Chapter 68: Encounter in the Peach Forest

After Su Jingyao walked out of Yichun Palace, Miao Yun came forward and said, "Master, the person I sent just came back and said that he did not see His Majesty at Qianqing Palace."

Su Jingyao frowned slightly.

She had been in Yichun Palace for nearly half an hour. Now it was just past the hour of You, and Jun Zechen was not in the Qianqing Palace handling government affairs. So where had he gone?

"Then let's go to the Qianqing Palace from its west gate. I remember there is a peach forest to the east of Yichun Palace. If we go through the peach forest, we will reach the west gate of the Qianqing Palace?"

Su Jingyao asked with a hint of uncertainty on her face, revealing some doubt.

"Yes, master, we can reach the Qianqing Palace by passing through the peach forest. His Majesty may have returned to the Qianqing Palace by now." Miaoyun responded respectfully.

"Well, let's go. Let's not take the sedan chair anymore and take a look at the scenery of the peach forest."

Su Jingyao nodded slightly, then walked into the peach forest.

The peach blossoms at this time are in full bloom, as gorgeous as the clouds in the sky.

As it was already evening, there was a gentle breeze blowing from time to time, and pink petals floated down and landed on Su Jingyao's shoulders, which was truly beautiful.

Suddenly, Su Jingyao's footsteps came to a halt.

The expression on his delicate face instantly disappeared, and his eyes looked straight ahead to the left.

When Miaoyun saw her master stop, she also looked in the direction her master was looking.

It's His Majesty?!

And there was a woman beside him? Judging from her attire, she must be a new concubine.

Su Jingyao's eyes instantly turned cold. She was handling the disputes and trivia between women for him in the harem, but he was having a tryst with another woman here. He seemed to be in a good mood.

Su Jingyao snorted in her heart, pretending not to see it, put a gentle smile on her face again, and continued to walk forward.

After dealing with some thorny issues regarding the flood in the south in the court this afternoon, Jun Zechen felt unusually depressed, as if he was shrouded in a cloud of gloom.

So he went out for a walk to relax, but he didn't want to be too conspicuous, so he just took Anshun out with him.

In the past, when he had fewer concubines, he liked to go to Yu Garden to relax.

Recently, there have been too many beautiful girls in the Yu Garden, which made him feel annoyed. So he walked out of the west gate of the Qianqing Palace and came to the peach forest which had never been visited by anyone.

He strolled among them, sniffing the fragrance of the peach blossoms, which really helped him calm his mind.

But I didn't expect that I would run into someone else by coincidence while walking.

"Your Majesty, your concubine Baolin Xu is here to see you."

The woman in the pink dress leaned forward gracefully to salute.

Jun Zechen frowned, showing a hint of impatience on his face, and said casually: "Get up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The woman responded softly.

"What brings you here?"

Jun Zechen's voice was low and stern. If she couldn't give a good enough reason, he would dismiss her without hesitation.

"Your Majesty, my Yinyue Pavilion is just outside the peach forest. The peach forest is extremely beautiful in the evening. I will come to the peach forest to stroll around these days."

Xu Baolin answered cautiously.

"Um."

Jun Zechen simply responded indifferently, his expression still somewhat cold.

"Your Majesty, I love peach blossoms very much and I know a lot about them. If Your Majesty doesn't bother me, would you allow me to speak for you?"

Xu Baolin raised his head, his eyes full of anticipation, and asked carefully.

Jun Zechen didn't care about this. What else could this peach blossom do?

It's okay to listen to it.

"Go ahead," he responded simply.

Afterwards, Xu Baolin began to talk about the growth habits of peach blossoms, and was even more vivid when he talked about poems related to peach blossoms.

Then he talked about the craftsmanship of peach blossom wine and peach blossom fans, and then the story of the peach blossom with a human face...

Jun Zechen listened quietly. The soothing voice telling these stories that still interested him actually made his originally tense nerves gradually relax.

