Chapter 28 Innocence "The snake's tongue was cool and sticky..."
The warm pavilion was quiet. The palace servants in front of the door had all withdrawn. Only the rustling of the paulownia leaves by the dry well in the courtyard could be heard.
A young girl sat with her knees drawn up to her chest beneath a small window. Her eyes were fixed on a blank spot, her lips were bitten, and she was clutching the handkerchief in her hand tighter and tighter. After a while, a tear suddenly fell from her bright eyes.
Jinlian has been placed in Qingyu Palace by Ji Changhuan for over a month, but in these thirty days, she has not had a chance to take a good look at Ningxian.
She was just a handyman, not a personal maid, so seeing Ning Xian was harder than climbing to heaven. Last night, Lan Rong scolded her for almost half an hour, and she couldn't accept it no matter how much she thought about it. So she dared to come to the warm pavilion alone and try her luck to see the person she longed for day and night.
Unexpectedly, although people saw it, their eyes were stung by the green-clad girl that Ning Xian was holding in his arms.
She hid in the corner, listening to the occasional noises coming from inside the house. Although Jinlian couldn't see what was happening inside, as soon as she closed her eyes, the horrifying scene was etched into her mind.
The outside was temporarily sealed off by Lan Rong, so she couldn't leave and could only sit in the corner listening to the enchanting music for the entire night.
It wasn't until the first rays of dawn pierced through the clouds that things finally quieted down. Jinlian looked at the sky turning a pale white, and the resentment in her heart transformed into a flame that burned ever brighter.
Ji Changhuan is now in dire straits, unable to even save himself, so he certainly can't be relied upon. Ning Xian is about to go to the frontier, so she needs to make plans for herself quickly.
Jinlian covered her ears, trying to block out the sounds coming from inside the house. She sniffed and decided to climb over the wall and escape, temporarily leaving this dangerous place.
...
Ruan Yang had a very deep dream. In the dream, she was in a hot and humid cave. Her thin, damp shirt clung to her originally dry skin, making her feel unbearably hot.
In a hazy vision, she seemed to see a giant snake, thicker than a thigh, coiled around her body. The snake deliberately coiled itself up, its wet tongue flicking in and out of her face.
It's both cool and sticky, which really makes you get goosebumps.
In her dream, the air in the cave was thin, making it difficult to breathe freely. Ruan Yang had no choice but to crane her neck and try to smell the fresh air outside. She even ignored the pain in her waist and legs when she accidentally fell.
She just wanted to escape from that slippery snake body as quickly as possible...
Ning Xian lay on the couch, breathing evenly, but in reality, she was so happy that the corners of her mouth were practically turned up to the sky.
Although he had stayed up all night and was quite tired, he still gnawed on the unconscious person again when he woke up in the morning, and now he had finally vented his anger.
He gently held Ruan Yang in his arms, inhaling the sweet fragrance of the girl's hair. For once, he forgot all about the troublesome mundane matters and didn't want to care about them at all.
All I want is to be with someone and live happily ever after.
When he was riding high, he presented Ruan Yang with the best things, pampering her until she was fair and delicate. Now that he might be going to hell at any moment, he naturally wants to take her with him to suffer.
He doesn't want his well-fed kitten to recognize someone else as its owner and make that person happy.
Although the person in his arms was lifeless and not as fun as before, why would Ruan Yang be so obedient to him if he didn't drug her and make her unconscious?
Looking at the pale-faced girl, Ning Xian realized that she was so fragile that she was about to pass away at any moment. His heart began to clench and throb with pain.
After a long pause, he laughed maniacally, and then a few drops of liquid, whether from worry or panic, suddenly slid down his cheeks.
What to do? They say that if you do something bad, you'll be struck by lightning and die, but he didn't do it on purpose...
Ning Xian bent down and closed his eyes, intending to kiss Ruan Yang's pale face, but at the same time, the door outside the curtain was pushed open by an extremely heavy and slow force.
