Chapter 168: Final (End of Text)
Jiang Shuyi didn't believe it.
She had been ill for nearly twenty days. Yuzhu said that Miao Wangshu, Feng Yiyue, her stepmother and Jiang Xianrong all wanted to see her, but Pei Yan did not let them in. Zhang Miao also requested to enter the palace many times, but Pei Yan only allowed her to see her once, and that was when Jiang Shuyi was asleep.
Ever since Pei Yu learned that Jiang Shuyi was seriously ill, he knelt outside the Palace of Heavenly Purity every day to beg for a meeting. Pei Yan tried to drive him away but failed, so he had him beaten up. He still came to kneel and beg despite his injuries, and was finally forcibly dragged away.
Jiang Shuyi understood that Pei Yan had limited energy due to his illness and did not want to deal with outsiders and see them crying when he woke up.
Only when she was with Pei Yan did she feel at ease. She didn't have to bear any responsibilities, nor did she have to force herself to comfort anyone despite her illness.
Jiang Shuyi asked the palace servants to tell those who cared about her the news of her recovery.
Half a month later, she was completely cured.
She was so lively and energetic that she wanted to go to the imperial garden and fish out the hibernating koi one by one.
After telling Pei Yan this idea, Pei Yan sighed: "What a sin Koi has committed."
Jiang Shuyi smiled and fell into his arms.
That night, the Qianqing Palace, which had just entered winter, was covered with white fox fur carpets.
Jiang Shuyi didn't understand why, but she liked the feeling very much, so she took off her shoes and stepped on it.
"Why did your Majesty suddenly think of laying a carpet?"
Pei Yan looked at the carpet calmly: "Fulfilling a wish."
Jiang Shuyi was confused when she saw Pei Yan seemed to have made up his mind. He sat cross-legged on the fox rug and looked up at her.
"come over."
Jiang Shuyi went over obediently. Pei Yan frowned and said, "You can roll around with me in your arms."
Jiang Shuyi: ...
Jiang Shuyi:!!!
She recalled what she had said casually when she was sick and was shocked: "Your Majesty, are you serious?!"
Pei Yan said, "Your Majesty, don't joke. Since I have promised, I must do it. Otherwise, I will always feel uneasy."
Jiang Shuyi was amused but also a little sad: "I think if Taoist Wu said now that I would not live long, Your Majesty would go to cultivate immortality to save me, and Your Majesty would go."
Pei Yan raised his eyes and looked straight at her, and Jiang Shuyi knew that she had spoken out of turn and mentioned the matter of life and death.
She quickly came over and hugged Pei Yan flatteringly: "I know I was wrong. I wish you a long life!"
Pei Yan: "Roll over first, I'll teach you a lesson later."
Jiang Shuyi really couldn't imagine Pei Yan rolling on the ground.
Seeing Pei Yan standing still with a tense expression, waiting for her to help him, she hesitated for a long time and asked tentatively, "Does that count as leaving?"
Pei Yan looked at her, his eyes moving slightly.
......
In the end, the wish was fulfilled successfully, and Jiang Shuyi also learned a lesson.
She could no longer look at the fox rugs and cried for Pei Yan to remove them.
There was no other way to lay it out, so Pei Yan naturally agreed.
*
Jiang Shuyi has been in good spirits since she recovered from her illness, as if she were in her last moments of life.
Jiang Xianrong's eldest daughter is already eight years old. Her personality is completely different from her mother's. She is very naughty and mischievous. The first time she attended a palace banquet, she climbed to the top of the waterside pavilion and accidentally heard Pei Yi and Pei Yu arguing, so she jumped down to help her cousin beat the eldest prince.
That year Pei Yi was fourteen years old and Pei Yu was ten years old.
When Jiang Shuyi saw them, she vaguely remembered that she seemed to have died in this year in her previous life.
It was the New Year's Eve palace banquet. Pei Yan was in the front court accepting greetings from ministers and clan members. He would be given another banquet later, while the female members of the family were all in the inner palace.
Queen Shen said with a headache: "One is your son, and the other is your niece. What do you say we should do?"
Jiang Shuyi glanced at Pei Yi and Pei Yu who were kneeling on the ground. The two were extremely taciturn, with their heads down and not saying a word. So she called her niece Li Rong over and asked her why they were fighting.
Li Rong was still very angry: "The maidservant next to the eldest prince said that my cousin had no mother. Isn't this cursing my aunt? My cousin heard it and wanted to beat the maidservant to death. The eldest prince actually stopped him. I couldn't bear it, so I slapped the eldest prince a few times!"
Jiang Shuyi felt that if Jiang Xianrong were here, she would be so scared that she would collapse to the ground.
Queen Shen explained the whole story. Recently, an official from the previous dynasty mentioned the issue of establishing a crown prince. Probably to please the emperor, the proposal was to establish the second prince born to Jiang Shuyi.
