Chapter 49 Chapter 49 [VIP]
The slap was so hard that Yuan Mu's palm hurt.
But what hurt more was her chest.
Before leaving the palace, Yuan Mu and the King of Chu were not actually very close. There was an ambiguous and dangerous atmosphere surrounding the two of them.
It would be more accurate to say that he chose to help her out of sympathy and pity rather than love for her.
Although both came from the palace, the King of Chu and the Emperor seemed like completely different people.
He is a free bird, unrestrained, not greedy for power, and always has a knight-errant passion.
Even without his status as a royal relative, the King of Chu would still be a free and easy-going person.
He is very much like the famous scholars of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, but more like a lone knight wielding a sword.
When Yuan Mu was reading the Records of the Grand Historian, his favorite chapter was the Biographies of the Knights-Errant.
She has lived a repressed and restricted life for too many years and longs for freedom and to break free from the constraints of rules.
Yuan Mu thought about this problem very seriously. If she had met the King of Chu first, she would definitely not have fallen in love with the emperor.
When she first arrived at the Prince of Chu's mansion, he placed several travelogues in front of her and said softly, "Please pick one out. If you want to go somewhere in the future, I'll have someone help you find it."
Yuan Mu is not an innocent girl.
She could see the subtle emotions in the King of Chu's eyes, but he never intended to use this to threaten or force her.
After rescuing her, his idea was to send her away when she was better and the time was right.
But they underestimated the emperor's illness. Even after seeing the fake charred corpse, the emperor still set up a tight net, especially in Luoyang and Jiangnan.
The King of Chu had no other choice but to take Yuan Mu away.
After the fire, her health was very weak and she needed the help of the court doctor all the time.
It was in this context that they came to Shuofang together.
The King of Chu was a man who loved to have fun. He took Yuan Mu to ride horses and shoot arrows, took her to row boats and pick lotus seeds, took her to play on the swing and make wood carvings.
Yuan Mu's 19 years of life had never been so rich and happy.
The sage said: It starts from emotion and ends with etiquette.
The King of Chu was a very casual and willful person, but he did not treat her in any extreme way.
Yuan Mu is a very normal young woman. It is impossible for her to be completely untouched by a man who treats her sincerely and is polite and gentle.
Especially in the past two years, the King of Chu did not deceive or lie at all.
He was never like the emperor, who deliberately pretended to be gentle and elegant, but was actually full of morbid and paranoid evil desires.
Before the emperor found out, there was only a thin layer of window paper between them.
But now, they may never have that chance again.
To put it nicely now, the King of Chu's life or death is uncertain and his whereabouts are unknown.
However, in reality, there is a great possibility that he is no longer alive.
Thinking of this, Yuan Mu's heart ached so much that it seemed to bleed. The King of Chu treated her so sincerely, but she had harmed him to such a situation.
If possible, she would rather be the one in trouble.
Yuan Mu's face was pale and her words were harsh, but her expression showed a fragility that showed she could no longer withstand any changes.
The emperor wiped the blood from his lips with his fingertips.
He turned his face away, his expression frighteningly calm.
The emperor's cheekbones were tinged with a hint of crimson, but his complexion did not appear weak at all. Instead, it had a coldness and solemnity like a surging underworld river.
Even more intimidating.
He said calmly: "It seems that you are not feeling uncomfortable."
"I give you two choices," the emperor said casually, "come to dinner, or now..."
He spoke slowly and softly, raising his eyelids to look at Yuan Mu.
This is an extremely humiliating choice.
But Yuan Mu had no choice. She stood up, bit her lip and said, "Have dinner."
Dinner had been prepared earlier, and since Yuan Mu hadn't woken up yet, he kept it warm on the stove.
She was extremely tired of taking medicine and eating medicated food, so the Imperial Hospital compiled a recipe for dietary supplements and added nourishing foods to her favorite meals.
This is very carefully cared for.
But Yuan Mu was completely ungrateful. In Yuan Mu's eyes, all the emperor's gestures of goodwill were just deception.
What happened yesterday destroyed all the politeness between the two of them.
The emperor was too lazy to pretend anymore. He had the medicinal food served for the first time in a long time, then put his arm around Yuan Mu's waist and let her hold him on his lap to feed him.
He hadn't done this for a long time. When she was feeding her snacks, she deliberately bit him, but he didn't even frown.
But Yuan Mu's behavior of twisting his waist and trying to break free was something the emperor could not tolerate.
He slapped the tip of her buttocks and scolded her in a low voice: "If you move again..."
