Chapter 30 Chapter 30 [VIP]
The sound of heavy rain and thunder mingled with each other. Under the oppressive dark clouds, the towering nine-story palace seemed to have turned into a huge cage.
Confine people's souls in a small space.
Yuan Mu knelt on the ground, his snow-white jaw covered with deep red pinch marks.
Her figure was slender and frail, and the emotion in her eyes was dazed: "You don't want to believe me at all?"
The wind is really too strong.
Yuan Mu's shoulders trembled slightly. Her waist was so thin, like a swaying branch, even a gust of wind could blow her down.
The emperor had very little trust in her.
In his eyes, she lost her virginity before marriage, she colluded with the imperial physician, and she seduced the guards. She was a fickle, indulgent and seductive woman.
Yuan Mu tried her best to defend herself every time, but the result was that the emperor forcibly suppressed the matter and then deepened his control and restrictions on her.
There are many words that she doesn't even dare to say.
Time reveals a person's true character.
Yuan Mu always thought that as time went by, the emperor would be able to see what kind of person she was. She even secretly hoped that one day he would remember the past.
But in fact, we have been together day and night for more than two years.
The emperor is still the emperor.
He is cold-hearted, emotionless and indifferent. He has all the virtues of a king, but he has no heart.
The emperor's concern for her loyalty reached an almost pathological level.
After entering the palace, Yuan Mu had come into contact with so many men outside the palace that she could count them on her fingers. He wished he could lock her up in the palace every day.
But even so, he was still not satisfied.
Last time in the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, Yuan Mu really only had a brief encounter with Yan Fei, and other than that, there was nothing else.
But the emperor did not trust her and could not tolerate even such a simple thing.
"We'll talk about your matter later," the emperor said indifferently, "Now move aside, Yuan Mu."
His face was calm and sickly, and there was a dark murderous intent in his eyes.
How could Yuan Mu give way at this moment?
She knew that the emperor was cruel and violent, but she didn't know he could be so heartless and ungrateful.
Yan Pushe was also a meritorious official of the Yuan Dynasty. Yan Fei had served as a guard of the crown prince when he was young, so he should have been considered an old friend of the emperor.
But there was no tenderness on the emperor's face now, only an extremely cold desire to kill.
He waited silently for a moment, but Yuan Mu still refused to move away. She held his sleeve tightly and spoke the most empty words of excuse.
"That's the thing!" she whispered. "I had no intention of seducing him, and he had no intention of doing anything to me."
Yuan Mu said with tears in his eyes: "It's okay if you blame me, but why do you want to wrongly accuse an innocent person?"
Her eyes were red and her voice was filled with despair.
This finally exhausted the emperor's last bit of patience.
From crown prince to deposed prince, and then from deposed prince to emperor, his hands were stained with countless blood along the way.
Yuan Mu would never know that he had just coaxed her to sleep when he would write the Yi tribe's edict.
The emperor was not bloodthirsty, nor did he think that killing could solve all problems, but he never hesitated to kill.
When Zhang Qin's incident first happened, he executed all those who knew the inside story.
To ensure that nothing goes wrong.
The emperor had never had such trouble killing someone before.
"I said, let's talk about your matter later." After saying that, he ignored Yuan Mu, pulled her away, and walked towards Yan Fei.
If one were to ask what the emperor regretted most over the years, it would be that he did not kill Yan Fei early on for Yan Pushe's sake.
It's so easy to kill a general.
Swords and knives have no eyes and can easily kill him without any reason.
The emperor walked into the inner room in black boots, holding a blood-stained sword. There was a chill in his dark eyes, and it was clear that he was going to kill someone, but he was so high and mighty that he seemed to want to sentence someone to death.
The most important thing that military generals are taught is loyalty.
In addition to ideological domestication, the most effective way for the royal family to restrain them is the family members behind them.
Whenever a general goes to war, everyone in the family must enter the palace.
They are said to be taken care of, but in reality they are being held hostage to prevent them from rebelling or defecting.
Yuan Mu's great-uncle was once a famous military general.
When he was away, the Yuan family members were also imprisoned in the deep palace.
But that was many years ago.
