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If he didn’t leave now, he feared he wouldn’t be able to resist beheading Gu Chao!
Even though he did deserve to die!
"Your Highness—— Imperial concubine dowager——"
Grannie Cai exclaimed miserably.
The Emperor turned around abruptly upon hearing her exclamation and saw Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing with an ashen face, just like a withered autumn leaf about to fall.
She took one last tearful glance at the Emperor before fainting with her eyes closed.
The Emperor hurriedly caught her and held her almost emaciated body, shouting anxiously, "Imperial concubine mother! Imperial concubine mother! Quickly summon the imperial physician!"
When Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing woke up, it was already the latter half of the night.
The Emperor was reviewing memorandums in his study, while Old Marquis knelt opposite him.
The Emperor had not yet decided how to deal with him, and having him kneel in the courtyard was too humiliating and disgraceful for the imperial family!
A young eunuch came to the door of the imperial study, and Eunuch Wei went over to listen to him for a few moments. Then he nodded and returned to the room, whispering, "Your Majesty, imperial concubine dowager has awakened."
But the Emperor no longer had the impulse to rush over to visit her as he used to; perhaps her abandonment had greatly hurt his heart.
He never thought that in her heart, he was no better than a wild man outside.
The Emperor glared coldly at Old Marquis. It was unknown how much effort it had taken to restrain himself from issuing a decree to exterminate his nine generations.
Eunuch Wei said with a sigh, "Your Majesty, do you want to go and see her? The imperial physician said that the imperial concubine dowager's condition isn’t good. She just spat out a mouthful of blood."
Hearing that Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing had spat out a mouthful of blood, the Emperor's heart wrenched.
After all, they had had a mother-son relationship for so many years, and it wasn’t something that could be easily broken.
He got up and went to Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing's bedchamber.
She had just taken her medicine and her face was even paler than it had been a few days ago.
The Emperor suddenly remembered that since she returned to the palace, she was either sick or injured; it seemed that she hadn’t had a single peaceful day. Perhaps she wanted to escape from the palace because she was too tired, too miserable, and too scared to stay here?
"You all may leave." Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing said to Grannie Cai and the others.
"Yes." Grannie Cai said as she led the palace servants out.
The Emperor stood at a distance from the bed, neither too close nor too far away, and did not approach immediately.
Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing propped herself up with her elbow and coughed lightly twice. Her weakness at the moment wasn’t just an act anymore. Her injuries from being beaten and sacked earlier were still not fully healed, and she had coughed up blood from ruptured blood vessels a moment ago.
"Do you have any questions for me, Your Majesty?" She asked.
The Emperor clenched his fists.
Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing gave a bitter smile. "Never mind, I'll better say it myself. Did Your Majesty think that I was planning to abandon you earlier? Cough, cough..."
The pain in her chest was intense, and she could not suppress another coughing fit. "If I tell you, Your Majesty, that I never had any intention of leaving you, and that I never even thought about leaving you, would you believe me?"
The Emperor did not speak.
"Yes, I didn't order the Dragon Shadow Guards to stop Old Marquis, that's because he had once saved my life. I couldn't just let the Dragon Shadow Guards kill him without knowing what he was up to."
"Afterwards, he grew anxious and thought that I had suffered a lot in the palace, so he wanted to take me away. I didn't react in time. I was about to refuse when Your Majesty arrived."
The Emperor's fists tightened, and his gaze grew colder, "So... Is it true that imperial concubine mother has never had any relationship with him at all?"
"Yes, I have never." Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing replied.
"Are you certain, imperial concubine mother?" The Emperor asked.
Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing met his eyes without flinching and said firmly, "Yes, I'm very sure of my own feelings. I have always only had the former Emperor in my heart, and I have never had any romantic interest in any other man. I have always regarded him as my savior, and have never had any romantic feelings towards him. It was a misunderstanding on his part."
After she finished speaking, she suddenly sensed something and turned her head abruptly to look towards the door, where Old Marquis stood, looking shocked and injured.
She froze for a moment.
"Don't be impulsive. It will bring trouble to your family. I was born a member of the imperial family, and in death, I will be the soul of the imperial family. I cannot escape from it in this lifetime. I don't want you to suffer the consequences of being implicated with me. Your family is innocent!"
"Think about Changqing, think about Chengfeng and Chenglin, and that child who has suffered from heart disease since childhood. Are you willing to let them accompany you and me to the burial ground for your selfishness? I am not afraid of death, but I do not want to harm them!"
"From now on, act as if you have never seen me. In front of His Majesty, just say it was a moment of impulse, not a romantic relationship between a man and a woman."
"What I owe you, I will pay back in the next life… The next life."
Originally, she had so many words to stabilize him without offending any one of them.
However, now everything was too late.
She turned to look at the Emperor.
The Emperor turned his head and looked expressionlessly at Old Marquis at the door, "Did Official Gu hear what imperial concubine dowager’s thoughts are?"
Did he hear it?
Not just heard it but every single word pierced his heart!
Old Marquis was so angry that he trembled all over, and his clenched fists creaked.
Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing's expression changed and she opened her mouth.
But Old Marquis didn't give her a chance to explain. He took out the red pipa knot he had treasured for many years from his bosom, threw it into the burning fire beside him, and turned away resolutely!
Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing closed her eyes and the knuckles buried in the wide sleeves were faintly white from clenching her fists too hard.
……
The incident that took place at Huaqing Palace did not spread. Everyone in Huaqing Palace, from top to bottom, was issued a gag order. Even Empress Xiao did not hear any news about it.
No word was leaked from Empress Dowager Zhuang’s side either.
The Emperor was grateful for this.
He rarely stopped Empress Dowager Zhuang on their way to court and awkwardly expressed his gratitude.
"What are you thanking Aijia for?" Empress Dowager Zhuang said coldly.
There was no audience watching right now, so why pretend?
"It's nothing." The Emperor walked away without looking back.
Empress Dowager Zhuang rolled her eyes, "What a conduct!"
The nunnery of the imperial palace had been renovated and Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing had moved there. It was said that on the day she moved in, the Emperor was busy with official duties and did not personally accompany her to the nunnery.
"She didn’t fall out of favor, did she?" A palace maid whispered in the imperial garden.
The eunuch next to her replied, "How could that be? Imperial concubine dowager is His Majesty’s imperial concubine mother. His Majesty personally brought her back from the nunnery to the palace!"
"But haven't you heard that His Majesty has reconciled with Empress Dowager recently? And he's so eager to have the imperial concubine dowager move out of Huaqing Palace..."
The palace maid's words were cut off as someone pinched her arm.
"I didn't say anything wrong! I..." She turned her head and saw Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing's sedan chair behind her.
She was so scared that she knelt down and stuttered, "Im- imperial concubine dowager!"
Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing didn't say anything, but Grannie Cai gave her a resentful look.
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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