Bad things happened one after another. First, there was a murder. After Consort Chu and Consort Xuan got checked out in turn, people finally found out that the chief culprit was Consort Zhao, whom no one had ever thought of. Now, a worse thing happened that made people speechless. It was not a good thing to know royal scandals.
However, even though the people present did not dare to interrupt, their eyes were filled with contempt, disdain, mockery… and all kinds of looks. Ling Rui’er looked at them and was about to go crazy.
Ling Rui’er heaved a sigh of relief when Mo Xuetong left. She was about to sit down straight when she suddenly heard a hubbub from a spot not far away. However, she could not hear what people were saying. Everyone’s attention could not help but be drawn to the hubbub.
“Who are you? How dare you break into the banquet at will?” It sounded like a eunuch’s voice which was too sharp.
“Get him out of here! Where did the philanderer come from?” some palace maids snapped in a panic.
“Drive him away quickly! If he disturbs the Empress, who can afford it?”…
Hearing the noise, everyone could not help but look in that direction. Suddenly, they saw a sleek-haired and creamy-faced man. He was so obscene that when he walked past the palace maids, he touched their hands and faces. The palace maids were ashamed and angry.
Some eunuchs chased him from behind and wanted to catch him, but they failed. The man hid everywhere and was very flexible. Being chased after, he came here.
The banquet was held in the imperial garden. Since it was in the inner palace, the guards were not allowed to enter without a summons. No one would have thought that such a character would dare to hit on the palace maids in the Empress’ banquet. Furthermore, he took it for granted; he was much bolder than the playboys in the capital, who were known for their hobbies.
The man really didn’t care about his own life!
“Come on, hurry up, arrest him.” The Empress was so angry that her face turned livid. She almost lost control of her anger. So many things had happened during the banquet. How could she answer if the Emperor asked her? Because of Consort Zhao’s incident, the Emperor was in a bad mood. Now such an absurd thing happened again.
A man broke into the imperial harem which was guarded strictly. It was really terrible.
The Empress had already forgotten about Ma Er.
Seeing that the Empress was angry, several eunuchs came to Ma Er. Different from the previous ones, they were capable of kung fu. Then they quickly caught Ma Er and took him to the Empress.
“Let me go, let me go, don’t be so hard on me. It was your master who asked me to come over. How dare you do this to me! After I marry your master, I’ll teach you a lesson!” Ma Er screamed while struggling.
His words made the eunuchs pale. They lowered their heads.
Their master was the Empress. He wanted the Empress to marry him? The eunuchs didn’t dare to think about it. They thought it would be better to lower their heads and cover their ears if they were wise. This man wanted to die, but they wanted to live. Were they a human’s words? He dared to say that he wanted to marry the Empress. Wasn’t he courting death?
“Kneel down, kneel down!” Ma Er was forced to kneel down on the ground, but he was not going to take it. He lifted his head and saw the Empress seated high above and the crowd of beautiful ladies. However, even though these women were all beautiful, most of them were not very young and the one he was looking for was not among them. He had received word from a n.o.ble woman that he had to make a scene before he could marry the woman. He hid by the side before because something seemed to have happened here.
Finally, the matter had calmed down, and he came out. In order to make the matter bigger, he came over up and touched the beauties when he saw them on the way here. Anyway, the n.o.ble woman had told him it was okay and she could handle it.
“Why did you catch me? I’m here because someone invited me.” Even though he was caught, he didn’t panic but shouted at the top of his voice.
He raised his head high. Yan Miao, who was standing behind the Empress, suddenly turned pale. Looking at the creepy face, she was shocked and almost stumbled backward. A palace maid standing behind her quickly held her so that she didn’t make a fool of herself on the spot.
Fortunately, everyone focused on Ma Er at this time, so no one noticed her strangeness.
Wasn’t the man eating in Hua’nuan Pavilion? She had told him not to come out. Why did he break into the banquet? What should she do? Yan Miao was so anxious that she didn’t know what to do. Pushing the palace maid’s hand away, she pulled the Empress’ clothes with trembling fingers. She wanted to tell the Empress that this person was the ruffian who the Empress asked her to bring into the palace.
“Your Majesty, what’s wrong with the palace maid by your side? Why is she so frightened?” Consort Su happened to turn around, and when she saw Yan Miao’s pale and shocked face, she suddenly covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed with a strange look.
Hearing her words, the Empress looked back and saw Yan Miao’s face changed greatly. She thought that the maid was worried about her when she saw a man suddenly appear at the banquet. So the Empress glanced at her and said lightly, “This little girl has never seen such a scene before. She is shocked.”
Upon hearing the Empress’ words, Yan Miao also came to her senses. She quickly lowered her head and did not dare to make any suspicious movements.
“Yeah. Even I have never seen such a scene, let alone her. Look at this man, I wonder where he came from. He not only entered the palace but also dared to flirt with the palace maids. Listen to what he said. If His Majesty hears this, he will cut him into pieces.”
