Eunuch's Declaration of Loyalty

Chapter 16

The snow accumulated in the past few days has not yet melted, and seeing the dark sky, it seems that there will be another snow.

After Concubine Lian walked out of Ci'an Palace, she walked down the long corridor with a blank face.

She looked up at the corner of the raised eaves in the distance, and suddenly turned pale and covered her heart.Seeing this, a green-clothed court lady who was silently following her quickly stepped forward to support her, and said worriedly: "Concubine, is your heart hurting again? Is it the queen mother just now..."

Concubine Lian stopped her words, closed her eyes and said wearily: "Stop talking, go back first, I'm afraid those unscrupulous slaves won't be able to take good care of the second prince."

Lian Qiao, the maid in green, stopped talking, but her face was still very worried.Concubine Lian was supported and walked back with a dazed expression.Ever since she found out that her illness was incurable and she didn't have much time, she had been in a state of anxiety.A few days ago, when she learned that the Queen Mother had dealt with Feng Shoufu's son in public and lost face to the emperor, she was worried because she felt the oppression that was about to come in the palace.

There has always been no distinction between the former court and the harem. She is now 35 years old, and it has been 15 years since she entered the palace at the age of 20.A woman's most precious youth was almost exhausted in this red wall. It can be said that she spent most of her life with this huge palace, so she was naturally sensitive to changes in the situation.The empress dowager's sudden attack was something that many people did not expect. Those former officials are now worrying about how to stand in line in the future, and even the empress dowager is worrying about her son.

The first emperor used to have five princes, her Huaihe was the second prince, and now she is the fifth prince. The eldest prince and three, four, five and four princes all left early.The harem has always been fighting endlessly, and those children don't know whose hands they died in.Compared with those children who died, she was lucky. Although she took some medicine that she shouldn't take for some reason during pregnancy, which caused the child to become stupid, she also saved him. a life.

After discovering that the child was stupid and that she could no longer bear children, she regretted that it was useless to blame herself, and she didn't want to argue anymore, so she took him to live in Qinghuai Palace like a cold palace.If she could, she really wanted to take care of the child all the time, but unfortunately she didn't have time anymore.Moreover, in the current situation, the empress dowager does not seem to want to protect the emperor as before. If the empress dowager really wants to do something, will his children be involved?

Although that child is stupid, he is easy to control and still has the title of prince. Will he be treated as a puppet or get involved in those people's struggles?Will anyone in the Queen Mother and the first assistant have such thoughts?
Today, I came to ask the Queen Mother to leave, and I also had a tentative mind, but who would have thought that the result would make her terrified.If the empress dowager had no other plans for them, why did they detain their mother and son in Yujing.

Concubine Lian didn't dare to think that if this was the case, what would happen to her children if she died.That ignorant child with the clearest eyes in the world, if no one takes care of him, how can he live well in this situation.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that there was no hope. Concubine Lian almost burst into tears, so she could only cover the red corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.

As soon as she raised her eyes, Qinghuai Hall was in front of her eyes. Concubine Lian wiped away the tears overflowing from the corners of her eyes, and walked in with a smile.

The yard looked desolate, with snow covering most of the flowers and plants, and no one cleaned it.In the middle of the courtyard, there was a thin young man standing under the tree. His eyes moved with the falling yellow leaves, and he was so absorbed that it seemed that there was only that one leaf in the whole world.

He is now an adult, and if he is sane, he might be a father.But his expression makes people feel that he is still a child at a glance, ignorant and childish.That kind of black and clear eyes is not what an adult would have.

Seeing them coming in, the child rolled his eyes.He opened and closed his lips but couldn't make a sound because he also had a throat problem.

He fell silent for a while, and turned his head to look at the fallen leaves under the tree.Concubine Lian stepped forward and gently stroked Xiao Huaiyu's hair, her eyes were full of affection.Xiao Huaiyu didn't respond at all, immersed in his own world.

Standing under the tree for a long time, Concubine Lian's eyes turned from dazed and wavering to firm.She let go of Xiao Huaiyu's hand and looked at the green-clothed maid standing aside, and said with some difficulty:
"Lian Qiao, you have been with me for several years, and you have taken care of our mother and child during these years. I am very grateful to you."

"Just now I asked the Empress Dowager to let our mother and son go away in Ci'an Palace, but she didn't agree, but I still want to give it another go. I heard that the Empress Dowager values ​​a eunuch very much recently, if he can be found, let him and the Empress Dowager Say, maybe we'll still have a chance."

How could Lian Qiao not know what Concubine Lian meant? It was such an important matter for a court lady like her who had nothing to do, and she had nothing to give except her body.There are many such things in the palace, and even Qiao has seen them, but she never thought that she would do the same one day.

