Chapter 11
"What a coincidence."
Qi Nian'an was so embarrassed that she didn't know what to do with her hands and feet. She pushed away Li Xiaoyi, who was soaking wet, and gave Shao Sizhi an awkward smile.
"When did Your Majesty arrive here?"
The scene was desolate; no one spoke.
Li Xiaoran rushed over, her long, floor-length coat still covered in mud, and she gasped as soon as she glanced at the scene.
Consort Jia was soaking in the pool, her cousin was lying pitifully on the ground, and her best friend had transferred her cloak to her cousin. The two of them hadn't even had time to separate and were still pressed together.
Who can be blamed for this situation?
Not far away, a sigh of surprise and regret came from nearby, followed by the tinkling of jade pendants and hairpins. Consort Yi, surrounded by a group of palace maids and eunuchs, slowly approached.
"What's wrong?"
"Why is Consort Ling so pale? It's truly heartbreaking to see."
Noble Consort Yi's face did not show any obvious expression, but she raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise, and then slowly shifted her gaze to Qi Nian'an.
Qi Nian'an was still trembling all over, her teeth chattering from the cold. Her eyelashes trembled, and she slowly stood up.
She looked at Shao Sizhi.
He must have seen her interaction with Li Xiaoyi. Based on the principle of not reloading the save unless her life is in danger, she would not easily go back in time once the death sentence was handed down.
What should we do then?
Shao Sizhi watched all this with a cold expression, remaining silent.
He was as cold as if he had been tempered by ice. A stool was brought to him from behind, and hot tea was quickly served to him. He sat down, sipped the tea, and remained silent.
Dark clouds gradually gathered between his brows.
"Consort Jia is in poor health, who released her without permission?"
The voice carried a thin layer of anger, its low tone questioning the hearts of everyone present.
The wind direction is wrong, isn't it?
Qi Nian'an looked up at Shao Sizhi with a puzzled expression, then at Li Xiaoyi, who seemed lost in thought, and became even more confused.
"Your Majesty, it was I who invited Consort Jia to admire the plum blossoms, but unexpectedly I stumbled upon Consort An and the young master of the Li family, who were being very intimate, so..."
Consort Ling took a step forward, her voice high-pitched, her eyes incredibly charming. She intentionally leaned forward against Shao Sizhi.
"Guards, take Consort Ling back to the palace to await further instructions."
Shao Sizhi gave her a cold look, his disgust rising within him, and then he ignored her completely.
"Your Majesty, spare me! Your Majesty, spare me!! I didn't mean it, Your Majesty, I didn't know!"
The sound was as pitiful and shrill as a cat whose claws had been pulled out, and the trails of dragging snow stretched long across the smooth snow surface, covering the messy footprints of the crowd.
Qi Nian'an's heart trembled violently.
She disliked Consort Ling, but she did not want Consort Ling to die.
At least, in this farce, she was the least deserving of death.
But ironically, she was the easiest to deal with.
A pair of icy hands gripped her chin tightly, forcing her to tilt her head back and look at Shao Sizhi's imposing face. For the first time, she felt the distance between them was so vast, and the chasm so insurmountable.
"I hate being made a fool of and prefer people to be obedient and quiet. If you are unwilling, this is what you will suffer."
He deliberately raised his voice, his eyes fixed on Qi Nian'an with cold, emotionless stare, before abruptly looking away.
Tears slowly welled up in Qi Nian'an's eyes. She felt her face burning and no longer wanted to look at the man in bright yellow.
He was still standing in front of her.
"Your Majesty, I really hate you."
Consort Jia suddenly stood in the water and spoke to herself, as she slowly walked into the deeper water.
The palace servants around her couldn't hold her back; with such a strong will to die, she slowly sank deeper and deeper into the icy pool.
"The Ping family has a new scholar who has passed the imperial examination, and the Marquis of Pingyang has submitted a memorial to me today, saying that his family has had twin sons and he hopes to be granted permission to return to his ancestral home in Xuyang to celebrate with the whole clan."
Shao Sizhi approached the pool with his hands behind his back, his voice growing increasingly solemn, "Your mother came to visit Consort Ling at 9:00 AM today, saying she misses you very much and sent a letter, which I pretended not to see."
“Consort Jia, she hanged herself the year before last, cut her throat last year, and drowned herself this year. Every single one of these acts is a capital offense.”
He took a thin piece of paper from his sleeve, grabbed the ball, and tossed it to Jiafei.
