Chapter 56: The Afterglow of Spring in Kowloon
No wonder the little eunuch ran away like he had lost his soul, and his voice was almost crying. If anything happened to the royal heir, who knows what kind of bloody storm would be set off in this palace.
At this critical juncture, no one cared about his gaffe.
The emperor's face was solemn: "Lead the way."
The young eunuch hurriedly said, "Princess Yang and Concubine Wu met outside Fangxin Palace. Now Concubine Yang is settled in Fangxin Palace."
Because the incident happened on the palace road, and Yangpin was pregnant, the less hasty movement the better. The palace servants sought help from their Fangxin Palace and relocated Yangpin nearby.
In the outer room, the messed-up items were put back in their places, and more candles were lit. The young eunuch took two steps, then turned from the bright light, only to find that the emperor hadn't followed. He paused for a moment, then quickly understood and went to wait outside the hall.
Xiao Fang turned around and headed back into the dimly lit room. The soft curtains had fallen again, looking as hazy white as the petals of a mountain lotus.
He said to the people through the curtain: "I'll go and take a look."
The voice behind the curtain seemed to be muffled by the curtain as well, becoming soft and indistinct. After a moment, a voice rang out: "Okay."
Quiet and deserted.
But it reminds people of the lingering spring scenery.
It was as if ripples of tenderness repeatedly surged through the emperor's cold heart, preventing the aura around him from becoming too grim because of this sudden incident.
Xiao Fang asked gently, "With me?"
It was a question, but not a negotiation.
Qingzan originally thought that he would leave directly, and she never expected that he would treat her so well. Naturally, she never thought of going with him, and at this moment she was still hugging the quilt foolishly.
On second thought, it would be better for her to go together. Everyone knew that the emperor was with her tonight. If she turned a blind eye, it would seem indifferent.
She hurriedly got off the bed and dressed, and was about to call Doukou in to help, but the emperor had already picked up the belt hanging on the rack and tied it for her from back to front.
His finger bones looked sharp and strong, and he was quite graceful in lifting the belt. Unfortunately, his movements were not very skillful, and the knot he tied for her was sloppily and somewhat...ugly.
Qingzan resisted the urge to take it apart; now was not the time to be particular.
Because she was in a hurry, she only wore the outermost layer of silk clothing, which made her figure look particularly thin and timid.
Xiao Fang frowned but said nothing.
When the two of them were about to leave, Qingzan called out to Doukou as he was walking, "Quickly bring me my cloak."
The next moment, Doukou was surprised to see the emperor take the black cloak with nine dragons embroidered with gold from Xu Delu's hand and put it on his master without saying a word.
Wow...it's just ordinary clothes, but this one is embroidered with a golden dragon!
How could an ordinary concubine, no, anyone other than the emperor, wear it?
Not only Doukou, who was standing there in a daze, was surprised, but even Xu Delu was seeing this situation for the first time. He opened his mouth silently, but quickly returned to normal. Compared with the other palace servants in Zhaoshui Palace, he was relatively calm and collected.
The emperor didn't give them time to react and walked out of the hall.
The stunned palace maids in the hall finally came to their senses.
Someone murmured in concern, "Wouldn't it be against the rules to wear this?"
Some people also laughed: "After all, it was given by His Majesty, so why wouldn't the master be afraid to wear it?"
In Fangxin Palace, Concubine Zhen sat in the main hall, supporting her forehead with one hand, silent.
Concubine Yang was placed in a side hall where the Empress and Concubine Hui were present, as were the imperial physicians and a crowd of people. Concubine Zhen felt that there was no place for her, so she decided not to cause any trouble.
Besides, the emperor will definitely come tonight... Concubine Zhen never thought that she would need to hope to see the emperor at this time.
It would be so nice if we could still be like we were in our childhood, without shame or hesitation, and could just stay with the person we loved.
The moment she saw the eunuch she had sent out return, Concubine Zhen jumped up and asked, "What did your Majesty say? Where are the others?"
The young eunuch said, "It's in the back. The emperor will be here soon!"
While Zhen Jieyu felt relieved, she also thought sourly, after all, she was his own flesh and blood, he must be very concerned about her, how could he not come?
She covered her flat belly, wishing she could stuff a doll in it right away.
I should offer another statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Childbirth, tomorrow.
Not long after, the emperor finally arrived, his yellow attire dazzling in the dark night.
Concubine Zhen's eyebrows were bright and she was showing an inappropriate, bright smile, but then she remembered that there was a pregnant woman in the side hall whose condition was unknown, and she pressed the corners of her lips downwards.
With this push, the green hairpin appeared behind the emperor.
There was no need to press it down now, as the corners of her lips completely collapsed.
The fur of the black fox fur coat was thick and smooth. Qingzan grabbed the cloak with both hands from inside and wrapped himself up. After bowing briefly to Concubine Zhen, he followed the emperor into the side hall.
