Chapter 1485: Chapter 870: Her Bygone Years
"Chu Family girl...prostitute..."
"I’m telling you...she’s a Chu Family girl, almost became a Princess Consort..."
"Chu Yezui, you can die...but don’t blame me for showing no mercy to your family deployed to the border..."
"Live, live as they want you to...only then will the Chu Family survive..."
"Live...wait for her to return..."
Faces flash before her eyes, the pain between the bed curtains, the dreams of yesteryears...
And that one day.
The double happiness sign on the curtain, the golden boys and jade maidens beside the fruits...her elegant and gentle mother adjusting the hairpin in her hair, personally taking the comb to brush her hair...
In the mirror, she sees her own smile and her mother’s smile.
In a daze, she hears...
One brush to old age...Ah Zui will certainly grow old with His Highness...
Her sister holds her hand beside her, foolishly smiling: "I don’t want sister to grow old with Brother Yi...I’m not grown up yet...I don’t want you to grow old..."
Later...they did not grow old together, and she didn’t grow up.
It was as it was at the beginning.
She stands by Willow Bank, looks back at the tree she once rushed out to hold...only the lonely shadow of the tree, she thinks for a moment, turns to the shimmering water...vast daylight, she steps in, enters the water.
Sinking into the river.
Never seen again.
Chu Yezui died, Yezui remains, sitting dazed at the bow of the boat, like a ghost, watching her body sink into the depths of the river...
Her mind is full of ten years ago, throughout ten years, and ten years later...
A force pulls at her to leave.
A whirlwind of consciousness, she sees not the emperor’s memory, but her own past life...
After viewing it all, it’s time to return.
Her body is pulled up...
She suddenly grips the bow of the boat, she does not want to return.
No!
The force pulling her is too strong...so strong it seems she has no strength to resist, yet she lets go of the bow, and instead rushes into the cabin, reaching out to grasp the hand of the person on the bed...
The pulling force disappears.
Indeed, this person has an immensely powerful will that can resist this force...
Yezui looks down at her own hand.
She is a soul, yet can hold the other’s hand.
Could it be...her past life’s obsession?
No one knows how many years later this future generation replaces her...and finally grips this hand.
Day and night, she simply sits by the bed, until three days later.
The person on the bed wakes up.
She naturally cannot see herself.
Just glances around, staggering in extreme pallor and weakness, tumbles off the bed, not even caring about her disheveled clothes, just to the bow of the boat, sees your solitary wine jug at the bow.
The beauty has departed.
The always noble prince says nothing, resolutely leaps into the water.
No one knows how long has passed, a soaking wet person climbs back onto the boat.
Her martial arts are certainly excellent, no trouble staying underwater for a Shichen.
But ultimately tired beyond measure, also weakened by the toxic effects of wine, after getting on the boat she has no strength left, just lies on the deck, slowly breathing, quietly gazing at the sky, she speaks, as if talking to the one dead in this river without finding their bones....
"Thirty years ago...the previous emperor collapsed, the new emperor ascended, Consort Li pregnant had no family support, and was low-born, yet severely ostracized due to favoritism, pressured by the Imperial Court and rear palace, reluctantly went to Tailing Mountain for the ceremony in pregnancy...the journey was troubled, compounded by malicious people’s drugs, first night in the mountain prematurely gave birth...fought for a birth, only to have a stillborn...giving birth to a stillborn in the Royal Spirit Mountain was a great omen of misfortune, Consort Li knew she would not escape this calamity...just then the temple abbot, indebted to her, fearing too many implicated would lead to excessive killings, came forward with a baby...this baby appeared inexplicably under the Buddha statue the day before, carrying auspicious signs, the abbot dared not make it public, so raised it in the back...live baby to replace the stillborn...Consort Li survived desperately, yet worried if it was known she was a Princess, she would not stand in the palace...gave in to greed and presented the baby as a Prince to the emperor, from then that child lived as a Prince in the royal court....highly favored by the emperor, but unaware she was not of the Imperial Family bloodline, merely believed she was female, cross-dressing as male, substituting for the Prince’s dignity, never truly free...until the winter she reached twenty...Consort Li suddenly begged the emperor to grant marriage with the Chancellor’s daughter of the Chu Family...she was unwilling, being female, how could she drag her dear friend into trouble, refused, but Consort Li said her age was due, if not married soon, it would raise suspicion from the Empress’s line, moreover her appearance was too handsome, causing doubt...they were already investigating the midwives of that time...if not proactive, in future the crisis would be unavoidable...and, Chu Yezui had such a good relationship with her, surely would keep the secret...no one else could be trusted...so reasonable, yet she refused...not knowing the emperor’s decree was issued...beyond reversal...restless with guilt, unable to face her dear friend, especially seeing her joyful face, with no way out, had to make do, strive to conceal everything perfectly, ensure those beside her remained unharmed...yet little did she know that night..."
That night...that was a winter night.
