Chapter 100 Having Someone in One's Heart

It was lamentable that she had been a high-ranking third-rank concubine before, but now she was being dragged away like a dead dog. She was originally a delicate and beautiful young woman, yet the Emperor had dismissed her with a contemptuous "just a mere tribute woman".

Pan Yueqing lowered her eyes and didn't dare to say a word. This was the Emperor she knew, the one who could decide life and death with a smile or a word, and whose every glance and order could send a chill to the bone.

The Emperor looked at Pan Yueqing standing there, but his footsteps suddenly turned and he walked in the opposite direction. The chief eunuch stepped forward and handed the food box to Pan Yueqing, smiling extremely obsequiously, "Miss Yue must have been frightened. If there are such thoughtless people in the future, just tell this old servant directly."

Pan Yueqing raised her eyes and looked at the chief eunuch's face, which was wrinkled with flattery. Her thick eyelashes tightly suppressed all her emotions, and she softly expressed her gratitude. She also learned that inside the food box were the glutinous rice rose cakes that the Empress Dowager had always loved.

After the chief eunuch and the others left, Qi Sian stood there with a calm gaze and glanced at the little eunuch who had been so frightened that he knelt on the ground and didn't dare to raise his head. Qi Sian walked up to him, "Follow from a distance." Without waiting for the other person's reaction, he looked at Pan Yueqing and motioned for her to follow him.

"Why did you speak up to save me?" Qi Sian turned his head to look at Pan Yueqing, who was carrying the food box.

"It's not necessarily for Your Highness that I spoke up," Pan Yueqing chuckled. The smile only lingered on her face for a moment before disappearing. With her hair covering her face, Pan Yueqing's true emotions seemed hazy and unknowable, "She was in my way." She had clearly seen the resentful gaze of Concubine Zheng when she was asked to leave the Imperial Garden earlier. With a preemptive mindset, she had no intention of giving Concubine Zheng a chance to take revenge on her.

Qi Sian didn't say anything more. They walked in silence for about ten steps. He stopped, looked back at the little eunuch following far behind, and made sure he couldn't hear them. Then he lowered his voice and said, "Prime Minister Pan's timely retreat from power was a wonderful move."

Pan Yueqing raised her eyes to meet Qi Sian's gaze and secretly smiled in her heart. Indeed, it was true that people of the same kind flock together. The Emperor had thought the same not long ago. Pan Yueqing was too lazy to respond to Qi Sian and just carried the food box and walked forward. Qi Sian followed behind and silently called out, "Pan Yueqing."

Pan Yueqing stopped in her tracks, turned back to look at Qi Sian, and motioned for him to continue.

Qi Sian coughed softly. He took three steps forward to stand side by side with Pan Yueqing, "You..." He opened his mouth, but finally suppressed the rebellious words in his heart and changed them to, "Aren't you afraid of the Empress Dowager?" Facing Pan Yueqing's puzzled gaze, Qi Sian pursed his lips and said with some helplessness, "My grandmother has supported His Majesty through all the hardships. Her perspective on the overall situation has always been from the angle of an emperor."

Qi Sian raised his eyes to look at the Kunning Palace, paused, and stopped talking. He was warning Pan Yueqing to be more careful.

Pan Yueqing knew this too well. She slightly curtsied to Qi Sian standing at the door and was about to step in. However, Qi Sian raised his hand to stop her. He stepped out from the corner and crossed the threshold one step ahead of Pan Yueqing. The maids cleaning the courtyard quickly knelt down and kowtowed to greet Qi Sian.

"Where is the Empress Dowager?" Qi Sian casually stood in front of a palace maid and asked slowly.

"The Empress Dowager is taking a nap," the palace maid replied respectfully.

"Then we'll wait," Qi Sian casually sat on the swing beside the Chinese parasol tree, casually took the tea offered by the palace maid, glanced at Pan Yueqing, and nodded at the stone bench beside him, motioning for her to sit down too. The atmosphere was very quiet. Except for Qi Sian's occasional soft coughs, it could be described as a peaceful scene.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough."

There were a few coughs from an old woman coming from the corner of the east side of the main hall. The sound gradually subsided, and the door of the main hall slowly opened. A maid in her forties or fifties stood on the steps with her hands clasped, looked at Qi Sian and Pan Yueqing, and said calmly, "The Empress Dowager invites the two of you to enter."

"Nanny Qiu," Qi Sian responded. He raised his hand, and the palace maid serving beside him was quick-witted and stepped forward to support his arm. When they slowly walked into the main hall, what came into view was the Empress Dowager sitting sideways and holding a needle. Qi Sian smiled, crossed the threshold, and was about to kneel down and greet the Empress Dowager with his head lowered. The Empress Dowager didn't look up and just said, "No need for such formalities."

Pan Yueqing stood behind and handed the food box in her hand to Nanny Qiu. The Empress Dowager raised her eyes to look at her. Her gaze was calm, neither showing the favor of a kind elder nor the coldness she had on the horseback riding ground. She was like an ordinary stranger. She raised her hand and pointed at the cushion beside her, motioning for Pan Yueqing to sit next to her.

Qi Sian picked up the tea cup and glanced at the bright yellow silk cloth in the Empress Dowager's hand, "Is Imperial Grandmother preparing this for His Majesty?"

"He told me that what others make isn't as comfortable as what I make," the Empress Dowager shook her head helplessly. Just as she finished stitching a thread, she removed the embroidery frame, spread it out, and held it in front of her. She smiled proudly, "Fortunately, although I'm old and my eyes are dim, my touch is still there."

"If you say you're old and your eyes are dim, then this servant is completely blind," Nanny Qiu stepped forward to bring out the glutinous rice rose cakes from the food box that Pan Yueqing had brought. She also took the handkerchief from the Empress Dowager's hand, bowed slightly, and stepped back, closing the door as she left.

"How is Que Nu's cold?" the Empress Dowager took a sip of tea and asked.

Qi Sian, who was called by his childhood name, put down the pastry in his hand and tried to reassure the Empress Dowager. Just as he was about to speak, he couldn't help but cough a few times. He covered his chest and finally caught his breath before saying, "Much better. I didn't have a fever when I woke up this morning."

"You dared to go to the racecourse with a fever and were so high-spirited in front of me. You! If you weren't ill, do you think your father wouldn't beat you!" the Empress Dowager shook her head helplessly and said with a hint of disappointment. Facing Qi Sian's smiling face, she finally let out a sigh, "Don't you know how precious your body is?"

"Don't talk about me. I get scolded by my mother and now by you. I'm afraid I'll get scolded again when I see His Majesty later. My ears are going to get calloused from all the scolding!" Qi Sian smiled, his eyes curved like crescents, and pleaded with the Empress Dowager.

"Yue girl, have you met His Majesty?" The Empress Dowager indeed didn't say more and turned her gaze to Pan Yueqing, who was sitting there quietly. After getting an affirmative answer, the Empress Dowager let out a sigh, "What do you think of the matter of Concubine Zheng?"

"Although she was guilty, it didn't deserve such a punishment," Pan Yueqing answered honestly.

The Empress Dowager took a sip of tea and didn't say much. She just asked, "Have you been promised to someone?"

"Not yet..." Pan Yueqing was shocked as if struck by thunder and stopped speaking. She looked at the Empress Dowager who had lowered her eyes. In an instant, she understood everything. She slightly swallowed the shock in her mouth, "Although this servant hasn't been betrothed yet, but... I already have someone in my heart." She carefully lowered her voice.