After that, Xu Baolin followed Jun Zechen obediently, and her little mouth never stopped talking, whispering all kinds of stories about peach blossoms.

Bored Anshun glanced back casually inadvertently, but this glance was very shocking and he was suddenly startled.

Concubine Chun Shu? !

Concubine Chun Shu was quite far away from them, and it was unknown whether Concubine Chun Shu saw His Majesty?

An Shun's brows were tightly wrinkled, and he began to wonder in his heart. He was extremely conflicted at the moment. Should he tell His Majesty now, or wait for His Majesty to discover it himself?

What is your Majesty's attitude towards Xu Baolin?

If I tell you, will it affect your majesty's romantic encounter?

An Shun's entire face was wrinkled as if water could be squeezed out of it.

After struggling for a while, he finally decided to interrupt Xu Baolin and called softly, "Your Majesty."

Jun Zechen heard the voice and turned to the left to look at him. An Shun glanced at him carefully and said, "Your Majesty, it seems that Concubine Chun Shu is over there..."

Upon hearing this, Jun Zechen immediately turned to the right.

Sure enough, Yaoyao was walking slowly forward with a group of palace servants.

Jun Zechen's eyes were fixed on that place, but Yaoyao didn't seem to see him?

Afterwards, Jun Zechen was about to walk over, but suddenly remembered that there was another person, so he turned around and ordered, "You leave."

Xu Baolin bowed his head obediently and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."

A trace of disappointment flashed across her face. She had originally thought that she had met His Majesty by chance today and would definitely be summoned by His Majesty tonight.

Seeing that dinner time was almost approaching, she was already ready to invite His Majesty to have dinner at Yinyue Pavilion.

However, who could have expected that Concubine Chun Shu would suddenly appear at this time.

Xu Baolin clasped his hands so tightly that his nails almost dug into his flesh.

Don't be anxious, she still has a chance. If not today, there's still tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. She will definitely wait patiently.

At least today, His Majesty has formed some impression of her.

Jun Zechen walked quickly and was almost in front of Su Jingyao, but Su Jingyao was still looking straight ahead, not moving her gaze to the left at all, and just walked straight forward.

“Ahem.”

Jun Zechen coughed a few times in a pretentious manner.

Su Jingyao heard the cough and could no longer pretend she didn't hear it, so she could only say helplessly: "Your Majesty, I will pay my respects to you. I will take my leave."

When Jun Zechen heard this, his brows wrinkled instantly. What's wrong with her?

Seeing that she was about to leave, Jun Zechen walked up quickly and grabbed her wrist.

He said with a hint of dissatisfaction: "You have seen me, and you are still leaving?"

Jun Zechen then winked at An Shun, who immediately understood.

He waved his hand to signal the palace maids following Concubine Chun Shu to go to the Qianqing Palace and wait, and he and Miaoyun quickly retreated to a place about ten meters away.

Jun Zechen looked at her face and saw that there was no smile on her face, which made him even more confused.

"Why is Yaoyao here?"

Su Jingyao looked calm and said, "Concubine Shangguan of Yichun Palace was bullied and sent someone to ask me to come. I went to Yichun Palace to deal with the matter. I feel a little tired now, so I want to go back to Zhaochun Palace to rest."

"If Yaoyao wants to go back to Zhaochun Palace, why do you have to take this road?"

Jun Zechen asked, and then said thoughtfully: "I remember that Lady Chu was also in Yichun Palace. Did she make you angry?"

"I am not angry. I have already punished Concubine Chu and Lin Ronghua. Your Majesty, please don't be angry about this." Su Jingyao still said in a calm tone.

Jun Zechen felt torn by her indifferent attitude. He always felt that she was angry, but at the same time, she didn't seem to be angry.

And why should he be angry? If punishing them would make her less indifferent, then he would rather she punish them.

"Yaoyao is in charge of the Palace Justice Department. If a concubine makes a mistake, she will be punished."

