After Situ Qing finished speaking, the familiar smile returned to his face, as if the solemn man just now was not him.
"Look how miserable I am. I can't even get my own thing back," he said teasingly.
For some reason, Dongfang Yi seemed to be able to see the unknown sorrow beneath his smiling mask, just like herself. Although she was the most noble woman in the world, the queen, she could never get what she wanted.
"You did the right thing. You must get back what's yours," Dongfang Yi said.
Although Dongfang Yi didn't know what had been taken from him, according to her personality, she would fight to the death to get back what was snatched away.
Hearing her words, Situ Qing's eyes suddenly widened in surprise, then he calmed down, and a touch of tenderness seemed to seep out from the depths of his eyes.
"Do you know what the characters on this jade pendant say?"
Suddenly, Dongfang Yi took out the jade pendant from her bosom. The green and translucent material showed at a glance that it was a fine piece of jade. The three - dimensional black tortoise totem seemed to come to life under the sunlight.
The moment Situ Qing saw the jade pendant, his smile froze on his face. He asked with a puzzled tone, "Where did you get this jade pendant?"
Dongfang Yi originally just wanted to test him, but seeing Situ Qing's abnormal reaction, she knew he must know something. So she immediately got up and rushed to his bedside and asked, "You know what it is, right? What exactly do the characters say?!"
But Situ Qing seemed to be a bit evasive. He lowered his head dejectedly and said, "I can't tell you."
"Humph," Dongfang Yi snorted. It seemed that she was laughing at the man on the bed or at herself.
"You can leave now," Dongfang Yi suddenly turned around and said to Situ Qing.
Situ Qing's eyes kept flickering, and his lips moved a few times, but in the end, he said nothing. The next moment, he left the palace.
After Dongfang Yi heard the sound of his leaving, she slowly walked to the window and closed it. The huge palace instantly returned to silence. She quietly cleaned up all the mess by herself and then sat on the bed in a daze.
Outside the window, there was a very tall parasol tree. At this moment, Situ Qing was perched on a tree branch. Seeing the dejected look of the little woman in the palace, his heart ached. Then he headed towards another palace.
On the other side, in the Chenqian Palace, Helian Qi had just received the news that Dongfang Yi had woken up, and he felt a little relieved.
Last night, after Dongfang Yi ran out, he silently followed her. Unexpectedly, he saw her staggering and about to fall.
Unable to bear it, he rushed over and caught her just as she was about to fall. Hearing the weak little woman call his name so affectionately, his heart was filled with indescribable pain.
But now he could only act like this, pretending to be distant from her so that everyone in the palace would think she had fallen out of favor. In this way, she would not be in danger when he was unable to take care of her.
He also sent his most trusted confidant to her palace, and Donghua would also protect her secretly... He knew all this was for her own good, but his heart would always be moved whenever he saw her, and he couldn't change this feeling.
What was wrong with him? Helian Qi couldn't help but wonder. That once ordinary woman had suddenly become so novel and lovely. He couldn't be sure of his own heart, but he knew that he must never let Dongfang Yi get hurt!
At night, the entire palace was shrouded in darkness. Each palace had its own unspeakable secrets.
The Palace of Concubine Chu
After Concubine Chu met the mysterious man that day, she had been feeling restless. Why didn't they let her kill Dongfang Yi? Did Dongfang Yi have some other background?!
Concubine Chu couldn't help but fly into a rage. She wanted to snatch everything related to Dongfang Yi. So they entered the palace together. First, she snatched Dongfang Yi's favor. After recognizing an adoptive father, she completely embarked on the path of colluding with the previous dynasty. She wanted to destroy everything, destroy the current Dongfang Yi, the entire Dongfang family, and even the whole kingdom.
Stimulated by her own arrogant thoughts, she burst into wild laughter, which made the maid beside her slip with the teacup in her hand. The teacup fell to the ground.
The "pop" sound woke Concubine Chu up from her laughter. When she saw the broken teacup on the ground, a fierce look flashed in her eyes. The maid immediately knelt down on the ground and began to plead loudly, "Your Majesty, this servant was careless. Please spare this servant, Your Majesty..."
"Kneel on these broken pieces for this palace!" Concubine Chu pointed at the broken porcelain pieces on the ground and said to the maid.
The maid kept shaking her head, but Concubine Chu grabbed her hair and dragged her onto the broken pieces.
The moment the maid's knees touched the broken porcelain pieces, blood oozed out. The blood soaked through her maid's uniform and dripped onto the ground.
Not long after, a maid reported from outside, "His Majesty the Emperor is coming—"
Before Concubine Chu could recover, she found that Helian Qi was already standing in front of the palace gate, looking coldly at the scene inside the palace.
She quickly trotted over and nestled in his arms, saying, "Your Majesty~ This concubine was really scared just now! This low - class maid actually wanted to harm this concubine..."
Helian Qi looked coldly at the woman who was acting coquettishly in his arms. He had seen everything clearly just now. This woman was indeed as vicious as he had expected, but he still pretended not to see anything.
"I didn't..." the maid was still whispering with her head down. Her face had turned pale due to excessive blood loss.
"Shut up!" Helian Qi said, and then added, "My love can do whatever you want. Why do you need to explain? Just kill this kind of maid."
After hearing this, the maid finally collapsed to the ground due to exhaustion and was dragged away by other servants in the palace.
Concubine Chu looked up at Helian Qi in surprise, but couldn't help but snort in her heart.
Although she didn't know why Helian Qi had suddenly doted on her so much, she didn't want to think about it anymore. After all, being doted on was not a bad thing. It would be easier for her to do what she wanted, and the assassination would be more likely to succeed.
"This concubine thanks Your Majesty~" Concubine Chu replied coquettishly.
Helian Qi still looked cold - faced. He just grunted without showing any expression.
"Your Majesty, this concubine heard that adoptive father and the others have won another battle. This concubine really congratulates Your Majesty," Concubine Chu said with a smile.
Only then did Helian Qi manage to put on an expression and replied to her, "I have Prime Minister Nangong in the previous dynasty and you in the harem. It is truly a great blessing for me."
Hearing this, Concubine Chu made a sinister expression where he couldn't see. She thought, "Humph, a great blessing? We are your death warrant!"
Then she put on a fake smile and hugged Helian Qi beside her, saying, "Your Majesty~ Don't say such things to make this concubine shy..."