63. The Past
I won't be an emperor
Chapter 63
She looked up in a daze, not knowing when Ji Ci had returned from Jinshui today. He was standing with his back to the light, so she couldn't see the expression on his face. She only felt that he was extremely tall, and the sunlight on his back seemed to have covered him with a layer of golden armor.
In comparison, I am so ashamed...
"Your Highness Prince Qi." When the female relatives saw their husbands coming, they all took a step back.
Ji Ci stood in front of her, looking at his disheveled little wife, his breathing gradually calmed down.
As soon as he returned to Pingnan, he heard a maid come to Xuntianqu and others, saying that the princess was in danger. He thought she was assassinated or something, and he felt panic and even regret.
I regretted why I was still angry with her before I left.
His young wife was quite scheming, staying with him simply for protection and not even harboring any romantic feelings for him. Initially, seeing her rushing into a fire to find him, he had assumed she was acting out of love. But when she pretended to be rebelling that day, he realized it wasn't what he had initially thought.
He was discouraged and angry, but he didn't want her to die.
Since she is already his wife and has not done anything evil, he should treat her well.
Without hearing clearly what danger he had encountered, he rode his horse at full speed and rushed over here.
He thought about all kinds of dangerous situations along the way, and even thought about how to rescue her if she was kidnapped by bandits, but he didn't expect that she would walk into the swamp by herself.
Such an obvious swamp quagmire!!!
There wasn't even any grass around, and anyone with one eye could see it. He really didn't understand why she walked straight in.
With a helpless sigh, the two of them said nothing. Although silent, it seemed to have already mocked a thousand words.
Ji Ci half-knelt and bent over, putting his hands under her armpits. A burst of floral fragrance wafted over, followed by a strong stench of decay. He frowned slightly and held his breath with some nausea.
He squatted in a horse stance, exerted force, and pulled her out like pulling a radish.
Her lower body was covered in mud, her shoes had been sucked away, and a few bees were still swirl- ing around her head. Ji Ci waved his hand to shoo them away.
Jiang Qiuye lowered her head, looking at her own soft smoke, which had become such a mess. She felt so wronged that tears actually fell. The face she had just earned here was now completely lost! The most terrifying thing was that Ji Ci saw her stupid and ugly appearance. He would definitely laugh at her in his heart.
Ji Ci had a blank expression on his face. He turned to thank Zhu and said, "Thank you for your help today, Madam."
"It's okay, it's okay, as long as the prince doesn't blame me. The princess is frightened, so she should go back and take a bath and have a good rest."
He nodded, picked up Jiang Qiuye horizontally, said goodbye to the women, and went out.
Tian Qu came after him, pulling up a carriage and setting down a small stool. He knew that upon returning to Shengjing, he wouldn't just be dealt twenty lashes. With a dead heart, he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Ji Ci carried her into the carriage, while he rode his horse outside and followed the carriage back to the inn.
The inn had already prepared hot water. Jiang Qiuye couldn't accept the change from the fragrant smell of hibiscus to the smell of stinking puddles. When she got off the carriage, Ji Ci was nowhere to be found. Feeling a little disappointed, humiliated and defeated, she had no choice but to go to the clean room to bathe alone.
After emerging from the bath, she wrapped herself in a moon-white skirt and casually sat before her dressing table. Lacking a maid, she had to dry her hair herself. As she combed her hair, she gazed at her beautiful face in the bronze mirror. But then she thought of how she had drunkenly fallen into the swamp, and she found it difficult to continue looking at the beautiful woman in the mirror.
Even at this moment, he was still feeling a little dizzy. Thinking of Ji Ci, he felt unwilling to give up.
The emperor was so wary of him, so what was wrong with her giving him advice?
As soon as she put down the comb, the door was pushed open. Looking in the bronze mirror, she saw Ji Ci walking in. Her eyes lit up slightly as she saw him holding a bowl of soup or medicine in his hand.
