The sound of shackles jingled under my feet.
I was walking on the moss-covered steps like a zombie.
If there is an afterlife, I would rather accompany the Ancient Buddha of Green Lantern all the time than suffer such a ridiculous life again.
It’s a pity that the emperor is not even willing to give me the next life.
I looked at the Taoist on the side.
I vaguely remembered the way he hesitated to speak when he left yesterday, and suddenly I felt like laughing.
He hugged me and said that he actually didn’t want to kill me, but his new queen had nightmares every day, and was afraid that she would die if she continued like this.
The Taoist priest told him that only by burying me alive in a dry well could the nightmare of the new queen be eliminated, so he could only wrong me.
It’s hard for him to act so seriously for so many years, even at the last moment.
Now I don’t even have the intention to resent him, all I can do is laugh at myself over and over again.
It was I who chose him to be my husband, and it was I who risked my life to help him ascend to the throne.
Now that he's in this situation, who can he blame? It's just his own fault.
"Go quickly, don't waste time!" Aunt Wang next to the new queen pushed me impatiently.
Under her urging, I reached the top of the steps and saw a well that had dried up for a long time.
She made me kneel by the well and tied my hands behind my back.
The maid next to me picked up my hair again and covered my eyes with a piece of white gauze.
The sound of Taoist priests chanting sutras came from the distance.
Grandma Wang accidentally cut my eyes with a sharp blade.
I curled up on the ground, a fishy-sweet taste poured into my mouth, and I bit my lip unconsciously.
I feel that my eyes hurt so much. I have never had such unforgettable pain in my life.
But I don’t want to say one more word. Even if I utter a cry, I feel like my mouth is dirty.
The eunuchs worked together to throw me down the well. As soon as I fell down, I felt that I lost consciousness in my lower body and could not move my legs and feet.
I felt dirt falling on my face, and there were smiles and smiles all around.
"Great! If this happens, she will never be able to stand up again."
In the evening, I felt someone calling me.
"Miss, wake up quickly."
It seems that no one has called me miss for a long time.
"Miss, wake up quickly, someone is coming from the palace."
I reluctantly opened my eyes and looked at the bright light in front of me, which made me feel a little dazzling.
Am I not blind?
"Miss, the emperor has chosen a concubine. I have reported your name. People outside are waiting to take you into the palace."
"Into the palace?"
When I think of the place with the deep palace wall in the courtyard, I Feeling a little sick in my stomach.
"Who am I... why do I want to enter the palace?"
"Miss, don't scare Ayun, you are Xue Ningxiang, the daughter of the Minister of Household Affairs."
I have heard of Xue Ningxiang. Rumor has it that she has big breasts, no brains, and is arrogant. She is domineering and has insulted many young men from aristocratic families based on her beauty. Her reputation has long been ruined in Kyoto.
"Ayun, please tell me quickly, who is the new queen?"
"Feng Xue, the daughter of General Feng."
It turns out that after my death, Feng Xue became the new queen.
Before my bones were cold, the emperor couldn’t wait to choose a new concubine to enter the palace. It was really ridiculous.
"Miss, please leave quickly. It will be bad if you delay the auspicious time."
I stood up and looked in the mirror. I was reborn, and I was reborn in Xue Ningxiang.
She looks different from me. I look gentle, virtuous, and have eyes as gentle as water.
Xue Ningxiang looks gorgeous, but not vulgar, like a thorny rose among thousands of flowers, very eye-catching.
Her eyes are very charming and captivating. When he blinks his eyes, he is as cunning as a fox.
I wiped the makeup on my face. If I dress so beautifully, Feng Xue will try every means to deal with it. I must hide such appearance first.
Ayun saw me wiping makeup on my face and looked at me anxiously.
"Miss, why did you erase these?"
"I like natural beauty."
Ayun looked at me and scratched his head: "Did King Yan's words have an effect?"
"King Yan?"
I don’t seem to have much impression of this person. I only remember seeing him a few times in the palace before.
