When Consort Xiao’s palanquin came to a slow halt outside the residence, the eunuchs accompanying her shouted, as usual, “Your Highness is here.”
In an instant, the whole street was silent.
The courtyard was even more deafening.
The neighbours who had come to congratulate him quickly knelt down, and the officials looked at each other and walked out of the door to salute.
The officials also looked at each other and walked out of the door in succession to salute. Consort Xiao Xianfei got down from the sedan chair and carriage, her steps slightly quicker, and the palace maids assisted her towards the backyard, with the fourth prince following behind her.
The backyard was silent. When they heard the footsteps, they turned around and saw that Consort Xiao was about to kneel down, but she raised her hand to stop them, “No need to be polite, how is Yao’er?”
No one responded to her.
Consort Xiao’s heart sank downwards.
Meng quietly squeezed Xu’s hand, which she understood, and went to bring a chair over for Consort Xiao to sit down.
The courtyard fell silent again.
Xiao An returned, gave the medicine to Qing’er and took the golden sore medicine and gauze to the back, where he saw Consort Xiao sitting in the courtyard, standing at the connection between the two courtyards and not daring to go further.
Xu quickly went over and took it, returned and was about to knock on the door to send it in when Xiao Qian held out his hand, “Let me see.”
Xu didn’t think much of it and handed him the golden sore medicine. Xiao Qian looked at it carefully and turned around to knock on the door. No one saw him, his hand holding the medicine bottle quickly reached into his pocket, put the porcelain bottle in his hand down and replaced it with a bottle out.
Song Wangyue opened the door a crack, took the medicine and gauze, quickly closed the door again and returned to the bedside.
Song Si had already finished wiping and the water in the basin had turned red, he threw the soft cloth back into the basin and tightened his grip on Xiao Yao’s hand again.
The wound was clearly exposed, and Song Wangyue peeled back the stopper and was about to pour some more golden sore medicine onto the wound when she smelt the medicine, paused, then lifted the bottle under her own nose and sniffed it carefully.
It was a good golden sore medicine, the kind that was hard to buy with a thousand pounds, not something Xiao An could have bought from the pharmacy, and thinking that the porcelain bottle had just been taken from Xiao Qian, she raised her eyebrows in recognition before carefully pouring the medicine onto Xiao Yao’s wound.
Waiting half an hour later, she pulled off the silver needle and carefully bandaged Xiao Yao’s wound with gauze, looking at Song Si still squatting by the bed, “Don’t worry, sister Xiao won’t be in danger of dying.”
Song Si’s hand was almost as cold as Xiao Yao’s. Hearing her words, he froze and looked up, it took him a while to react, his tense heart loosened a little, and he sat on the floor, his head leaning on Xiao Yao’s hand that he had pulled, not lifting it up for a long time.
Song Wangyue moved a stool over and placed it beside him, put the silver needles away and came to the door, “Don’t worry, sister Xiao will not be in danger of her life.”
The hearts that everyone was carrying fell back, Lady Xiao Zheng collapsed helplessly on top of her maid and Lady Ding Guo staggered a little.
“Your Majesty, it is time to return to the palace.”
The steward aunt reminded in a whisper.
The crowd turned back.
Consort Xiao Xianfei stood up, nodded slightly towards her family before holding the palace maid’s hand and turning to walk outside.
The Duchess of Ding Guo’s lips moved a few times, as if she wanted to call out to her, but in the end no sound came out.
……
The first time I saw the Emperor’s sidekick, Eunuch Huang, standing at the entrance to the palace, my heart thumped.
The first time I saw this, I saw that I was a member of the team.
Eunuch Huang waved his dust, “His Majesty has decreed ……”
A crowd of people knelt down.
“Consort Xiao Xian disregarded the rules of the palace and should have been punished heavily, for the sake of the cause, she is ordered to kneel at the palace gate for two hours, and the fourth prince is grounded in the palace and is not allowed to leave the palace at will for a month.”
……
After Consort Xiao Xian left, the guests who had come to congratulate her left, and the front courtyard fell silent.
The backyard.
Meng looked at the closed doorway and sighed heartily. Although today was the big wedding, Song Si and Xiao Yao had not yet worshipped heaven and earth, so technically they were not yet husband and wife, and if Xiao Yao woke up –
She shook her head, not daring to think about it, and when she saw out of the corner of her eye that Lady Xiao Zheng and Lady Ding Guo had bad looks on their faces, she quickly said, “Let’s go to the flower hall first and wait for news.”
Lady Xiao Zheng and the Duchess of Ding did not refuse, they were now feeling weak and did not have any half-hearted strength.
Xu led the ladies to the parlour and ordered the maids to serve tea. The warm tea was held in their hands before the crowd felt their frightened hearts return to their original position.
Grandma Song, in particular, almost fell to the floor the moment she saw Song Si come in carrying Xiao Yao, who was covered in blood.
She looked at the two of them and opened her mouth several times, wanting to comfort them but not knowing what to say. If such a thing had happened to her granddaughter on her wedding day, I am afraid she would have fainted long ago.
Over there, Duke Ding and Xiao Zheng also went to the side hall with Xu Yan, while the old man and Xu Yan accompanied them.
All of them were silent.
……
The news that Consort Xiao Xian had been punished by kneeling at the palace gate soon reached back to the Song family, and the Lady of Ding Guo, who was bracing herself to wait for Xiao Yao to wake up, blacked out and passed out.
The house was in a state of chaos, with some pinching and others running to shout for Song Wan Yue.
Xu Liang, who was guarding the entrance to the side hall, heard the commotion and hurriedly entered the house to report it, and the three Ding Guoguangs immediately came over.
Song Wangyue had already arrived and had her wife carried to the bed inside the house, where she was quickly given a few stitches.
How could her daughter’s body withstand kneeling for two hours in the freezing cold?
Lady Xiao Zheng also wiped her tears.
Duke Ding’s face was also sunken, he waited outside and when Song Wan Yue came out of the house, he asked a few questions about his own wife’s condition and said, “Please ask Miss Song to call Si’er out.”
Song Wan Yue nodded and went back inside to call out Song Si, who was still wearing her big red wedding dress, the blood stains on her clothes had already dried and looked shocking.
The two men, Xiao Zheng and Xiao Qian, were standing beside Duke Ding, and when he saw him coming, he said, “Go to the study.”
Song Si led the three over.
Once inside, the Duke of Ding spoke as soon as he took his seat, “This matter today is a trap, and he is clearly targeting us.”
Who this he was referring to was self-evident.
Song Si pursed her lips.
At first he too thought it was an accident, until he saw the shocked expression on the face of the capital’s governor.
Duke Ding looked at him, “You and I will each write a token and go to the palace to face the sage, suing the capital’s governor for conniving at the negligence of the people below him and requesting the emperor to pursue it.”
“Listen to grandfather.”
The two of them quickly wrote their folds, and without changing his clothes, Song Si and Duke Ding rode in a carriage to the entrance of the palace.
There was a crowd of kneeling people in front of the palace gate, with Consort Xiao Xian at the head with a straight back, and the Fourth Prince kneeling beside her, his small body also upright.
The fourth prince knelt beside her, his small body also standing up. The Duke of Ding held up a folded paper and knelt down, “I accuse the capital’s governor of conniving at the negligence of his subordinates, so I ask Your Majesty to investigate!
Song Si also knelt down, his voice resounding, “I sue the Governor of the Capital for conniving at the negligence of his subordinates, and ask Your Majesty to investigate!”