When the emperor came, Yan Fei knelt on the ground. Faced with such injustice, he offered almost no resistance and just waited for death obediently.
Yuan Mu fell to the ground, her knee had just been hit hard.
Beneath the thin skirt, as white as pear blossoms and as white as snow, was a bleeding scar.
But Yuan Mu seemed not to feel the pain. He stumbled to his feet and suddenly stood in front of Yan Fei.
"If you want to kill him," she said, her eyes half closed, "kill me first."
Yuan Mu's action was too sudden and he stopped her.
, but it still touched Yuan Mu's neck.
The blood soon flowed out.
His expression changed instantly, and his voice was cold and panicked: "Yuan Mu!"
The eunuchs and guards outside were also horrified and walked quickly into the palace.
There was a thunderstorm outside, the dark night sky was illuminated by the lightning, and the deep purple light was shining through.
The emperor hugged Yuan Mu and
She had a thin body and a waist so slender that it could not be held in one hand. She was just a very delicate girl.
But at this moment, Yuan Mu's eyes were red with determination.
She once thought that he would never say this again, but at this moment, she had no scruples at all.
"Why don't you believe it?" Yuan Mu cried, "You've only been with me all these years, and you've only been my love..."
She raised her arm, and the thin bracelet on her wrist gleamed faintly in the night.
The rough jade bracelet was slightly stained by the dripping blood, making the green color even brighter and more dazzling.
The emperor held the wound on Yuan Mu's neck and carried her to the outer room.
There is a banquet in Nangong today, and the imperial physician is nearby.
"I have never messed around with other men," Yuan Mu's face was covered with tears, "and I have never loved anyone other than you."
She almost shouted at the top of her voice: "You are Helan Zhen!"
When Yuan Mu rushed towards the sword blade, the emperor's mind was almost blank.
It was his instinct from holding a sword for a long time that made him retract the blade immediately.
The emperor didn't even dare to think about what would happen if the sword blade had been just an inch deeper. He held Yuan Mu tightly, his thoughts a mixture of lucid chaos and rational madness.
He couldn't really think about anything else.
"Let's not talk about this for now, A'luo," the emperor said in a low voice, "Let's let the imperial physician take a look at the wound first, okay?"
The imperial physician came over very quickly.
The emperor pushed open a quiet hall and immediately carried Yuan Mu in.
The wound on the side of her neck was not deep, but blood was still seeping out, which looked quite horrifying.
The emperor had no intention of caring about Helan Zhen and Yan Fei at the moment. All he had eyes for was Yuan Mu, but the look in Yuan Mu's eyes seemed even more devastated.
"Why don't you believe me?" Her tears kept falling, "Helan Zhen is you, you are Helan Zhen..."
Yuan Mu fell into a state of intense collapse.
The emperor held down her hands and feet to prevent her from struggling too much, and later he had no choice but to tie her wrists together.
The imperial physician carefully sprinkled the medicine powder on the wound on Yuan Mu's neck and carefully stopped the bleeding for her.
She was crying so hard that she could hardly breathe and her shoulders were shaking.
The emperor could not hear this person's name, and blood rushed straight to the acupoint on the side of his forehead.
But he forced himself to restrain himself, lowered his head to wipe away Yuan Mu's tears, and did not let her go until the imperial physician had treated her wounds.
The emperor lowered his eyes, suppressing the anger in his eyes.
He whispered, "Wake up, Luo."
Yuan Mu felt a sharp pain on the side of his neck. The effect of the medicine had just begun to take effect, and the injured area felt like it was burning.
When people are sick, their emotions are particularly difficult to control.
"It was you who provoked me in the beginning, and it was you who said you wanted to marry me," Yuan Mu's voice gradually rose, "but you forgot everything——"
The look in her eyes was the same paranoia as the emperor's.
At this point, the emperor no longer had the energy to delve into Yuan Mu's past.
But she was obviously still stuck in old memories.
If you pull someone up from the street and tell him that he has lost a large part of his memory, he will not believe it.
What's more, the emperor is always surrounded by countless followers.
His memory has never been interrupted. Even if he can't remember some old things, he wouldn't be so ridiculous as to forget that he once slept with a woman.
Yuan Mu had suffered from hysteria when she first entered the palace, and she would pin all sorts of fabricated things on him.
