Chapter 353: Sacrificing the Pawn to Save the Chariot (2)

Qingfeng pulled back her hand and replied coldly, "I caught it."

The answer was too perfunctory, and Yan Hongtian was clearly dissatisfied. Qingfeng did not want to dwell on this question; she looked up at Yan Hongtian and insisted, "I need that child."

"Need" again. Yan Hongtian could empathize with the pain of losing a child. He took her hand into his palm once more, his low voice carrying a hint of coaxing: "If you need one, I can let you have your own child again." Wouldn't her heart be even more painful watching someone else's child like this?

This sentence struck a sore spot for Qingfeng. She glared at Yan Hongtian as if wishing she could bore a hole through him. "I once had one. And what was the result? I have already been disappointed once; does the Emperor wish to break his promise again?"

Qingfeng's gaze at this moment was like a knife, and the words she spoke were even more like a thin blade, piercing the heart in one stroke. It didn't hurt at first, but once the realization set in, it was a bone-chilling, heart-wrenching agony.

"You, must you treat me this way?"

Her hand was gripped tightly by a force. The familiar pain, the long-absent violent gaze—Qingfeng stared at Yan Hongtian and suddenly began to laugh. The two of them seemed to have grown accustomed to hurting each other like this.

"Qingfeng!" He did not like her smile at this moment; he disliked it very much.

Qingfeng only felt her feet leave the ground as Yan Hongtian scooped her up in his arms. The next moment, he had placed her in the center of the large bed.

His slightly calloused fingers gently traced her delicate face, stroking it lightly. The hand wrapped around her waist tightened, and their bodies pressed closely together. His deep, profound gaze, following the movement of his fingertips, gradually became stained with the expected amazement and heat. Qingfeng suddenly smiled bewitchingly. "You once said that the most wrong thing I ever did was to ruin this face. Now, are you satisfied?" The wounds on her face no longer existed, but her heart was riddled with scars.

Yan Hongtian's hand, which was caressing Qingfeng's cheek, paused, and the heat in his eyes turned to ice. He was not satisfied. Facing her eyes and her smile like this, Yan Hongtian wanted to cover Qingfeng's face even more than he had the first time he took her.

That night, Yan Hongtian took with madness, and she responded with unprecedented compliance, entanglement, and friction. Their bodies had never been so close, yet between their two hearts lay a mass of haze; they could not get close, but were unwilling to move away.

Under the pitch-black night, a slender figure stood before a potted plant, meticulously pruning the branches and leaves with a leisurely expression. However, in the middle of the night, it looked somewhat eerie. Yiyue ran over from afar, stood still behind the slender figure, and said, panting slightly: "Shui Xin... Sister Shui Xin, the Empress is looking for you." The Empress had thrown a massive tantrum and had nearly smashed the Yilan Palace to pieces; no one dared to go near her.

Shui Xin nodded gently. Her expression showed no panic, and she continued to prune the flower branches in a measured way, replying indifferently: "I know. You go down first."

For some reason, looking at Shui Xin, who stood in the shadows with such elegant movements, a feeling of fear arose in Yiyue's heart. She didn't dare say anything more, nodded, and turned to run away.

Shui Xin had no intention of returning. She handled the flower shears with ease, and branch after branch that she found displeasing fell away with the movement of her hands. A dark figure quietly approached her and stood still three or four steps behind her. The person was wearing a Eunuch's uniform, but their voice was not shrill at all; instead, it was somewhat hoarse: "Master, someone is investigating Shen Yao's whereabouts. Should we eliminate this future trouble?"

With a crisp "crack," a newly grown tender bud was clipped off and fell to the ground. Shui Xin put down the shears and replied: "No need. If they want to find her, let them find her."

"Yes." Having received the order, the person retreated respectfully. Their master never liked to leave future troubles behind when doing things; this time, there must be a new plan.

Shui Xin admired the newly pruned potted plant, her mood quite good. At first, she hadn't expected that the death of the Little Prince this time would lead so many parties to investigate together. But thinking about it later, it was quite interesting. In any case, the mastermind behind everything had always been the Empress, and it had nothing to do with her, right?

Besides... she was becoming increasingly impatient with Xin Yuening.

Yan Hongtian was indeed a good monarch. After a night of indulgence, when that hour arrived, the person outside the door gave a light call, and Yan Hongtian woke up immediately.

He rose nimbly and dressed. Yan Hongtian returned to the bedside, leaned down slightly, and left an extremely light kiss by her ear. "You want a child; I will give you one!" Without lingering any further, Yan Hongtian left the room quickly.

The moment the door closed, the person on the bed who should have been fast asleep suddenly opened her eyes. She covered her ears for a long time before reaching her hand under the pillow and touching that small white porcelain bottle. Opening the wooden stopper, a wave of medicinal fragrance wafted out. Qingfeng's hand trembled slightly as a black Medicine Pill the size of a soybean rolled out.

Picking up the Medicine Pill, she put it into her mouth but did not swallow it. Qingfeng lay quietly on the bed, feeling the bitter pill slowly melt in her mouth, sliding down her throat bit by bit.

Just after the morning court session, the atmosphere in the Xin Family's study was very heavy. Xin Sui sat in the main seat, his face dark and his anger irrepressible. His three sons kept their heads down, not daring to make a sound.

"Clang!" A hot cup of tea was fiercely smashed to the ground by Xin Sui. Hot water and shards splashed at the feet of the three, and they dared not even breathe loudly.

"You bastards, you can't even handle a small matter! And you dared to hide it from me?!" Xin Sui's chest heaved up and down with rage, his eyes wide with fury.

