As far as
I can remember, I am the third lady of the General’s Mansion, but occasionally I doubt it, because I often have a dream in which my home is not in the General’s Mansion.
Whenever I asked my dad, he just smiled and touched my head and told me not to think about it.
Until Mammy, who took care of me at an early age, said that it was not a dream.
She told me a secret, a secret about my life.
She said that I must enter the palace, must kill that person, but the general mansion such family status, is doomed to send a woman to enter the palace.
But I knew that my father had never thought about me. Before I was married, he often told me that there were many rules and troubles in a big family. My future husband did not seek family status, but only needed to treat me well.
At that time, I thought my father loved me, but now, I don’t think so. On the eve of the
draft, one of my two sisters had a rash and the other had a rash.
Yes, I did.
So I became the only person to enter the palace. On the day I
left home, my father took me all the way to the gate of the palace and told me again and again. After a long silence, he said, “If you are really wronged, my father will take you home.”
I nodded cleverly, but I knew in my heart that I had no home. As soon as I entered the palace
, I was given the title of nobleman, but Rao was so. I had been in the palace for two months, but I never saw the emperor.
I knew that he would go to the queen’s residence every month, so he always went to the queen on the grounds of visiting the sick.
The empress is good-looking, good-natured, and treats the imperial concubines well, but she is a little weak. I heard that she was pregnant with a child earlier and had a miscarriage.
This day I went to find her with a bag of tricks embroidered by myself.
The queen liked it very much and left me to eat in her palace.
Her maid of honor, Xiuhe, glanced at me and then whispered something to me. The queen just shook her head with a smile and said, “It doesn’t matter.”
Not long after, a sharp voice came from outside.
“Your Majesty has arrived.”
I was stunned for a moment and looked at the queen subconsciously.
Perhaps I really should thank God, for me to give birth to a pure good appearance, as well as that pair of innocent eyes, let people see the birth of the mind can not be wary.
The queen thought I was a little scared. She chuckled and patted me on the back of my hand. “Don’t be afraid,” she said.
Then he pulled me to my feet and walked over to meet the bright yellow figure. “I’ll see you, Your Majesty.”
Her palm is very warm, which makes me feel a little guilty. The cold
fragrance lingered on the tip of my nose, and then a big palm with clear joints lifted the queen up, and a clear voice came into my ears.
“Didn’t I say that you were weak and didn’t have to salute me when you saw me?”
He pulled the queen to sit down, leaving me standing there at a loss. After a moment, I heard his voice saying, “Come and sit down, too.”
Thank you.. My concubine thanks the emperor.
My quivering voice made him chuckle. “The General’s Office,” he said, “is a coward.”
Then he asked about the queen’s body and never looked at me again. After
lunch, I left first, and the bag of tricks I had no intention of leaving just led to his way back to the palace.
Sure enough, I was summoned by the emperor that night.
He held the bag of tricks I had dropped in his hand, and his dark eyes seemed to be smiling.
“Is this yours?”
I nodded nervously.
He laughed and even put his hand on my head and patted me. “Remember, I don’t like these little thoughts.”
“I didn’t.”
I pleaded in a low voice, not daring to look up at him.
He didn’t seem to expect me to dare to speak. His cold fingertips cupped my chin, and his voice was somewhat pleasant. “What did you say?”
I shrank my neck and looked at him nervously. “That’s me.” It was accidentally dropped by my concubine.
“Oh?”
He looked at me with a half-smile. “Did you accidentally embroider the word’emperor ‘on this bag of tricks?”
I couldn’t make him suspicious, so I trembled and stammered.
“My concubine, my concubine has embroidered two, and the one for the empress has embroidered a’queen. ‘This, this was originally intended, intended for the emperor..”
He looked at me for a long time, and suddenly his smile became more brilliant.
“So I misunderstood you. I’ll take this bag of tricks. You go back.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and warned myself not to be so reckless in the future.
Back in the palace, Mammy asked me how I was getting on.
I told her what had happened and wanted to take the long view. The next day,
however, the reward flowed like water into the Yongle Palace where I lived. My father-in-law, who had come to announce the decree, smiled and flattered, “This noble man has won the favor of the emperor.”
I knew he was interested in me.
Mammy said I should take the opportunity to go to the emperor on the grounds of gratitude.
I told her not to worry, and then deliberately picked the time before dinner to go, halfway met with Chen Guipin who went to Imperial Study. Before
I could see her appearance, I heard the maid beside her shouting at her.
“Why don’t you kneel down when you see your concubine?”
I pretended to be flustered and knelt down to pay my respects.
“Oh.” Chen Kuei-pin gave a sneer and said disdainfully, “It’s a foxy look. No wonder it was you, the third young lady, who entered the palace.”.