At that time, she made a snack for him by herself and said expectantly: "This is osmanthus cake, you like it very much."
But the emperor threw away the snack after taking the first bite.
He doesn't like sweet-scented osmanthus cake at all. When he was a child, someone poisoned the cake and he couldn't eat normally for three whole months.
From then on, the emperor never touched a single bite of osmanthus cake.
Yuan Mu's feelings for his ex-lover are unhealthy, morbid and paranoid.
She was looking through him at the shadow of someone who came from nowhere.
To be honest, it would be unbearable for anyone to be treated like this.
Why did she treat him as a substitute? How dare she?
The emperor's suppressed anger was now boiling over again, and his voice was filled with hostility: "Don't mention that name, Yuan Mu!"
Yuan Mu's snow-white neck was wrapped in soft cloth, and even after the silk around her wrists was untied, there were still red marks all over them.
There were tears in her clear eyes, and a burning fire was burning in them.
But after the emperor said this, the fire in Yuan Mu's eyes seemed to suddenly go out.
Only cold ashes remain.
Yuan Mu leaned back on the couch, her long black hair soaked with cold sweat, sticking to her snow-white neck. Her face was pale, and her lips were red to an almost gaudy degree.
In the dim light and shadow, there is a breathtaking beauty.
But Yuan Mu had very little sense of being alive; she looked more like an exquisite doll, a beautiful jade statue.
"In that case, please let me leave the palace," she said in a low voice. "I can't bear a child for Your Majesty anyway, and I lost my virginity before marriage."
Yuan Mu's eyes were gloomy, revealing an unspeakable irritability.
She had a look of despair, and when she raised her eyelids to look at the emperor, there was no respect in her eyes.
Yuan Mu threw away all the rituals.
"Haven't you always been concerned about this?" She looked straight at the emperor, "Then just expel me from the palace."
"I was also staying at Qingyun Temple before," Yuan Mu said lightly, "If you are worried that I will do something unruly after leaving the palace, just let me be a nun."
She said indifferently: "It doesn't matter."
Yuan Mu's indifferent tone completely angered the emperor.
The hidden anger was burning madly, and the blood in his body was clamoring with resentment.
But this was not because of anything else, but because the emperor was extremely aware that Yuan Mu had no attachment to him or the palace.
Magnificent palaces, profound grace, and endless indulgence.
To Yuan Mu, it was just a cage that imprisoned her.
She always longed to leave him.
Two years passed, and the emperor thought that Yuan Mu had some feelings for him, but the truth was, there was nothing between them.
He pinched Yuan Mu's jaw and said in a cold voice: "Do you think I must have you?"
"You really want to be a nun, don't you?" The emperor's expression was gloomy. "Okay, I'll let you do it."
He left with a wave of his sleeves, his words icy: "Pass on my oral order. After she recovers from her injuries, I will send Yuan Zhaoyi to Xuandu Monastery for retreat. She cannot return without my order."
The emperor was dressed in a dark court robe that almost blended into the dark night.
He turned around to give Yuan Mu one last look, his voice almost harsh: "Tell the Queen to prepare for this spring's selection immediately."
The heavy rain fell without stopping.
The night sky, which was full of stars yesterday, is now without a trace of light.
The thunder rolled dully, and lightning briefly illuminated the darkness from time to time, but the rain curtain covered the sky and eventually returned to the obscure darkness.
Yuan Mu leaned back on the couch, her face turned away, her eyes staring at the dark corner without focus.
She should have felt a sense of relief, but after that moment of emotion, what came over her was an almost insane fatigue and exhaustion.
A thought suddenly popped up in Yuan Mu's mind.
Perhaps death is the true relief.
She was extremely world-weary when she was young and had no expectations for the world, but after meeting Helan Zhen, she never thought so again.
Yuan Mu has attempted suicide several times in the past two years.
But at that time, she was not longing for death so much as longing for love.
Now the long-lost feeling of world-weariness once again filled Yuan Mu's heart.
She had long believed that Helan Zhen was her salvation, but in fact, he might be the culprit who dragged her into the abyss.
Without him, she might have died in the chaos.
Yuan Mu is not strong or brave, and she does not have a deep desire to live.