"Miss, don't you remember, King Yan said that people like the former queen are real beauties. He also said something about clear water coming out..."
"Clear water comes out of hibiscus, and naturally it is carved?" "
"Yes, miss, you still insist that you don't like King Yan. Normally you can't recite a poem, but he said it casually, miss, you actually remember it."
King Yan said that I am a beauty, this It's quite strange.
I never actually exchanged a few words with him. In my impression, he always wore a jade crown and tied his hair, and he saluted me politely.
Maybe I mentioned it casually, everyone is dead, who cares now.
I straightened my clothes. The hatred between my father and brother and my life and death all depend on this Xue Ningxiang. I need to cheer up. I can no longer be as weak as before.
When I followed the eunuch into the palace gate, I found that the nuns had already started to check the body and appearance.
I have long been familiar with these things. In order to be a good mother and not to embarrass the emperor, I studied carefully every day. In the end, I learned that my mother-in-law said that there would never be anyone in the palace who is more decently groomed and well-behaved than me. People.
I watched some show girls in the talent show break the fruit plate and behave in ugly ways. After being scolded by their mammies, they rushed outside the palace.
looked at them crying, as if there was no hope in life.
I smiled and shook my head. A blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise. After entering the palace, will you get imperial power and wealth or will you be buried in a dry well? Just based on the words of the person next to you, is such luck really lucky?
"Xue Ningxiang, what are you laughing at? A crude person like you will only make bigger jokes."
Feng Yuer walked over from where she came from. She is the sister of the new queen Feng Xue. I have seen her in the Imperial Garden. .
At that time, she relied on her sister to be Feng Xue and slapped a palace maid.
When I stepped forward to stop her, she pushed me to the ground. Later, when the emperor came, Feng Xue cried and said that I beat her sister indiscriminately.
The emperor didn’t listen to my explanation and gave me a slap with his backhand.
I think some things have been traced for a long time. His love for me gradually disappeared after my father and brother died one after another.
It’s a pity that I would only look for the reasons within myself. I think it’s understandable that Feng Xue is young, beautiful and willful. Maybe he loves Feng Xue because Feng Xue already has a happy pulse.
And because I blocked the emperor's sword when I was young, I will no longer be able to have children.
I remember that he was lying outside my hospital bed, holding my hand and crying, saying: "I will be good to you in my whole life."
Life is so short, so short that we can see him break his promise so soon. , so short that you can see him choosing the new palace concubine so quickly.
I walked straight to Feng Yuer, picked up a bowl filled with water, and placed it on my head.
I walked steadily around the hall. When I took down the bowl, there was no water in the bowl. People around me gathered around in surprise.
"Xue Shangshu's daughter is so powerful, it seems that the rumors cannot be fully believed.
"So, there are people outside the world, and there is a sky outside the world. Some people rely on their sister to be the queen, dominate all day long, and secretly learn these etiquette in advance. In the end, they are not as good as Xue Ningxiang."
People on the side Every word you said to me made Feng Yuer's face turn red.
She was anxious to prove herself, so she also imitated me and picked up a bowl of water and put it on her head.
Unfortunately, the more urgent the matter became, the more things went wrong. She stumbled and fell to the ground in a hurry.
The porcelain bowl shattered on the ground and pricked her hand.
"Oh my god, the show girl can't have scars on her body, I'm afraid she will lose the election."
She took a piece of porcelain from the ground angrily.
"Xue Ningxiang blames you! If I lose, don't even think about choosing, I will make you an ugly monster!"
The grandmother beside her shouted angrily: "Feng Yu'er, you've rebelled against me!"
I saw her rushing toward me with great force. I took a step back slightly, and while pretending to help her, I stretched out my foot and tripped her. .
Feng Yuer instantly lost her balance and fell heavily to the ground. The porcelain piece in her hand was inserted straight into her face.
"Ah!"
She cried in pain on the ground: "Help, my face!"
"It's over, it's over, she's going to lose her appearance."
"What retribution, look at her arrogance."
