Chapter 119 Entering the Palace (3)
The Crown Prince settled Li Xiaoxiao in a courtyard behind the Crown Prince's bedroom, which was heavily guarded.
Li Xiaoxiao didn't understand what this meant, and asked Pang Shi, who had brought her there, "What does this mean? Are you locking me up?"
Pang Shi's gaze was complicated: "You should stay here for now. His Highness the Crown Prince may have to ask you some questions."
Li Xiaoxiao glanced at him sideways, looking incredulous: "I've already told him everything I know, so I can't control what he does next."
Pang Shi sighed: "His Highness the Crown Prince needs time to sort out his emotions. After all, what you said was too sensational. His Highness is not in a good mood right now. He needs some time to verify what you said and decide what to do next. He may need your help. So please stay here and rest assured for now."
Li Xiaoxiao thought of Meng Guanqi outside; if she hadn't gone out today, he would have been worried sick.
She told Pang Shi to wait a moment, then went back to her room and wrote a letter, handing it to him: "My young master is definitely waiting for news of me at the inn where I am staying. He must be frantic if he doesn't see me return. Find someone to help take this letter back to your home, and then instruct your wife's maid to deliver it to him. Be very careful not to let anyone follow you. If you drag him into this, I won't let you off the hook."
She was also worried that if the Crown Prince sent people directly to find Meng Guanqi, they would be watched. He only had a group of weak scholars by his side, how could they protect his safety?
Moreover, although she entered the East Palace late at night, she didn't know if there were any spies infiltrated there. What if they found out that she was the one who tipped him off and exposed his secrets, and then, in a fit of anger, kidnapped Meng Guanqi to threaten her?
Therefore, it would be best to go back to the Pang residence and have Madam Pang send a maid or servant to deliver a message to Meng Guanqi; that would be safer.
Pang Shi asked in surprise, "Meng Guanqi? He's here too? Didn't you say you came to the capital alone?"
Li Xiaoxiao said, "We met by chance in the capital. He came with the headmaster of Wanshan Academy and his classmates. My family didn't know about him before."
She thought for a moment and decided to leak the news to Pang Shi: "You'd better tell the Crown Prince to have a good cry and let it go. Don't let him dwell on the past. Now is not the time for him to cry. Do you know why our young master came to the capital?"
She told Pang Shi about the emperor's secret edict ordering the most famous private schools from each prefecture to gather in the capital for a parade and rally, intending to confront the court and the imperial family in their opposition to the deposition of the crown prince. Her eyes gleamed: "Although the crown prince may have been beaten down all these years because of the darkness under his nose, he is not entirely at a disadvantage. At least the emperor is on his side. And our young master once said that as long as the emperor stands with the crown prince, those demons and monsters are not a concern. We can deal with whatever comes our way."
Pang Shi gave her a deep look, bowed solemnly, and strode away.
Li Xiaoxiao chased after her: "Hey, hey, hey, my letter! Why didn't you take my letter?!"
Pang Shi snatched the letter from her and left like the wind.
After Pang Shi left, there was no one left in the courtyard.
Li Xiaoxiao hadn't slept last night, and since there was no one to talk to, she simply covered her head and slept. When she woke up, it was already dark.
She sighed. She knew she wouldn't be able to leave today. She just didn't know how long the Crown Prince planned to keep her locked up. She had told her family she would be back within a month, so she wouldn't stay in the capital for more than ten days.
Ten days should be enough time for the Crown Prince to verify what she said, right?
To be honest, she could understand the Crown Prince's incredulous reaction.
After all, no one had ever told him before that a beautiful stone could be deadly, especially since these stones were a gift from his mother. He couldn't just unconditionally believe her because she had once saved his and his son's lives; he would definitely have to take the time to investigate the truth of the matter.
She sat up, casually tidied her hair into a ponytail, and planned to go out to see if there was anything to eat. As a result, she saw two food boxes on the stone table in the courtyard.
Oh, someone brought her food? They even brought her two meals.
Why didn't you wake her up when you brought the food? It's all cold now.