She didn't hate him now for forgetting everything.
She only hated him for coming into her world and for making her unable to forget him.
The palace maid and the eunuch stepped forward cautiously and asked softly, "Your Majesty, it's getting late. Please return to the palace first."
Yuan Mu slowly raised her eyes. Sometimes she really wanted to die, but sometimes she couldn't help but fantasize about the future.
Something I had been looking forward to for so many years suddenly came true.
She at least wanted to go out of the palace to take a look.
No matter what, no matter what, she must build a cenotaph for her lover who disappeared forever in the war.
-
As soon as the news of the talent show came out, everyone inside and outside the palace was in an uproar.
The last time the late emperor held a beauty contest was more than ten years ago. After he ascended the throne, the emperor simply selected concubines. He had not held a beauty contest for more than two years, and many noble ladies married with hatred in their hearts.
The biggest surprise was the Yifeng Palace.
Queen Yuan was so overwhelmed with joy that she repeatedly ordered her maid to invite Yuan Wei and Madam Cui into the palace.
She never thought of herself as stupid, but it would make her feel more at ease if she discussed such an important matter with them.
Empress Yuan did not dare to guess the emperor's thoughts, but she was constantly thinking about it in her mind.
Did Yuan Mu fall out of favor? Or did something happen between them?
After hearing the news, Empress Yuan immediately began to prepare, and her face was filled with unconcealable joy.
But I didn't expect that my father Yuan Wei's expression was always gloomy.
He came to Yifeng Palace right after court session. He was wearing a dark red court robe with a bird embroidered on his chest, and he looked very dignified.
Yuan Wei didn't even say a word to Empress Yuan.
After listening to her story, he said in a cold voice: "You decide for yourself."
Then Yuan Wei left directly. Empress Yuan was very worried, but fortunately her mother, Madam Cui, arrived in the afternoon, which gave her great comfort.
"That's how men think," Madam Cui laughed heartily. "No matter how clever and beautiful the concubine is, her favor is only temporary. Your most important task is to secure your position as the principal wife."
She said with a hint of meaning, "Don't even think about competing for favor with those bitches."
Empress Yuan likes to hear nice words.
She felt more at ease when she heard it from someone who was not her biological mother but was better than her.
The anxiety of the past few days was soothed, and Empress Yuan smiled proudly, as if she had turned back into the queen of the harem who was the center of everyone's love.
She was confused before. She was the queen who was the mother of the country, and her father was an important official of the dynasty. Why should she compete with Yuan Mu, a lowly concubine who served a man?
So what if she wins? She is already the queen. How much higher can she go?
Empress Yuan was in a good mood.
The concubines had complicated thoughts. Some had already asked their sisters at home to make preparations, while others were sending people to inquire about what kind of turmoil had occurred in the palace.
In general, some are happy while others are sad.
The four concubines were completely relieved, but at the same time, they began to worry whether the young girls who had just entered the palace would come to share the already limited favor.
The general atmosphere outside is mostly joyful.
The emperor is young and handsome, but he has no children at the moment. Anyone who can give birth to his eldest son will be able to ascend to heaven in one step.
The interactions among the women increased unprecedentedly, and even the men began to gather in teahouses after leaving court.
Those whose family members had concubines in the palace would find reasons and send their girls to live temporarily in the palace.
The emperor was preparing to start the selection process, which meant he had this idea in mind.
If we don’t take advantage of this good opportunity to get close to the water, when will we be able to see the moon?
The originally peaceful mid-February was thrown into commotion by this unprecedented news.
But no matter how exciting and lively the things outside the palace were, they would not be easily spread into the palace, especially the remote and distant Qingning Palace.
After being sent back to Qingning Palace that day, the servants were replaced again.
Yuan Mu was not familiar with their faces to begin with, and now he hardly recognized any of them.
The people in Qingning Palace will be replaced within half a year at most.
But rather than saying that the emperor did not trust the eunuchs and palace maids, it would be better to say that he did not have the slightest trust in her.
The scar on Yuan Mu's neck wasn't serious. When she regained consciousness the next day, she gently asked, "Has the imperial edict been issued? When can I leave the palace?"
The emperor seemed afraid of what she might do.
