Chapter 77: Night Meeting (Part 2) "Tomorrow night, should I go through the window, or...
Qingzan was about to close the window without explanation. Xiao Fang immediately reached in and grabbed a section of the window sill, blocking the window from closing: "My hand is just right."
He still used the injured hand.
Qingzan noticed the slight hemorrhage still lingering on the back of his hand, and her eyelashes drooped in dejection. His hand was responsible for handling important state affairs. Every day of injury would delay the livelihood of the people. Besides, if he was injured again, would the Queen Mother easily let those around her go?
Life is full of constraints. The more family and friends you have, the more you have to plan each step.
After a short silence, she finally asked, "Your Majesty, what do you want to say? I am listening."
The implication is that you should leave as soon as you are done talking.
Xiao Fang smiled bitterly to himself, then quickly raised his narrow eyes to look at her again: "It's windy at night, let's go inside and talk. I'm afraid you and the child will be cold."
Although the place where the emperor was standing just happened to block the sharp wind from blowing through the window hole, Qingzan was only wearing a thin coat for sleeping at this time, and was naturally cold to the bone.
But she refused to give in and said firmly, "Your Majesty, leave now, and I won't be cold."
If he really cared about her being cold, he shouldn't have knocked on her window. She was always said to be a good liar, but he was no less capable, just saying nice things.
The emperor seemed to smile, his eyes narrowed into the blue-black night sky, bottomless, as if to swallow people in.
Qingzan was shocked and felt uneasy for no apparent reason... What evil was he planning?
At this moment, the emperor unexpectedly took advantage of her unpreparedness, pushed the window sash open, and leaped forward. While Qingzan instinctively protected her abdomen and retreated to avoid it, he successfully flipped into the house and marched straight in.
Qingzan didn't even see how he moved. It was so smooth and quick that she didn't even have a chance to react.
I'm afraid this was planned for a long time and they had thought of doing this a long time ago!
Her face turned pale, and the ruthlessness dormant in her bones and blood was repeatedly provoked by him. She was vehement and unyielding when she started to sneer: "Your Majesty is really skilled at this kind of thing."
Xiao Fang turned around, closed the window, hung the window hook, and slowly approached the person, explaining intentionally or unintentionally: "This is the first time I've climbed through a girl's window in my life."
He seemed completely oblivious to the current situation. He calmly smiled and asked, "Did you like the lights yesterday?"
Qing Zan didn't want to face him, so she turned her face away and said, "I don't like it."
Xiao Fang sighed with regret, "That's a pity."
Qingzan didn't say anything else, in stark contrast to the emperor's gentle offensive. From the moment he appeared, her face was as cold as a pond, her demeanor as hard as ice and snow, without a trace of a smile.
Because they had gotten up in a hurry, there was only one lamp lit in the room. The yellow glazed lampshade made the unobtrusive candlelight look dim like twilight, forming a sharp contrast with the scene of colorful silks and leaping precious lights in the palace last night.
Qingzan stood in this sparse light, with her body stretched and her head lowered, too reluctant to even look at him.
The emperor noticed that her belly was already very bulging. A five-month-old fetus was enough to bring considerable burden to the mother.
He took two or three steps and easily reached her face.
Just when Qingzan was about to hit the table behind him, Xiao Fang stretched out his hand and grabbed her and pulled her onto the bed.
Qingzan fell into the arched hollow of her vagina, with two arms blocking her body on both sides and the towering shadow of a man in front of her. Her only way to retreat was to shrink back into the bed.
Wouldn't this give him more opportunities?
Qingzan gritted her teeth and didn't move.
Xiao Fang suddenly said, "The palace maids said that you go out every few days and walk for half an hour."
"The imperial physician also said that you have always followed the doctor's instructions and never missed taking the medication to maintain your pregnancy. Your pulse is strong and powerful."
He looked at the gentle bulge of her belly beneath her white silk dress, and as he leaned over, his lips almost touching her forehead. "You cherish it very much. I think if you truly hated the child's father, you wouldn't be able to cherish it so much."
He knew her whereabouts very well.
Qingzan thought with some despair and sarcasm that there was indeed no one in this palace who could escape the emperor's control.
She tried to respond to him coldly and indifferently: "Who said that? It's just a mother's love, blood is tied to her. "
But the sound was not much stronger than the sobbing when one was about to cry.
After making sure she had no way of escaping, Xiao Fang sat down beside her and took her hand. "Do you really want to sever ties with me? If from now on, I really don't care about you at all, will you not be sad?"
The long-lost skin-to-skin contact made Qingzan resist violently and try to break free. The slender fingers like frozen jade suddenly burst out with great strength, and her soft muscles and weak bones were decisively cut like a knife or an axe in the emperor's palm. As she resisted and pulled back, her nails almost scratched the emperor's face.
Xiao Fang hissed softly.
The voice almost made Qingzan turn around to check, but in the end, she just put on an unmoved and unsoftened attitude, staring at the ground in front of her with a cold face and said: "Your Majesty, please take care of yourself and stay away from me. I don't want to bear the blame for the crime that I can't escape."
But even if he really gets hurt again, it's his own fault!
