The Phoenix is Back - Chapter 262

Chapter 262 I Don’t Want to Die
“Your Majesty is awake! Your Majesty, Your Majesty is awake.”

“Xizhi …”

Chu Xizhi slowly opened his eyes and heard the noise around him. However, within the noise, there was a voice that ruthlessly affected his heart. He turned his head and, as expected, touched a face full of tears. The corner of his mouth curled into a smile and he raised his hand to gently caress the tears on Xiao Xiwei’s face. “Fool, what are you crying for? Am I not fine?”

Xiao Xiwei pressed Chu Xizhi’s hand and pressed his face firmly against his palm, tears rolling down his cheeks uncontrollably.

“Seventh brother.” Suddenly, Chu Muzhi’s anxious voice rang out from outside the hall. Chu Xizhi had just turned around when Chu Muzhi had already walked to the bed. Just as he was about to speak, he caught a glimpse of Xiao Xiwei’s tears all over his face. His heart suddenly twitched and his face turned ashen. “Seventh brother, are you alright?”

Seeing their expressions, Chu Xizhi frowned and sat up with Xiao Xiwei’s hand. “I just feel a little tired recently. Are you two going to make such a fuss?”

Chu Muzhi still didn’t believe it. He turned around and saw the imperial physician standing beside him. He hurriedly shouted, “Imperial Physician Song.”

“Your Highness.” Imperial Physician Song hurriedly took a step forward and saluted Chu Mu Zhi.

“Tell me, what happened to the Emperor? How did he faint?” Chu Muzhi said.

“Your Highness, the reason why His Highness suddenly fainted is because of the loss of blood vitality. I think it’s because he has been overworked recently.” Song Imperial doctor bowed and replied respectfully.

When Chu Mu heard this, the tense string in his heart loosened.

“Xiwei, you heard what Imperial doctor said just now. You should be relieved.” Chu Xizhi pulled Xiao Xiwei’s hand and said softly.

Xiao Xiwei raised her eyes and her slender eyelashes moved. Her quiet eyes stared at Chu Xizhi. After a long while, she lowered her eyes and buried her face into Chu Xizhi’s chest. Then, she stretched out her hand and wrapped it around his waist forcefully.

The weather in June was always changeable. In the morning, the sun was still shining brightly, but in the blink of an eye, a downpour of rain fell.

Xiao Xiwei stood at the corner of the corridor and stared blankly at the rain curtain in front of him, feeling as if his heart was completely deserted.

A month later, the emperor suddenly issued a decree to promote a palace maid to Shu Fei. This imperial decree caused quite a stir in both the previous dynasty and the harem. It must be known that the Emperor had only doted on the Empress for the past ten years. During this period of time, it wasn’t that there weren’t any ministers who had advised the Emperor to accept Imperial Concubine Na, but they were all rejected by the Emperor. However, all of a sudden, Imperial Concubine Na had only accepted a palace However, this was only the beginning. For the next two months, the Emperor stayed at Shu Fei’s place and did not even step into the Empress’ Phoenix Ceremony Hall. In this way, The ministers in the court began to lose their composure, The Empress must be the Empress. Furthermore, she is the Crown Prince’s biological mother. Even though His Majesty trusts Shu Fei, he cannot neglect the Imperial Mother. Therefore, under the recommendation of all the officials, His Highness Prince Qin, who is the Emperor’s closest younger brother, personally went to the Imperial Study to be the lobbyist. He did not expect that Chu Muzhi would be reprimanded by the Emperor in less than fifteen minutes after entering the Imperial Study.

When Gu Qingyou went to the Phoenix Ceremony Hall to pay her respects to Xiao Xiwei, she sat in front of the couch and concentrated on sewing. Gu Qingyou walked in and saw that Xiao Xiwei seemed to be sewing a dorm robe. The design of the robe was embroidered on it. It was prepared for Chu Xizhi. She only took a glance and couldn’t help but frown. She said in distress, “Your Highness, don’t embroider it. Why don’t I talk to you for a while?”

Xiao Xi smiled and looked up at Gu Qingyou. “Tell me, I’ll listen.”

