binnovel Chapter 262 Paperweight
Chapter 262 Paperweight
Shi Qingzhang supported her belly which was not yet visible and sat down carefully. She looked up at Sui Wan who had been very attentive to her recently and said softly:
"Sui Wan, go to the back hall to see if Ming Yu has returned? Ask him to pack up and come with me to the Pepper Palace to congratulate the Queen and the Ninth Prince."
There are no trivial matters in the palace. The Ninth Prince, the legitimate son of Shen Ningyue, was given a name by His Majesty. Since she chose to seek refuge with the Queen and accepted her protection, she could not act arrogantly and pretend nothing had happened just because she was pregnant with the royal heir.
"Xuan is the great jade used by the emperor to offer sacrifices to heaven."
Shi Qingzhang's mind flashed through the private discussions of the palace maids and eunuchs and the harmonious scene of His Majesty and the Queen getting along when he went to the Pepper Palace to pay a visit to Shen Ningyue.
Your Majesty indeed values his wife and legitimate son more, and he also thinks of the eldest prince and the deceased Concubine Rou Liu Yiren.
His Majesty's partiality and favoritism towards the Empress, such open and aboveboard differential treatment that no one dared to interfere with, made Shi Qingzhang feel a little envious. She raised her hand and pressed her chest, feeling a little sour.
Shi Qingzhang knew very well that he was completely different from the late Lipin Yan Shuer. Although they were both born as palace maids, she became His Majesty's consort because he needed a foster mother to take care of the eldest prince.
And it was because of her beauty and charm that His Majesty canonized Concubine Li, Yan Shuer, that she was given the title.
Therefore, Shi Qingzhang lacked confidence. After becoming a concubine, she immediately clung to Shen Ningyue. In addition, of course, she also had the consideration of repaying the eldest prince's kindness and allowing Qin Mingyu to be closer to His Majesty.
Shi Qingzhang remembered the path she had taken and could see herself clearly, so she did not dare to be jealous. Everything was good now. Her children were members of the royal family. In the next ten or hundred years, the descendants with her bloodline would all be the nobles that her family had to kneel down and look up to.
Sui Wan had always had unbridled ambitions. Shi Qingzhang thought that after she gave birth, he would ask the Empress to release Sui Wan from the palace, thus preserving the friendship that had lasted since childhood.
But I can't tell her about this first.
Shi Qingzhang put down the hand that was gently stroking his pregnant belly, looked up at Sui Wan's hurried figure getting closer and closer from afar.
"My beauty, His Royal Highness the First Prince has not returned yet."
"That's all. Help me up. Someone, go get the paperweight carved from white jade that His Majesty gave me last month. I want to give it to His Royal Highness the Ninth Prince as a gift."
The palace maid raised her head in panic, "Beauty, that jade paperweight was taken by my aunt at the end of the year, and it was not put into the warehouse. I thought...you, I..."
The palace maid's voice became lower and lower, and her eyes could not help but drift towards Sui Wan who was standing aside with his eyes wide open.
"You ordered me to have the Shaofu's people carve that white jade disk into a paperweight. I thought you wanted to give it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. After I took it back, I sent it to the back hall to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the name of a beauty." Sui Wan said guiltily.
Seeing Shi Qingzhang lowering his eyes and remaining silent, she said loudly:
"My lady, you can ask His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to confront me. I have neither embezzled the paperweight nor taken credit for my contribution.
As the queen is the master of the central palace and is deeply favored by His Majesty, how could she need a jade paperweight from you?
The handkerchiefs and shoe uppers you embroidered for the Empress, and the gold and silver hairpins you made for her, aren't they more thoughtful than the jade paperweight carved by the Shaofu and given by His Majesty?"
Shi Qingzhang was furious. He swept the cups and fruit plates on the table to the ground, raised his hand, and slapped Sui Wan hard in the face.
"You are so talkative and you act on your own initiative. Am I treating you too well and making you lose track of yourself? Seeing how attentive and caring you have been these past few days, I thought you knew you were wrong and that I was wrong."
Shi Qingzhang opened her mouth when she saw Sui Wan, but she had lost her patience to listen to any more sophistry.
"Come here, stuff her mouth and lock her in her room. No one is allowed to bring her food or water without my order. She is not allowed to take a single step out of the room."
When Shi Qingzhang said the order, they suddenly recalled that when they first entered the palace to learn the rules, they were all locked up in the woodshed by their aunt and punished.
The young girls endured hunger, secretly saved their own food rations, and secretly gave them to the punished ones under the cover of night.
But there was only a coldness and hardness in my heart.
They have all changed.