She is the queen
"Miss! Miss..."
A quick scream came from the girl in the distance, and a pink and green figure rushed through the corridor outside Yilan Palace, and the palace maids who were carrying the cleared food were almost bumped into.
No one in the hall could hear the noises carefully. It was already past dinner time in the evening. Jing Yao had nothing to do after dinner, so he leaned on the couch as usual, staring at Si Pei's calm face in a daze.
This was a habit she had developed since her previous life. Back then, no matter how much she hated him, she was still soft-hearted. She often couldn't help but hope that Si Pei would wake up soon in the dead of night.
Hearing that Si Jue, who had been moved out of Hengshui Palace and temporarily residing in Jingtai Palace, had recovered greatly from his injuries, and that the imperial physician had predicted a full recovery within two weeks, Jing Yao felt deeply sorry. He had originally hoped that Si Jue would only experience a brief moment of vitality before dying, but now it seemed that this was completely impossible.
Si Pei was also taken back to the Eastern Palace for resettlement. Hengshui Palace was only for temporary residence. Since he was poisoned and his coma lasted for who knew how long, it would be more convenient for him to be served. Since Si Jue planned to ascend the throne directly, he had no children and no family, so he didn't need to live in the Eastern Palace for the time being.
She raised her head and responded to the distant shout from outside the door. Her eyes moved to Bo Yue beside her, with an unhappy expression on her face: "What happened?"
Bo Yue didn't need to listen carefully to know that the rough noise was made by Zhiyue, so she got up helplessly to open the door for her.
Zhiyue was indeed in a panic. Seeing the door open, she didn't even bother to talk to Boyue. She ran towards the inner hall without stopping: "Miss!!"
Jing Yao knew that the little girl was just that noisy, but since it looked like something serious had happened, he didn't mind her impoliteness. "What happened?"
Zhiyue knew she was being abrupt, so she knelt down before even reaching Jingyao. "Miss... I passed by the tea room of the Imperial Household Department today and heard they were busy preparing for the coronation ceremony..."
Jing Yao heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this, and looked down at the teacup beside him, not knowing whether he should feel relieved or heavy in his heart, so he could only stroke the pattern in silence.
She had known about this for a long time, so it wasn't a surprise.
All the court officials sided with Si Jue. Regardless of their motives—whether purely for self-interest or to usurp power—Si Jue's ascension to the throne was inevitable. The remaining princelings, faced with this precarious situation, could only swallow their anger.
But now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, where is the place for the old prince in the huge imperial city?
Si Pei is unconscious now, but what if he wakes up one day... Si Jue is not a fool and will never leave such a hidden danger. He will definitely die.
From anyone's perspective, they've already lost.
Jing Yao could understand why Zhiyue was worried about her situation, and she felt touched that there were still people in this world who were willing to treat her sincerely.
Jing Yao doesn't think she is a good person. She treats people as she pleases. She can't learn to be tactful and is too lazy to please others. She always thinks that only a fool like Si Pei would tolerate her, but she forgets that Zhiyue and Boyue have been with her for many years.
"Miss, please don't underestimate yourself." Zhiyue wiped away her tears. "You are very good. You don't play tricks on us, and you won't deduct or abuse us. You are very good!"
Jing Yao was genuinely amused by her: "Is this considered good?"
"Oh, I'm not good at speaking, but you are really nice, Miss. It's just... it's just..."
Zhiyue suddenly choked up, and Boyue continued, "It's just that Miss never flaunts it, nor does she think she's done good things. Nothing in the world is black or white, and a person's goodness or badness can't be determined by a single sentence or an event. Only those who truly get along with you can understand this truth."
They had once been afraid of Jing Yao, imagining her as one of those snarky, cruel, beastly women in the palace, or a vicious, ruthless concubine. But after getting to know her, they realized that reality was completely different from their imagination.
Jing Yao is indeed not the kind of person who is completely kind, but who can say that those who are selfish and willful are necessarily bad people?
She was kind to her children, treated others sincerely and peacefully without any airs, and they, as her personal maids, all saw it.
