novelkee Chapter 251 Inside and Outside the Play 1
Chapter 251 Inside and Outside the Play 1
By the time Zhu Qianlin and Zhao Caiting were escorted back to the mansion, it was already completely dark.
Upon receiving the news, the Yu family immediately dispatched people to the main gate to bring Zhu Qianlin back.
Although Zhu Qianlin appeared to be fine, she clearly had some difficulty walking, likely due to being forced to kneel for a long time as punishment today.
On the other side, Zhao Caiting was in no better condition. Like Zhu Qianlin, she knelt for the same amount of time.
At this moment, Zhao Caiting also looked extremely weak, and she walked unsteadily, as if she would fall to the ground at any moment.
Zhao Caiting is the granddaughter of Zhao Chong, the Minister of Rites. She has been arrogant and domineering since childhood and has never suffered such humiliation.
Upon returning home, she immediately went to Zhao Chong in tears to complain. After hearing his granddaughter's account, Zhao Chong flew into a rage. He immediately ordered that Zhao Caiting be confined to her quarters for a month, with no one allowed to visit her!
No one in the Zhao family dared to plead for Zhao Caiting, since she was indeed in the wrong.
.........
Inside the palace
All was quiet at this moment; it was late at night. The entire palace was immersed in tranquility.
Chen Xianlin was suddenly awakened from her sleep. Her eyes widened and she cried out in terror, "Help! Help!" Her voice echoed in the silent palace.
Upon hearing the shouts, the palace maid dared not delay and hurriedly pushed open the door and rushed in.
By the dim candlelight, she saw Chen Xianlin sitting on the bed, her body trembling slightly, looking panicked.
The palace maid rushed forward and asked with concern, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress, are you alright? You frightened me to death!"
Chen Xianlin gently shook her head and patted her chest, trying to calm herself down.
Her face was as pale as paper, and her voice sounded very weak: "I am fine, but I don't know why, I have been plagued by nightmares for the past few months, and I can't get any peace at night. I think it may be because I have been too tired lately."
After hearing Chen Xianlin's words, the palace maid frowned and pondered for a moment, then cautiously said, "Your Highness, you weren't like this before. Why have you been like this in the last few months? Could it be... could it be that someone in the palace is deliberately trying to harm Your Highness?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Xianlin's eyes widened suddenly as she stared directly at the palace maid, feigning anger as she rebuked, "Nonsense! Who in this harem would dare to have such audacity as to deliberately harm me? Stop talking nonsense!"
The palace maid was so frightened that she knelt down with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly and begging for forgiveness: "Your Highness, please forgive me! Your Highness, please forgive me! But... but this servant is really worried about Your Highness's safety!"
Chen Xianlin looked at the trembling palace maid kneeling on the ground and said with feigned authority, "But what? Tell me the truth at once, or I will not let you off easily!"
"It's Miss Han! On Her Majesty's birthday, ever since Miss Han saved Miss Zhao and Miss Zhu, her old illness has relapsed. After waking up, she has been saying that there is a monster in the lake!"
"At the time, no one took it seriously, thinking that perhaps Miss Han was frightened, but... but after Miss Zhao and Miss Zhu returned from outside the palace, for some reason, they have been bedridden ever since, and no matter how many doctors they consulted, they could not find a cure. They also had frequent nightmares!"
"So afterwards, rumors started circulating in the palace, saying... saying that there might be something evil hiding in the lake! Maybe it's these evil spirits causing trouble!"
The palace maid, her face filled with terror, hurriedly explained.
"Oh, really? I'd like to see if what's in this lake is a person or a ghost!" Chen Xianlin narrowed her beautiful eyes and raised her eyebrows slightly, revealing a hint of disdain.
The next day, Chen Xianlin led a large group of palace maids and eunuchs, walking in a grand procession towards the lake.
Upon reaching the lake, Chen Xianlin waved his hand, signaling everyone to begin. The palace maids and eunuchs dared not delay, rolling up their sleeves and trouser legs, and jumped into the lake to frantically search for the fish.
And so, day after day passed. Chen Xianlin and her group searched the lake for three days and three nights in a row, but they still couldn't retrieve anything from it.
However, Chen Xianlin's nightmares became increasingly severe, and she often woke up in a fright during her sleep.
These rumors quickly spread like wildfire throughout the palace.
Some say that something unclean from the lake must have haunted the Empress, causing her to suffer unrest every night.
extraterrestrial
Zheng Luoqi's latest drama is extremely popular, and the theater is packed with people listening to the performance!
This play tells the story of a wealthy man who has been infatuated with beautiful women for many years, and has an astonishing number of concubines in his household.
The principal wife, unable to bear children herself, outwardly appeared kind and friendly to the concubines, but in reality, she was a heartless and venomous person.
For many years, this mistress secretly used all sorts of insidious and cunning methods, causing many unborn children to die in their mothers' wombs.
From the outside, this mistress had a kind and benevolent face, so who would have thought that she had such a vicious heart?
One day, another concubine became pregnant. Upon learning of this, the mistress naturally wouldn't stand idly by, so she secretly began to plot and use every means at her disposal to abort the fetus.
No matter how much she schemed and plotted, or how many ruthless methods she used, the fetus in her womb remained alive.
Seeing that these methods were ineffective, the mistress sought out a Taoist priest.
After a series of elaborate calculations, the Taoist priest solemnly declared, "The child this concubine is carrying is a harbinger of disaster! Because even before his birth, he harbored evil intentions and did not want other children who were born before him to block his path, so he eliminated all those children."
"When this child is born, the misfortune will only intensify. Not only will it bring misfortune to the father and mother, but even the siblings will be affected, causing them to suffer the same fate and die in the womb!"
Upon hearing this, the wealthy man turned deathly pale, trembled uncontrollably, and cold sweat poured down his forehead as he recalled that almost all of his children over the years had died in the womb.
He stared wide-eyed at the person before him, his face filled with terror. After calming down slightly, the wealthy man roared furiously, "Guards! Get rid of this wretched creature immediately!"
In an instant, chaos erupted throughout the mansion as servants, armed with clubs and swords, charged menacingly toward the concubine.
The concubine was terrified by the sight and instinctively clutched her stomach tightly.
The concubine, with tears streaming down her face, pleaded desperately, "Master, please spare this child's life! He is innocent!" Despite her desperate cries, the master's mind was made up, and he remained unmoved.
Seeing that her pleas were in vain, the concubine knew she could not change the master's decision. She gritted her teeth and resolutely said, "Since that is the case, I am willing to leave this place with my child and never set foot in this house again."
"We will go to a Buddhist temple to live a life of seclusion, practicing vegetarianism and chanting Buddhist scriptures for the rest of our lives, and never come back! We only beg you, sir, to have mercy and spare our lives."