“I want to ask you if you stayed at the emperor’s house last night.”
I shook my head and answered honestly, “No, the emperor only said he liked the bag of tricks embroidered by his ministers and concubines.”
Sure enough, Chen Kuei-pin was even angrier, because the emperor had never received the bag of tricks she had embroidered. “The bag of tricks, why don’t you give it to the emperor?”. As she
spoke, she raised her hand and was about to hit me, but she was stopped by a maid of honor who didn’t know what to say. She seemed to be angry and said angrily, “After all, I didn’t know the rules and ran into this palace. I’ll kneel here for an hour and get up again.” Then
she walked away.
I regret that I should have made her more angry and let her slap me without hesitation.
I knelt for an hour, when I got up, my legs were weak, and then I went to Imperial Study with leg pain, and the little eunuch took me in after informing me.
I saw him sitting at his desk, not knowing what to write, and the sun shining through the window on his face, outlining his handsome eyebrows and eyes.
Suddenly he looked up and smiled at me. “Aren’t you afraid of me?”
I pretended to be frightened. I lowered my eyes and said, “I’m not afraid.”
Then he laughed again.
“Why do you come to me?”
I answered honestly, “I have come to thank the emperor for his reward.”
“Come here.”
He beckoned me to him, and his tone was a little interesting. “Which concubine like you came to thank me empty-handed?”
“I don’t know.”
I mumbled and lowered my head even lower, like a child who had done something wrong.
“Then grind the ink for me.”
He pulled me to sit down beside him, and I took the ink stick and pretended to be at a loss for a long time. “I don’t know,” I said awkwardly.
“I will teach you.”
His voice seemed to be somewhat pleasant, and he held my hand and taught me carefully.
When I got started, he picked up a brush and covered it with ink. Soon the words “Shen Ruo” fell on the paper.
Shen Ruo is my name, but I don’t write as well as him.
He smiled and gave me the pen in his hand. “Can you write?”
I thought it was reasonable not to be able to grind ink, but if I had been born in the general’s office and could no longer write, it would seem a bit false, so I nodded and said, “Yes, but not as good as the emperor.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
I took the pen in his hand and wrote his name on the paper one by one.
“I see you as a coward, but now I see you are bolder than anyone else.”
I was so frightened that the pen in my hand fell on the paper and smudged a large ink stain.
Then he got up in a panic and was about to kneel down, but he was held in his arms by Gu Ci.
“Who gave you permission to write my name in such an ugly way?”
He held my hand and wrote his name over and over again until I wrote as well as he did.
“I heard that you met Chen Guipin today?”
I nodded honestly and said, “Yes.”
Gu Ci seemed to be waiting for me to answer, but when he saw that I was silent, he continued to ask, “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
I looked at him blankly.
He looked at me and said softly, “Did Chen Guipin punish you to kneel?”
Just. I punished my concubine to kneel. I looked very upset. “It was my concubine who didn’t know the rules and ran into my concubine.”
Gu Ci’s fingertips crossed my forehead, eyebrows, cheeks, and finally landed on my chin.
He raised my chin and chuckled. “You have such a temper. If I don’t protect you, what should I do?”
At this moment, his eyes, his tone, it is easy to be intoxicated.
I stiffened and my ignorant eyes hit his dark pupils. The
pure innocent girl can urge the man’s desire most, Gu Ci’s Adam’s apple rolled a few times unconsciously, and suddenly picked me up at the waist, and her voice was hoarse.
“In the future, I will be your backer, and no one will bully you again.”
He laid me on the couch and opened my little coat.
I clenched my palms and let his kisses fall on me, and my body was stiff.
“Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you.” After
one night, my whole body was very weak. “I like your eyes. They are very clean.”
Gu Ci put his arms around my forehead and spoke warmly.
I lowered my eyes and did not speak.
After tenderness, Gu Ci got up and changed his clothes. Dressed in a yellow robe, he leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. “You can sleep a little longer and go back after breakfast,” he said in a gentle voice.
Such tenderness, like a very ordinary couple.
I think someone else would have fallen. After
breakfast, I went back to Yongle Palace to catch up on my sleep.
When I woke up, the imperial edict followed closely, and I became Shen Guipin and was given to live in the Jiayi Palace, which was two quarters of an hour closer to the Imperial Study than Yongle Palace.
But Chen Guipin was demoted to Chen Meiren and was forbidden to reflect in the palace.
Mammy looked at me and said, “Your concubine has done a good job. Then follow this method until the emperor trusts your concubine completely.” The day I
moved into the Jiayi Palace coincided with the day to pay my respects to the queen. I deliberately arrived a little late, waiting for those difficulties and abuses.
