Kneeling
In the dead of winter, heavy snow fell like goose feathers. Shanghua also had heavy snow for three consecutive days, and a thick layer of snow accumulated on the ground.
The thinly dressed young man knelt upright in the snow, letting the snow fall all over his head and body, even his eyelashes were covered with snowflakes.
The weather was so cold that he had been kneeling for half an hour. He couldn't help but shiver for a moment.
"What are you looking at?" The woman under the eaves was dressed in gorgeous clothes and covered in warm, thick mink. Her words were ruthless and colder than the winter snow. "Kneel down when I tell you to! You're the crown prince of a country, and you can't even withstand such a small punishment for doing something wrong!"
Si Pei gritted his teeth and straightened his back. He didn't know what he had done wrong to deserve such punishment from his mother.
Queen Yue looked at his trembling body with cold eyes, and then changed her tone to an anxious but still gentle one: "Zi'an, why did you come out?"
Si Pei raised his eyes and met a pair of round, black eyes - Si Jue.
Those clear eyes like a deer made him loved by everyone. The young Si Pei stared at him fiercely, which earned him a look of disgust from his mother.
Little Si Jue hugged his mother with an innocent look, and Queen Yue asked the maid to give him the hand warmer with heartache.
"Mother, why is my brother kneeling in the snow?"
Queen Yue half-knelt down, level with Si Jue. She gently adjusted his fox fur coat while chuckling and joking with her youngest son, "Don't mind him. This is the punishment he deserves. It's too cold outside, Zi'an. Go back quickly. If you get cold, your mother will be distressed."
Si Jue nodded obediently and was led back by the palace maid beside her.
Si Pei laughed inexplicably, even a little crazily: "Mother, you change your expression so quickly."
Queen Yue was not annoyed when she heard him say this. She continued to look at him coldly, as if she was looking at a stranger.
Si Pei will never forget that look.
In fact, he had long understood that Queen Yue did not love him, and even hated her. Si Pei thought that there should be few women in the world who would love a child who almost tortured her to death when he was born.
But the saddest thing is that Queen Yue just didn't love him.
"How long do you want to torture me?"
Si Pei raised his head, his eyes almost pleading.
"Torture? I want to discipline you." Queen Yue straightened the collar of her mink fur coat. "As the crown prince and Zi'an's elder brother, how could you bully your own brother?"
"When has this son ever bullied him?"
Si Pei's voice was weak and he had no words to refute.
Queen Yue stubbornly believed that as long as Si Pei did not support Si Jue, he would be bullied.
Si Jue is the apple of Yue Jin Ge's eye. The more she hates her eldest son Si Pei, the more she loves her youngest son Si Jue.
"You know best what you have done!" Queen Yue snorted coldly and turned away.
Si Pei was almost freezing unconscious, and until the moment before he fainted, he was still wondering what he had done wrong.
The young man on the couch was sweating profusely. Eunuch Ming noticed something was wrong first and quickly called the imperial physician over.
"It's because of a torn wound and lack of rest, which also caused a slight fever."
The imperial physician prescribed several prescriptions to reduce fever and soothe the nerves. "Your Highness, have you been sleeping poorly lately?"
Si Pei had a hot towel on his forehead, and his breath was still a little weak: "Yes."
He had just had a nightmare, in which he dreamt of the scene when Yue Jinge made him kneel in the snow as punishment when he was twelve years old.
After fainting that day, he had a high fever for two days and two nights. The emperor was furious and scolded the prince, the palace maids and even the queen.
However, Yue Jinge did not stop there, but changed to some torture methods that were not easy for the emperor to discover.
Si Pei stared at the top of the bed curtain in a daze. He didn't know how he had offended Queen Yue when he was young, but later he realized that his existence was a mistake. Before Yue Jinge died, she wanted to ask the emperor to make Si Jue the crown prince.
Empress Yue died on the eve of Si Pei's eighteenth birthday. Si Pei knelt outside the tent of Yichen Palace and heard his mother's plea with his own ears:
"He was born to be a nemesis of his mother, and his heart is sinister... He has no regard for his brothers, and is disloyal and unfilial! After I leave, I'm afraid Zi'an won't be able to escape his clutches—ahem... Your Majesty... Please reconsider the position of Crown Prince!"
Si Pei thought he would no longer be hurt by this woman's words, but when he heard these hateful words coming out of her mouth, he still felt a dull pain in his chest.
Hehe…born to be unlucky in motherhood…
The mother also defeats the son.
Si Pei raised his head and closed his eyes.
Queen Yue's last words ultimately had no effect.
The emperor made Si Pei the crown prince when he was less than one year old. Since childhood, his every word and action were taught by him and his trusted ministers. No one else could be his heir except Si Pei.
Si Pei thought that Yue Jin Ge hated him even more because of the emperor's high regard for him. After all, she knew that as long as he was around, her beloved youngest son would have no chance.
However, after Queen Yue was buried, the emperor sent Si Jue to a wealthy fiefdom and allowed him to be an idle prince.
Si Pei opened his red eyes, turned around and asked the imperial physician to prescribe some more medicine to nourish the mind and help sleep.
"Did Your Highness take too much medicine?"
Eunuch Ming was a little worried. All medicines are poisonous, and taking too much is not good for you.
"Or maybe some aromatherapy? There's some calming incense in the storeroom..."
“No need.”
Si Pei interrupted, "I don't like it."
