That night, Su Wan'er was initially glad that she had brought Qingcao along. During her days as the marshal in the military camp, since she had intended to establish her authority among the soldiers, she hadn't kept Qingcao in her tent to attend to her personally. Instead, she had presented herself as one who ate and slept with the soldiers. So tonight, the soft bed made by Qingcao and the warm kang in the hot southern summer should have made for a most comfortable night.
However, because of that silly girl Qingcao, who had inexplicably rambled on about how troubled Si Junlin was in the palace and how Su Wan'er should feel guilty, what was supposed to be a good night's sleep until dawn had turned into a sleepless night of tossing and turning.
It wasn't until the third watch that Su Wan'er gradually felt drowsy and fell into a hazy sleep. In the early morning, in the southern region, there were numerous customs. Before the queen - crowning ceremony, the queen - to - be must be invited to participate in several proper religious ceremonies.
Just as Qingcao was about to wake Su Wan'er up to go with them, Si Junlin stopped her.
"I'll go alone. It's not a big deal. It'll be boring. Let her sleep a little longer."
"Yes..." Qingcao hesitated. "But Miss said last night that I should wake her up early to go with you this morning." To be more precise, Su Wan'er had said yesterday that she was afraid Si Junlin, being clumsy and weak, might hurt himself.
"Let her sleep for another hour. Anyway, these ceremonies won't end soon. When she wakes up, tell her I just left and ask her to come find me." After giving these instructions, Si Junlin left with the palace servants who were leading him to the religious ceremony.
Along the way, although the palace servants didn't dare to say anything in front of him, among this large group of people, some couldn't help but whisper in the distance.
It was easy to guess that they were dissatisfied because they thought the queen was too kind to Su Wan'er, the guard.
But Si Junlin was used to the strict atmosphere in the Jin Kingdom's palace. In the Jin Kingdom, as the emperor, everyone treated him with the utmost respect and didn't even dare to breathe loudly in his presence. However, in the southern region, the elder of the Yuwen family was only elected by the people to rule. Since these palace servants didn't have much contact with the elder, they didn't take the queen seriously.
"Watch your mouths. You don't want your words to reach the elder's ears."
"If the queen is afraid of our words reaching the elder's ears, he shouldn't have done such things and given us something to talk about." At first, when Si Junlin scolded them, they didn't dare to say anything. But gradually, they couldn't stand his overbearing attitude. So a very arrogant and picky palace servant boldly stepped forward.
"What have I done? Tell me." Anyway, today's events were boring. It would be fun to teach them a lesson.
"The queen has done nothing wrong. It's just that we servants are talking nonsense. Please don't take it to heart." Although the maid apologized verbally, her actions were very disrespectful. She had never really submitted to Si Junlin.
"Allow this maid to say one more thing. Although the queen was a noble female general with many subordinates in the Jin Kingdom, now that you've married into our southern region, you should abide by our rules. Showing such care for a guard like that just now might lead to speculation if word gets out." This maid seemed to be in charge, as she spoke very eloquently.
"Showing care? So what? I'll show him care. What can you speculate about?" Si Junlin asked with a smile instead of getting angry.
"Of course, people will suspect that the queen has an unusual relationship with this guard from the Jin Kingdom. In the eyes of those with ulterior motives, this is a serious crime of having an affair." The maid's words seemed reasonable.
"Yes, yes. Poor our elder. He has been diligent and hard - working until middle age. His wife died when he was in his twenties, and he has been alone for more than a decade." Suddenly, the conversation took a different turn.
"Exactly," another maid chimed in indignantly. "He finally got the power and could choose a queen for himself. But he met that vixen who has been leading the elder around but never agreed to marry him. Whenever there's a disagreement, she throws a tantrum and leaves."
"Originally, we thought the queen from the Jin Kingdom would be a dignified and steady person who could help the elder manage the southern palace. But who would have thought that on the first day, the queen brought a male guard and showed so much care for him, ignoring our elder." More and more maids began to whisper.
Si Junlin hadn't intended to listen to all this gossip, but now he had heard so much. It seemed that the elder was really unlucky.
These maids dared to complain and talk nonsense here. It was no wonder, for in the southern palace, the servants were permanent while the elders came and went. No one knew when the unlucky Elder Yuwen would be replaced by someone from the Long family.
"Really? Then it's truly a pity. How about I help your elder find some young and beautiful concubines?" Si Junlin said jokingly as he saw the person who was going to perform the religious ceremony for him today.
What a coincidence! It was an old acquaintance. Si Junlin saw Yuwen Shan standing there with a veil covering her face, but he could still imagine that disgusting face.
Yuwen Shan wasn't as calm as Si Junlin when she saw him. She exclaimed first, "Why is it you? The queen of the Jin Kingdom?" Yuwen Shan had only heard that the female general of the Su family from the Jin Kingdom had married into the southern region. Since she always claimed to be the holy maiden of the southern region, she had come here in that capacity to perform the religious ceremony. But she never expected it to be Si Junlin.
"Hey, I was about to ask why it's you, fake holy maiden." Si Junlin saw that her face changed drastically.
"Don't talk nonsense. Look at where you are. In this holy temple, if you dare to talk nonsense, it's disrespect to our southern gods..."
"Fine. I won't talk nonsense. You should also keep your mouth shut. If we can get along peacefully, I'll let you, the fake holy maiden, perform the ceremony for me, the fake queen. Otherwise, no one will have a good time." Si Junlin whispered threateningly.
Yuwen Shan also whispered, "What on earth are you up to? How dare you come here as the queen? You're so audacious. Do you really think our Yuwen family is powerless?"