I knew that these difficulties would sooner or later fall into Gu Ci’s ears, just as he knew that I was punished to kneel.
The concubines had already taken their seats and looked at me unkindly or enviously. The moment she
saw me, Xiao Guifei took the lead in pointing at mulberry and scolding Huai. Without saying a few words, she turned into pointing at me and scolding.
She is the niece of the queen mother, always domineering, even the queen is not in the eyes, how to talk about me a little concubine.
I hung my head the whole time and let her vent my anger.
Xiao Guifei became more and more angry, and finally she pounded the table and scolded me for being foxy.
But I didn’t expect to be interrupted by the queen before she finished speaking.
It was the first time I had seen the queen’s face sink. She drew back her lazy body, and her frost-soaked eyes made everyone hang their heads.
“The imperial concubines have been in the palace for so many years, but how can they still be so ignorant of the rules?”
Xiao Guifei was not afraid at all and disdained to glance at the queen.
“This palace is also for the sake of the empress. Don’t wait for the day when the emperor is seduced by this foxy son, and the empress will know what it means to invite the wolf into the house!”
“Does the imperial concubine want the emperor to hear this?”
The queen looked at her coldly, faintly with a threatening tone in the end so that Xiao Guifei was unwilling to speak.
She gave me a hard look and left without a salute. The
hall was silent. The ice and snow melted in the queen’s
eyes. She looked around and her eyes fell on me. With a light smile, she said, “Shen Guipin has served the emperor. She deserves a reward.”
When the concubines were dispersed, I was left alone by the queen.
She was very gentle to comfort me, let me not be afraid, in the future just need to serve the emperor.
“You don’t have to feel sorry for this palace. If you’re free in the future, you can often come and sit with this palace.”
I looked up in astonishment at her smiling eyes and said, “The emperor has never belonged to this palace alone.”
Originally, she knew from the beginning that I approached her for another purpose, but still so protective of me. I stayed in Palace of Earthly Tranquility for a long time
this Day. I heard the empress talking about the past. She and Xiao Guifei were old friends in the East Palace. Since then, they have not dealt with each other. In other words, Xiao Guifei and all the concubines of the emperor have not dealt with each other.
Speaking of this, the empress sighed and looked at me with a slightly profound meaning. “She has never had a bad idea, but she cares too much about the emperor. Sometimes she even does something wrong. I don’t blame her, but you don’t want to learn from her.”
Seeing me nod cleverly, she chuckled and patted my hand. Her eyes were full of tenderness. “If you don’t understand, you don’t understand. There’s a lot of talk in the Japanese palace today.”
In fact, I understand the meaning of her words, she wants to tell me, do not be silly like the emperor.
The next day, Gu Ci sent someone to send a decree, let me go to bed.
I went to the Palace of Heavenly Purity in a sedan chair. He encircled me in his arms and asked me softly how I was living in the new palace, but what was missing?
I smelled the ambergris on his body. I blushed slightly and said, “I live very well. I don’t lack anything.”
“But there are still people who bully you?”
Gu Ci looked down at me, and the tenderness in his eyes was overflowing.
The emperor’s tenderness is the most deadly.
Even though I boasted that I was firm, I still didn’t dare to look him in the eye. I pretended to be shy and avoided the line of sight. I whispered, “No.”
He seemed pleased and raised my chin to force me to look at him. “Don’t I look good?”
“Good looking.”
My face was burning like a fire, and it was even more red.
Gu Ci chuckled, as if extremely satisfied. “Since it looks good, why don’t you dare to look at me?”
I stammered, unable to speak, until finally the fog spread all over my eyes, his eyes darkened, caught my lips off guard, kissed deeper and deeper, and pulled me into the abyss. By the time
I woke up, he was sitting by the bed in the morning, looking at me and smiling, dressing my eyebrows, rubbing and whispering in my ear.
“Jiao Jiao, don’t ever leave me, okay?” The
warm breath burned my ears, and I blushed and did not speak.
“Why don’t you just move to the Palace of Heavenly Purity and live with me?”
Without waiting for me to open my mouth, he had already ordered someone to go and clean up. Then he smiled at me and said, “Jiaojiao also wants to live with me, doesn’t she?”
“Your Majesty, this is against the rules.”
I whispered.
I know. He’s starting to trust me.
“In this palace, I am the rule.”
Perhaps I did not explicitly refuse, Gu Ci’s tone was particularly pleasant. After
breakfast, instead of dealing with the government, he asked me, “I’m free today. I’ll accompany you whatever Jiaojiao likes to do.”
I pretended to think for a long time, then shook my head and said, “I don’t know anything.”
“No, no, no. Jiaojiao likes flying kites and painting.”
Gu Ci looked at me very seriously, as if he knew himself better than I did.
