Chapter 20 : Ominous

Pei Si Yan returned to Shide Xuan and complained for a while longer, calmed down a little, and returned to the dining room, where the family ate lunch in a peaceful manner. Although the people from the second house didn't mention a word about what happened earlier in the main hall, their eyes were full of complacency, as if they had gained some advantage.

In the afternoon, the guests arrived before and after, among them, there is no lack of powerful officials of the dynasty, there are also special officials who came from the imperial capital surrounding counties, Pei Si Yan patiently said polite words one by one. The fact that Imperial Master Feng and Lord Wuli did not appear made her feel ten thousand times more fortunate.

Some officials of low rank came in directly from the small side door, originally not even having a few more words with Lord Woo Pan, invited to sit in a side hall. Pei Si Yan frowned and took advantage of an opening to sneak over and greet the small officials politely and say thank you before returning to the main hall again.

The crowd chatted and ate in a friendly atmosphere, and Tantai Yuan even got fireworks in a unique way. The birthday party ended in a sky full of gorgeous fireworks, Pei Si Yan who had been busy all day didn't feel tired at all, and returned to Shide Xuan to open her presents with gusto.

Various colours of gifts piled up in the centre of the bedroom, of which exotic treasures accounted for most of them, refracting colours, the room does not need to light a lamp, relying on these gifts can also be illuminated.

Opening gifts is really a thing that can make one's mood more pleasant, Pei Si Yan arranging/fiddling with some chic and exquisite small jewellery, casually humming a song, startling Yun Qi who came in with a hot water basin.

"Miss, what are you humming? It sounds so strange."

Pei Si Yan was picking up a small red gift box and preparing to unwrap it, when she heard Yun Qi's words she immediately didn't make a single sound, pretending to be silly she looked up at the maid, "Nothing, humming casually." After saying that, she busily opened the box in preparation to distract the other party's attention.

Inside the ordinary small box unexpectedly lay a gorgeous bejewelled walking stick, silver-plated coloured finch bird is vivid, layers of feathers are meticulous and incomparable, from the body of the finch hangs down two strings of crystal clear red gemstones, in the light of the lamps shine brilliantly, so that people will not be able to move away from the gaze for a long time.

"Oh my god, it's so beautiful!" Yun Qi couldn't help but let out a gasp.

"Yes," Pei Si Yan gently stroked over the finch and carefully examined the ruby pendant, in love with such a thing, "I'll wear it tomorrow for good."

"Miss, how about the slave girl put it on for you now and see how it looks?" Yun Qi suggested, bringing the bronze mirror.

Pei Si Yan nodded impatiently, "Good, good."

Yun Qi received the bird step rocker, looked around at Pei Si Yan's hair bun, chose a place to insert it, "Miss, you are so beautiful, the step rocker matches you very well."

Pei Si Yan satisfied with the bronze mirror to look around, beautiful most of the day tiredness came before she couldn't bear to wash and comb to go to bed.

The next day, back to the big hall that had been away for half a month, facing certain officials who were always looking for faults, Pei Si Yan was still full of smiles, reaching out and touching the strut from time to time. She arrived late, and just as she took her place, the chamberlain announced "His Majesty has arrived".

The emperor looks much older, seems to be in a bad mood, his face is gloomy and ugly, people kneel and salute half a day, before he said "rise".

Wuli slightly side glanced at Pei Siyan, face first showed a stunned expression, then turned into a smile, made a sighing gesture, turned back to the head.

The Emperor propped his hand on his forehead and asked wearily, "How is the matter of the drought a few days ago?"

"Your Majesty," the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue wiped his sweat and stood out of the line, "The famine due to the drought is now ten thousand times worse, I prepared the grain for the disaster relief yesterday, and will be ready to leave immediately."

"Very well! I want to appoint an inspector in charge of going to the disaster relief, I do not know which one ..." The emperor raised his head, cursorily scanned the courtiers in the temple, when his eyes fell on a certain place when he violently sat upright, his face changed greatly, full of disgust and anger.

The officials who were skilled in observing words and colours searched for the emperor's line of sight and found the reason that made him angry, some individuals sucked in a breath of cold air or revealed an imperceptible look of gloating.

Pei Si Yan found everyone's eyes converging on her, curiously looking down at her dress and touching her face, there was nothing special about herself, at most she had been away for most of the month, what was so strange about it?

Standing beside her, Wuluo's lips slightly opened, softly said, "Wulpan, the step rocker on your hair bun is a taboo in the palace, it is ominous."

The bird step rocker is actually ominous? Pei Siyan beat her to death and was unwilling to believe it, "How ... how is that possible."

Wuluo shook his head and did not explain, the emperor had already walked over quickly, staring angrily at Pei Si Yan, fiercely raising his hand to take off her step rocker, holding it in his hand for dear life, as if he could not wait to break it.

"Where did you get this walking rocker from?!" The Emperor shouted in a high voice, his majestic words thudding on the ground.

Pei Si Yan looked at the old man who was still kind and amiable when they first met and turned into an almost man-eating monster, his heart screamed with depression, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and replied, "Back to the Emperor, this is a congratulatory gift that I received yesterday on my birthday."

"Birthday congratulatory gift?" The emperor coldly gazed at the bird step rocker, "Do you know what this is?"

"An ordinary walking rocker ah?" Pei Si Yan asked rhetorically, perhaps Wuluo was mistaken, how could such an exquisite piece of jewellery be paired with something ominous and taboo?

The emperor laughed coldly, "Although it is a finch not a phoenix, this object has the meaning of a phoenix weeping blood."

