thump, thump, thump—
Wei Yingluo paused and looked in the direction of the sound of the bell. For some reason, her heart was beating wildly.
She was carrying a box in her hand, which contained gifts brought from home, a few folk snacks, and a few children's toys bought on the street.
Things were prepared by Wei Qingtai. He always felt that when a servant was a servant, in addition to being able to do things well, he had to give gifts to his superiors from time to time, so that he could keep in touch with each other.
Wei Yingluo was still lukewarm to him. She couldn't forget the things she had done when she was a child, the suffering she and her sister suffered because of him, and especially the light-hearted forgiveness he gave to the real murderer.
Because of the empress's face, she only went home. She wanted to go back to the palace overnight, but Wei Qingtai lowered her posture and shouted at the back of her leaving: "Wei Yingluo, you can hate me, and you will never forgive me for the rest of your life. Me, but today is New Year's Eve, stay here and accompany me to finish this New Year's Eve dinner, won't you?"
Wei Yingluo slowly turned her head and looked at him with a complicated expression.
His hair turned white, and the wrinkles on his face became more and more numerous. Even though he was promoted, he couldn't find the slightest joy in him. There was only a sense of loneliness unique to an old man and a desire for family reunion.
Wei Yingluo finally sighed and returned to the table: "What's for dinner tonight?"
After dinner, it was time to return to the palace, so Wei Yingluo had to stay at home. After the next morning, she reluctantly took the gift box that Wei Qingtai had packed and waited outside the palace gate.
Just waiting for this ominous bell.
"This is the death knell." The guard in charge of opening the palace door said in surprise, "What happened in the palace? Which noble went?"
A guard rushed out of the palace, looking terrified, and said, "The queen has died! The queen has died!"
Wei Yingluo was stunned, and the Nian Li fell from her hand. She suddenly pushed the two away, and hurried towards the Changchun Palace.
I heard crying from a distance, and when I entered the palace, I saw white banners all over the palace, one after another hanging all over the palace, and all the people serving in the palace also changed into white clothes, and even the silk flowers on their heads were changed to a single color of white. Wei Yingluo found Mingyu, grabbed her shoulders and asked, "What happened?"
Mingyu cried out of breath, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time, Wei Yingluo couldn't wait any longer, so she let go of her hand and hurried towards the bedroom. Behind him, Mingyu finally found her voice and cried hoarsely: "Don't look, Niangniang, she is now—"
The door of the hall creaked open, and Wei Yingluo stared blankly at the queen on the bed.
A quilt covered her from head to toe.
Tick, tick, blood dripped down a corner of the quilt, and a blood circle condensed on the ground. Wei Yingluo looked at the blood circle, her hands and feet were cold, she didn't dare to step forward, she didn't have the courage to open the corner of the quilt...
"There was a fire in Changchun Palace, and the seventh elder brother was unfortunately gone. The empress was so distressed that she jumped down from the corner tower... Before she died, she asked why you didn't come back?" Wei Yingluo heard Erqing cry behind her, "Yingluo , why did you come back one day late, why didn't you come back before dusk! Why! Why did you come back so late!"
"Why didn't I come back earlier..." Wei Yingluo muttered to herself, over and over again, "Why didn't I come back earlier..."
She stood on the edge of the bed in despair, forgetting to eat, forget to sleep, forget the flow of time, and forget about herself and everything around her, as if she had turned into a burial paper doll, guarding the owner in the coffin, the sun, the moon and the sun. months, until the paper turns yellow and the body decays.
Until Hongli's voice sounded beside her, in a very calm tone: "I will change clothes for the queen immediately, I want the queen to walk with dignity."
Two maids passed by her side, one holding a makeup box and the other holding a fancy dress, ready to re-dress for the dead queen. Unexpectedly, Wei Yingluo suddenly waved her hand and knocked over the makeup box beside her. .
The box fell to the ground, and the bead hairpin and jade ring inside fell to the ground.
Everyone gasped in shock, but Wei Yingluo said very calmly, "Your Majesty, the slaves will clean up the blood for the goddess, but the goddess has already chosen to throw away the jewelry, these burdensome things can be avoided!"
Hongli said coldly: "She is the queen, she can't leave in plain clothes!"
