Chapter 67: The Empress and the Queen's Night Out

Xia Zhengqi nodded listlessly: "Yes, I was so busy that I was dizzy, and the blind Duke Wei came to make trouble."

As Xia Zhengqi spoke, he cleared a space on the desk. The Empress brought the porridge up tacitly and handed Xia Zhengqi a spoon.

"Your Majesty, Deng Yiru is indeed too arrogant and willful. She has brought this disaster upon herself. However, she is the daughter of the Duke after all, and she should be given the face she deserves."

While speaking, Xia Zhengqi had already drunk most of the bowl of porridge.

"Ruoyu, I understand what you said. I just sent him away. It's really annoying to see him. Let's talk about it tomorrow."

"By the way, where is our baby daughter? Why didn't you bring her with you?" Xia Zhengqi said, and then he scooped another spoonful of porridge into his mouth.

The queen chuckled: "You, don't you see what time it is now? Miao'er has already gone to bed."

Xia Zhengqi looked up blankly at the copper kettle dripping by the window: "Oh, it's so late. I was so busy that I forgot the time."

"The dragon body is important, Your Majesty." The queen's eyes were full of concern.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop here today." Xia Zhengqi put down the spoon, took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, and stood up to stretch his muscles.

A cool autumn breeze blew in from the window, and the queen walked towards the window: "The autumn night breeze is a little chilly."

Xia Zhengqi also turned his head to look out the window. The night sky was dark, and a crescent moon hung in the sky, especially bright.

"Ruoyu, please accompany me for a walk. The night is so beautiful tonight, and I need to digest my food." Xia Zhengqi walked over and took the queen's hand.

The palace was quiet at night. The flat and wide palace road was empty, with only a few palace lights still on.

The emperor and the queen held hands and walked casually on the palace road. Debao and Yingxue deliberately slowed down their pace and kept a distance of ten meters from their masters.

"Ruoyu, do you remember that year when we just moved into the palace?" Xia Zhengqi looked at the queen tenderly.

"The palace is too big, with so many paths, you can't even recognize the road. Chengnian got into trouble, and you wanted to beat him, so he deliberately ran around in the palace, making you miserable."

Xia Zhengqi couldn't help laughing.

The queen pulled Xia Zhengqi's hand coquettishly: "Your Majesty, don't talk about this."

"Your Majesty, do you remember the Shaohua Palace where we temporarily lived before Kunning Palace was repaired?"

"Of course I remember, Shaohua Palace is not in a good location, and you were wronged at that time." Xia Zhengqi held the queen's hand tightly in his palm.

"In the first year of living here, on Cheng Wan's birthday, Your Majesty and I personally planted a paulownia tree." The Queen looked up at Xia Zhengqi.

The Queen was half a head shorter than Xia Zhengqi, and her pretty face just reached Xia Zhengqi's shoulder.

"Well, the paulownia tree, I have a deep impression of it. It's been almost 20 years, and I don't know how big the paulownia tree has grown."

Xia Zhengqi stared blankly at the night sky, and suddenly his eyes turned and said, "Why don't we go see the tree now?"

"Now?" The Queen opened her mouth in surprise.

"Yes, why not now."

Xia Zhengqi actually showed a mischievous smile, and the twinkling stars in his eyes reminded the Queen of the time when they just got married.

At that time, Xia Zhengqi was just an ordinary prince with no pressure. After marrying Xiao Ruoyu, he took her everywhere to play all day.

Horse racing, hunting, boating, cricket fighting...

Xia Zhengqi took the empress and actually trotted. In an instant, the two seemed to have returned to their youth.

Debao and Yingxue were surprised to see the empress lift up her robe and run. They looked at each other and hurriedly ran behind.

When the two ran to the palace road outside Shaohua Palace, they saw a dense sycamore tree in the distance, with branches sticking out from the palace wall.

Looking closely at the trunk of the tree, it was as thick as a washbasin.

The emperor and the empress stopped and looked up at the paulownia tree.

"Look, Your Majesty, I didn't expect it to have grown so big." The empress pointed to the paulownia tree with joy, her tone carrying a little girl's innocence.

Xia Zhengqi felt a surge of warmth in his heart, and he couldn't help but pull the empress into his arms, sniffing the woman's hair in his arms.

"Ruoyu, after all, our first child is already 18 years old. He is about to marry and have children."

The emperor and the empress hugged each other tightly, and the bright moonlight fell on the two of them like a veil.

Suddenly, the empress's nose twitched slightly and her brows wrinkled.

"What's wrong?" Xia Zhengqi keenly noticed the empress's abnormality.

"Ruoyu just smelled a smell of smoke, so strange."

Xia Zhengqi listened and unconsciously focused his attention on his nose and sniffed hard.

"There is indeed a smell of smoke."

Xia Zhengqi waved to Debao who was ten meters away and whispered: "Go check nearby to see where the smoke comes from."

Debao agreed and ran away immediately. About

half an incense stick of time passed, Debao pulled a crying old lady over.

The old lady's hair was already gray, and she had a sloppy bun on her head with a plain silver hairpin inserted in the bun. She was wearing a bamboo cloth robe that was washed white. She had no jewelry on her body, which made her look old and shabby.

"Don't cry yet, answer honestly later." Debao lowered his voice and scolded the nanny.

"Your Majesty, I saw this old nanny burning paper money in the abandoned Guangyang Palace." Debao walked up to Xia Zhengqi and reported with his head down.

"Your Majesty, please spare my life!" The old nanny knelt down in front of Xia Zhengqi, choking with sobs.

"It is a taboo to burn paper money in the palace, old nanny, I see that you are old, how could you break such a taboo?!" Xia Zhengqi frowned.

"I will never dare to do it again, please spare my life, Your Majesty!" The old nanny was so scared that she trembled all over.

"Mammy, why are you burning paper money in Guangyang Palace?" The queen said in a gentle tone.

"This old slave is giving...giving..." The old lady hesitated.

"Tell me the truth and I will spare your death penalty." Xia Zhengqi deliberately slowed down his tone.

"I am burning paper for my old master, Madam Baili..."

Hearing the word Baili, Xia Zhengqi felt his body freeze.

"Who are you talking about? Madam Baili? Is she the mother of Empress Dowager Baili?"

The old nanny saw that the emperor and the empress had a gentle attitude, and her panic was relieved. She stopped crying and replied, "Yes."

"Then who are you?" Xia Zhengqi's eyes widened in surprise.

"I was originally a maid in the Baili family, and later followed Empress Dowager Baili into the palace."

Xia Zhengqi and the empress were both shocked, and they looked at each other tacitly.