White Fence Dream

Chapter 197 Vigil
Night falls slowly.

With the last sound of the evening drum, the pedestrians on the street dispersed and even Sanqufang became quiet.

Because the queen had just passed away, banquets and entertainments were banned in the capital for a month.

When the sound of horse hooves came from the streets, the soldiers patrolling the city immediately noticed it and shouted loudly: "Who dares to walk? Curfew!"

The sound of horse hooves did not stop as they approached the street corner. The torches of the guards illuminated the person coming, a young man, accompanied by a personal guard.

Although the lights were dim at night, the leading soldier recognized him immediately and was a little surprised: "Dongyang Hou Shizi, what are you doing..." He coughed lightly, "Are you on official business?"

Zhou Jingyun said calmly: "I will go to the palace tonight to keep vigil."

Keep vigil.

The emperor did not conceal the news of the empress's suicide, and let the world know that it was Yang who relied on the empress to do evil and had evil intentions and did something treasonous. The empress died for her father and brother and for Yang.

The emperor personally went to the prison, scolded Yang's father and brother, demoted them to commoners and exiled them to Ganzhou.

The empress's funeral was held in a grand manner. In addition to the necessary regulations, the emperor stayed in the mourning hall day and night, crying incessantly. Therefore, the court officials not only cried in the morning and evening, but also had to go to the front of the hall to keep vigil. Of course, in order to avoid chaos due to the large crowds, the officials were divided into two shifts, morning and evening.

Hearing Zhou Jingyun say this, the soldiers and guards felt relieved, made way, and watched Zhou Jingyun and the guards go towards the imperial city.

"The prince has arranged to go in the evening."

"It's harder at night."

"I'm afraid they deliberately scheduled it for him at night. After all, the Queen's death..."

"The Queen's death was due to Yang's evil deeds."

"That being said, if he hadn't filed a request to investigate his wife's death, this wouldn't have happened."

"You are talking nonsense. Discovering it earlier will be a blessing for the country and will relieve your majesty of all worries!"

"Yes, just wait and see. His Majesty will not be angry with the prince, but will reward him."

As the soldiers' discussions became louder and louder, the leader angrily said, "Shut up, everyone. Stop talking nonsense."

The guards immediately stopped talking and continued patrolling the city.

However, the leader frowned and looked at the direction Zhou Jingyun disappeared, and then looked at the direction he came from. Isn't Dongyang Marquis Mansion over there? That's the East Market.

Why did Prince Zhou come from the East Market so late?
Zhou Jingyun did not hear the discussions of the patrolling city guards behind him, but even if he did, he did not care. He rode on his horse, looking at the night, and could not help but laugh at himself.

It’s not that I feel that sitting in the East Market until dark today is ridiculous, nor do I feel that I have lost my mind, but I feel that I have overestimated myself.

He once thought that if he met Zhuang Li, he would be very calm. Unexpectedly, he did not meet anyone, but only saw the flowers sent to him blooming, and he lost his composure.

It was also thanks to Zhang Ze that he stopped investigating, otherwise his actions would have been enough to expose him.

Fortunately, he lost his mind, but Zhuang Li did not, and she did not come to see him.

That’s good, at least one of them can stay calm, Zhou Jingyun’s mouth curled up slightly.

The guard at the side saw it and hurriedly reminded in a low voice: "Prince, we have reached the palace gate."

Zhou Jingyun came to his senses and looked forward. The imperial city was brightly lit and the quiet night wind brought faint and endless crying sounds.

In addition to the emperor himself who was guarding the mourning hall, the concubines were naturally there too. Moreover, the emperor, who was in grief over the loss of his wife, required everyone to cry sincerely for the queen.

If they were found not crying or not looking sad enough, they would be beaten with a stick.

"Can't cry yourself? Then let others help you cry."

For a moment, the atmosphere in the palace was tense and the palace servants were trembling with fear.

Although officials didn't need to really cry, they couldn't go to the palace with a smile on their faces, especially him.

Zhou Jingyun lowered his mouth, dismounted his horse with a calm expression, and walked towards the palace gate.

