Feng Changzai has been ill intermittently since she gave birth to the third princess due to her weak body. A few days ago, the third princess got smallpox, and Feng Changzai was infected while taking care of her.
Feng Changzai had had smallpox before, so she shouldn't have been infected again. However, perhaps because she was too weak, she was infected again.
The emperor was afraid that the disease would spread to more people, so he ordered the mother and daughter to be moved to a remote palace.
Concubine Xie did not come. Luoying went to inquire and found out that she had been ill on and off since the day she was punished by Concubine Zhou to kneel, and she had never recovered. That was why she did not come to the palace banquet on New Year's Eve today.
After the banquet, Ning Yuxi went to Yuxiu Palace to visit Concubine Xie.
As soon as she entered her bedroom, Ning Yuxi smelled a strong smell of medicine. Concubine Xie was leaning against the bed, sitting there with lifeless eyes.
Hua Yin was trying to persuade her with a worried look on his face: "Master, you can't not take the medicine. How can you get better without it?"
Lady Xie said weakly, "You've eaten so much, but you're still like this. It's better not to eat. Who cares if you're healthy or not?"
"Your body is your own. If you abuse it, it will only bring sorrow to your loved ones and joy to your enemies."
Hua Yin heard the voice, turned around and saw her and hurriedly bowed: "This servant pays respects to Concubine Ning."
Ning Yuxi waved her hand to signal her to get up and then sat directly beside Concubine Xie's bed.
Seeing that Concubine Xie was about to stand up to pay her respects, Ning Yuxi held her back and said, "Just lie down."
Concubine Xie looked at her and said in a weak voice, "Why is your Majesty here?"
"Come and see how you ruin your body. When you have time to leave the palace, tell your parents!"
Xie Guiren was speechless for a moment: "Your Majesty..."
Ning Yuxi said with a stern face: "Why, you can ruin your body, but I can't tell your parents?"
"Your body and hair are given by your parents. When you destroy them, have you ever thought about your parents?"
Lady Xie fell silent.
Ning Yuxi could probably guess what she was thinking. She was simply disappointed with the emperor and felt that nothing was meaningful in the palace.
Ning Yuxi asked Ruyi and Luoying to go down, and also took away Xie Guiren's maid Huayin.
"Is it worth it for you to be sad for a man who doesn't have you in his heart? If your parents knew that their beloved daughter was treating herself so badly because of a man, wouldn't they feel sad?"
Xie Guiren's eyes were red: "I am sorry for them..."
Ning Yuxi felt a little disappointed: "What's the point of just saying sorry? Are you going to stay depressed like this forever?"
"When I was still in the boudoir, I often heard that the daughter of the Minister of Revenue was both talented and beautiful, gentle and dignified, and highly praised. Now, she has become like this."
After hearing her words, Concubine Xie also remembered that when she was in the boudoir, she was the apple of her parents' eyes, confident and calm. Looking at her now, she was indeed too unfilial!
"When I first entered the palace, I knew that the emperor favored Concubine Jing and valued Concubine Gui, so I thought it didn't matter whether I could gain the emperor's favor or not. But as a wife, who doesn't want to be favored by her husband?"
"It's fine when you don't have it, but once you have it, how can you let it go so easily? But when I trusted him the most, he didn't believe me."
"Empress Jing was poisoned, and someone framed me. Even though this matter is quite suspicious when you think about it carefully, he still convicted me and punished me.
When I heard him say that if Concubine Jing couldn't wake up, he would let me stay in the cold palace forever, my heart ached so much.
He pampers her when he's happy, but once she threatens his loved ones, he immediately turns his head and abandons her without hesitation."
"I have pride and self-respect, but if someone isn't loved, everything they do is wrong!"
Lady Xie burst into tears. Even though a year had passed, she still felt heartbroken when she thought about it.
Ning Yuxi sighed, "There's no such thing as true love in the palace. Even if the Emperor loves Concubine Jing, he still has the Empress, the Imperial Concubine, and people like us."
"Ever since entering the palace, I no longer think about gaining the emperor's love. Although he is our husband, he is first and foremost the emperor. For the sake of my family and the rest of my life, I will only treat him as the emperor."
"When he comes, I will greet him with a smile. Even if he doesn't come, I can live my life well. Life is short, why bother chasing after that fleeting and false love?
You must love yourself first before you can be loved by others. If you don’t love yourself, why should others love you?
Xie Guiren murmured: "Love yourself first, then you can get the love of others..."
After a while, she seemed to agree, "Yes, if I don't cherish myself, why should others cherish me?"
Ning Yuxi was also talking about her previous life. When she was a teenager and just starting to fall in love, she also had a crush on a boy in her class. She was completely obsessed with him and often gave him small gifts.
She was full of enthusiasm, but she accidentally saw that the other party casually threw the things she gave him into the trash can. He enjoyed her pursuit, but at the same time he despised her.
She must be blind to fall in love with such a person. It's also her own fault for being too eager and putting herself in a lower position. To put it bluntly, she is a bootlicker.
She doesn't care about taking care of herself, so it's no wonder that others don't care about her and throw the things she gives them into the trash!
From then on, she closed her heart and locked away her love, and never liked anyone again.
So she lived for more than twenty years in her previous life and never even held a man's hand. Now in ancient times, she had to share a man with a group of women. What an unlucky girl she was!
After comforting Concubine Xie, Ning Yuxi went back. It depended on herself whether she could come to the truth or not. If she still couldn't, there was no need for her to waste her time.
…
After the New Year, the emperor would occasionally summon Ning Yuxi to sleep with him, but most of the time he stayed with Concubine Jing and Concubine Liu.
On the 20th day of the first lunar month, the Emperor and the Empress Dowager began to formally select a husband for Princess Yincheng. The ceremony was held in Jingtai Palace, and many young men of marriageable age from the families of princes and ministers attended.
First there was the literary competition and then the martial arts competition. I heard that the emperor and the empress dowager selected more than ten young men who were both talented in literature and martial arts, and had excellent family background, character and appearance for Princess Yincheng to choose from.
Ning Yuxi felt slightly relieved. With more than a dozen outstanding young men from aristocratic families around, Princess Yincheng should be able to forget about her brother.
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