But these are not what I like. For
a whole day, Gu Ci accompanied me to fly kites in Imperial Garden, but he did not allow me to fly, only allowed me to sit on the ground and watch him fly.
“Look, Chiao Chiao, it’s about to take off.”
At this moment, Gu Ci, who looked at me with a smile, seemed to be different from other times. After
dinner, he circled me in his arms and watched him paint. The person in the
painting is just a petite figure, dressed in a bright yellow skirt, sitting on the ground and looking at the kite in the sky, while the young man flying the kite is looking at her. “The one sitting on the ground is Jiao Jiao, and the one flying the kite is me,” said
Gu Ci, pointing to the man in the painting. With
that, he looked at me expectantly.
I don’t know what he wants to hear, and I really can’t see that the glutinous rice dumpling will be me. “I can’t tell,” he
said honestly.
“It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago. It’s normal that Jiaojiao can’t remember.” I didn’t sleep
that night and stayed in the side hall of the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
After a few days, in addition to the court, Gu Ci will let me accompany.
Most of the time, he would forget to eat because he was dealing with political affairs. I would remind him and he would listen to my advice. Unconsciously,
I got used to this kind of relationship. Late
one night, when I was a little sleepy, I heard Gu Ci ask me, “Does Jiao Jiao like me?”
I could feel his eyes staring at me, pretending to be asleep and not answering. After
a long time, Gu Ci picked me up and gently placed me on the couch. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead and murmured, “Jiao Jiao, wait a little longer. Soon you will be able to stand by me fair and square.” When I got up
the next day, Mammy told me that Grandfather Yu, who was serving in front of the emperor, had issued a decree. The emperor said that I had a day off today and did not need to go to serve him.
I nodded.
Mammy said the sun was shining today and she would take me to the Imperial Garden for a walk.
The Imperial Garden was empty, and not worried that the walls had ears. She put into my hand a pearl flower that she had got from nowhere.
“It’s time for your concubines to do something. Put one of these things in the emperor’s tea every day.”
I held the pearl flower and nodded silently. The days
passed unconsciously for a long time, and I couldn’t find the right opportunity to start.
It was not until this day that Gu Ci was furious because of the affairs of the court, and the food he sent was knocked over, and there was no water for several days.
“The emperor hasn’t eaten for a few days. If you go on like this, I’m afraid you’ll hurt the dragon’s body. Now I guess I can only listen to the words of the concubine. The slave dared to ask the concubine to persuade the emperor.”
Before I could speak, Mammy had answered.
She went to Imperial Study with me, and when she saw that I had put the medicine in the porridge, she said in a relieved voice, “your concubine can rest assured that this medicine will not kill him right away, and it will certainly not be found on your concubine in the future.”
I clenched my palms and went in with the meal, and saw Gu Ci leaning back in his chair with a tired expression.
“Your Majesty, I have sent you food.” I opened my mouth carefully and walked over with the meal.
Gu Ci opened his eyes, which were full of tiredness, but he looked at me with a smile and said, “Jiao Jiao is with me.”
“I have already eaten.” I lowered my eyes and put the food in front of him bit by bit. After
the meal, Gu Ci stopped dealing with political affairs. He wrapped me in his arms, closed his eyes and rubbed my face, murmuring, “I won’t feel tired with Jiao Jiao here..” Before
he had finished speaking, he pushed me aside and spat out a big mouthful of blood.
How come!
I was stunned for a moment.
The next moment, my eyes were covered by a pair of warm palms, and I heard Gu Ci’s weak voice of comfort, “Jiao Jiao is not afraid.”
I was stunned. When the
Imperial Physician arrived, Gu Ci was already in a coma. After feeling his pulse, he said with a solemn expression, “It’s poisoning.”
Jade father-in-law’s face became ugly. He looked at me and asked the doctor to examine the food left on the table. The result of the
examination was that the porridge was poisonous, and the bowl of porridge only passed through the hands of me and the jade father-in-law, which seemed to have confirmed the evidence of my poisoning. Grandfather
Yu was furious. “Someone, take Shen Guipin to the Department of Punishment, so that he can be interrogated.”
Since ancient times, almost no one in the palace who was punished into the Department of Cautious Punishment came out alive.
I was taken into custody, and I knew I could not escape.
But unexpectedly, the empress rushed to protect me. “Now the matter has not been clarified. Shen Guipin is still the emperor’s concubine. As the head of the harem, how to deal with it should be decided by the palace.” Grandfather
Yu had to compromise.
The queen just locked me up in the Jiayi Palace for the time being, and comforted me in a gentle voice. Don’t be afraid. Everything will be decided when Gu Ci wakes up.
I really want to tell her that I don’t deserve her to be so protective.
