Imprisonment
As soon as the words fell, a large number of maids filed in and lined up on both sides to clear the way for their master. Everyone who remained in the bedroom knelt on their knees and bowed their heads in worship:
"Your Highness, I bow to you, Her Majesty the Queen Mother. May your holy body be in good health and may you be blessed with everlasting happiness."
The female official in charge of internal affairs supported the empress dowager and walked slowly into the hall. Jing Yao prostrated himself to pay his respects. As he heard the footsteps getting closer and closer, he was so nervous that he couldn't help swallowing his saliva.
If she were to say who she feared most in the palace, it would be Queen Dowager Xuan of Deshou Palace. As Si Pei's grandmother, although Queen Dowager Xuan had no control over him, she had always been dissatisfied with Jing Yao.
But these are not the reasons why Jing Yao is most afraid of her. The root of the evil was planted when he was a child.
She has never been liked by the Queen Mother since she was a child.
Jing Yao inherited her aunt's spoiled personality. Concubine Jing was the most favored concubine in the palace and was a hundred times more ostentatious than she is now. The Queen Mother Xuan hated arrogant, willful and rude women the most. She regarded her aunt as a disaster in the palace and scolded and punished her every day. Jing Yao grew up watching her aunt being punished and listening to her aunt complaining.
Although Concubine Jing's foolish act of instigating her son, Prince Jin, to seize the throne did not really live up to Queen Dowager Xuan's disdain, Jing Yao was truly terrified of this powerful queen dowager. After all, in Queen Dowager Xuan's eyes, she was just as much of a thorn in her side as her aunt.
Now that Si Pei is in a coma, even the gods cannot save her.
"Everyone, get up."
Queen Dowager Xuan raised her hand and took the main seat.
Jing Yao tried hard to pretend nothing happened and stood up, but as soon as his eyes met the empress dowager, he subconsciously looked away.
Queen Dowager Xuan was nearly sixty, but her face was unworn, her former beauty visible. Though her skin had the wrinkles of age, she was full of energy and vigor, her features still embodying the sharpness of her youthful days, when she dominated the harem. Her eyes, in particular, remained piercing, like a sharp sword, penetrating everything and piercing the heart.
She looked Jing Yao up and down, then turned her gaze back to Si Pei on the couch.
"How is the prince?"
Queen Dowager Xuan spoke without emotion, but the imperial physician, sweating profusely, quickly replied, "Your Highness, His Highness is fine for the time being."
Queen Dowager Xuan's eagle eyes swept across the scene. "What do you mean by temporarily? If anything happens to the Crown Prince, do you think you can still keep your head?"
The imperial physician's knees gave way and he fell to the ground. "We will do our utmost to ensure Your Highness's continued health!"
Seeing this, Jing Yao couldn't help but want to kneel down. She really didn't want to be killed by the Queen Mother right after she was reborn. She had thought it through clearly now. Nothing in the world was more important than life.
But before she could move, Queen Dowager Xuan suddenly sneered, "Jing Yao, I really underestimated your ability."
Jing Yao's heart sank. The Queen Mother's words were so familiar. They were exactly the same as the beginning of her reprimand for her aunt, Concubine Jing.
"You rely on the prince's favor for you and dare to be lawless to this extent! Assassinating the prince... If there is no one left in your family, I can wipe out your entire clan!" Queen Dowager Xuan was furious. She waved away the palace maid who was coming to help her and walked straight to Jing Yao.
It would have been fine if Queen Dowager Xuan hadn't mentioned it, but when she did, Jing Yao remembered that the reason she impulsively stabbed Si Pei was because of the tragic murder of her entire family half a year ago.
In her previous life, she was convinced that this was Si Pei's work. At that time, the Prince of Jin was executed for his conspiracy to ally with a rival nation to seize the crown prince. His biological mother was a daughter of the Jing family. The Jing family, once loyal supporters of the Prince of Jin, requested that their entire family leave the capital and return home, only to encounter disaster along the way. At that critical juncture, Si Pei was the only one with a grudge against the Jing family.
But now that he thought about it, the Prince of Jin had committed such a heinous crime of treason that he had even angered the Emperor to the point of having a stroke. The entire Jing family should have been executed long ago. The only possibility was that Si Pei had chosen to spare the Jing family.
