Gongshang Confidante

Seeing Xia Sha's figure disappear, Qingxi's eyes turned gray. She put her hands on her abdomen, folded her hands, and caressed them with her fingers. The Buddhist beads on her skinny wrists gave off a faint fragrance.

"Your Excellency Xi, I'm here to see you." Emperor Jing Hong's face was sour, the familiar fragrance reminded him of Concubine Mei who was also on the sick bed,

"Your majesty, I can't, I can, keep the child..." Qingxi stood up, trying to pull the emperor's hand, but his hand suddenly dropped and fell out of the couch, and the diamond beads on his wrist hit the edge of the couch, making a crisp impact The sound, and the stronger fragrance, permeated the room.

Qingxi lay down slowly with exhaustion all over his body, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, he looked deeply at Emperor Jing Hong, and then closed his eyes.

"Your Excellency Xi!!" Emperor Jing Hong saw her face ashen, trembling hands, but he dared not touch her. His heart ached, he couldn't help covering his chest, and shouted in grief,

The person lying on the couch did not respond, his eyes were closed, his skinny hands were hanging outside the couch, Emperor Jing Hong wept in a low voice, why did God take away his love time and time again, Concubine Mei, Qingxi, And his unborn child.

"Your Majesty Xi has passed away, the emperor is in mourning," Li Chengqian stepped forward, sniffed, sighed heavily, and persuaded the emperor,

Xia Sha tied her arms behind her back, knelt down on the ground under the pressure of the eunuch, her mouth was stuffed with silk, her face was full of tears, and she struggled desperately. fell to the ground.

Pop, pop, snap, the broken beads fell from Qingxi's wrist to the ground one by one, bouncing and rolling, making an abrupt, soul-breaking sound.

"Death cannot be resurrected. For the sake of the country, the emperor must take good care of the dragon's body." Li Chengqian bowed and persuaded. The emperor's body trembled violently. It split into two petals, and a little black powder was scattered inside, overflowing with bursts of strange fragrance.

"Prince Xuan come in," Emperor Jing Hong looked at the powder, his eyes were absent-minded, and he ordered coldly after grief,

The imperial physician waiting outside, with a hasty expression and an anxious face, according to the emperor's order, carefully picked up some powder from the ground, examined it carefully, then put a little on his fingertips, brought it to his nose and sniffed it lightly, only to feel dizzy in front of his eyes , Kneeling down in shock, he said, "I have neglected my duty. I don't know that there is mandala incense hidden in the Buddhist beads of the nobleman. Carrying this incense with you for a long time will easily make people in a trance and hurt the spirit!".

Emperor Jing Hong took two steps back in shock, pointed at the imperial doctor with trembling fingers, and angrily said, "As the maternity doctor of Xi nobleman, you don't know it at all! What crime should it be!! Come on!! Drag it down and behead it!! Don't behead it! You can't understand the hatred in my heart!!".

The imperial doctor was so frightened that he shivered, knelt down on the ground, kowtowed repeatedly, and begged for forgiveness, "Your Majesty is wise! Your Majesty is wise! The beads on your wrist are made of the most fragrant sandalwood in the world. One gram of this wood is worth thousands of gold. The mandala incense is hidden in the bead, it is really hard to detect. The minister is negligent and incompetent, I only ask the emperor to read it for the sake of extenuating circumstances, and spare the minister's life!!".

Emperor Jing Hong picked up the other few beads, put them in the palm of his hand, groped along the wood grain with two fingers, and heard a click, the beads split into two halves, and saw that the edges fit together seamlessly. Out of the gaps, this kind of craftsmanship is seamless, and it is definitely not something ordinary people can do.

Emperor Jing Hong's body trembled suddenly, and the jet-black powder fell from his fingertips. He seemed to be thinking of something, and with an extremely complicated expression on his face, he walked quickly to the outside of the hall, and said in a deep voice, "Li Chengqian, go quickly!" Meiyuan, bring me the string of odd sandalwood bracelets that Concubine Mei left behind, and you must not lose anything.”