He really couldn't get used to the soothing scent. He had smelled it too much when he was young and he still hates it now.
"I remember that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also had trouble sleeping for a while before. It was Jing..."
The imperial physician was about to speak, but then fell silent as if remembering something: "I have spoken out of turn."
He didn't know what the relationship between Si Pei and Jing Yao was like now. It seemed to have eased a lot this morning, but he was still afraid that bringing up these things rashly would anger His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
"Go down."
Si Pei raised his hand to wave them away. He naturally remembered what the imperial physician said.
After Queen Yue passed away, he was haunted by nightmares every night and could not sleep. Every midnight, he would see a woman with a cold pale face standing at the head of his bed, murmuring "You deserve to die" while reaching out to strangle his neck hard.
He thought he would have to rely on medicine to fall asleep again, but that year an unexpected guest came to the East Palace.
—
Jing Yao hurried back to his bedroom, rubbing his flushed face to calm himself down.
She had just agreed to visit him for dinner. Doesn't that mean she would have to dine with Si Pei again?
Jing Yao collapsed on the bed exhausted and didn't even want to eat lunch.
As soon as I closed my eyes, all I could think of was Si Pei's pitiful appearance.
Still exactly the same as when I was a teenager.
Speaking of which, she hadn't seen Si Pei show such an expression for many years. When she lived in the Queen's Palace, she often saw Si Pei being physically punished by Queen Yue, but no one was willing to plead for him.
Little Jingyao felt it was unfair. Although he didn't like Si Pei very much, he couldn't bear to see his aunt being so partial to him. He argued for Si Pei several times, but in return he received the cold stare and harsh treatment from Queen Yue.
Now she knew why no one was willing to help Si Pei.
At that time, Si Pei was punished badly, but he still secretly brought delicious food to Jing Yao.
Even though he didn't want to admit it, Si Pei had become Jing Yao's favorite brother at that time.
She just pretended to like Baili Wenfu just to piss him off.
"Brother Crown Prince, aren't you the Crown Prince? Why are you being bullied like this?"
Little Jingyao was gnawing on a duck leg in sauce, completely confused.
She heard her mother say that the prince was the second most noble man in the palace and should be admired by everyone, but why did it become different when he came to the Queen's aunt?
The young man rubbed her hair: "Actually, I'm just miserable here, but I'm not to the point where I'm bullied by everyone."
If this is true, he really doesn't need to be the crown prince anymore.
"Then why does Aunt Queen always punish you?"
"Maybe..." Si Pei thought, "Maybe I did something wrong."
Jing Yao murmured, "My cousin the Crown Prince did nothing wrong! It's my aunt who is partial to me!"
She had long since seen that everyone in Yichen Palace loved Si Jue the most and disliked Si Pei. If a servant dared to treat them differently, it must have been with the master's permission.
"My mother always said, like owner, like dog!"
Si Pei looked at the angry little girl and finally smiled: "Would my aunt say something like that? You must have read it in the story book yourself."
"Hehe, do you all think mother is a lady? No, she is not." Jing Yao knew his mother too well. What others saw was all her pretending.
"Okay, okay." Si Pei smiled and coaxed her to finish eating.
For some reason, Si Pei seemed happier when he was with her.
Jing Yao would occasionally meet her aunt, Concubine Jing, in the Imperial Garden. Once, she accidentally told her aunt about Empress Yue's corporal punishment of Si Pei and her own grievances about being mistreated. Concubine Jing was not willing to miss this great opportunity and immediately ran to the emperor to whisper in his ear.
The emperor liked little Jingyao very much, and was quite dissatisfied when he learned about this. After criticizing Queen Yue, he mentioned the queen's moral flaws to Queen Dowager Xuan. However, the queen dowager advised him that Queen Yue treated her children harshly because she just didn't want them to be bored.
With the support of Queen Dowager Xuan, Queen Yue was naturally not greatly affected. Considering that the Emperor and Concubine Jing were watching her, she could not continue to find any excuse to punish Si Pei.
After this battle, Si Pei was able to catch his breath, but Jing Yao became an even greater thorn in the side of Queen Yue.
Jing Yao didn't dare to interact with his aunt anymore, so he could only go to the East Palace every day to stay with Si Pei.
Thinking about it now, those days were truly rare happy days.
At least it's still carefree.
Jing Yao supported his head and stuffed his mouth with the seasonal fruits that Bo Yue had just brought.
“These cherries are delicious.”
Bo Yue smiled and poured her a cup of scented tea: "These were specially sent by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. They are fresh."
He is thoughtful.
Jing Yao leaned on the small table boredly: "Zhiyue, do you have any story books to read?"
"Ah?" Zhiyue was confused. "Miss, I don't have any."
She pointed at Bo Yue: "She has a lot."
Bo Yue wanted to cover her mouth with her hand, but the words were already out, and Jing Yao was even more interested: "What are you? Show it to me."
"There are many, some of them belong to scholars and young ladies, fox spirits and country girls, female knights and little beggars... ah, and there are also you and Your Highness!"
"puff!"
Jing Yao spat out the scented tea she hadn't even finished. Hers and Si Pei's!?
Are there any other strange things like this?
So she turned to look at Bo Yue: "Bring it here and let me see it."
Bo Yue's face flushed red: "This...this..."
Jing Yao smiled and comforted her: "It's okay, I'm not angry, I'm just a little curious."
I'm curious about how others write about her and Si Pei.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