There were already two officials in front. They waited for a while when they saw him. Just as they were about to walk over together, a palace maid came hurriedly and handed the badge to the guard first.

"Go and wait for the Shengzu Temple to send you a blessing sachet." The palace lady said, "… for the White Concubine."

Hearing the name Bai Fei, Zhou Jingyun couldn't help but look over, but he didn't recognize many of the people around Bai Ying. This palace maid had an ordinary appearance, a dull expression, and a bloated figure, as if she was wearing thick clothes because she was afraid of the cold...
This is normal. Nowadays, the vigil is day and night, and many palace servants can only find opportunities to sleep for a while while standing or sitting. Naturally, they have to wear thicker clothes to avoid being cold.

The guard checked the badge on her waist and the palace maid walked past without even glancing at him.

Zhou Jingyun and the other two officials verified their identities, and then spoke a few words to the two or three new officials at the door. After the eunuchs in charge of receiving them came to greet them, the group went inside. Zhou Jingyun subconsciously looked back at the palace gate and saw that the palace maid who had just left had returned, and she was accompanied by another palace maid...

"Prince, please come this way," said the eunuch.

Zhou Jingyun withdrew his gaze and followed him.

The palace maid in front of the palace gate turned around with a wooden face and shouted at the palace maid she brought with her: "Why did you take so long to come back?" At the same time, she handed the badge in her hand to the guard again.

A guard took it and glanced at the other maid.

The palace maid was wearing the same dress. Perhaps because she was scolded, she lowered her head, but she immediately handed over the badge.

Another guard took it and looked at it, silently reciting the name, age and appearance on it: "Raise your head."

The maid raised her head. The lights were flickering and the guard's vision was a little dazed. The maid in front of him looked the same and was the same age as the one on the badge.

The maid from before was still scolding: "Your Highness also has to go to keep vigil for the Queen, and we don't know if we can hold on. The delivery room is lacking this. If anything goes wrong, you will be held responsible."

The palace maid who had been holding her head up turned pale and lowered her head.

Hearing this, the guard was afraid that something might go wrong, so he quickly handed them his badge and said, "Go in quickly."

The two palace maids hurried inside.

The palace maid from before was in front, complaining as she walked, and the content of her complaints became more and more confusing.

"…Which little thief stole my cream and powder? I have treasured it for many years."

“….Let me do all the dirty work.”

“….You say I’m unlucky? No matter how unlucky I am, I wasn’t assigned to the Queen’s Palace. Ha, ha, that’s what bad luck means.”

"….It would be great if I could serve the White Concubine…"

As she spoke, she walked hurriedly, turned around a palace, and walked from a brightly lit hall to a dim corridor.

"Okay." The palace maid who followed her silently suddenly said, "Xu Chun, you can continue to sleep."

The palace maid suddenly stopped, her face turned wooden and her body became stiff. She stopped talking and walked into the corridor like a sleepwalker.

There was only one palace maid left in front of the dim corridor. The night wind blew up her dress and it seemed that there was one more shadow on the ground.

"It came in smoothly."

Bai Li listened to the voice beside him and said with a hint of pride in his voice.

"I told you, with me here, it will be easy for you to enter the palace. My marks are everywhere, and I can weave dreams for anyone you want."

Previously, she followed the scent of the pregnant woman transported by Zhang Ze and arrived in front of the imperial city. Zhang Ze had all kinds of means to bring people into the imperial city, but she had no way.

And it’s not very convenient to enter through dreams this time.

She needed someone to take her in.

Just like when she asked Zhou Jingyun to bring her to Beijing.

Bai Li stood outside the imperial city and laughed at himself.

Now she comes to weave a dream for others.

Of course, she had to find someone from the palace first, so she woke up Jiang Mian'er.

Jiang Mian'er was indeed very useful. She instantly brought her into the dream of a palace maid, allowing her to successfully weave a dream and control the palace maid to pick her up.

Bai Li looked at the figure on the ground, smiled and said, "If I wasn't useful, you wouldn't let me use it."

