Especially the two dowager consorts in the palace. Although they had fought with the empress dowager their entire lives, the ones who survived were those who stood on the right side at the time.
Naturally, the two of them wouldn't have it easy after her sudden death.
Thus, they had been depressed for the past few days, unable to relieve the stuffiness in their chests.
However, ever since they brought back the two pots of plants from Bai Xiangxiu's place, they felt much better just by smelling their scent.
Originally, they didn't think it had anything to do with the plants. However, when they arrived at the palace and casually threw them away, they soon felt depressed and uncomfortable again.
At that moment, their nose was filled with the fragrance of the plants, so they had someone bring them over. Sure enough, it didn't take long for them to feel much better.
The two dowager consorts got together and talked about it, assigning all the merit to the old madame.
They felt that she was truly the empress dowager's confidante and deeply understood their hearts.
Therefore, this return gift was naturally another expensive one, which made Old Madam Sheng stunned.
They should've sent a gift in return that day. Weren't they all small gifts? Why did they have to send another one now?
Moreover, it was so expensive. She originally guessed that the two dowager consorts wanted to rely on them.
However, after thinking about it, it didn't make sense. Long Heng wasn't a prince, and they were also part of the empress dowager's faction. Now that she was gone, why would they curry favor with them? Shouldn't they be looking for the empress's faction?
Later, after hearing the explanation from the palace's female officials, she found out that it was actually Madam Bai's doing.
Unexpectedly, she made friends with the two dowager consorts. One of them was Prince Rong's mother, so she wasn't completely powerless.
Unexpectedly, Madam Bai was a lucky star. Although it was inconvenient for her to personally handle this matter, she was quite headstrong.
She received the gift and was praised, so she was naturally moved. Such a big matter, yet she didn't receive the slightest bit of gratitude and put all the blame on herself. There were very few people who were so knowledgeable and courteous.
Because of this, Bai Xiangxiu's image in the old madame's heart became noble.
She specially chose a few gifts to send to Bai Xiangxiu. In the end, the servants who came back said that she had slept for half the afternoon and had no intention of getting up.
Old Madame thought she was just tired, so she didn't ask anyone to wake her up. She just ordered the kitchen to stew some tonics.
As a result, Bai Xiangxiu, who had been tired all day, had a warm tonic to drink when she woke up at night. She drank so much that she almost had a nosebleed.
She was just tired. Why would she need such a huge supplement? It was really killing her.
Xiao Shi and the other servants, who didn't know the truth, thought that their master was really pregnant, so they were very careful.
Especially Ye-mama. When she had nothing to do, she would teach her some fetus nurturing techniques. It was as awkward as it could get.
Unfortunately, Long Heng didn't have time to come back, so she could only endure it silently.
But she hadn't expected that Long Heng would also be depressed when he returned. He had just entered Apricot Garden with a sullen expression when Ye-mama carefully fetched water for him and said, "Prince, Mistress Xiu has already fallen asleep. Why don't you go rest in your own courtyard first?"
"No need." Which courtyard wasn't his? Did he need to tell anyone where he wanted to sleep?
However, Ye-mama frowned and said, "But, Mistress Xiu's body isn't feeling well. Why don't you go to the other two branches first …" Find another woman to relax with?
Who knew that before she could finish speaking, her master would glare fiercely at her. She couldn't say anything for a long time. Her entire body was so stiff that it was about to freeze into an ice cube.
"Since when did servants like you have the right to tell their masters what to do in the prince's estate? You should be punished."
Long Heng didn't say anything else. Ye-mama automatically went outside and slapped herself a dozen times.
Admittedly, she also felt that she had been a little too pleased with herself.
If she wanted to blame someone, she could only blame Long Heng for being like a young boy who was in the honeymoon period. Even the people around her could feel his gentleness.
But when she thought about it carefully, his gentleness was only directed at the person lying on the bed. It didn't have any direct relationship with them.
In the end, she was the first to become arrogant. She thought that the people around her could raise their heads and speak in front of the Prince. That was how she ended up like this.
As for Bai Xiangxiu, she was completely unaware of what had happened. She was still lying there, sleeping in full swing.
Why did she say that?
Because she had practically kicked the quilt away and her clothes weren't properly dressed. Everything that should and shouldn't be exposed was completely exposed.
Long Heng saw such a situation as soon as he entered the room. His body, which had originally wanted to obediently rest, underwent a serious change.
What was wrong with him? Why did he start to misbehave as soon as he saw her?
He coughed lightly. He clearly knew that now wasn't the right time to do such things.
He simply tidied up and pulled the quilt over her when he got on the bed. Then, he hugged her tightly and took advantage of her before falling asleep.
The next morning, Bai Xiangxiu slept very uncomfortably. Her body felt like it was being pressed down by a mountain and she couldn't turn over no matter how hard she tried.
She turned over uncomfortably and immediately felt that something was wrong.
Because this position was obviously very ambiguous.
And behind her, there was obviously a man who wanted to do something to her.
Anyway, it wasn't anything serious and it was already very dangerous.
She knew who this man was, so she wanted to avoid him. However, she was in a daze and the other party seemed to have been preparing for a long time, just waiting for her to wake up.
"… Ah … You … You're too naughty. It's so early in the morning."
"Be good. Bear with it. This King has been enduring for an entire night."
"…" Did he have to be so proactive? Was this kind of thing so good?
Reality proved that it was so good. Jing Heng was close to going crazy.
In the end, Bai Xiangxiu didn't wake up early in the morning.
She only ran to the toilet and went back to sleep. In the end, she was woken up less than an hour later. The old madame said that there was an important guest and asked her to make arrangements.
Bai Xiangxiu put on her clothes and asked Xiao Shi curiously, "Where's Prince?"
"Prince went out of the estate, but he said he'll come back to have lunch with you."
Xiao Shi smiled as she said this. Prince was really too good to her master.
But in the blink of an eye, she no longer thought this way, because the guest was actually the rumored future mistress Miss Lin, Lin Qianzi.
Bai Xiangxiu also felt suffocated. Why had the old madame asked her to take care of this person?
However, the old madame's mama also knew that she would be resentful, so she smiled and said, "Mistress Xiu, Miss Lin wants to show filial piety to the old madame, but the old madame needs to recuperate, so she asked you to arrange a place for her to stay first."
Bai Xiangxiu understood that the old madame had asked her to take care of this big trouble.
She was a bit troubled. Miss Lin originally lived in Apricot Garden, but she really didn't want to leave now that she was living there.
The old madame probably wanted to test her, but she just didn't want to leave.
Thus, she smiled and said, "Miss Lin is too considerate."