Chapter 1 Chapter 1
The rain was pouring down and the room was dead silent.
Only the black silk that was holding Yuan Muhao's wrist was fluttering gently like a ghost.
Her body was half suspended in the air, her slender waist tightly grasped.
Her light-colored eyes were misty, and her long eyelashes drooped down wetly.
"I don't know," Yuan Mu said in a weak voice, "I really didn't know he was also..."
She was crying and tears were falling.
But the man had no intention of letting her go.
"So what you're saying is," he said, his brows darkening, "that your sister intentionally brought you two together?"
Yuan Mu's expression suddenly became confused. She raised her watery eyes helplessly: "No, no, brother-in-law..."
She longed for forgiveness, but such words made the man's expression even colder.
"Is this the name you should be called, Yuan Zhaoyi?"
The moment his wrist was pinched and pressed down, Yuan Mu burst into tears.
When the curtain falls, the world is dark.
But in the darkness, there is something more terrifying than darkness.
Yuan Mu's face was covered with tears and she was shaking with fear, but the man showed her no mercy and just said coldly, "Remember your identity."
The intense fear made her body tremble.
When even her eyes were about to be covered, Yuan Mu could no longer bear it. She cried out, "Please, don't do this..."
When all the light was completely taken away, the surrounding darkness suddenly returned to clarity.
Yuan Mucha sat up panting, and in an instant, his thin inner clothes were soaked with cold sweat.
"My lady!" the maid anxiously stroked her face with a handkerchief. "You're having a nightmare again!"
Yuan Mu panted softly, his pale face covered in sweat. "Turn on the light."
The palace maids and eunuchs hurried forward and lit all the lights in the hall.
The bright lamp illuminated the darkness outside.
The candlelight flickered, and the strong light was blinding.
Yuan Mu stared at the burning palace lanterns until her eyes began to sting, and then she finally realized clearly that she had really woken up from her dream and returned to reality.
The sky outside was gray, dark clouds were pouring down, and the snow was still falling.
It was clearly daytime, but it still felt like night.
As the year draws to a close, it has been snowing for several days.
This ordinary scene gave Yuan Mu a different sense of security at this time.
It's winter now, and the rain in the dream is just a dream.
She hasn't been sleeping well recently and keeps dreaming about the past.
But this is the first time I have had such a gorgeous dream.
That person had left Beijing for some time, and she didn't know why she suddenly dreamed of these things.
Yuan Mu's inner clothes were soaked with cold sweat, but his cheeks were still hot.
The hot and thin red, set against the pure snow, looks even more breathtaking.
She has fair bones and skin, and a stunning appearance.
Yuan Mu was undoubtedly very beautiful, but such a beautiful face did not bring her any benefits.
The maid wiped her face with a handkerchief and asked cautiously and hesitantly, "Madam, would you like to call the imperial physician?"
Yuan Mu shook his head and came back to his senses: "No need."
After calming down, the sticky discomfort on my body gradually became more apparent, especially my undergarments that were soaked.
I have things to do today and can't delay any longer.
She bit her lip and whispered, "Prepare some water."
Yuan Mu likes cleanliness and takes a bath every day.
Qingning Palace is remote, but it is adjacent to a hot spring, which she likes very much. It was because of the recent heavy snow that she just used the bathing pool in the inner courtyard.
The water in the pool was warm, covering her chest and shoulders, and also soaking her long black hair.
Yuan Mu leaned against the pool wall, surrounded by the fragrance of flower petals.
Her long eyelashes drooped and her eyes were half closed.
The various shapes and forms in the dream are as frightening as a black snake wrapped around your ankle.
Just thinking of the man's expression and tone, Yuan Mu was so scared that he wanted to hide.
She was really afraid of him.
I was so scared that whenever I dreamed about him, I would wake up crying.
Three months ago, he personally went to Shuofang to quell the rebellion. Yuan Mu was cut off from the news and had no idea how things were developing or when he would return.
She only knew that when he came back, she would have to fulfill her duties in bed again.
For ordinary concubines, being favored by the emperor is the happiest thing among all the happy events.
But for Yuan Mu, this was the most tortured thing.
She couldn't help but think, in a wicked way, that it would be better if he could come back later.
After bathing, Yuan Mu walked out of the bathtub, and the warm water slid down, winding and fragrant.
The lonely shoulder bones trembled slightly, as if a butterfly was about to fly.
But even the servants in Qingning Palace knew that Yuan Mu could not flap his wings.
She is the emperor's forbidden delicacy and a caged bird in the deep palace.
Even if he died, he could only die in the inner chamber.
-
The Queen's birthday is coming soon.
The new emperor was a frugal person, but he would celebrate the Qianqiu Festival with great fanfare every year.
Preparations would begin long in advance, with ladies from both the inner and outer courts entering the palace to pay homage to the emperor, and foreign envoys also coming to celebrate his birthday.
The Queen's birthday falls on New Year's Eve, which is a very convenient time. Many envoys will stay in the capital until they leave after the Lantern Festival, so the capital will be bustling for a long time.
The end of the year is approaching and things are busy.
But because of the Queen's birthday celebration, the atmosphere inside and outside the palace was particularly joyous.
Square lanterns were hung in the palace early on.
The towering and magnificent lanterns also reflect the beautiful light of the colored glass in the gray snowy day.
The snow was falling heavily.
When approaching Yifeng Palace, the sedan chair happened to pass by the plum garden, and the bright red color was so beautiful that it seemed to jump out of the sky.
Yuan Mu looked up and saw the maid picking plum blossoms for the queen.
