Murong Min reached out and grabbed her fair and delicate hand. With his other hand, he pinched her dainty chin and sighed, "I've made the queen suffer grievances."
Du Gu Luanyue lowered her eyes, still docile:
"I'm not aggrieved, Your Majesty. I also don't want Your Majesty to be scolded by the Empress Dowager. It's worth it for me to share Your Majesty's burdens."
After she finished speaking, she glanced at Huo Wei's cold face from the corner of her eye and found that his already pale and handsome face had turned even more gloomy.
However, she and Murong Min couldn't stay estranged any longer. As soon as she came out of the Cold Palace, Murong Min came to see her, indicating that there was hope for her to regain his favor.
In this harem, without the emperor's favor, it would be impossible to move forward no matter what one did.
But for some reason, being affectionate with Murong Min in front of Huo Wei now made her feel uncomfortable from the bottom of her heart.
Huo Wei raised his arm and didn't even look at her. He said to Aunt Mei Jiang, "This is the queen's phoenix seal. Put it away properly."
Murong Min put his arm around Du Gu Luanyue's shoulder and walked towards the dining hall of the Fengluan Palace. They were very affectionate, like a newly - reunited couple.
However, she still looked back at Huo Wei. But Huo Wei was staring intently at the steps and didn't meet her eyes.
Outside the palace, the stars were dim and the moon had set, and it was pitch - black. Inside the palace, there were coiling dragons and flying phoenixes, and the golden light was shining.
The colored - glass palace lanterns with intertwined light and shadow hung above their heads. The tassels at the bottom were gently swayed by the gentle spring breeze.
On both sides of the dining hall were jade carvings of beautiful flowers and jade trees, and there was gold and jade everywhere.
The Fengluan Palace was still as magnificent and luxurious as ever. Although the queen had been to the Cold Palace once, surprisingly, she wasn't affected at all after coming out. Even the phoenix seal had returned to Du Gu Luanyue's hands within a day.
Du Gu Luanyue looked at Huo Wei again but didn't feel it appropriate to ask at this moment.
Murong Min hadn't been intimate with her for several days. Seeing his queen's charming face, his heart throbbed again. His hand under the table became a bit restless.
Huo Wei looked at Murong Min's lecherous appearance with a gloomy look in his eyes. His eyes seemed to turn colder. He shouldn't have been so eager to find a way to get Du Gu Luanyue out of the Cold Palace.
Du Gu Luanyue inadvertently pulled her hand back. She picked up the jade chopsticks and deliberately enthusiastically put a shrimp into Murong Min's bowl:
"Your Majesty, enjoy your dinner."
Then she poured some wine for the emperor. She paused for a moment and asked, "Prince Yuzhang, would you like some wine?"
Huo Wei took away the wine cup. "No need."
During the dinner, Du Gu Luanyue still enthusiastically served Murong Min. After all, she didn't dare to neglect the emperor. However, she was still a bit curious about how she got out of the Cold Palace. She asked,
"Your Majesty, did my getting out of the Cold Palace cause any trouble for Your Majesty in front of the Empress Dowager?"
Murong Min replied casually, "It's not a problem. It's all in the past. Let it go. The queen doesn't need to ask anymore."
Du Gu Luanyue probed, "I heard that Your Majesty even raided the House of Flowers?"
Murong Min hesitated for a moment and then nodded. "Yes. I don't want the queen to be wronged, so I must do something for you."
Du Gu Luanyue was always sensitive. She knew that Murong Min didn't want to mention this matter anymore, so she had to give up and didn't ask further.
After all, the emperor's visit to the brothel had really made Murong Min lose face.
But was it really Murong Min who helped her get out of the Cold Palace?
Huo Wei stirred the dishes with his chopsticks but had no appetite at all.
He was sitting right here, but the old man didn't mention a single word about what he had done.
He probably wanted to leave a good - husband image in front of the queen, afraid that the queen would stab him in the neck while he was asleep.
Huo Wei shook his head secretly in his heart. As expected of Murong Min, he was extremely slippery.
Du Gu Luanyue saw Huo Wei put down the chopsticks after picking them up and asked, "Prince Yuzhang, do you find today's dishes not to your taste? Or should I order someone to cook new ones and send them here?"
