It was late at night when Lu Xingjian returned to the Qianqing Palace.
Guli saw him kneel down tremblingly.
Lu Xingjian stared at the closed door, his previously calm gaze turning cold: "Where is he?"
"Miss Su locked herself up as soon as she got back..."
"She didn't have dinner either, and I don't know how she is doing."
Lu Xingjian's face turned cold: "Why didn't you report this in time?"
What should I do if she's heartbroken and can't think straight?
Guli turned pale with fright and didn't know what to say.
No one said we should report back to the Emperor in time.
Lu Xingjian took a deep breath, raised his hand as if to push the door open, but then paused and gently knocked on the door a few times in a soft voice.
"Wanwan, open the door."
Su Wanwan lay on the bed in a daze, not asleep, and did not move when she heard the knocking.
But she didn't hear the footsteps fading away, so she still decided to get up and open the door.
When she stood up to move to the wheelchair next to the bed, her body swayed and she fell to the ground.
Hearing the "thump" of someone falling to the ground, Lu Xingjian, who was outside the door, could no longer care about anything else and kicked the door open.
Bang!
The door was kicked open, slamming against the wall with a loud bang.
The room was pitch black.
The light from the lanterns at the entrance shone in, revealing Su Wanwan crawling on the ground.
Lu Xingjian's heart clenched painfully.
How did she get through those days when he wasn't around?
A matter of life and death, accusations from her in-laws, her reputation tarnished...
How did she manage to cope?
Is it the same when you fall to the ground and nobody cares?
When Su Wanwan was picked up, she saw that his face was extremely gloomy and terrifying.
Guli, standing at the door, was trembling with fear.
"I'm fine, don't take it out on others," she said gently, trying to comfort me.
Lu Xingjian was not one to mistreat his close attendants.
On the contrary, he is usually very generous to those around him, constantly giving them gold and silver rewards.
He just felt that this new, non-Muslim palace maid was too tactless.
Su Wanwan, who has difficulty walking, was alone and in a bad mood.
If something goes wrong, it's not something a mere palace maid like her can handle.
He suppressed his anger and patiently asked Su Wanwan:
"Where did you hurt yourself?"
"No."
A thick carpet was laid in front of the bed, and Su Wanwan carefully protected her injured leg, but it was nothing serious.
"If this happens again, you won't need to serve in the Qianqing Palace."
Lu Xingjian coldly warned Guli, then picked up Su Wanwan and took her to another room.
Guli was so frightened that she knelt down again with a thud.
The rooms in the Qianqing Palace are not large, but there are many of them, and there are also stairs leading to the second floor.
Su Wanwan discovered that this room was not the same one she had stayed in the previous night.
Lu Xingjian placed her on the bed and then slowly turned to go to the bathroom.
She quietly huddled in the corner of the bed, staring wide-eyed at the curtains above her head.
He seemed to be thinking about something, yet he also seemed to be thinking about nothing at all.
Not long after Lu Xingjian finished showering, Su Wanwan felt one side of the bed sinking.
The next moment, she was enveloped in a warm embrace, surrounded by fresh steam and a faint scent of bath beans.
"Why?" She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Um?"
Why do we need to change rooms?
Lu Xingjian remained silent.
After a long silence, he simply said, "Just to be safe."
Su Wanwan's heart clenched painfully.
I've seen him not eat casually when he's out, but I didn't know he was this careful about even his accommodations.
She remembered that one year after the Winter Solstice, Chief Steward Li came knocking on the gate of Renshou Palace in a great hurry.
It is said that the Crown Prince has fallen seriously ill with vomiting and diarrhea, and is on the verge of death.
At that time, Qingning Palace was not yet completed.
When Zhou took her to live in Renshou Palace, her expression immediately changed. She tremblingly took out a pill from the locked cabinet by the bedside and handed it to her personally.
The crown prince is the foundation of the nation and cannot be lost.
"Quick! You must personally feed it to him; it can cure all poisons!"
She rushed to the East Palace as fast as she could. Lu Xingjian's face was ashen, his lips were bluish-purple, and he was barely breathing.
They had to pry open his jaw to force the medicine down his throat.
Unsure whether the elixir would be effective, she sat by the bedside for a day and a night, afraid to close her eyes.
He personally reviewed the herbal medicines prescribed by the imperial physicians, brewed them right by his bedside, and tasted the medicines himself.
He is her family; nothing can happen to him.
She stayed in the Eastern Palace for about a month during that time, focusing on taking care of his health.
Later I learned that the imperial court was in an uproar over this matter.
Grandfather Su Jian even took the lead in submitting a memorial to the emperor, advising him that disasters were occurring frequently in various places, especially at Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing and the ancestral mausoleum in Fengyang.
They say that a ruler serves Heaven as a son serves his father.
When a father is angry and rebukes his son, the son will feel deep worry and fear, and will reflect on his actions and apologize.
If this is taken for granted, then the father's anger will become even more intractable.
This year's natural disasters are unusual, a sign from heaven, which deeply worries the cabinet, the six ministries, the six departments, and the thirteen circuits.
Is Your Majesty the only one who is not worried about this?
She read what she had heard to Lu Xingjian.
Lu Xingjian's face didn't show much sadness; he just remained silent.
It was that kind of silence that said "nothing is more sorrowful than a broken heart."
From a young age, she knew that she longed to receive the Emperor and Empress's genuine affection, just like Princess Xiuyi.
Which child doesn't crave their parents' love?
When it was late at night and everyone was quiet, she slowly began to persuade him:
"Not all parents love their children, and my parents didn't love me either."
"So we can only love ourselves, and one day we will find someone who loves us."
Her mother had passed away long ago.
Her father already had a stepmother and a son, so he was not familiar with her, who had not been raised by him since childhood, and had little affection for her.
But she always felt that she was worthy of being loved and that she would eventually meet someone who truly loved her.
She once thought that person was Lu Youting, and later she thought it would be Lu Xingjian.
Later she realized that people who love her will come to her on their own; she doesn't need to make any effort to find them.
She originally thought that after this poisoning, Zhou would once again protect Lu Xingjian under her wing.
Surprisingly, that didn't happen.
Instead, the Zhou family focused on cultivating the two younger brothers of the late emperor, Prince Rong, Lu Youting, and Prince Shen, Lu Youkai.
Lu Xingjian continued to toss the food to the late emperor and Empress Zhang.
Since then, Lu Xingjian has completely distanced himself from the Zhou family, and instead has become increasingly close to the late emperor and Empress Zhang.
As Su Wanwan was lost in thought, a long, strong hand wrapped around her slender waist.
In his presence, she was like a helpless little kitten.
Whatever he wants to do, we can only let him do it.
Lu Xingjian kissed her lips, and only released her after a long while, his voice hoarse:
"We have nothing to do with each other, huh?"
Su Wanwan's eyes were glazed over, and she was panting. It took her a while to come to her senses, and her whole face turned crimson.
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