Chapter 724: The Unfortunate Zhao Zhang Wei
It was still early in the morning when Zhao Zhang Wei woke up.
He frowned as he got up to sit on the bed he was sleeping on. Seeing the unfamiliar room, his frown deepened and with his fingers he pressed his temple.
However, he stilled completely and his phoenix eyes widened with shock and panic when he saw the woman lying on the other side of the bed.
She was naked under the covers. He averted his eyes immediately when he saw her naked shoulders.
A very cold expression was there on his face as he climbed down from the bed. However, the sudden dizziness hit him for a second and his leg collided with the table placed nearby. Zhao Zhang Wei maintained his balance, however, the table fell down because of the collision.
Thump
The loud sound woke Concubine Shaolin who was deeply asleep on her bed or that was what Zhao Zhang Wei had thought.
She sat up on the bed and covered herself with the blanket when she realized her state. However, when she saw Zhao Zhang Wei in the room, she left everything and quickly climbed down from the bed.
Somehow covering herself using the blanket, Shaolin reached to stand in front of Zhao Zhang Wei and said softly
"Your Highness woke up? This concubine should have woken up earlier to help Your Highness. Please forgive this concubine in account of last night."
Shaolin smiled like a newly married girl when she said the last few words. Her cheeks were bright pink.
The image she presented could evoke gentleness inside any other man. However, all Zhao Zhang Wei felt was frustration. Especially when he saw the bright red marks on her shoulders.
Did he do it?
Why could he not remember anything?
He just remembered that he had come back to Imperial Palace in the noon and then went to Lantai Courtyard to see his wangfei.
On his way back, he met …
Zhao Zhang Wei's phoenix eyes flickered. In one stride, he stepped closer to Shaolin. Concubine Shaolin blushed more deeply.
However, she was shocked when she heard Zhao Zhang Wei's cold voice instead of the sweet words she had expected.
"What did you mix in the water you had given me yesterday, Shaolin?"
Zhao Zhang Wei's voice was so cold and filled with rage that Shaolin's eyes unconsciously started to fill with tears. She trembled fiercely because of fear she felt.
How did he find out! She had not expected him to find out and that too so soon.
Shaolin didn't know what she should do or say. She could only open and close her mouth and shed tears.
Zhao Zhang Wei was disgusted on seeing her like this because he knew that she truly had mixed something in the water.
Otherwise why would she look so scared when he questioned her!
"Shaolin"
Zhao Zhang Wei's voice only got colder than before and Shaolin had to gather her courage to look at him. However, she regretted doing so. His cold and indifferent eyes scared her so much that she wanted to vanish away from there.
"No one…Benwang repeats no one should find about it. Do you understand? ….Especially Qingqing."
Shaolin's heart broke when she saw that he was worrying about Yi Huiqing. She never mattered to him…not even a little.
However, what she thought inside her heart, she had to nod her head.
Zhao Zhang Wei's face didn't look any less colder.
He left the chambers.
What could be more unfortunate! Zhao Zhang Wei wondered when he saw Yi Huiqing strolling in the garden with her maidservant who held her hand as she walked slowly.
And he had to pass the same garden.
Hence, he came across her when she was exiting the garden.
Heavy guilt filled his heart when he looked at her. Zhao Zhang Wei had never felt like this. He felt like slapping himself.
How could he trust a woman in this Imperial Palace so easily!
Everyone except his Qingqing had a black heart. How could he forget this?
Zhao Zhang Wei couldn't even bear to look into her eyes properly.
"Greetings, Your Highness"
Yi Huiqing said politely.
Zhao Zhang Wei nodded his head and decided to walk away. However, his face went cold when he heard the same voice again from his behind.
"Your Highness."
Zhao Zhang Wei clenched his hands inside his sleeves.
"Your Highness' sachet was left in this concubine's chambers."
Concubine Shaolin who had worn her robes in hurry ran to Zhao Zhang Wei and presented his sachet in front of him as she said this.
Lin Daiyu standing beside her mistress had wide eyes and soon tears filled her eyes. Seeing Zhao Zhang Wei coming to see her mistress every day these days, she had thought that he really cared about her mistress.
However, she had been very wrong.
Here he was spending nights in another concubine's courtyard when her mistress couldn't sleep at night because of nightmares about her dead children.
Lin Daiyu looked at her mistress with concern-filled eyes.
However, Yi Huiqing looked very calm.
She held Lin Daiyu's hand and whispered calmly
"Let's go"
Lin Daiyu immediately nodded her head and started to walk away from there slowly.
On the other hand, Zhao Zhang Wei was feeling so angry that he wanted to kill Shaolin right then and there.
However, what could he get by killing her?
He was equally at fault for letting his guard down and letting his emotions fool him. The sachet with which she had come, he took it but then threw it away on the ground.
"Shaolin"
He spoke in a cold voice and Shaolin flinched at his tone.
"If you wish to live a long life then don't appear in front of Benwang again."
With these words, Zhao Zhang Wei left there.
The day couldn't get any worse for him.
.
.
.
Eunuch Zhang carefully helped Zhao Zhang Wei in wearing his robes.
He didn't even dare to raise his head and look at the prince's cold face which looked as if everyone in this world owed him something.
He didn't even dare to breathe loudly fearing that the prince would throw him out of Xinhe Palace.
Except for Xinhe Palace, Eunuch Zhang couldn't think of any other Palace where he would be able to live peacefully in this Imperial Palace.
However, regardless of how careful he was, he was still destined to hear some 'sweet words' from Zhao Zhang Wei.
"Why did you not look for me when I was absent for the whole night?"
Zhao Zhang Wei asked coldly.
Eunuch Zhang's eyes widened and he immediately shook his head and said
"It is not like that, Your Highness. This servant had gone to look for Your Highness but then came to know that Your Highness is with Concubine Shaolin. So this servant thought that it was better not to dist…."
Eunuch Zhang paused when he saw that Zhao Zhang Wei's gaze at him was only going colder and sharper.
He lowered his head immediately and stood silently wondering what he should say to appease the prince.
A moment later, he suddenly heard the prince asking him
"Do you also think that I will actually sleep with someone else when I love Qingqing?"
Eunuch Zhang raised his head and looked at Zhao Zhang Wei with blank eyes. A moment later, he blinked.
He actually never knew that his master loved wangfei. Though he had noticed a change in his master's behavior for wangfei, he could also see that his master was still very much like before in front of wangfei.
Hence, he had come to think that his master felt guilt for not accompanying wangfei in her sorrow or perhaps his master was interested in wangfei because of her lack of interest in him.
Though the latter case sounded a little sick, as a man Eunuch Zhang could somehow feel that it was right.
Some people are like this. They tend to care for some things when they lose them. However, this interest also varied. It could be short-term as well as long-term.
In which category his master lied, he still was not sure. But today…it seemed that got his answer.
On the other hand, Zhao Zhang Wei felt frustrated on seeing the lack of response from his eunuch's side.
Did Qingqing think the same about him?
He stepped closer to the young Eunuch and said coldly while staring into his eyes
"I might be indifferent to anything, might not have cared in the past. However, once I have started to love her, I shall be loyal to her till this breathe lasts."
Eunuch Zhang blinked again.
It was a big thing for a prince to say all these things. However, once he saw everything and Zhao Zhang Wei as the man who was not here for his wife when she mourning the loss of her children, Eunuch Zhang felt that whatever he said was very less.
He could see things in a very narrow sight, not in a wider view.
Still, he tried to comfort his master.
"Your Highness, wangfei will be fine. She won't get angry. It is not like Your Highness had not spent nights with concubines before."
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