C39

Zhuang Li was still sweating when she thought about what happened that day. She was brought to see the Emperor in a Heart Nurturing Palace by a young eunuch, and actually discovered that the Emperor was indeed Wang Su, who had accompanied her to the West Cold eight years ago. It was only a glance, but it was as if it had been etched into her mind's eye, and his appearance had awoken from its memories, living right before her eyes. Wang Su looked at the two old men who had sent the princess back to the Great Phoenix with suspicion and shock due to Zhuang Li's expression.

When the two of them saw Zhuang Li's face, they instantly knelt down normally.

Ling Que shouted: "It's this subject's mistake, this is not Princess of West Cold! "Your majesty, please punish me!"

The General Li also kowtowed, not daring to raise his head and said, "Your Majesty, please let this girl go. I'm willing to use all of my military merits to exchange for her life …"

could not understand this sudden change, and he was also stunned.

Zhuang Li originally thought that Wang Su would also recognize her, but when she raised her head, she still saw the indifferent expression in Wang Su's eyes. Knowing that his appearance had changed too much, Wang Su naturally did not recognize him.

In the end, she was led around the palace by a eunuch for a long time, layer after layer. She knew that they were probably going to the harem, but after walking for nearly two hours, it was probably the most remote place in the harem. If there was a concubine that lived here, it was likely that the emperor would never come here again for the rest of his life …

The sun had already completely set, and only the palace lights that still hung above her head were as far as if they were floating in the night sky. She was not able to accompany Qing You when she was summoned into the palace, and when she left, she was stopped by a eunuch.

At this moment, she was the only one following the old eunuch on the road. Her heart was in turmoil and she was worrying about too many things. The deeper he went, the calmer his heart became. When he reached the end of the courtyard, even the palace lights were gone.

She couldn't clearly see what was happening, and could only vaguely follow the eunuch. They entered a small courtyard and opened a door to let her in.

"Emperor's words." Let Princess of West Cold stay here first. "

Zhuang Li quickly asked: "Eunuch, where is the young maid that I brought with me?"

The old eunuch's tone was extremely haughty as he said, "How would I know? You'll stay here for now." He turned and left without leaving a single palace lamp for Zhuang Li. After taking two steps, he turned around and said, "Those people who live here, don't even think about anything else. "Think less, maybe you can live a little longer." He left as if he didn't want to stay a second longer. Only Zhuang Li was left alone in the courtyard surrounded by darkness.

Her eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, and the moonlight was bright before she entered the low door. Everything in front of her was as black as churning paste. It took her a long time to find the bed with only some straw on it.

There was a small table beside it. Half a candle had been found on the table, but there was no sign of a fire. He could only give up as he lay on the bed, fully clothed, looking at the moonlight that seeped through the hole in the window.

The weather was still as cold as ever, but there was nothing she could do. She shivered as she curled up tighter, but she still continued to tremble. He had not slept the entire night. She was almost frozen stiff. There were still too many questions inside her mind, but she couldn't understand them. She kept shivering, and even wondered if the emperor just wanted to freeze her to death like this.

The morning sky had finally brightened up. Zhuang Li got up and walked out of the house, the climate of the Great Phoenix was initially much better than her West Cold, although it was still extremely cold, she looked around. She felt that the place she was living in was an extremely dilapidated courtyard, it seemed like the residence of a servant.

There was only a simple bed and a small table in the room. There were piles of soil in front of the door. It seemed like there were plants in the past, but most of them were already dead and covered with weeds. Even the roof of the shingle was overgrown with weeds. She was hungry to the point where her stomach rumbled, but there was no one to give her food. Even the mirror didn't know how messy it was right now. She could only continue to wear her veil.

Outside the courtyard was a series of walls, which was also where she had come from yesterday. There was a wooden door there, and the eunuch had brought her here from this very wooden door. With a push, she discovered that it was locked!

It looked like she wasn't in prison, but she was still a prisoner after all …

She was sitting by the wooden door. The palace wall above her head was so high that she could only see the four corners of the sky. If one were in the West Cold, there would be hawks flying, and one would be able to see very far into the distance, all the way until they saw the rolling clouds in the horizon.

After sitting until noon, she finally heard some footsteps from far away, and gently shattered them as she walked in her direction. Naturally, Zhuang Li once again tensed up, not knowing what was going on this time.

Then, someone unlocked the door and carefully complained that it was too far away. If it was even slightly further away, it would be out of the palace.

Zhuang Li felt that it was funny, but she still waited at the door respectfully. She thought to herself, why would the Emperor come to a place like this? Even if there was something she had to announce in front of her, she would first recall her to the palace before announcing it to her.

When the door opened, it was the same old eunuch from yesterday, leading a few people. Then Qing You rushed out, wailing and crying as she threw herself into her embrace.

