"Your Majesty, the Concubine Shu is here." Lianyun hurried in from outside and whispered in Shen Qingwan's ear.
Before Shen Qingwan could react, Wu Ling had already walked into the room alone with a faint smile on her face.
"Sister, I suddenly remembered..." Wu Ling paused as she spoke. Seeing Shen Qingwan looking at her with a slightly strange look, she couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing..." Shen Qingwan sighed inwardly that the timing was not good, and pulled the corners of her mouth awkwardly. The room had not been cleaned yet, and with her carefulness, she would definitely find something.
Wu Ling frowned in confusion, but did not dwell on this point. She continued what she had not finished saying, "I suddenly remembered that you forgot to take your things from me. I have always wanted to send them to you but always forgot. I usually stay in the yard all the time, so I came to see you today and take a walk."
Taking the item she handed over, Shen Qingwan pursed her lips and said, "It's just a small trinket. Why bother sister to deliver it personally? Sister is not feeling well. Please sit down quickly."
"Of course I miss my sister. Besides, I remember that the emperor brought this hairpin to you a few days ago. You must keep it well..." At this point, Wu Ling suddenly shrugged and frowned, "Sister, why is there a smell of blood in your house?"
Shen Qingwan thought to herself, "Sure enough." Before she could think of a way to deal with it, Wu Ling saw the blood stain on the bed. She walked to the bedside quickly, bent down and looked carefully for a while. After confirming that it was indeed a blood stain, she asked with a serious and worried face, "Sister, what's wrong with you? Were you assassinated?"
Seeing that there was no false worry on Wu Ling's face, Shen Qingwan sighed lightly and decided to tell her the truth. "Sister, you are worrying too much. This..."
Wu Ling was stunned after hearing this, and after a while she said, "I'm afraid this isn't appropriate... If the Emperor knew about you and the Ninth Prince, he would probably blame you."
"Well, it's because it's not appropriate that I want you to do me a favor and keep this matter secret." Shen Qingwan said helplessly.
"Of course. But I don't understand why you do this? Aren't you afraid of getting into trouble? Tell me the truth, what is your relationship with the Ninth Prince?" Wu Ling's expression was slightly cold, and he obviously didn't agree with her behavior. As a friend, he was naturally concerned about her life and property. As for other people, what did it have to do with her
"You don't know, the Ninth Prince has saved me many times before, and he is indebted to me. Now he is in trouble, and I can help him as a way of repaying his kindness. Although he has helped me many times, our identities and positions have destined us to be enemies." He frowned slightly, obviously helpless about this matter, and sighed slightly, "What I hate most is owing favors to others, but this also makes me feel much more relaxed."
"I see." Wu Ling nodded to show her understanding, and did not ask why she, a concubine, was destined to be an enemy of the prince. "These things involve a lot, and it is best for you to make your own decision. Just think carefully and don't make the wrong decision. It will be more trouble than gain if you regret it later."
"I understand." Shen Qingwan smiled. She was grateful to her confidant. It was a great comfort for her to hear such words.
"In that case, I'll go back first. As for this matter, I won't mention it again, and you have to be more careful." His face regained its indifferent expression, but it was obviously a little more worried.
After the people left, Shen Qingwan pondered for a while before she told Lianyun, who had been standing silently beside her, "Go get me some water and rouge powder, and find me a new set of bedding."
"Yes." Lianyun nodded in response.
After Lianyun brought all the things over, Shen Qingwan carefully wiped all the blood stains beside the bed with water, and then pulled off the soiled quilt, rinsed it with water, and handed it to Lianyun, "Take it to the laundry to wash."
Then she took a handkerchief dipped in water and wiped the blood stains in the bedding, applied a thick layer of rouge powder, and called Xiaoman over.
"Get rid of this quilt. It's stained by rouge." With a cold face, he said carefully, "Be careful not to tell anyone."
Xiao Man took it respectfully, but seeing that she seemed to be in a bad mood, she didn't dare to ask more questions.
After checking several times to make sure there were no remaining blood stains, Shen Qingwan spread out new bedding. Lianyun also came back from outside at this time and reported to her: "My queen, let the reliable maids in our palace wash everything."
"Okay," Shen Qingwan nodded, and then said, "Help me light the incense I found at Fashan Temple last time."
All the windows in the room were opened. It happened that the wind was quite strong today, and after a while Shen Qingwan could clearly feel that the smell of blood in the room had faded a lot.
Because Shen Qingwan was not used to using incense on a daily basis, Lianyun searched for a long time before she found the calming incense that the abbot of Fashan Temple kindly gave to Shen Qingwan when she went to pray at the temple a few days ago.
Lianyun lit the incense in the room and gently used a fan to help disperse the smell. After a long time, the house was filled with the scent of incense. Because the window was open, there was also a faint fragrance in the yard.
"Forget it, you don't have to stare at it, just let it burn on its own." Feeling that the smell was almost covered, he let her stop.
Shen Qingwan was just thinking about closing the window a little when a sharp voice came from outside the yard, "The Emperor has arrived!"
"Your Majesty." There was a flash of panic in his eyes, but he quickly concealed it and it went unnoticed.
"No need to be polite." Fu Yuheng waved his hand, signaling the two to stand up.
"I wonder why the emperor came here?" Shen Qingwan asked tentatively.
"Nothing, I just came to see you." Fu Yuheng said, but was surprised to see the incense burner in the room, and asked again, "I smell the fragrance floating in your courtyard, it turns out that my beloved concubine is burning incense in the room. But I remember that you didn't seem to have the habit of using incense before..."
"I haven't been sleeping well recently. I've tried several folk remedies but they didn't work. After much thought, I decided to try this incense. I found this incense from Fashan Temple a few days ago. I didn't get the right amount right, so the smell was too strong in the room. I had to open the windows to ventilate." Shen Qingwan calmly prepared all the details and said, "If the emperor likes this smell, I can bring more back from Fashan Temple next time."
"I see. But why don't you ask the imperial physician to see it, my beloved concubine?" Fu Yuheng nodded and did not ask any more questions about the matter.
"My matter can be big or small, but the imperial physician is very busy. How can I bother him with such a small matter?" Shen Qingwan said with a smile.
"What you said is not true, my dear. But if this incense is really effective, it is certainly much better than taking medicine." Seeing her say this, he did not say anything else. "Then my dear, you should pay more attention to rest and don't worry too much." After speaking, he stayed for a few more hours and then left.