Ning Xian paused, and as the steady footsteps drew closer, he withdrew his smile, covered Ruan Yang with the blanket, tidied his own disheveled and open clothes, and sat up unhurriedly.
The emperor drew back the bed curtains and saw Ning Xian sitting on the edge of the couch, her head tilted back, her phoenix eyes, moist and scarlet, looking at him. Underneath her plain nightgown, her chest muscles were clearly defined, and there was a very conspicuous lip rouge on it.
The bed was a mess; at a glance, you could see all sorts of things on the quilt.
The woman he longed for was now lying on her side behind Ning Xian, her black hair tangled on the soft pillow, her jade-like neck mottled, and her fragrant shoulders slightly exposed.
The emperor's tone was icy: "What are you doing?"
Ning Xian closed his eyes, which had just been filled with tears, and let out a soft, extremely painful hiss. He lowered his head and slowly rubbed his temples, as if trying to recall what had just happened.
Seeing Ning Xian's innocent appearance, the sandalwood prayer beads wrapped around his palm were almost crushed by the emperor. If it were just the two of them, father and son, in Qingyu Palace at that moment, he would have already slapped him.
If word gets out that the Crown Prince resorted to such underhanded tactics to ruin a woman's reputation, what will become of the royal family's dignity?
The large crowd behind him was reminding him that if he caused a rift between father and son because of a woman, it would obviously make him a laughingstock.
He cannot get angry, at least not now.
The emperor loosened his teeth, looked at the "innocent" Ning Xian and sneered. He couldn't understand what had happened to the most obedient and sensible child that had turned him into this.
Extreme, selfish, and ruthless, he eventually became an emotionless, self-isolated machine.
It was as if no one could pull him out of the dark, damp mire.
Ruan Zhuoyin can't do anything right now. Going up to comfort her would be like walking into a knife's edge, and standing still would make her, her own aunt, seem too indifferent.
Just as she was hesitating, Ah Chou arrived. After some "persuasion" from Lan Rong, she still chose to betray her sister once again.
No one is more important than one's own life.
Ah Chou knelt down by the bedside, tears streaming down her face. She looked at Ruan Yang's deathly pale face and said, "Miss... how did you become like this? Your Majesty, why has the Second Miss been unconscious all this time?"
Lan Rong stepped forward, picked up something from Ruan Yang's hand, and squeezed it: "What's in the second young lady's sachet?"
The sachet was bulging, seemingly filled with a lot of powdery substances. At that moment, Lan Rong accidentally slipped and opened the sachet, causing it to fall to the ground and spill all the medicinal powder inside.
Soon, someone summoned the imperial physician. The old physician picked up a piece of powder the size of a fingernail, sniffed it, and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this is aphrodisiac powder. Overdosing will cause poisoning and make people faint."
Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager sneered: "Empress, your Ruan family really has raised some outstanding girls, each one more ruthless than the last."
As Ruan Zhuoyin listened to the Empress Dowager's reprimand, she inadvertently met Ning Xian's eyes. Ning Xian's gaze, which seemed to pierce through her spine, was like a demon possessing her.
She lowered her eyes and said, "Your Majesty...I knew nothing about it. Since there are both witnesses and physical evidence, I have no way to defend myself. The decision is entirely up to the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty."
The emperor was not someone who couldn't distinguish right from wrong, but at this moment, for the sake of the greater good, he had to preserve the royal family's reputation and had no choice but to abandon this innocent beauty.
If he wanted Ruan Yang again, he would lose face. Throughout history, which wise ruler would openly steal his son's woman?
He disdained and scorned it, so he had no choice but to reluctantly give it up.
After giving Ruan Yang a longing look, the emperor took a deep breath and sighed, "Miss Ruan has defiled the harem. From this day forward, she shall be expelled from the palace. Unless there is an imperial edict, no woman of the Ruan family shall ever set foot in the palace again."
"As for the Crown Prince..."
The emperor now loathed his son to the extreme. He coldly said, fiddling with the prayer beads on his hand, "No need to wait any longer. Set off for the northwest border defense in three days."
