Chapter 234 Rong Yue was captured
In winter, the sky gets dark early and gets light late, and the nights are always long.
The days seemed to be stolen by the thick night.
Before I knew it, the days had passed.
On November 13, two days before Song Zhao was to be crowned as a concubine, the Imperial Household Department delivered her enthronement clothes.
It was a crimson sparrow-feather auspicious robe, densely woven with gold threads, with intricate patterns and embellished with cloud beads, looking gorgeous and noble.
Song Zhao usually prefers refreshing plain colors and rarely wears brightly colored clothes.
At this moment, Yunshan was helping Song Zhao put on the wedding dress and was stunned for a moment.
She was already extremely beautiful, and wearing such complicated and gorgeous clothes made her look even more radiant and stunning, the most beautiful among all the beauties.
The servant from the Imperial Household Department also stared at Song Zhao for a long while before he came to his senses and said with a smile:
"Does your majesty think the dress fits you well? Or is there anything that needs to be improved?"
Song Zhao looked at himself in the mirror and was filled with emotion.
She couldn't tell how long she had been waiting for this day.
After endless struggles along the way, she finally relied on her own abilities to climb up step by step to the position of one of the four concubines.
This dress was very heavy, and it made her feel uncomfortable.
But she still smiled and said:
"Thank you, everything is fine."
Today, the auspicious dress was only brought for Song Zhao to try out for size. The people from the Imperial Household Department would have to take it back and wait until the day of the official enthronement ceremony before letting Song Zhao wear it again.
At this moment, Song Zhao was about to go back to the inner chamber to change his clothes, but he heard the servant say:
"Your Majesty, please don't bother. The Emperor is very concerned about your every move and has said that he will come over in person to see if there is anything that needs to be altered about the auspicious dress."
As he spoke, he took a step forward and approached Song Zhao, lowering his voice and smiling flatteringly:
"The cloud beads on this dress were personally selected by the Emperor. Each one is round and of similar size. This is a thoughtful gesture that even the Imperial Concubine has never had before."
Song Zhao smiled and nodded calmly: "The emperor has a heart, and you, the Imperial Household Department, must also pay attention to it."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yunshan took out a handful of golden melon seeds and handed them to the father-in-law.
He pushed it twice, and finally accepted it with a smile.
At this time, Xiao Yinzi, who had not been seen for a long time, suddenly came to the palace and said to Song Zhao:
"Hello, Concubine Yi. The Emperor asked me to come and tell you that he is busy right now and may not be able to come to your palace later."
Song Zhao said: "State affairs are urgent. You are serving in front of the emperor and reminding him not to overwork him."
Xiao Yinzi responded and said, "The emperor had already reviewed all the memorials in the morning so that he could accompany the queen early. He was about to leave, but Prince Qi suddenly came. He had been traveling abroad for more than half a year, and the emperor couldn't ignore him, so he also called Prince An and Prince Rui to the palace. I guess he can't escape the banquet tonight."
He said this to remind Song Zhao that Xiao Jingheng was going to drink tonight, and asked Song Zhao to prepare sobering soup in the palace early, as a favor to Song Zhao.
But Song Zhao sensed something more important from his words.
Prince An, Xiao Jingyan...
After Xiao Yinzi and the servants from the Imperial Household Department left, Song Zhao immediately instructed Yunshan:
"Go to Zhaochun Palace and call Concubine Tong over, and tell her that I have something to tell her."
Yunshan walked very fast. About two quarters of an hour later, she came back alone.
"My lady, when I went to Zhaochun Palace, I only saw Huipin playing with the palace maids. As for Tong Changzai and Li Changzai... they were not in the palace..."
"really......"
Song Zhao murmured, feeling his heart tighten.
These two people really don't take Emperor Xiao Jingheng seriously.
In the imperial palace, the concubine and the prince were secretly entangled. If they were discovered, the consequences would be disastrous.
"Xiao Fuzi, go to Chaoyang Palace quietly and see if Prince An has left the table early."
Xiao Fuzi brought back the news very quickly.
His guilty look was mixed with a bit of panic.