Huo Wei glanced at her briefly from the corner of his eye. He saw that she had a charming phoenix - feather flower pattern on her forehead today.
She was wearing a long red palace dress. One look was enough to tell that she must have dressed up carefully today to serve the emperor and regain his favor.
He lowered his long eyes and suppressed the coldness in them. "No need. Your Majesty doesn't need to ask me what to eat or drink. I have no appetite today."
Murong Min looked over. "You, Prince Yuzhang, should be more polite to my queen. Every time you see the queen, you don't give her a good look. What, are you not giving me face?"
Huo Wei said, "I really have no appetite."
Before half of the dinner was over, Huo Wei found an excuse and left on his own.
When he reached the gate of the Fengluan Palace, Aunt Mei Jiang came over with a polite smile:
"Your Highness, the queen said that you didn't eat during the dinner, so she has prepared a separate meal for you. Would you like to take it back to the prince's mansion?"
Huo Wei stood with his hands behind his back and said coldly, "Go back and tell the queen not to think too much about what happened in the Cold Palace. I won't accept her things anymore."
The smile on Aunt Mei Jiang's face faded. She looked at the deep - purple back of the Prince Yuzhang and didn't quite understand.
When Huo Wei left, his jaw was tightly clenched. She was going to serve the emperor tonight, wasn't she?
What was he still doing in the queen's palace? He was just getting in the way of the old couple's intimacy.
He held back his anger and quickly left the palace.
After this day, Huo Wei hardly appeared in front of Du Gu Luanyue again. When she sent someone to ask him about some matters in the court, she was completely cold - shouldered.
Du Gu Luanyue stood in front of the phoenix desk and looked at the phoenix seal. "What did I say wrong last time? Why doesn't Huo Wei even want to talk to me about important matters?"
Aunt Mei Jiang looked at the phoenix seal and gasped:
"Not to mention anything else, how did the queen's phoenix seal come back? According to common sense, it would take at least a month for the seal to return to the queen after she just came out of the Cold Palace."
Du Gu Luanyue said, "The matter of the House of Flowers was handled very secretly by His Majesty. Until now, no one has told me what really happened.
Huo Wei ignores me for no reason. He never treated me like this when I was out of favor in the Cold Palace. Now that I've regained my status, what on earth does he mean?"
Aunt Mei Jiang suddenly asked, "I think the Prince Yuzhang might be jealous and acting like a fool.
That day, when the queen asked me to send food to the Prince Yuzhang, his reply was just like a husband who was angry with his wife. He didn't want anything and didn't say anything. He just let the queen guess."
Du Gu Luanyue touched her chin, put away the phoenix seal, walked to the dressing table, and started applying rouge to herself:
"I can't wait any longer. I must know what's on Huo Wei's mind.
The matters he's arranging in the court can't stop for a moment.
If they stop, I'm afraid he'll change his mind and still choose the path of war."
When the peach blossoms faded, there was much less red in the imperial garden, and the greenery in the garden gradually increased.
On this day, Wei Zhiruo and the third prince, Murong Jue, entered the palace to visit the sick Concubine Xian. After they came out, they met Huo Wei.
She happily walked beside Huo Wei. She had met Huo Wei more often in the past few days. It seemed that Huo Wei didn't push her away as much as before and was even a bit gentler to her.
As she walked, Wei Zhiruo hugged Huo Wei's arm:
"Brother Huo Wei, I got another secret recipe recently. I'm sure it can cure your hidden illness. When you're cured, will you come to the Wei family to propose marriage?"
Huo Wei said, "What secret recipe? Send it to the prince's mansion another day."
The two of them were standing under a tree. Wei Zhiruo was wearing a pink dress. She looked up at him with a beaming smile, full of admiration.
She reached out to brush the fallen leaves off Huo Wei's shoulder, and her movements were very intimate.
This scene fell into Du Gu Luanyue's eyes. Huo Wei looked up and happened to see her.
Du Gu Luanyue was not as innocent as Wei Zhiruo in her pink dress. She was already a married woman, wearing a red phoenix robe embroidered with gold threads, looking mature and charming.
She dragged her red skirt and stood quietly in the gentle breeze. Her eyes unconsciously turned red, and a mist gathered in her eyes.