Chapter 44: Su Qian Must Have Done It on Purpose
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Squeak!” The mouse traced a perfect parabolic curve through the air, and landed with a thud at the doorway. It quickly jumped up and scampered out of the west side hall’s main entrance, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Up to this point, the treasures inside the west side hall had also been mostly destroyed.
Su Qian admired the mess on the ground and was very satisfied.
“Not bad, Xiao Yin did a great job with this. Looks like I can reward it with two chicken drumsticks when we get back,” Su Qian thought to herself.
“Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager, are you alright?” Nanny Jin exclaimed in panic at this moment.
Su Qian looked towards the Empress Dowager in front of her and saw that she was so furious that she almost vomited blood. Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed backwards.
“Your Majesty, please take care of your health,” Su Qian stepped forward and quickly supported the Empress Dowager’s shoulders, raising her hand to help her breathe smoothly.
The Empress Dowager had always been in poor health. Now in a fit of rage, her face turned as pale as paper and she almost couldn’t catch her breath.
Originally, she thought she might pass out from anger, but with Su Qian supporting her and feeling the soft touch of her small hand helping her breathe, she didn’t know how, but the feeling of suffocation in her chest disappeared and her breathing quickly stabilized.
Nanny Jin quickly took out the medicine and said, “Your Majesty, please take your medicine quickly.”
“No need, I feel much better now,” the Empress Dowager said, looking suspiciously at Su Qian and meeting her calm phoenix-like eyes.
In the past, whenever she became emotionally agitated, she would have difficulty breathing and needed medicine to alleviate her symptoms. So why was it that today, with Su Qian’s help in regulating her breathing, she suddenly felt better?
As she looked at Su Qian, the Empress Dowager couldn’t believe it was a coincidence. However, with Su Qian’s deep and mysterious gaze, she couldn’t make any sense of it and could only instruct the astonished Nanny Jin to put away the medicine for now.
Seeing that the Empress Dowager was fine, Su Qian retracted her hand and stood to the side.
“Xuehua, how dare you!?” The Empress Dowager looked at the mess on the ground, her heart aching. “You know that these things were all given to me by Xiao Jiu, yet you still dare to damage Xiao Jiu’s filial piety towards me!?”
“It’s not like that, mother. Things are not what you think…” Princess Xuehua didn’t care that her palm was cut by the sharp porcelain on the ground. Her mind was in chaos and she was frightened, not knowing what to do.
How could this be? Why did the mouse attack her instead of Su Qian?
In a flash of lightning, Princess Xuehua figured it out. She raised her hand and pointed at Su Qian’s nose, cursing, “Mother, it must have been Su Qian. She’s been here for two hours, why didn’t the mouse attack her? Instead, it waited until I came and hurt me? 1 think Su Qian must have done it on purpose to frame me!”
“You’re talking nonsense,” the Empress Dowager frowned at Princess Xuehua. “Xuehua, you were wrong and you still refuse to admit it. Accusing others falsely is truly disappointing to me. Take her away and have her copy the Diamond Sutra by hand every day for a month. And anyone who dares to write on her behalf will be executed!”
Princess Xuehua was so frightened that her legs went weak.
One Diamond Sutra a day? She probably wouldn’t be able to finish copying even if her hand broke!
However, Princess Xuehua knew the Empress Dowager’s personality very well. Continuing to argue at this time would only make the Empress Dowager dislike her more, so she had to weakly kneel down and kowtow, saying, “Your child has committed a great mistake and is walling to accept punishment. Please calm down, mother, otherwise if you become sick from anger, your child will not be able to forgive herself.”
Princess Xuehua’s teary voice softened the expression on the Empress Dowager’s face, “Alright, copy one sutra every five days then.”
“Thank you, mother. Rest assured, I will copy the sutra well and come to serve you as soon as possible.” Princess Xuehua guessed that the Empress Dowager had softened her heart. There was a flash of cold light in her eyes, but she choked back her tears and withdrew..