Mammy was in a terrible hurry. “How could this happen? It’s only one dose. How could the emperor vomit blood?”
I believed what Mammy said. She would not harm me. The only explanation was that someone had poisoned the porridge.
“Your concubine.”
Mammy suddenly knelt down in front of me and said, “If there is really no escape this time, the old slave will get rid of his relationship with the concubine, admit the poisoning, and die to apologize. Just ask the concubine not to forget the blood feud she bears.” The blood feud in
her mouth is the revenge of extermination.
My biological father is the Lord Protector Xie Ting, who was beheaded because of rebellion, and no one dares to mention Xie Ting so far.
And it was Gu Ci who ordered me to be destroyed.
The late emperor had many sons, and each of the nine sons had his own merits. The crown prince was extravagant, and he was reluctant to change the crown prince, stirring up a treacherous surge of the struggle for the crown prince. As the Lord Protector,
my father knew very well that he was protecting the Son of Heaven, and he always stayed out of the way and never touched any imperial power struggle.
But in the end the world is unpredictable, the first emperor suddenly collapsed, should be the crown prince ascended the throne, but the court above the people, opponents everywhere, a struggle to seize the throne broke out. Although
my father was loyal to the emperor, he was never foolishly loyal. He knew that if Jiangshan was handed over to the prince, he would go to extinction. It happened that the queen mother, who was still Li Fei at that time, came to him. She wanted to use the power of the Xie family to push the nine princes to the throne, and offered to treat the prince kindly.
At that time, Gu Ci was indeed the best heir to the throne.
With the support of the Xie family, Gu Ci soon ascended the throne, and when all the dust settled, my father knew the truth that a great success would lead to trouble, so he voluntarily handed over his military power and offered to retire and return home.
However, he did not want to be found guilty of attempting to rebel against the former prince on the day he handed over his military power.
No one listened to his defense, or in other words, from the beginning, Li Fei’s mother and son did not intend to let him live. Overnight
, from the work of the dragon to become a rebel, the former prince said that he was punished to guard the imperial mausoleum, but in fact he had already been secretly killed, and the Xie family was also beheaded.
At that time, I was still too young, and was held by Mammy to hide to escape the disaster. Later, she deliberately left me at the gate of the General’s Office, and went in to take care of me as the following people.
So that one day, I can go to the palace and kill Gu Ci for revenge.
An hour later, I was taken to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, where I met the queen mother, who had always lived in seclusion, and beside her sat the furious Xiao Guifei. The moment she
saw me, Concubine Hsiao was furious. She stood up in front of me and slapped me heavily in the face. “Bitch, how dare you murder the emperor!” She
seemed to hate me so much that she kicked me on the ground and kicked me hard, cursing me as she kicked me. It wasn’t until I couldn’t stand it and spat out a mouthful of blood that the queen mother slowly said, “All right, come back.”
The imperial concubine glared at me ferociously, unwilling to return to the queen mother to sit down.
The Empress Dowager looked at me lightly and said, “The Ai family knows that the emperor has taken pity on you and spoiled you, which has caused you to commit such a big crime. It’s all right that Duanduan is living in the Jiayi Palace. Today the Ai family has come to ask you only one question. Can you plead guilty?”
“Who else but her..”
The imperial concubine words have not finished, is stopped by the queen mother a look, can only be unwilling to shut the mouth. I
couldn’t confess, so I pretended to be frightened and said in a trembling voice with my head touching the ground, “I dare not, I beg the queen mother to investigate.”
“She’s used to acting so pitifully. That’s why the emperor is so fond of her. Don’t let her fool you, aunt.”
“It’s a tough talk. Since that’s the case, there’s no need for the Ai family to be soft-hearted..”
The queen mother’s tone sank, but she stopped before she had finished speaking.
Suddenly a familiar fragrance came, and before I could react, a big palm with clear joints lifted me up and pulled me into his arms.
I looked up in astonishment, unable to see the emotion in Gu’s eyes, only to see his pale face and cold face to the queen mother.
“The poisoner had already hanged himself to avoid punishment. Shen Guipin had nothing to do with this. Her mother took the liberty of bringing her here. What on earth did she want?”
“The Ai family just wanted to find out why the emperor was so displeased.”
The queen mother did not seem to think of Gu Ci so questioned, the tone also cold down.
“I just don’t like it when my mother goes behind my son’s back and makes her own decisions.” The
atmosphere seemed to freeze, and the Empress Dowager’s face became more and more ugly, but finally she just sighed and said, “That’s all right. The Ai family has forgotten. Now that the emperor has grown up, he doesn’t need the Ai family anymore.” Without saying anything,
Gu Ci took me away from the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. When
he took me back to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, his face was already so white that it was almost transparent. With my support, he reluctantly went to the bedside and lay down. His shallow eyes seemed to have a sense of guilt. “It was I who went late, so that Jiaojiao was wronged.”