Around The people laughed with some schadenfreude.
Several eunuchs rushed in and dragged her out clumsily, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.
Grandma walked up to me and looked at me.
I held her hand and put the jade bracelet on her hand.
"Mom, this matter was all due to her own carelessness. Please handle it impartially."
Mammy nodded towards me.
"Don't worry, you will not be wronged in public."
Xue Ningxiang's father is the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. This time the emperor chose a new concubine to consolidate his imperial power.
It was not enough for the emperor to have the support of the Feng family, he also needed other political marriages, so Xue Ningxiang was so unbearable that she still entered the primary election.
With Xue Ningxiang's temperament, doing such a thing would not arouse any suspicion.
I returned to the backyard of the show and secretly changed into a palace maid's clothes.
I am familiar with the roads in the palace. At night, I want to go to the place where I died. I was buried alive in my previous life, and I want to bring out my bones.
Before I reached the well, I saw a tall man standing on the steps.
He seemed to hear the sound and slowly turned his head to look at me.
The breeze blew across his face, and I actually felt like I was in a different world.
The face of Yan King Pei Jingyuan in front of him was like an ink painting, and all kinds of emotions were reflected in his eyes. There was an indescribable sadness.
"King Yan..."
I called him and realized something was wrong. This location is a forbidden area, and it would be bad if it attracts others.
"Who is it!? There seems to be someone over there!"
The guards in the distance were alerted, and the torches lit up in the night sky.
Pei Jingyuan quickly walked to my side, took my hand and hid in the bushes nearby.
Suddenly there was a drizzle in the sky, and the raindrops fell from the leaves and fell on my face and his.
His hair was wet from the rain, and a small mole in the corner of his eye suddenly awakened my memory.
I seem to remember the first time I met him, it was also such a rainy day.
I got lost in the palace and was soaked all over. He was painting in the pavilion. When he saw me in the distance, he hurriedly asked me to go into the pavilion to hide from the rain.
I am reserved and dare not speak, so I just stood aside quietly.
He didn't speak, he just drew quietly. There was a butterfly in the painting, fluttering its wings and about to fly.
I looked at a small mole at the corner of his eye and looked at it curiously for a long time. Why did this mole appear so affectionate and beautiful when it appeared at the corner of a man's eye.
"Where will the butterfly you drew fly to?"
I wiped the water on my face and finally couldn't hold back my curiosity. Why is there nothing else in the painting except butterflies?
He turned his head, looked at me and smiled.
"As long as I don't fly into this palace, I can go anywhere."
Not long after, I heard that he had sent a painting to my house. Unfortunately, I had just entered the palace that day and did not see the painting.
Later, I didn’t have enough money in the palace, so my mother-in-law had the painting put into a painting workshop in Kyoto for sale. I don’t know who the painting is now sold to.
"Maybe it's a wild cat. It's raining. Let's go back quickly."
The guard's voice brought me back to reality.
Several guards held torches and wiped the rain from their faces, eager to get out of the rain.
I was just about to go out when Pei Jingyuan grabbed me. He covered my mouth and motioned for me not to move.
Sure enough, within a moment, the group of guards turned back again. After seeing that there was really no one around, they really left.
The rain in the sky gradually became heavier. I looked at Pei Jingyuan in his arms with some embarrassment.
He let go of me somewhat belatedly.
"Ms. Xue, I'm offended."
"King Yan, why are you here?"
"I'm just mourning the old man. What about you, what are you doing here?"
He lowered his head and looked at me, but I didn't feel that way. She looked at his beautiful tear mole.
"I...I heard that this is the place where the emperor and the new queen made the previous queen immortal. I came here out of curiosity."
He looked at the edge of the well, and his eyes instantly darkened.
"They can't succeed. I have buried her myself. The bones here are fake. You don't have to go and see them."
I looked at him quietly, and something in my heart seemed to be touched. I thought I was buried. After Xi Qing died, no one would care about me anymore. I didn't expect that he would bury me with his own hands.