The emperor walked straight in without even a pause, as if he didn't even see Concubine Zhen.
Concubine Zhen was heartbroken and incredulous. Even if he was worried about having an heir, how could he treat a living being like her as nothing?
She was so distracted that she couldn't tell whether she was dazzled or not.
If I'm not mistaken, Ying Ronghua's...
Occasionally, the king, out of pleasurable mood, would give his cloak to his concubine, which was nothing special. However, there was one unspoken taboo: clothing embroidered with nine dragons was forbidden to anyone else.
The nine dragons and five claws point to the Supreme Being!
"Your Majesty!" Concubine Zhen didn't follow him for two steps, but bumped into Concubine Wu who was coming out.
She stopped, hurriedly put on her expression, raised her eyebrows and asked, "Why did you come out?"
Wupin was reluctant to speak: "Your Majesty and the Queen disliked my noise and drove me out."
Concubine Zhen burst into laughter: "Oh?"
She said contemptuously, "Then go kneel outside the hall and wait."
Wu Bin thought she had heard it wrong.
Kneel down and wait, are you punishing her?
She has a soft temper and comes from a poor family, but she is not so cruel to others. The queen is still here.
Wupin said unhappily, "What happened today wasn't my fault. I was also quite frightened!"
Wu Concubine argued, "In terms of seniority, I'm much more senior than Yang Concubine, but I had to give way to her at that time. I couldn't help but feel unfair, so I was a little slow. Besides, wouldn't her sedan chair collapse whether I gave way or not? Besides, the imperial physician said the child is fine."
She had already explained the whole story many times. Since this matter concerned the heir to the throne, she certainly couldn't leave it unclear and allow anyone to be wrongly accused.
Concubine Zhen simply replied lightly, "Back then, Concubine Xue knelt down. You were there when she was in the Eastern Palace, too. Have you forgotten?"
When Concubine Wu first heard Concubine Xue's name, her momentum was visibly weakened.
When Concubine Xue affected the fetus in Ming Zhaoyi's womb without knowing it, His Majesty was so angry.
She stuttered, feeling somewhat guilty, "Xue, Concubine Xue wanted to kneel down of her own accord... Besides, Concubine Jieyu is not the main position in my palace, nor does she have the power to manage the six harems. Why should I be punished?"
Concubine Zhen was already unhappy, and she had a feud with Concubine Wu, so she was just venting her anger on her. She couldn't help but sneer, "According to what you said, those without a master position don't have to be afraid to act."
She scoffed lightly, "If you didn't know, you might think you were so arrogant because you had the Empress's support. There's no master in the Qingdu Palace, and you're doing this on my territory. How can I sit back and watch? What if you neglect me again in the future, or even harm the heir to the throne? What will I do then?"
Concubine Wu seemed a little frightened. She felt that what the person said was wrong and she couldn't say anything in response for a while.
Concubine Zhen smiled and walked towards Concubine Wu, saying delicately, "It's okay if you don't kneel. Let Your Majesty see how to punish her so that it will serve as a warning to future generations."
After saying that, he turned and went into the side hall.
At this moment, Concubine Wu immediately realized that Concubine Zhen was going to belittle her and accuse her of her crimes in front of His Majesty!
After all, she was once the most favored concubine in the palace. For a moment, Wupin almost regretted it and wanted to chase after her to apologize and beg for mercy. But she knew that it was impossible to undo what had been done. Besides, Concubine Zhen was simply holding a grudge and using this as an excuse to stir up trouble!
She pulled up an embroidered cushion and sat down, gritting her teeth and cursing at the maid, "What a petty and vicious woman! Look at her disgusting face."
In the side hall, the imperial physician had already diagnosed Concubine Yang. There was no bleeding and the fetus was relatively stable. She was just a little frightened. She would be fine after taking some pregnancy-stabilizing medicine.
The emperor asked Concubine Hui, "Have you checked the sedan chair?"
Of course, Concubine Hui sent someone to check it out immediately. With the royal heir in her arms, many people were eyeing her covetously, so it was inevitable that they would secretly plot something. Otherwise, why would such a good piece of wood suddenly break?
But the result of the investigation turned out to be an accident.
Yangpin's pregnancy was really full of twists and turns. She encountered all kinds of bad things in the palace.
Concubine Hui stopped turning her Buddhist beads and said, "I had someone check. It was a rotten part of the sedan chair's beam that caused it to break suddenly. There are no signs of human damage. I think the palace servants didn't maintain it properly and didn't discover and replace it in time."
This was indeed the result found by the emperor's secret agents. Xu Delu nodded silently to the emperor.
