I insist

Chapter 176: Leaving Behind a Painting

She hadn't dared to be too presumptuous when she met the Emperor before, and she was always on guard in the palace. Her own father, on the other hand, was carefree and at ease. But she had managed to offend someone so badly, and it turned out to be a big deal, involving two children!

Looking at the portrait of the Empress Dowager, Song Miqiu felt a mix of emotions.

She looked up at Qingzhi, whose face was also full of complicated emotions, and swallowed hard. "Now I understand why everyone says my father is stubborn and gets into trouble whenever they mention him."

"This has offended the Emperor and the Empress Dowager; how could this not be a great disaster?" Song Miqiu's fingertips touched the portrait of a man and a woman, her feelings extremely complicated.

In the past, whenever she thought of her father, all she could think about was getting revenge for him. But now, how could she get revenge?

Not to mention killing the emperor and empress dowager, she would have trouble even seeing them, and she would be extremely cautious when getting close to them, not to mention that the emperor had many people protecting him.

Even if she kills an emperor or empress dowager, the other self is ultimately not so easy to kill.

If this is a plan, I don't know how long I'll have to keep wearing this old man's skin mask.

Revenge? That's just a pipe dream!

"What do we do now? How should we proceed with our revenge?" Song Miqiu asked Qingzhi in return.

She really couldn't think of any other solution.

"I don't know." Qing Zhi shook his head; he was also quite troubled by this.

If it is a royal son, or a feud between powerful families, then it is still worth a shot.

In his view, any prominent family in the capital must have its share of dirty deeds. If one investigates thoroughly and plans carefully, dealing with them would be quite simple.

But facing the Emperor and Empress Dowager, he really couldn't think of anything he could do to deal with them; given their current power and strength, he couldn't possibly stand against them.

The two looked into each other's eyes and fell into a brief silence.

Song Miqiu withdrew her gaze, put her hands together, and carefully put the scroll away.

She left the room clutching the scroll, intending to return to the counter to find the old man, but as she turned around, she bumped into him.

"Ouch!"

Song Miqiu was so frightened that her eyes widened. She took a few small steps back and grabbed a wooden pillar to steady herself. She tilted her head back slightly and looked apologetic.

"But you didn't get any contact, did you?" Song Miqiu asked, a little nervously.

Although she looks like an old woman to outsiders, she is actually only twenty years old and in good health.

But the person in front of her was a genuine elderly person. If she bumped into him or frightened him, she wouldn't be able to pass by peacefully.

The old man remained calm. He waved his hand, tossed his cane behind him, and looked at Song Miqiu, asking in return, "What are you doing...?"

"Oh, oh." Song Miqiu remembered the purpose of her trip. Pointing to the scroll in her hand, she asked, "Can this thing exist here again?"

The old man looked at her, puzzled. He stretched out his withered hand, covered in age spots, and pointed at the scroll. His voice was deep and hoarse, "You want to put it back? Why?"

He's been guarding this place for decades, and this kind of thing rarely happens.

"The situation is a bit special, and we can't bring this with us, so we're asking if we can leave it here?" Song Miqiu said apologetically.

The old man said no more. He nodded gently, returned the jade pendant that Song Miqiu had given him, and then took the scroll and walked inside.

Song Miqiu followed behind the old man. She watched as he put the things back and locked them, and then raised his hand to Qingzhi.

The latter ran to her side, and Song Miqiu bowed slightly to the old man, saying, "Thank you for your trouble."

With a turn, Song Miqiu walked forward, grimacing. She patted her chest and, noticing out of the corner of her eye that the old man was a little far away from them, muttered to herself, "It's a good thing this thing can stay here."

Qingzhi understood Song Miqiu's thoughts.

Keeping this thing around is like having a time bomb. If someone with ulterior motives discovers it and reports it to the Emperor and Empress Dowager, how will they explain themselves?

He admired the Emperor and Empress Dowager, which is why he left behind a painting of the two of them.

He will surely be arrested by the Emperor.

How could portraits of royalty be allowed to circulate so casually in the hands of commoners like them? If they were discovered, they would surely be killed.

Qingzhi found his carriage, and Song Miqiu quickly lifted her skirt and got on.

She didn't want to experience that feeling of searching for a shop again; it was truly unpleasant.

"There's no need to be in such a hurry, this carriage isn't going to run." Qing Zhi followed closely behind, finding Song Miqiu's appearance amusing.

“Of course it’s unnecessary!” Song Miqiu immediately complained to him about how she had just felt. “I was almost exhausted. I suspect I used up all my exercise from the past month today.”

Qingzhi sat next to Song Miqiu, watching her describe these things with amusement, but he didn't care at all.

"By the way, did you notice the two people in that painting just now?"

Song Miqiu looked up in confusion, "Isn't that portrait of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager?"

Aren't you surprised by the Empress Dowager's appearance?

Upon hearing this, Song Miqiu recalled the time when he first received the painting.

She was indeed surprised for a moment when she saw the Empress Dowager's face on the paper. She thought it was someone else, but the signature below told Song Miqiu that the person she saw was the Empress Dowager.

She kept marveling at how young the Empress Dowager looked. Standing next to the Emperor, she appeared to be the same age as him, looking remarkably young. It was impossible to tell that the Empress Dowager was the Emperor's mother.

Now that Qing Zhi had asked her this, Song Miqiu began to suspect something was amiss, and she couldn't help but ask in return, "Is there some clue in this?"

"This is very suspicious!" Qing Zhi sneered.

"The Empress Dowager is not the Emperor's biological mother at all, after all, she was forty years younger than the late Emperor! The current Empress Dowager is only in her early forties, five years older than the Emperor!"

Only five years older!

Song Miqiu covered her mouth in surprise. No wonder the Empress Dowager and the Emperor in the painting didn't look like mother and daughter, but more like siblings or partners.

She frowned, somewhat skeptical, and asked in return, "Then why is it related to my father, and why did he suffer misfortune because he offended these two people?"

Song Miqiu had asked Ming Taicheng, Consort Can, and the old imperial physician, but none of them gave her a positive response.

This left Song Miqiu completely bewildered as to what had actually happened back then.

"No, I have to do something else. Revenge can't be left out!" The more they discussed it, the more a fire burned in Qingzhi's heart.

He gritted his teeth, his face full of resentment.

He currently has a teahouse business to run, and he is financially well-off, so handling things and investigating matters shouldn't be too difficult for him.

Seeing that the other party's expression was getting worse, Song Miqiu frowned, put her hand on Qingzhi's arm, and advised in a deep voice, "For now, it's better if we hold back."

If outsiders had been paying attention to their father's situation, they would have noticed that the two of them took the jade pendant to the shop.

Song Miqiu was glad that he hadn't brought the scroll out.