The Emperor hurried to her side, and as soon as he stopped, he reached out to touch her face and asked, "What’s the matter with Nannan?"
Lian Hua threw herself into his arms, leaning her unsteady body against his, "Brother Zhao, I missed you so much." Her voice was normal. If the Emperor looked down, he would see her with her eyes closed, a frown creased on her brow, biting her lip tightly.
The Emperor wrapped his arms around her, stroking her back, his heart softened a little. He glanced at the Shadow Guard and the surroundings but couldn’t see anything amiss. He asked gently, "Did sothing happen just now?"
Hearing his voice, Lian Hua’s mind cleared a bit, and she imdiately denied it, "No, nothing."
Realizing sothing, she added, "Actually, sothing did happen. I encountered two annoying palace maids who said the Noble Consort was harming and the baby. Hmm, they thought I didn’t know their little sche. I was afraid they’d run off, so I had an ’Immortal’ co down to catch them."
The Emperor understood imdiately. Soone was inciting trouble. His gaze turned icy as he looked at the Shadow Guard.
The Shadow Guard imdiately knelt down. Their duty was to protect Beauty Lian completely, and they had failed in this instance. However, at the ti no one had hard Beauty Lian, and she was unhard. Moreover, since Beauty Lian was in the Purification Room, it wasn’t appropriate for them to show themselves. They had checked that only Beauty Lian and her people were inside the Purification Room.
Now was not the ti for such considerations. The Emperor withdrew his gaze, still not reassured, "Where are they now?"
Nothing seed wrong in Lian Hua’s words, even her "Hmm" sounded usual. But perhaps it was the coldness when she turned around, or maybe just an intuition, the Emperor still felt uneasy.
"I handed them over to Nanny," Lian Hua said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I don’t punish people, I let Nanny do it."
The Emperor stroked her back, sensing nothing unusual. He looked to Xiao Jizi and the others, "What happened earlier, tell everything in detail."
Lian Hua opened her eyes, smiled wanly, His Majesty was so clever, it was truly hard to deceive him...
Xiao Jizi and the others finally had the chance to speak. From the ti the Shadow Guard took Lian Hua away until before they saw anyone, their hearts had been hanging high. It wasn’t until they arrived with the Emperor and saw Lian Hua that they felt sowhat relieved.
Xiao Jizi spoke first, "Your Majesty, it started when we servants were accompanying our master to the Purification Room..."
He talked about rushing to the Purification Room, finding the paper ball, up to when Xiao Linzi felt soone was spying on them, sharing every detail.
The Emperor understood imdiately. Soone was calculating against his Little Concubine. The first attempt with the paper ball was avoided by his Little Concubine with a swift kick. When that plan failed, the perpetrator took a riskier move on the second attempt but was caught red-handed by his Little Concubine.
"That’s what happened. After that, the servants went after them but found nothing unusual. When we ca back, we heard our master calling for soone." After Xiao Jizi relayed what he saw, he signaled Xiao Linzi to speak up, "Xiao Linzi, tell us what you saw."
Xiao Linzi nodded, accepting the burden of the tale, "After Brother Xiao Ji left, I stood guard at the entrance of the winding path. I didn’t see anyone co..."
He recounted what he saw, similar to Xiao Jizi. He heard Beauty Lian call out and didn’t know what happened, then the Shadow Guard arrived. He was uncertain what to do next. Then his master ca out asking if the culprit was caught. After asking, the Shadow Guard "whooshed" away with the culprit.
Finally, he pleaded sadly, asking his master not to play like this again. He couldn’t get over the fake mountain, and Nanny Qi had admonished him before leaving, not to stray from his master.
Xiao Jizi and Xiao Qing nodded incessantly, repeating the sa claim. Xiao Qing was even on the verge of tears, genuinely terrified this ti, thinking it was going to be like the incident with Beauty Li, and that her master was about to co to harm again.
Softened by Xiao Linzi’s foolish interjection, the Emperor’s expression improved significantly as he turned to look at Xiao Qing.
Xiao Qing lifted her sleeve to wipe her eyes, saying, "Your servant was with the master in the Purification Room, and not long after, I heard the voices of two palace maids outside. They were talking about discovering a secret, and ntioned how Noble Consort had blinded Nanny Chen and cut out her tongue..."
As she spoke, her mind beca sowhat muddled; uncertain where to begin, all she could rember was that both maids implied the sa thing, so she hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the soup bowl was poisoned by Noble Consort; she wants to harm my master. I beg of you to stand up for her—" She mustn’t allow Noble Consort to bring harm to her master; she was scared, truly fearful sothing might happen to her master.
"Xiao Qing!" Lian Hua suddenly interrupted.
Understanding her concern, for a servant girl to point her finger at the Noble Consort without any evidence was a cri so treacherous that it could crush her to bits, but she was only acting out of loyalty. How could he not understand?
The Emperor gently stroked her hair in reassurance, reviewing in his mind what he had heard. Having corroborated the stories, he was much relieved to know his Little Concubine hadn’t kept anything from him; the remaining matters would have to wait until they got back.
A thought struck him, and a cold light flashed in his eyes; those two palace maids needed to be thoroughly interrogated. Whoever dared to use another’s hand to kill, scheming against his Little Concubine, would find him utterly uncompromising.
"Brother Zhao, can we not talk about these things, please? Didn’t you say you wanted to take out to play? I can hardly wait." Her voice was as coquettishly impatient as ever, with a hint of urgency.
"Alright, we won’t talk about it anymore," the Emperor softened instantly, his gaze growing tender. He didn’t need to look to imagine his Little Concubine pouting impatiently.
Dismissing everyone else, he looked down at the person cradled in his arms—wasn’t she looking aggrieved?
Touching her face, the Emperor solemnly said, "Nannan, trust in , this matter will be resolved within days." He was determined to exterminate the perpetrator’s entire family!
Lian Hua managed a smile, her head spinning, and the handso man before her shone like a beam of light into the darkness of her heart. She wished she could freeze this mont forever, Brother Zhao.
She strived to stay conscious, nodding slightly, "I only listen to what Brother Zhao says, I don’t care about anyone else’s words."
The Emperor’s smile slowly erged, but then he noticed sothing amiss. His smile faded as he gently moved her away from his chest and touched her forehead. Startled, he felt her temples, noticing they were damp, "Why are you sweating so much?"
"The baby has been restless today; he’s been kicking in my belly," Lian Hua placed her hand on her stomach, feeling tired. She endured the discomfort, forcing a pained expression.
She knew sothing was wrong with her, terribly wrong. Little lon, I’m sorry, let your Imperial Consort Mother be selfish for your Imperial Father just this once. She truly couldn’t sleep now, not yet.
mories fluttered through her mind, and all the despair she had lost to the past now threatened her sanity. So much, so much, she saw so much but could not see hope, could not see her parents or her brother...
Seeing her with a pained look on her little face, the Emperor reached out to feel the movents on her belly, indeed feeling them kick, and asked with so concern, "Is it painful?"
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