Chapter 169 Extra: Past Life (1)
The first time Pei Yan met Jiang Shuyi was at a flower-viewing banquet hosted by his father.
"Whose girl is that in pink?"
Pei Yan followed his father's gaze and saw a delicate girl following her mother obediently.
Empress Wen said with some hostility: "She is the second daughter of Censor Jiang. She looks good, but her behavior is a bit frivolous. She is not worthy of serving Your Majesty in the palace."
The emperor laughed twice and said, "I am showing it to Yan'er."
Empress Wen's face looked a little better, but she still said bitterly, "Yan'er said that when choosing wives and concubines, virtue is more important than beauty. Your Majesty's choice is to your liking, but it may not be to Yan'er's liking."
"Really?" The father looked over and asked him with a smile, "Yan'er, do you think this woman suits your taste?"
Pei Yan was used to trying to figure out his father's every move, every joy and anger.
When he first said that he would choose a wife with great virtue, his father was happy. But his father himself was a passionate and lustful man. If he did not even choose a beautiful woman as his concubine, he would be slapping his father in the face.
Pei Yan bowed: "My son... likes it."
The father laughed.
"That's right. Marry a wife based on virtue and choose a concubine based on beauty. This has been the truth since ancient times. The queen is not a man after all, so she doesn't understand."
Pei Yan smiled along and inadvertently looked at the girl again. He saw that she was being scolded by her stepmother for something she had done wrong and seemed about to cry.
Just accept her, she’s just a concubine.
Pei Yan thought so at the time.
*
The second time I met Jiang Shuyi was because she fell seriously ill just after entering the Eastern Palace.
Pei Yan remembered that he was a kind and noble man, so he could not just ignore a concubine who was dying of illness.
He drank medicine to prevent and treat colds before going over. He stood three steps away from Jiang Shuyi and asked her in a gentle voice how she felt.
The girl's cheeks were red from the fever, her hair was wet with sweat, and she looked sick. She looked over with tears in her eyes and stretched out her white and soft hand as if she wanted to touch him: "Your Highness, can you come over here?"
Pei Yan really wanted to say no.
Cheng Shouzhong anxiously said, "Your Highness, you can't go over there. What if you get sick? Jiang Zhaoxun, just tell His Highness what you want to say."
If a person is sensible and polite, he would definitely respond with discretion after hearing this, but Jiang Shuyi is obviously not that kind of person.
She still looked at him with tears in her eyes, and called out weakly and helplessly: "Your Highness..."
Pei Yan decided to trust the imperial physician's medicine this time.
He walked to the bedside, lowered his eyes gently, and looked at his sick beauty concubine: "Do you have anything to say?"
Jiang Shuyi should have had nothing to say, because she grabbed her sleeve and then burst into tears, crying so loudly that it shook the earth.
Pei Yan resisted the urge to pull his sleeves back.
He saw that the girl's collar was slightly open, revealing her fair skin that was like fine porcelain, soft and fragile. A few tears fell into it, and then slid down her collarbone to an invisible place.
Cheng Shouzhong was so anxious that he almost jumped up and down, but due to Jiang Shuyi's status and disheveled clothes, he couldn't do anything to her. He could only scold her: "How dare you! How dare Jiang Zhaoxun touch His Highness like this! Let go!"
Jiang Shuyi grabbed his sleeves even tighter and continued crying.
Very disobedient.
This was Pei Yan’s second impression of Jiang Shuyi after her “delicate and pitiful” appearance at the flower-viewing banquet.
He thought that if he ascended the throne in the future, he would definitely teach her a lesson and let her know what etiquette and rules are. Otherwise, with this kind of temper, sooner or later, it would cause unrest in his harem.
But of course we can’t teach them a lesson now.
There were many palace servants in the hall, looking over here curiously.
Pei Yan maintained a gentle expression and continued to patiently ask the disobedient concubine: "Have you suffered any injustice in the East Palace? You can tell me, and I will take care of it for you."
This question caused an uproar.
Jiang Shuyi began to cry and talked about her life from birth.
"I was born prematurely. I weighed less than 10 pounds when I was born. My aunt said I was as thin as a monkey!"
Pei Yan: “…”
"My father doesn't like me, and not just me. He doesn't seem to like any of his children. Except for the New Year family dinner, we rarely see him!"
Pei Yan didn't know what this had to do with him, he was not her father.
"Only my aunt loves me. She treats me very well. She will sew a bellyband for me and leave all the rewards from my father to me."
Pei Yan listened patiently on the surface.
"But she passed away when I was eight years old. I no longer have a close relative who loves me. But even so, I can't collapse, because I still have a four-year-old sister who asks me for an aunt... My father still doesn't care about me, and my mother only treats her own children well. When I was sick, no one came to take care of me. Seeing that other brothers and sisters were cared for by their mother, Your Highness, don't you know how envious and sad I am..."
Pei Yan didn't feel anything.
He had never been loved by his queen mother or his biological mother, so he would not feel any pain if they died.
But Jiang Shuyi cried so pitifully that it looked like she was going to cry to death if no one cared about her.
Pei Yan was about to say a few words of comfort, but Jiang Shuyi suddenly looked at him with tears in her eyes: "Your Highness, I have entered the East Palace now, and you are my biological elder. Can you stay and take care of me for a while? Just a little while, just a little while..."
Pei Yan didn't want to.
He looked at Jiang Shuyi quietly, hoping that she would give up and realize that he was her king, not her parent.
Cheng Shouzhong also indirectly reminded Jiang Shuyi: "Your Highness, I know you care about Jiang Zhaoxun, but your own health is also important. If you get sick and His Majesty finds out, Jiang Zhaoxun will be punished."
Jiang Shuyi was actually still angry. She glared at Cheng Shouzhong, then looked back at him aggrievedly: "Your Highness will take care of me. If Your Majesty wants to punish me, then let him. I won't live long anyway!"
Pei Yan felt that since she was so noisy, she should live a long time, after all, the harm she caused would last for thousands of years.
He finally agreed, considering her young age and ignorance.
Although he said he was taking care of her, it was impossible for Pei Yan to help Jiang Shuyi with anything.
He asked her if she had adapted well after entering the East Palace.
With others, he would only get the answer "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I think everything is fine." However, with Jiang Shuyi, it was obviously a different situation.
"I can't adapt! I can't adapt at all! The palace people here are bullying me!"
Pei Yan smiled and could only help her solve the problem. By the way, he also pointed out his trusted imperial physician to treat Jiang Shuyi.
She had a good physical condition, but the imperial physician who treated her was instructed by the concubine not to treat her properly, so the treatment was delayed until today.
With the careful treatment of the imperial physician, Jiang Shuyi soon recovered.
Pei Yan quickly forgot about the strange events of that day as he had too many important things to do.
But Jiang Shuyi obviously remembered it and often came to ask for a meeting under the pretext of expressing gratitude.
Cheng Shouzhong, who played the villain, threatened her several times, but Jiang Shuyi did not back down. She knelt outside his bedroom and said she would kneel until he came out and then report him.
Pei Yan wanted to kill her at this moment.
He has many important things to plan and cannot be bothered by such a stupid person.
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