Xiao Fang turned his wrist, looked at his palm, lowered his head and said nothing, as if silently blaming her cruelty.
Suddenly she laughed again. If it weren't for the fact that the injury on his hand had some impact on her and he hadn't recovered yet, and if it weren't for the fact that he wasn't willing to use force on her, would she have thought she could break free from him or even hurt him?
He raised his hand and removed half of the bed curtain.
Qingzan immediately looked at the movement of his hands, "What are you doing!"
Then she noticed that his arms had become increasingly lean, perhaps due to the effort and energy put into recuperating from his injuries these days. The emperor was a man of both literary and martial abilities, having been a martial artist himself. If he really wanted to do something to her...
Qingzan immediately wanted to move away from him, but before she could move away at all, the emperor put his hand around her body, supported himself on the couch, and trapped her again.
He took hold of her hands again and pulled them upwards, then pushed them hard, pushing her down onto the couch.
His hands were raised above his head and held down tightly. Qingzan almost wanted to kick him, and his legs were also held down by his knees.
He really became a fish on the chopping board.
Qingzan suddenly thought of the pair of green parrots in the golden cage. They said they couldn't bear to trap her and wanted to give her freedom, but it was obvious that they were her cage!
If the emperor had not seemed to be somewhat concerned about her belly and kept a distance from her, he would have been on top of her at this moment.
However, Qingzan did not feel happy about this for long, because the emperor lowered his head and took a bite of the snow on her neck... The hands that he had never used to control her also found her knees covered by her thin skirt, and caressed them deeply and shallowly through the fabric.
Before the heat burned her body, Qingzan closed her eyes, suppressed the trembling of her body, and asked in a mournful voice, "Your Majesty, do you want to kill me twice?"
The moment the words were spoken, sorrow welled up in my heart. The corners of my eyes were instantly flooded with water, and as I lay back in the curtains, my whole body felt like a shattered jade bottle, its contents gushing out in an unstoppable stream of icy liquid.
Xiao Fang paused, his heart aching, and he couldn't bear to continue.
As Qingzan cried, she thought of what Xun Huan had said to her during the day, the entire Chengluan Palace family, and the Duan couple who were in cahoots with each other.
Now it seems hard to say whether these words were said by Xun Huan at the emperor's instruction.
But even though she knew what he was planning, she couldn't deny it.
Her throat was choked for a moment, and she frowned, suppressing a cry of anger: "You gave the place where I used to live to someone else!"
Xiao Fang was a little surprised when he heard this, but he also laughed at himself as if he had expected it.
He lowered his head to look at the person, then loosened his grip and pulled the quilt over her, as if to tell her that he would not do anything more extreme again.
But he still didn't get up, only smiled at her dully: "Tomorrow night, should I go through the window or the main door?"
*
The next day, when she woke up, Qingzan's eyes were extremely dark. Doukou could tell she hadn't slept well. She was about to ask her master if there was anything she could do to help her relieve her worries, but she saw Suoying walking angrily in front of her master, muttering to herself, "I didn't sleep well last night either. I kept hearing strange noises. I think we might have been robbed!"
Qingzan didn't know how much she had heard last night, and it was not easy for her to ask directly, but seeing that she was so indignant, she felt that she probably couldn't hide it.
Who told the emperor to spend half a day wiping her tears last night, saying he would leave immediately if she stopped crying? She chased him away several times without success, so she just let her sleep by herself, and the emperor sat by her bed and watched her.
That is to say, it was during the first month of the lunar year, when the sun rose later, otherwise he might have been seen when he left.
Fortunately, she had already told him clearly that next time, no matter whether it was the door or the window, she would not let him in and would just let him freeze to death.
After lunch at noon, Xun Huan came to find Qingzan. Before they sat down and started talking, Suoying took the tea tray from the little palace maid and walked in. She deliberately brought up the matter again: "Be on guard day and night, but it's hard to guard against thieves in your own home. Master, should we send a few more people to patrol tonight?"
Xun Huan immediately felt a little guilty. He picked up the tea and took two sips. He asked unnaturally, "What's wrong?"
In front of outsiders, Qingzan was afraid that Suoying would say something outrageous and get herself into trouble. When she first met her, she was very quiet and reserved, but since following her, she has become more lively and unrestrained. She quickly sent the other person away and said, "I haven't fed the parrots yet. Can you go and check on them for me?"
Suo Ying realized that Sister Qing Zan was trying to get rid of her, and muttered, "Dou Kou already went to feed the baby."
In the end, he retreated reluctantly.
Qing Zan then asked Xun Huan, "When did you go to Liushang to take up your post? Why did you come to look for me now?"
"Hmm...it'll take a few more days." Xun Huanyan's lips curved up, and he took her arm. "I'd like to ask you to accompany me to watch their rehearsal. I heard that one of the Eighteen Scenic Spots of Taiye Lake is the Wu Yu Tower, and the Emperor's birthday banquet will be held there. There's a drum-like platform on the top floor, and the concubines have been practicing classical music and dance there these past few days. Would you like to accompany me to take a look?"