Empress Yuan's favorite flower was plum blossoms, and this entire plum garden was built for her.
Each plum tree is cared for by a dedicated person, who meticulously maintains it regardless of the season, at a huge cost.
This is a hundred times more expensive than gold, silver, pearls and jade.
However, all of this came from the emperor's treasury.
Just one thing like this was enough to make the concubines in the harem grit their teeth.
The story of the deep love between the emperor and the empress was such that even ordinary children in the countryside could sing a ballad about it.
The Plum Garden was very famous, and the newly arrived palace maids were always eager to take a look at it, and even the ladies of high rank were no exception.
But compared to the Yifeng Palace, the Plum Garden is nothing.
The specifications of Yifeng Palace are extremely high. It is not only the most magnificent palace in the entire harem, but also the queen's sole residence. Countless maids and eunuchs are there to serve her alone.
The towering palace stands under the dome like a giant statue supporting the sky.
Yuan Mu got off the sedan chair and stood under the platform, where he could hear faint cheerful laughter coming from the hall.
The maid held up an umbrella for her and called softly, "Empress Zhaoyi."
Yuan Mu's rank was Zhaoyi, neither low nor high among the nine concubines.
But she really doesn't have much presence.
In the huge Nine-Layered Palace, when people counted people on their fingers, they often missed Yuan Mu.
She lived in the most secluded Qingning Palace and usually did not interact with other concubines. Over time, no one remembered her.
If Yuan Mu was not still the Queen's sister, even the Ministry of Internal Affairs would probably not remember to send charcoal to her palace.
Occasionally, there would be noble ladies coming into the palace, but they would not know how to greet Yuan Mulian when they saw him.
Yuan Mu hummed softly and followed the maid up the stairs.
There was a thick layer of snow outside, but the stone steps in front of Yifeng Palace were not muddy at all.
The door of the palace was half-open, and there was constant laughter and chatter.
Yuan Mu heard the voice of his stepmother, Mrs. Cui, from afar.
"Aying, you look better and better now," she said with a smile, "this golden and jade makeup really suits you. You look even more beautiful than when you were sixteen or seventeen."
Empress Yuan also smiled and said, "Mother, you are too kind."
"Didn't you say earlier that you wanted to see your two sisters?" Mrs. Cui said cheerfully, "Look, do you recognize them?"
"How could my daughter not remember?" Empress Yuan called someone closer. "My sisters have truly become more and more beautiful."
The two spoke in an intimate tone, with no distinction between the emperor's concubine and the ladies of the imperial court. They were still as close as when they were mother and daughter.
It's really a harmonious family.
The laughter and joy in the hall stopped the moment Yuan Mu pushed the door open.
The conversations of the crowd suddenly stopped and their smiles froze, as if they had not expected her to come over at this time.
The two young girls following Mrs. Cui seemed to be even more frightened.
Empress Yuan's complexion didn't change much.
She leaned back on the soft couch, her hair adorned with gold and pearls, but she didn't look vulgar at all. Instead, her cool and elegant temperament made her look even more extraordinary.
Empress Yuan said nonchalantly, "Come in."
"Don't stand there," she said casually, "come over and see your two sisters."
The two young girls looked young and should have reached marriage age not long ago.
They look very similar, delicate and beautiful, emitting bright and gorgeous light like flower buds.
The Yuan family is the imperial family of the previous dynasty and is undoubtedly a large family.
The Cui family is also a famous and prestigious family with generations of scholars and officials.
Yuan Mu has countless relatives and friends who come and go, and he often can't call all of them by name.
But when she met their eager yet slightly evasive gazes, she suddenly understood their identities.
It has been almost two years since Yuan Mu entered the palace.
The Yuan family had made great contributions to the emperor, and Yuan Mu's father was a loyal minister. Therefore, when the new emperor ascended the throne, he made Yuan Mu's sister Yuan Ying the queen.
Although the two are born of the same mother, their identities are very different.
Yuan Ying grew up in the Yuan Mansion since she was a child. She was dignified, elegant, and graceful. She was raised by her second wife, Cui.
When she was young, a sorcerer secretly told her that she was born with the fate of a golden phoenix and would become a queen sooner or later.
As expected, the day after the new emperor ascended the throne, the edict to establish the queen was issued directly.
Yuan Muze had an unlucky fate and his mother died when he was born. He was not liked by his father and brothers. He was raised in a manor since he was a child and was raised by Aunt Yu who was exiled to the manor for some reason.
She is reserved and taciturn, cautious and timid, and lacks the bearing and charm of a noble lady.
Many people don’t know that there is such a young lady in the Yuan family.
Even the servants did not treat her as the legitimate daughter of the Yuan family.
Although she is said to be the queen's biological sister, in fact, Yuan Mu is no different from the queen's dowry.
Logically speaking, with her status and position, she couldn't even enter the palace.
The reason why Yuan Mu was able to enter the palace and become the emperor's concubine was because Empress Yuan was weak and unable to get pregnant.
Before he ascended the throne, the emperor had an agreement with the Yuan family that the eldest son must be from the Yuan family.
Unexpectedly, on the eve of the wedding, Yuan Ying's condition worsened significantly.
Therefore, not long after the new emperor ascended the throne, he issued an edict ordering Yuan Mu to enter the palace and give birth to a child in place of the queen.
This matter is obscure and not many people know about it.
Because before entering the palace, Yuan Mu had a fiancé, and the two were just one step away from getting married.
But no one expected that what was originally thought to be a simple matter would be delayed for two years and still not be realized.
Now even Queen Yuan can't sit still anymore.
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