Li Xiaoxiao opened one of the boxes, and sure enough, it was cold. She opened the other box, and it was warm, so it must have been delivered not long ago.
She took all the food out of the kitchen and placed it on the table, then began to eat in silence.
Knowing she had a big appetite, the two food boxes they brought were very large, but Li Xiaoxiao, adhering to the principle of not wasting food, finished both portions.
After finishing her meal, she touched her stomach and thought, "Hmm, I feel a little full."
She always thought that Mao's mother was the best cook in the world, but she never expected that the chef at the Eastern Palace would cook even better than Mao's mother. There really are always people more skilled than you!
After she finished eating, she had nothing to do. The courtyard she lived in wasn't very big, and she walked around several times before it got dark. She was so bored that she started practicing boxing in the courtyard.
Her boxing style was very simple; she learned it from Constable Shi, and all the yamen runners in Biyang County knew it. It was fine for physical fitness, but not very effective in fighting. It was all show and no substance, only good for looking good.
But because she was strong, she fought with great force, which was perfect for venting her excess energy.
She slept too much during the day, so she couldn't sleep at night. She wandered around the yard, wanting to go out for a walk, but the guards at the gate wouldn't let her.
Helpless, Li Xiaoxiao had no choice but to lie back down on the bed and try to fall asleep, but her thoughts had already flown out of the palace gates.
I wonder if Pang Shi has found Meng Guanqi yet? He shouldn't be worried anymore after receiving her letter, right? When did his rally and march start and end? Will he go back to Biyang County with her after it's over?
It's July now, and there are still six months until next February. Is he planning to stay in the capital to take the exam? If he doesn't leave, will she have to go back? She promised Aze she'd go back within a month…
Lost in her thoughts, she drifted off to sleep without realizing it.
For the next two days, the Crown Prince did not come to see her, nor did he allow her to go out. Three meals a day were delivered by eunuchs, who seemed to have been specially instructed not to say a word to her. They would deliver the food and then leave as if their pants were on fire.
What is she? A tiger? Why don't you even talk to her?
Li Xiaoxiao had no worries about food or drink, and the courtyard was beautifully decorated with a fresh and pleasant atmosphere and excellent scenery, but she felt like she was in prison.
She made up her mind: if the Crown Prince didn't see her by the third time, she would leave on her own.
She didn't really care about the heavy guards at the gate. Anyway, she wasn't a member of the Eastern Palace, so she could leave whenever she wanted.
Just as she was thinking this, she heard footsteps outside the courtyard. She was delighted. Someone was coming? Was it time to let her out?
When the courtyard gate opened, the same few eunuchs carried several buckets of water in single file, followed by three palace maids carrying small baskets.
Li Xiaoxiao quickly stepped forward: "Hey, why are you delivering water so early today?"
The eunuch and maid remained silent and went straight into the bathroom to pour water into the tub. One of the maids scattered flower petals from her small basket into the tub, while the other placed several bottles and jars on a small table in the bathroom. The jars were labeled with the names of various perfumes, such as rose perfume, jasmine perfume, and magnolia perfume. There were also soaps, combs, towels, hairbands, and other items for washing hair, filling the small table to the brim.
The last palace maid took out several new clothes from the basket and draped them on the screen. After everything was ready, the eunuchs and palace maids bowed to her together: "Please take a bath, young lady."
Li Xiaoxiao was startled. This was the first time in three days that the eunuchs and palace maids had grown mouths! They were finally talking to her?
It's just a simple shower, why is it making such a big fuss?
While she was still in a daze, the eunuchs all withdrew, leaving three palace maids standing in the bathroom. Two of them stepped forward to help Li Xiaoxiao undress, but Li Xiaoxiao stepped back to avoid them: "What are you doing?"
Two palace maids bowed in unison and said, "This servant is ordered by Her Highness the Crown Princess to bathe and change your clothes, Miss."
She was ordered by the Crown Princess to help her bathe and change clothes? So it was the Crown Princess who wanted to see her! She must be asking about Aze. She knew it! How could the Crown Princess remain indifferent after the news of Aze's survival spread?