He sat directly beside her, handed the bowl to her, and said sideways: "Drink the hangover soup."
"I'm not drunk!" Jiang Qiuye refused subconsciously.
Ji Ci was silent for a moment, just looking at her stubbornness. He stirred it with a spoon helplessly, put it to his mouth to cool it down, and handed it to her again.
Jiang Qiuye calmed down and finally accepted the hangover soup. After a bowl, he quickly felt much clearer.
He watched as a line of soup dripped from the corner of her mouth. Her neck was long and slender, and her waist was slender. She looked completely different from the mess she had been in during the day. After these days of separation, she seemed to have become much more beautiful.
He asked softly, "Are you tired?"
Jiang Qiuye shook his head in some confusion.
"Then come out with me."
He spoke in a low voice, with an air between his brows that made her feel unfamiliar.
"Where are you going?"
Ji Ci did not answer, but stood up, picked up a cloak from the side and put it on her, tied the belt, and took her hand and walked out of the inn.
He brought a horse and asked her to mount it herself. Jiang Qiuye felt baffled. Her mind, which had been cleared up by the hangover soup, began to blur again.
She tightened her cloak, stepped back, and shook her head.
This strange wooden man had been so cold to her these days, and now he wanted to take her out without telling her where to go, which inevitably made her think too much.
"I'm not selling you out. Hurry up and get on the horse." Ji Ci pinched his brows with a headache. Seeing that she was still alert and motionless, he stepped forward and lifted her onto the horse's back. He followed suit and climbed onto the horse, sitting behind her, circling her and holding the reins.
"Wait, where are we going?" Jiang Qiuye was shocked when he got on the horse.
"You'll know when we get there." Ji Ci controlled her and prevented her from getting off the horse. He squeezed the horse's belly hard and rushed out at high speed.
Jiang Qiuye was unprepared, her heart beating rapidly. The sun had already set, and Ji Ci avoided the crowded streets and headed towards the outskirts of the city. The early spring night was a bit chilly. Although she was wearing a cloak and was in his arms, the night wind made her cheeks and teeth tremble slightly.
By the time they reached their destination, the horse had finally slowed, and a light sheen of sweat had formed on her body. Dismounting, she looked around and realized she had reached the summit of Man'er Hill, a place she had seen during the day. Apricot trees dotted the mountain, and the wind was strong, blowing petals like rain. Below, she could see the brightly lit Pingnan County.
Today is the Flower Festival, and there is a ceremony to worship the flower god in Pingnan County. Although I can't hear the sacrificial music coming from the county town from such a long distance, I can still imagine the beautiful singing.
Confused, she looked at Ji Ci, who was tying his horse nearby, and asked, "My Lord, why did you bring me here?"
Ji Ci twitched the corner of his mouth. He had been a little cold towards her recently. When she needed saving, he still rushed to save her without stopping. But now, the way she addressed him changed from husband to prince.
He walked to a place with nice scenery and sat down. He patted the grass beside him and motioned Jiang Qiuye to sit down as well.
She thought about it. Although she was annoyed at his coldness and cowardice, his obedience to the bastard emperor and his indifference to her, she also knew she couldn't turn against him now. Since he gave her this way today, she would take it.
After making up his mind, Jiang Qiuye changed his expression, sat down beside him with a smile, and waited to see what he was going to do.
Ji Ci looked at the lights in the distance in silence for a long time. Just when she thought he was crazy and ran to this dark place to see the scenery in the middle of the night, he finally spoke.
He raised his chin and said calmly, "That's Jinshui over there."
Gold and water?
Jiang Qiuye passed Pingnan County and looked north. Suddenly, he felt his tense emotions, which were exactly the same as when he had chopped off Governor Gao's head that day.
"My queen mother passed away in Jinshui."
The smile on Jiang Qiuye's face disappeared, and sweat broke out on his palms. "Mother? Are you talking about Empress Qiyuan?"