Yuan Mu's eyes shook and his eyes turned red with humiliation.
When the emperor saw her expression, he felt extremely happy. He did not blame Yuan Mu for scolding him. After all, he was indeed such a sick person.
He leaned over and kissed away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
or
The emperor kissed Yuan Mu's neck and waited for her to
She is not very easy to be tortured. After being together for so long, she
The emperor didn't do much to Yuan Mu. He left in a hurry early in the morning and didn't have time to give her a bath. Now that he finally had time, he washed her carefully and applied medicine to her.
Her rejection was so strong that her teeth bit his finger bones until they bled.
The bright red blood dripping into the pool full of flower petals had a strange beauty, but it also aroused the emperor's evil desires.
When Yuan Mu saw his expression change, he instinctively wanted to escape.
The emperor grabbed her delicate ankle and pulled her into his arms.
When the kiss was forced on his red lips, Yuan Mu bit back fiercely, and the rusty smell spread between their lips and teeth, revealing a morbid meaning.
Her watery eyes could not hide the hatred.
"You will not die well," Yuan Mu said with a fierce voice, "Those who kill their fathers and relatives deserve to go to hell."
She has a very stubborn personality, and her gentle and obedient behavior in her early years was all fake.
Yuan Mu is a person who has a very clear distinction between love and hate.
Her blood flows with the rebellion and indulgence of the foreign races in the land of Black Mountains and White Waters.
Even though the Yuan royal family has been practicing Han politics and marrying Han Chinese women for many years, this cannot change the situation.
The so-called etiquette and moral code cannot really restrain them.
But when the emperor heard Yuan Mu's disobedient words so bluntly, the anger in his eyes was still aroused.
"So what?" He pinched her jaw, "Don't you still want to be mine? Don't you still have to accompany me to be buried in the imperial mausoleum?"
The inequality in power relations is particularly evident between the two of them.
How is the emperor respected? It is because he is above everyone else and invincible.
Even if Li Conglu bent down for Yuan Mu again, they would never be equal, and the tenderness and pampering he gave could be taken back at any time.
If one day he wanted to destroy her, it would only take a word.
Yuan Mu has no powerful party behind her, and she doesn't even have anyone she can rely on in the palace.
She was completely isolated and helpless in front of the emperor.
When Yuan Mu heard the emperor say this, she really hated him to the extreme. She had never seen such a shameless person in her life.
Compared with the emperor, her father seemed innocent and kind.
Now, there is only one way for Yuan Mu to go, which is to wait for the little prince to grow up and become fully capable, and then commit treason.
But the emperor was so powerful and so healthy.
If she really had to wait until that time, she would not be able to bear it anymore.
And there is an even greater possibility that the little prince, under the emperor's upbringing, will eventually become exactly like him.
The power of the real emperor was far more terrifying than what she had seen in history books.
But Yuan Mu was unwilling to stop fighting. If she really surrendered to the emperor, then only the abyss would be waiting for her.
The whole night was a mess.
In the second half of the night, the imperial physician came.
Yuan Mu's mind was completely confused, but she didn't want to be touched by anyone, not even the imperial physician.
The emperor had to order someone to feed her a sedative first.
Yuan Mu's face was covered with tears, her eyes were red and swollen from crying, and her voice was extremely hoarse.
The pure white robe was wrapped in a morbidly bright color that was completely unbearable to look at.
Fortunately, the medicine took effect quickly. Yuan Mu's long eyelashes drooped weakly, and soon he closed his eyes drowsily.
The pulse diagnosis result was extremely poor.
As the emperor listened to the words of the imperial physician on duty, his expression became increasingly grim.
She took good care of herself during the two years in Shuofang, and after returning to the palace, she was provided with fine clothes and delicious food for half a year, but her life was worse than before.
Wang Yuanshi and Zhang Yuanpan were called from their homes by the emperor during the journey.
At first, the two thought that there was something wrong with the emperor.
Ever since the fire in Qingning Palace, he had been coughing up blood and often couldn't sleep at night.
After Yuan Mu returned to the palace, the emperor's condition improved a lot.
Who would have thought that the one who got into trouble was Yuan Mu.
Wang Yuanshi is very old and his beard is already gray. He is the head of the Imperial Medical Bureau and the highest-ranking medical officer.
The emperor still listened to what he said.
The two carefully checked the pulse again, then looked at each other in surprise.
The emperor's hands were clasped together, his head lowered, and his eyes were bloodshot.
The emperor, who was always calm and composed, looked anxious and his words were a little garbled. "She refuses to take medicine or medicinal food. What do you say we should do?"