"Pei Jingyuan, thank you."
After I finished speaking, he looked at me slightly startled.
"Miss Xue, you used to only call me King Yan."
I looked up at the sky and looked at him in a panic.
"I have to go back..."
As soon as I stood up in a hurry, my foot sprained. I secretly regretted that I should not have blindly exposed my flaws.
"King Yan..."
I bit my lip. Every time I am thinking about what to say, I like to bite my lip.
He seemed to have noticed something, and the eyes he looked at me suddenly changed from distant to gentle.
Pei Jingyuan suddenly picked up my hand and put it on his face.
"You are always looking at my mole. There used to be a person who liked to look at me like this."
My heart suddenly tightened.
When I touched his fair face, I realized that he had lost a lot of weight. I seem to be back to the way I was when I first met him.
I remember Ayun said that Xue Ningxiang liked King Yan, and maybe King Yan was also interested in Xue Ningxiang, so he acted like this.
He held my hand and moved it to his eyes.
"Xue Ningxiang, didn't you say you like me? Why did you suddenly change your mind and enter the palace to choose a concubine?"
I breathed a sigh of relief, I thought he recognized me.
"Because... because I have something important to do..."
"Then I will wait for you to finish this, and then I will take you out of the palace."
Before I could say anything, he carried me on his back with a smile. .
He picked up a flower in the rain and handed it to me.
I held the delicate flower and found that the raindrops on it were shining like pearls, and suddenly I felt less panicked.
He and I were walking in the dark night in the rain. I don’t know why, but I leaned on his back and felt a little satisfied.
He carried me to the door of a side hall and put me down.
"Xue Ningxiang, if you walk along this path, you will be able to return to the draft hall."
His smile in the rain was like the scenery shining brightly and the moon shining brightly into his arms.
I ran to him and touched his face with my hands. People like
, who only said hello a few times in their previous lives, suddenly felt very regretful.
"Pei Jingyuan..."
"What's wrong?"
"Pei Jingyuan... thank you... thank you for remembering the former queen."
He looked at me as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say it. He just lowered his head and smiled: "Go back quickly, don't make people around you suspicious."
After that, I went very smoothly, and only the last stage of the palace selection was left.
I closed my eyes and remembered the cowardly eyes of Emperor Pei Yu. I didn’t know what it would be like to see him again.
During the palace election, the emperor and the queen were both sitting in the palace, and I and several other beautiful ladies stood outside the palace.
The emperor still looked pampered and well-dressed. When he wasn't crying, he pretended to be somewhat regal.
Maybe I was deceived by his appearance at first. As soon as he cried, I offered the blood of my people.
It wasn’t until he burned down the bridge and abandoned me like worn shoes that I suddenly discovered his true face.
Queen Feng Xue is much fatter than before. She looked at me with some displeasure, and her eyes were a little jealous.
"Xue Ningxiang, the daughter of the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, has a beautiful orchid heart, a beautiful appearance and a wise heart..."
Maybe it was because the makeup on my face was light, but Pei Yu didn't seem to be very interested in me, so he left my sign casually. Maybe people like Xue Ningxiang were just a formality to him.
When I retreated outside the hall, Grandma Wang, who was next to the Queen, walked up to me and handed me a box.
"Congratulations to Miss Xue for being a noble. This is a gift from the Queen."
"The daughter of the people thanked the Queen."
I opened the box and found a bloody arm inside, with a jade on it. bracelet.
This is the bracelet I gave to the draft mama during the draft. She was warning me that the next person to be put in the box might be me.
I smiled and took off the jade bracelet from my broken arm and put it on my hand.
"I just feel uncomfortable with empty hands. Now it looks good like this."
Grandma Wang in front of me first looked at me in surprise, and then laughed: "I don't know how high the sky is, but I am very brave."
I whispered in her ear: "Aunt Wang, in this palace, people are scarier than ghosts. If you don't have the courage, you can't survive."
Aunt Wang sneered: "That girl is really terrible. Take care."
