Chapter 88 - Fool

Shen Ziqiao stayed in the east palace for two days. For the past two days, she barely slept eight hours. She didn’t dare to relax and let herself fall into a deep sleep. She was afraid that something might happen to the little imperial grandson. Thankfully, she was quite fortunate. The little imperial grandson was finally okay. After they got along with each other for the past two days, this baby felt close to her, splashing her with a mouthful of saliva.

The empress and the crown princess had been afraid for the last few days. Now that they saw the little imperial grandson’s cute and delicate expression, they all laughed.

“Thankfully Jiao Jiao was here.” The crown princess was now grateful towards Shen Ziqiao, her attitude became a bit more amiable.

“You’ve learned quite a bit in the countryside.” The empress recovered her kind expression and looked meaningfully at Shen Ziqiao, pleased with her.

Shen Ziqiao felt unrestrained when she saw her expression, her heart pounding wildly. She was too afraid of the people in the palace. Each one of them was sophisticated. She was definitely not their match.

The crown princess glanced at the little imperial grandson’s happy expression in Shen Ziqiao’s arms. She suddenly said, “Jiao Jiao, why don’t you come to the palace?”

Shen Ziqiao’s expression changed. Her hands carrying the little imperial grandson froze.

“This suggestion is pretty good. Mother empress, what do you think? Why don’t we let Jiao Jiao be a female official within the east palace?” The crown prince nodded in approval.

Not only did Shen Ziqiao’s face pale, but then Sheng Peiyin’s face changed too. She bit her lower lips tightly. She clutched her hands tightly, making the knuckles pale.

In her last life, Shen Xiao had ruined her family. In this life, was she going to be forced into a dead end by Shen Xiao’s daughter?

No! She refused to accept this!

The empress was a bit hesitant however. She had other thoughts towards Shen Ziqiao. But the little imperial grandson liked her a lot...

“Jiao Jiao, are you willing to come to the palace and be a female official?” The empress smiled at Shen Ziqiao as she asked this.

Did they need to ask her? Obviously, she didn’t! Shen Ziqiao looked down and said softly, “Your Majesty, I’m scared of causing trouble… I don’t want to enter the palace, and I don’t like it either.”

Sheng Peiyin sucked in a cold breath. This idiot dares to say that she doesn’t want to enter the palace in front of the empress.

“Why don’t you like it?” The crown prince asked.

“I can’t sleep when I’m in the palace. I can’t eat whatever I want either.” Shen Ziqiao said foolishly, pretending to act innocent and naive.

The empress softly laughed. Even the crown prince and crown princess revealed a lenient and pampering smile.

“This is a foodie right here. It’s fine. If we make you enter the palace, we’d be restricting your freedom then. Just come to the palace more often so that you can talk to me.” The empress said.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The smile in Shen Ziqiao’s eyes extended to the corner of her lips. She answered straightforwardly.

The empress had people prepare a table of delicious food for Shen Ziqiao to eat to her heart’s content. Then, she let her leave the palace and go home. Not only did the emperor reward her this time, but even the empress and the crown prince couple, and the imperial concubines reward her in an effort to kiss up to the empress. Shen Ziqiao ended up getting easy money as a result.

Although she thought that it was enjoyable to obtain such easy money, she didn’t want this to happen another time.

Hopefully, she didn’t need to enter the palace anymore.

Outside the palace door, Hong Yu and Lady Meng had been waiting outside for two days. They were really worried for Shen Ziqiao.

Shen Ziqiao walked out while yawning. She had no image at all. She just wanted to go home and sleep.

“Third Miss!” Hong Yu called out loudly, her tears streaming down her face.

“Oh hey, you guys were waiting here for me?” Shen Ziqiao laughed happily, walking towards them in large strides.

Lady Meng covered her mouth as if afraid that she might cry. “We’re scared that you might be too tired by the time you leave the palace, so we decided to wait here for you.”

“Why are you crying? I’m all good. Let’s go back.” Shen Ziqiao wrapped her arms around Hong Yu’s shoulders. She smiled and said, “I’m so tired. I want to go back to sleep.”

Hong Yu burst into laughter but then noticed a familiar figure walking over from the other side.

“Third Miss, Young Master Qi…” Hong Yu tugged at the hem of Shen Ziqiao’s clothes, indicating for her to look over.

Qi Zheng’s expression was gloomy and dark. His pitch-black eyes were dark and deep like a bottomless pit. He stared fixated at Shen Ziqiao, his body revealing an icy and terrifying aura.

So scary! Shen Ziqiao felt scared for some reason. She quickly hopped into the horse carriage and exclaimed, “Let's quickly head home!”

She acted like she hadn’t seen Qi Zheng. After all, he looked like he was going to behead her.

She hadn’t heard Hong Yu and Lady Meng’s voices even after half a moment. Shen Ziqiao was confused and was about to pull the curtains to the side and call for them when the curtains were pulled to the side by itself. Qi Zheng’s handsome but cold face appeared in her vision.

“Woah!” Shen Ziqiao was startled and stumbled back, sitting down. “What are you doing? Why are you silent like a ghost?”

Qi Zheng expressionlessly tossed her on a seat, and his tall figure loomed over her. “Did you not listen to my words?”

Shen Ziqiao thought that Qi Zheng’s imposing manner was too strong, and she shouldn’t offend him. She looked carefully at him and didn’t understand his words for a moment. “What?”

“What did I say before you entered the palace?” Qi Zheng asked coldly.