Given Si Pei's self-willed character, since he has not been dealt with legitimately by law, he will never do anything behind the scenes again.
In his previous life, Jing Yao had no idea Si Jue had two hearts, and no one else could suspect him. After his mind was obliterated by anger, it was only natural that he would suspect Si Pei, who stubbornly locked him in the Eastern Palace, of being the murderer...
Now that I think about it, it's really like the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.
This time Jing Yao didn't insist and simply knelt down and confessed: "I accidentally stabbed Your Highness, but I didn't intend to kill him."
"You bitch!"
Queen Dowager Xuan raised her hand and slapped Jing Yao. Her long, sharp nails cut two tiny wounds on the girl's cheeks, and a few drops of blood immediately oozed out.
Jing Yao covered her swollen face in pain. Few people had ever laid hands on her in her life. But now she was in front of the Queen Mother. It was a fact that she had stabbed Si Pei. Although she was kept in the dark, she was still too weak to confront the Queen Mother.
Xing Feng, who was standing aside, seemed to be hesitant to speak. His master had ordered him to protect Jing Yao with all his strength...but if he tried to stop him now, it would probably only anger the Queen Mother even more.
"hiss!"
Jing Yao was pinched hard on the chin by Queen Dowager Xuan with one hand, and he couldn't help but gasp in pain.
She forced Jing Yao to look up at her. The girl stared at her beautiful phoenix eyes, unblinking, and a hint of stubbornness emerged. The Queen Mother Xuan was a little dazed. Her expression was completely unlike her aunt's.
If Concubine Jing were treated this way, she would simply beg for mercy with her head bowed, her eyes filled with timidity and fawning tenderness, and then go to the emperor to cry and beg for mercy. The Empress Dowager Xuan, who had always been decisive and ruthless, was particularly annoyed by her soft and delicate appearance of relying on favors.
She had always thought that Jing Yao was no different from her aunt, but now it seemed that she had a preconceived notion.
"You still have some of your mother's stubbornness."
When Queen Dowager Xuan mentioned Jing Yao's mother, she became a little gentler as if she loved her mother and loosened her hand that was pinching her.
"It's a shame your mother passed away so young, unaware her only daughter had become such a fool." Queen Dowager Xuan changed the subject, hinting at subtle resentment. "Your mother's dying wish was for your aunt, Queen Yue, to raise you. But you, on the other hand, are still obsessed with hanging out with Jing Wu. You've learned nothing but seducing the Crown Prince!"
Jing Yao had a lot of grievances and was full of grievances.
Yes, her mother entrusted her to her aunt before she passed away, but Queen Yue did not like her. From the very beginning, she regarded her as a spy of the Jing family and wanted her to get out of Kunning Palace as soon as possible.
"My aunt never took me seriously and she never educated me at all! How could the Empress Dowager be disappointed?" Jing Yao felt even more aggrieved when she relived her life and recalled those old memories. Although her aunt did something wrong later, she was really good to her in the past years.
She was only ten years old at that time and had just lost her mother. She was like a helpless piece of driftwood in the palace. Between her cold aunt and her gentle aunt, she could easily tell who she would rather be close to.
"You don't even have the slightest respect for your deceased elders. With such poor character, do you still dream of becoming the future queen?"
"What respect do we need for an elder like this? The Queen of Yue treated even her own son with such indifference, like an enemy. When Si Pei was young, she tortured him beyond recognition, often punishing him physically and imprisoning him... Is this the mother of a nation in the Queen Mother's mind?"
Queen Dowager Xuan remained silent, and Jing Yao knew from her reaction that she also knew about it.
"Then I really can't do it. I don't want to be your Crown Princess or Queen. If the Queen Mother can help me leave Si Pei, I will be grateful."
Jing Yao was so angry that she lost control of her mouth and said everything she wanted to say. These were her true words, but to the Queen Mother Xuan, they sounded like a blatant provocation.
How could she believe that Jing Yao really wasn't interested in the position of Empress? She sneered in anger, "You want to goad me so I can send you out of the palace to help you escape? Dream on! Come, drag this woman who plotted to murder the Crown Prince out and execute her immediately!"