Seeing that Xiao Xiwei’s hand was still moving, Gu Qingyou couldn’t help but tighten her eyebrows. Before coming here, she had thought about a lot of things, but now she didn’t know where to start.

Xiao Xi raised her eyes slightly and looked at Gu Qingyou lightly. Then, she held the corner of her mouth and lowered her head to make a needle and thread. She didn’t know whether she was distracted or not. Suddenly, the needle in her hand tilted and stabbed into her finger. Bean-sized blood droplets immediately gushed out. Xiao Xiwei hurriedly put her finger into her mouth to suck, allowing her to do so.

“Your Highness, stop embroidering.” Bi Yun grabbed the needle embroidery from Xiao Xiwei’s hand. She half-knelt in front of Xiao Xiwei and held her finger, her eyes turning red.

Xiao Xiwei frowned slightly, “Bi Yun, what’s wrong with you?”

“Your Highness, how many shoes, socks, and dormitories have you made for the Emperor in the past few months? But the Emperor has never worn them. He hasn’t even looked at you. Why … Why are you still so stupid!” As Bi Yun spoke, her tears gushed out.

She once thought that the Emperor treated her young miss sincerely, but she never thought …

In the end, a man could not be trusted, not to mention that he was still the Emperor. It had only been ten years, and now he had already changed his mind. In fact, he was too lazy to even look at her young miss.

Xiao Xiwei lowered his eyes and looked at another blood pearl condensed between his fingers. After a long time, his voice sounded faintly, “Bi Yun, you don’t understand …”

“Biyun, don’t say that about His Majesty. Perhaps His Majesty also has his reasons.” Gu Qingyou looked at Xiao Xi gently and advised.

“What can His Majesty do? He is the Son of Heaven. Didn’t he refuse to accept imperial concubines for the sake of the Empress back then? But in the end, he didn’t accept them either. Now … after all, he is just moving on. He only pity my Empress …”

“Biyun, stop!” Gu Qingyou couldn’t help but frown.

Even if what she said was true, now that she said it in front of Xiao Xiwei, wasn’t she stabbing her chest with a knife?

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but look at Xiao Xiwei worriedly.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Xiwei only raised her head and quietly looked out of the door. Her faint gaze was filled with coldness, and her entire body emitted an indescribable loneliness.

She had never seen Xiao Xiwei like this before, so even though she had a stomach full of comforting words, she did not know how to speak to her.

“Your Highness.”

At this moment, Zi Yan suddenly walked in quickly.

Hearing the noise, Xiao Xiwei came back to her senses. She hurriedly stood up from the couch and said, “How about it?”

Zi Yan took a few steps forward and reached out to grab Xiao Xiwei’s hand. “Your Highness, Master Du E has already entered the palace.”

“Alright, it’s good that he’s here” Xiao Xi said as tears gushed out of her eyes.

Looking at Xiao Xiwei at this moment, a trace of confusion flashed through Gu Qingyou’s eyes.

She hadn’t shed tears when she heard Bi Yun’s heart-piercing words just now, but now, she cried so much when she heard Zi Yan say that she had crossed Er into the palace. Although she had never prejudiced to meet this master, she had also heard that he had helped the previous emperor recover his body, and had even saved the Empress and her son who had their lives hanging on the line in Chao An Temple. Now that the Empress was so excited about crossing adversity into the palace, could it be that someone in the palace was sick?

“Your Highness, this servant will have someone invite Master Du E over soon.” Zi Yan said.

Xiao Xiwei shook her head, and then she slowly sat back on the couch. Her gaze was solemn as she stared at the unembroidered bedclothes. “No need, we just don’t know anything.”

He didn’t know anything, so that he could feel at ease.

“Your Highness” Zi Yan frowned as she looked at Xiao Xiwei, her eyes filled with worry.

Xiao Xi smiled, but he raised his eyes to look at Gu Qingyou. “The princess has been out for so long, I believe Mu Zhi should be worried.”

Gu Qingyou was so smart. She knew that the Empress did not want her to know some of these words, or rather, let Chu Muzhi know. Therefore, she hurriedly stood up and blessed Xiao Xi. “Then I won’t disturb the Empress. I will leave.”

