Chapter 179: Previous Life (XI)
The next day, when Jiang Shuyi woke up, Pei Yan had calmed down and fed her porridge personally.
Jiang Shuyi refused to drink and lowered her eyelashes: "Your Majesty doesn't care about my life or death, just starve me to death."
Pei Yan felt sorry for her. He was so fierce last night that she was still mumbling "no" in her dream. So he patiently reasoned with her, "You were the one who pissed me off first."
Jiang Shuyi looked at him with eyes full of injustice.
"The reason you can throw a tantrum at me here is that I sacrificed my reputation as a wise ruler to protect you. You don't know that rumors are spreading outside that you are a demon concubine who is causing harm to the country and the people, and they want me to execute you."
Pei Yan handed the bowl of porridge to the palace servant, looked at the terrified Jiang Shuyi, and sighed helplessly: "In order to force me, Concubine Jin's father committed suicide outside the palace gate, and the military generals were very excited. Concubine Xue's grandfather was a veteran of three dynasties. Although he died, he has many students all over the world. The civil officials also hate you to the core. How many memorials do I have to suppress every day? Do you want to see it?"
Jiang Shuyi was completely frightened. She knelt down and moved to Pei Yan's side, hugged him tightly, and asked in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, you won't abandon me, will you?"
Pei Yan did not hug her, and said in a light tone: "I will not abandon you, but I have protected you despite the world's infamy, but you are still thinking about the culprit who hurt you, which makes me a little angry."
Jiang Shuyi was so scared that she shook her head repeatedly: "Don't worry about them anymore! I will never mention them again!"
Pei Yan didn't have the heart to scare her anymore.
But Jiang Shuyi never keeps her word, and she still thinks of Pei Yu occasionally.
Not daring to tell Pei Yan, he asked the palace maids what was going on outside.
When Pei Yan found out, he punished her severely.
Jiang Shuyi cried and said she didn't dare to do it anymore, and Pei Yan was no longer soft-hearted: "How many times have you kept your word? When you were pregnant, you begged me not to consider the heir more important than you. I agreed and have done so over the years, but what about you?"
Jiang Shuyi had no way of answering him.
Pei Yan didn't need her to answer, and only let her admit her mistake after teaching her a lesson.
Jiang Shuyi cried until her voice was hoarse, and pretended to be pitiful to him: "Your Majesty, you don't know that I have very few relatives..."
"I used it once."
Pei Yan interrupted rudely: "I am your closest relative and I will never betray you. You don't need to feel sorry for yourself now. Just admit your mistakes to me. If you keep using this excuse that I have said a thousand times, I will lock you up as punishment."
Jiang Shuyi whimpered and burrowed into his arms: "No more, no more, I know I was wrong..."
Pei Yan's expression eased a little, but he still spoke in a lecturing tone: "I don't know, blood relationship is so important? Your sister and you are born from the same mother, and you grew up together. But Pei Yu is a piece of shit. He is four years younger than me, and you think more of him than me. You are so ruthless."
Jiang Shuyi sobbed softly when she heard this: "Your Majesty doesn't know, I feel sorry for him..."
Pei Yan sneered: "You are sorry for me."
Jiang Shuyi pretended not to hear and continued to vent her sadness: "Aunt loves me and my sister so much that she would agree without hesitation if she was asked to sacrifice her life in exchange for our safety. But as a mother, I asked Your Majesty to protect me and not give up the child before he was born because I was afraid of death..."
Pei Yan knew she was talking about difficult childbirth.
It is difficult to reason about this kind of thing. If Jiang Shuyi cherished herself enough, she would not be sad about it, but she did not cherish herself that much. In her heart, her loved ones were much more important than herself, but she was timid and afraid of pain and death. When the time came, she did not have the courage to sacrifice her life, so she contradicted herself and pushed herself into a desperate situation.
Pei Yan could not persuade her with reason, so he coaxed her: "Do you know why parents love their children?"
Jiang Shuyi looked up in confusion.
Pei Yan said seriously: "Because this is the rule set by the saints and sages. They want mothers to be kind and children to be filial, brothers to be friendly and younger brothers to be respectful. Generation after generation has learned this and it has gradually become their nature."
Jiang Shuyi trusts Pei Yan very much.
Even if he said that the sun rises in the west and that the one rising in the east was originally the moon and was mistakenly called the sun, she would still believe it.
"You know what else the saint said?"
Jiang Shuyi was confused again.
Pei Yan: "The saints also said that if the father wants the son to die, the son must die; if the mother wants the son to die, the son must die."
Jiang Shuyi nodded: "I have heard this sentence before!"
Pei Yan showed a relieved look on his face: "So according to reason, you wanted Pei Yu to die during childbirth, and I also let Pei Yu die. He should have died on the spot. Surviving is already a crime of filial piety. Even if you don't love him and hate him, the saint will not blame you."
Jiang Shuyi burst into laughter after hearing this.
"Your Majesty is also capable of talking nonsense."
Pei Yan pinched her twice, causing her to scream, and then he said with a stern face: "What I said to you is all reasonable, don't laugh."
Jiang Shuyi didn't listen at that time.
But later on, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense, and slowly I stopped mentioning Pei Yu.
She began to become more dependent on Pei Yan.
If Pei Yan came home late from court, she would lose her appetite. If he didn't come back for a long time because of a palace banquet, she would cry so hard that no one could stop her.
Pei Yan could only try his best to avoid these things.
But as an emperor, there are always times when you are busy with affairs.
In the second year of Jiang Shuyi's imprisonment, Pei Yan went to inspect the camp outside the capital. It happened to rain heavily and he could not return to the palace temporarily, so he had to stay in the military camp.
Pei Yan felt uneasy that night.
When he returned to the palace the next day, he didn't even attend court, but went straight to Zhaoyang Palace.
There was no noise at all.
Pei Yan walked into the bedroom and saw Jiang Shuyi sleeping peacefully with her eyes closed on the couch.
The palace maid reported in a low voice that Jiang Shuyi had cried all night last night, but suddenly became normal in the morning. After dinner, they were allowed to leave and go to sleep.
Pei Yan's tense heartstrings relaxed. He was about to go out to court. When he tucked in the quilt for her, he inadvertently saw half of something pressed under the pillow.
He frowned and went to take it, and his heart felt cold when he touched it. When he took it out, he was dazzled by the white light of the dagger, and he felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave.
"Jiang Shuyi!"
He was so panic-stricken that his hands were shaking and he couldn't even lift them up to uncover Jiang Shuyi.
It was the palace maid who noticed something was wrong and rushed forward to see what happened to the queen.
Jiang Shuyi cut her wrists.
The cut was not deep, and the wound healed after a small pool of blood flowed out. But for some reason she was unconscious. She only opened her eyes when the imperial physician came and prepared to take her pulse.
Jiang Shuyi looked at Pei Yan blankly: "Is the concubine dead?"
Pei Yan wanted to pin her down and beat her up.
But now is not the time to teach a lesson, so he asked the imperial physician to treat the patient first.
The wound on the wrist was not serious and would be healed after being bandaged. Pei Yan asked the imperial physician Jiang Shuyi why she was unconscious.
The imperial physician was also confused. After carefully asking about the whole story, he was silent for a moment and said tactfully, "The queen probably didn't sleep all night and was exhausted. She thought she would be relieved after cutting her wrists. She relaxed her mind and slept too soundly."
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