The Sickly Seedling Dresses Up As An Unfortunate And Muddled Monarch - Chapter 22

Because of Qiu Jingxiu’s ability to speak, Qiu Junyao was genuinely happy for a long time.

Although the two words Qiu Jingxiu said the most were “Father,” and for other longer sentences, he spoke hesitantly and stumbled, Qiu Junyao didn’t mind at all.

He was truly proud of even the slightest progress his child made, just like an old father. Not only did he keep Qiu Jingxiu by his side every day, but he also often gave him some small gifts, not expensive, but it couldn’t hide his love for Qiu Jingxiu.

Along with Qiu Jingxiu’s increasing weight came the arrival of the new year’s Eve.

Because Qiu Jingxiu’s birthday was the day after New Year’s Eve, in order to save manpower and avoid extravagance, Qiu Junyao simply combined Qiu Jingxiu’s birthday banquet with the New Year’s Eve palace banquet, making Qiu Jingxiu inevitably the protagonist of the banquet.

At the palace banquet, besides Qiu Jingyue, Qiu Jingming, and Qiu Jinghe, it was the first time they saw this brother who was rumored to be highly favored.

Because it was his birthday, Qiu Jingxiu wore a new light green pleated robe on the inside, with a light blue roll-edged embroidered cloud pattern on the outside. He also wore a translucent jade collar around his neck. He looked like a newly budding willow branch, fresh and elegant, full of vitality.

Qiu Junyao didn’t wear dragon robes but instead wore a Qing Shan blue silk outer robe, embroidered with a gold hem of acacia flowers inside. Compared to Yin Yuan, who wore a big red palace dress, they seemed like a pair of banished immortals, leisurely coming. Even the hem of their clothes seemed to have been dyed with the light and noble moonlight outside the window.

At the palace banquet, Qiu Junyao, for the first time, didn’t take any drugs, but smiled as he gave each person a New Year’s gift and praised them before getting to the main topic.

Palace banquets were inevitably formal. Except for a few consorts, Qiu Jingming and Qiu Jinghe were somewhat distracted, occasionally glancing at Qiu Junyao and Yin Yuan on the dragon throne, then their gaze would linger for a long time on Qiu Jingxiu, who was being fed by Qiu Junyao on the dragon throne, and frowned secretly.

Yin Yuan wore an extremely dazzling red palace dress today. His starry eyes shone brightly, and his smooth and shiny hair was tied up with an orchid hairpin, revealing his long and fair neck, making the smile between his red lips even more gentle and soft.

But Qiu Jinghe and Qiu Jingming only briefly admired their beautiful mother. Their hearts couldn’t help but sink.

There was no other reason but because Qiu Jingxiu was indeed as Qiu Jingyue had said, greatly loved.

Not only was he fed by Qiu Junyao himself, but even his birthday gift was extraordinary—

It was a seed of ice lotus sent by Qiu Junyao’s people from Liujiang at top speed.

Ice lotuses only bloomed in cold water, and when they bloomed, they emitted a radiant and translucent color like moonlight. The petals were crystal clear, and even the stamen was a rare blue. Once they bloomed, they were incredibly beautiful.

Although the gift was not as precious as jewels and fine clothes, it was novel, and it symbolized Qiu Junyao’s expectations for Qiu Jingxiu—

He hoped that Qiu Jingxiu, like the ice lotus, could bloom even in extremely cold and difficult environments, unyielding and free.

This incident greatly stimulated Qiu Jingming and Qiu Jinghe, and Qiu Jingming even locked himself in his room for several days and couldn’t recover.

When he finally managed to pull himself together and wanted to go to the palace to find comfort from his mother, he once again received bad news—

Qiu Junyao wanted to disband the harem and leave only Yin Yuan.

And Qiu Jingxiu’s nominal mother also became Yin Yuan. Now, they, mother and son, were truly in the same boat, sharing both glory and disgrace.

When Qiu Jingming saw the divorce letter in his mother’s hand, he was dumbfounded, standing there in disbelief, as if struck by lightning, unable to make a complete expression or movement.

His mother, Consort Xiao Shu, was much calmer than Qiu Jingming. She pinched the divorce letter with her red-dyed fingertips, carefully examined it for a while, then put it down, gently pressed her temple, and didn’t even lift her head:

“Why are you making such an expression?”

Consort Xiao Shu said indifferently, “If there’s nothing else, you can go back first.”

“Mother, how can you not be worried at all!”

Qiu Jingming couldn’t accept the fact that Qiu Junyao wanted to disband the harem. He was panicking, pacing back and forth in the Jiao Xiang Palace like a restless top:

“If you and Father divorce, what should I do?!”

Although the Xiao family, to which his mother belonged, was not as powerful as the Yin family in the court, it still held a certain military power. In the future, if he wanted to ascend the throne, the assistance of the Xiao family would be indispensable. Now that Qiu Junyao suddenly wanted to disband the harem, it meant that his mother was no longer favored. Without his mother’s help, it would be even more difficult for him to ascend the throne.

