"Impossible! Yin Xiang, we saw him just the day before yesterday." Tao Wanxin turned to the maid behind her. "Yin Xiang, isn’t that right?"
Yin Xiang’s gaze wavered. She looked at Prince Yong twisting the jade ring on his thumb, then lowered her head and said, "Your Highness, please calm down. Xiao Ningzi did indeed die last month."
Ji Qingwu keenly caught their exchange of glances, inwardly stunned.
The Empress Dowager asked with concern, "Ming Hong, how is your health?"
Zhao Minghong said, "What nonsense are my wife and Mother spouting now? There’s nothing seriously wrong with . Just now, my Imperial Brother summoned to the Diligent Governance Hall. He specially invited the miracle physician Le Xi from Lin’an to take my pulse. He said it’s just exhaustion and that I’ll be fine after resting for half a month."
’The Emperor summoned Le Xi, the most renowned miracle physician who specializes in treating intractable diseases?’
’So that’s why he summoned Prince Yong. It was to have him see a doctor.’
The Empress Dowager’s anxious heart settled. Since the Emperor was still treating Prince Yong with familial affection, she didn’t need to ask what had happened that night. She could just let it pass.
Tao Wanxin said, "Impossible... That dicine, I clearly..." Her voice trailed off, filled with obvious confusion and bewildernt.
"Yin Xiang, what’s wrong with Her Highness lately? She’s speaking nonsense and acting erratically," Prince Yong interjected, seemingly casual.
Yin Xiang said cautiously, "Her Highness had been unable to conceive for many years. When she was recently diagnosed as pregnant, she was overco with joy, and her mind hasn’t been quite clear since."
Ji Qingwu’s fingers intertwined lightly, resting calmly in her lap. ’Things have co to this. The bla won’t fall on .’
’There was still much I didn’t understand, but the crisis was averted.’
Just then, Shixi walked in through the doorway, glanced at Ji Qingwu, and announced, "Old Madam Ji heard that Fifth Missy was summoned to the palace and has sent soone with a ssage."
Ji Qingwu’s ears perked up imdiately.
The Empress Dowager gently rubbed the space between her brows. Recalling the matter concerning Ji Changyan, she rembered that she and her mother had a falling out and hadn’t been in contact for a long ti.
"What did Mother say?" the Empress Dowager inquired.
Shixi said, "The Old Madam says that Fifth Missy has an unruly temperant. If she has made a mistake, she hopes Your Majesty will be magnanimous. The Li family, of Imperial Scholar Li, has already selected Fifth Missy to be the wife of their third son."
Ji Qingwu sighed. ’Grandmother isn’t completely heartless; she ans to protect . But she’s using my marriage as a bargaining chip, trying to betroth to Li San.’
’But she’s too late. The Empress Dowager no longer intends to punish .’
The Empress Dowager looked at her thoughtfully, calculating in her mind. If they could form a marriage alliance with the Li family, it would be a great help to the Ji Family.
Princess Qingyun whipped her head around to look at Ji Qingwu.
The emotion in her eyes was clear, like she was looking at a vixen. Her gaze seed to ask, ’How did you get entangled with the Li family’s third son too?’
Ji Qingwu let out another sigh.
’In such a short ti, I’m already tangled up with three different n.’
But as if fate decided the scene wasn’t chaotic enough...
A familiar, shrill voice cried out from outside, "His Majesty, the Emperor, has arrived!"
Everyone hurriedly rose to offer their respects.
His voice was cool and distant. "You may dispense with the formalities. We are all family here."
Emperor Wu Su wore a long robe of bright yellow tribute satin, embroidered with coiled dragon dallions in the Shu style. He strode into the main hall with a powerful gait, his eyes fixed straight ahead, as if he didn’t care who was present.
Ji Qingwu’s eyes followed him intently. ’We only parted this morning at the Star-Picking Tower. I never expected we’d et again just a few hours later.’
But the Emperor didn’t spare her a single glance.
It was as if the man who had passionately kissed her against the backdrop of the majestic green mountains under the gentle morning sun, who had held her so tightly he seed to want to press her into his own scorching body, was a different person entirely.