Xiao Xi nodded at her with a smile.

Gu Qingyou smiled and retreated.

“Your Highness, do you really not see Master Duer?” Seeing Gu Qingyou step out of the room, Zi Yan turned her head and couldn’t help but ask Xiao Xiwei again.

The corners of Xiao Xiwei’s lips slightly moved as she held onto a bitter smile. A moment later, she shook her head.

Zongde Palace.

Chu Xizhi sat in front of the couch, holding a teacup in his hand. Beside him, the newly-named Shu Fei was half-crouching on the ground, pinching her legs for him, neither lightly nor heavily.

After he crossed the river, he did not move. The originally steaming tea in the cup had long since cooled down. However, he did not order anyone to change the tea, nor did he put the cup down. He only stared at the already cold tea in the cup.

Just as Imperial Concubine Shu was secretly guessing whether the Emperor was dissatisfied with Du Er, Chu Xi suddenly opened his mouth and said in a low voice, “Du Er, do you think she knows …”

Du E lowered his eyes. A moment later, he replied, “Your Majesty, this poor monk doesn’t know.”

Unexpectedly, Chu Xizhi heard Du Er’s words and suddenly laughed, “Du Er, monks don’t lie. Now, are you going to hide it from me?” At this point, he paused for a moment before calling out, “Junior Brother.”

Du Er was stunned for a moment, and when he raised his head again, his clear eyes were filled with embarrassment.

Seeing Du Er’s expression, there was nothing Chu Xizhi didn’t know. He bitterly smiled for a moment and then said, “All of you, leave.”

Imperial Concubine Shu held Chu Xizhi’s hand and stiffened. In the end, she still retreated according to her words.

As soon as she left, the palace became quiet.

In the silent palace, Chu Xizhi’s faint sigh suddenly rang out. “I already guessed that she is so intelligent, how could she conceal it from her …”

Based on her temperament, After knowing that he was a concubine, how could he not even say a single word of accusation? He always asked the palace maids to send over some clothes, shoes and socks at an untimely time. He looked at the things that she had stitched up, and his chest seemed to be covered with thick cotton wool. Sometimes, he would rather she ran over and scold him a few times or even beat him up than it was now …

He tried his best, but it was as if he could not conceal anything.

Du Er looked at Chu Xizhi, and a burst of humidity suddenly appeared in his clear eyes.

Although he was a monk and had seen through life and death long ago, the person standing in front of him was his senior brother. He had personally bet that he would save him and help him step by step until now, but in the end, he could only watch helplessly like this …

“Senior Brother, the Empress doesn’t know everything.” After a long time, Du E looked at Chu Xizhi and finally spoke slowly.

Chu Xizhi raised his eyebrows and looked at Du Er.

Duer pursed his lips and said, “The Empress only thought that you were seriously ill …”

Chu Xizhi looked at Du Er. After a long time, a bitter smile suddenly crept onto the corner of his lips. “So that’s the case.”

No wonder she invited Du Er over. She thought he was just seriously ill.

“Senior Brother, I will think of a way” Du Er looked at Chu Xizhi and said in a deep voice once again.

Chu Xizhi looked at Du Er and smiled, “In a moment, find an opportunity to tell her privately that my’illness’ will soon be cured.”

“Senior Brother …”

“Du Er, this is my only request.”

If he could hide it from her for a day, then at least she would be sad for a day less. Now, all he could do was to hide it from her.

Du E looked at Chu Xizhi. After a long time, he finally nodded in agreement.

After receiving Du Er’s reply, Chu Xizhi smiled and said, “In that case, you can go.”

Du Er nodded and bowed towards Chu Xizhi before turning around and slowly walking towards the outside of the hall.

“Crossing Er.” Behind him, Chu Xizhi looked at Du E’s back and suddenly stood up.

Du Er turned around.

Chu Xizhi’s tears immediately flowed out. His eyes, which had once flowed with brilliant light, were now filled with pain and despair. He looked at Du Er and said in a hoarse voice, “Du Er, I don’t want to die …”