Chapter 67: Lost Soul
Chapter 67: Lost Soul
He had few offspring.
It's just a cat. Without the cat, Shen Qingtang would at most be depressed for a while.
If Concubine Zhang, who already had a difficult time keeping her pregnancy, lost her cat, she would probably have miscarried on the spot out of grief.
……
Shen Qingtang understood the meaning of Queen Ye's words, and subconsciously looked at Emperor Yu Ji with a trembling mouth.
With just one glance, her heart sank to the bottom.
She discovered that
The frown on Yujidi's face finally relaxed...
As if to confirm what Shen Qingtang was thinking, Emperor Yu Ji looked deeply at Queen Ye, then waved his hand and Jiang Quan walked out.
"Zhao Ning is my most beloved princess. If this is what my princess wants, then I will definitely respond, Jiang Quan!"
"Your servant is here." Jiang Quan lowered his head, unable to bear to look at Concubine Shu, whose face was as pale as frost and whose expression became dazed and helpless.
His emperor must have broken Lady Shu's heart...
Shen Qingtang looked at Emperor Yuji quietly. When her weak back bent, the man's cold and heartless voice made her feel as if she was falling into an icy cave.
"Take Lady Shu's cat out and execute it immediately according to Zhao Ning's request!"
Princess Zhaoning's request was to peel and remove the tendons, and her little orange would also...
Just this one sentence.
In an instant, all of Shen Qingtang's energy was drained away.
Her eyes, which were as lively as stars and could speak, became empty and blank after experiencing despair and helplessness. She could only watch Jiang Quan and Aunt Ginkgo take away the little orange who kept meowing in Shi Liu's arms...
Listening to its delicate calls, Shen Qingtang looked around blankly. She seemed to hear some sound, which seemed to travel through time and space and echoed in her ears and mind.
"...I promise you that Little Orange will always be by your side until the end of your life, otherwise no one can take it away from you."
...Who is speaking?
Shen Qingtang shook her head in a daze. Under the changing gaze of Emperor Yu Ji, she staggered around, her empty eyes looking at the crowd as if she had no destination.
"Pomegranate, did you hear any sound?"
It was as if someone had made a promise to her, promising that no one could take the little orange away from her.
Her mental state was very wrong.
Shi Liu was already very sad because Xiaojuzi was taken away. When she saw Shen Qingtang in such a trance, she was so scared that her face lost all color and she let the tears flow out.
"My lady, my lady, what's wrong with you? Please don't scare me..."
"Shh~ Someone is talking, Shi Liu, didn't you hear it?" Shen Qingtang slightly raised her slightly wet cheeks, and said with trembling red lips: "I heard someone say that he will make Xiaojuzi die of old age..."
"...Did you really not hear it?"
When Shen Qingtang continued to question Shi Liu, Emperor Yu Ji, who had already noticed that something was wrong with her, suddenly changed his expression. Just as he was about to take action, Jiang Quan and Aunt Ginkgo, who were stained with a pungent smell of blood, walked in.
"Your Majesty, Empress, the cat has been executed as requested by Princess Zhaoning. Now—"
"My young master!!!"
Before Jiang Quan finished speaking, Shi Liu quickly supported the staggering Shen Qingtang. In her thin but strong arms, Shen Qingtang breathed in the smell of blood in the air, and looked at Emperor Yu Ji with eyes filled with tears.
Touching his clenched fists, Shen Qingtang couldn't help but smile softly, his pale and sad face broken and desperate.
"Your Majesty, Empress, since we have avenged Princess Zhaoning, may I take Xiaojuzi's body back for a proper burial?" "No!" Princess Zhaoning raised her head suddenly, gritting her teeth in a childish voice, "It's just a beast, you still want to collect its body? What about me who was forced to fall from the rockery by it?!"
"Aunt Gingko, go and throw away the corpse of that beast--"
Princess Zhaoning had just instigated Aunt Ginkgo to throw away Xiaojuzi's body when she was interrupted by Emperor Yuji's angry rebuke.
"How dare you! Zhaoning, where did you learn any rules?" Emperor Yuji looked at Queen Ye sternly, "Queen, Zhaoning is arrogant and domineering. Is this how you educate a princess?!"
Queen Ye breathed with some difficulty and said, "Your Majesty, are you blaming me?"
There was Jiang Mingyue before, and there is Shen Qingtang now.
How could Emperor Yuji put the face of Ye Qingwu, the legal wife, when she reprimanded him for a concubine? !
However, no matter what Queen Ye thought, Emperor Yu Ji looked at Shen Qingtang, whose face was so miserable, and the discomfort in his heart almost destroyed his sanity.
He pursed his thin lips and looked coldly at Jiang Quan, who wished he could stuff his head into his stomach.
"Jiang Quan, why don't you escort your mistress Shu back to Fanghua Palace!" It's obvious that the little palace maid is useless and not capable of anything. Don't let her get hurt on the way!
At the slightly concerned voice of Emperor Yu Ji, Shen Qingtang gently bit her almost bloodless lips and struggled to get up from Shi Liu's arms. The tear marks on her cheeks, which looked like an ice sculpture, made people feel distressed at the sight of them.
She stubbornly held up her shaky body, and bowed under the pair of deep phoenix eyes that she could not see clearly, weak but strong.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."
……
This night's farce ended in bloodshed.
In Kunning Palace, Princess Zhaoning, who had fallen from the rockery, was still crying, while Shen Qingtang, who had lost little orange, left Kunning Palace in despair.
She refused to let anyone help her, whether it was Shi Liu or Jiang Quan, and stumbled towards Fanghua Palace alone.
Little Orange is gone, and her soul is gone with her...
Along the way, Jiang Quan walked in fear, and Shi Liu cried secretly until her eyes turned red.
However, she didn't dare to cry out loud.
Because she was afraid that her young mistress would collapse.
"Eunuch Jiang, Little Orange..."
"Hey~" Jiang Quan waved his hand, holding a bloody little eunuch, and immediately stood in front of the pomegranate.
"Go back and comfort your young lady. The emperor..." Jiang Quan opened his mouth but couldn't continue.
"Eunuch, can I go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to order a coffin for Xiaojuzi?"
Shi Liu silently glanced at the corpse covered with white cloth held in the hands of the young eunuch, and her trembling voice was finally drowned by the surging tears.
Under the white cloth was a small orange with its skin peeled and its tendons removed.
She was so sad because she loved everyone in her house. How desperate must the young lady who had deep feelings for Xiaojuzi be now?
I'm afraid he's already been heartbroken?
Shi Liu sobbed a few times, but finally held back her tears and walked quickly towards Shen Qingtang.
However, just as she reached out to support Shen Qingtang without being agitated by his rejection again, she didn't expect that with a 'puff' sound, a dazzling scarlet liquid instantly spurted out of Shen Qingtang's mouth like falling rain.
Her slender and fragile body, under Shi Liu's screams and Jiang Quan's terrified gaze, seemed to have been drained of everything as she fell backwards.
"Lady Shu!!!"
"My young master!!!"
(End of this chapter)