An Lingrong's Rebirth: Red

After they confirmed their itinerary, they left the Yanxi Palace together. There was no sound of crying in the Yanxi Palace behind them. It was dark and quiet, which made people feel numb.

Because Lingrong had the power to assist in managing the six palaces, and Xia Dongchun was well-informed, they were able to know the news first. When others knew about Concubine Tian's death, Lingrong and Concubine Tian had already taken Huai Ke to the Yangxin Palace.

The emperor had not originally planned to visit Concubine Tian, ​​but when he saw Huai Ke, he couldn't just say no in a cold voice.

"Why did you bring Huai Ke with you? It's even darker here with heavy dew. What if he catches a cold?"

The emperor patiently coaxed the crying Huai Ke. Seeing the child crying, Xia Dongchun also hurried forward to coax him. Ling Rong sat quietly and explained the reason for bringing Huai Ke here.

"After I had taken care of Concubine Tian's affairs in the Yanxi Palace, I remembered that Huai Ke was not here. Fortunately, she went to Concubine Jin's place, so she didn't see her mother pass away with her own eyes.

But Huai Ke will eventually know about this, so I thought about bringing her to the emperor. After all, you are Huai Ke’s father, and you will definitely be able to comfort the princess. "

"..."

The emperor was a little resentful. He glanced at Lingrong and then set his gaze on Huai Ke. The little girl's eyes were red from crying, and when she saw the emperor looking at her, her tears flowed even faster.

"Huai Ke, come here."

The emperor finally relaxed his expression. He opened his arms to Huai Ke, and was immediately embraced. Huai Ke finally cried out in the emperor's arms, "Father, my mother is gone, my mother is gone.

Huai Ke just went out to play for a while and then his mother disappeared.

Empress Xia said that my mother will not come back, Father Huang... Is my mother really not coming back? Doesn't my mother want to be sad anymore?"

As the person who personally attacked Concubine Tian, ​​the emperor didn't know how to answer Huai Ke. He just sighed, held Huai Ke on his lap and patted her back.

But such comfort was obviously useless. Huai Ke cried even more pitifully, hiding in the emperor's arms and sobbing uncontrollably.

"Huai Ke, the Emperor is here," the Emperor finally spoke after a long while, and he sighed deeply, "Stay with the Emperor for the next few days, and he will take you to see your mother, okay?"

"Will I still be able to see my mother, Father?" Huai Ke raised her head while sobbing. The tip of her nose was red. The red dot on her forehead that she had rubbed off when she played with Wen Yi in the afternoon was like a bloodstain. She looked extremely pitiful. "Will my mother still play with Youning? Can I still go with my mother to look for my fifth brother?"

The emperor sighed again at this time. He had taken the life of his daughter and mother, and he had no guilt at first. But when he saw the child's tears, the emperor's heart seemed to be broken and he began to feel sad.

“Huai Ke, you should have learned from the Grand Tutor that life and death are determined by heaven and cannot be controlled by human power.

The gap between life and death cannot be crossed. All the Emperor can do is to accompany you to see your mother for the last time.

After meeting her, you should live a good life and don't let her worry about you anymore."

Huai Ke sniffed. She didn't understand what the emperor said at all. She just heard that she could see Concubine Tian again, so she nodded and agreed.

"Huai Ke stopped crying. Huai Ke wants to see my mother and my father."

The emperor nodded slightly. He helped Huai Ke sit down and finally looked up at Ling Rong. "Have you arranged the funeral ceremony?"

"I have already given the order to bury her according to the etiquette of a concubine. Does Your Majesty want to add more?"

The emperor pondered for a while, then nodded, "Let's do as you wish, and posthumously confer the title of Concubine Tian on her."

The emperor did not give Concubine Tian a posthumous title, so Lingrong did not ask any further questions. She just nodded slowly, as if she had no emotions at all.

The emperor felt strange looking at her like this. After all, in the emperor's eyes, Lingrong was a gentle and melancholy person. At this moment, she should be like Huai Ke, with tears falling like pearls.

But Lingrong not only did not feel any emotion, she was even more indifferent, as if the dead person was not her former good sister, but an enemy.

"I will take care of it. Now all the maids and servants in the Yanxi Palace have been sent back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, leaving only two young eunuchs to guard the palace.

Tianpin's personal maid Sang'er was so sad that she followed Tianpin.

I remembered her loyalty to the Lord and could not bear to see her become a wandering ghost, so I decided to find a place outside the palace to bury her instead of throwing her into a mass grave."