Alright, although it's not the Crown Prince who wants to see her, the Crown Princess can represent him. She can go see him whenever she has time, and also see how the Crown Prince's investigation is going.
She was just a nobody who helped the Crown Prince open up a little bit of the situation. As for those power struggles that required a lot of brainpower and talking, those were the things that big shots did. She couldn't do them and wasn't interested in them. She just hoped that the Crown Prince wouldn't lose too badly.
She knew she couldn't go to see the Crown Princess looking disheveled, but Li Xiaoxiao had never encountered so many people standing in the bathroom before. She smiled awkwardly and said, "It's just a bath. I can do it myself. Please, ladies, rest outside."
So the Eastern Palace really does have a rule about helping people bathe. No wonder the Crown Prince spoke up so casually when he was bathing in Biyang County, and she even gave him a sarcastic rebuke, thinking that a grown man like him shouldn't need someone to help him bathe...
Another slightly older palace maid bowed deeply to Li Xiaoxiao: "This servant is Ta Xue, this is Ning Shuang, and this is Yun Lu. We are here to serve you on the orders of the Crown Princess. Please do not send us away. If we are sent back after entering Jiangyun Pavilion, we will be punished. Please have pity on us."
Ning Shuang and Yun Lu also bowed and said, "Please have pity on us, young lady."
Li Xiaoxiao was dumbfounded. They couldn't even refuse to help? They'd be punished? What kind of ridiculous rule was this?
But she didn't want to make things difficult for them, so she thought for a moment and said, "How about you guys wash my hair for me?"
Ning Shuang and Yun Lu exchanged a glance, their faces beaming with joy: "Yes."
There was a specially made wooden bed in the bathroom where Li Xiaoxiao could wash her hair. She just had to lie on it, stick her head out, and let them wash it for her.
Honestly, it's quite nice to have someone help you wash your hair. They opened all those bottles and jars and used them all on her hair. In all her time in this world, she'd never felt her hair smell so good before. She probably wouldn't even need mosquito repellent when she went out...
It took almost half an hour to wash her hair. When it was time to take a bath, Li Xiaoxiao refused to let them help her. She told them to stand in the outer room, and she quickly took off her clothes and jumped into the bathtub. She rubbed her whole body with a towel and was done in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
She was having trouble getting dressed again. She had put on her undergarments, but the rest of her clothes looked like this. She didn't even know how to put on her undergarments.
Ta Xue, who had been keeping an eye on her, quickly came in to help her get dressed, and this time Li Xiaoxiao didn't refuse.
She put on layer upon layer of exquisite and gorgeous clothes, with subtle embroidery on them. Even without looking in a mirror, Li Xiaoxiao thought the clothes were really beautiful.
She had never worn such beautiful clothes before.
After she was dressed, Taxue helped her comb her hair into a high bun, put on a bright red headband, and adorned each side with a pale yellow hair flower. Then she pushed Li Xiaoxiao in front of the bronze mirror: "Miss, are you satisfied with this?"
Although the bronze mirror was blurry and she couldn't see clearly, Li Xiaoxiao was still stunned by her own appearance in the mirror. It's true that clothes make the man; she didn't look bad when she dressed up. She wondered if Meng Guanqi would be scared if she stood in front of him dressed like this.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but chuckle. She decided to talk to the Crown Prince about it and ask him to give her this outfit. She wanted to wear it out and scare Meng Guanqi!
Ta Xue bowed and said, "Miss Li, Her Highness the Crown Princess is already waiting at Qianfangzhai. Please come with me."
Li Xiaoxiao was very satisfied: "Okay, lead the way!"
The cheerful voice surprised Taxue and the others. Ning Shuang and Yun Lu exchanged a glance and then quietly lowered their heads.
Ta Xue smiled without changing her expression and said, "Please follow me, young lady."
Li Xiaoxiao followed Ta Xue for less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before they arrived at Qianfangzhai. Ta Xue stepped forward and gently knocked on the door of the main room: "Your Highness, Miss Li has arrived."
A young woman's voice called out, "Please come in quickly."
Ta Xue replied, "Yes."
