anything and they wouldn't be able to find her.
Thinking of this, Lady Zhao sat down in the chair and drank several sips of the half-scalded tea.
When the person who inquired about the news came back again, she had even thought about what attitude she should use to attend the funeral so as not to arouse suspicion.
"How is it? Has the person been rescued?"
The eunuch was a little silent at this time, hesitating and saying, "Concubine Yang is fine...it's just that, it's just that I heard that she is over a month pregnant."
Lady Zhao's face instantly turned pale, as if she had been played a completely unfunny joke: "How could she be fine? How could she not be bitten to death? How could she be pregnant?"
This news also plunged Fengzao Palace into a state of peril. The Empress' temper, already at rest for two days, flared like a raging fire.
Why is Yang’s life so good?
Jinyu originally snatched Fucui's job, but now she has to kneel in the corridor for a long time.
"My queen, if I kneel for a whole night, how can I serve you?" Seeing that the queen was about to leave, she hugged the queen's legs and tried to arouse the master-servant relationship with tears in her eyes.
"I asked you to get a mud snake and scare Yang on the road, so that I could blame that slut Qingzan later. But you, on the other hand, even managed to scare someone into getting pregnant."
The queen kicked twice but couldn't get away: "Why don't you drag her away--!"
"I don't need you to serve me here. From now on, Fu Cui is the managing aunt of Fengzao Palace!"
*
Huying Pavilion.
When Qing Zan first learned that Lady Yang had been bitten by a snake, she almost thought that the person who used poisonous snakes to harm people had attacked her. After all, she had never really driven the snake outside, so there shouldn't be any snakes outside.
But when she heard that it was a mud snake that bit her, Qingzan knew that she was not the only one trying to muddy the waters. In other words, someone was trying to take advantage of the situation.
However, that person probably didn't expect that this would backfire and cause Concubine Yang to find out that she was pregnant.
I don’t know if that person regrets it at this moment?
When Qingzan rushed to Huying Pavilion, Concubine Yang's place was much more crowded than the day after she was scratched by the cat. Concubine Hui, Concubine Ming, and even the emperor had gathered in front of her bed.
As Qingzan entered the room, she saw a mud snake with its head cut off placed on a plate beside her. The imperial physician confirmed that the snake was non-venomous and that Lady Yang only needed to treat the wound to prevent infection and it would not affect the fetus in her womb.
In the green gauze kitchen, Concubine Yang's pretty face was already covered with old tears and new traces, and her rouge was smudged. She tilted her head and leaned towards the emperor standing at the head of the bed, crying so hard that she could hardly breathe. "First it was a cat, then a snake. Your Majesty, the imperial physician said last time that my pulse was still unstable and it couldn't be confirmed that I was pregnant. But in just one month, even though this matter was clearly concealed, I still experienced life and death several times. I am really afraid that I can't protect myself..."
When she suddenly saw Qing Zan, Lady Yang stopped talking. Her expression was slightly solemn, and she felt a little complicated and indescribable.
At this moment, everyone thought that the snake came from Chengluan Palace. Qingzan did not intend to explain the whole story immediately to defend herself and absolve herself of the crime. She just stepped forward and said, "I deserve the death penalty."
Xiao Fang asked someone to help Lady Yang lie down.
He turned back to look at Qingzan, and approached with his hands behind his back: "I have always been clear about rewards and punishments. The traitors caused the chaos, what does it have to do with you?"
"Not only are you innocent, you've also made contributions. Last time, if it weren't for your heroic protection, Yang and her unborn child would have been in danger. Didn't I say I would reward you?"
"I hereby declare that the beautiful Yang is now pregnant. Having endured many hardships and difficulties, and having been cared for with great care, I hereby promote her to the rank of Concubine, with the same rank and privileges as Ronghua during her pregnancy. The beautiful Ying, for her commendable loyalty and bravery, and her exemplary character, is promoted to Noble Lady."
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