"Your Majesty, when I was rushing outside Chaoyang Palace just now, I happened to see Prince An rushing out. I followed him at first, but Prince An was very alert, and when he turned a corner, I lost him."
Song Zhao did not blame him. He just calmed down and thought about where they would choose if they were to meet today.
After thinking it over, there was a lot of traffic between Zhaochun Palace and Chaoyang Palace.
There was only an abandoned stage, where few people walked around.
So Song Zhao immediately took Yunshan and Xiao Fuzi and rushed over.
When they arrived at the place, Song Zhao saw from afar Li Changzai, who lived with Rong Yue. At this moment, she was hiding behind the thick trunk of a pine or cypress tree, secretly looking at something at the cloud screen behind the stage.
Before Song Zhao could come up with a solution,
Li Changzai tiptoed back.
Song Zhao saw a group of guards passing by ahead, and Li Changzai was obviously running towards them.
So he quickly took two steps forward and called her from behind,
"Li Changzai? What are you doing here in such a hurry?"
"Empress Yipin?" Li Changzai turned around suddenly, and when her eyes met Song Zhao's, she quickly gestured to her to keep quiet.
Then he trotted over to her and bowed, glancing at the stage not far away, and whispered:
"Your Majesty, I saw Prince An and Tong Changzai arguing with each other behind the stage. It was unclear! The palace rules are strict. I plan to tell the guards to arrest Tong Changzai first, and then report the matter to the emperor."
"Is there such a thing?" Song Zhao was also surprised. After thinking for a while, she said:
"Did you hear what they said?"
Li Changzai shook her head and said, "I can't hear clearly because we are too far away, but Prince An has been pulling Tong Changzai's arm. Men and women should not touch each other, so what else could it be?"
Hearing this, Song Zhao's expression suddenly became solemn. "Since you didn't hear what they said, you can't judge them by your eyes alone. And no matter whether they are innocent or not, you can't tell the guards about this. Otherwise, if the matter gets out of hand, it will hurt the emperor's reputation."
Li Changzai was silent for a moment, and felt that what Song Zhao said made sense, but she said in a weak voice unwillingly:
"What should I do? I can't just pretend I didn't know what I saw, right?"
Song Zhao asked calmly, "Where is the person? Take me there first."
Li Changzai led Song Zhaoli all the way behind the pine and cypress trees.
Song Zhao looked out and saw Prince An and Rong Yue struggling.
There were tears in Rong Yue's eyes and she looked determined to leave, but Prince An held her tightly and refused to let go.
Li Changzai said noisily in Song Zhao's ear: "Your Majesty, you saw it all! When Tong Changzai left the palace today, I saw her acting suspiciously, so I followed her. I didn't expect that she came here to have a tryst with Prince An?"
Song Zhao also seemed to be extremely shocked by the scene before him.
She came out from behind the pine and cypress trees and shouted at the two people who were struggling:
"How dare you, Concubine Tong! In the forbidden area of the imperial palace, you are flirting with a man from outside the palace. How can you be so shameless!?"
This voice immediately attracted the attention of the two.
Before they could react, Song Zhao continued to give orders in a solemn voice.
"Xiao Fuzi, go and capture Tong Changzai for me!"
Xiao Fuzi took the order and stepped forward quickly. Song Zhao saw Xiao Jingyan clench his right fist, and he seemed to want to protect Rong Yue.
Then he added sharply,
"Prince An, if you dare to stop me, I will not even care about your mother's life!"
Song Zhao stared at Xiao Jingyan intently, creating a strong sense of oppression that frightened Li Changzai, who was standing beside him, and broke out in a cold sweat.
Only after Xiao Fuzi detained Rong Yue did Song Zhao move his eyes away from Xiao Jingyan.
"Take her with you and go with me to see the Emperor!"
"Empress Yipin..." Xiao Jingyan called out to Song Zhao in a deep voice.
But Song Zhao didn't want to say a word to him. He turned around decisively and said in a cold tone:
"If Prince An has anything to explain, he should go and tell the emperor in person."
After saying this, he glanced at Xiao Fuzi from the corner of his eye and said in a dignified manner:
"Take the people away!"
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