He opened the door and gestured for her to come in: "Miss Li, please come in." But he stood guard at the door, not moving an inch.
Li Xiaoxiao walked in, walked around the screen at the door, and immediately saw a beautiful woman in white clothes sitting on the kang by the window.
She looked to be about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, but she was almost skin and bones. Her face was pale and tired, and there were obvious dark circles under her eyes, but her eyes were still bright.
After being like a walking corpse for a while, I suddenly saw hope and my spirits lifted, but my physical condition couldn't keep up.
Li Xiaoxiao glanced at the things on the kang table again, deliberately ignoring their presence, and first bowed to the Crown Princess, raising a smile: "You must be Aze's mother, right?"
The Crown Princess was taken aback: "Aze?"
Li Xiaoxiao said, "Aze told me that his mother gave him the nickname Zezhi, so I call him Aze."
The Crown Princess's beautiful eyes immediately welled up with tears, and her lips trembled: "Zezhi, is he... is he alright now?"
Li smiled and said, "He's fine. He's waiting for the Empress and the Prince to come and take him home."
She guessed that the Crown Prince and Crown Princess had been busy investigating the Poison Stone these days, and that's why they were able to find time to see her today. As a mother, she was sure she wanted to know everything about Aze, so she told the Crown Princess in detail about her interactions with Aze: "At first, he was quite timid and would be afraid of birdsong. I told him what kind of birds they were and that they weren't ghosts, and then he wasn't afraid anymore."
"Don't let his young age fool you, he's very disciplined. The day I rescued him, he hadn't eaten all day. When I gave him food, he said the Crown Prince had told him that he couldn't eat anything after 5 PM..."
The Crown Princess listened intently to her son's news, not wanting to miss a single word, her smile tinged with tears: "Silly child, times have changed. He hasn't eaten all day, how can he not eat?"
Li smiled and said, "Yes, that's what I told him too, so I scooped him a bowl of rice and mixed it with the salted vegetable and meat patties that Mama Mao made. He ate it all up and even drank half a bowl of soup."
A look of surprise flashed in the Crown Princess's eyes, followed by a hint of worry: "Aze has never had a good appetite, how can he eat so much food?"
Li Xiaoxiao said, "No, when he eats at our house, he has a good appetite. He can eat a bowl of rice and drink half a bowl of soup every meal."
The Crown Princess exclaimed happily, "Could it be that the cook at Lord Meng's residence makes food that particularly suits his taste?" She wondered to herself if Ze Zhi liked her cooking, should she send an imperial chef to exchange with the Meng family...
Li Xiaoxiao said, "No, not at all. The food that Mama Mao makes is a bit different from that of the imperial chefs at the Empress's residence. But Aze eats with me. I eat five bowls and he eats one, so he doesn't think it's too much..."
The Crown Princess was startled. Could someone with such a frail body really eat five bowls of food?
Li Xiaoxiao argued confidently: "Your Majesty, Aze doesn't have a good appetite, so you need to find someone with a good appetite to eat with him. Just like our Rui Rui, there was a time when he didn't like to eat, and then Madam had him eat with me, and soon he ate heartily and in large quantities..."
Li Xiaoxiao continued, "When Aze first came to our house, he was very uneasy, but he didn't forget that the Empress wanted him to study. Now he studies with us adults in the morning and plays obstacle courses with Rui Rui in the afternoon."
The Crown Princess asked in confusion, "A grand challenge?"
Li smiled and said, "It's an obstacle course."
She gave the Crown Princess a brief explanation of obstacle courses, and then said meaningfully, "Aze's body needs a lot of exercise and sweating right now. Only in this way can the poison in his body from the fluorite be metabolized more quickly, and his body will get better."
Finally, the topic came up. The Crown Princess's smile vanished quickly, replaced by a gloomy expression, and her breathing became heavy: "Three days ago, His Highness went crazy and came to me, asking my mother to use the pretext of visiting me to find an old miner to hide in the car and bring him in. I thought he was having another episode of his delusions, and when I asked him why he insisted on doing this, he wouldn't say anything..."
But if the Crown Prince was having a hysterical episode, he wouldn't have thought of concealing his presence by having someone from her maternal family bring people in.