A faint smile crept onto Consort Su’s lips. She looked thoughtfully at Ma Er, who was kneeling on the ground, with a meaningful smile on her face.
The Empress’ expression changed, and a trace of anger flashed in her eyes. The man had just claimed that he would marry her. She, the n.o.ble Empress, was humiliated by this man and even was mocked by Consort Su. How could she not be angry? However, no matter what, the matter still had to be investigated.
If she ordered people to kill this man, it would be hard to explain.
Ma Er was still struggling. He tried hard to look up and see if the person above was the one he had been looking for, but his head was pressed down. He was so anxious that he tried to break free. The person sent by the n.o.ble had told him clearly that he should speak before he saw clearly the people. But in such a condition, he couldn’t see the persons around.
Just then, a madam with sharp eyes, who was standing by the side, suddenly saw a piece of red cloth in his arms while he was struggling. She asked, “Gee, he has something in his arms. Did he come into the palace and steal something?”
Stealing things in the palace? Any one of the items in the palace would be considered a precious treasure. It was no small charge.
In fact, the madam had seen clearly that it was a woman’s bellyband, but it was hard to say that. What kind of place was the imperial palace? All the Emperor’s women lived here. The origin of the bellyband was really disgraceful. In addition, the man had said that he had been invited here. According to all of this, people had to think a lot.
The Empress’ face darkened and she tipped a eunuch a wink. The eunuch went over and pulled the cloth out of Ma Er’s clothes.
Sure enough, it was a woman’s bellyband with beautiful peony patterns. Everyone present had sharp eyes. Given that the material, the craft, and the peony pattern, ordinary women could not afford to wear it. Did it really belong to the consorts in the palace?
Everyone had a strange look on their faces and couldn’t help but land their eyes on the consorts seated high.
Ling Rui’er did not realize anything at all. She only glanced sideways at the consorts and scolded in a low voice, “So cheap!” Then, she watched the show by the side. Anyway, shows today came one after another. She wanted to see how Aunt Empress, who had always thought of herself as virtuous and gracious, would deal with it.
“You sneaked into the palace and stole women’s item. Somebody, take this man away and put him in the jail of the Ministry of Justice,” the Empress remarked coldly.
Ma Er only paid attention to the last few words, “put him in the jail of the Ministry of Justice.” He had just come out of that place. At the thought of returning to jail, he immediately grew anxious. He was a death row inmate, and thus for whatever reason he was sent back, he was doomed.
It wasn’t easy for him to escape that place, so he certainly wasn’t willing to return.
Immediately, he shouted loudly, “I didn’t steal it. The master of this bellyband took it off and gave it to me. It’s a token of love. Please believe me. I’m telling the truth.”
Watching by the side, Ling Rui’er vaguely sensed that something was amiss. She shot a look at her maid who was standing by her side and the maid came close to her.
“Where are my changed clothes?” Ling Rui’er asked, lowering her body. When she heard somebody crying out loud that a person was dead earlier, her clothes did not seem to be put away. She was afraid that someone would plot against her!
“I put them all in a bag, and I will clean them when we return to the manor,” the maid answered with fear. At this point, she couldn’t remember whether she had taken the bellyband or not. Anyway, she had taken all the clothes at that time, and there should be no clothes left. “But d.a.m.n it! Why is the bellyband so familiar?”
Hearing the maid’s firm tone, Ling Rui’er waved her hand and motioned for her to leave. However, she still felt a little uneasy in her heart.
There was also another person who was uneasy, and it was Yan Miao, who was behind the Empress. She lowered her head and bit her lips, trying her best to stop her teeth from chattering. Similarly, she had a bad feeling too. However, Consort Su and Consort Yu were by the Empress’ side, and she could not even remind the Empress.
The Empress laughed out of extreme anger and snapped coldly, “Nonsense. All the women in the palace are n.o.ble and self-restraint. How could they do such an immoral thing!”
Noticing that no one believed him, Ma Er grew anxious and shouted, “I really didn’t steal it. If you don’t believe me, look at the embroidery on it. There is a word on it.” He had gone to private schools before, so he could read. When he played with the bellyband earlier, he had already seen the word on it.
There seemed to be a heavy grievance in his shouting, as if he had been wronged. The eunuch opened the bellyband and saw that at the bottom, inside the bellyband was embroidered with an extremely bright red character “Ling”.
“Turn it over, turn it over to show us,” someone shouted.
The eunuch turned it over and the other side of the bellyband had a small character “Rui” on it.
“Ling Rui’er?” someone murmured.
Ling Rui’er, who was sitting by the side, stood up suddenly. Her expression turned extremely ugly and her heart was filled with shook and panic. When she saw the looks of disdain from the crowd, she felt as if she were about to go mad.
Her handkerchief was missing before, and now her bellyband fell in the hands of such an obscene man. What… what the h.e.l.l was going on?