He was like a troubled elder, worried and helpless about the younger generation in his family.
Both of them had been practicing medicine for many years and had frequent contact with the emperor, and they often dared to offer subtle advice and remonstrations.
But the current situation is really difficult to deal with.
The emperor and Yuan Mu hadn't been like this for a long time. The last time seemed to be a few years ago.
I thought Your Majesty was cultivating himself and improving his character, but I didn't expect it to be like this again.
But the people serving nearby were able to figure out what was going on.
Something just happened to the King of Chu, and the two of them became like this. What other reason could there be?
But how should outsiders advise on such matters?
Judge Zhang was a man of great intelligence, and at this moment he could only speak slowly, "Your Majesty is not in good health, and there is no rush to recover."
"If you're not too busy with government affairs," he said, lowering his head, "you could take the Empress to the temporary palace to relax and unwind."
But everyone knows that the Rouran are in chaos and the emperor has been very busy recently.
The emperor listened for a moment, his expression softening slightly as he spoke slowly, "Is there anything else we can do? She's been dwelling on things lately and has been arguing with me constantly."
It is difficult to serve someone in a higher position.
Zhang Yuanpan is still unmarried, and Wang Yuanshi has been widowed for many years.
The two men looked even more embarrassed. Finally, the Imperial Envoy said tentatively, "Why don't you ask Li Tao, Lord Li Ling? He and his wife are said to have a very harmonious relationship."
Li Tao and his wife were a young couple and had lived in harmony for many years.
Now that they are getting older, they are still as close as when they were in love. They are truly a couple for life.
The emperor was silent for a moment, and the depression between his brows dissipated a little.
After Yuan Mu drank the medicine and received the acupuncture, it was almost dawn. The sun rises late in winter, so there would be no grand court meeting today, but there were some matters to discuss.
The emperor left some people here, and then left without a moment's rest.
Before leaving, he took a last look at Yuan Mu.
Yuan Mu slept in the tent. The sedative drug forced her to sleep, but she was still in pain and could not get a real sleep.
The emperor reached out his hand and gently smoothed Yuan Mu's frown with his fingertips.
Her long eyelashes trembled unconsciously, but she didn't open them in the end.
At that moment, an indescribable dull pain surged in the emperor's heart. It was Yuan Mu who felt uncomfortable, but seeing her like this, his chest ached.
-
Yuan Mu has been feeling unwell for several days.
The young prince had seen her only once.
He had lost his mother before, so he felt insecure and was afraid of leaving her again.
Yuan Mu was wearing a thick snow-white cloak. Her eyes and eyebrows were sickly, and her cheeks were flushed with sickly color when she coughed.
The sick body can hardly support it, just like Xi Shi holding her heart.
Yuan Mu glanced at the little prince and said softly, "Mother is fine. I just didn't want to see you because I was afraid that my illness would be passed on to Ah Fei."
Her watery eyes, which always shone with starlight, were dim, without even a trace of dim light.
The little prince subconsciously became a little anxious.
He didn't know how to put it, but at that moment, he had a strange intuition - he might lose his mother again.
Tears welled up in the little prince's eyes. He tightly grasped Yuan Mu's hand and said in a sobbing voice, "Mother, please don't leave me..."
Yuan Muhui's body instinctively made him hold the little prince's hand.
She responded subconsciously: "Mother will not leave you."
When she first returned to the palace, Yuan Mu originally thought that she could resist her motherly instincts and would not be bound by blood.
But the fact is, she is now deeply trapped in it.
At this moment, Yuan Mu not only understood the emperor's viciousness in wanting to take the little prince away from her, but also understood his viciousness in making them live together day and night.
He is cunning and has ulterior motives. Even the simplest things are done with calculations in mind.
Yuan Mu hugged the little prince, and suddenly felt extremely powerless at this moment.
In the next few days, she took the initiative to avoid seeing the little prince.
The emperor has been very busy lately, and his mind is full of Yuan Mu, so he didn't pay attention to this matter.
He investigated what happened that day and found out that a panicked attendant had delivered the wrong message and mistakenly sent the secret of King Chu's accident to Ziwei Palace.
The emperor held the urgent letter in his hand, stood in front of the hall, and said slowly, "Chengyu, what should you do if you and your wife often have misunderstandings and quarrels?"
His expression was very calm, as if he was talking about someone else.
Chengyu is Li Tao's pen name.
He used to be an official of the Eastern Palace, and his relationship with the emperor was unmatched.
