Chapter 69 Inner Demons "Ruan Yang, you can't live without me."...
The sound of a blade slicing through a throat was exceptionally clear in the snowy night, and drops of blood splattered onto the wall.
Wang's body was casually rolled up in a straw mat by the guards and dragged into the vast wilderness, never to be seen again.
Ruan Yang struggled to get up from the couch. She curled up in the corner and watched the killing through the crack in the window. Her fingernails dug deep into the window frame. She covered her mouth tightly to prevent herself from making a sound.
"Did you hear me? Prepare the Soul-Separating Soup as His Majesty commands!"
The guard arrogantly sheathed his sword and grabbed the poor old doctor.
"Yes, I'll go right away."
He turned around hurriedly and walked toward the pharmacy, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of that shadow quietly falling.
The old doctor was startled, recalling the pitiful look in Ruan Yang's eyes when she tugged at his sleeve before giving birth.
She was asking for his help; she wanted him to help her.
When Ning Xian returned, it was dawn, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and it was a new day.
"Your Majesty, the person is still unconscious."
Upon hearing this, Ning Xian lifted the curtain and went inside. Seeing the person still sleeping peacefully, she felt much more at ease.
"All of you, get out."
He dismissed the servants and took the bowl of dark medicine from the table.
For the sake of their eternal love, Ning Xian finally hardened his heart. He pried open Ruan Yang's mouth and poured every drop of the Soul-Separating Soup into her mouth.
After doing all this, Ning Xian bent down and greedily sucked away the remaining juice from Ruan Yang's lips, then brushed aside the stray hairs on Ruan Yang's forehead and kissed her brow.
He seems to be a gentle and considerate husband.
Bitterness spread across her taste buds, like swallowing a bitter gall bladder; Ruan Yang's hands under the covers almost broke her fingernails.
She will never forget this day, nor will she forget her deceased husband and children.
She would also remember Ning Xian for the rest of her life, remember his evil, remember his heartlessness and ingratitude.
From this day forward, her heart will never again feel a shred of pity for him.
Rather than being a dog chained up in a house by Ning Xian, I'd rather go back to the palace with Ning Xian and become a respected empress.
Tears and pleas for mercy are useless; she needs power, for only power can avenge Lu Wenjin.
The carriage moved slowly along the winding mountain road. Ning Xian held her tightly, with a hand warmer tucked into her arms. Only when her palms were sweaty did Ruan Yang finally break free from Ning Xian's embrace.
Ruan Yang slept for a long time. When he woke up, the scenery outside the carriage was completely different. The willows along the embankment were lush and the birds were singing.
She closed her eyes again, and with the man beside her who had killed her husband, she returned to the cage from which she might never be able to escape in this lifetime.
........
As the spring chill passed and the capital warmed up, Ruan Yang lay drunk on the white jade couch in the Phoenix Palace, holding a lazy raccoon in his arms.
The fragrance of sandalwood rose gently, and golden light shone through the gauze window. The girl's black hair was tied up, revealing her slender nape, and beneath her pale purple gauze dress were delicate, slender breasts.
Ruan Yang had just finished her postpartum confinement and her body had finally recovered. Postpartum confinement is inherently difficult, let alone this empty confinement period. She felt uncomfortable everywhere and, in a fit of temper, severely punished several disobedient maids a few days ago.
Ning Xian is not allowed to take in new people.
When the empress acted like a shrew and a jealous woman, it was inevitable that the court officials would rise up against her.
That day, an old minister stormed into Fengqi Palace with a sword in hand, pointed at Ruan Yang, and began to curse her, saying that he would kill the wicked empress.
The blow didn't injure Ruan Yang, but instead accidentally injured her loyal personal maid. The maid's blood splattered everywhere, and her unseeing eyes terrified everyone.
That night, Ruan Yang developed a high fever after returning home and started talking incoherently while hugging a pillow, seemingly exhibiting signs of madness.
Ning Xian was busy with official duties, but seeing this, he stayed up all night with Ruan Yang, only to witness Ruan Yang, who had barely escaped death, convulse due to a high fever.
