Chapter 24: Conferred the title of Changzai
Tonight's thunderstorm gave Song Zhaoru divine help.
After the Empress and the Concubine Chen, she became the third concubine who was allowed to stay overnight in Chaoyang Palace.
That night, Xiao Jingheng showed all his love to Song Zhao.
It was almost three o'clock in the morning before they finally fell asleep due to exhaustion.
Over the years, no matter how late he went to bed, Xiao Jingheng would wake up on time at four o'clock in the morning.
But today when he opened his eyes, he found that Song Zhao had gotten up earlier than him.
At this moment, he was standing in front of a table not far away, busy with something.
Song Zhao had his back to him and didn't realize he had woken up.
Xiao Jingheng didn't say anything, just watched quietly.
He saw Song Zhao take his court robe, spread it flat on the table, and then pour boiling water into a flat-bottomed bowl and use the bottom of the bowl to press the tiny wrinkles on the court robe.
Xiao Jingheng asked curiously: "What are you doing?"
"Your Majesty is awake?" Song Zhao turned around and looked at him, smiling coquettishly, "I am helping Your Majesty smooth out the wrinkles on his court robes. When I was at home, my mother always helped my father to tidy up his official uniforms, so I followed her example and tried my best."
Song Zhao said something else, but Xiao Jingheng no longer had the heart to listen.
His eyes were always on Song Zhao's flawless face.
The Queen and the Concubine Chen had both stayed overnight with him, and he had also seen what they looked like after waking up in the morning.
After removing her makeup and sleeping for a night, even a beautiful woman like the concubine had messy hair and greasy hair, which was a bit lacking in appeal.
But Song Zhao is different.
This woman is so beautiful. Even though she has just woken up in the morning and hasn't washed yet, her face isn't greasy at all. All you can see is her fair and rosy complexion.
It makes people feel itchy.
He sat up from the bed, called Song Zhao to his side, took her hand and said:
"You worked so hard to serve me last night, and you didn't even get a little more sleep this morning? Just let the servants do these things. I feel bad for you doing them."
After saying this, he held Song Zhao's hand tightly.
Song Zhao smiled and shook her head, "I don't feel it's hard."
After a pause, she said in a weaker voice, "Serving your husband will only make you happy, so how can it be hard?"
She had said in front of Jamel Xiao more than once that she regarded him as her husband.
Such words are presumptuous.
In such a huge harem, even the queen did not dare to call Xiao Jingheng her husband in private.
But Song Zhao dared,
But she is so daring that she can even please Jamel Xiao.
Men like their women to be sensible and know when to advance and retreat. They also like their women to have some different interests when they are together in private.
Therefore, instead of blaming her, Xiao Jingheng continued to follow her words.
"Your mother treated your father like this, and you treat me like this, and I will never let you down."
Later, Song Zhao helped Xiao Jingheng change into his court robes and escorted him all the way to the door of his bedroom.
Xiao Jingheng scratched her nose and smiled dotingly, "You have worked hard in the bedchamber, so you don't have to go to the Queen to pay your respects today. I heard you say last night that your cooking skills are very good. I will go to your palace for lunch at noon to see if you are fooling me."
Song Zhao responded with a smile and watched Xiao Jingheng get on the sedan chair. The smile on his face disappeared only when he could no longer see his figure.
Only a favored concubine like Concubine Chen would not go to pay respects to the Queen after receiving her favor.
Song Zhao was very clear about his current position in Xiao Jingheng's heart.
His kindness to her was just a temporary curiosity, or to put it bluntly, it was just lust because of her beauty.
That's why she wouldn't act recklessly. The more critical the situation was, the more she would behave properly and not let others find any mistakes.
When she rushed to pay her respects to the Queen, the news that Xiao Jingheng had stayed with her in Chaoyang Palace the night before had not yet spread throughout the six palaces.
So no one made things difficult for her.
Just like before, a bunch of women gathered together to say some meaningless words, and then heard the Concubine Chen scold the Queen, and then the greeting was over.
After returning to Yaohua Palace, Song Zhao began to prepare for lunch.
She had already found out what dishes Xiao Jingheng liked to eat.
But she couldn't try to please him too obviously, otherwise Xiao Jingheng would suspect that she was trying to find out the emperor's intentions in private.
So she prepared eight dishes for lunch, two of which were Xiao Jingheng's favorites, and the other six were just her specialties.
After the dishes were ready, Song Zhao estimated that Xiao Jingheng would be here soon. He did not rush to welcome him, but looked at a mahogany table in the west hall and said to Zhihua and Xiying:
"The paint on this table has peeled off. When the emperor comes, it will be embarrassing to see him. Move it out and put it in your wing room first."
However, the mahogany table was solid, and Zhihua and Xiying were both weak women. After fiddling with it for a long time, they could only move it to the door of the bedroom.
Seeing that they were slow, Song Zhao said, "Yunshan, come with me and give me a hand."
Why would a servant ask his master for help when he is working?
Yunshan wanted to stop him, but Song Zhao had already trotted over to the wooden table, grabbed the edge of the table and began to lift it up with all his strength.
It took the combined strength of four people to just barely lift up the mahogany table.
After moving to the courtyard, I suddenly heard the eunuch at the palace gate report:
"The Emperor has arrived~"
Song Zhao was in a daze and lost the strength in her hands. The mahogany table fell to the ground and hit her calf. The pain made her burst into tears immediately.
Yunshan and the others surrounded Song Zhao and asked him all kinds of questions, and this scene happened to be seen by Xiao Jingheng.
He hurriedly asked, "What's going on?"
Song Zhao wiped away her tears and explained while trying to hold back the pain: "It's alright, Your Majesty. It was all my fault for being careless. The paint on this mahogany table was peeling a little, and I was afraid that you would see it and feel bad, so I asked them to move it out first. But the table was too heavy, and it was difficult for them to move it, so I wanted to lend a hand, but I didn't expect that I was also clumsy, and I ended up hurting myself."
The summer skirts and pants were thin, and Xiao Jingheng could vaguely see blood stains on Song Zhao's calves.
He quickly picked her up, carried her sideways, brought her back to the inner hall, laid her on the couch, and then lifted up her trouser legs.
He saw a crescent-shaped scar on Song Zhao's fair and smooth calf, and his heart ached.
"Didn't you just promise me to take good care of yourself? You insist on making me feel bad. That mahogany table is so heavy, how can a woman like you move it?"
Song Zhao pretended to be indifferent and joked:
"It's okay, Your Majesty. I just scratched my skin a little. It's not a big deal. Besides, there are only women in my palace. Can Your Majesty help me move the table?"
Xiao Jingheng asked someone to bring the golden wound medicine, and while applying the medicine to Song Zhao himself, he said:
"It's okay for me to help you move, but this reminds me that you don't have a palace servant who can do the hard work, which is always inconvenient. So, let the Ministry of Internal Affairs select a capable eunuch to serve you, which can be considered as a care."
Jiang Deshun heard this and reminded him, "Your Majesty... Princess Song's position is only that of a concubine. The palace rules stipulate that official women and concubines cannot have eunuchs serve them."
Xiao Jingheng disagreed and said casually: "This is not difficult. You can pass the decree and appoint Song Yingying of Yaohua Palace as a concubine from now on."
When these words were spoken, everyone present was dumbfounded.
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