However, no matter how close the emperor and his subjects were, they were not close enough to discuss the secrets of women in the boudoir.
Li Tao was vaguely aware of the conflict between the emperor and Yuan Mu, but he never expected that the emperor would ask him about it one day.
"It depends on the situation, Your Majesty," Li Tao said helplessly. "At most, my wife and I would argue about where to go for our outing. We haven't had any misunderstandings yet."
He didn't seem to realize how offensive it was to say such things to someone whose marriage was in trouble.
The emperor's brows turned cold.
He ignored Li Tao, but he finally listened to the imperial physician's words.
"I've been busy lately and can't always accompany you," the emperor said softly, "You and Ah Fei should go to Mount Li to have some fun. If there are anyone you want to bring with you, please make a list for me."
While holding a spoon to feed Yuan Mu medicine, he half-knelt on the ground, held her face and kissed her gently.
Yuan Mu sat in front of a low table. The difference in their body sizes was so great that even if the emperor knelt on one knee, his aura could still completely envelop her.
She didn't want to drink the medicine, nor did she want to be kissed by him.
But in the end, Yuan Mu was half-forced to drink the medicine.
The corners of her eyes turned red, but no tears fell.
Yuan Mu didn't know what the emperor was acting. The news that King Chu was most likely dead had spread. He was the emperor's only legitimate relative.
Even though he behaves like a dandy in his daily life, he still has a very high reputation.
When this incident happened, even the farmers in the wilderness knew that the Rouran people had killed the emperor's brother.
The war spirit was incredibly high.
But Yuan Mu just felt sorry for the King of Chu. Not only was he deceived and cheated by his trusted brother, but he could not rest in peace even after his death. He became the one who gave the emperor a pretext.
Maybe it's because I cried too much and my tears are almost dry.
What has happened in the past two years is like a huge cycle.
Once, Yuan Mu was trapped in darkness, searching for direction in the fog.
She took the initiative to help the King of Chu handle the affairs of the palace, and she had selfish motives when she agreed to take over the Phoenix Seal to manage the palace affairs.
Yuan Mu has grown a lot now, but he still has no ability to compete with the imperial power.
Then she fell into darkness again.
In other words, as long as the emperor is alive, Yuan Mu will never be able to escape from the darkness.
She had only a brief glimpse of the light of day.
But in order to be able to leave this cage-like palace, Yuan Mu carefully made a list for the emperor and selected the people to accompany him.
No matter how desperate she is now, can she be more desperate than when she first became pregnant with Ah Fei?
What loomed before Yuan Mu's eyes was an almost terrifying behemoth, but she was unwilling to just sit there and wait for death, allowing herself to be slaughtered by the emperor.
The emperor looked at it for a moment, his brows furrowed slightly.
"If you don't agree, forget it," Yuan Mu said coldly, "I don't really want to go to the palace."
"I agree," the emperor replied immediately. "Of course I agree."
So a few days later, Yuan Mu took the little prince to the Lishan Palace.
It was almost the end of November and the weather was getting colder. There had just been a heavy snowfall a few days ago, otherwise they could have left earlier.
The little prince was wearing a thick jacket and staying by Yuan Mu's side.
He was born with a delicate and delicate appearance, like a doll made of snow.
Yuan Mu recuperated for a few days, but she was still not fully recovered. She coughed twice and had to raise her hand to pull the open curtain up most of the way.
The little prince obediently handed the hand warmer to Yuan Mu and said softly, "Mother, a hand warmer."
Yuan Mu stroked the little prince's head and said softly, "Thank you, A Fei."
When the carriage stopped in front of the familiar palace, she had a strong feeling of being in another world.
When Yuan Mu gave birth to Ah Fei, he spent the winter here.
She took the little prince's hand and walked towards the main hall.
There were not too many people accompanying him, they were all female officials and noble ladies from aristocratic families.
Yuan Mu has been in charge of palace affairs for almost half a year. She does not have the title of queen now, but she has been treated as a queen many years ago. What's more, in some places her treatment is even better than that of the emperor.
She was only one grand ceremony away from that honorable position.
People who are well-informed have heard that the emperor was secretly preparing for this matter. If it weren't for the sudden rebellion of the Rouran, it would have been finalized by the beginning of spring at the latest.
But Yuan Mu didn't care about these things at all.
After she took charge of the Phoenix Seal, in addition to the female officials, she gradually became acquainted with noble ladies and ladies.
Most people are very familiar with Yuan Mu, and there is only one exception among this group of people.
It was Xi Lanyan.