Li Chengqian took the order and was about to leave, "I command you to go down, nobleman of Burial Creek", Emperor Jing Hong waved his hands, his face showing mourning, but his eyes were stern and angry.

"Your Majesty, before the princess left the palace, because she missed Concubine Mei, she asked for the string of Buddhist beads to wear on her body." When Li Chengqian came back to report, Emperor Jing Hong's face was completely gloomy. , rush to Fengzhou, let Princess Zhaoning return to the palace quickly with the Buddhist beads, there must be no mistakes!!".

Just as Li Chengqian was about to step down, he heard Emperor Jing Hong say, "Li Chengqian, do you know what he used for that strange sandalwood that I rewarded Xue Guihe back then?",

Li Chengqian hesitated for a moment, then said, "According to what I heard from the servant, after Xue Guihe obtained this treasure, he searched all over the world for skilled craftsmen, and carved it into a string of... Buddha beads... and sent it to... the imperial concubine...",

Emperor Jing Hong's face was gloomy like a thick dark cloud, and he immediately ordered people to drive to the Ningrong Palace, and the storm was about to come.

"The emperor is here." Concubine Xue Gui had heard that nobleman Xi had passed away, and knowing that the emperor was sad, she would definitely come here. The special orderer prepared a meal, and Xiaoyi served him tenderly.

"Bitch!" Emperor Jing Hong raised his hand and slapped Concubine Xue Gui's face, and threw the Buddhist beads in her face, saying, "You are so brave, how dare you kill the dragon's heir and poison the nobleman Xi!! ",

"Your majesty is wise, my concubine stays in Ningrong Palace these days, and I have never seen Mrs. Xi, who is spitting blood and slandering my concubine?" Concubine Xue covered her face, fell to her knees in panic, and said in a mournful voice,

"That string of Buddhist beads was given to Mrs. Xi by you, and there is mandala incense hidden in it, which makes people feel dazed and depressed. What a wicked woman!!" Emperor Jing Hong coughed violently twice, and loudly Rebuked, the eunuch helped him to sit on the chair and served tea.

"I have heard the nobleman of Xi say that you gave her a special Buddhist bead, besides, Qitan is a rare and precious wood, and it is rare to get a thousand pieces of gold. This piece of golden silk Qitan was given to Xue Guihe by me back then, and he delivered it to you. You don't want to deny it!!", Emperor Jing Hong was holding the tea, and the more he spoke, the more angry he was, and even the cup and the tea were thrown at Concubine Xue Gui, which wet her well-dressed luxurious brocade robe.

"The emperor was wronged. The Buddha beads carved by my father were indeed given to my concubines. They were given to others a few years ago. Now they are nowhere to be found. How could I give them to the nobles of Xi? What's more, Qi sandalwood is rare and rare. How could my concubines give it to others?" A mere nobleman of Xi! What status does she have that can match up with Qitan Buddhist beads?!".

Concubine Xue nodded her head and shed tears, and said ruthlessly, "This concubine is here to swear to heaven and earth, to the ancestors of the Xue family, if this Buddhist bead is given by my concubine to the nobleman of Xi, this concubine will die a terrible death." !!".

Seeing Concubine Xue make a poisonous oath, Emperor Jing Hong restrained his anger a little, and asked in a deep voice, "Is what you said true?" With Xue’s poisonous oath, every sentence must be true! Don’t dare to deceive the emperor!!”.

"Your Majesty, this is the record of Ningrong Palace. The imperial concubine indeed only gave a golden hairpin to the nobleman Xi, and nothing else." The old mother presented the account book. Emperor Jing Hong looked through it and said coldly, " Get up first."

Concubine Xue got up hurriedly, her feet went limp, and she almost fell to the ground. Emperor Jing Hong saw that Concubine Xue's temple hair was disheveled, her brocade robe was covered with stains, and her face was covered with tears. His heart softened a little, and he said, "Come here, help Concubine Gui change her clothes! ".