Jun Zechen paused and said, "Okay, since Yaoyao is not angry, follow me back to the Qianqing Palace."

Return to the Qianqing Palace.

Jun Zechen was holding someone, half lying on the couch, and Su Jingyao was playing with the ring on his hand with her slender fingers.

Her expression was as calm as water, without any ripples. Because of the angle, Jun Zechen couldn't see anything.

Jun Zechen just held her quietly like this. Now, facing those women in the harem, he has always been able to remain calm and emotionless.

No one can make his mood fluctuate.

However, if the woman in his arms showed just the slightest bit of displeasure, he would feel uneasy.

This strange emotion seemed to be out of his control and spread wildly in his heart.

In the past, when the two of them hugged each other, they always had endless sweet words to say, and she could say those sweet words that touched his heart directly.

But today's unusual silence made him feel like something was wrong.

She must be angry.

Could it be that it was not because of the disputes among the concubines in the harem, but because he was seen in the peach forest with other concubines?

There was a barely perceptible sense of helplessness in Jun Zechen's deep eyes.

He wanted to explain, but was afraid that mentioning other women would make her even angrier.

He just treated the women in the harem as playthings to relieve his boredom and did not invest even the slightest bit of emotion in them.

If someone is a little pleasing to the eye, their status will be promoted and given a little position, that's all.

"Yaoyao, I recently got a treasure, a night-shining pearl presented by Jinzhou. This is the permanent luminous night-shining pearl I know of that can emit visible light the farthest. At night, it can emit a cold green light that can illuminate hair within a hundred steps." Jun Zechen said softly.

"If Yaoyao likes it, how about I send her to Zhaochun Palace?"

Su Jingyao remained silent. On the one hand, it was because she knew that in order to make a man pay attention to her, she needed to let him constantly guess her thoughts, making him feel distant and difficult to control.

Blindly obeying will only make men more powerful.

On the other hand, she was thinking about Xu Baolin whom she had just met in the peach forest. Although she didn't know who that was, Miaoyun was very familiar with the new concubines entering the palace.

This Xu Baolin had an affair with the Imperial Concubine when she was a concubine. After entering the palace, the Imperial Concubine arranged Xu Baolin to live in Yinyue Pavilion outside Taolin.

Others may not know that Jun Zechen likes to take walks in the peach forest, but the noble concubine certainly knows it.

Could it be that the imperial concubine wanted to use Xu Baolin to consolidate her favor?

No, maybe...

Su Jingyao's eyes flashed with a strange color. Maybe the imperial concubine wanted Xu Baolin's child...

Su Jingyao came back to her senses when she heard Jun Zechen's question.

Before I could answer, Anshun walked in.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine has sent someone to invite you to the Yikun Palace. She said that there is something to discuss with you at the Queen Mother's birthday banquet in five days."

An Shun carefully glanced at Concubine Chun Shu, who was half-lying in His Majesty's arms with an indifferent expression, and was shocked.

Concubine Chun Shu's expression is completely different from when she faces His Majesty!

An Shun really wanted His Majesty to lower his head and look at the expression of Concubine Chun Shu in his arms at this moment.

After just one glance at Concubine Chun Shu, An Shun quickly lowered his head.

"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother's birthday banquet is important. I am already tired today, so I will return to Zhaochun Palace."

Su Jingyao tried to struggle out of his arms, but Jun Zechen's hands on her waist were so tight that she couldn't get away at all.

Su Jingyao turned to look at him suspiciously and called softly, "Your Majesty?"

Jun Zechen showed a little impatience on his face, and said to An Shun: "Let the noble concubine's people go back, I will go to Yikun Palace tomorrow."

His eyes revealed his displeasure towards An Shun.

She really is becoming less and less able to read other people's expressions. Concubine Chun Shu was in the Qianqing Palace, and she came to report to her in front of her.

An Shun felt the cold light from His Majesty, his body stiffened, and he responded and immediately left.