"Just take charge of some minor matters. I trust you to do your job well." The emperor didn't care about these minor matters. She was just a palace maid. It didn't matter to the emperor whether the body was buried or thrown away.

"Huai Ke will stay in the Yangxin Palace for the next few days. I will send someone to take care of her for two days. This can be regarded as a perfect relationship between father and daughter."

The emperor was frank, and Ling Rong nodded, "That's good. I will bring the palace maids and eunuchs who serve Huai Ke to the Yangxin Palace later. They will serve the princess well in the next few days and will not let her be entangled in the pain of losing her mother.

However...I think that Your Majesty is very busy with government affairs and still needs someone to take care of him.

Concubine Xia once lived in the same palace with Huai Ke, and they often went out for walks together. The relationship between the two was relatively harmonious.

If it does not affect the emperor, please ask Concubine Xia to come to the Yangxin Palace from time to time to accompany the princess. "

The emperor did not answer immediately. He turned his head and looked at Xia Dongchun. "Are you willing?"

"Your Majesty, I am willing to do this. Huai Ke is too young. You need to be busy with government affairs, and most of the time you will have to review memorials and discuss matters with ministers.

I was worried that Huai Ke would be sad alone, so it would be great if Your Majesty would allow me to accompany him."

"Then you should come to Yangxin Palace to accompany Huai Ke. She is really attached to Concubine Tian, ​​so I'm sorry to trouble you to spend more time and effort on her."

Xia Dongchun did not feel that she was working hard. After receiving the emperor's permission, she happily agreed, "Huai Ke, come with Empress Xia and go to Jingyang Palace to play with your brother today, okay?"

Huai Ke was still lying in the emperor's arms. When he heard Xia Dongchun calling her, he slowly raised his head, "Madam Xia, I want to stay with you tonight. My Lord, I don't want to leave you, is that okay?"

Seeing Huai Ke looking so pitiful, the emperor had no way of refusing, "Stay in the Yangxin Palace tonight. If Concubine Xia is worried, she can stay with you.

Hongpei is a boy, so it is okay for him to be away from his mother for one night."

The emperor had never experienced true family affection since childhood. He felt sorry for Huai Ke for losing his mother, but he didn't care that the ninth prince was without a mother for a day. After hearing what he said, Xia Dongchun felt uncomfortable, and suddenly she felt that there was no reason for her to accompany Huai Ke.

But she had already said it, and naturally could not go back on her words in front of the emperor. In addition, she had always said in front of Lingrong that she wanted to raise Huai Ke, so Lingrong did not speak for her, but just lowered her eyes and looked at her feet calmly.

In the end, Xia Dongchun listened to the emperor and stayed in the Yangxin Palace with Huai Ke, while Ling Rong handled the remaining matters. She also sent someone to collect letters to see where the wedding procession had arrived.

Precisely because of her planned marriage, Concubine Tian's funeral was destined not to be widely publicized and could only be handled simply in Ji'an to avoid disrupting the marriage.

But Huai Ke was still young and didn't know whether such a funeral ceremony was good or bad, so he naturally couldn't supervise Concubine Tian's funeral ceremony. In addition, the emperor didn't care, so Concubine Tian's funeral arrangements were kept simple and looked very perfunctory.

Although the Fucha clan was dissatisfied, they had to obey the emperor's order and could only watch as Concubine Tian's funeral was hastily carried out and she was simply buried in the concubine's tomb.

However, Lingrong did not let Concubine Tian be lonely. She really turned Sang'er's body into ashes, spread the ashes in Concubine Tian's coffin, and asked her to accompany Concubine Tian for the rest of her life.

Lingrong also put the jewelry and poetry collections that Concubine Tian liked during her lifetime into the coffin for her. She even picked out a pair of first-class oriental pearls that only the queen could wear and carefully put them on for Concubine Tian.

The whole process went smoothly and no one raised any objections, as if they were all compensating Concubine Tian for not being able to take the throne of queen.

But what's the use of such posthumous honor? Ling Rong threw together all the jewelry looted from Concubine Tian. All the remaining things had to be sent back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Even though Princess Huai Ke was Concubine Tian's daughter, she could not have these things.

In the future, who will be given these jewels? Ling Rong muttered to herself, feeling annoyed when she saw these things. "Zhao Shui, check if there is anything else to be cleaned up in the Yanxi Palace. If everything has been dealt with, send it back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

"Yes, Madam, I will check it again and there will be no omissions. You can rest assured, Madam."