The old eunuch stood there, barely glancing at her, but since she was wearing a veil, no one could see her face.

"The emperor has ordered that the Peach Blossom Academy be rewarded to the Princess of West Cold, there's no need to pay respects to the empress every day."

Zhuang Li directly knelt on the ground and did not move for a long time. The eunuch rolled his eyes and reminded her: "Thank you!"

Zhuang Li then suddenly realized something, "I thank the Emperor for his grace!"

Her two large chests were carried in by a few eunuchs, and another chest was carried in. It was probably for food and clothing. A nanny brought out a box of rice and placed it on the ground.

They were too lazy to even enter the courtyard, so they placed these items all over the place at the entrance. It seemed like he didn't want to come either.

"You should just live in peace. This Plum Blossom Courtyard is rather dilapidated and quiet. Let's see what you think." The old eunuch finally gave her a glance, and then he picked up his whisk with both hands. He led the group of people away in a grandiose manner.

This time, he actually locked the door.

"Qing You, Qing You." Zhuang Li hurriedly carried the child, who had originally been crying a mess, into her arms. Ever since she had woken up from the Zhao Mansion, and spent time with this child everyday, even if they had to part even after parting for a bit, he had never let her face this situation alone.

Qing You also immediately felt wronged and rushed over, hugging onto Zhuang Li and not letting go.

She had to put in a lot of effort to move the chest and things back to the courtyard. Qing You didn't feel sad at all when she saw the dilapidated courtyard. She followed Zhuang Li like a child and felt that it was already not bad that the two of them were still alive.

"After you left, the emperor and General Li Ling Que chatted for a long time inside the hall. I don't know what to say, and only after a long time did he summon me in.

"What did you say?"

"I only said that Miss and I were servants who grew up in the Princess's residence and that we had no parents and that Miss and the Princess could get along quite well. We were like sisters, so naturally we had to help the Princess. They didn't ask about anything else, they just made me kneel at the entrance of the hall for the whole night.

General Li seems to be helping the young miss speak up, I wonder what you are planning. "

Zhuang Li did not understand either, could it be that General Li had already fallen in love with her at first sight? Or was it because he couldn't bear to spend time with her along the way? Could it be a long-lived relationship?

She couldn't understand, but according to this, Wang Su's attitude towards her, this fake, was extremely blurry. He had not given her the treatment of a real princess, nor had he exposed that she was not a princess. Could it be that he wanted to imprison her to see the reaction of the West Cold first?

Even though she arrived at the palace in the evening yesterday, news of this meeting should have already spread throughout the city. Did the emperor lock her up to prevent her from wandering around or to prevent others from inquiring about her?

If it had been a crime, she would have been sentenced to death a long time ago. The Emperor acknowledged her as a princess, but only with a quiet acquiescence. He didn't know what he was planning to do.

The famous West Cold clansmen were carefree and open-minded. Even with their personality, they had caused such a ruckus because of the throne, let alone the people from the Central Plains who had lost their way because of so many playthings. Zhuang Li naturally could not understand. Presumably, the reason Wang Su was able to push away the Prince Bi Lord, who was the pride of the past, to ascend to the throne was because he had experienced a bloody storm and was not simple. He naturally had his own reasons for making such arrangements.

She and Qing You started to pack up the few boxes. Ge Ya's boxes were arranged by Zhuang Li just now, and were just Ge Ya's dowry, gold ornaments and jade artifacts. Now that they were opened, they were not touched, but since she was living here, there was no need to wear them, and there was no need to set them up. Zhuang Li closed the box and pushed it under the bed.

The chest the eunuch brought over contained daily necessities: copper mirrors, Phoenix Dynasty clothing, water basins, etc. The workmanship was not excellent, so it was likely to be a gift to the palace maids.

There was a well in the corner of the yard, and after cleaning the leaves on it, the water quality was still clear. They filled the well with water and wiped the whole house clean.

The box was filled to the brim with one day's worth of food. It was so simple that it could be considered a dish. Even though it was already cold and they had been starving for a long time, they still ate with relish.

Qing You suddenly asked about Zhuang Li after eating her fill.

"Miss, then the emperor is the Wang Su we met on the way to the West Cold, right?"

When these words came out, Zhuang Li wasn't prepared at all. She originally thought that Qing You was young at the time and wouldn't remember, but she never expected that she actually knew it clearly in her heart.

"Yes, but we can't say." Zhuang Li looked at her seriously, and as if she understood her meaning, she obediently nodded.

It was a secret that Wang Su would go to the West Cold in such a sorry state, so he would naturally not admit it. If Wang Su recognized her, then he would naturally know that she was actually the little daughter of the Prime Minister Zhao.

The piece of jade that Wang Su had given her was at the bottom of the box beneath the bed. Who knew what sort of twists and turns they had gone through, or how many people's blood they had been stained with.

In the end, it was as though she didn't know him …