"Why are you suddenly saying such sentimental things?" Jing Yao shrugged and smiled, "It's not like I'm going to die. I'm fine."
Having said that, Zhiyue suddenly remembered the important thing that she had not finished talking about before. After thinking about it carefully, she realized that what Jing Yao said was indeed right.
She will be fine.
"Miss... I actually heard another important news." Zhiyue took a deep breath, "Prince Lin plans to hold a ceremony to crown the queen immediately after ascending the throne."
"Empress?"
Jing Yao and Bo Yue said in unison, and the latter quickly covered his mouth.
Jing Yao nodded slightly to indicate that it was okay, and asked Zhiyue to continue: "Have you chosen a queen?"
Si Jue's position as Empress was a position that every family fought over. When was it decided? Why didn't Zuo Yuanwu or Baili Wenfu write to her about such important news?
"yes……"
Jing Yao was eager to watch the fun: "Oh, who's the girl? The little princess of Duke Dingguo?"
Zhiyue shook her head violently.
It wasn't Ji Xueying? Queen Dowager Xuan had tried her best to bring them together that night.
However, it was obvious that night that Si Jue was not interested in the little princess. Moreover, there was no news of Queen Dowager Xuan being invited back in the past few days. It seemed that the old lady's most beloved grandson did not take her seriously.
Jing Yao sneered twice and began to think about who would be the queen.
There are many girls of marriageable age in Shanghua City, but only a few of them come from famous families. The Wei family motto is that girls should not leave home and only marry outsiders. There was only one Wei Guifei in the previous emperor's dynasty. The position of queen probably will not fall into their family, but Madam Wei San should be very happy to enter the palace.
The Huo family was far away from the imperial court, and the only one of marriageable age who had not yet been engaged was the fourth lady, Huo Zhuxin... Jing Yao's heart suddenly tightened. She didn't want her good friend to fall into the tiger's mouth, and the Huo family should have thought of this as well.
That is——
"Baili Yulan?"
The only legitimate daughter of the Baili family, she was renowned for her exceptional talent and intelligence since childhood. Jing Yao, who had previously enjoyed following Baili Wenfu, had a close relationship with her, but their personalities were incompatible and their relationship was quite ordinary.
That girl was quite different from Wei Xian, a purely book-obsessed intellectual. She was far more meticulous. Born into a family of officials, she was destined to face many times more pressure than others, requiring a keen mind and a cunning tongue. Therefore, Baili Yulan was the perfect candidate for the position of empress.
But didn’t the Baili family agree to remain neutral?
Could it be that he was going to go back on his word? She knew that those people who were involved in officialdom were always saying one thing and doing another.
"Miss!"
Zhiyue suddenly interrupted her fantasy, as if she finally couldn't help it, and hesitated to speak with some worry.
She raised her head, her round, sparkling almond-shaped eyes fixed on Jing Yao: "It's you."
With a bang, the teacup that Jing Yao was playing with suddenly fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
Bo Yue hurried forward to clean up the debris, and Zhi Yue also lowered her head in silence.
"……What's the meaning?"
Jing Yao finally came to his senses, but he was still in disbelief. He forced a smile and said, "Where did this rumor come from?"
Zhiyue shook her head: "The Ministry of Internal Affairs has already drafted it. The Queen... is you."
Jing Yao stood up with a look of resentment and anger: "That bastard Si Jue!"
Is he crazy or has he had enough of life? Why... and why?!
Making her the queen is such a joke.
Jing Yao turned his head in a daze and looked at Si Pei who was lying on the couch.
He deliberately harmed Si Pei to her current half-dead state, and no one believed her words, so that his wish would come true and he could ascend to the throne. And Si Jue, who had taken advantage of everything, wanted to disgust her and the dying Si Pei by making her the queen.
"Does he still think that I should be grateful to him?"
Forcing a criminal woman to become the queen of a country is something that even Si Pei has not done. Si Jue should be very proud of himself now.
After all, for the winner, not killing the loser is already a special favor, and Si Jue wants her to sit on the throne of queen and enjoy all the glory and wealth.