When the news reached the harem, Pei Yi's situation became a little bad. He was also quite ignored at the palace banquet today. The eunuch who served him personally was so angry that he said in a huff, "It's almost the same whether the second prince has a mother or not." Who knew that Pei Yu happened to hear it.
Pei Yu wanted to beat the palace maid to death, but Pei Yi said that a gentleman should be kind-hearted and that palace maids were born by their parents, so this punishment was too much and he should just beat her with dozens of boards and expel her from the palace. Pei Yu refused to give in, and the two started arguing.
Jiang Shuyi subconsciously looked at Pei Yu.
Pei Yu lowered his head with his long eyelashes drooping, and the sunlight reflected on his cold and thin profile.
As if he felt his mother's gaze, he clenched his hands unconsciously at his sides.
Jiang Shuyi took one look and then retracted her gaze, smiling and saying to the Queen, "I will ask her mother to take Li Rong back and teach him a lesson. As for the other two, the Queen, as the queen mother, can deal with them as she pleases. I still have to go play Cuju with Tongan and the others, so I don't have time to take care of these things."
Queen Shen frowned, "Cuju? How old are you? You are still a noble concubine. Is it decent for you to run around like that?"
Jiang Shuyi raised her chin slightly: "Your Majesty has approved it."
Queen Shen had nothing to say, and just told her with a stern face not to bump into anything.
*
There is also a custom of staying up all night in the palace on New Year's Eve. Outside the palace, there are fireworks and lanterns, and amid the sound of firecrackers, fireworks explode in the night sky, dazzling everyone and attracting everyone to stop and watch.
Jiang Shuyi nestled in Pei Yan's arms, her eyes reflecting twinkling lights, and said with a smile: "That's great, Your Majesty and I will continue like this forever, year after year, with this day in our hearts."
She had been playing too much and had taken off her cloak. Pei Yan felt her hands were a little cold, so he took off his cloak and wrapped it around her.
"You'll catch a cold if you switch between hot and cold. Didn't I tell you that?"
Jiang Shuyi not only didn't get a response but was also scolded, and she felt a little aggrieved.
Pei Yan did not back down, and looked at her with deep eyes: "If you really want to live like this year after year, you should take good care of yourself. Otherwise, I can only lock you up in the Palace of Heavenly Purity and watch over your every move to feel at ease."
Jiang Shuyi knew that it was her previous illness that scared him.
She took two steps back, turned around, and said to Pei Yan seriously: "I am completely fine now. Your Majesty, you don't have to treat me like a crystal figure anymore. If you really want to lock me up, I will get sick!"
Pei Yan's eyes softened a lot as he looked at her lively appearance.
Another bunch of fireworks exploded, and Jiang Shuyi returned to Pei Yan's arms.
"I heard that Tuoba Yu'er rebelled against her brother and became the ruler of Xitian?"
She asked.
Pei Yan knew that she loved to listen to such gossip: "Well, her brother threatened her with her child and asked her to marry the ruler of a neighboring country as a concubine, so she rebelled together with the Taifu of Xitian."
Perhaps because she had too much fun during the day, Jiang Shuyi was a little sleepy at the moment, but she still forced herself to ask curiously, "Is her daughter's biological father the Taifu?"
"Yes, they have been in contact for a long time. If you want to know the inside story, when Xitian sends people to pay tribute in the spring, I will ask them to tell you."
Pei Yan spoke for a long time without listening to Jiang Shuyi's response. He lowered his head and saw that she had closed her eyes.
He sighed helplessly and was about to carry the person back to the hall to sleep, but he felt that the person in his arms suddenly lost his restraints and slid softly to the ground.
......
In the winter of the tenth year of Xining, Concubine Jiang died.
The emperor suspended his court and issued an order to search for the disciple of the deceased Taoist priest Zixu. However, the disciple had already wandered away and no one knew where he was. He only left a letter at the Taoist temple where he once lived. The letter contained only a few words: "Fate cannot be changed. The Empress' life will end this year. It cannot be forced."
Three days later, the emperor issued an edict in the court, posthumously conferring the title of Empress Zhaoxi on Consort Jiang and appointing Pei Shen, a son of the royal family, as the crown prince.
The whole court was in an uproar, and many wrote letters to advise the emperor that since he already had a biological son, how could he place him beside the emperor? Moreover, Your Majesty was in the prime of his life, so there was no need to rush into the discussion of appointing a crown prince.
Unable to wait for the emperor's approval, the next day, the funeral dragon bell rang throughout the capital.
At the beginning of the eleventh year of Xining, the emperor died.
The fifteen-year-old new emperor followed the imperial edict and buried the late emperor and Empress Zhaoxi together, and the whole country was in mourning.
(The main text is over, not be, the second extra will be linked here)
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