So the Crown Princess sent a letter to her family with some doubt. A day later, her mother and her younger brother came to visit her.
Although the Crown Prince was confined to the Eastern Palace by the Emperor, he did not prevent the Crown Princess's family from visiting her. In addition, the Crown Princess was frail and sickly, so her family members often came to visit her.
Therefore, the arrival of the Crown Princess's mother and younger brother went unnoticed, and no one noticed that a shivering old miner was hiding in the carriage.
When the prince saw the old miner trembling and not daring to look at anyone, he seemed to see some hope and grabbed the man and dragged him away.
Fearing something might happen, the Crown Princess asked her maid to stay in the front hall with her mother and younger brother, and hurried after the Crown Prince.
As a result, the prince took out the jade cabbage and the gemstone from Aze's neck and showed them to the old miner, asking him if he recognized these things.
Upon seeing the familiar object, the old miner finally stopped trembling. His dark, cracked hands took the jade bonsai and examined it closely before saying, "This isn't jade; it looks more like yellowstone..."
The prince said urgently, "I know this is not jade. I want to ask you, is this stone poisonous?"
The old miner was startled and stammered, "This, I... I don't know if it's poisonous... but the mountains where these two kinds of minerals grow don't grow any grass..."
The crown prince immediately took a step back and slumped into his chair, remaining motionless for a long time.
Even grass doesn't grow there, isn't that the best evidence?
The Crown Prince waved wearily, signaling the Crown Princess's younger brother to take the person away, as if all his energy had been drained away.
The Crown Princess naturally wanted to get to the bottom of things, so the Crown Prince told her everything Li Xiaoxiao had said.
The Crown Princess clutched her chest and looked at the golden lock and fluorite on the table: "When the Crown Prince told me, I simply couldn't believe it. My child, my child was actually harmed by the poisonous stone!"
She sobbed uncontrollably, "If only... if only Xiao San had met you sooner, if only he had met you sooner, he wouldn't have died such a tragic death. When he was little, he was chubby and adorable, with a sweet tongue that everyone loved. I... I just watched him grow thinner and weaker, until he finally died in my arms... I really didn't expect this, why? Why? If there was anything wrong, he should have come at me and the Crown Prince, why did he have to harm my child? Why?"
Li Xiaoxiao lowered her head sadly. It turned out that the Crown Prince's first son to die was also born to the Crown Princess. Now that she knew the truth, how painful it must be for her.
The Crown Princess was very weak. She had only cried for a short while when she couldn't help but cough. Ta Xue called out worriedly from outside the door, "Your Highness, you mustn't get agitated. Shall I call Doctor Feng over?"
The Crown Princess shook her head and covered her mouth with her handkerchief: "No need. Cough cough, I have something to say to Miss Li. You all stay outside the door and do not disturb her."
Ta Xue was very worried, but dared not disobey the Crown Princess.
After the Crown Princess's cough subsided, she stood up shakily and bowed gracefully to Li Xiaoxiao: "Miss Li, I want to thank you. Thank you for saving Zezhi's life and our whole family's life."
Li Xiaoxiao was startled. She reached out and lifted the Crown Princess, who was about to kneel on the ground, and gently placed her back on the couch.
The Crown Princess was suddenly lifted into the air and then instantly placed back on the bed. She was also extremely surprised; she was incredibly strong! No wonder she was able to rescue Ze Zhi from the swords of seven or eight black-clad assassins.
Li Xiaoxiao said, "Your Highness, you are the Crown Princess, how can you kneel before me? If you really want to thank me, then cheer up and let Aze see a healthy mother when he comes back, so that he won't worry about your health."
The Crown Princess was probably the most severely affected by radiation pollution among all the people she had seen, and she had already shown signs of body rot, while the Crown Prince was actually less affected.
She thought of the Crown Prince's bedroom, which must also be the Crown Princess's bedroom.
The Crown Prince also had concubines such as Liangdi, Baolin, and Xuanshi. He would take turns resting in their rooms each month. He might also sleep in the palace or the outer study because he was handling state affairs. Therefore, he would only sleep in the main hall with the Crown Princess for a maximum of ten or fifteen days a month.