The figure laughed in her ear: "You are a good girl, always reminding yourself that you are yourself." She was about to say something, but Bai Li raised his hand and waved, and the shadow was blown away in an instant like the night wind, and the corridor became quiet.

"Of course it's different when I want to use it and when others want me to use it," Bai Li said to himself.

The next moment, she sniffed the night breeze, lowered her head and walked in one direction.

Just as she disappeared, a light came in, and several eunuchs holding lanterns walked into the corridor. They saw two palace maids sitting between the stone pillar with the lights turned off and the corner of the wall.

"Good!" a eunuch shouted, "Being lazy again!"

With this shout, the two sleeping palace maids were suddenly awakened. Although they hadn't opened their eyes yet, they already knew what had happened. They immediately fell to their knees and kowtowed, "We won't dare to do it again."

A eunuch raised his whip and lashed at the two palace maids. They screamed in pain and dared not move.

Fortunately, he only whipped once and then stopped.

"Keep an eye on the lights. If you dare to sleep again, you will be asked to serve the Queen and get enough sleep." A eunuch said coldly.

The two palace maids knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly in response. After hearing the eunuchs walking away, they breathed a sigh of relief and raised their heads. While gritting their teeth and enduring the pain of the whipping, they lit the palace lanterns on the stone pillars.

The corridor became bright.

The two palace maids leaned against the wall to relax, and one of them suddenly laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" another maid asked, "Xu Chun, have you been beaten silly?"

The palace maid Xu Chun laughed: "I just had a dream. I dreamed that I was working for Concubine Bai..."

The maid next to her curled her lips and said, "It's just a dream. It's a great blessing to be able to serve Lady Bai now."

The queen is gone, and Concubine Bai is about to give birth. If she gives birth to a prince, she will definitely become the new queen.

"We old people are unlucky, how can we offend you?" the maid said, patting her robe with her hand. Suddenly she was startled and looked at her waist, "Where is my badge?"

Xu Chun hurriedly followed her and looked around. As expected, he couldn't see the badge: "It must have fallen off." He lowered his voice and said, "Don't shout, or I'll scold you again. Let's look for it in the morning."

The maid said with a sad face: "Fortunately, we are on duty here today and don't need to walk around in front of people, otherwise we would have been discovered."

Xu Chun nodded. A gust of wind blew and she shivered. She reached out and touched her body with a strange expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" the maid next to him asked, "Did you lose your badge too?"

Xu Chun shook his head, looked at the badge hanging on his waist, stretched out his hand to pull the collar of his clothes, and looked at the palace maid: "I seem to have lost an outer robe. I was afraid of the cold when I was on duty tonight, so I deliberately wore two. How come there is only one left?"

It is unlikely that the clothes would be lost while being worn, so the maid laughed and said, "You must have remembered it wrongly. You intended to wear them, but forgot to put them on in a hurry to go out."

Or maybe, Xu Chun pinched his clothes and hunched his shoulders, he couldn't sleep tonight because it was too cold.

As the two were talking, there was a commotion in the night wind, and then the group of eunuchs who had just passed by came running over...
"Are you really going to give birth?"

"It should be. It was activated in the funeral hall."

As the group passed by while they were talking, the two palace maids looked at each other.

Concubine Bai is about to give birth.

……

……

Outside the mourning hall, the officials who were keeping vigil put away their sad expressions, looked inside with a bit of nervousness, and whispered to each other from time to time.

Zhou Jingyun watched the eunuchs, palace maids, and imperial doctors coming in continuously. The crying of the concubines and palace maids inside had stopped, and strange moans were heard instead.

Bai Ying, it’s time to give birth.

The next moment, seeing Zhang Ze coming with the guards from the Supervisory Board, Zhou Jingyun lowered his eyes and changed his mind.

Bai Ying, after all this planning, what would she do if she gave birth to a daughter?
Bai Ying's vision was a little dazed.

She had not expected that it would start at this time. She had just said to His Majesty, "My sister and I have been together for more than ten years. My mother died early, and my sister treated me like a mother -" when her stomach suddenly ached.

