"you… "
"Maybe I can't do other things, but in the past few years in Fengzhou, I have not lost my ability to recognize the way." Li Qishen caught a glimpse of Concubine Xiao walking slowly behind him. When the figure was within hearing range, he raised his voice deliberately, but his tone was normal. "When the Crown Princess asked me where the East Palace was, didn't I point the right way?"
The Crown Princess' pupils constricted and she turned back abruptly, just in time to meet Concubine Xiao's gaze.
Both sisters were wearing palace dresses for the banquet. They were both pale with shock on their faces. They saw a pale self in the reflection of each other's eyes. After many years, they finally seemed like the sisters they were back then. With their own thoughts in mind, they walked into the Daming Palace tremblingly.
Unfortunately, time has passed and no one is the same person anymore, and the deeply buried secret was suddenly and casually revealed, leaving both of them bleeding.
Concubine Xiao looked at her sister in disbelief. Her legs went weak. If it weren't for Zuichun supporting her, and the influence of the royal majesty for so many years, she would have fallen to the ground on the spot.
Her blood rushed to her head, and the Crown Princess was not much better. She had kept the secret for so many years, rotting in her heart and hiding it in her stomach. It had long since become a rotten sore. Now that it was being dug open, the pus that gushed out was enough to kill her.
But Li Qishen looked calm, as if he had really mentioned it unintentionally, and as if he had no idea what shocking secret he had revealed. He looked at Concubine Xiao, then at the Crown Princess, with a hint of confusion between his eyebrows and a bit of natural malice like a teenager.
"What's wrong?" Li Qishen laughed in his heart, but he was actually confused when he said it out loud, "It's been too long, the Crown Princess doesn't remember?"
“… Yeah, I don’t remember.” How else could the Crown Princess answer? If it were in the past, she would certainly dare to bite back at Li Qishen, but he is no longer the young man in Qingsi Palace who could be woken up in the middle of the night. The Crown Princess had no doubt that if she did not admit what he said, Li Qishen would have a thousand ways to push her into a deeper pit of fire.
She had no choice but to hug Li Cangbi tightly and force out an ugly smile, "It's been so long... The prince has a good memory."
Fortunately, Li Qishen stopped in time and smiled back: "I thought I was wrong."
“…Alright.” Concubine Xiao recovered and actually smiled, “Everyone, go back to your seats. The banquet is about to start. The venison this time is prepared by the chef himself. Remember to taste more of it later.”
"Thank you for the reminder, Your Majesty." Li Qishen, who was enjoying the fun, nodded with a smile.
The Crown Princess could only follow up with, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Concubine Xiao glanced at the Crown Princess, took a deep breath, held Zuichun's hand, straightened her back, walked slowly to her seat, and waited for Li Chengjin to come over.
When Lanling Xiao wanted to send her to the palace to be the Crown Princess, they didn't treat her as a living person, otherwise they wouldn't have changed their mind so easily after that incident. Although she is now firmly sitting on the throne of Imperial Concubine, her status in the palace is equal to that of the Queen, but Imperial Concubine Xiao knows that she is still not regarded as a person.
To be honest, Li Tuoqi was indeed attracted to her. After all, he was responsible for the empire, and he was also good-looking. Li Tuoqi might not be completely uninterested in her. Li Tuoqi might not be a perfect man, but he was enough to satisfy the fantasy of a lady in the boudoir. Unfortunately, the absurd humiliation in the crabapple forest made Concubine Xiao the object of ridicule in "Xintai".
How can I not hate, how can I not resent, but it has come to this point, there is no point in saying this, Concubine Xiao and the Crown Prince, and even the Crown Princess, have long been firmly tied together.
Concubine Xiao had no children. In the past few years, Li Chengjing had been seeking immortals and medicine, making the Daming Palace a chaotic place. He had consumed countless baskets of elixirs, but it was unknown whether his life span had increased or not. However, his health was getting worse. He had many favored women, but no children.
Excluding Li Qishen, who had no chance of succession, the prince from the royal family was not likely to be the successor either, that was just Li Taoqi, and at most Li Cangbi in the arms of the Crown Princess. If Concubine Xiao wanted to live well, she could only cling to the Crown Prince's boat tightly, and it would be best if she got a few more ropes and tied herself tighter.
She couldn't capsize the boat, but she wouldn't let the Crown Princess who was riding with her have an easy time either.
Concubine Xiao looked deeply at the Crown Princess, but the Crown Princess did not look at her. She was pale and hugged Li Cangbi tightly, making the child frown. She repeated softly: "Mother, mother, you are strangling me so hard..."
**
Few people knew about this. Li Qishen was a tight-lipped person and usually talked a lot, but he never mentioned anything that shouldn't be said. Even Cui Shi knew nothing about it. He was happily looking for herbs in the hunting ground and even compiled a collection.
After searching for a few days, I found most of the collection. I showed it to Li Qishen and told him about the Crown Princess's recent situation: "What's wrong with the Crown Princess? She gets sick every other day. Why is she sick again when she comes to the hunting ground?"
"Oh?" Li Qishen had no interest in the herbal medicine collection, nor did he deliberately ask about it. He flipped through two or three pages casually, "What disease?"
"I don't know. I heard that he was too frightened and caught a cold." Cui Shi shook his head with the heart of a half-baked doctor. "I'm going to say something I shouldn't say. She is watching over the little prince too closely. I see that she wants to tie herself up with a rope. It's the same these two days, but can the little prince's body withstand being tied to a patient? I'm afraid that in a few days, the imperial physician will have to treat more people."