Just let an accident happen on the way; the crown prince will pass away, the whole country will mourn, and we can choose someone else a few years later.
He glanced at the unconscious Ruan Yang and sighed, "Disperse, Your Majesty. The weather is getting cold, and the patient can't withstand the wind. Quickly take her back."
Upon seeing this, Ruan Zhuoyin personally wrapped the naked person tightly in a blanket and then quickly called over the nannies.
The midday wind was warm, yet it couldn't help but send a chill through people. The people in Qingyu Palace gradually dispersed, leaving only Ning Xian and the Emperor in the center of the warm pavilion.
The emperor, unwilling to say more, glanced at Ning Xian with disgust and left with a casual remark: "Shameless thing, no wonder they're mother and son."
Upon hearing this, Ning Xian's calm heart skipped a beat. He lifted his eyes and watched the bright yellow figure grow increasingly blurry.
......
The emperor's good mood was completely ruined. Instead of returning to Chonghua Palace to rest, he went to the Empress Dowager's Funing Palace.
The Empress Dowager lay flat on the jade mat, closing her eyes to rest, while the palace maids kneeling on either side of her combed her hair and massaged her.
The emperor sat in the armchair outside the screen for a long time without saying a word, pointing and flipping through the book in his hand, it was unclear whether he was engrossed in reading or not.
After a long pause, the Empress Dowager, with her eyes half-open, lazily said, "Come in."
The emperor listened and went over as instructed.
The Empress Dowager sighed, "You are a good ruler who loves his people. Perhaps you do not want to see Lady Nguyen forced to commit suicide in order to clear her family's name."
The emperor frowned. Even in such matters, he felt compassion and tenderness, and he truly did not wish to see that vibrant and lovely person die.
He had just personally decided on the opportunity to be with the stunning beauty in the future, but he was still unwilling to give up.
The emperor asked, "Does Mother have a solution?"
The Empress Dowager closed her eyes and said, "So many people in the palace have witnessed this. If we want to silence the gossip and protect Ruan's reputation, while also maintaining good relations between the two families, I think it would be better to simply grant the marriage."
The emperor frowned: "A bestowed marriage? You mean, to make Ruan Yang a legitimate wife for the crown prince?"
"yes."
The emperor was speechless. He had known all along that Ning Xian had this idea in mind, but he did not want to compromise with him so easily.
The Empress Dowager continued, "Don't forget, the Ruan family is no saint either. With the Ji family gone, the Ruan family has become the only powerful family. They've been trying to put someone in your bedchamber. Don't you know what they're up to?"
"If we learn from the Ji family's lesson and are content to keep the Ruan family's position, that's fine. But people's hearts are unpredictable. Do you know what Ruan Xishan will be thinking a few years from now?"
"Xian'er's actions this time are not only driven by his own selfish desires, but also by his concern for the Ning family's future. His good intentions are commendable. Your Majesty, we must be wary."
The emperor sighed, "Don't mention that shameless thing in front of me. I don't have a son like that."
The Empress Dowager said, "It is not appropriate for me to interfere in the matter of establishing an heir. Since you are determined to depose Xian'er, I have nothing more to say."
"In my opinion, since things have come to this point, Your Majesty might as well grant the Crown Prince's last wish."
The emperor was taken aback.
“If you insist on forcing the Crown Prince to leave, with Ruan by his side, he will have company on his journey to the underworld. You will not have wasted these twenty years of father-son relationship.”
"If you really can't bear to part with her, after the Crown Prince dies, find an opportunity to give Ruan a new identity and summon her back. Who would dare to speak nonsense then?"
Seeing no movement, the Empress Dowager opened her eyes and, noticing the Emperor lost in thought, scoffed, "Well, Your Majesty, what do you say?"
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The author's note: The male protagonist is indeed morally bankrupt and purely evil, but compared to the two-faced people like the Emperor, Empress, Empress Dowager, and the Ruan family, he is... the best of a bad bunch.
The comments section is now open! Feel free to share your thoughts, everyone! Let's give it a good dose of nutrient solution! [Sprinkling flowers]
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