Despite her best efforts to calm herself, Xie Lanyan was unable to control her emotions. Upon returning to Bixiao Palace, she saw the bright lights inside from afar. She took several deep breaths before slowly approaching Wushuang Palace and entering.
Zhang Yu sat at the head of the table in the hall, sipping tea. Seeing her return, a mocking glint flashed in his eyes. Xie Lanyan knelt before him in greeting. Zhang Yu set down his teacup and asked indifferently, "It's so late, and so cold outside. Where did Consort Xie go?"
Xie Lanyan had never felt so apprehensive and nervous as she did at this moment; her palms, pressed against the cold ground, were sweating profusely. She slightly curled her fingers, took a deep breath, composed her expression, and looked up at Zhang Yu.
"Your Majesty..."
Her slightly reddened eyes and hesitant expression suggested that she truly had an unspeakable reason. Xie Lanyan thought that if the emperor only asked for a statement unrelated to right or wrong, she might still have a chance to escape this calamity.
Seeing Zhang Yu's ambiguous smile, his deep eyes seemingly piercing into her heart, Xie Lanyan gritted her teeth inwardly, trembling as she reached out her hand to him. A ball of snow in her palm had already begun to melt. She smiled shyly, and said softly, with a hint of grievance, "Snow is wonderful. I've finally encountered it like everyone else."
Facing Zhang Yu with intense eye contact, Xie Lanyan dared not relax her guard. This was the most plausible excuse she could think of that might satisfy Zhang Yu in a short time. Her chronically weak health meant she could hardly go out in winter, let alone have any contact with cold things. But Xie Lanyan felt that she herself was as childish and ridiculous as her excuse at this moment.
Zhang Yu's gaze shifted from Xie Lanyan's face to her palm, looking at the snowball, unsure whether to believe her or not.
Xie Lanyan was uneasy until she saw Zhang Yu stand up and smile, saying, "Is he still a child?" He walked up to her and offered a helping hand.
As Xie Lanyan stood up, before she could even catch her breath, she heard him say, "If it weren't for Xiao Shi being with me the whole time, I would have thought..." He paused, then finished speaking, "You went to play with him."
In an instant, Xie Lanyan felt as if she had been doused with cold water from melting snowballs, her heart growing colder inch by inch.
The cold wind rises again, and the heavy snow falls again, but this time it brings many different things.
·
The heavy snow fell intermittently throughout the night, and the next day the sky cleared, the traces of the previous night covered by the snow. Ah Hao arrived at the Yuanshu Pavilion in the snow-covered sky, just as she had the day before. Along the way, she felt that it was even colder today than yesterday, probably because the snow had melted.
As she walked to the end of the path, Ah Hao saw palace maids coming and going in the Yuan Shu Ge Pavilion, their expressions anxious. She hurried up the steps, grabbed a young palace maid, and asked what had happened. The maid replied, "Auntie, a young palace maid left the Yuan Shu Ge Pavilion last night."
Ah Hao couldn't help but think of Qing'er. She was incredulous and pressed the little palace maid for an answer, "Who is she? What's her name?" The little palace maid replied, "I don't know much. I just heard from others that her name seems to be... Qing'er. She'll be fifteen in a few days."
The person who promised her yesterday that he wouldn't do anything foolish has already passed away today. And according to what the little palace maid said, he must have hanged himself... Ah Hao felt a little unable to accept it and stood there in a daze for a moment.
The chief eunuch of the Censorate saw Song Shuhao outside, came over, and greeted her. Ahao nodded, her emotions unclear, having already regained her composure.
The head eunuch bowed slightly to her and said, "Aunt Song, the young eunuch on duty yesterday said he saw you meet with the palace maid Qing'er, and that Qing'er ran away from the Yuanshu Pavilion crying. Is there any truth to this?"
If Ah Hao couldn't understand why Qing'er had suddenly met with this accident, after hearing the eunuch's words, she understood immediately. The young eunuch on duty had never seen her interact with Qing'er, but he certainly knew what had happened yesterday.
No matter how much scheming they might have, no one knew about her visit to the Yuanshu Pavilion beforehand, so it couldn't have been a trap set by anyone. However, it was clear that her every move was being watched closely, with people seizing every opportunity to make things difficult for her. What she had tried so hard to avoid in the past had finally come to haunt her.
Song Shuhao looked coldly at the person who was speaking to her, her tone even colder than her eyes, and filled with sarcasm, "I just realized that I am such an easy person to be humiliated. What do you mean by saying these things to me? Are you planning to take me to the Censorate for questioning?"
Hearing Ah Hao's firm words, the Grand Eunuch was disgruntled. No matter how powerful he was, he dared not confront Ah Hao directly, especially not with something that lacked evidence. Even if the little palace maid had truly died because of her, since Ah Hao hadn't done it herself, nothing would happen to her.
So he quickly bent down and smiled apologetically at Ah Hao, "Aunt Song, you are really too kind to this servant. Even if this servant had the greatest courage in the world, I would never dare to do such a thing!"