Xin Fucheng also felt very resentful inside and hummed in a low voice: "It's all Dan Yulan's doing." If he hadn't been meddlesome, the military grain case would have been closed long ago; there wouldn't have been any other complications.

Xin Ruozheng had always been at odds with Xin Fucheng. Hearing him say this, he gave a light hum and replied: "Second Brother is too naive. If it weren't the Emperor's intention, how would Dan Yulan dare to dig so deep?"

"You still dare to speak! If it weren't for you, this Household Department Middle Attendant, failing to handle things properly first, where would the need be for us to clean up your mess!" Seeing that Xin Fucheng and Xin Ruozheng were about to quarrel, Xin Yiheng quickly interrupted their pointless bickering and said: "Now is not the time to talk about this. What do we do next?"

The two glared at each other but did not continue the argument. The three of them looked up together toward Xin Sui in the main seat.

Xin Sui shook his head. These three sons—the eldest was sinister and suspicious, the second was reckless and lacked wisdom, and the fifth was too young and not steady enough. The three of them were fond of mutual suspicion and self-righteousness. If it weren't for them each wanting to claim credit for handling this matter, if he had known earlier that Dan Yulan was investigating this, how could things have reached this point today?

Frustrated that they failed to meet his expectations, Xin Sui was both angry and helpless. Finally, he couldn't be bothered to get worked up with them and said: "Send someone to tell the Lin Family that the imperial court is investigating the military grain case strictly. Tell them to take the initiative to confiscate the assets from the sale of military grain to the state treasury. Spend money to avert disaster and avoid this limelight. As for the officials involved in this matter, bribe them well; don't let anything that shouldn't be said or dragged out be revealed. You all should also restrain yourselves."

Xin Yiheng was anxious: "Father, the loss is too great!" If this happened, the Lin Family would surely no longer rely on them. There were many officials involved in the military grain case, all of whom were trusted aides they had worked hard to promote. To sacrifice them just like this was truly a pity.

"Who told you to be so careless in your work! You poked a hole in the sky; do you want to destroy the Xin Family's century-old foundation?!" A bunch of trash—did he not know the loss was great! The more he looked at them, the more displeased he felt. Xin Sui waved his hand and shouted angrily: "Get out, all of you."

"Yes."

The three dared not say more and retreated in a dejected manner. Xin Sui's residual anger had not yet subsided. It would absolutely not be that easy for Yan Hongtian to get rid of him. Fortunately, he still held a trump card. In a few more years, he would definitely make a comeback!

Gao Jin investigated for more than half a month and finally confirmed that Yan Han was indeed Yan Hongtian's flesh and blood. Qingfeng was punished with half a year's salary and half a month of confinement for harboring a criminal woman who gave birth. Zhen Zhen was already in the Cold Palace; unless they wanted her dead, there was nothing else to punish her with. Later, the Empress Dowager made the decision to punish her with a vegetarian diet for three years.

Although Qingfeng was confined, ever since then, Yan Hongtian stayed at Qingfeng Palace almost every night. In the end, he even handed Yan Han over to Qingfeng to raise and bestowed upon her the Yonghua Palace to live in. For this reason, Xin Yuening was so angry that she came to Qingfeng Palace several times to cause trouble for Qingfeng, wishing she could scratch her face. Qingfeng was not one to be trifled with, and after several confrontations, Xin Yuening didn't gain any advantage. Shui Xin didn't know what was wrong either; when asked to find a way to deal with Qingfeng, she always told her indifferently to be patient and wait for the situation to change. Xin Yuening had been very irritable lately.

Inside Qingfeng Palace, Qingfeng handed Yan Han to Fuling and instructed softly: "Fuling, from today on, you will go to Yonghua Palace to take care of Han'er. Be careful with his diet and try to do everything yourself. He must not have any accidents." Seeing this child, she would think of Zhen Zhen and think of Zhi'er. She fought to have this child, yet she did not want to see him.

"Then you..."

Qingfeng smiled faintly. "I have Ruyi by my side, you can rest assured."

Fuling felt bitter in her heart, remembering that time when she was called over. It was also in this room that they talked about trust, about supporting and taking care of each other. There was a question that had been in Fuling's heart for a long time, one she didn't want to ask and didn't dare to ask, but at this moment, she couldn't help it and asked: "You... you don't need this servant anymore, do you?"

Qingfeng was stunned for a moment. Looking at Fuling's sorrowful expression, she smiled slightly, held her slightly cool hand, and said softly: "Taking good care of that child is helping me. In this Imperial Palace, the only person you can fully trust is you, only you."

Qingfeng's hand was also very cold, but Fuling's heart slowly warmed back up. She nodded and replied: "Yes."

Qingfeng gave a few more instructions and then sent Fuling and the child out of Qingfeng Palace. Qingfeng had begged Yan Hongtian to transfer Ming Ze to Yonghua Palace as well. With Fuling and Ming Ze looking after the child, Qingfeng could feel a little more at ease.

Qingfeng watched them leave until they disappeared at the end of the palace path; only then did she turn back to her room. Ruyi stared in the direction where Fuling had disappeared; she was very jealous. Now that Fuling was gone, she would be more valued by the Empress. However, she naturally knew how many dirty and vicious things there were in the inner palace; once stained, one's hands would be dirty. The Empress sending Fuling to take care of the Han Prince wasn't that just to avoid getting her dirty? As long as the Empress did not fall, Fuling would enjoy blessings. Even if the Empress really fell one day, the Little Prince was raised by her own hands, so he would naturally be closest to her and would definitely protect her in the future.

The Empress's heart for Fuling would never be used on her, so she was jealous. But now, the one staying by the Empress's side was her; she would definitely slowly replace Fuling's position in the Empress's heart!

(End of chapter)