From the mouth of the jade father-in-law, I learned that after Gu Ci woke up, he knew that I was taken away by the queen mother and rushed over without even drinking the medicine.
I looked absently at Gu Ci. “Why did the emperor treat me so well?”
At this moment, I seem to be a little shaken.
I don’t know whether to believe what I see or what Mammy says about him.
Gu Ci touched my hair, and in his eyes came a touch of emotion that I couldn’t understand. “Because I like Jiao Jiao.” The matter of
my poisoning was not settled. On the day when Gu Ci’s body was completely recovered, I proposed to move back to the Jiayi Palace from the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
Mammy was so angry that she scolded me for doing so, which made it even more difficult for her to do anything to Gu Ci.
I looked at her and said, “Does Mammy really think that I was lucky to escape?”
I do not believe that Gu Ci did not let people check, more do not believe that he can not find me, but he chose not to pursue, this is where I am confused.
Mammy was stunned. “What do you mean by that?”
Recalling all the things I got along with Gu Ci, a bold guess gradually took shape in my mind. I did not answer Mammy’s words and asked her to come out of the palace and invite my father.
Yes, I suspect that Gu Ci already knows who I am. I knew it
from the time he said that I would soon be able to stand by him fair and square, or the first time he called me Jiaojiao.
My real name is Xie Jiao.
I realized it too late.
But because of this, let me be sure that the extermination of the Xie family at the beginning did not seem to be like what Mammy said.
But I didn’t want my father to go to the palace to find me first. I vaguely guessed something and said directly, “My father has something to say.”
Dad paused for a long time, then sighed, “Do you know something?”
I did not speak, but nodded.
Dad heaved a deep sigh and was silent for a moment before saying, “That’s all right. Now that you know, there’s no need for Dad to hide it any more, lest you do something wrong again.”
It turned out that he had entered the palace because he knew that I had poisoned Gu Ci.
From him, I heard a very different narrative from Mammy.
At that time, the late emperor passed away suddenly, and Gu Ci was promoted to the throne. The Empress Dowager ruled from behind the curtain on the grounds that he was young, and took the opportunity to expand the mother clan. The Xiao clan was in the limelight for a while, and the only person he trusted was my father Xie Ting.
But the queen mother United courtiers, forced his father had to hand over the military power to return home, but also worried about future trouble, secretly planned to frame his father and the former prince colluded with the intention of rebellion, full of beheading.
When Gu Ci knew it was too late, with his ability at that time, the only thing he could save was the young me, but later I was taken away by Mammy without any news, he was afraid of being noticed by the queen mother, and did not dare to look for me.
After that, he stayed dormant for several years before driving the queen mother out of the court. Now, only by completely pulling out the power of the Xiao family, can he return my father and the Xie family a clean slate.
I admit that Gu Ci’s attitude towards me makes me believe Dad’s words even more.
Dad opened his mouth and hesitated to speak several times. Finally he looked at me and said, “Ruo Ruo, it was the Empress Dowager and the Xiao family who were the main culprits in that incident, not the emperor. You must not make mistakes again and again.”
He talked a lot with me, and when he left, he only said, “The General’s Office is your home at all times.”
My eyes grew red, and as I watched him leave, I suddenly said, “Dad, say sorry to my sister for me.”
Dad stopped for a moment and didn’t ask me anything.
I think perhaps from the beginning, he knew everything, but still accompanied by the General’s Office, let me into the palace. After
Gu Ci went to court, he came directly to my Jiayi Palace. For the first time,
I took off my disguise and knelt on the ground. My eyes were no longer ignorant and pure. “I want to make a deal with the emperor.”
Gu Ci paused for a moment and looked at me quietly.
I steadied my mind and continued, “The emperor can use my concubine to get rid of the Hsiao family. My concubine only asks the emperor to rectify the name of the Hsieh family and not to blame the General’s Office.”
The atmosphere seemed to stagnate. After
a long time, I heard Gu Ci’s voice, “I promise you.”
“Thank the emperor.”
The next moment, I was suddenly pulled into my arms by Gu Ci. I looked at his dark eyes in astonishment, only to hear him whisper helplessly, “You’re right. I can’t do anything about you.” For
several days in a row, Gu Ci stayed in my palace, but before Xiao Guifei and the queen mother could move, the news of the queen’s miscarriage came. By the time
I staggered in, the Palace of Earthly Tranquility was in a mess.
I rushed into the temple in a panic and only had time to hear the doctor say, “It’s too late.” Too late for
what?
When I pushed aside the crowd and saw the man lying on the bed, my legs were weak and I fell on the edge of the bed. The
harsh blood stained my eyes.
