Watching Wei Ying and the emperor leave, Chu Qing lowered her eyes and kept silent.
When the enemy remains inactive, I'll do the same.
"Empress, you may go back first. I'd like to have a heart - to - heart talk with your aunt - in - law," the grand empress dowager said unhurriedly as if a long time had passed.
A heart - to - heart talk? Chu Qing sneered inwardly. In both this life and the previous one, their hearts could never get close.
The grand empress dowager was getting more and more glib with such high - sounding words.
The empress looked at the grand empress dowager and then at Chu Qing. Not knowing what to say, she bowed and left.
At this moment, only Chu Qing and the grand empress dowager were left in the huge Changle Palace. It was so quiet that even breathing seemed startling.
Chu Qing felt a bit complicated. When there were more people in the Changle Palace just now, she didn't feel so down. Now that only she and the grand empress dowager were left, it seemed like a bygone era. It was as if she was still the grand empress dowager of the State of Yan in her previous life.
In her previous life, she had also talked with the grand empress dowager in this Changle Palace many times. At first, she really intended to have a heart - to - heart talk with this daughter - in - law. But after her son did those things, she no longer had the mood to talk to them. As time went by, their hearts drifted further and further apart. She accompanied the green - glazed lamp and the ancient Buddha, and nothing else could touch her heart.
Now, she couldn't even remember the grand empress dowager's name.
"Chu Qing, I really underestimated you," the grand empress dowager suddenly broke the silence. Chu Qing, who had been lost in memories, suddenly came back to her senses.
Looking up at the imposing grand empress dowager, Chu Qing only felt that the world was unpredictable. The person who used to flatter her now regarded her as insignificant as an ant, easy to be trampled on.
"I'm a bit dull - witted, Your Majesty. I don't quite understand what you mean," Chu Qing straightened her back and spoke in a neither overbearing nor humble tone.
"Do you think you're qualified to call me sister - in - law? You should weigh your own status. Just now, since the Prince of Ning was here, I gave him this face and didn't say anything. But you're so self - unaware," the grand empress dowager sat in front of the couch, looking extremely arrogant.
Hearing this, Chu Qing was so angry that she laughed. The grand empress dowager was really getting better at wearing two faces.
"I overstepped my bounds. But as the wife of the Prince of Ning married in a proper wedding, I thought my status in the State of Yan was noble enough. I didn't expect it to be so insignificant in Your Majesty's eyes. After I return to the mansion, I will surely report this to the Prince of Ning truthfully, so as to prevent him from being too conceited in the future," Chu Qing said expressionlessly.
The grand empress dowager was so angry that she could hardly sit up straight. Although she really wanted to order the servants to lock Chu Qing up, considering that their statuses were not too different and the power of the Prince of Ning in the court could not be underestimated, she couldn't just dispose of Chu Qing.
She originally thought that Chu Qing's sharp - tongued words just now were all because Wei Ying was here. So she planned to send Wei Ying away, thinking that she could surely find words to embarrass Chu Qing.
Unexpectedly, Chu Qing had never been an easy person to deal with!
Looking at the grand empress dowager's eyes that seemed to be spitting fire, Chu Qing couldn't help finding it a bit funny.
"If I said something inappropriate just now, please forgive me, Your Majesty. The Prince of Ning told me a long time ago that Your Majesty is always magnanimous, just like he is to me."
Some knives should be stabbed secretly into people's wounds. Not knowing if it was a vital point, Chu Qing was ready to wait and see.
Hearing that Chu Qing's words implied that her temper was spoiled by the Prince of Ning, who always indulged her, and at the same time praised the grand empress dowager to the skies, if she continued to argue with Chu Qing, she would really lose all her face!
Chu Qing calmly watched the grand empress dowager calming down. The previous gloom had disappeared.
Although the grand empress dowager was sometimes brainless, she could regain her wits in critical moments. It was not in vain that she had chosen her as a daughter - in - law back then. She was not overly stupid or conceited.
Perhaps having calmed down, Chu Qing saw the grand empress dowager lean back slightly, looking tired. So she very considerately said, "Your Majesty may be tired? I don't want to bother you anymore. May I take my leave first?"
The grand empress dowager gave a soft snort, looked up at Chu Qing and said, "Fine, I'm really tired. You may go back to the mansion first. Come and accompany me when you're free in the future."
Chu Qing smiled, curtsied and then backed out.
Watching Chu Qing's back disappearing at the door, the grand empress dowager's eyes instantly burst with jealousy and hatred. Her slender fingers, which were always well - maintained, turned pale due to the force she exerted.
How could this woman be worthy of Wei Ying's indulgence!
...
After leaving the Changle Palace, Chu Qing strolled leisurely in the palace. Since it was still early to leave the palace, she decided to go to the imperial garden.
There was a rockery in the imperial garden that she had missed for a long time.
It was a wonderful place she had discovered not long after her first visit to the palace in her previous life.
Almost no one went there on purpose because it was remote and steep. But the scenery there was especially beautiful, so it had become the perfect place for Chu Qing to steal half a day of leisure from the time she entered the palace until she became the empress.
But after she became the empress dowager and then the grand empress dowager, she never had the chance to go there again. As soon as she left the Changle Palace, there would be a large group of people following her, as if she was so old that she might fall down or into the pond at any time.
Thinking of these memories, Chu Qing walked to the place she had been longing for.
Familiarly climbing to the back of the rockery, Chu Qing leaned against the rock regardless of her image and closed her eyes, ready to take a short nap.
Just as she was almost falling asleep, a faint rustling sound came into her ears. Chu Qing suddenly opened her eyes, with a clear look in them.
She hid herself well, lightened her breathing, and then focused on where the sound came from.
"My lord! Please don't do this! Don't let others see!"
"Shut up! So what if others see? Whoever dares to say a word, I'll kill him."
"My lord, didn't you say we'd never contact each other again?"
"I'll contact you if I want to, and ignore you if I don't. Be obedient. Do you want my good nephew to know that you're cuckolding him? Even an ordinary man can't accept this, let alone the lord of a country!"
Wow! This was really a big show! Chu Qing quickly grasped the important information.
If she heard correctly, this man was the only younger brother of the grand empress dowager, Xiao He. Oh, she remembered. The grand empress dowager's maiden family was the Xiao family. She wondered how powerful the Xiao family was now.
She had only seen Xiao He from a distance once. He seemed to be a gentle and polite gentleman, but unexpectedly, he was such a ruthless and shameless person in private.
Chu Qing frowned. Did her son and grandson owe the Xiao family in their previous lives?
The cuckolds they were wearing were getting brighter and brighter!
Not bothering to care about the past anymore, hearing the occasional gasps from the side, Chu Qing closed her eyes and pretended she didn't exist.
The scenario in the drama books, where someone overhears something and accidentally makes a sound and gets caught, never happened to Chu Qing.
After all, this was not the first time for such a thing.
Thinking of this, Chu Qing felt a pain in her back molars.