Li Qishen did not comment, glanced at the wine jug beside him, and changed the subject: "What is this wine?"
"…Ah? Oh, this wine is made according to the prescription in the Imperial Medical Bureau, using medicinal herbs. It's not bitter, and has a slightly sweet aftertaste." Cui Shi was just saying it casually, but Li Qishen quickly drew his attention away. He picked up the wine pot and poured half a cup of it like he was offering a treasure, "Would you like to try it?"
Li Qishen couldn't refuse the invitation, so he picked up the cup and took a sip of the amber wine. Unlike what he thought, the wine was quite strong, but not spicy or bitter. A wave of heat rushed straight into his esophagus, and the aftertaste was, as Cui Shi said, a little sweet.
They were all strong liquors, but the flavors were different from those on the grassland. Li Qishen drank half a cup without realizing it and wanted to have another one to try, but Cui Shi snatched the jug away.
Li Qishen frowned: "What?"
"Don't drink too much, it's strong liquor." Cui Shi poured himself a small half cup, "Medicinal liquor is meant to warm the body. If you drink it the way you do, it's called alcoholism."
"That's because you can't drink much." Li Qishen was used to drinking like that and couldn't help but retort.
Cui Shi was too lazy to pay attention to him. He packed up the wine jug and was about to leave when someone suddenly knocked on the door frame.
Li Qishen usually didn't close the door. Cui Shi turned his head and saw a familiar and beautiful face. He immediately picked up the tray and said politely, "Then I'll leave. Drink less."
Li Qishen ignored him and just said to Xie Wangzhi who came into the room holding up her skirt: "What's the matter?"
"It's nothing. I was bored so I came to see you." Xie Wangzhi told the truth and sat down in the place vacated by Cui Shi. He felt a little uneasy after thinking about it. "Did I disturb you? Why did Mr. Cui leave as soon as he saw me?"
"It's okay. He compiled a collection of herbal medicines. I have to show it to the imperial doctors." Li Qishen lied casually and pushed the dried fruits and snacks on the table to Xie Wangzhi. "Just eat something?"
The food pushed over were all salty and crispy snacks that were easy to fill up. Xie Wangzhi took a look and shook his head: "No, I won't eat them. I met Hanyue in the kitchen before I came here and we chatted for a while. In addition to sour soup, she is also good at snacks recently. I took advantage of it and tried a small dish."
"It looks like it tastes good. After eating that, I don't like the snacks here anymore." Li Qishen vaguely remembered that when he shared a room with Xie Wangzhi, there was a palace maid who was good at making sour soup. After thinking for a while, he asked, "How is Madam Lou these days?"
"... You still remember." Xie Wangzhi was a little surprised, and then smiled, sincerely happy for Lou Hanyue, "Hanyue is actually doing well. She got a job as a female official in the Shangshi Bureau. I remember that she is one year older than me, and she will leave the palace in two years. She also plans to save some money while she is still in the palace, so that she can go home and get married in the future, and she will have the confidence."
"Not bad."
"But she sent half of her savings to Yupan's family." After so many years, Xie Wangzhi was much calmer when he mentioned Yao Yupan. "But she also said clearly that now that she is in the palace, she doesn't want to climb up, so she doesn't have much money to spend. But when she leaves the palace in the future and has her own life, she may not be able to send money anymore."
"People have to live their own lives and look forward," Li Qishen said. "If you keep thinking about past grudges and can't take revenge, you will only hurt yourself."
"That's the truth." Xie Wangzhi had no idea that Li Qishen had another hidden meaning. With his personality, if he could take revenge, he would definitely step on his enemy and crush him to death. She thought that this was just a comfort, and was afraid that he would worry, so she tried to smile, "I think Hanyue knows it too. She is much better than me. The money I sent to Yupan's family in the past few years was all earned by my brother without any effort, but Hanyue earned it by herself."
"You want to make money, but is there a place that dares to let you make money?" Li Qishen said half-seriously, picking up a dried fruit casually, "I've tasted it, it's quite sweet, want to try it?"
Xie Wangzhi was stunned and looked at Li Qishen in surprise, but did not refuse. He lowered his head obediently and bit the small piece of dried fruit from between his fingers.
She controlled her strength, not because she disliked Li Qishen, but because she was afraid of licking or biting it and making him uncomfortable. But the dried fruit was in Li Qishen's hand after all, and no matter how careful she was, her lips accidentally brushed against it. In that brief moment, it seemed as if she had deliberately licked it.
Xie Wangzhi certainly felt it. She was a little embarrassed, but she was chewing dried fruit and couldn't speak. She could only look at Li Qishen apologetically.
Li Qishen was completely unaware and twirled his fingertips. Just then, a breeze came in from the half-open window, bringing the scent of Xie Wangzhi's collar over. He simply changed the subject: "Did you change to perfume?"
Xie Wangzhi immediately lowered his head and sniffed, and indeed he smelled a fragrance that was different from hers, more subtle, and smelled like a mixture of various flower dews.
"No, I haven't changed mine." She swallowed the dried fruit, a little embarrassed, "I bumped into Madam Zheng on the way here, I guess it was the perfume on her body that tainted the smell."
The author has something to say: Let me check if I will be locked again (paralyzed). Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2019-11-15 09:00:46~2019-11-16 09:13:09~
Thanks to the little angel who threw the grenade: 35883189 1;
Thanks to the little angels who cast mines: Geng Yan, I want to change my name, Quietly eat melons, Daxi, and a little turtle who eats mud and rice;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: 36733630 5 bottles; 30345275, Xuanji 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!