But Consort Xiao Shu obviously didn’t care about Qiu Jingming’s worries. She sneered lightly, looked at her newly done nails, and showed disdain on her smooth and beautiful face: “If they want to disband, then so be it.”

She turned cold: “I’m tired of this palace, like a prison. If I could leave, I would do it without hesitation.”

At this point, Consort Xiao Shu calmed down a bit, looked at the bewildered Qiu Jingming, her voice low, her face as if she had never given birth to a child, still moist and young, sighed softly:

“Don’t blame me, Jingming.”

“Mother!” Qiu Jingming was anxious: “How can Father treat you like this! It’s outrageous…”

Qiu Jingming became more and more agitated, exploding with anger: “You’ve at least borne a prince, and the Xiao family has made great contributions. How can you say disbanding the harem is just disbanding the harem!”

“In that case, you shouldn’t blame your father even more.” Hearing this, Consort Xiao Shu chuckled meaningfully:

“Because your father doesn’t owe me anything, and I don’t owe him anything.”

“How can I not!” Qiu Jingming was so furious that smoke seemed to be coming out of his head. He couldn’t understand why his mother would agree to such a ridiculous proposal and even speak up for Qiu Junyao:

“Father was clearly bewitched by that beauty who became the Empress, so he…”

“Enough!” Consort Xiao Shu slammed the table, and the teacups made a clattering sound, making her look even more fierce:

“What nonsense are you spouting?!”

“Mother!!”

“Leave!” Consort Xiao Shu didn’t want to talk to Qiu Jingming anymore, so she had her close maid, Qianhua, escort him out:

“The time for greeting has passed. Leave.”

Qiu Jingming looked at the cold Consort Xiao Shu, stomped his foot in frustration, and stormed out.

“My lady, aren’t you afraid the Crown Prince will be angry?” Qianhua knelt down to massage Consort Xiao Shu’s legs, keeping her eyes down, unable to discern her expression:

“Does His Majesty really want to exclusively favor the Seventh Prince?”

“Heh.” Consort Xiao Shu lazily smiled, closing her black eyes, concealing the schemes and cunning within:

“I only know that this world belongs to His Majesty, but even more so to the Yin family.”

“If the Yin family allows me to live freely in the latter part of my life, why should I care about those struggles for power and profit?”

“In the first half of my life, I had no choice, but in the latter half, I will leave this palace and be a free woman.”

Qianhua smiled lightly, not sure if she was agreeing:

“You’re right, my lady.”

Meanwhile, on the other side, Qiu Jingming, unaware of what Consort Xiao Shu and her maid had discussed, walked out of the Jiao Xiang Palace in frustration, wandering aimlessly like a headless fly, turning everywhere.

He had a raging fire of frustration inside him, with nowhere to vent, so he walked to calm the fire in his heart.

He couldn’t understand why Consort Xiao Shu would agree to such a ridiculous proposal to disband the harem, and he was very wary of Qiu Jingxiu being favored.

Qiu Jingming couldn’t think of anything else, couldn’t care about anything else, his mind filled with the thought that Qiu Junyao wanted to disband the harem, leaving only one empress, and was very affectionate to the child, Qiu Jingxiu. Could it be that he wanted to make Qiu Jingxiu the crown prince?!

At the thought of this possibility, Qiu Jingming’s whole body surged with blood, his ears buzzing, his brain as blank as if he had been punched, leaving only panic and jealousy, sweating profusely even on his palms.

Lost in his thoughts, Qiu Jingxiu unknowingly walked to the side of the lotus pond in the Imperial Garden, where he saw a small figure squatting by the pond, playing with the koi under the ice lotus.

There were a few eunuchs and palace maids dozing off around him. They had been dragged here early in the morning by Qiu Jingxiu to play and were still somewhat drowsy.

For some reason, Qiu Jingming walked over stealthily, using the excuse of losing a jade pendant to send away the eunuchs and palace maids to help search for it.

Because Qiu Jingming was the Crown Prince, the eunuchs and palace maids dared not disobey his orders and left obediently.

When there was no one around except himself and Qiu Jingxiu, Qiu Jingming once again focused his gaze on Qiu Jingxiu.

The thoughts in his mind burned hotter and hotter, almost burning away Qiu Jingming’s reason. His eyes were bloodshot, like a possessed person, his legs moving uncontrollably, and he silently walked to Qiu Jingxiu’s side.

Qiu Jingxiu, unaware of what was happening, reached out to play with the koi, until he suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder, as if someone had placed their hand on him.

Qiu Jingxiu raised his head in confusion, only to see Qiu Jingming’s slightly ferocious face, greatly enlarged before him.

Before Qiu Jingxiu could react, he froze for a moment, and then, suddenly, he felt a great force on his shoulder. His body began to tilt backward uncontrollably, and he couldn’t help but fall backward—

And behind him was the cold and empty lake.