Qing Zan was now behind schedule. However, she hadn't planned to attend the birthday party, so she didn't care what others said. "Just go by yourself. Why drag me along?"
Xun Huan raised his voice a little: "You are the host and I am the guest. What if I wander around alone and start gossiping about them again?"
Qing Zan simply said truthfully, "You have profound attainments in dance and music. If you go to meet friends through dancing and exchange some advice with them, they will be more than happy to do so."
Xun Huan, however, was delighted to hear this. She nudged the man's arm with her shoulder and said, "I'm just worried that you won't be prepared for danger in times of peace. All men in the world are unfaithful. Others are like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each displaying their own magical powers, yet you are still willing to give way to others."
Having said that, Qingzan was too lazy to beat around the bush and simply broke the window paper, warning him: "You are not allowed to open the door for him tonight."
Xun Huan was discovered and laughed awkwardly.
Then she thought of something, raised her fingertips with a seductive look, and pointed at the person's shoulder: "I agree to it. At worst, I will lose my job as a female official. From now on, I will come to you and wash my hands and work as your cook!"
Thinking about how ugly the emperor’s face would be if he made a wasted trip, I was actually a little looking forward to it.
*
At night, in Ruizhu Palace, Concubine Hui hadn't slept soundly since the arrival of Princess Lingxi. Even with the care of palace maids and wet nurses, no one could match the attentiveness and care of a mother. Even as a stepmother, she had long since treated the princess as her own. Therefore, she would rise several times each night to check on the princess, only returning to sleep after seeing she was soundly asleep.
There was no way. The princess was born prematurely and her body was more fragile than that of an ordinary baby. Sometimes, looking at her little face that was so white that it was almost transparent, Concubine Hui felt so fond of her that she would rather not have any children in the future and just take care of her wholeheartedly.
Today I got up in the middle of the night and went to visit him.
Walking to the side of the cradle, Concubine Hui stretched out her hand to stretch the embroidered swaddling cloth covering the princess's cheeks a little, but suddenly saw that the princess's delicate skin was covered with dense red rashes.
Concubine Hui was horrified and picked up the princess, shouting, "Come, quickly call the imperial physician!"
She couldn't immediately pinpoint the cause of the illness, but many illnesses are fatal for children. The princess, startled awake by her, began to cry, her body still burning. As Concubine Hui held her, she felt as if she were on the edge of a cliff, her heart aching with fear and nervousness she had never experienced before.
*
Outside the Taiji Hall, it happened that his godson Duobao was on duty tonight, so Xu Delu pulled him to sit on the steps of the hall and chat.
Xu Delu said, "You and Master Ying's Pingting are acquainted. Ask her to mediate tomorrow. If the masters are harmonious and friendly, our duties will be easier."
Duobao had never dared to report the matter of the parrot. When he heard people suddenly mention Concubine Ying, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed and his scalp tingled. He was torn between whether he should tell the truth or just keep quiet.
Suddenly, Xiang Su from Concubine Hui's palace came running over in a hurry. She stood up as if she had seen a savior and said, "Oh, it's so late, why are you here, young lady?"
It's past curfew at this point.
Before Xiang Su could catch her breath, she said, "The little princess is sick. Someone wants to harm her! Please ask Your Majesty to come and take a look!"
Xu Delu's heart tightened, and he jumped up. Concubine Hui was not the kind of person who would use the little princess's illness as an excuse to curry favor. Who knows how dangerous the princess's current condition must be!
He was also extremely anxious, but he was hesitant to turn around and go inside to report.
Xiang Su couldn't help but urge doubtfully: "Father-in-law? What are you waiting for!"
Xu Delu had no choice but to say dryly, "But His Majesty has already gone to bed."
I can't tell her that His Majesty went to visit Chengluan Palace at night.
If he went to Chengluan Palace to look for someone now, wouldn't that be like announcing to everyone that His Majesty was there, even though His Majesty had specifically ordered secrecy. But if he went to look for her secretly, he would be stuck, unable to even enter the gate of Chengluan Palace.
After a while, Xu Delu finally made up his mind to go to Chengluan Palace, but a figure came out slowly with his hands behind his back.
"What happened?"
The emperor's voice was stern and steady.
The urgent problem was solved at once, and Xu Delu felt like he was hearing music from nature. He was almost moved to tears.
He did not have time to be surprised or wonder why the emperor came back so soon, nor did he have time to observe his expression and analyze why the emperor had such a frosty and dark face. He just stepped forward and briefly explained the little princess's critical situation.
Xiao Fang immediately ordered to move to Ruizhu Palace.
The princess was already worth a fortune, and the emperor's actions were like a stone that caused a thousand ripples. The entire palace was frightened overnight.
Qingzan was also alarmed that night. After hearing that the little princess had come into contact with something she shouldn't have, which caused her to have urticaria and rashes all over her body, she immediately thought of the windproof hat she had sent to the princess that day.
I don’t know if Concubine Hui had anyone use it. If so, she is somewhat involved in this matter.
Moreover, such a small baby has been born with great difficulty, but now it has suffered so many disasters. How can people sleep peacefully?
Qingzan no longer hesitated and simply and skillfully tied up her hair: "Let's go and take a look."
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