Concubine Xue Guiying stood up, not caring about the mess on her body, she only softly said in relief, "The concubine has prepared meals, can the emperor use some? Don't hurt your body",

"I'm in a panic, I don't have any appetite, let the noble concubine use it, I'll go back to Chengde Hall to review the papers." Emperor Jing Hong's expression was gloomy, and he ordered Li Chengqian to drive into Chengde Hall, and left Ningrong Hall in a short while.

The chill was severe, and Emperor Jing Hong opened the curtain, thinking of those cold hands and the child who had not yet been born, and said in a deep voice, "Li Chengqian, send someone to investigate thoroughly, where did the beads come from?".

The night was thick, covering Emperor Jing Hong's face in the darkness, the hands of the dragon robe were clenched into fists, and his eyes were sharp.

Seven days later, Princess Zhaoning returned to the palace.

"Immediately announce Princess to Chengde Palace", Emperor Jing Hong kept writing the pen in his hand, lowered his head to review the paper, his eyes were deep, and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, the princess is injured and is in Yu Palace", "What?!", Jing Hongdi paused his pen tip, dropped heavy ink dots, put Zihao on the pen stand, stood up and said, "Show Yudian!! Immediately announce the imperial physician!".

Emperor Jing Hong walked into the Hall of Feathers, and happened to see Xia Ling coming out with a basin of clothes, stained with blood, his brows twitched suddenly, his face was gloomy, Zhou Chiyu lay on the couch, and said, "Excuse me for being impolite, I can't greet my father." , "Excuse me! Show me where the injury is?!", Emperor Jing Hong asked anxiously,

"On the way back to the palace, I encountered a surprise attack by a dozen men in black. A sword was stabbed in my shoulder, and there was no serious problem." Zhou Chiyu had a bandage wrapped around his shoulder, and his words were calm, but his face was as pale as paper.

"It's unreasonable! Li Huai! Can you find out who did it?!" Emperor Jing Hong was furious, "After the assassins failed, they all committed suicide by taking poison. The minister is guilty!!" Li Huai continued, "Since your Highness received the emperor's letter The imperial decree, non-stop running around for several days, and slack off, gave the assassin an opportunity to take advantage of it",

"Father, only if Li Huai protects him wholeheartedly, can my son and minister return safely," Zhou Chiyu said indifferently, without waiting for Li Huai to say any more, she took out a string of Buddhist beads from her bosom, and said, "Father ordered my son and minister to bring The Buddha beads will return quickly, and my ministers dare not disobey orders."

Emperor Jing Hong took the beads with a dignified expression, stroked the same golden silk sandalwood wood grain with his fingertips, exuded a faint fragrance, and exerted a little force on the fingernails wearing the fingers, with a click, the beads split into two petals, a little Some gray powder, with a faint familiar fragrance, sprinkled on Emperor Jing Hong's fingertips.

"Imperial Physician!!" Emperor Jing Hong shook his sleeves, wiped off the powder on his fingers, and asked the imperial physician to come in for verification. "It is the same as the powder in Xiguiren's beads, and it is mandala incense," the imperial physician reported.

"Emperor doctor, what is mandala incense? Why is it hidden in the mother's concubine's beads?" Zhou Chiyu asked, "His Royal Highness, wearing mandala incense on your body has made people feel in a trance and fainted." The imperial physician replied road,

"Father! Who on earth hid the mandala incense in the Buddhist beads worn by the concubine and killed the concubine?!" Zhou Chiyu's expression changed suddenly, he gasped twice, and asked excitedly, she was dying Staring at the Buddha beads, his figure flickered, and he fainted.

"Your Highness!", the court lady called out, and the imperial doctor hurriedly took the pulse, and said, "Your Highness was exhausted from running around, and was emotionally agitated for a while, and fainted." Emperor Jing Hong looked down at Zhou Chiyu's face, vaguely thinking of Concubine Mei, and his face was solemn ,in silence.