si-mexico Chapter 164 Contraceptive Soup
Chapter 164 Contraceptive Soup
Pei Yuanling stared at her coldly, his dark eyes unfathomable and penetrating.
Empress Wang's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately knelt down, saying, "Your Majesty, I am foolish and do not understand what you mean by this."
"You don't know? Then let me recall it with you, Haosheng."
Pei Yuanling's gaze grew increasingly cold and sharp, as if he were looking at a lifeless object.
"You know perfectly well what you had Lin Qing do that day at the hunting grounds. Do I need to say more?"
Upon hearing this, Empress Wang's face turned deathly pale, and she collapsed to the ground, unable to support herself.
After a long while, she managed to maintain her composure, but her voice trembled uncontrollably: "Your Majesty, I... I only wanted Lin Qing to teach that Consort Qiao a lesson, I did not intend to kill her."
Pei Yuanling remained silent, only staring coldly at her, his expression growing increasingly indifferent, even causing the temperature in the hall to drop slightly.
Empress Wang collapsed to the ground, two lines of tears sliding down her cheeks. Her hair was slightly disheveled, and she no longer possessed her usual dignified appearance. She supported herself with her hands to avoid being too embarrassed.
As the empress, she was certainly not unattractive, so why wouldn't His Majesty even glance at her?
Now you actually have to punish yourself for a body double?
She is the Empress, after all. She was the one who married him first and became his legal wife. It was one thing that she couldn't compare to his childhood sweetheart Chu Qingyin before, but now she can't even compare to a fake?
How could she be willing to accept this! How could she possibly be willing!
"I will not pursue this matter any further. However, if it happens again, you will no longer be able to sit on the throne as Empress."
After saying this, Pei Yuanling stood up, turned around, and left.
His strides as he walked away seemed to suggest that staying in the Empress's palace even a little longer would have soiled his clothes.
Even long after he left, Empress Wang was still unable to stand up from the ground.
Lin Qing walked in from outside the palace and reached out to help her up: "Your Majesty, the ground is cold... Please get up..."
Empress Wang flung Lin Qing's hand away, her eyes filled with resentment: "It's all because of you, you fool! What a mess you've made! Now look what's happened, His Majesty has completely abandoned me!"
Who would want an empress who harms concubines and has a vicious mind?
Although Pei Yuanling would not depose the Empress Dowager arbitrarily due to the power of the Wang family and the prestige of the Empress Dowager, he would only become more indifferent to her in the future, and it would be impossible for her to regain favor.
Lin Qing was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, this servant never expected things to turn out this way..."
He had clearly handled it properly, so how could it still be discovered?
Could it be that one of our subordinates is a spy who infiltrated the other palace, and this matter has just been leaked?
Thinking of this, Lin Qing felt a wave of fear wash over him, and he knelt down tremblingly, not daring to look up at his mistress.
"Enough!" Empress Wang roared. "What's the point of saying all this now?"
She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "Go and investigate whether His Majesty has been behaving strangely lately. Also, keep a close eye on Consort Qiao."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Lin Qing replied tremblingly and withdrew.
Empress Wang gradually regained her senses. She tidied her slightly disheveled hair and her gaze suddenly turned cold.
So what if I'm not favored?
As long as she remains the Empress and the Wang family's position remains secure, Pei Yuanling cannot touch her.
As for Qiao Qingyin, His Majesty forbids me from touching her, but that doesn't mean others won't take action against her.
She'll just wait and see how long that man can keep up his smugness!
***
After leaving the Empress's palace, Pei Yuanling went straight to Xingyue Palace.
The man's piercing gaze softened slightly when he saw Chu Qingyin.
Seeing Pei Yuanling's unpleasant expression, Chu Qingyin couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Where did Your Majesty come from? Why does your face look so pale?"
Pei Yuanling tugged at his thin lips and gently touched the pearl earring hanging from her earlobe. "It's nothing. I was just held up by matters of the previous dynasty, which is why I'm a little late."
