Chapter 66: Past Life (VI)
Through her tearful eyes, Chan Zhen saw the man walking towards her and stopping in front of her to block the jealous gaze from Concubine Shu.
"For Yun Yi's sake, I won't kill you." He looked at Concubine Shu with a cold gaze. "If it happens again, you can end it yourself."
"Your Majesty!" Concubine Shu's eyes widened in disbelief. "You actually wanted to kill me for this woman. She's shameless and has broken moral principles. Do you really have no regard for your own reputation at all?"
"I don't need you to remind me," he said sullenly to Guo Kai beside him. "Proclaim my decree. Concubine Shu is suffering from hysteria and is confined to Fangfei Palace from today. She is not allowed to leave unless summoned."
"Your Majesty!" Concubine Shu's voice was shrill. "Do you think that if you imprison me, no one will know about this inappropriate behavior?"
Her eyes were red as she glared fiercely at the woman he was protecting. "Yun Yi is also your biological son. How could you not consider his feelings at all? If this gets out, how will the world view Yun Yi? Will they ridicule him for having his woman stolen by his own father?"
"So what?" Even after being repeatedly questioned, Chen Dingyao remained calm and said, "I am the Son of Heaven. Should I give up the woman I love for Yun Yi?"
Concubine Shu didn't expect him to be so stubborn. For a moment, she felt that she had never understood this man in the past twenty years.
"She bewitched you," she shook her head in disbelief. "If I could kill her, I should have killed her long ago!"
Chen Dingyao subconsciously reached out to hold Chan Zhen and moved away from her, then shouted at Guo Kai, "Didn't you hear my order? Take her away!"
Guo Kai wiped his sweat and quickly ordered someone to restrain Concubine Shu to prevent her from doing anything crazy.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" Concubine Shu did not give up struggling before being taken away. "You have been bewitched by this witch. You are destroying your reputation by doing this. You will be cursed by the whole world! Your Majesty, you should think about this not only for Yun Yi, but also for yourself! Your Majesty..."
Concubine Shu's voice gradually faded away. Chan Zhen was still lost in thought as she listened to her cries before leaving, but suddenly someone gently touched the corner of her eye. She raised her eyelids and met the man's concerned gaze.
"How are you? Did she hurt you?" He wiped the tears from her face with his thumb, and the roughness of his fingertips made the corners of her eyes red.
Zen Zhen hurriedly lowered his eyelashes and turned his face slightly away to avoid his fingers. "I'm fine."
Seeing that she was unwilling to even look at him, a wave of anger suddenly appeared in his eyes, but he was reluctant to vent it on her. He tried his best to suppress his restless emotions and spoke to her calmly: "I will give you an explanation for this matter. No one in this palace can bully you."
Chan Zhen stared impassively at the falling snow outside the window. Since Concubine Shu had barged in without a care in the world, her affair with His Majesty must have been leaked. Today, it was Concubine Shu who had stormed in, pointing fingers and scolding her. What about tomorrow? How could the ministers in the court sit idly by and watch their Majesty continue to make such mistakes?
"I originally planned to let you return to the harem as a concubine under the pretense of being the adopted daughter of the Song family." He said quietly.
Chan Zhen turned a blind eye, knowing that what he did was tantamount to covering his ears and stealing the bell. So what if she changed her identity? Anyone who had seen her face would recognize that she was once the concubine of Prince Jin?
Chen Dingyao couldn't stand her coldness and hugged her tightly from behind: "Chanzhen, what do you want? Tell me, I will give you everything."
Zen Zhen's expression finally showed some movement: "I want Your Majesty to let me go."
"..." His hands, tightly holding her, froze, "This is the only thing I can't do."
"Then there is nothing left for me and Your Majesty to say." She looked out the window, and a cold wall appeared in her eyes again.
Chen Dingyao sensed her resistance, but he remained undeterred. They still had a long time to go on: a year, ten years, twenty years, a lifetime. He didn't believe he could be invincible on the battlefield, yet he couldn't even break through the walls of her heart. He wanted her true heart, she wanted a smile, she wanted to call his name in the gentlest voice. Life was long, and he could wait for that day.
…
Chan Zhen stayed in the Zichen Palace in a daze until the palace servants posted couplets and the word "Fu" on the palace gate. Only then did she realize that the year had unknowingly come to an end.
She leaned against the door, staring blankly at the joyful expressions on the palace maids' faces. The palace was decorated with lights and was full of joy, but she was the only one who looked out of place with her dull expression.
"Is it New Year's Eve already?" she murmured.
The Purple Palace was truly dark and gloomy. She could not even step out of the palace gate. Living in such a huge palace felt even more unbearable than living in the small courtyard of her boudoir.
"Yes, my queen." Luzhu was afraid that she would catch a cold if she leaned against the door, so she quickly pulled her into the room with the floor heating.
Chan Zhen didn't dodge or avoid and let her pull her to sit on the couch. She didn't resist these palace servants much. After all, they were just following orders and were controlled by others just like her.
"That's great." Chan Zhen remembered that she was still at Prince Jin's mansion on New Year's Eve last year. She thought Prince Jin would go to the princess's place in the evening, but she didn't expect him to suddenly come to her, which made her speechless with surprise.
At that time, she liked His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin. She entered the Prince of Jin's mansion with trepidation. She was the lowest-ranking concubine, and all the women in the backyard could step on her. However, His Royal Highness always protected her, allowing her to finally have a glimmer of hope for the future in her life of constant fear.
She didn't ask for much, and didn't expect to be on par with the princess. She just wanted to live a peaceful and stable life, but now she couldn't see the end of these dark days.
