The Girl Who Struggled Through Palace Intrigues to Become the Empress

Chapter 128

When night fell,

As the most splendid fireworks blossomed in the twilight sky, the bustling imperial palace gradually became quiet.

Song Zhao took out her pipa and played the song "Xiang Fei Yuan" alone.

Her pipa skills were already very skilled, but today when she played, there were mistakes everywhere, which showed that she was in a bad mood.

The unpleasing pipa sounds were heard by Xiao Jingheng who arrived late.

At that time, the door lock of the west side hall of Yao Hua Palace was opened by the people in front of the emperor,

Yun Shan saw Xiao Jingheng and immediately bowed to greet him. Xiao Jingheng heard the pipa sound coming from the inner bedroom, so he wanted Yun Shan to withdraw first, and listened to a song alone outside the door.

Later, when the song was over, he vaguely heard the faint sobs of a woman, so he immediately pushed the door and entered.

In the bedroom, Song Zhao hugged the pipa and cried sadly under the dim candlelight,

"Zhao'er."

Hearing someone calling her, Song Zhao suddenly looked up at the door,

The moment her misty eyes met Xiao Jingheng's burning eyes,

First there was undisguised joy, but she soon suppressed this emotion again, put down the pipa and hurriedly paid respects to Xiao Jingheng,

"Long live the Emperor, may you live ten thousand years in good health."

"I said that when you see me in private, you don't have to be courteous."

Xiao Jingheng strode towards her, but she staggered back in fear for two steps, biting her lips hard against the root of the wall, looking aggrieved.

"This concubine is an inauspicious person, it is better for the Emperor to not get too close to this concubine, so as not to offend the Emperor."

Her words stabbed Xiao Jingheng's heart,

He didn't slow down his pace, and when he came to Song Zhao's side, he hugged her tightly,

"It was wrong of me to let you suffer."

At first, Song Zhao struggled in his arms for a while, but Xiao Jingheng's arms were powerful, how could a weak woman like her easily break free?

Since she couldn't get away, Song Zhao simply sobbed softly in Xiao Jingheng's arms, wanting to show him all her grievances by crying.

"This concubine thought that the Emperor also regarded this concubine as an inauspicious person, and would never pay attention to this concubine again..."

"I have never believed the unfounded words of others, nor have I ever regarded Zhao'er as a disaster star."

Xiao Jingheng wiped away her warm tears and said very distressed: "The Empress is pregnant now, I cannot ignore what the Imperial Astronomical Bureau said. But rest assured, I will only keep you under house arrest temporarily, not for too long. Trust me, I will let you walk out of here fair and square very soon."

Fair and square?

Innocent?

Which part of her Song Zhao was not fair? Which part was not innocent? And why would she need anyone to prove it?

Hearing this, it was really ridiculous.

But Song Zhao did not show any displeasure at all, on the contrary, she looked very moved, hugging Xiao Jingheng even tighter,

"As long as the Emperor believes in this concubine, this concubine won't care about anything else, and won't feel wronged about anything else."

Later, after Song Zhao's emotions stabilized, Xiao Jingheng took her hand and sat her on the bed,

Song Zhao leaned on Xiao Jingheng's shoulder and asked softly: "Why did the Emperor come at this time?"

"I was worried about your health. Xiao Yinzi said you coughed badly and even coughed up blood? How do you feel now?"

"It was just some blood mixed in the phlegm from excessive coughing, I told him not to tell the Emperor, how could he still..."

"I know you're afraid I'll worry, but no matter what happens to you, good or bad, I want to know." Xiao Jingheng leaned down and kissed Song Zhao on the forehead, "Keeping you under house arrest, I have been worried about you all this time. Tonight at the New Year's Eve banquet, when I looked around and didn't see you, I always felt empty, and had no mood for anything."

No mood for anything?

She could clearly smell the alcohol on him.

If he really had no mood, he should have come to see her early, why wait until the banquet was over?

Even Prince An could lie that he took the opportunity to leave the banquet when he was drunk, and ran over here to get the secret order of the Heavenly Jade Seal,

It shows that if he wanted to, Xiao Jingheng should have come early too.

But he came today, from his point of view, it was already rare.

Song Zhao knew very well that Xiao Jingheng had feelings for her in his heart, but she was not the only one.

So Song Zhao was not angry,

After all, she didn't have any feelings for Xiao Jingheng in her heart at all,

Compared with this, what did she have to be angry about?

So she could still smile calmly and ingratiatingly said:

"The Emperor caring about this concubine, this concubine feels the same way."

It was New Year’s Eve today, tonight, Xiao Jingheng was originally supposed to spend the night in the Empress's palace.

So his visit to Song Zhao was destined to be brief.

But Song Zhao had her ways to keep Xiao Jingheng longer.

For example, when she was in his arms, her hands started to move restlessly, arousing Xiao Jingheng's most primitive desires...

After a spring night, the quilt was soaked with sweat,

Looking at the stained quilt, Song Zhao shyly said:

"This concubine has to moisten the sweaty areas first with water, otherwise the stains will be difficult to wash clean when dried tomorrow."

Xiao Jingheng clearly wanted to linger with her for a while longer, so he held her wrist and said, "If it gets dirty then throw it away, you don't have to bother."

"That won't do." Song Zhao pulled the corner of the quilt as if it was a precious treasure, smiling and said, "Did the Emperor forget? This is the quilt that the Emperor rewarded this concubine when conferring the title of Imperial Concubine. Since it was the Emperor’s reward, it represents the Emperor's feelings towards this concubine. Not to mention throwing it away, even the slightest damage would break this concubine’s heart."

Xiao Jingheng smiled, "Only you are so particular about things like this."

"No, not at all!" As Song Zhao wiped the quilt clean with a handkerchief soaked in water, she said, "All the concubines in the imperial harem cherish the Emperor’s affection deeply. Take the Empress for example. The quilt the Empress uses is the dragon and phoenix quilt from the grand wedding. The Empress has been using it ever since. Is the Emperor going to say that the Empress is overly particular as well?"

As Song Zhao spoke, she also unintentionally exclaimed: "Now that I think about it, fortunately on the day of the big fire, Empress was wrapped in a plain quilt and rescued by Eunuch Yan. If she had been draped in the dragon and phoenix quilt which caught fire, the Empress would definitely have been heartbroken."

The speaker had no intention, but the listener took it personally.

Xiao Jingheng's face, which originally had a warm smile, visibly darkened after hearing Song Zhao's words.

In his mind he analyzed:

On that day, both Yan Jiude and Shuang Ruo beside the Empress said that when they went in to rescue people during the fire, the Empress had already fainted in the room due to inhaling too much smoke and being overly frightened.

In such an emergency, their only thought was to rescue the Empress. They must have grabbed the dragon and phoenix quilt on the Empress’ bed, soaked it with water and wrapped her in it before taking her out.

They certainly wouldn't have specially gone back to the storeroom to fetch a plain quilt to rescue her at the crucial moment between life and death.

So...

The only possibility for the Empress to be wrapped in a plain quilt when she was rescued that day

was that she already knew

that the Phoenix Pavilion would inevitably catch fire that night...