She suddenly remembered that Grand Empress Dowager Zhao had mentioned to her that Ji Ci and Empress Qiyuan Ning had not been taken away by Emperor Jin'an, so they had to take a detour to escape secretly, and Ning eventually died on the way. But as for what exactly happened, only Ji Ci knew.
"Yes." He nodded and closed his eyes. "Ye'er, I will never be an emperor in my lifetime."
He had told her about this the last time, but she had always thought he was a coward, a man whose brain had become rusty from reading too many sage books, and who wouldn't know how to dodge a knife. But looking at him now, it seemed there was another reason.
She suddenly felt a chill and asked, "Why?"
"This is what my mother and I owe my elder brother. I swore before my mother's remains that I would never fight for the throne and would wholeheartedly assist my elder brother. If I break this oath, I will be struck by lightning and tortured to death."
Jiang Qiuye wiped the sweat from his palms, and froze in place, feeling surprised and confused.
"My Lord, what exactly happened back then?"
Ji Ci didn't look back at Jiang Qiuye, but simply looked down at Pingnan County from above. "Big brother is our father's eldest son. He was made the crown prince at birth and trained according to the monarch's wishes. The Eastern Palace has always been the most dangerous place. From childhood to adulthood, he has dodged countless attacks and arrows to successfully maintain his position as crown prince."
"Until I was born, my father and mother favored me to the extreme, gradually neglecting my elder brother. My mother was always obsessed with witchcraft. A sorcerer told her that if my elder brother inherited the throne, she and I would both die miserably. She believed the sorcerer without a doubt, and eventually became extremely paranoid, determined to dethrone my elder brother from the throne and support me, her youngest son, as the crown prince."
Jiang Qiuye calmed down and said, "Since ancient times, the eldest son has been the heir, not the youngest. She wants to change the crown prince, how easy is that?"
"That's right." Ji Ci took a deep breath, "So in order to support me, she actually poisoned her eldest son."
"What? Poison?" Jiang Qiuye's heart tightened, and his hand accidentally broke a small branch on the ground.
Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs. What kind of mother would do such a cruel thing and kill her eldest son for her younger son?
"She poisoned a bowl of plain noodles. Fortunately, the imperial physician treated him promptly, and the poison wasn't fatal. But you can imagine my eldest brother's pain when his own mother poisoned him. When the emperor learned of this, he was furious, but he suppressed his anger. He had the sorcerer arrested and tortured, then brought him before the queen mother. Only then did he admit that he was instructed by someone to sow discord and frame the crown prince."
"My mother was banished to the cold palace because of this. I didn't know the truth at the time and thought she was being slandered and framed, so I pleaded for her. My father suspected I was involved, so I was also confined to the palace."
Jiang Qiuye's heart ached. She slowly reached out and took him, interlocking their fingers. Motherless and devoid of affection for her gambling father, she couldn't empathize with the mother-son relationship. Unaware of how to comfort him, she could only offer him some physical contact.
"Is that why, Your Highness, you were unable to leave with Emperor Jin'an and his entourage?"
"Yes. It wasn't until the Prince of Yan attacked the palace that I learned of Ganyang's fall. My father led everyone to flee. The palace maids and eunuchs who didn't escape were tortured and killed by the rebels. I, along with a dozen guards and eunuchs, could only flee with my mother, and finally escaped from the palace by hiding in a sewage pool."
"The Prince of Yan pursued Emperor An of Jin all the way, forcing us to take a detour. By the second year of exile, only two of our subordinates remained with us. Most of them died along the way, and my mother also passed away in Jinshui from prolonged hunger and illness. In the chaotic times, even her body was thrown away without a trace. The thing she regretted most in her life was believing the sorcerer and poisoning her own son. So she made me swear to never compete with my eldest brother for the throne and to wholeheartedly support him."
Ji Ci finally turned his head to face Jiang Qiuye, who was looking at him, and said slowly, "So, Ye'er, I will not be the emperor, and I will not fight with my elder brother. Even if he attacks me, it is what my mother and I owe him."
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