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But in a moment of inattention, without watching carefully, his Little Concubine ate a bite before he could stop her, and now his heart ached.

This dish was so terrible, how could he let his Little Concubine eat it? She shouldn’t even touch it.

He wrapped his left arm around her and with his right hand held up the teacup, "Darling, did you spit it out completely? Rinse your mouth again."

Lian Hua shook her head; she didn’t want to rinse her mouth anymore. She marveled that His Majesty could eat it, pretending it wasn’t bad and even teasing her with it.

The dish was both salty and bitter, terribly nasty, so bitter that she felt like crying.

She felt warmth around her eyes and more stuffiness in her chest. She had been outmaneuvered, frustration unvented, and ended up ensnared by her own trap. She cursed her foolishness, believing she truly deserved it.

With her head hanging low, she gently struggled free from His Majesty’s embrace, her entire demeanor defeated and silent, no longer wishing to speak.

That afternoon, when she opened the chest and saw the Noble Consort’s Gold-threaded Eight-treasure Hairpin, she remembered the argument they had had.

Shortly afterward, she had accidentally overheard Beauty Zhao and the others talking about the Noble Consort’s night service.

Counting the days, it must have been the day after His Majesty had left Canglan Court.

At that time, she was sleeping alone in Canglan Court, pretending that everything was normal, while His Majesty...

The thought brought a twinge to her heart and her eyes began to moisten.

She knew she shouldn’t be thinking this way. They had just had a fight, and at that time, their estrangement was so great. His Majesty was not hers alone; whoever he summoned was his right, and it had nothing to do with her, especially since it was all in the past.

Yet she couldn’t help feeling sorrowful.

She had thought that once the past was over and anger released, it would be okay.

They had finally talked things through and she didn’t want to create new barriers between them.

His Majesty was treating her so well now, how could she still cling to the past grievances?

But she was so foolish, easily tricked by His Majesty’s slightest tease. It was her own lack of skill that had botched things up.

Now she cared more and more about His Majesty. If it had been before, she wouldn’t have cared whom His Majesty favored; she would’ve just shut her door and lived her own life contentedly.

But these past few days, she had been living too happily and joyously in the honey jar His Majesty had crafted, so dizzily happy that she forgot His Majesty wasn’t hers alone. She had restrained herself from thinking about it, but now she truly couldn’t control it...

The Emperor saw her keeping her head down without speaking, utterly dejected, and he inwardly cursed, realizing the play had gone too far. She hadn’t gotten the anger out, but rather had become angry with herself.

He hurriedly pulled her shoulder toward him, afraid she would struggle free again, and he used a bit of force, coaxing her with a tender voice, "Lian Hua, be good, it’s my fault. I’ve angered you. How about I eat this dish to make amends? Whatever it takes to apologize, I will."

The Emperor’s Little Concubine listened but only shook her head with her gaze still downward, showing no other reaction.

The Emperor couldn’t see her expression and didn’t know what she was thinking.

After waiting awhile and seeing her remain silent with her head down, he picked up the chopsticks to eat.

As he was about to pick up some food, his Little Concubine tenderly tugged on his sleeve, still looking down and shaking her head.

He sensed something was wrong and became a bit panicked. Hastily, he lifted her chin and saw that his Little Concubine’s face was already covered in silent, tearless weeping.

In that moment, the Emperor’s heart seemed to suddenly stop, breathing difficult as if each breath brought heart-wrenching pain.

He lifted her onto his lap and kissed her cheeks, gently asking what was wrong?

After consoling her for a while, his Little Concubine stopped crying, but simply lay weakly against him, whispering that she was fine, just a little tired.

The Emperor, with heartache, asked, "Would you like to go to sleep for a bit now?"

Hearing the concern in His Majesty’s tone, Lian Hua gently nodded her head.

The Emperor lifted her horizontally, placed her on the bed, and helped her remove her clothes and socks, cooing her to sleep, just like before.

Lian Hua’s eyes began to well up with tears again. His Majesty was still so gentle and considerate towards her, she felt she was too greedy, thinking too much, she just needed some time to adjust, to come to terms with it.

She turned over, her back to His Majesty, her eyes blankly staring into the void, her frail silhouette looking somewhat pitiful.

The Emperor felt like his heart was being twisted in agony; his Little Concubine clearly had concerns related to him, yet she was unwilling to speak of them.

He didn’t want to press her, yet he feared she had some unresolved issues, and they had just recently opened their hearts to each other, so lovingly, but now his Little Concubine seemed so utterly dejected, displaying a gloominess he had never seen before, which pained him greatly.

He thought he needed to quickly find a servant from below to find out what happened today, to resolve the knot in her heart.

With this thought, he leaned over, gently kissed her cheek, and whispered in her ear that he would be back soon and told her to wait for him.

Once he was out the door, the Emperor’s urgency became apparent; he needed to know what exactly had happened today to make his Little Concubine so heartbroken.

Upon seeing His Majesty’s grave expression as he came out, Zhang Qing hurried over to await his orders.

With a stern face, the Emperor commanded, "Zhang Qing, summon the three servants from Canglan Court here; I want to know what happened after I left!"

Soon, all three were present, and Zhang Qing had Xiao Linzi relay the day’s events in full detail, per the command. Xiao Linzi obeyed and began to recount everything he had witnessed without omitting a single detail.

As Xiao Linzi recounted everything he had seen and heard accurately, the Emperor felt both warmth and anxiety in his heart.

The warmth came from the fact that his Little Concubine had taken his words to heart; just last night he had mentioned the safety buckle, and today she had gone to search for it.

The anxiety was because he couldn’t understand why after looking at the contents of the box, his Little Concubine had become like this?

It certainly wasn’t the sight of the safety buckle that had caused this, the variable here was the Gold-threaded Eight-treasure Hairpin!

Was it the Gold-threaded Eight-treasure Hairpin that made her recall their past argument? Was that why she was acting this way?

But that didn’t make sense, he had clearly spoken the words she had wanted to hear him say herself, the initial issue was no longer there, so why?

Xiao Jizi, seeing that His Majesty kept silent as if pondering, swallowed nervously, lowered his head, and tentatively asked, "Is Your Majesty perhaps concerned about the matter at tonight’s dinner?"

He didn’t yet know how his mistress was doing, just instinctively felt that His Majesty wasn’t here to investigate the meal, otherwise he wouldn’t have listened to Xiao Linzi’s entire story then fallen into a pensive silence, seemingly lost in thought.

On hearing this, the Emperor looked at him, his thoughts now at a standstill, and decided to listen to what this servant had to say; after all, this servant was with his Little Concubine every day and knew quite a bit.

Xiao Jizi, feeling the weight of His Majesty’s gaze, felt a surge of pressure and swallowed once more before saying, "This afternoon, after my mistress saw what was inside the box, she started to act strangely, at times frowning, at times muttering to herself.

After pondering for a long time, I thought of some things that might have upset my mistress because of those events, but before speaking out, I must ask Your Majesty to forgive my presumption. "

The Emperor, upon hearing him speak thus, promptly said, "I permit you, say all that you can think of, and if you touch upon the matter, you will be rewarded!"

By now, he was desperate for a solution; his Little Concubine was still somber within, and he needed to figure it out as quickly as possible.