When she was just reborn, she kept telling herself that nothing was more important than living. She thought she accepted Si Pei because she cherished her life.
Jing Yao sneered, and suddenly felt that he was not so afraid of death.
At least, it would be worse to kill her directly than to let her marry Si Jue.
Jing Yao leaned against the couch as if exhausted, but she was really unwilling to give up.
What went wrong? Why did God always seem to favor Si Jue, making everything happen in his favor?
Jing Yao sat there until late at night before he struggled to get up.
There was a familiar knocking sound outside the window; it was the secret guard coming.
Jing Yao originally thought that the group of people Si Pei left behind to protect her would be of no use in her lifetime, but she didn't expect that they were the busiest in the past two days.
She sent them to connect with Si Pei's secret guards. Jing Yao wanted to know if Si Pei had any backup plans. This might be their last chance to turn the tables.
In order to facilitate the transmission of information, Zuo Yuanwu's men also established contact with this group of secret guards.
Jing Yao pushed open the window. The guard in front of her was covered in black, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed. However, she immediately recognized that this was Fourteen, the man she had eaten with in the prison that day. "Come in."
Fourteenth stepped into the hall with his long legs. He brought two pieces of information with him this time.
"When the prince formulated the assassination plan, he only decided that if the assassination failed on the spot, he would commit suicide and blame the Xiongnu. However, the prince still has a place under his command, which is a last resort."
"Where?"
Jing Yao was overjoyed, she knew Si Pei wouldn't be so stupid as to be unprepared.
Fourteen handed over a map, which was drawn in a strange way and did not look like the geographical distribution of the city of Xijing.
Jing Yao only saw that the only city with a name between the two southern states was circled in red, with a note next to it: Everything will turn around when it reaches its extreme, and everything will begin and end.
She recognized the name of the city - Kangyang City, at the junction of Huazhou and Guangzhou in the south.
She slammed the map shut and looked at Fourteen: "What's the other news?"
"General Zuo has sent me a letter, saying everything is going well."
That means you're ready to go.
Jing Yao breathed a sigh of relief, but his hands clutched the map meaninglessly.
"Go back and tell Zuo Yuanwu that we are going to Kangyang City."
Fourteen was about to retreat when Jing Yao suddenly stopped him: "Wait until we leave the city and take advantage of the chaos to kill Si Jue."
After much thought, she didn't want Si Jue to have an easy time. If he truly had a destiny and the assassination attempt failed, they would have already escaped Shanghua by then, and he, a new emperor who hadn't yet assumed power, would have been too busy to stop them.
Jing Yao thought, if she had known that Si Jue was secretly colluding with court officials and would build momentum to seize power when he woke up, she should have stabbed him again when he was dying that night.
But everything happened too quickly and too suddenly, beyond her imagination.
She didn't expect Si Jue to wake up after one night, nor did she expect the prince's gang to fall so quickly.
Jing Yao thought to himself that he was not suited to survive in a dangerous and dangerous place like the palace.
"Xiao Li, I'm so tired." Silence returned to Yilan Palace. Jing Yao dragged his tired body and wanted to lie in Si Pei's arms, but he only felt that the man's body temperature had become much colder.
"So you were this tired before, you're pretty amazing then."
He deals with a lot of state affairs every day and still has the energy to coax her.
Jing Yao didn't feel any guilt, but Si Pei was asking for trouble. Unlike her now, she was really being forced to do something she couldn't.
"When you wake up, you must make it up to me."
Jing Yao no longer knew if he was talking to himself: "I just realized that I still don't like being in the palace. When you wake up, will you be willing to -"
Turning her head to look at Si Pei's profile, she seemed to want to say something but stopped herself.
Even though he knew that he couldn't hear anything now, Jing Yao still didn't say the rest of the words.
It was really unrealistic and selfish of her to ask a man who had been the crown prince for more than 20 years to give up the throne that was legitimate, rightful and within her reach.
"Forget it, let's talk about it after you wake up."
Jing Yao approached Si Pei very gently, which was rare for him, and kissed him lightly on the lips.
Once they arrive in Kangyang City, everything will definitely be fine.
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