Chapter 75 Yanluo "I promise you."
Ning Xian's words felt like a heavy stone pressing on her heart, and Ruan Yang felt a wave of nausea.
He tampered with the contraceptive soup, and even secretly replaced the incense in the incense burner, while he was foolish enough to think that everything was foolproof.
Panic, helplessness, and anger at being deceived all accumulated and were released at this moment.
The existence of this child constantly reminds her that the humiliation that once lingered inside her body will soon become a living, breathing person.
She was afraid she would soften her heart, afraid that the child would make her forget her hatred.
Ruan Yang shook her head: "No..."
"This child isn't yours! I conceived a child with someone else, betraying you. It has nothing to do with you..."
Ning Xian scoffed. The woman's disgusted expression only confirmed that the child in her womb was his: "Oh? Not mine, then whose is it? That brat Fuling?"
"He is innocent!"
"Fine, since you won't talk, then I'll just drag out all the suspicious people one by one and kill them all?"
Ruan Yang was filled with grief and indignation at his bloodlust and disregard for human life. She raised her hand and slapped Ning Xian: "You'd better do something good for your child!"
Ning Xian pulled her wrist, his eyes calm as he smiled and said, "It's easy to do good deeds. As long as you behave yourself, I promise I won't touch anyone."
Ruan Yang glanced at the open, carved doorway, where lush trees and interconnected roof tiles stretched out.
She forcefully shook off Ning Xian, broke free from the palace servants' obstruction, and ran desperately outside.
"What do you want to do?!"
"Ruan Yang!"
Ning Xian's voice chased after her, gradually drowned out by the sound of the wind. Ruan Yang ran towards the railing without regard for anything else, trying to seize the only chance to kill the life in her womb.
This is the attic, the second floor is only a few meters above the ground. If she falls, she won't die, at most she'll break her arms and legs, but the baby in her womb, who is less than two months old, probably won't be able to withstand it.
Ning Xian watched helplessly as Ruan Yang clumsily fell several times, feeling a sharp pang of sorrow in her heart.
He strode over and, in the blink of an eye, easily grabbed Ruan Yang.
"Let me go..."
Ruan Yang twisted her body, but her wrists seemed to be shackled.
Ning Xian had no choice but to pin her against the railing, making her unable to move.
He sighed, "Don't do that, what if you hurt it? You're going to be a mother, but all you know is to be so careful with Lu Wenjin's child. You wouldn't even let me touch it when it was still in your belly."
"And you wish my own flesh and blood would turn into a pool of blood right away? Ruan Yang, don't be so heartless, can't you treat everyone equally?"
Ruan Yang, having this child, acted with a sense of arrogance and fearlessness. In a fit of anger, she spat at him: "Why should I be treated the same as everyone else? Lu Wenjin is so accommodating to me, but how do you treat me? At least he didn't use force on me and hurt me after he found out I was pregnant!"
After hearing this, Ning Xian noticed a bruise around her wrist beneath her palm.
He changed his position and hugged Ruan Yang, burying his face in her shoulder: "I've been looking forward to this for so long. It's not easy for you to get pregnant. Just think of it as the baby from before coming back to us."
Ruan Yang pounded Ning Xian's back so hard it made a loud thud, and the palace servants nearby were terrified by the sound.
"Don't bring up the past with me. My biggest regret is that I was so excited to see that child born. If you hadn't suddenly brought another woman back to annoy me, that child would still be here."
"You doubt me? I've already killed Jinlian, what more do you want?"
Ning Xian narrowed her phoenix eyes slightly, noticing a hint of grievance in Ruan Yang's shifty eyes.
He didn't get angry. Instead, he slowly released her, and a sense of remorse began to creep into his heart. Looking back on everything that had happened, he admitted that he was truly not human.
But since the deed is done and the apology has been made, and it's all in vain, I might as well go all out and be ruthless to the end.
Ning Xian sighed, "Guards, keep an eye on the Empress. Without my permission, she is not allowed to step out of Fengqi Palace."
Ruan Yang was pinned to the ground, her black hair and white nightgown disheveled in the wind. Ning Xian looked down at her and gently brushed the hair hanging on her face behind her ear.
"Ruan Yang, I promise you, whether our child is a boy or a girl, he will be the sole heir to the throne. After I die, you will be an empress dowager whom even the emperor will respect. You will enjoy wealth and honor for the rest of your life. Whether you erect a monument for Lu Wenjin or worship him and burn money for him, no one can stop you from doing whatever you want."
“I will never back down on the matter of the child. You had better behave yourself. If anything happens to my child, everyone in Phoenix Palace will be buried with him.”
