The Prime Minister's Darling novel Chapter 705

Chapter 705: 330 Fetal Movements (Second Tael Update)_3

The Emperor and Empress Dowager Jing sat on chairs, the Emperor furrowed his brow as he looked at the new palace maids picked to serve the Empress Dowager Jing, a frown marring his face: "How are you serving the Empress Dowager? You even lost her jade pendant!"

Empress Dowager Jing sighed: "Don’t blame them, it was I who lost it. I seem to have heard something earlier in the Imperial Garden, but didn’t think much of it at the time, so I probably dropped it then."

"Mistress, I...I found it, but I..." A palace maid stammered nervously.

Empress Dowager Jing gently said: "Don’t be afraid, just tell me what happened, I won’t blame you."

The palace maid, gathering courage, moved forward on her knees, bowed deeply and said: "I found a jade pendant in the Imperial Garden, I didn’t know it was Your Majesty’s. I thought I would give it to the head maid later, so I left it on the table. When I went to get the pendant after picking flowers, it was gone!"

The Emperor sternly said: "Why did you carelessly leave the jade pendant on the table?"

The palace maid fearfully responded: "The jade pendant was broken, I thought it wasn’t valuable, not something precious..."

"Broken?" The Emperor looked at Empress Dowager Jing in surprise.

Empress Dowager Jing bitterly nodded her head, remaining silent.

Nurse Cai earnestly said: "Two years ago, the Empress Dowager had a fall and broke her jade pendant. One corner was completely shattered into powder and couldn’t be repaired. But that pendant was a keepsake from Princess Ning An, so the Empress Dowager wore it every day despite the damage."

Hearing about Empress Dowager Jing’s fall, the Emperor’s heart ached as if it had been pierced, filled with regret for not bringing her back to the palace sooner.

"Your Majesty has suffered." He said guiltily.

Empress Dowager Jing said: "Your Majesty is overreacting, I simply had a fall. As one ages, it’s not uncommon to experience some discomfort."

"As for Renshou Palace..." The Emperor wanted to say that the resident of Renshou Palace seemed to be more sprightly now than before she got leprosy. He probably also thought it wouldn’t be appropriate to always mention the Queen Mother, so he cleared his throat, and looked at the few maidens kneeling on the ground, "Aside from you, who else went to the Imperial Garden?"

The palace maids glanced at each other.

Even though the jade pendant was broken, most of it was still extremely valuable, not just ordinary jade, but the Thousand-year-old Cold Jade from Yan Country. These palace maids may not recognize it, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t.

"Speak!" The Emperor coldly said, "Who took the Empress Dowager’s jade pendant?"

Everyone bowed and it was the same palace maid who initially found the pendant who said, "Your Majesty, we really didn’t take it! We can’t distinguish good items from bad, why would we take a piece..."

She didn’t dare to say ’broken jade’ again.

The Emperor asked gravely: "Who else went to the Imperial Garden besides you?"

After thinking for a moment, the palace maid said, "There was a young lady... I don’t know which palace she is from, her dressing doesn’t seem to belong to a concubine or palace maid, her left cheek... has a red birthmark."

If she’s neither a concubine nor a palace maid, and she has a red birthmark on her left cheek — isn’t this Gu Jiao?

This was becoming awkward.

If it was an ordinary jade pendant, the Emperor certainly wouldn’t bother investigating. But this pendant was a memento from Princess Ning An to Empress Dowager Jing, a person whom the Emperor had once deeply cherished.

The Emperor cared for her, not any less than he cared for Empress Dowager Jing.

Eunuch Wei looked at the Emperor with a complicated expression.

Miss Gu wasn’t someone to be trifled with; if the Emperor dared to send someone to ask her if she had found a jade pendant, she might never interact with the Emperor again.

Okay, although she is already angry with the Emperor now.

But this situation is different.