They kept a close eye on her, and the maids were almost always by her side when she was bathing or sleeping.
Yuan Mu had a history of hunger strike and suicide, so the emperor had always been very strict about this matter.
She didn't quite understand. He was about to expel her from the palace, so why was he still bothering with this?
The best outcome for him would be for her to die cleanly.
The one who answered Yuan Mu was not a palace maid or a eunuch, but Zhang Yuanpan, who was dressed in blue. He frowned and walked quickly to her side.
He whispered, "My lady, please lie down quickly. Your injury has not healed yet."
The sharp sword cut through iron like mud, and even soldiers with thick skin and flesh could not withstand it, let alone Yuan Mu's delicate skin and flesh.
Fortunately, only the skin was scratched and no internal injuries were caused.
Even so, when the soft cloth was removed, the mark was still quite hideous and terrifying.
Yuan Muchingqing stood coldly beside the table, but did not do as Zhang Yuanpan said.
"The judge should have known," she whispered, "His Majesty said I must recover from my injuries before leaving the palace."
Yuan Mu raised his eyes and looked at Zhang Yuanpan.
"I've been so grateful for your care over the past two years," she said, stroking the pure white porcelain cup with its elegant patterns. "But I may not be able to bring anything to you in the future."
Yuan Mu was born with a pair of very beautiful watery eyes, with a light color. In the sunlight, the irises are almost transparent, rippling with the clear blue of still water.
That was the Xianbei ancestry of her ancestors, silently telling the traces of history.
Yuan Mu had been in the palace for two years and was still under eighteen years old. She was young and ignorant.
In this deep palace that can devour people, there is a terrifying innocence and naivety.
But at certain moments, Yuan Mu's clarity of mind was even more frightening.
How did she manage to hold on amidst all this vanity?
When the emperor pours all the glory of the world at the feet of one person, how many people can resist being immersed in it?
But in more than two years, Yuan Mu has never been trapped in it for a moment.
"Please help me leave the palace as soon as possible," she said softly, "and I will also help you change your family as soon as possible."
When Yuan Mu said this, there was no anger or resentment in his eyes.
Her plain and cold face was as calm and silent as when she first entered the palace.
Zhang Yuanpan looked at Yuan Mu silently, unable to speak for a long time.
When he first entered the Imperial Medical Service, there was a senior colleague with whom he was not very familiar, but the other party held a high position, so they often dealt with each other.
Zhang Yuanpan has been a smart and clever person since he was young.
Before Yuan Mu secretly drank the contraceptive soup, he had persistently asked the senior about the recipe: "Did you make a mistake? This safflower is not a medicine for prenatal care!"
He was rarely shocked like this, but the senior just looked at him with a wry smile, shook his head and said, "You don't understand."
"Come and read the medical books with me," the senior said calmly. "These are my family traditions, never passed on to others. If I... in the future, you will continue to do this for me."
He spoke in a low voice, clearly doing something that would get him killed, yet his expression was terrifyingly calm.
After the senior died, Zhang Yuanpan didn't understand why he did that.
What benefit could Yuan Mu bring to him? Moreover, she was not in a hurry to give birth to a prince, but wanted to avoid having a child secretly.
But when he looked at Yuan Mu's profile at this moment, Zhang Yuanpan suddenly understood.
It's not that he doesn't want to speak, he just doesn't know what to say.
Yuan Mu waited for him patiently.
She stood in front of the table, her collarbone connected to her shoulders was thin and beautifully shaped, making the wound wrapped in soft cloth look even more hideous.
But Judge Zhang ultimately did not fulfill Yuan Mu's wish.
"No, my lady," he whispered, "Your injuries are serious and will take at least three to five days to heal."
As soon as Zhang Yuanpan finished speaking, the emperor walked in from outside the hall.
He had just returned from outside, and still had a hint of coldness about him, but his expression was truly gentle, and with a smile on his lips he called out, "A Luo."
There are not many people in this world who can make the emperor humble himself like this.
But Yuan Mu's sickly expression did not improve at all. Her wrist bones trembled as if she was under stress, and the full tea in the cup spilled all over the emperor.
Her voice trembled: "Get lost, Li Congliu."
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