Pei Si Yan listened to the words of the emperor, once again measured the shaking of the steps when the trance feel embellished with blue, green and other colours of small gemstones of the bird's tail, and the phoenix's tail feathers are extremely similar to the two strings of red gemstone pendant shaped like a blood bead. "Phoenix weeping blood", she has heard of, but never heard of "phoenix weeping blood" allusion, she has been treated as a modern fabricated things.

Feng Taishi came over to join in the fun, tone of voice with reproach: "Wushan adults even do not know?"

"I ..." Pei Si Yan mumbled, her fingers tugging uneasily at her sleeves.

A young man with eyebrows quite similar to the emperor walked over in three steps, a look at the emperor's hands of the step rocker, his face suddenly white, "This, this is not ... the year when it is said to have killed the mother mother's things? Wasn't it lost, how could it appear here?"

Pei Siyan's mind was blank, only the words "Killed the Queen Mother" echoed continuously.

What had she done in her previous life that had brought her to such a state in this life - it was not good to kill anyone, but to kill Empress Shuxin's things!

The heads of the crowd looked in unison again towards the man in the dragon patterned purple robe standing beside Wu Li, only to see him in a calm and composed manner, the smile on his lips demonic and picturesque, making people fall in love with him.

He walked with an elegant demeanour and respectfully bowed to the Emperor, "Father, I wonder if I could let my son take a look at this walking brush?"

The emperor's body moved towards the other side, having the chamberlain at his side hand over the walking stick to Lan Xuan for inspection, and then turned to Pei Si Yan: "Wuban, do you know the offence?"

"Your Majesty," Pei Si Yan immediately kneeled down on both knees, "There must be someone who deliberately framed me, but also ask Your Majesty to clearly investigate."

"But you put on this thing, Wu Pan," the emperor said fiercely, stomping his steps with his hands behind his back, "On the day of the succession ceremony, I spoke with you and thought that you were considered a sensible and capable woman, but today I realised that you are so absurd and ignorant!"

Pei Si Yan lowered her head, her white teeth biting her red lips, her tears filled with aggrieved tears.

Wu Li took the opportunity to add oil to the fire, "Your Majesty, I think this matter is of great importance, and must severely punish the relevant people to console the Empress Mother's spirit in heaven! Do not let the tragedy of that year repeat itself!"

On one side, Lan Xuan carefully examined the jewellery and grabbed the emperor before he was about to speak, "Father, this walking rock is not the one worn by my mother, there is no phoenix weeping blood."

Pei Si Yan looked up in surprise at the candidate for the alliance, "Scourge of the country demon" Consort Wen was actually associated with the death of the Empress?

Oh?" The Emperor was surprised and signalled for Lanxuan to explain.

Lanxuan smiles gently at Pei Si Yan, holds up the Bird Walker and says in a loud voice: "Although the workmanship is very similar, there are subtle differences between it and Mother Consort's. Firstly, all of the gems on the walker are different from each other. First of all all the gems on the stepper are imitation, in the east city's jewellery shop can buy this kind of beads that can be faked, unless the connoisseur usually can't see it.

"Try to ask, how can the jewellery that goes into the harem be laced with fakes? Secondly, the stripes on the finch's wings have a total of twenty-one stripes, and I remember that the one on Mother Consort's has a total of thirty-one stripes on it because it was Mother Consort's thirty-one year old birthday ..."

"Dare I ask why Your Highness King Hui remembers it so clearly?" Wuli couldn't help but interrupt.

"When this king accompanied mother consort when he was young, when he was idle and bored, he had taken her bird walker and looked at it, because of the exquisite workmanship of the workmanship, carefully appreciated, naturally know." Lanxuan said in a gentle and elegant manner, not angry or annoyed at Wuli's almost rude question.

The emperor frowned, and repeatedly looked at the bird stepper again, he was not a connoisseur, he could not see a reason, "Wuluo, I heard that you know jewellery, come and see if what King Hui said is true or false."

"Yes." Wuluo received the stepping stone with both hands and carefully checked it. The centre of the hall was so quiet that not a single sound could be heard, everyone's gazes converged on Wuluo's body, anxiously waiting for his answer.

Pei Si Yan let out a breath, since King Hui dared to say this, it meant that he had full certainty that he was out of danger.

In the midst of the crowd's anticipation, Wuluo finally spoke, "Back to the Emperor, the gems on the stepping stones are indeed all fake."

Some people rejoiced and some were disappointed.

"And while Mother Consort's one had emeralds for the eyes of the finches, this one's blue," Lanxuan remained stoic, his left hand rubbed the pendant of the walking rocker a few times, the red gemstone turned white, and his hand was stained with quite a bit of red, powdery stuff, "The gemstones aren't red either. Since the stuff is fake, who can it curse, where is the ominous meaning of a phoenix weeping blood?"

The Emperor pondered for a while and said, "Take this walking stick and destroy it! Wu Pan, get up." He then returned to the dragon chair and sat down, his face much eased.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Pei Si Yan got up, rubbing/hugging her chest, smiling gratefully at Lan Xuan.

"Your Majesty, although Wu Pan was unintentional, but letting you, Your Majesty, have a false alarm," Wu Li was unwilling to return to his position, "Deadly sins can be spared, but living sins are hard to escape! Why don't we leave the matter of disaster relief to Wu Pan, what's more, she is always young and can use this to learn more about being an official."

The emperor waved his hand impatiently, "Okay, let's do as Wu Li said. Wu Pan, I appoint you as the inspector and go to the disaster relief!"

Pei Si Yan could only admit her bad luck, "I will obey the decree.