Fanghua quickly added a chair next to the Empress Dowager and attended to the Emperor as he sat down.
Li Yuzong and Fanghua exchanged a look and nodded, then each took their place behind their respective masters.
Ji Qingwu suppressed the turmoil in her heart, averted her gaze, and began to rub her fingers together.
’It only took a mont’s thought to realize it. The reason Prince Yong is so adamant he’s never seen is most likely because the Emperor already knows everything that happened in Cining Palace. When Prince Yong was summoned, he must have received so "special instructions."’
’But the matter was almost settled. Why did he show up now?’
Emperor Wu Su, seemingly oblivious to the situation, said in a pleasant tone, "Your palace is certainly lively today, Mother."
The Empress Dowager, wanting to quash the matter, forced a smile. "Wanyin is pregnant. Ming Hong brought his wife to pay their respects to ."
A smile touched Emperor Wu Su’s lips. "That is indeed a happy occasion."
But his eyes turned cold as he continued, "And yet, how is it that I heard Princess Yong ca to Cining Palace early this morning and had a dispute with the Ji family’s Fifth Missy?"
’So word had reached the Emperor’s ears after all.’
The Empress Dowager explained, "Your Majesty, there was no dispute. We were just making idle chatter."
Prince Yong also tried to smooth things over. "Imperial Brother, it’s just won squabbling. Nothing serious."
Qingyun nodded along, not daring to speak. She had been punished by the Emperor a few days ago and was still terrified of him.
Emperor Wu Su ignored Ji Qingwu and instead addressed Princess Yong. "Why do you look so wan, Your Highness? Have you been wronged in so way?"
Ji Qingwu looked at him, then turned her head to look at Tao Wanxin.
’He won’t even look at , yet he shows such concern for soone else.’ A strange sense of disappointnt suddenly washed over her.
The confusion in Tao Wanxin’s eyes vanished. She suddenly rose and fell to her knees with a loud THUD.
"Your Majesty, what happened between Miss Ji and was not a dispute! I was deceived and used by her! I beg Your Majesty to see the truth! Ji Qingwu had an affair with the Prince. Harboring resentnt because she couldn’t enter his manor, she devised a malicious plot and tricked into giving the Prince a drug."
Prince Yong grabbed Tao Wanxin tightly and pulled her to his side. "Imperial Brother, Tao Wanxin has not been in her right mind lately. I urge you not to believe a word she says."
Tao Wanxin tried to struggle free, but she wasn’t strong enough. Prince Yong blocked her behind him, and a single vicious glare from him scared her into silence, leaving her to do nothing but sob softly.
Watching the couple struggle in the hall, Emperor Wu Su sat perfectly upright, his hands on his knees, not moving a muscle.
"Ji Qingwu."
Hearing him suddenly call out her full na, Ji Qingwu imdiately sat bolt upright, her gaze flowing toward him.
Emperor Wu Su raised an eyebrow. "Did you deceive her?"
At the Emperor’s question, Ji Qingwu stood up, intending to kneel respectfully and reply just as Princess Yong had done.
But he frowned and said in a cold voice, "Did I tell you to move?"
Ji Qingwu had only just started to rise from her seat. eting his displeased gaze, she had no choice but to obediently sit back down.
Beside her, Princess Qingyun said timidly, "Imperial Brother, Fifth Cousin is innocent. You don’t have to be so harsh."
Ji Qingwu also thought he was being harsh. She pressed her lips together, feeling wronged, and sat still.
’I had a whole explanation prepared. I was going to follow Princess Yong’s example and make a sorrowful plea. I’d even rehearsed the exact mont to squeeze out a few tears.’
But Emperor Wu Su seed to have no patience for it. He cut her off, pressing, "Is it so difficult to speak? Did you deceive her or not?"
But Ji Qingwu was so thrown off by the Emperor’s cold attitude that she didn’t know how to react.
She could only part her lips and force out two dry words.
"I didn’t."
’I never deceived Tao Wanxin. She was the one trying to drag down with her.’
She watched as Emperor Wu Su nodded in satisfaction and even humd in agreent.
Ji Qingwu stared, dumbfounded.
’That’s it? I don’t have to explain? I don’t need to shed a few tears?’
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