Chapter 71

Consort Li hurriedly bowed.

“Your humble servant pays respects to the Crown Prince.”

She was now disheveled, her hair uncombed, and her face bare, looking far less flamboyant and beautiful than usual.

Prince Luo Qinghan opened his mouth with a cold and stern question.

“From where did you learn that my mother was from Chenliu County?”

His mother had passed away early, and because her hometown was far away, none of her relatives were around. After her death, the palace no longer remembered her, and very few people knew of her origins.

Consort Li was startled.

She hadn’t expected the Crown Prince’s late-night visit to be about this matter.

She raised her head, meeting the Crown Prince’s icy gaze, her heart tightening, and her lips trembling uncontrollably.

“Your humble servant, your humble servant only heard it from someone else.”

“Who did you hear it from?”

Consort Li was now in a panic. She didn’t dare to lie and told everything she knew.

“It was Consort Ning. Your humble servant once met her in the Imperial Garden by chance. She invited me to drink tea and admire the flowers, and we chatted about various things, including the matter of the Crown Prince’s mother.”

It was Consort Ning again.

Luo Qinghan suppressed his irritation and asked coldly, “Have you finished copying the Lotus Sutra as I instructed?”

Consort Li said shamefully, “Your humble servant has been ill recently and hasn’t had the chance to copy it yet.”

“Then you will continue copying it. You are not to step out of the Jin Feng Hall until you have copied it a hundred times,” Luo Qinghan paused and added, “No one else is allowed to visit you at the Jin Feng Hall.”

Consort Li’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“A hundred times? Didn’t Your Highness say only thirty times?”

How did it suddenly triple?

Luo Qinghan’s voice was as cold and sharp as ice and a knife, “I need to keep you busy so you won’t gossip with others. My mother is not someone you can discuss. This time, copying the sutra will suffice, but if it happens again, I will cut out your tongue.”

Consort Li shuddered all over and fell to her knees.

“Your humble servant was wrong. Your humble servant will definitely copy it a hundred times!”

Luo Qinghan flicked his sleeve and walked away with a cold and stern expression.

After everyone left, Consort Li, with Caiyun’s help, finally stood up.

In a state of shock and fear, Consort Li broke out in a cold sweat, her undergarments drenched, and her face pale and ghastly.

Caiyun said worriedly, “Your Highness, you must hold on.”

Consort Li sat on the soft couch and took a long time to recover from her shock and fear.

She remembered that the reason she was punished by the Crown Prince was all because of Consort Zhao.

Consort Li couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger and cursed.

“Consort Zhao, that useless waste, not only failed to seduce the Crown Prince but also betrayed me. Just wait, I’ll see how I deal with her in the future!”

By the time they left the Jin Feng Hall, it was already very late.

Eunuch Chang observed the Crown Prince’s expression and asked cautiously.

“Will Your Highness go to the Qing Ge Hall?”

Luo Qinghan replied without hesitation.

“Yes.”

In this palace, where power struggles were everywhere, only the Qing Ge Hall remained relatively peaceful.

The Crown Prince’s carriage stopped in front of the Qing Ge Hall.

The young eunuchs guarding the door quickly knelt down to pay their respects.

Luo Qinghan got out of the carriage and walked inside with a blank expression.

Eunuch Chang announced loudly.

“The Crown Prince has arrived!”

Xiao Xixi was stuffing fish balls into her mouth when she was startled by the announcement. She swallowed the fish ball whole, and it got stuck in her throat.

Unable to spit it out or swallow it, she was almost suffocating.

Baoqin was horrified and rushed over to pat her back forcefully.