"Your Majesty, you can't do this!" Xing Feng, who had been watching anxiously from the side, saw that the situation was not good. He immediately stopped the guards around him and knelt in front of Queen Dowager Xuan.
"Commander Xing, you are the Crown Prince's personal guard. How can you plead for mercy on behalf of the Crown Prince's assassin?"
Queen Dowager Xuan spoke with great dignity, and her questions were tinged with threats. However, she did not know that since Xing Feng was the prince's confidant, he would not really watch Jing Yao die.
"Empress Dowager, the incident occurred in the Eastern Palace. According to the laws of our dynasty, the Crown Prince should decide how to deal with her."
Xing Feng finished speaking, and Queen Dowager Xuan snorted coldly: "The Crown Prince is unconscious after being stabbed by this woman! Or does Commander Xing think that I no longer have the right to punish a woman guilty of treason?"
"I have no such intention, but this rule was personally established by the Emperor. Our Xijing Dynasty is renowned for its strict laws. If the Empress Dowager were to handle this on your behalf, it would be against the law..."
Queen Dowager Xuan waved her sleeves in anger and said, "How could I have made a mistake in disposing of a prisoner?"
Upon hearing this, Jing Yao knelt on the ground and said, "I am guilty and willing to be punished according to the laws of the capital. According to legal procedures, even if the Crown Prince does not deal with me, I should first be handed over to the Dali Temple for investigation to determine if there are any masterminds or accomplices, and to determine the reason for the assassination..."
Queen Dowager Xuan was furious, but she had no other choice. After a moment's thought, she finally nodded, "Very well, then. Pass on my order to have this woman imprisoned in the Imperial Prison for trial and judgment by the Dali Temple."
After Jing Yao thanked him, she was taken away by the guards with a calm expression. Queen Dowager Xuan looked at her back as she was taken away and had already made up her mind: she would make sure that this woman would never see the sun again.
—
The imperial prison was pitch black late at night. Jing Yao was taken to a cell in the corner. Before she could react, she felt a heavy weight on her back and was pushed into the cell.
She stumbled and fell to the ground, but fortunately the ground was covered with freshly replaced dry straw. Jing Yao recovered for a while, supported herself with her arms and climbed up.
Still feeling a little dizzy from the fall, she sat there shaking her head. Just then, a flash of thunder flashed outside the window. The pale lightning flashed across the cell wall, stirring up Jing Yao's memories of her previous life.
When the rebel army of Prince Jin stormed into the Eastern Palace, there was also such thunder.
Even now, she still couldn't believe that she didn't die and returned to the age of seventeen. So many things happened at once that she didn't have time to think too much.
Now she was really afraid that all this was just her dying fantasy, and that when she woke up again she would see Si Pei lying in a pool of blood.
"ah……"
There was a sharp pain in his heart, and Jing Yao subconsciously reached out to press it.
It felt like something sharp had stabbed into her. Jing Yao suddenly realized that the pain was exactly where the dagger had pierced her when she committed suicide in her previous life.
What's this?
Is this a reminder from God?
Jing Yao patted his cheeks hard, trying to calm himself down and start thinking.
At this time, there was still a year and a half before Prince Lin rebelled, and the poison in Si Pei's body had not yet taken effect... But why couldn't the time for her to come back be a little earlier, so that she wouldn't have to stab Si Pei again, and wouldn't have to be caught and thrown into jail by the Queen Mother.
Jing Yao collapsed against the wall, her mind repeatedly replaying the image of Si Pei's eyes staring at her before he passed out. They were mad, obsessed, and a little bit nostalgic.
She almost forgot that the most difficult person for her to deal with in her past and present lives was only one person, Prince Si Pei.
Her greatest hope now was to survive, and ideally, to discover the cause of her family's tragic death. To survive, she had two options. The best was to leave Si Pei and escape outside the palace. But her experience from her previous life told her that this path was impassable. Si Pei would never let her go. She had tried to escape countless times in her past life, but she was always caught.
Then there is only one last way left... Since I can't escape from Si Pei's palm, then I won't run away.
This time she stayed beside Si Pei peacefully.
Jing Yao has already gained enlightenment.
Since nothing I do will work anyway, I might as well do nothing.
