Chapter 36 Don't Be a Shadow
Li Changzai is dead.
Xiao Jingheng removed her from the list of concubines and returned her body to her mother's family.
It was as if such a person had never existed in the palace.
But when I went to pay my respects to the Queen, I couldn't help but hear people muttering a few words.
Concubine Yun said, "I didn't expect her to be so vicious? It's ok to murder Concubine Song, but she even tried to molest Concubine Shu's belly?"
Huipin said while eating cakes: "But I see Sister Li is always talking and laughing with us and is polite. She doesn't seem like a bad person."
"What do you know?" Concubine Ying glanced at Concubine Hui impatiently, then suddenly changed her attitude and said with a smile, "Today's milk candy cakes were made in my palace and sent to the Queen. The Queen brought them out to entertain everyone. If you like them, I'll have someone bring some back for you later."
"Hehe~ Thank you, Sister Yingfei!" Huipin responded and ate another big piece.
Every time someone came to pay respects to the Queen, Huipin was the only one who was different.
Everyone else was talking, but she just kept eating.
Song Zhao looked at it every day and found that Huipin's waist had become thicker even though he had only been in the palace for more than a month.
Everyone in the palace knew that Xiao Jingheng didn't like women who were too plump, but the concubines still picked out delicious food to send to Huipin.
The thoughts of these women are nothing more than to feed Huipin until she is fat and plump before she is favored by the emperor.
When the time comes, send her to Xiao Jingheng's bedside and treat her as nothing more than a mascot. Why would you be afraid of her competing for favor?
As Song Zhao was thinking, she suddenly heard Concubine Ying calling her.
"Song Changzai, you said that you were also harmed by Li, but I heard that you went to see her off yesterday? You don't think it's unlucky."
Song Zhao hesitated for a moment, "I just want to ask her why she plotted against me like that."
"Have you asked clearly?"
Song Zhao shook his head helplessly, "She refused to say anything, only admitting that she was the one who put the arsenic in my food. She refused to admit that she murdered Concubine Shu and her son until her death."
As she said this, she secretly observed the subtle expressions on the concubines' faces.
Song Zhao was wary of Shu Fei's miscarriage.
Although all the surface evidence points to Li Changzai, only Song Zhao herself knows that those so-called evidences were deliberately arranged by her.
Regardless of whether Li Changzai was responsible for Shu Fei's miscarriage, Song Zhao had to push Li Changzai into the fire pit in order to protect himself.
But if this matter really was not done by Li Changzai, then the motives of the person behind it must be so deep that it is terrifying to think about it carefully.
After looking around, everyone looked normal, except for Concubine Yun who said impatiently,
"The Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice have joined forces to conduct a thorough investigation. The evidence is irrefutable. Even if Li talks too hard, it will be useless."
"Please stop talking." The Queen held a string of Buddhist beads in her hand and said solemnly, "Li's intentions are not right. She has brought this upon herself, and no one else is to blame. With her example, you must take it as a warning in the future. I don't want to see anyone having the wrong intentions again."
All the concubines said in unison: "Your Highness, I will obey your instructions."
The only voice that was different from everyone else came from the Concubine Chen.
"The Queen failed to discipline her subordinates and caused such a disaster. Why is she scolding others instead?"
Anyone could tell that the Concubine Chen was deliberately provoking the Queen by saying this.
But the queen was not angry with her, as if she had not heard anything, and continued to talk to herself:
"Shu Fei is not fully recovered yet. I allow her to rest well. She doesn't need to come to pay respects during this period. The pain of losing her son is far greater than her physical injury. When you are free, please visit her palace more often to comfort her."
Concubine Chen sneered and said jokingly, "The Queen is really good at being a person. But in the past, Li was always bragging about her, saying that she was the Queen's woman. Now that she has done something like this, it's hard not to think about how much of the Queen's thoughts are involved."
"Empress Chen! Don't go too far!" Concubine Yun couldn't bear to hear Concubine Chen mocking the Queen like this, and she immediately became hostile to her. "The Queen is the only legitimate master in the harem. All of us are supposed to be the Queen's people. What do you mean by saying this? Are you trying to form cliques in the harem?"
The concubine raised her slender willow-shaped eyebrows and sneered, "Oh, the master is not in a hurry yet, but the dog is barking first."
Yun Fei: "You..."
The Concubine Chen stood up and yawned lightly, saying, "I am tired. Your Majesty, please continue to lecture them. I will take my leave."
Having said this, she turned around without even saying anything, twisting her slender waist and walked away.
Concubine Yun cursed at her from behind, and then comforted the Queen, "Don't take it to heart, Queen. Concubine Chen is so disrespectful, she will be punished sooner or later!"
Song Zhao said nothing the whole time, watching them perform this show in front of the Queen.
If Concubine Yun and Concubine Chen had not teamed up to poison her last time, even someone as smart as her would not have been able to tell that Concubine Yun and Concubine Chen had been secretly in cahoots for a long time.
On the surface, Concubine Chen and the Queen are at loggerheads, but Concubine Yun always protects the Queen.
In fact, Concubine Yun was just a chess piece placed by Concubine Chen next to the Queen.
For several days in a row, Xiao Jingheng did not turn over Song Zhao's name card. He only summoned her to Chaoyang Palace to have lunch together one day.
Yunshan went to the Jingshifang to inquire about the matter, and when he returned to the palace, his face was full of confusion.
"My lady, guess who the emperor has summoned to sleep with him these days?"
Song Zhao casually fiddled with a pot of green ivy in front of him and said, "Do you still need to guess? The Concubine Chen hasn't paid her respects to the Queen for five days. If the Emperor hadn't summoned her every day, she wouldn't have dared to do such an excessive thing."
Yunshan said, "But I don't understand. The emperor wronged the young lady before. The young lady was poisoned in the food by Li. Logically, the emperor loves the young lady and should spend more time with her. Even if he doesn't come to the young lady, the one who had a miscarriage was Shu Fei, not Chen Fei. What does it mean that the emperor summons Chen Fei every day?"
Song Zhao smiled and casually picked off the overgrown branches of the green ivy. "Shu Fei cried day and night because she lost her child. I only thought that she was pitiful because she lost her child, but I didn't think that the emperor also lost his child. She cried endlessly. The emperor had the energy to comfort her for a day or two, but he couldn't comfort her for a lifetime? How much patience can a man have? After all this, there will always be a time when he gets tired of it.
Men like to have fun when they are in a bad mood, and the Concubine Chen, apart from not having studied, is very good at singing, dancing, and playing the harp and pipa. Otherwise, how do you think she has been favored for so many years? You don't really think that she has no means and can run rampant in the harem for so many years just by relying on her family background, right? "
Yunshan nodded, not quite understanding, and said hurriedly: "My lady is also well-read and elegant, but she just doesn't like to show it in front of the emperor. Why don't you also..."
Song Zhao raised his hand and interrupted Yunshan's words, "I will not do what others have done. Even if I do it well, there will always be the shadow of others."
She paused for a moment, scooped a little incense powder with a silver spoon, threw it into the incense burner and burned it.
Then he took a deep breath of the ethereal aroma and said with a light smile:
"If I want to do something, I will only do something that no one else has done, and let others be my shadow."
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