Shen Xihe's actions made Xiao Huayong's heart feel as if it was covered with a layer of honey, so sweet that his heart was beating like a drum. He simply sat down next to her, saying nothing, and just looked at her quietly.
He always liked to do this, looking at her with affectionate and extremely gentle eyes. She had always noticed it in the past, as if he was distracted, and she always had the illusion that the world had stopped.
In the past he looked at her secretly, but now he looked at her openly. He had three days of marriage before their wedding, and Shen Xihe couldn't chase him away to handle government affairs, so she let him find a comfortable position, supporting his head with one hand, slightly tilting his head to look at her intently.
She thought it would be better for her to adapt to this situation as soon as possible.
The two of them each looked focused, Shen Xihe's eyes were on the handkerchief in his hand, and Xiao Huayong's eyes were on her.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's clinginess goes far beyond this. He follows Shen Xihe almost wherever she goes, with his eyes glued to her, unable to move away.
The Eastern Palace is under the control of Xiao Huayong. He has not been in the Eastern Palace for more than ten years, and no one has the intention to arrange anyone in the Eastern Palace. In addition, he is determined to cultivate his confidants in the Eastern Palace bit by bit, so no one has noticed his operations for more than ten years.
He suddenly returned to the palace and wanted to make further arrangements, but he found that the East Palace was not short of people at all, and everyone was very cautious. It was not easy to send one or two people to make room for the vacancies. Therefore, the East Palace was as solid as a rock, and Shen Xihe did not need to establish his authority when he took over.
The people in the Eastern Palace had long been familiar with Shen Xihe, and they had long been mentally prepared for Shen Xihe to become the Crown Princess. Originally, the Eastern Palace only had Tian Yuan's guards and Jiu Zhang's eunuchs, and there were only a few palace maids, and none of them could be used.
Jiuzhang had already sorted out the internal affairs and handed them over to Zhenzhu. With the marriage of Shen Xihe, the East Palace also had more girls and looked a lot brighter.
On the second day after their wedding, Shen Xihe and Xiao Huayong had to go to the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors early in the morning. It was another busy day. The long sacrificial text took half an hour to read. After going through the red tape, Shen Xihe and Xiao Huayong were kneeling on the cushion and kowtowing when it was already noon.
The two men took the incense handed over by the eunuch and were about to kowtow for the third time when several spirit tablets in front of them suddenly caught fire. Xiao Huayong was quick to pull Shen Xihe into his arms, and when he saw that the spirit tablet was on fire, he immediately stepped forward and put out the fire with his sleeves. The eunuchs also quickly stepped forward and followed Xiao Huayong's example to put out the fire on other spirit tablets.
Xiao Huayong took the tablet in his hand and found that there was tung oil on the base with a very faint smell. It should have been applied with tung oil yesterday or earlier. However, if there was tung oil, someone would have to set it on fire. Xiao Huayong lifted the silk cloth on the wooden platform under the shelf for enshrining the tablet, and found that there was nothing underneath. He keenly saw some traces and suspected that there was a secret passage there.
There must have been someone squatting there before, but he and Shen Xihe were standing far away, so they didn't notice it. When they got closer, the man set fire and ran away through the secret passage.
"Your Highness, what are you looking at?" After a brief panic, the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Zongzheng Temple restored order and stepped forward.
Xiao Huayong simply crawled down and knocked on the floor with his hand, but the echo was not an empty sound. If the tunnel was not here, then it must be behind it. Without any evidence, Xiao Huayong could not move the ancestral tablets to investigate.
If you can find out, that's fine. If you can't, it will be a bad ending.