The Phoenix Palace has dozens of people, all of whom are constantly monitoring Ruan Yang in order to survive and ensure the safe birth of the imperial heir.
Ruan Yang stayed in her room for almost three days without eating or drinking. During this time, she tried to take her pulse and swallow gold, but Dieyi and the others discovered it.
After all that commotion, she was now completely dazed and lay in the room filled with the scent of medicine, like a walking corpse.
Upon hearing this, Ning Xian decisively punished several innocent palace servants. The screams of those people before they died echoed in Ruan Yang's ears. Only when she was willing to drink the medicine for preventing miscarriage would the beating stop.
Dieyi placed the steaming hot food on the table, and seeing Ruan Yang's haggard face and silent tears, she felt even more anxious and helpless.
Despite the whip marks on her back, she knelt before Ruan Yang, bowing her head and weeping: "Your Majesty, please eat something. If this continues, the baby in your womb may not be able to take it."
Seeing that Ruan Yang was heartless and had no reaction, she had no choice but to kowtow until her forehead was swollen: "We servants all have elderly parents and young children at home. Granny Sun's child is only a few months old. None of us want to die. Your Majesty, please take good care of yourself so that His Majesty can spare us."
Dieyi's words struck Ruan Yang's chest like a dull thud. She trembled as she loosened her grip on her ears and turned to see the purple and blue whip marks on Dieyi's arm.
Dieyi and Granny Sun were the most sincere people she had met in Fengqi Palace in the past two years. She really couldn't bring herself to be ruthless and watch them be beaten to death by Ning Xian.
But what could she do...?
Ruan Yang clenched the fabric in front of her abdomen, and after a long while she finally calmed down. Ning Xian took advantage of her soft heart to force her to give birth, but she refused to give in.
Since Ning Xian wouldn't let her get rid of it, she would let his biological father deal with this wicked child himself.
Ruan Yang propped herself up and slowly got up from the bed. She coldly looked at the pregnancy-preserving medicine in her hand, picked it up and drank it all in one gulp.
Then he picked up his rice bowl and wolfed down his food.
"Is that alright? Go tell Ning Xian to stop."
......
Summer passed and autumn arrived in the blink of an eye. It was the Qixi Festival again. The palace held a banquet as usual. However, this time there was no one else at the banquet. Only the emperor and empress enjoyed the singing and dancing and watched the autumn moon by the pond.
The fruits and snacks on the table were all things Ruan Yang loved to eat, but now she had no interest in them at all. However, she was also easily hungry, so she had no choice but to pick up the sour plum drink in front of her to satisfy her craving.
Ning Xian frowned as she watched her drink the plum juice without changing her expression and asked, "Don't your teeth feel sore?"
However, a casual remark made Ruan Yang jump like a frightened bird, and she accidentally spilled some soup, choking on it and turning red in the face.
Ning Xian was taken aback, then stood up and gently patted Ruan Yang's back, her voice softening: "I'm sorry, I startled you by speaking too suddenly."
After that day, the two temporarily ceased hostilities and spent more than a month in peace. Ruan Yang also gradually began to consume some supplements for the sake of the child in her womb.
Everything is moving in a positive direction.
Ruan Yang forced a smile, then carefully wiped the dark wooden piece in her arms.
The sticky soup splattered on the wooden piece was difficult to clean, but Ruan Yang patiently wiped it off bit by bit with a handkerchief, even ignoring his favorite play on stage.
Ning Xian lowered her eyes and looked at Ruan Yang's slightly protruding belly, which was pressed tightly against Lu Wenjin's memorial tablet. She felt extremely disgusted.
It's really bad luck to have something from a dead person stuck to his child like that!
Ruan Yang had been openly missing Lu Wenjin for more than just a day or two. He wanted to ignore it, but all her actions made it impossible for him to ignore.
In her dreams, she called out for Lu Wenjin. When she woke up, she would hug that broken memorial tablet every moment, sometimes crying and sometimes laughing like an idiot. She even insisted on including the character "Jin" in the name of her child, and even named it "Nianjin" or "Sijin"!
Everyone else said that Ruan Yang had suffered a shock and developed hysteria, but only Ning Xian knew that this woman was taking advantage of her pregnancy with his child to try and anger him to death!
He gritted his teeth and said, "Can you please stop rubbing? Your fingers are already bleeding. No matter how clean you rub them, he won't come back to life."
Ruan Yang then noticed that her index finger was bleeding. She looked up at Ning Xian with tears in her eyes and said, "I have already promised to bear your children, but you won't even grant me this little bit of freedom?"
After speaking, the woman in front of him looked heartbroken and on the verge of tears. Ning Xian hesitated, then remembered the words the imperial physician had told him.
