Chapter 639 To Live the Life You Desire

At this moment, Shu Yan came limping over. Her face was pale with anger, and her lips were pursed. As she walked, she complained to the palace maid, "I'm exhausted. Burying a dead person can be so tiring. Let her die, what does it have to do with me? It's torture. My feet are all blistered, my toes are about to break, and I have a big blister. It hurts so much that I feel like I want to die."

The palace maid quickly pulled her back, "Your Highness, please stop talking..."

"Why shouldn't I speak up..."

Jiang Fenghua walked up to her silently. "You will die too. After you die, others will bury you like this. Now I'm letting you experience the burial process in advance. Know the procedure before you die, so you can die knowing the truth. Maybe you and Pan Jieyu will be neighbors in the future. You might even have to rely on her for help. Watch your mouth!"

Shu Yan's face turned even greener when she heard this. Who wants to die? Bah! Who wants to be neighbors with that short-lived Pan Nianru? What bad luck!

She dared not speak out against the Empress's constant attacks. She glanced at Helan Yanran, wondering if she had said something to the Empress that was why the Empress was deliberately punishing her.

At this moment, the atmosphere became somewhat strange.

Jiang Fenghua didn't want to argue with Shu Yan, so she said in a deep voice, "Let's go have our meal. We'll go back after we finish eating."

Helan Yanran bowed to the Empress and prepared to leave, but Shuyan took her arm and asked with concern, "Is Consort Lan feeling better?"

He Lan Yanran was puzzled. "Much better."

“You almost threw up in the car. You looked exactly like Zhang Jingjing back then. I thought Consort Lan was also having morning sickness.”

He Lan Yanran turned pale with fright, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

"I was just kidding. The Emperor hasn't returned to the palace in a long time, and you're not destined to conceive a royal heir. After all, the Emperor summoned you to his bedchamber the most times back then," she added.

He Lan Yanran grew increasingly nervous. She glanced at Shang Hong and saw that his eyes were filled with murderous intent. She shook her head at him, trying to dissuade him from causing any further trouble. They left quickly.

Jiang Fenghua happened to see Shang Hong and He Lan Yanran's little actions, but she didn't say anything. Such a scandal in the harem would not be good for anyone.

That night, she also advised Helan Yanran that doing this would only harm herself, because she had heard some things about Shang Hong from Lianye. She felt that women should live the life they want, instead of hiding their whole lives.

Helan Yanran could only pray that it was worth it for her to have a child with a man despite everything, ruining her reputation and future, in the hopes that she wouldn't be rewarded with a heartless man.

Shang Hong is the eldest son of the Shang family and the commander of the Imperial Guard. Whether the Shang family can accept a woman with no official status, and whether she can marry Shang Hong as his legal wife, remains to be seen.

This was the first time Jiang Fenghua had dined with the concubines since returning to Shengjing. She herself was surprised that she could be so calm and composed. It was probably because she had experienced the tragic deaths of Consort Zhang and Consort Pan, and because of Granny Wang's advice. She had truly listened to it, and whether she liked them or not was not the most important thing to her.

She no longer yearns for a lifelong, monogamous relationship, much less for an emperor's unwavering devotion. To continue thinking that way would be self-inflicted torment, deliberately making things difficult for herself. All she wants is to regain her memories as soon as possible.

"Why isn't Consort Lan eating? Is the food not to your liking?" Consort Gao asked with concern.

"It's not that the food doesn't suit my taste, it's just that I haven't fully recovered from my cold yet, and I feel a little dizzy. I don't want to eat anything." She coughed twice, actually afraid that she would vomit again if she ate. This had already aroused Shu Yan's suspicion, and this couldn't go on any longer. She had to think of a way to avoid it.

She rose and bowed to the Empress, saying, "Your Majesty, I will return to the carriage now."

Jiang Fenghua said, "I've finished eating too. Everyone, please finish your meal before you come out."

Song Qing said, "Empress didn't eat much either."

"I'm not hungry," she said calmly.

Shu Yan was starving today. The food was all vegetarian, but she ate it with more relish than anyone else.

Jiang Fenghua left the post station and said to Granny Wang, "Take good care of all the concubines."

A hint of worry flashed in Granny Wang's eyes, and she said softly, "Yes, Your Highness, please be careful."

Jiang Fenghua smiled and said, "Don't worry, Granny, Aoxue is here!"

When Shang Hong saw them come out, he pretended to quietly step aside and chat with the guards.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Fenghua said to Helan Yanran, "Let's ride in the same carriage, Consort Lan and I! There's a heater in my carriage, let's wait for them together."

"yes."

Jiang Fenghua rode alone in a carriage after leaving the capital. She waited for the concubines to finish their meal and get into their own carriages. The Empress's carriage was already at the front. They were not going directly back to the capital, but were going to Huguo Temple first. This was a trip that had been arranged in advance.

Just then, the carriage Jiang Fenghua was riding in suddenly went out of control and started running.

The driver steered the carriage onto a side road, and in no time the carriage had gone quite a distance. All that could be heard from inside the carriage was a woman's panicked screams.

At the same time, a group of masked men in black appeared in the distance on both sides of the path.

Shang Hong shouted "Save the Empress!" and led his men on horseback to give chase. No one knew what was happening. Someone shouted, "There are men in black! The Empress has been kidnapped! They won't kill her, will they? Consort Lan and the Empress got into the carriage together. Will they be alright?"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Shu Yan being helped along, looking like she was watching a show.

Gao Qingtong said coldly, "Shut up. Her Majesty is blessed by the heavens and will definitely be alright."

The other concubines were also very nervous. Everything was fine just now, so how could there suddenly be an assassin?

Zuo Si and the others had just finished eating and were preparing to get into their carriages to return to the capital when he hurriedly rode his horse to catch up.

For a moment, everyone panicked and stood there, at a loss.

Meanwhile, when Shang Hong and his men caught up with the Empress's carriage, they found it had been driven to the edge of a cliff. Jiang Fenghua jumped down from the carriage and shouted, "Consort Lan..."

Just then, Shang Hong arrived with his men, saying, "Your Majesty, please be careful."

Jiang Fenghua feigned panic and shouted hoarsely, "Quickly go save Consort Lan! She's still in the carriage; she didn't have time to jump out."

Shang Hongchao said to the Imperial Guards, "Go quickly to rescue Consort Gui."

The Imperial Guards saw that the cliff in front of them was bottomless, and even if they found the person, he would probably be smashed to pieces. They watched the carriage fall down with their own eyes, and then there was no more sound after a few crashes.

Some people said, "If he falls from here, he probably won't survive."

They couldn't find a way down; the mountains were covered in ice, and the slopes were steep and slippery.

However, at that moment, another group of men in black surrounded them. The woman in black who was in the lead said, "We've been following you all this way. I didn't expect there to be so many people who want to kill Empress Jiang."

Jiang Fenghua stood up from the ground and stared at the woman in front of her with a black veil covering her face. Was she Su Qingqing's person?