Heavenly snow as fine as goose feathers, covering the entire Royal court, cold and solitary.
She sneaked into the Chu Mansion, secretly saw her dear friend’s joyful face, with heavy steps tread snow back to the palace.. but received summons from the emperor, the attendant seemed they had been waiting for her return as if knowing where she was...uneasy at heart, still she went.
The palace Glass Lanterns were obscure, the beloved emperor sat ashore, wine cup already served.
He looked heavily, her heart sank.
"Yiyi, come quickly,"
the emperor doted on her as always...
She stepped forward, sat opposite, accompanied him drinking, yet remained silent. The emperor, however, was particularly talkative today, chatting about this and that, seemingly casual but every sentence carried hidden probes...
Perhaps, the investigation was not against the Empress’s faction, but rather those belonging to the emperor.
How to break this game?
She instinctively felt that today was a Hongmen Banquet, the wine had problems.
Yet she saw the emperor was already drunk, his eyes hazy as he looked at her and laughed: "Yiyi, you have grown up so beautifully, unlike a boy at all..."
This sentence made her feel a chill down her spine, the most frightening thing was his hand already covering the back of hers...
She abruptly withdrew her hand, "Father, you’re drunk."
"Drunk? I think it’s others who assume I’m drunk, thus scheming and deceiving behind my back..."
The emperor’s expression was gloomy, his eyes cold. With a sweep of his hand, the wine and dishes on the couch tumbled to the ground, clanging loudly, yet none of the eunuch servants outside dared to utter a sound.
The entire palace turned chillingly indifferent.
She breathed slowly, just about to descend from the couch, but felt weary and powerless.
The emperor approached...
Suddenly there was noise outside, it was Consort Li rushing in, the attendants unable to stop her. After entering the hall, she closed the door herself, her gaze swept over... finally stepping forward.
"Yiyi, you drank too much again... Your father has an early court session tomorrow... don’t be so reckless..."
As she was helped out of the hall by Consort Li... both their palms were covered in cold sweat.
A narrow escape indeed.
Walking through the snow, the attendants followed at a distance...
Consort Li began to tell her about the events from those years, step by step.
As bold as she was back then, she is as brave now.
Yet also as despairing.
"What I said, did it frighten you, or were you scared in the hall?"
Consort Li’s words cleared the fog from her mind, making her manage only a bitter smile: "Both... Mother Consort, can we still escape?"
"You don’t blame me?"
"I don’t blame you."
Consort Li gazed deeply at her, reached out her hand, touched her face, and softly said, "This palace is exceedingly deep. Back then, I was just as innocent and naïve, but over the years, my heart turned to one of a viper..."
"Mother Consort is a good person."
For the sake of this shocking secret and power, she planted personnel outside the palace to eliminate her foes.
Inside the palace... many women met their demise by the staff.
Only this more beautiful daughter of hers called her a good person.
She suddenly laughed, "A good person... My Yiyi is indeed a good person... Only good people can’t survive in this court... You are, so is Chu Yezui, you are all good children... Do you know what will happen to me, and to you, after today?"
"The emperor’s heart is hard to fathom, ruthless as a tiger. The only affection he shares is but thinly among his numerous children, and this is in non-threatening situations. If there’s a threat, any daughter, brother or father can be killed... Your father is a heartless person too..."
"I know... As of now, he only confirms that I am female, unaware that I am not of royal blood..."
"Knowing you’re female is enough."
She was startled.
Consort Li caressed her face, gently laughed: "Yiyi, there is no one else in the world but you who doesn’t know how dangerous you truly are... Beauty is the most powerful force in this world, making rulers insistent on possessing it, yet also attracting plenty of envy... In those years, I was forcibly brought to your father’s Royal Mansion, my once promised fiancé was eliminated overnight... This is the method of the Royal family... If today, he finds out you are not of his blood, the royal child he cherished for twenty years turns out to be an impostor, his rage would know no bounds, your beauty will kindle his greed... Once satisfied, your identity and past cannot see the daylight, otherwise, it would be the greatest scandal of the royal family. You’d be bound in a dark room never to see daylight, or dealt with using a white silk scarf or a cup of poisoned wine... The imperial family is the foulest... So, you must leave."
What she said, didn’t she understand?
Over the years she has seen through it all?
"If I leave, what about you? And Ah Zui..."
"He doesn’t know about your lack of blood relation to him yet... there aren’t many days left to hide it... If you don’t leave, when it becomes public, the implicated people... will certainly include Chu Yezui... Without the eggs under the overturned nest, it’s my previous decisions that harmed her... Now, we can only rein in at the brink of the precipice."
Rein in at the brink of the precipice, she understood.
Her departure is the best choice.
When the emperor’s intent is still uncertain.
"He won’t let me go."
"He will."
The certainty of Consort Li made her heart suddenly uneasy, just as she began to speak, a sudden dizziness enveloped her head... Then she was carried away, only dimly seeing her mother consort standing in the snow, gradually receding from her sight...
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