When asked why, Ning Xian issued an imperial edict the next day to hastily dismiss the man from his post and imprison him on charges of assassinating the emperor and empress.
After this incident, both those gossiping in the inner palace and those impeaching Ruan Yang in the imperial court fell silent, and no one dared to mention that the current empress was the wife and daughter of a traitor.
Originally a diligent and benevolent emperor, Ning Xian became a completely different person after the empress moved to Fengqi Palace. He became obsessed with beauty all day long, his body was covered in red spots, and he often listened to the empress's slander. He was truly extremely muddleheaded.
"Your Majesty, this is a jade ruyi sent by His Majesty. I hope it will calm you down and help you not take those things to heart."
Fearing that Ruan Yang would catch a cold, Dieyi put Ruyi in the storeroom and then took a blanket to cover Ruan Yang.
Ruan Yang snorted, "Don't take it to heart? He indiscriminately kills innocent people, but I beat a few wicked maids, and I've become a sinner that everyone wants to kill?"
"It was his decision not to participate in the talent show, but now he's blaming me."
Dieyi remained silent, but she knew in her heart that the "he" Ruan Yang was referring to was His Majesty.
Ruan Yang lazily picked up a sour grape and put it in her mouth. She was now speaking without restraint, completely reckless. Subconsciously, she felt that nothing could threaten her anymore.
If one had to say what could threaten her, it would probably be this life she was clinging to, sustained only by a burning hatred.
To live on in this world is to be willing to pay with one's life.
She thought that if she failed, Ning Xian could take her life if she wanted, and it would be good to be reunited with her husband and children in the underworld.
She made no attempt to hide her emotions and said to Dieyi, "Go smash it."
Dieyi was taken aback.
"You don't dare? Then go get it."
Subsequently, the valuable jade ruyi broke into two pieces.
"Is she throwing a tantrum again?"
As soon as Ning Xian stepped into Fengqi Palace, he heard the sound of jade breaking. He lifted the beaded curtain, walked to the bedside, and affectionately put his arm around Ruan Yang's waist.
Before Ruan Yang could stop Ning Xian's chest from pressing against hers, her forehead bumped against his burning Adam's apple.
Ning Xian could naturally feel Ruan Yang's breath, but when he tried to get closer, he only touched her gorgeous, cool head of jewels.
He frowned, annoyed, and dismantled the hairpins, then lifted the slender woman onto his lap.
The maids, seeing this, retreated in embarrassment.
"I've already thrown that old man to Lingnan, aren't you satisfied yet?"
"Aren't you ashamed?" Ruan Yang glared at him and huffed.
“We are a married couple who have gone through the wedding ceremony, what’s wrong with us being affectionate? They should be the ones who are embarrassed.”
The sweet fragrance emanating from the girl's collarbone completely captivated him, and the person in his arms was so soft and boneless that his large hands on her waist couldn't help but tighten.
Ning Xian hadn't experienced the pleasures of love in a long time. Although he had been living with Ruan Yang for the past few months, he had gritted his teeth and endured it because he was worried that she was pregnant and might not be able to handle sex.
Now, after going around in circles, he's back again. He waited until Ruan Yang finished her postpartum confinement and her body fully recovered before he dared to tentatively kiss her.
Ning Xian looked up at the person she had lost and then regained, her heart aching: "Now that you're back, you're not allowed to go with anyone else..."
Ruan Yang laughed and said, "With whom? Could it be that what the court officials said is true, that I and the young General Lu, who died young, were childhood sweethearts and had a deep and loyal relationship, and that you stole someone else's wife?"
Upon hearing this, Ning Xian's face suddenly darkened. He grabbed Ruan Yang's chin and said in a somewhat extreme tone, "That's not true. It's all nonsense. Those old fogies are trying to sow discord."
"Lu the bandit colludes with the people of the Northern Frontier; he is a traitorous spy who treats human life as worthless. How could the Great Khan possibly like such a person?"