Mingyu hurriedly pulled Wei Yingluo, Wei Yingluo threw off her arm, stared at Hongli and said: "Your Majesty, if your maiden cares about her name, she won't jump down from a high place. Madam, leave without any worries!"
Hongli: "Mingyu, go and dress the queen!"
Wei Yingluo: "Your Majesty!"
Hongli stared at the queen who was covered with the brocade quilt, like saying to Wei Yingluo, more like saying to the queen: "She will always be my queen, she will not be carefree, let alone be free, this is hers. Life!"
Mingyu was afraid that Wei Yingluo would annoy Hongli again, so she hurriedly knelt on the ground, retrieved all the pearls and jade rings scattered on the ground into the box, and then returned to the queen with the makeup box. Wei Yingluo held her hand.
"The emperor said it so lightly, is it blaming the lady for committing suicide and making a big mistake?" Wei Yingluo stared at Hongli.
Hongli gradually became a little angry, but he didn't know whether to blame the queen or himself: "As the queen, I am so cowardly and useless, I will never forgive me!"
"Your Majesty!" Wei Yingluo was also annoyed, "The maiden's body is as cold as ice, and the pain is unbearable, but she still desperately gives birth to the seventh brother! Everyone says that she is to consolidate the queen's position, no! The maiden knows very well that the emperor wants to I want the direct son to inherit the great line! Because the emperor needs, so the empress sacrificed, even at the expense of her own life! The result? I didn't hear the mother's desperate cry, she is waiting for you to save her!"
Mingyu quickly pulled her arm: "Yingluo, stop talking!"
It's a pity that because of the death of the queen, Wei Yingluo has gradually lost her mind, and those words that can only be buried in her heart have now been spoken out by her: "Your Majesty, the empress really loves you, and treats everyone in the sixth palace with sincerity, but she is sincere. , in exchange for your neglect, in exchange for the conspiracy of concubines and concubines! Everyone laughs at empress stupid, no! She is not stupid at all, she is born smart, but she can't bear it! She can't bear to hurt the women who are in the deep palace, let alone hurt The emperor's heart! But the emperor, why can't you give her a little pity, give her a little love, why are you so cold, is your heart made of ice!"
Hongli turned blue with anger, and suddenly closed his eyes and said, "Li Yu!"
Li Yu: "The slave is here!"
Hongli: "Wei Yingluo has repeatedly violated the ban, and has been rebellious, so she committed suicide and was buried for the queen."
Mingyu's feet softened, she knelt on the ground with a plop, and kept kowtowing to him: "No, the emperor doesn't want it, Yingluo, hurry up and ask the emperor to spare his life, hurry up! Hurry up!"
Wei Yingluo did not kneel.
In order to avenge her sister, to survive in this cannibalistic Forbidden City, she knelt down so many people and knelt so many times, and now she can finally stop kneeling.
She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as she got what she wanted: "The slave is willing to follow the empress forever, thank the emperor for his grace."
As soon as Li Yu waved his hand, an eunuch stepped forward and escorted Wei Yingluo away.
"Yingluo, Yingluo!" Mingyu cried and crawled back to Hongli's feet and kowtowed to him, "Your Majesty, the empress likes Yingluo the most, you can't do this!"
Hongli didn't even look at her, he stood upright on the edge of the bed, looking at the queen on the bed, his voice was as calm as a pool of stagnant water: "Because she is the queen's most beloved handmaiden, I want to send her to accompany the queen."
Mingyu was stunned.
Two palace maids walked past her, each holding a makeup box and gorgeous clothes in their hands. Mingyu knelt on the ground and trembled for a while, then suddenly rushed up and knocked over the box.
Everyone looked at her in astonishment. With Wei Yingluo dying, there were still people who dared to follow in her footsteps.
The sound of the makeup box falling to the ground sounded, and Hongli slowly turned his face and looked at her coldly.
Mingyu's face turned pale with fright, but she still mustered up her courage, and said to Hongli word by word, "My lady will not let Yingluo be buried. Your Majesty, you don't know your lady at all, not at all!"
"You—" Hongli was furious, and was about to send her to the burial, when suddenly his eyes dropped and he fell to the ground.
A letter fell between the two.
It seems... it fell out of the makeup box along with the jewelry.
Hongli was silent for a while, then bent over to pick up the letter from the ground, unfolded it, and his expression changed immediately.