Lu Zhu knew that even after so long, she was still unwilling to give in, but she could do nothing but persuade her: "Your Majesty treats you sincerely, why do you always have to go against His Majesty? If you can smile more often, your life will be easier."
"You always call me empress," Zen Zhen tilted his head and smiled slowly, "but what kind of empress am I?"
She was nameless and without status, hidden away in the palace like a plaything, barred from all eyes. His relentless pursuit of her was simply the result of his imperial pride. She didn't originally belong to him, and as a supreme ruler, he couldn't tolerate anyone resisting him, so he sought to conquer her heart. He disregarded her wishes and locked her away in the palace, leaving her without a trace of love.
"This..." Luzhu was speechless when asked.
The palace maids in the Purple Palace all knew how much His Majesty doted on this girl, but she did not have any official title as a concubine. With her status, getting an official title was harder than climbing to heaven.
But how important was it to have a title or not? There were so many concubines with titles in the palace, yet they didn't necessarily receive a single glance from His Majesty. Instead, this nameless beauty received His Majesty's exclusive favor and care.
But Luzhu knew that no matter how much the emperor said, she would not listen. Her heart was not in it. She was afraid that no matter how much the emperor praised her, it would be like grass in her eyes.
"Is there a pipa in the palace?" Chan Zhen suddenly asked.
The palace was too boring. She thought of the pipa, the only instrument she had learned that she didn't dislike. In the past, she played the pipa to please others. On such a good festival, perhaps she should play the pipa for herself.
Naturally, there would be no such thing in the emperor's bedroom, but this was the first time she had made a request since entering the palace. Even if Lu Zhu was not available, she would immediately find a good one from Tailefang.
After taking the pipa, Chanzhen first plucked the strings to test the sound. It was worthy of being an instrument from the palace, and it was more exquisite than any she had used before.
With a slight movement of his fingertips, a light and lively song "Yangchun Baixue" floated out. Zen Zhen played the song expressionlessly, but his thoughts flew out of the palace and returned to the spring in the south of the Yangtze River.
When she was young, she thought the days of living with her mother in that run-down courtyard were difficult, but now, looking back, those were the rare happy times in her memory. Her mother didn't always dislike her, and sometimes, when she was in a good mood, she would hold her on her lap and sing to her.
"Lotus can be picked in the south of the Yangtze River, and the lotus leaves are so lush..." She hummed softly according to her mother's voice in her memory, and before she knew it, her face was filled with tears.
Chen Dingyao stood not far away and watched her silently for a long time. Until blood spurted out of her fingertips, he couldn't help but step forward to stop her.
"That's enough Zenzhen." He took the pipa from her arms and put it aside.
Zen Zhen suddenly lost her strength and fell headfirst into his arms. This time, she did not resist as usual, but instead tightly grasped his sleeve and cried, "I don't want to be locked up here, I want to get out."
He was so heartbroken that his breathing stagnated. "Okay, I'll let you out."
He hadn't intended to keep her locked up forever, he just wanted to wait a little longer until he had dealt with everything, but she was like a bird with broken wings, gradually withering away in front of his eyes.
"I will answer you."
No matter how many ministers objected or how much they cursed him, he was the emperor. Could he not even protect the person he loved? He just wanted her to walk before everyone with dignity. Let her curse him. He was a tyrant and a fool, and he admitted all the crimes he had committed.
All attacks should be directed at him.
At the New Year's Eve palace banquet, Chan Zhen changed into gorgeous palace attire and appeared in public for the first time after being kept as a concubine in a golden house for nearly four months.
Chen Dingyao held her hand, ignored the shocked, disgusted, and angry looks of the crowd, and calmly walked to the highest seat and sat down.
Chan Zhen sat on the high platform in a daze, with countless piercing gazes cast at her like sharp swords, and her ears were filled with all kinds of buzzing sounds.
"Shameless!"
"Witch!"
"Trouble!"
"It's against morality!"
She didn't know whether those words were true or just her own delusion. She finally walked out of a cage as she wished, but it seemed like she had stepped into another place of no return.
I'm not, I don't!
She screamed desperately in the darkness, but no one believed her. Everyone looked at her with disgust. The cold voice of Concubine Shu sounded in her mind again:
"Why don't you kill yourself?"
Her expression relaxed, and her soul seemed to have moved to another unknown place.
Maybe I deserve to die.
As she had this thought, a strong hand held her.
"Guo Kai, announce the decree!"
With cold sweat on his forehead, Guo Kai slowly opened the imperial edict that the emperor had already prepared.
"...Song Chanzhen, with her gentle and kind nature, is very much in line with my heart. I hereby appoint her as Imperial Consort, enjoying the same rank as the Empress. I decree this!"
As soon as this call was issued, there was silence all around. After a long time, one minister after another knelt down.
"Your Majesty, I beg you to reconsider!"
Zen Zhen seemed to have lost his soul, staring into the distance with empty eyes.
As expected, she was supposed to stay hidden from the public.
She didn't want to be locked up in the Purple Palace for the rest of her life as a shameful concubine, but she also didn't want her affair with the emperor to be exposed in public.
Let her go.
But Chen Dingyao would never back down at this moment: "My mind is made up!"
"It's so rare for me to find someone who truly understands me. Why aren't you happy for me, my dear ministers, but are instead deliberately trying to make things difficult for me? You keep saying you're loyal to me and willing to go through fire and water for me, but now I simply want to make my beloved my consort."
He raised his voice: "Are you so loyal to me? You can't even tolerate a woman?"
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