Upon hearing this, Chu Qingyin's fair face blossomed into an extremely charming smile: "Your Majesty is not late. I had the kitchen prepare lotus root and pork rib soup. It's just the right time to drink it."
It was almost the end of summer, and the sun wasn't as scorching as before, making it the perfect time to eat lotus roots. Chu Qingyin had her men dig up a lot of fresh lotus roots from the small lake.
"it is good."
After a long day, Pei Yuanling was actually quite hungry. He took Chu Qingyin's hand and sat down with her in the courtyard. Watching her busily serving soup, his frustration dissipated somewhat.
The woman before him was wearing only a light gauze dress because of the intense summer heat. Her bright eyes and white teeth, and her fair wrists were like snow.
Even the hibiscus cannot compare to a beautiful face.
Chu Qingyin placed a steaming bowl of lotus root and pork rib soup in front of Pei Yuanling and said softly, "Your Majesty, please try it. Is this soup to your liking?"
Pei Yuanling took the soup bowl, took a small sip, and nodded in praise: "It tastes very good. Yinyin, you should have some too."
After saying that, he scooped up a spoonful and handed it to the other person.
Chu Qingyin lowered her brows, smiling brightly, "Okay."
***
Summer is long, but it will eventually come to an end.
In the blink of an eye, the weather has turned cool, and autumn is just around the corner.
The court was finally much quieter. Perhaps because of Pei Yuanling's reprimand, Empress Wang didn't even bother to go to the Empress Dowager to complain.
Since they no longer needed to pay their respects to the Empress, the concubines were spared a lot of trouble.
Chu Qingyin's days consisted of nothing more than playing with Little Snowball and listening to music. Apart from being busy at night, when she had to serve that energetic man, she had nothing else to do.
Such a leisurely and carefree life made Chu Qingyin feel as if she were in a dream, and she was still a little unaccustomed to it.
That night, Pei Yuanling stayed at Xingyue Palace again.
The moon was high in the sky, and the night breeze was especially refreshing. After helping him fall asleep, Chu Qingyin quietly got up and went to the outer hall.
Xianglan had already served the soup she had requested, a contraceptive soup prepared for her by Physician Ling.
Compared to ordinary contraceptive decoctions, this specially prepared prescription is much less harmful to the body.
Looking at the bowl of dark, black medicine, Chu Qingyin did not hesitate and drank it all in one gulp.
"Your Majesty, this medicine... does cause some damage to the body after all."
Xianglan looked worried, but couldn't help but advise, "The palace is lonely. Now that His Majesty favors you, if you could give birth to a princess or prince and raise him under your care, you would at least have someone to rely on in the palace in the future."
Imperial favor is most fickle. His Majesty is still young and can still dote on his concubine. But what if the concubine grows old and loses her beauty...
After all, which emperor doesn't love young women?
Which of the ladies in the palace didn't exhaust themselves for a son or daughter? She really didn't understand why her own lady was so afraid of getting pregnant.
Therefore, she did not hesitate to take contraceptive medicine every night.
Chu Qingyin put down the soup bowl, picked up a handkerchief to wipe the corner of her mouth, and said in a light tone, "Xianglan, with my current power and status, a child born in this palace will not survive."
In her past life, she was the most beloved concubine of the emperor, and her brother was the great general who protected the country. Even with such a family background, she still couldn't protect her child.
Not to mention that she's just a stand-in now?
Since you can't keep the child or raise him to adulthood, why bring him into this world to suffer?
Xianglan's pupils constricted in astonishment upon hearing her master's casual remark.
His Majesty has few children. Apart from the late Consort Gui who was pregnant, there is no news of any other concubines becoming pregnant.
Could it be that someone is so audacious as to harm the imperial heir?
Seeing Xianglan's utterly shocked expression, Chu Qingyin was too lazy to explain further to this simple-minded girl.
She popped a candied fruit into her mouth to ease the bitterness of the medicine, then whispered, "Clean up all the dregs. This matter must not be known to a third person, especially His Majesty."