He chuckled with a hint of threat, "Good boy, stop talking nonsense and don't mention Lu Wenjin's name again!"
The man gripped her neck even tighter, and Ruan Yang bit her lip, silently swallowing the tears welling up in her eyes.
These tears weren't from fear or resentment, but from realizing how insignificant she was in the face of this man.
When she's happy, I pamper her like a precious treasure; when she's angry, I might snap her neck at any moment.
Before Ruan Yang could even dry the water off her face, she raised a smiling face and said to Ning Xian, "I will never dare to do it again. Please let me go, it hurts."
After she finished responding, Ning Xian exhausted herself and helped her rub away the red marks on her neck.
"That's more like it, but I'm still afraid you'll have an affair."
Ruan Yang coughed a few times, then said helplessly, "The person is dead, where can they go..."
"The person is gone, but what if your heart remains there?"
After Ning Xian finished speaking, she called for someone to bring over a box and said, "This contains Lu the traitor's ashes. Scatter them now to feed the fish in that pond."
Ruan Yang was surprised: "How did General Lu's body end up with His Majesty?"
She clearly remembered that she left after seeing Lu Wenjin off to his final resting place. The body placed in the mourning hall was a fake, the purpose of which was to prevent Ning Xian's people from destroying the body.
Ning Xian scattered the ashes with a sense of satisfaction and triumph, saying, "Dig his real corpse out of the pit, chop it into eight pieces and feed it to the dogs. As for the rest, I'll personally burn it in a fire."
As Ruan Yang watched the powder drift in the water and be swallowed bit by bit by the fish, she could no longer contain herself and wanted to slap Ning Xian: "You..."
With her wrist frozen in mid-air for a long time, Ruan Yang laughed. Ning Xian was so petty that she would be jealous of a dead person.
Ning Xian turned her chin and sneered, "Don't try to be clever in front of me. The old man who helped you with the fake medicine has already been killed by me. If you don't want to implicate innocent people, I advise you to be more obedient."
"Of course, you can choose to forget Lu Wenjin, and I'll pretend nothing happened. My Empress will always be you, and you dare to have any disloyal thoughts..."
The jealousy in his heart almost burned Ning Xian to ashes. With red eyes, he said in a trembling voice, "Then go to the dungeon and keep company with rats, snakes, and insects. You'll never see the sun again in this lifetime."
Painful memories from the past instilled a sense of fear in Ruan Yang; she would never forget the feeling of cold, slippery snakes crawling all over her body.
Ruan Yang instinctively gave in, shaking her head and begging for mercy: "Don't lock me up."
The person in front of him had tears staining his rouge, and his lips, which opened and closed, were vividly red. Ning Xian loved her pitiful appearance the most. As long as she softened, he couldn't hate her anymore.
He tested Ruan Yang's loyalty again, pushing him down onto the carpet.
Warm red silk curtains, rippling spring water...
Ruan Yang's fingers were clenched tightly. She came to her senses and spoke to Ning Xian, word by word: "I heard that Consort Wu in the Cold Palace gave birth to a little princess for you a few days ago. Aren't you going to go and see her?"
Ning Xian replied absentmindedly, "You're quite well-informed. Are you trying to get rid of me?"
"No, no, I wouldn't dare."
Ning Xian didn't answer again after that. Half an hour later, Ning Xian withdrew and hugged Ruan Yang, saying, "Aren't you afraid I'll change my mind if you send me to other women?"
Ruan Yang was tired. She tried to move her limbs, but found herself trembling strangely.
Ning Xian advised, "Women in the harem, if they do not have the emperor's favor, will not have a good ending. For example, the late emperor's concubine, Consort Li, was bullied to death by other concubines. Before she died, her mouth was stuffed with incense ash and dung by several spoiled and domineering women."
As he cleaned the torn wound on Ruan Yang's hand, he said, "Ruan Yang, you need to think this through. Without me, you are nothing. A traitor's wife who has no ability to protect herself, you can't survive in this world."
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Author's note: Hmph, and you'll survive.
Xiao Ruan: I must be strong! I will never give up!
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