J'ai passé mon bras autour de la taille fine de l'homme fort

Chapitre 59

After he left, Mr. Zhang stood up, helped the princess and Cao Ping up, and said to Cao Ping, "Young Master Cao, please come back with me to listen to the lecture. Don't let anyone notice anything unusual."

Then he instructed me, "Huaiji, you stay here with the princess for a while, and then you can go out."

Upon returning to the palace, the Emperor immediately confined the princess to the Yifeng Pavilion and banished Yun Guo'er and Xiang Yuanzi to serve in the Yaohua Palace, where the deposed empresses resided. However, I was not punished for the time being.

I told Miao Shuyi about what happened at the Imperial Academy, and also briefly mentioned the mutual affection between the princess and Cao Ping. However, I omitted the details of their several times alone and their exchange of poems, and only said that they had met at a banquet and then had a chance encounter in the library.

This was enough to greatly alarm Miao Shuyi. She first scolded me for not keeping a close eye on the princess, and then hurriedly went to discuss it with the Empress. When she returned, she looked worried and said, "After the Empress learned of this, she went to the Funing Palace to request an audience with the Emperor, but the Emperor was furious and refused to see her."

The princess was confined to her room, refusing to eat or drink all day. She would either weep bitterly or stare blankly out the window for long periods. Sometimes I would go in to offer her tea or water or try to persuade her to eat, but she would ignore me and only grab my arm to ask, "How is Cao Ping?"

If I say I don't know, her tears will fall again: "Is he dead? Father said he won't let him get away with this..."

To appease her, I promised to try to find out about Cao Ping.

I summoned Zhang Chengzhao and asked him to find an excuse to leave the palace and go to Cao Yi's residence to inquire. When he returned, he clicked his tongue repeatedly and said, "Oh no! Before I even got close to his gate, I saw a lot of people from the Imperial City Guard around, so I had to turn back... But they were all dressed in plain clothes. Maybe the Emperor just wanted to monitor and keep an eye on Cao Ping, but didn't want outsiders to know."

I took this opportunity to ask him, "The princess and Cao Ping were communicating with each other. Did you intervene to help her?"

He jumped up in surprise: "You can't accuse someone without any evidence!"

I sneered: "You knew beforehand that the princess and Cao Ping were meeting at the Imperial Academy, so you made an excuse not to go that day because you were afraid that you wouldn't be able to escape the consequences if things went wrong."

He still wouldn't admit it, but his vehement denial seemed rather unnatural. I didn't pursue the matter further; there were too many things to worry about at the moment, and besides, I wasn't entirely without guilt myself regarding the matter between the princess and Cao Ping.

The princess refused to eat or drink and quickly became extremely weak. It wasn't until the empress came to visit her personally and gently comforted her that she managed to drink some porridge.

"Auntie," she cried again, tears streaming down her face, before she had even finished her porridge, "what will Father do to Brother Cao?"

The Empress embraced her, patted her back gently, and said softly, "It's alright... Your aunt will talk to your father, he'll be fine..."

But in truth, she had no idea what decision the Emperor would ultimately make. After leaving the princess's room, I overheard the Empress saying to Consort Miao, "My brother, upon learning of this, secretly sent a memorial to the palace to impeach himself and request to be relieved of his post and await punishment. However, the Emperor burned the memorial and did not respond, probably because he did not want the matter to spread... I have also ordered that no palace servants are allowed to discuss the Emperor's confinement of the princess, or they will be severely punished... However, we must persuade the Emperor to calm down and wait a little longer. In the past few days, many officials have submitted memorials requesting him to establish a prince, which has already made him very troubled, and his health is also poor..."

Since the death of the Eighth Princess, in the past ten years or so, none of the Emperor's concubines have given birth to a prince, nor even a princess. Although the Thirteenth Regiment Commander is the Emperor's adopted son, the Emperor has always desired a son from the harem, so he has never officially issued an edict to confirm the Thirteenth Regiment Commander's status as a prince. Now, seeing that the Emperor is getting older and has no biological son, the officials have frequently submitted memorials requesting the establishment of a prince, but the Emperor has been delaying, which has become a major worry for him.

Another piece of bad news followed: the Emperor no longer ordered Zhang Maoze to attend court or follow him around. Instead, his daily attendants were replaced by Shi Zhicong, the Palace Attendant, and Wu Jilong, the Deputy Palace Attendant, who had little contact with the Empress.