To not show off, and think before acting or talking...

“The emperor and empress rewarded me a lot of things. I…” She wanted to explain, find a reason for her rashness.

Qi Zheng was so angry that he wanted to beat her up. “You fool. Have you never thought of the consequences? If you couldn’t save the little imperial grandson, are you planning to give your life up?”

“I don’t know… If I can’t save him, I’ll just die with him.” Shen Ziqiao said, feeling wronged. “I just couldn’t bear to see something happening to the little imperial grandson. I didn’t act rashly on purpose.”

As she said this, she couldn’t help but tear up. She was really afraid too! She couldn’t believe anyone in the palace, and she had no backers. She had to be careful and lived the two days in constant fear. She finally got out of the palace now, but she had to be scolded by this bastard.

Glancing at her wronged expression, Qi Zheng couldn’t muster any words of scolding anymore. His angry and irritated mood immediately softened.

“You got frightened?” His deep and low voice became more gentle too.

Shen Ziqiao choked out, “I was terrified. I was almost forced to stay in the palace to be a female official.”

Hearing this, Qi Zheng’s expression turned dark again. “You’re going to the palace to become a female official?”

“I refused. I can’t sleep or eat well in the palace. I don’t want to go.” Shen Ziqiao said, feeling wronged.

Qi Zheng sighed inside. Why did he take a fancy to such a stupid girl? “What did the empress reward you?”

Speaking of rewards, Shen Ziqiao’s mood got better. But the empress rewarded her quite a bit, so she couldn’t remember much. “She just rewarded a lot.”

“That’s all you care about!” Qi Zheng scolded unhappily. Meanwhile, he was so worried that he wanted to forcibly take her out of the palace when he had heard about her actions there. Yet, she was still happily talking about her rewards here.

“I’m just that useless.” Shen Ziqiao humphed.

Qi Zheng glared at her. “You can’t be that rash in the future, you hear me?”

“What does this have to do with you?” Shen Ziqiao responded stubbornly. It is true that her matters had nothing to do with Qi Zheng. Why was he so angry though?

“Be good. Don’t go to the palace in the future. The rewards are nothing, okay? I can give you more in the future.” Qi Zheng softened his voice to coax her. He really took her as an ignorant and insensible little girl. Then, his tone became more stern. “With your simple mind, how can you possibly survive in the palace? Stay at home in the future, and don’t go walking around outside that often.”

Shen Ziqiao stared at him stunned. What does he mean by that? He’d give her more in the future?

“Is the empress your real aunt?” She thought of how amiable the empress was to her. She didn’t know why she had linked her to this man.

Qi Zheng’s expression turned a bit dark and pursed his lips. “Yeah.”

Shen Ziqiao looked at him with sparkling eyes and tested, “You were picking out a birthday gift that the empress liked for me before?”

Was that why the empress treated her especially different?

“You fool!” Qi Zheng scolded her moodily.

“Bastard, are you done scolding me?! You’re the fool! Your whole family are fools!” Shen Ziqiao’s heart was touched by his actions but now the feeling had disappeared.

Ambiguous feelings my ass!

“That’s right. My whole family are fools.” Qi Zheng wasn’t angry in the least bit. He revealed a good-looking smile. He reached over and ruffled her hair. “You have an unwell expression and your hair is messy. Quickly go home and rest. You’re becoming more and more ugly.”

Shen Ziqiao angrily slapped his hands away.

Qi Zheng was about to get out of the horse carriage when Shen Ziqiao suddenly thought of something. She hurriedly called him, “Qi Zheng!”

“Hm?” Qi Zheng’s body froze a bit. He looked down at her. His deep eyes were like the quiet ocean which was now revealing a gentle glint.

“I actually don’t understand anything. It was just pure luck that I managed to reduce the little imperial grandson’s fever. I coincidentally saw the women by the countryside doing this. I don’t want to enter the palace nor do I want to be summoned into the palace whenever something happens to the little imperial grandson. You… can you talk to your aunt about this, please?”

“You don’t know but the imperial physicians that said they couldn’t save the little imperial grandson were all sentenced to death…” Shen Ziqiao choked, fearing her future. She thought that since the empress must dote on her nephew a lot, it should be fine for Qi Zheng to speak up for her.

He had never seen her that afraid. Qi Zheng felt a stab of pain. He lowered his voice and said, “It’s fine. It’s all over. I won’t let you enter the palace again in the future.”

The man’s low and deep voice contained a sense of power that brought comfort to Shen Ziqiao. She grabbed onto his sleeves and asked, “Really?”

Qi Zheng lowered his head and glanced at her pair of hands tightly clutching his sleeves. The smile on his lips grew wider. He softened his voice much more and said, “I mean it. Go back home and rest.”

“But I heard...the imperial physicians were actually able to cure the little imperial grandson. Someone just didn’t let them is all…” Glancing at Qi Zheng’s gloomy expression, she was frightened and couldn’t muster the rest of her words.

“Who told you this? Don’t mention this in front of outsiders in the future. I will handle this. You just need to be good and go home to rest.” Qi Zheng said in a deep voice.

Shen Ziqiao seemed to have found someone to depend on, so she nodded firmly. “I know. I won’t talk to anyone else about this.”

Princess Nihong told her that she couldn’t tell anyone about this. But in front of Qi Zheng, she seemed to always be off guard easily.

Qi Zheng smiled faintly and pulled her hands away, gently squeezing it. “I’ll be going now.”