The queen’s eyes were closed and motionless. I held her hand with my
head covered. Why is it not warm? Why is it not warm.
“Check, check to the end!”
Gu Ci’s furious voice came to my ears. I can’t hear what happened
after that.
Until a torn bag of tricks was thrown in front of me. It was a bag of tricks that I had embroidered with my own hands. The doctor said that it was almost filled with musk.
My blank brain gradually restored clear and bright, good ruthless means, kill the queen to frame me, originally they are not without action, is already calculated everything.
Xiuhe suddenly got up, pulled out the hairpin on his head, and rushed at me with red eyes. “You’re a person who bites the hand that feeds her. Are you worthy of the empress? I’m going to kill you!”
But soon, she was pinned to the ground.
Gu Ci stretched out his hand to help me up, but I grabbed his wrist, shook my head with red eyes, and silently said, “No.”
I don’t want to wait any longer. Since they want to get rid of me, let them do so.
Only by letting Gu Ci hold the Xiao family higher and higher, can he fall harder.
Gu Ci was stunned for a moment and took a deep look at me. Then he snapped, “All the people in the Palace of Earthly Tranquility will be punished into the Department of Punishment, and Shen Guipin will be put into the cold palace!” A few days after
I was demoted to the cold palace, Gu Ci issued an imperial edict that the harem should not be without a master for a day. The imperial concubine Xiao of Jin was the imperial concubine, who took charge of the affairs of the harem on behalf of Feng Yin. Concu
bine Xiao was given the title of imperial concubine. On this day, she came to the cold palace with great fanfare. She said that the first empress was too easy to talk to, so she taught me this kind of concubine who didn’t know the rules. She even dared to live in the Emperor’s Palace of Heavenly Purity. It was time to learn the rules well. The
afternoon sun was shining, and I knelt on the cold stone slab of the cold palace, and my face was burning with pain.
The imperial concubine waved her hand with satisfaction and let people step down. She walked up to me step by step, squatted down slowly, and drew a blood stain on my face with the fingertips of Kou Dan. She said to me in a voice that no one could hear.
“There is nothing I can’t get that I want. If you want to stand in my way, you deserve it!”
I grabbed her skirt. “So you killed the queen.”
She kicked me away with a sneer. “It’s her own poor stupidity. No wonder this palace. To tell you the truth, there are a lot of people who died in this palace. You should be glad that this palace is pregnant now and doesn’t want to be stained with too much blood. Otherwise you think you still have a life to live!” With
that, she stepped on my toes and left in high spirits. Not long after
the imperial concubine left, Gu Ci came to the cold palace. He personally took medicine for me. His eyebrows and eyes were full of helplessness and heartache. He told me that even if I didn’t suffer, he could handle everything well.
“Why don’t you come back with me, Jiao Jiao? I don’t want to see you suffer these wrongs.” “The emperor shouldn’t have come here,”
I muttered, avoiding his gaze. “It would make people suspicious.”
“Jiao Jiao.” Gu Ci circled me more tightly, sighed helplessly, and did not speak for a long time against my forehead.
I leaned on his arms and said, “I want to ask the emperor for help.”
“If you say so, I will obey you.”
I looked in the direction of the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. “I want to avenge the empress with my own hands.”
This is what I owe the queen, so I want to take the life of the imperial concubine myself.
“Good.” Gu Ci answered in a low voice. After a
pause, he added, “I’m going to do something next, and I may be wronged by the General’s Office. No matter what Jiaojiao hears, don’t believe it. I’ll explain it to you.”
After that, the imperial concubine came several times, each time torturing me to leave in a big way, until the last time, she pinched my red and swollen chin, and her tone was full of contempt.
I have overestimated your position in the heart of the emperor.
You don’t know, do you? In order to appease the empress’s family, the emperor has constantly suppressed the General’s Office. Only now does he realize that it is the Hsiao family that he can rely on, and he even comes to visit the palace every day.
“When this palace gives birth to an heir, the position of empress will sooner or later belong to this palace. You and the empress are just stepping stones for the Hsiao family. You’re just waiting to rot and die in this cold palace.”
When Xiuhe was released from Shen Xing Si, he was haggard, and the rest of the Palace of Earthly Tranquility of the old people, most of them could not bear the torture and went one after another. The moment
she saw me, the hatred in her eyes seemed to eat me alive.
I looked at her and said, “I have never harmed the queen. Like you, I want the person who killed the queen to pay for his life. Will you help me?”
She stood for a long time, kneeling in front of me and saying in a hoarse voice, “I would do anything to avenge the empress.”
I told her not to worry. Late
that night, Gu Ci came to the cold palace. He looked tired and held me in his arms. His voice was soft. “Let me have a good hug.”