No matter how much Consort Miao pleaded, the Emperor did not see the Princess for more than ten days. But just when Consort Miao was about to despair, Shi Zhicong suddenly came to Yifeng Pavilion and announced, "His Majesty wants to see the Princess. Please prepare to receive him, Consort Miao."

He then recounted the whole story:

Recently, Zhang Bian, the Vice Censor-in-Chief, has been submitting memorials impeaching important officials of the two ministries. Today, the Emperor summoned him for an audience and asked him, "You are from a poor family, so why do you repeatedly mention close officials?"

Zhang Bian bowed again and replied, "I am not poor; it is Your Majesty who truly deserves the title of poor."

When the emperor asked for an explanation, Zhang Bian replied: “I rose from humble beginnings to a position of power, and now I am rich and powerful. I have a wife and children at home, and relatives outside. But Your Majesty has no virtuous ministers at home and no famous generals outside. You are isolated in the court. When you return to the harem, you only have one or two concubines to accompany you. Is this not a lonely and desolate situation?”

The Emperor was therefore depressed. After returning to his bedchamber and pondering for a long time, he decided to personally visit the Princess at Yifeng Pavilion. He first ordered Shi Zhicong to deliver the imperial edict.

Miao Shuyi raised her hands and bowed deeply in gratitude, feeling very fortunate that Zhang Zhongcheng's words had reminded the Emperor of his blood ties with the Princess. Then she busied herself with preparations, ordering people to tidy up the rooms in the pavilion, and also instructing Han Shi and the maids to help the Princess with her grooming and dressing.

But the princess refused everything, lying listlessly on the bed with tears streaming down her face.

When the Emperor arrived, the Princess had not yet risen. After hesitating for a moment, the Emperor finally entered her room to check on her.

Seeing the princess's pale and haggard face, the Emperor immediately shed tears. He turned his head and quietly wiped them away, then walked to the princess's bedside, sat down, and called to her with a smile, "Huirou, Father has come to see you. Are you feeling better?"

The princess looked at him blankly and mumbled "Father."

The emperor agreed, and showed a slight hint of joy.

As the princess regained consciousness, she struggled to sit up and said to her father, "I don't want to marry Li Wei."

The emperor was saddened, but did not refute it. He turned around and ordered Han to bring a bowl of porridge. He took it himself and said gently to the princess, "You haven't eaten for a long time, have you? Come, drink this porridge first, and we'll talk after you finish."

He personally held the spoon and fed the princess spoonful by spoonful. The princess remained calm and swallowed the porridge slowly. After the emperor finished drinking the porridge and put down the bowl, the princess immediately reiterated, "I do not want to marry Li Wei."

The Emperor sighed, as if trying to persuade her: "Huirou..."

The princess interrupted him, asking the question that concerned her most: "What did you do to Cao Ping?"

The Emperor held her hand: "Huirou, listen to what your father has to say..."

Suddenly, the princess stretched out her arms to him, wrapped them around her father's neck as she had when she was a child, and gently rested her chin on his shoulder. After stopping her father from saying the next thing, she herself remained silent for a long time.

This intimate gesture seemed to touch the Emperor, who also gently embraced his daughter.

I stood behind the Emperor, and from this angle, I could clearly see the Princess's face.

At that moment, a glint of light flashed in her previously dazed eyes, accompanied by a strange, chilling smile. She said firmly and clearly in her father's ear, "Father, if you kill Cao Ping, I will kill your only daughter!"

The emperor's back immediately shuddered violently, as if he had been slapped hard or had suddenly vomited. But he quickly calmed down and showed no further unusual reaction. He continued to hold the princess, and after a moment slowly released her, then turned and walked out without a word.

I noticed that he kept his mouth covered with his sleeve as he went out.

I followed behind him, seeing him all the way to the door. He was unsteady on his feet, and when I went to help him, he pushed me away with a flick of his sleeve. In that instant, I noticed a bright red bloodstain on his lips.

I was still hesitating whether to speak up and remind the eunuch who had come with him when his legs gave way and he collapsed in front of me.

The Lonely City Closes (The Princess Who Fell in Love with the Eunuch) Falling Flowers and Wind Play with Clear Autumn Rain 50. Disobedience

Chapter word count: 2212 Update time: 08-08-21 17:05

50. Disobeying orders

The Emperor was quickly sent back to the Funing Palace. When Consort Miao led me there to apologize, he had already woken up, surrounded by imperial physicians brought by Zhang Maoze, and the Empress was also in the palace.

At that moment, the Empress personally served him a bowl of medicine and was about to persuade him to drink it when he raised his hand to block it, causing the bowl to overturn and the medicine to spill all over the Empress.