The imperial doctors who were attending checked and said that the baby was about to be born.

The emperor was sad, happy, and nervous, and wanted to leave with them. Although Bai Ying was in a daze due to the pain, she gritted her teeth and tried to dissuade him.

"Your Majesty, please accompany me. Your Majesty must accompany me." She said in tears, "Your Majesty can only accompany me this time. Please don't make me angry."

These words did persuade the emperor. Regardless of whether the queen was willing to die, she had never had a good temper when she was alive, and she was especially jealous of Bai Ying.

If he went to accompany Bai Ying at this time, the queen who had turned into a ghost might really get angry.

Besides, he really couldn't help the woman during childbirth.

It is better to stay in the mourning hall to guard it, or to accompany the Queen.

Zhang Ze also came in from outside at this time: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. I will lead the Supervisory Office to strictly guard the Hanliang Palace."

The emperor nodded quickly and signaled him: "Keep it safe and select the most reliable person."

The Queen had just passed away. Although a thorough investigation had been conducted during the previous interrogation, it was still necessary to be on the safe side. After all, the Queen had been by his side for many years and had a complex network of contacts. For example, Gao Twelve was very close to Yang and the Queen in private, so he could not be used in the future.

It is unknown how many palace servants there are like Gao Twelve.

Zhang Ze responded, "Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will guarantee the safety of the heir with my life."

Under the gaze of everyone, Bai Ying was carried out of the mourning hall, surrounded by Supervisor Sibei.

The lights in Hanliang Palace were bright. Teams of eunuchs, palace maids and imperial doctors who had been screened in advance passed through two levels of checks, one layer of imperial guards and one layer of supervisory guards, and entered Hanliang Palace.

Bai Ying's body in the hall was already wet with sweat.

"Isn't now the right time?" She took advantage of the pain to ask Zhang Ze who was standing in the room.

According to the imperial doctors' speculation, the baby was still more than ten days away from birth.

Perhaps because the Queen committed suicide, Bai Ying was emotionally unstable and started the operation early.

"Don't worry, madam." Zhang Ze said, "It's more convenient to be in a mess at this time."

Bai Ying breathed a sigh of relief and then asked anxiously, "Where is that person? Where are those people?"

All the pregnant women were originally preparing for her due date. If she gives birth earlier, what will happen if those people can't give birth?
Zhang Ze said calmly: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. There are always various ways to make them give birth before Your Majesty."

Bai Ying warned: "Child, don't let anything happen to the child. I don't want a weak and disabled son."

Zhang Ze responded, "The people around you have been arranged. They are all our people. If you have anything to say, just talk to them directly."

Bai Ying nodded again and was about to say something, but another wave of pain came and her voice turned into a cry of pain.

The palace lady at the side came forward to check and whispered to Zhang Ze, "Your Highness can go to the delivery room now."

Hearing this, Bai Ying looked at Zhang Ze for a moment and subconsciously reached out to him, as if to grab him.

But as she reached out her hand, Zhang Ze had already taken a step back.

Bai Ying's hands fell empty, and she could only hastily grab her dress and clench it tightly. Her eyes were filled with fear, and her breathing was even more rapid than before, as if she was unable to breathe.

"Madam?" Wang Degui and the palace lady asked anxiously, "How are you?"

Bai Ying screamed in pain: "My, my mother..."

Is he missing his mother? The palace lady could understand that when a woman gives birth, she wants her mother to be with her.

Zhang Ze was silent for a moment, then looked at the palace ladies and Wang Degui: "If the queen is in any danger during childbirth, remember, abandon the baby and only save the queen."

Even though they knew what Zhang Ze and Bai Ying were going to do, the palace lady and Wang Degui were still frozen when they heard these words.

Bai Ying looked at Zhang Ze, and her tense body gradually relaxed.

"Bai Ying." Zhang Ze looked at her and said softly, "I chose you as my master because of you, not because you could give birth to an heir. So, take good care of yourself. I will take care of the child."

A smile appeared on Bai Ying's pale face, and she lay back on the couch: "Come in."