Sun Fang'er watched her leave, frowned slightly, and smiled bitterly: "A fool, there are people trying to rescue him, who will come to save me? Who has ever thought of helping me?"
Her voice was extremely soft, but Zi'an heard every word. Perhaps it was because the forest was too quiet.
She still took a few steps, pretending that she heard nothing, then turned back and said, "Oh, by the way, there is one thing I forgot to tell you. I have found Rouyao, and I should be able to return to Beijing tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."
Sun Fanger stared at her blankly, her lips trembling, "Really?"
"Really, Lao Qi will bring her back." Zi'an looked at her, her eyes filled with tears of excitement.
Zi'an doesn't know how to judge Sun Fang'er. She is very selfish and pitiful.
"Thank you, thank you!" Sun Fang'er bowed and murmured.
Zi'an looked at her for a long time with complicated feelings, but in the end he said nothing and turned away.
King Liang and Lingli came out and followed her. King Liang asked, "Did you say it?"
Zi'an said, "I told you, let's pack up and go down the mountain first, and we'll talk on the way."
He went down the mountain overnight and told the two of them what Sun Fang'er had said along the way. Finally, he also told them about Sun Fang'er's self-pity.
Prince Liang also had a complicated look on his face. "Sun Fang'er isn't a bad person, otherwise, Rouyao's mother wouldn't still care about her. But we are powerless to save her."
Zi'an knew that saving Sun Fang'er was much more difficult than saving Xia Lin.
However, Sun Fanger's words kept echoing in her mind.
The next day, Prince Liang learned that Sun Fang'er returned to the palace at noon.
Zi'an also went into the palace immediately, because Sun Fang'er had gone out of the palace to worship Buddha, and according to the rules, she had to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager after returning to the palace.
If I go now, I can meet Sun Fanger "naturally".
The Queen Mother seemed a little surprised that Zi'an came into the palace today, but after hearing the palace maid's report of Zi'an's purpose, she smiled smugly and said to the people around her, "Everyone says that Xia Zi'an is steady and calm in doing things, but now he is suddenly not calm, which shows that he is narrow-minded and jealous and can't tolerate others."
"Will the Queen Mother see her?" Ru Rong asked.
The Queen Mother said calmly, "Why are you in such a hurry? Let her wait outside first. Let her wait for half an hour before meeting her. It will be good to dampen her spirit."
"Yes, but Concubine Zhao is also outside the palace. Is she left here as well?" Ru Rong asked again.
The Empress Dowager sneered, "That vicious little woman now has the Emperor's support, so we can't leave her alone. Just send her away and tell her that I know her feelings and that she has worked hard on the journey, so let her go back and rest."
After a pause, she said coldly, "When you go out to pass on the message, tell Xia Zian a few words and make things difficult for her."
"Yes!" Ru Rong said and walked out.
Outside the palace, Zi'an and Sun Fang'er were waiting. When they met, they greeted each other. Perhaps because of the tiredness from the trip out of the palace, Sun Fang'er's steps were unsteady when she went up the stone steps, so Zi'an helped her up.
However, Sun Fang'er obviously did not accept Zi'an's kindness. After standing firmly, she immediately brushed away Zi'an's hand and took a few steps back, keeping a distance from Zi'an.
Zi'an didn't pay much attention to this kind of ungrateful woman, he just smiled coldly, "Your Highness, your body is precious, take care."
Sun Fang'er glanced at her angrily but said nothing.
When Rurong came out, she saw that the two looked at each other with a bad look on their faces, standing far apart. She knew that the two had some old grudges in the past, so she laughed in her heart and walked up to Sun Fanger and said, "My Lady Concubine, the Queen Mother just got up from her lunch break and is dressing up. She said that she was tired of going out of the palace to worship Buddha, so she asked you to go back to the palace to rest first and come to pay your respects another day."
Sun Fang'er didn't raise her eyebrows, but bowed slightly, "Please tell the Queen Mother that I'll take my leave!"
After saying that, he turned and left without even looking at Zi'an.
Zi'an also turned his head away proudly, looking disdainful of her, with his hands hidden in his sleeves.
"Princess, you have to wait a moment. The Queen Mother is dressing up. After she finishes, she will have to drink some health-preserving soup and deal with some things before she can see you." Rurong looked at Zi'an calmly and said.
Zi'an asked, "Then didn't I disturb the Empress Dowager?"
Ru Rong smiled faintly and said, "The Empress Dowager manages the huge harem. She has to worry about everything, big or small. Today is not the day to pay respects to the emperor in the palace, so the Empress Dowager has not found the time to see you. However, she can always spare some time from her busy schedule. I'll have to trouble you to wait for a while, maybe half an hour or an hour."
Zi'an knew that she was deliberately making things difficult for him. Fortunately, his purpose of entering the palace today was not to see her, so he said, "The Empress Dowager is working so hard, and I am not able to help her and instead am causing more trouble. I am really ignorant. Please tell the Empress Dowager that I will not waste her time and will enter the palace on the day of paying respects."
After saying this, she bowed slightly towards the palace door, turned around and strode away.
Rurong was ordered to make things difficult for her, but she didn't expect that she would just leave like that.
After a moment's pause, he quickly called out, "Princess, please wait a moment."
Zi'an, however, ignored him and turned right as soon as he walked out the door. When Ru Rong chased after him, he had already disappeared.
She said in a hateful voice: "This Regent Princess has such a bad temper!"
When she returned to the palace, the Queen Mother was still carefully looking at her makeup in the mirror. She was very dissatisfied with the thickness of her makeup. Ru Rong came in and reported: "Queen Mother, the princess is gone."
She suddenly raised her head, her brows fierce, "Gone?"
"Isn't it? He said he wouldn't disturb you, but it's clear he doesn't want to wait." Ru Rong said.
The Empress Dowager slapped the table, and the bronze mirror on the dressing table shook and almost fell. Ru Rong hurried forward to support it, "Empress Dowager, calm down!"
"How can I calm down?" The Queen Mother stood up suddenly. "She is so bold. I asked her to wait, but she dared not to wait? Did she really think that I dare not send anyone to the palace?"
Ru Rong said: "She came to the palace today and said she came for this matter, but she was unwilling to wait for even a moment, which shows how arrogant she is."
The Queen Mother was furious. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. "It seems that if I don't teach her a lesson, she really won't take me seriously."
Ru Rong said, "Empress Dowager, this princess always contradicts you, and her attitude when she paid respects was also very arrogant. Since she came back, both the palace concubines and the ladies have been very indifferent to you. The old lady of the Chen family has been pretending to be sick and not coming to the palace to pay respects, which shows that she was also instigated by her."
The Queen Mother became even more angry. "That's right. It was after she came back that the attitudes of those bitches changed. Who is that old woman from the Chen family? I allowed her to come to the palace to pay respects, which was a favor to her. But she relied on the fact that Queen Mother Long valued her in the past and ignored me. She didn't even realize who is in charge of the harem now. Is it still Queen Mother Long?"
Ru Rong took the opportunity to say, "Empress Dowager, you should show off your prestige. If this continues, I'm afraid no one will take you seriously."
The Empress Dowager nodded and considered for a moment, "Go and call the chief steward of the inner court."
Previously, the Regent had taken down a group of corrupt officials. After the corrupt officials were beheaded, their wives and relatives were all given as rewards. Some were even made slaves to be used for future rewards.
Selecting a few people and rewarding them with the Regent's Palace can be regarded as a recognition of the prince's achievements.
(End of this chapter)