I leaned in his arms and heard him say that the Xiao family was becoming more and more unscrupulous now. He deliberately suppressed the General’s Office and snubbed my father in order to make the Xiao family defenseless and let my father catch the mistake that killed the Xiao family.
He stayed for only a few hours and left before dawn.
Before long, I heard that the former Dynasty had a fierce quarrel because of the Xiao family’s open provocation of imperial power, and even the queen mother had come forward. This situation lasted until the day the imperial concubine gave birth. Just now
, it was reported that Gu Ci ransacked the house of the Xiao family on several charges, such as selling illegal salt and stationing troops without permission. The whole clan was exiled to the frontier and was not allowed to enter the capital in this life.
I took Xiuhe to the residence of the imperial concubine, and no one stopped me. The moment she
saw me, the imperial concubine was startled and said angrily, “Who told you to come here? Get out of the palace!”
I looked at her stomach and said, “If the queen were still alive, she would have given birth by now.”
The imperial concubine was finally afraid. She called for a long time, but no one came. She looked at me in horror and said, “This palace is pregnant with the heir of the emperor. If you dare to touch this palace, the emperor, no, my aunt will not let you go!”
I looked at her quietly and said, “I just came to tell the imperial concubine that she can’t come back, and the Hsiao family is gone.”
The imperial concubine’s face changed dramatically and asked me what I meant.
I told her the story bit by bit, only to see her face getting whiter and whiter. “You lied to this palace, didn’t you? The emperor wouldn’t do this to the Hsiao family, no..” Before she
had finished speaking, she wailed in pain, as if she were about to give birth.
I asked her to prove it by herself after giving birth, and then I got up and left, only to hear the screams getting louder and louder. Not long after
returning to the Jiayi Palace, the news came that the imperial concubine had died of dystocia.
Xiuhe cried and knelt down in front of me, saying thank you for my revenge for the queen, the queen was finally able to rest in peace.
I said that the imperial concubine was self-inflicted and could not live.
I was going to let Xiuhe out of the palace, but Xiuhe refused. She said she had no place to go out of the palace and wanted to stay with me.
A few days later, Gu Ci took care of everything and appeared in front of me. He held me tightly in his arms and put his chin against my forehead. He said with emotion, “You have been wronged during this period of time. Tomorrow I will tell the world that I will return the innocence of the Hsieh family and make you queen.”
The next day, as promised, he told the world to rectify the name of the Xie family. My father, Xie Ting, became a loyal minister loyal to the emperor and protecting the country from a traitor spurned by everyone.
And I was able to stand in front of everyone as Xie Jiao, the youngest daughter of the Xie family.
A month later, I became queen, was admitted to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, and was diagnosed with pregnancy after an accidental bout of nausea.
Xiuhe looked at my belly with red eyes, as if she had seen the empress through me. “Don’t worry, the maidservant will take good care of the child for the empress.”
Gu Ci was so happy that he came to visit me in the palace every day and scolded the Imperial Physician for taking good care of me. I gave birth to a baby boy
10 months later. He rushed in and didn’t go to see the baby. He held my hand and asked me how I was.
I didn’t even have the strength to speak. I just shook my head to reassure him.
He gave my child the name Yongan and made him crown prince.
Three years later, I gave birth to a baby girl named Changle. I hope she will be happy all her life. Five years
passed, during which I was pregnant again, but because of the miscarriage, I fell ill. After that, my body was not very good. The doctor said that I should take good care of myself for some time.
But after two years of recuperation, I never got better. Instead, I got worse day by day. I couldn’t even get up from bed.
Gu Ci stayed by my side almost every day. He was afraid that I would leave him quietly one day.
I touched his face and said with a smile, “Go to court. I don’t want to be called a witch who seduces the king. I’ll wait for you to come back.”
“The prince is in charge of the court. I’m here with you. I’m not going anywhere.”
Gu Ci held my hand tightly, and his eyes seemed to have cried.
I opened my mouth, as if I didn’t even have the strength to speak, so I could only let him accompany me.
So dazed through a month, this day I managed to get some strength to open my eyes, and at a glance I saw Gu Ci standing by the bed.
He has lost a lot of weight, and I am afraid that if I don’t say something, I will never have a chance to say it again.
I told him that I liked him very much.
From the time he covered my eyes and told me not to be afraid, from the time he escorted me from the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, I told him that I had gone to the palace to kill him. After
hiding for so many years, I finally dare to say it. For the sake of my death, he will not vent his anger on our children and the General’s Office.
“I know.”
It turned out that he knew that he had made me feel guilty for so many years. I reached out to wipe his tears and told him not to cry. I was very lucky to meet him in my life.
(End of full text)