The emperor's face was as gloomy as water. He ordered the eunuch in charge of the sedan chair in Yang Concubine's palace to be summoned, and issued an order: "Since this is the case, the bloody punishment will be spared. It will be considered as a blessing for Yang Concubine's pregnancy. Wu Concubine will be confined to her house for ten days, and all other persons involved will be fined for six months' salary."
This is considered a very light punishment, probably because nothing really happened to Concubine Yang.
But after the young eunuch came in, his calves were still trembling.
Seeing that the emperor still only favored Concubine Hui and she was standing aside unable to get a word in, the queen had already felt indignant.
At this time, he addressed the young eunuch, "You bastards! You must have seen that Concubine Yang hasn't been favored by the Emperor lately, so you've suddenly neglected her. You can't even take care of a sedan chair? Even if Your Majesty is lenient, a six-month salary deduction is too light!"
If she were to say, it would be better if the punishment was heavier. Without salary, she would be anxious to make money... The Queen glanced at Yangpin's belly. Before anything happened next time, Yangpin must give birth to a prince safely.
The young eunuch's face paled even more upon hearing this. Failure to protect her became deliberate neglect, which completely changed the nature of the matter. He kowtowed hurriedly, "Your Majesty, please understand. Your Majesty, please understand. We, your servants, will never dare to neglect our mistress, Concubine Yang!"
At this critical moment, the others were unaware of the situation and no one dared to speak. Only the young eunuch kowtowed, not daring to stop, his forehead bloodshot.
Suddenly, a gentle and clear voice came from the corner, interrupting the banging of the kowtows: "Your Majesty, will you allow me to speak a word?"
Qingzan stood gracefully at the edge of the crowd, and was inconspicuous at first because she was blocked by the thick bed curtain that was rolled into a big bundle.
Thinking that Concubine Yang might still have a prejudice against her, she hadn't spoken a word since arriving here.
But since the Queen had spoken, and blamed the disaster on Concubine Yang for "not having the Emperor's favor," she didn't mind saying a word.
The emperor narrowed his cold eyes, and finally showed a faint smile: "Alright."
Qingzan then walked out of the small corner slowly, the Nine Dragon Black Fox cloak she was wearing winding over her heels, looking extremely solemn and precious.
Under the candlelight, the golden lines on the dragon's body shone as brightly as crushed gems, attracting great attention.
Looking up further, one can see that she has only a simple white jade hairpin pinned on her lazy, tilted black bun, which makes her snow-white face even more cold and lonely, and she is truly extraordinary.
The Queen had seen her dressed like this before, and had cursed her several times in her heart like whipping a corpse. Now she even wanted to go into battle herself and tear off the cloak.
But I can only endure it.
And I have to endure listening to her sweet talk—
Qing Zan bowed and said, "I believe that Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager are both concerned about Concubine Yang and value the heir to the throne. No one in the palace would dare to neglect Concubine Yang. However, it has been raining a lot this year, and there have been signs of this since before the beginning of summer. And with such a heavy rain yesterday, this sedan chair has been exposed to water so frequently that it will naturally rot faster."
There was another point that she was not in a position to say directly. It was because of the Queen Mother's love for Concubine Yang that she had someone stay with her in Hanliang Palace during the autumn hunt. Hanliang Palace was close to water, and wood near water tends to be more easily rotten.
But the emperor would not have missed it.
Yang Concubine's ability to travel in a sedan chair was a special blessing after being bitten by a mud snake. At the time, there was no time to make a new one, so this sedan chair must have been a reserve in the warehouse. The paint and tung oil on it might not be as good as new, so it can't resist moisture.
The Queen was about to taunt her when Yangpin's maid, Xiaotao, took in her mistress's expression, stepped forward, bowed, and replied, "Yes, I remember now. It rained yesterday, and the mistress was out. The sedan chair has indeed been soaked by the rain for a while now."
Xiao Tao said this not for the sake of those servants, but because she knew that the master would definitely not want the people in the palace to be punished more severely. What if they felt resentful and served even less wholeheartedly?
Now that they have learned their lesson and it is not a man-made disaster, they might as well go with the flow and ask for mercy. On the contrary, they may still remember the kindness of their master.
The emperor's expression was gloomy and unclear, but his slight nod told everyone that he accepted the reason.
Now that the emperor has approved, the matter can be somewhat settled.
The Queen stood there awkwardly, but Concubine Hui breathed a sigh of relief and took the opportunity to say to the frightened eunuch, "Yangpin is so precious now, why aren't you being careful?"
This made the young eunuch grateful and said, "Go down and reflect on your mistakes."
Fortunately, the storm turned out to be a false alarm.
Everyone wanted to disperse.
Yangpin noticed that the emperor was about to get up, so she quickly grabbed his sleeve and said, "My stomach still hurts, I'm scared..."
The emperor wanted to withdraw his hand, but his eyes looked at Qingzan.
The concubines who were about to leave stopped at the same time because of Yangpin's voice.
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