Chapter 286: Resentment
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Empress Dowager Min still had a lot to explain to Yuwen Bai. Seeing him about to leave, she couldn’t help but get angry, “What are you busy with? I heard that you haven’t been studying properly these days, always being entangled by that lowly servant and playing with crickets…”
Before she finished nagging, Yuwen Bai had already turned his face and shouted, “Which dog slave dared to gossip in front of Royal Mother? I’ll go back and pull out their tongue! Let’s see if they can still control their mouth!”
Ignoring Empress Dowager Min’s heavy breathing, he kicked over a table and strode out. He was thin, wrapped in heavy imperial attire, seemingly overwhelmed, but his momentum was still strong, making the palace servants too scared to confront him, all kneeling down tremblingly without making a sound.
He Zhengtu, apologetic and sympathetic, humble and ingratiatingly, gave Empress Dowager Min a salute, then hurriedly followed out.
Empress Dowager Min clutched her chest, her fingers trembling, her words incoherent, “This… this unfilial son…”
Hai Momo saw her so upset, so she hurriedly stepped forward to massage her chest and comforted her, “His Majesty is still young, and he’ve just experienced anger. Who else can you vent to if not your own birth mother? It’s not good to keep it all inside; it will become a hidden illness.”
Empress Dowager Min calmed down, with a stern face, “Go and find out what happened!”
Hai Momo quickly tidied up and hurried out.
The palace servants carrying the palanquin were afraid, so they didn’t do their job properly. The palanquin swayed up and down, making Mingzhu inside very uncomfortable, feeling dizzy and nauseous. However, she couldn’t stop halfway just because she couldn’t bear it, so she tightly pinched her pulse and clenched her teeth to prevent herself from vomiting.
The area where Hai Momo pinched her person was burning with pain. Besides the fight with Yuwen You before, Mingzhu had never suffered such a big loss. In her heart, she cursed Hai Momo and Empress Dowager Min dozens of times over, and planned how to deal with Jiang Shanshan next, and how to cry when she saw the Great Empress Dowager later.
Thinking about venting her anger, Mingzhu didn’t feel so uncomfortable anymore, but suddenly, the palanquin stopped. From Zhaoyang Palace to the Guangming Hall where Imperial Consort Min lived, there was a distance, so it couldn’t have arrived so quickly. Mingzhu had a sense of foreboding, so she continued to close her eyes and pretend to be unconscious.
A cool breeze blew in, and the light inside the palanquin instantly brightened. A strong fragrance filled the air, mixed with the sharp voice of a child, “Cousin… sleeping so soundly.”
It was the young Emperor Yuwen Bai. Mingzhu didn’t expect him to catch up. Not knowing what he was up to, she closed her eyes again and pretended to be dead.
Su Lan and Xiangli didn’t know what was going on, but seeing Yuwen Bai stopping the palanquin, they knew it couldn’t be good. They didn’t dare to confront Yuwen Bai directly, but they also knew that if something happened to Mingzhu, they wouldn’t survive either. So they bravely cried loudly on the side, hoping to attract attention.
Yuwen Bai stared at Mingzhu, his thin lips moving, “Shut up these two maids’ mouths for me. Who allowed them to cry in the palace?”
He Zhengtu might not be proactive in other matters, but dealing with these two little palace maids was no problem. With just a glance, someone grabbed Su Lan and Xiangli and vigorously slapped their faces.
The sound of “slap, slap” made Mingzhu’s heart throb. She had brought Su Lan and Xiangli into the palace to give face to the people on Yuwen Chu’s side, to show goodwill. She didn’t care about Xiangli, but she felt sorry for Su Lan. Although she could avoid Empress Dowager Min’s troubles by pretending to be unconscious, with Yuwen Bai’s malice, if she didn’t wake up in time, he could easily torment these two maids to death.
She couldn’t be heartless after all. Mingzhu couldn’t continue pretending, so she opened her eyes decisively, looked around pretending to be confused, and said, “What’s going on here? How did I end up here?”
Su Lan and Xiangli, who were originally dizzy and desperate, were overjoyed when they heard her voice, “Wangfei, you finally woke up. Are you feeling unwell?”
Mingzhu naturally pressed her left chest, her face pale and weak, “It hurts here, so much that I can’t catch my breath. What’s going on with you guys…” She had been ignoring Yuwen Bai all this time.
Yuwen Bai’s small face grew increasingly gloomy. Finally unable to bear it, he gritted his teeth and sneered, “Cousin, you’re becoming more and more arrogant.”
Mingzhu “finally” saw him, struggling to sit up and give him a salute. She glanced around and realized that they were not on the proper path to Imperial Consort Min’s Guangming Hall, but were stopped at the Lotus Palace. It was evident that these palace servants had followed Yuwen Bai’s orders and brought her palanquin directly here.
The Lotus Palace, desolate and uninhabited, was where Mingzhu had encountered Yuwen Long’s affair last time. She instinctively disliked this place, and with the venomous Yuwen Bai nearby, she felt even more repulsed. She didn’t know what Yuwen Bai wanted to do. Thinking he wouldn’t just kill her, she continued to pretend to be seriously ill, staggering and incoherent.
Yuwen Bai sat down on a nearby boulder, looking at Mingzhu with unpredictable eyes. Suddenly, he chuckled, “Cousin, stop pretending. Others might not know you, but I certainly do. You can’t feign weakness, so why deceive yourself and others?”
While she couldn’t feign weakness, it didn’t stop her from wanting to do so now. Mingzhu continued to gasp for breath as she pleaded for Su Lan and Xiangli, “I don’t know what these two maids did to offend Your Majesty, but please spare their lives for my sake.”
Yuwen Bai ignored her pleas and leaned down, his cold and damp fingertips touching Mingzhu’s chin, “What happened here? Who dared to hurt you? Tell me, and I’ll tear them apart for you!”
Mingzhu felt uncomfortable being touched by him and instinctively turned her head away, avoiding his fingers. “I don’t know,” she said weakly.
“Do you really not know?” Yuwen Bai, suddenly reminded of how she once joyfully brought a fluffy white rabbit from outside the palace to play with him, felt even more resentful. From between his teeth, he squeezed out, “The lotus flowers in the Lotus Palace are so thin, obviously lacking fertilizer. Throw these two maids into the lake, and next year’s lotus flowers will surely grow well!”
Su Lan and Xiangli, both sensible, heard the order. Although they felt hopeless, they remained silent with clenched teeth.
But Mingzhu couldn’t hold back. She raised her head and looked directly at Yuwen Bai, “Your Majesty, do you really want to avenge me?”
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