Song Shuhao sneered and remained silent. The eunuch, having met with a rebuff, dared not continue speaking for a moment. Seeing that he truly lacked the courage to act recklessly, Ahao spoke again, "You said that the young eunuch on duty yesterday personally witnessed me having contact with that palace maid. Where is he now? Summon him to confront me face to face so that we can clarify things and prevent you from making up stories behind my back, lest you say that I abused my status to bully others."
The eunuch from the Censorate was momentarily speechless at A-Hao's words, his smile froze, and he began to realize that she was not an easy person to deal with. Seeing that her attitude was becoming increasingly respectful, he smiled awkwardly, "Why bother, Aunt Song? Since you say you have never seen her, then you have never seen her. This servant will certainly believe you."
Chapter 35 Impact
Rumors have been circulating in the palace lately that Aunt Song, who accompanied His Majesty on this trip out of the palace, has completely changed her usual indifferent demeanor and used all sorts of seductive tricks to truly bewitch His Majesty.
Not to mention that Song Gugu was with His Majesty the entire time, both on the way there and back, there were numerous signs afterwards, whether at the palace or the hunting grounds. Many palace servants accompanied and served him on the winter hunt, and many of them witnessed it firsthand. Those people recounted everything in detail in such a meticulously crafted manner that it was impossible not to believe them.
For example, His Majesty became angry and punished several innocent palace maids simply because Aunt Song was not serving him. However, His Majesty was fine once Aunt Song arrived.
For example, His Majesty took Aunt Song on horseback to see the scenery, but neither Consort De nor Consort Shu ever enjoyed such an honor.
The moment Ah Hao finished speaking, the head eunuch in front of her had already gone through a lot of thoughts.
Thinking that if the person before him truly became an empress, he would be even more unable to offend her in the future, and since the truth of this matter was irrelevant... he might as well play along and let it go. Besides, the other woman didn't seem to want to make a big fuss.
"Eunuch Wei..."
He had just made his decision, before he could even speak, when someone called out to him. This head eunuch, whose surname was Wei and given name was Dong, was thirty years old and held a mediocre position in the Censorate. He usually handled minor and trivial matters, such as determining the cause of death of an unknown palace maid like Qing'er. It wasn't surprising that A-Hao didn't recognize Wei Dong.
Hearing the noise, Wei Dong turned around slightly and saw a young palace maid carrying a cloak walking towards him. Ahao also looked over; although the cloak was nothing special, she recognized it as hers. It was quite ordinary that the palace servants had found it when they were sorting through Qing'er's belongings.
The palace maid approached and presented the item to Wei Dong. After exchanging greetings, she reported, "This cloak is also among Qing'er's belongings. The palace maid who lived with Qing'er said it wasn't hers." In fact, judging from the fabric alone, it was clear that a palace maid of Qing'er's status couldn't afford it.
"It looks familiar from afar, why don't you let me take a closer look?"
Xue Liangyue walked over from another direction, and having probably heard what the palace maid said, she smiled and said something. As soon as she spoke, she drew the attention of Ahao and Wei Dong, who had been focused on the palace maid in front of them.
Xue Liangyue glanced at Ahao, her face beaming with a bright smile, as if there had been no unpleasantness between them. Approaching her, she indeed touched and examined the items in the maid's hands a couple of times, then looked at Ahao again with a relaxed expression, saying, "Ahao, I remember you also have a cloak similar to this, right?"
The palace maid holding the cloak glanced quickly at Song Shuhao, and Wei Dong also looked sideways, thinking to himself that this situation was too murky and he shouldn't have gotten involved, so he remained silent. Ahao smiled and waited quietly for Xue Liangyue's next words, and sure enough, she said, "But you don't know this little palace maid, how could you be involved in this?"
"Eunuch Wei, I can vouch for Aunt Song; this matter has absolutely nothing to do with her. Even if it were related, it still wouldn't matter, understand?"
Xue Liangyue singled out Wei Dong and said a few ambiguous things to him. As for whether Wei Dong actually understood or not, she didn't care at all.
Wei Dong finally understood, but he just smiled obsequiously and replied with a simple "Yes." He was so timid that he didn't dare to utter another word, and then waved the palace maid away.
Seeing that Xue Liangyue was enjoying her solo performance, Ahao didn't disturb her. Only after she finished her performance did Ahao ask if she had anything to do. Xue Liangyue then said, "The Empress Dowager has sent me to invite you to Changning Palace to discuss the art of tea with Consort Shu."
Why would Xue Liangyue need to make this trip herself? Just as Ahao was thinking this, another voice came over, full of naivety and romance, which exposed Xue Liangyue's words.
"I just came from my mother's place, I didn't hear them talking about tea?"
Today, the Yuanshu Pavilion was even more lively than the day before, with people arriving one after another at particularly opportune moments.
Zhang Xin didn't sense any animosity between Ahao and Xue Liangyue, nor did she feel she was favoring one over the other. She merely heard Xue Liangyue's words contradict her understanding and offered a rebuttal, but didn't take it to heart. Xue Liangyue stood there awkwardly, equally oblivious.
Walking briskly to Ahao's side, Zhang Xin smiled and said to her, "Ahao, are you free? I really need your help with something. It's a bit urgent, so it would be best if you could come with me now. I'll tell you all about it on the way."