The most important thing for a pregnant woman is to be in a good mood.
Ning Xian laughed loudly, "Yes, yes, why not? From now on, I'll change my name to Lu Xian. Are you satisfied?"
To the palace servants around him, this laugh made him look like he had gone mad with anger.
Unfortunately, Ruan Yang ignored him, tightened her grip on the memorial tablet, and continued watching the play.
"Your babbling is giving me a headache, let's not watch anymore."
Ning Xian rubbed her temples, realizing that her old headache had flared up again, so she endured it and took Ruan Yang's small hand.
"How about I take you to see something even more interesting?"
It was dark at night, and Ning Xian was afraid that Ruan Yang would fall if she walked too fast, so he picked her up and carried her towards the arched bridge.
Looking out over the vast river, lotus lanterns shone like stars on both sides, and in the middle, women danced gracefully on the water. Occasionally, a strange fragrance wafted in the air. After a fleeting spark exploded on the water's surface, a group of colorful butterflies emerged from the hidden box and fluttered all over the sky.
With a "bang," Ning Xian covered Ruan Yang's ears from behind, and fireworks burst in the dark night sky, illuminating the patterns on the butterfly's wings.
In an instant, golden light shone brightly before Ruan Yang's eyes.
For a moment, the palace servants forgot the rigid and solemn rules and hid in the corners, cheering and jumping for joy.
Ning Xian hugged Ruan Yang from behind, placed his palm on her abdomen, and carefully felt the fetal movements, which were not very obvious.
If she can just wait another month or so, the baby in her belly will be safe, and then it won't be too late to restore her freedom.
"Yangyang, look how envious they are of us. If things continue like this, won't we become famous and a legend?"
"A good story is unlikely, but being infamous for eternity is more probable."
Ruan Yang had grown accustomed to the gossip outside; some people called them tyrants, wicked empresses, and adulterers.
These words describe Ning Xian perfectly, but Ruan Yang doesn't agree. She opens her palm and catches the petals falling from the tree.
She stood there for a moment, and the petals in her palm suddenly turned into tiny snowflakes in her eyes.
That day, her birthday was just as lively, with lanterns, fireworks, longevity noodles, her unborn child, and her husband who was about to return home after finishing his expedition.
Happiness is clearly within reach.
But later her husband died.
The child is gone.
She has lost everything, and now she is forced to carry the child of her husband's killer.
It's not fun at all.
Ruan Yang turned around and left, saying, "What's the point of these things that are just for children? I'm feeling a bit unwell and want to go back. Please make yourself at home."
Her words were like a bucket of cold water poured over him. Ning Xian stood there, feeling a little dejected, but he did not choose to follow. After the fireworks ended, he sat alone on the steps, drinking the fruit wine that Eunuch Liang had brought him.
"Daddy, hug me..."
Ning Xian saw a tiny creature wobbling and running towards him with outstretched arms from afar.
He instinctively dodged away, frowning as he said, "Who let you come? It's so late, why aren't you going home to sleep!"
The toddler, not even two years old, was already unsteady on her feet. When Ning Xian dodged, she fell hard on the steps.
"It hurts..."
The little baby sat on the ground, looking aggrieved, staring at Ning Xian with red eyes. His pouty expression was exactly like Ruan Yang's.
Ning Xian quickly rejected the attempt to charm him and turned her head away.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. It's so lively today, the little princess was too excited and ran out." The wet nurse quickly picked up the child and comforted her.
Ning Xian looked at the little figure hiding in the wet nurse's arms and secretly sobbing, and sighed, "Go back and check if she has fallen and hurt herself. Next time, keep an eye on her, especially don't let her run in front of the Empress."
"yes."
Ning Xian was a little drunk, but instead ordered someone to bring him stronger wine. The maid filled the cups but did not leave.
"Who gave you permission to be in front of me?"
"It was His Majesty who ordered someone to pour the wine."
After Yanluo finished speaking, she looked up at Ning Xian.
At this moment, she was wearing the same clothes that Ruan Yang had worn when she was at the Lu residence, and even her makeup was somewhat similar to Ruan Yang's.
After downing a glass of wine, Ning Xian felt a bit hot and subconsciously loosened her collar: "You can get out of here now."
Ignoring her, Yanluo took the initiative to help him up, and while touching his chest, she took the opportunity to slip into his collar and touch his burning chest muscles.
Ning Xian grabbed Yan Luo by the collar: "What did you put in the wine?"
Yanluo smiled shyly and touched his Adam's apple, saying, "It's nothing, Your Majesty. You're drunk, and your heart is beating so fast. Let me help you back to the palace to rest."
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