"Lian Qiao, I only have you by my side now, and I only believe in you. I know I'm sorry for you, but I can't help it. I'm really afraid that if I stay here, I'll be eaten alive by those people." Concubine Lian He looked at her expectantly and imploringly.

Lian Qiao moved her eyes away from Xiao Huaiyu who was immersed in her own world, something flickered in her eyes, and finally she smiled bitterly, and replied softly: "Your maidservant...understood."

At the same time, in Ci'an Palace

"Qin Shu, tell me, from just now to now, what have you been awkward about?"

"The slave didn't..."

"You didn't even look at Su Shu just now, what dissatisfaction do you have with her?"

Listening to Liu Qingtang raising his eyebrows and asking, Qin Shu's heart tightened, and then a feeling of fear filled his heart.After all, he still couldn't completely control his emotions, so he was noticed by the empress dowager.Is the empress dowager dissatisfied with him because she discovered his hostility towards that person?
The admired person vented his anger on another person, and that person was better than him and liked her more than him. Qin Shu only felt that his heart was full of jealousy, and he couldn't control it no matter what.

Qin Shu was very afraid that the empress dowager would hate him if she knew about his jealousy of Doctor Yang.

He still remembered that a year ago, Imperial Physician Yang was summoned by the Empress Dowager just like today.That day they sat and talked in the pavilion in the garden of Ci'an Palace, and the maids stood far away not to be approached.

He hadn't seen the empress dowager for a long time, and he didn't know what drove him to hide in a clump of flowers and trees, watching them from afar.

At that time, in Qin Shu's eyes, the empress dowager was always noble and majestic, and he had never seen the empress dowager look anything but serious.But that time when facing Imperial Physician Yang, he vaguely saw her smiling and picking a flower next to her hand, and stretched out her hand to pinch her temples for Imperial Physician Yang.

Doctor Yang only touched the flower helplessly, but did not pick it off.The empress dowager seemed to be very happy, and her smile became brighter, allowing him to see clearly even if he was hiding in the distance.

The first time he saw the Empress Dowager's sly look and completely relaxed smile was when she was facing Doctor Yang.

He is very jealous, but as much as he is jealous of Imperial Physician Yang, he is as inferior as he is.After seeing the Empress Dowager smiling at Doctor Yang that day, he almost ran away in despair.

Qin Shu couldn't remember exactly how he got back to the room, but he just remembered being startled when he looked up and saw himself in the blurry bronze mirror, because the face of the person shrunk in the shadows was distorted, and he was even scarier than a ghost terror.

"Damn the servant." Qin Shu plopped forward and knelt down with a stiff face, burying his face deeply.That face contorted with jealousy doesn't want to be seen by this man.

He had never expected the Empress Dowager to regard him as someone she liked, at most he was just a slave that the Empress Dowager needed to use, and that Doctor Yang was the Empress Dowager's favorite, there was no need to compare the two.Qin Shu placed himself in a very low position, so that he would not have extravagant expectations, nor would he be disappointed.

Liu Qingtang looked at Qin Shu who was kneeling in front of her in confusion. She was just curious why Qin Shu didn't seem to like Su Shu, so she just asked, why did he just kneel like this and act like she was about to get angry?

"Qin Shu, what are you doing?" Liu Qingtang couldn't help but glanced at his knees, he must have been bruised from kneeling so hard just now.

"The servant disrespected Imperial Physician Yang, and the Empress Dowager deserves to be punished."

Every time Qin Shu started talking to himself like this, Liu Qingtang felt a headache.What has he been thinking about all day long, what he said just now is "disrespect to Imperial Physician Yang", doesn't he have such a dead face to everyone, and there is no change when he read Su Shu just now, why is he treating Su? Book disrespect?Still pleading guilty?

"Why are you disrespectful to Su Shu? You secretly glared at her just now?"

"Slave...no." He didn't want to see that person, so he probably didn't stare at him, Qin Shu thought uncertainly.

"Then what did you do to disrespect her?"

"..." Could it be that he wants to tell the empress dowager that he is jealous of Imperial Physician Yang, and has been jealous for a long time?Qin Shu couldn't say it.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk, you can get up first." Liu Qingtang suddenly waved and said with a smile.

Qin Shu quietly breathed a sigh of relief and stood up. Halfway through standing up, the Empress Dowager said again: "It's okay if you don't want to answer this question, I will change it."

"Why are you dissatisfied with Su Shu?"

He couldn't answer these two questions, and Qin Shu, who was still bent over, thought about it and gritted his teeth to kneel down again.

Liu Qingtang had expected it a long time ago, before he knelt down, he said: "Kneel down and try again, don't you want to serve me in front of you?"

Qin Shu didn't kneel or didn't kneel, and he froze there looking embarrassed and pitiful.

(End of this chapter)