Zhaoshui looked at Lingrong's face and knew that she was a little tired, so he tried to comfort her and asked her to go back to Chengqian Palace to rest.

"Forget it. I am indeed a little tired." Ling Rong rubbed her brows and watched everyone register each piece of porcelain and jewelry. She closed her eyes tiredly and fell asleep in a daze.

In the dim light, she seemed to see Concubine Tian walking in from outside the door. She leaned over to Lingrong's ear and repeatedly told her to take good care of Huai Ke, otherwise she would not let Lingrong go.

In the dream, Lingrong could not move and could only watch as Concubine Tian picked up a bowl and forced Lingrong to drink the black medicine in it.

Lingrong kept pushing the bowl, but Concubine Tian became stronger and stronger. She pinched Lingrong's chin and forced her to drink it. "Since you are so willing to poison, you should drink the poison and experience how painful it is."

Ling Rong coughed from the choking of the medicine, and pinched Tianpin's wrist tightly with her fingers, "It's not me who killed you, why do you... cough cough... why do you want to take revenge on me."

"But you poisoned the Fourth and Fifth Princes. You must be unwilling to see me doing well and do not want me to take the throne, so you used the same poison to murder me.

What’s even more infuriating is that you actually have the sole authority to assist in managing the six palaces, and you even ride on my head as my imperial concubine.

An Lingrong, you have taken away everything I wanted. I will never let you go.

If you don't treat Huai Ke well, I will definitely pester you day and night and make you unlucky for the rest of your life!"

Concubine Tian's sharp nails scratched red marks on the back of Lingrong's hand. Lingrong cried out in pain, but could not break free no matter what.

As the pain became more and more severe, Lingrong finally broke free from the dream. She collapsed on the chair, gasping for breath, watching Zhaoshui light up the gold, silver and jewelry in Concubine Tian's room over and over again.

"Such a real dream..."

Ling Rong muttered to herself. She picked up a cup of tea, trying to calm herself down. But as soon as she stretched out her hand to take the tea, she saw the bright red marks on the back of her hand, which were obviously caused by scratching.

"This..." Ling Rong touched the wounds, and the pain was instantly transmitted. These wounds were so real, and the pain also proved that she was not in a dream. "You are really capable. You can't let me feel at ease even if you die, and you let me suffer these minor injuries."

Ling Rong snorted and laughed. She took out a handkerchief to wipe the oozing blood and continued to sip her tea without caring. "The person is dead, what kind of trouble can be caused? Huai Ke is just a child, how can I deal with her?

As for whether she can be taken good care of, it depends on whether her adoptive mother is sincere to her.

Concubine Tian, ​​you should also have some confidence in Concubine Xia. After all, she is the favorite of children. If Huai Ke stays with her, I am afraid that she will not remember you as her biological mother when she grows up."

Ling Rong murmured to herself. It didn't matter to her whether there were ghosts in this world or not. Instead, she looked at the marks on the back of her hand. There were only two bloodstains, which were obviously caused by her own fingers without armor.

But it was strange to dream about Concubine Tian. Lingrong took another sip of tea and thought no more about it. She stood up and told Zhaoshui to send all the gold and silver jewelry to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"Yes, your majesty." Zhaoshui put away the pen, quickly counted the remaining things, and asked someone to take the things away.

She returned to Lingrong and saw the scar on the back of Lingrong's hand. "Why did your Majesty get hurt suddenly? Did you hit something?"

"I just slept for a while, but in my dream, Concubine Tian came to visit me, said some threatening words, and left blood on my hands."

Ling Rong handed her hand to Zhao Shui nonchalantly, letting her sprinkle some hemostatic powder on the back of her hand. "Even if there are ghosts in this world, they are inferior to mine. Leaving such traces behind will not make me feel afraid at all."

"I think the Majesty scratched herself in a dream. When I was taking medicine from Doctor He, I saw such symptoms in ancient books.

Your Majesty, don't worry too much. Just take a good rest for a few days and this won't happen again."

Zhaoshui wiped Lingrong's wound carefully until the powder was applied to the wound, then he let go, "Your Majesty, there is news from the Imperial Hospital that Imperial Doctor He has been recalled to the palace by the Emperor.

I heard that Lord Fucha wanted Doctor He to take a look at Concubine Tian's body. It seems that he still doubts the cause of Concubine Tian's death."

"What's the point of doubting? The emperor already knew that He Anming had returned to the capital, but he deliberately summoned him back to the palace the day after Concubine Tian was buried. Wasn't he just trying to tell Fu Cha that their every move had already been known to the emperor?"