She was once a famous person in Jingzhao. She was beautiful, talented, had a brother who was a gentle and elegant gentleman, and came from a noble family.
But in recent years, Xi Lanyan seems to have completely disappeared.
Yuan Mu didn't see many people usually. When she was in the palace, she had thought about seeing Xi Lanyan again, after all, they were once friends, but the emperor always refused.
Either it was saying that Xi Lanyan was ill, or it was saying that Xi Lanyan had left Beijing.
Yuan Mu didn't know what was going on.
Her heart grew colder and colder under the emperor's repeated torture.
This time, Yuan Mu called Xi Lanyan over not for herself, but for her brother Xi Rongjing.
The emperor has been keeping a close eye on her lately, so she can't see Xi Rongjing directly and has to go through other people.
On the day Xi Rongjing arrived at the palace, it snowed on Mount Li.
He was not wearing official uniform, but a green robe, looking unrestrained and unrestrained, like a young man as handsome as a green pine.
Compared to his previous gloomy expression, Xi Rongjing's expression has improved a lot, and that familiar gentleness has returned.
He bowed to Yuan Mu and called her humbly, "Your Majesty."
Yuan Mu looked at Xi Rongjing and whispered, "Does what you said before still count?"
Xi Rongjing's eyelids lifted, he was stunned for a moment, and the corners of his lips rose slightly.
"Of course it counts," he said softly. "It always counts, Luo."
-
Yuan Mu stayed in the Lishan Palace for many days. When she had nothing to do, she would go to the hot springs and then play with people here.
There is a special horse farm here. After the snow melted, she went riding a few times.
If the emperor and the imperial physician had not expressly forbidden it, Yuan Mu would have wanted to try playing polo. This was the only thing that the King of Chu had not had time to teach her.
The little prince was still in the early stages of learning and often had to attend classes with his teacher.
Yuan Mu didn't take him to play too much.
Life these days is generally peaceful.
Until one day in December, the emperor suddenly came here after briefly finishing his work in Jingzhao.
Yuan Mu glanced at the calendar and just remembered that it was the day she first entered the palace.
The emperor was a man with a strong sense of ritual. He attached great importance to this day, and then there was her birthday, because that happened to be the day they first met before he lost his memory.
He wore a platinum robe, which looked both noble and elegant.
Just like a peacock spreading its tail.
Compared to his youthful demeanor when he just came of age, the emperor is now more mature and is already in the prime of his life.
Yuan Mu said softly: "Today is our anniversary, right?"
The emperor was slightly surprised, and said with a smile on his lips: "You still remember."
"Of course I remember," Yuan Mu smiled. "The horse farm here is very beautiful. Do you want to go horse racing?"
Maybe it really is useful to come out and broaden your mind.
Yuan Mu's complexion improved a lot. She had never spoken such gentle words to the emperor before.
Just as the emperor asked someone to bring two horses, Yuan Mu held his hand.
She whispered, "We'll ride together."
This was a treatment the emperor had never received before. He looked at Yuan Mu's slightly flushed face, and his mind was so flustered for the first time.
It was as if there were young deer running around everywhere.
Since we are riding together, it is impossible for someone to follow us all the time.
The emperor's Adam's apple rolled, and he whispered, "Just serve from a distance."
The two of them rode on tall white horses and ran from the stables to the depths of the dense forest.
The emperor was an excellent rider, and even if Yuan Mu was riding unsteadily, he could take over the reins immediately.
The two bodies have been pressed against each other for so many years, it would be a lie to say that they didn't feel anything.
The emperor said in a low voice: "Return to the palace."
But Yuan Mu hooked her arm around his neck and got off the horse. She kissed him directly on the lips, her voice vague: "It's fine here."
At that moment, some emotions were about to explode from the emperor's mind.
He grabbed Yuan Mu's waist, his expression dark: "Who taught you that?"
Yuan Mu's cold face was tinged with beauty. She whispered, "If you don't want to, forget it."
Just as she was about to stand up, the emperor pressed her into his arms.
The emperor had many tricks, but never like this. When it was over, there was a look of morbid satisfaction between his eyebrows.
"I've been in Mount Li for so many days, and you haven't even received a letter," he said in a hoarse voice. "Do you miss me or not?"
The emperor put his arms around Yuan Mu's slender waist, his almond-shaped eyes filled with the hesitation of a young man.
Just when he wanted to kiss her red lips again.
There was a sudden sharp pain in my shoulder.
The emperor subconsciously protected Yuan Mu. It was only a moment later that he realized that it was the sharp blade in her hand that pierced his shoulder.
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