After figuring everything out, Jing Yao fell asleep.
Although Jing Yao's personality is not very good, she can't be considered a spoiled little girl. On the contrary, because she often lived in other people's homes when she was a child, she can endure it very well. She can even make do with sleeping on the straw mat in this prison.
At a quarter past the hour of the yin, moonlight shone down, blanketing the prison floor in a pale, frost. In the stillness of the surroundings, a man in black tiptoed past the sleeping guard and snatched the key.
Looking at the sleeping Jing Yao, the man in black carefully pulled out a dagger from his waist and aimed it straight at Jing Yao's neck.
There was a slight "ding" sound, the sound of sharp metal colliding was neither loud nor soft, but the sound of the handle falling to the ground was loud.
Jing Yao was not sleeping deeply, and he immediately jumped up when he heard the sound: "Who!"
She curled up into a ball, staring intently at the black-clad man standing stiffly before her. He stood there motionless, his tall body blocking Jing Yao's way, and his silence was quite terrifying.
"You...you..." Before she could tremble and ask the next question, the man had already fallen straight to the ground with a plop. The moonlight shone in through the small window and hit his face.
The man's eyes were as big as copper bells, and blood was still flowing from the corners of his mouth. He was obviously dead.
Jing Yao stretched out his legs and kicked the man tremblingly, but there was really no reaction.
Having witnessed the scene of rivers of blood in his previous life, Jing Yao couldn't even scream at this moment. He numbly retracted his feet and hugged himself tightly.
Jing Yao is not stupid, this man is here to kill her.
But now that he was dead, it meant that someone was still here protecting her.
"Come out." Jing Yao wiped away his tears expressionlessly. Sure enough, before he finished speaking, three other men in black removed the railing of the small window and climbed in.
"Madam Jing."
The secret guards knelt on one knee and saluted, whispering, "We are sorry for not doing our job well and frightening the lady."
Jing Yao knew without looking at the details of the clothes that this was the person Si Pei arranged to protect her.
Jing Yao said calmly: "Get rid of the body."
She felt a little nauseous just looking at it.
"yes."
The two secret guards at the back immediately carried the man out, leaving the secret guard who had just replied to report.
"It was someone sent by the Queen Mother."
"Um."
Jing Yao didn't look surprised. In fact, although she had thought that the Queen Mother would kill her, she didn't expect her to be so hasty.
"Is he awake?"
"Your Highness has not yet regained consciousness." The secret guard bowed his head. "But rest assured, my lady, I will do my utmost to protect your safety."
In her past life, Jing Yao also knew that Si Pei had always been around her, secretly guarded by him. After all, there were always many people who wanted to harm her. Si Pei chose to pamper her, making her the target of public criticism, and naturally he also wanted to ensure her safety.
"I stabbed Si Pei, aren't you afraid that I really want to kill your master?" Jing Yao couldn't help but feel strange when he thought about this, "Aren't you Si Pei's secret guards?"
The secret guard shook his head. "I and the remaining thirteen brothers are your secret guards. We are the Crown Prince's death squad. His orders require us to protect you until death, and we will not betray our duty."
"Even if I really killed Si Pei?"
"The prince said that even if you kill him, we will still be your secret guards."
“…He’s really a lunatic.”
Jing Yao muttered to herself. After this incident, she had a completely new understanding of Si Pei's madness. He even considered this possibility.
The two secret guards who had dealt with the assassin came back and whispered a few words in the man's ear. The secret guard bowed his head again and said, "Madam Jing, General Zuo is on his way."
General Zuo...Zuo Yuanwu? What's he doing here?
Jing Yao racked his brains and finally remembered what he had forgotten.
When she escaped from the palace in her previous life, the one who met her at the outer palace gate was General Zuo Yuanwu!
He must have been waiting for me for most of the night...
Speak of the devil, and here he is. Just as Jing Yao came to his senses, Zuo Yuanwu rushed in panting.
"Miss!"
"Hey! What are you..."
The guard had not even uttered the word "people" when he was knocked unconscious by Zuo Yuanwu's men.
Zuo Yuanwu knelt down in front of Jing Yao and said, "Miss! I'm late! Let's go now!"
Jing Yao suddenly froze in place.
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