But the Crown Princess is different. Whether the Crown Prince comes or not, she probably sleeps there almost every day, so she will be exposed to the most and heaviest radiation from orpiment and copper-uranium mica.
She had become so thin that Li Xiaoxiao felt that if another year or two passed, the Crown Princess's body would not be able to hold up.
What a vicious scheme, killing without leaving a trace.
The Crown Princess coughed twice more, then said with a wry smile, "My health is really failing me; it's getting worse and worse..."
Li smiled and said, "It's alright. Now that we know what the problem is, we'll find the poison stone and throw it away. We can recover slowly."
A glimmer of hope flickered in the Crown Princess's eyes: "I'm already so weak, can I still recover? Since you know they're poisonous, do you know of any antidote?"
Li Xiaoxiao shook her head regretfully: "I don't know of any medicine that can cure this poison..."
In later times, one could simply go to the hospital for a rejection test or get targeted radiation-removing medication to quickly expel these toxins. But here, there's nothing, so one can only rely on the body's natural detoxification mechanisms.
If the Crown Princess wants to regain her health, she needs to strengthen her own immune system.
The light in the Crown Princess's eyes disappeared.
But Li Xiaoxiao continued, "Although I don't know what medicine can immediately cure this poison, I do know how to slowly detoxify it and let the poison be expelled from your body little by little."
The Crown Princess was both surprised and delighted: "You have a solution?"
Li Xiaoxiao said, "Yes, but I can't guarantee that Your Highness can recover to her previous health." After all, the Crown Princess's symptoms were quite serious, and relying on the body's functions to expel the foreign substances, she couldn't guarantee that she would definitely recover to her original state.
But it will definitely be better than it is now.
The Crown Princess felt her dead heart come back to life. She said firmly, "The best outcome is to not be confined to my sickbed. I can endure any treatment, no matter how painful. Tell me, what is it?" Is it to scrape flesh to remove poison or to endure hardship and humiliation? For the Crown Prince, for Zezhi, she could do it.
Li Xiaoxiao said, "It's not as difficult as I imagined, but it will take a long time. I wonder if Your Majesty would mind..."
The Crown Princess was puzzled. Her body was already so weak from the poisoning, so why would she mind spending so much time on detoxification? Restoring her health was her most urgent thought at the moment.
Li Xiaoxiao said, "If Your Majesty doesn't mind, then the first step in detoxifying is to move all these poisonous stones away from you."
She didn't understand why the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, knowing that the stones were poisonous, didn't quickly get rid of them. Even if they didn't throw them away, they should at least put them in a box and keep them far away.
Li Xiaoxiao thought for a moment and then added, "Actually, although these stones are poisonous, their harm to the human body is limited if they are not in close contact for a long time. They can be buried or stored away from people, and then they will have no effect on the human body."
These are natural minerals, not meteorites from outer space. Their radiation is limited to a small area. Once a certain distance is between them, their radiation becomes ineffective.
The reason why the children in the Eastern Palace, along with the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, were infected was because they were in close contact for a long time, which gradually influenced them.
It was precisely because they were gradually influenced that they failed to notice anything unusual about these stones.
The Crown Princess stared blankly at the poisonous stone on the kang table, a deep pain flashing in her eyes. She reached out and slowly touched the five gold locks on the table. Three of them were dull in color and slightly old. Touching the three old gold locks, she said sadly, "These three gold locks were dug out by the Crown Prince himself from the children's graves..."
Even though she tried her best to hold back her tears, the pain of the Crown Prince personally digging up the graves and removing the locks still tormented her like a knife. Her eyes were blurry with tears: "According to the rules of the royal family, princes who die before the age of eight are not allowed to be buried in the royal mausoleum or have a funeral. So the three children were secretly buried on the back hill of the royal estate. After the Crown Prince heard about the poisonous stones from you, he personally dug up the children's bones and removed the gold locks from their necks. He said that these poisonous stones cannot be left beside the children, so that their souls will not find peace..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com