"Is your life enough to cover the bloodstains on the blue bricks of this capital city, enough to bear the life of the Liu family who longed for life in the Yellow Springs?"
The question was soft enough, yet enough to force a person to draw their life force out of their body.
But Consort Jia seemed not to hear at all, and walked straight into the depths, as if there was something incredibly attractive in the middle of the deep water.
Qi Nian'an was stunned. She tugged at Li Xiaoran's clothes.
She asked, "What's going on? How could Consort Jia become like this after just one meeting with Li Xiaoyi? She doesn't even care about the lives of her entire family."
"I am indeed a daughter of the Liu family."
Consort Jia turned around and looked at Shao Sizhi, then scoffed.
"But they already have daughters who were switched at birth, and they are very precious to them. When my bloodline, which was lost on the streets when I was a child, was found, they all looked down on me. They were all friendly on the surface, but behind my back they pushed me into the palace. They wished they could be my sycophantic hounds. I never had children, but I occupied the rest of my life."
Qi Nian'an was stunned, and Li Xiaoran also raised an eyebrow.
Only Shao Sizhi took a deep breath and turned to stare at Li Xiaoyi.
There's definitely a story behind this.
Li Xiaoyi finally broke his silence. He crawled forward on his knees and kowtowed deeply.
He said, "When I was a child, I met Consort Jia. I saw her wandering the streets alone and couldn't bear it, so I took her back to the Li residence to settle her in. As time went by, we developed feelings for each other."
"At that time, Consort Jia had already married into the household of the Marquis of Pingyang. I was deeply in love with Consort Jia but could not have her. So I took the initiative to suggest that we elope with her to a neighboring country, hide our identities, and never betray each other in this life."
Qi Nian'an remembered that there was indeed such a subplot in the script.
When Li Xiaoyi took the imperial examination, his family secretly put pressure on him after they got the news. The originally scheduled date was brought forward by a lot. When Li Xiaoyi finished his examination and came out, he saw the royal carriage coming to pick him up. It was a sad and miserable sight, with red silk ribbons reflecting in the sky.
"Do you know what the Li family has done?" Consort Jia slowly turned her fingertips toward Li Xiaoyi, who was kneeling.
“You know the Li family needs a groundbreaking article to make a name for themselves. You know the Li family won’t allow me to elope with you. You know they will put pressure on the Ping family. I know all that too. So even though we arranged to meet earlier, I went to great lengths to ruin my reputation. I got pregnant with your child, but I waited all night in that winter and still didn’t see you.”
"Later I found out that you had boarded the luxurious carriage of your ducal mansion early that morning and gone to take the imperial examination."
Li Xiaoyi knelt down, sobbing uncontrollably, his frozen, red fingertips digging deep into the snow.
"Don't... say it."
Shao Sizhi rubbed his temples wearily. He sighed, looking particularly melancholy. The previous chill had faded, and he was lost in reminiscence of the past.
"Consort Jia, you've gone mad."
Jiafei's loose hair, damp and sticky, clung to her frozen skin, and she shivered even more violently.
She lifted her leg and walked deeper into the area.
It's getting deeper and deeper.
Qi Nian'an felt a sharp pain in her heart, as if the suffering had burst through the hopeless and lifeless shell in front of her, lunging at her and demanding answers.
"Don't go!"
She shouted.
But while everyone was stunned, water splashed everywhere, and the sound of splashing in the water was rapid and decisive. Qi Nian'an was full of energy, and she grabbed Jiafei's arm.
“I know your child isn’t dead. You’re not crazy. You need to think about the future.”
She stared into Consort Jia's bewildered eyes and said, word by word, "I swear I know where your child is. She's being raised in the Li residence, registered under the heir's name. I saw her at my... Consort Ling's place just a few days ago. She looks exactly like you!"
“An hour has sixty minutes, and sixty minutes is three thousand six hundred seconds. Every second has a chance to turn things around, and every chance to turn things around is a chance to live. Now, if you die in this pond, you will lose everything.”
"That is my shame."
Consort Jia closed her eyes with trembling hands. She clenched her fists so tightly that her fingertips dug into her flesh, drawing blood.
“She is not a disgrace, she is a symbol of your struggle. She survived, and so can you.”
Qi Nian'an slowly retreated. Although Consort Jia still kept her lips tightly pressed together and did not speak, her originally empty eyes gradually brightened.
"Don't you want to see her? She's so lively and chattering. The other day, I prepared white strips of cloth to wrap around myself in in order to scare His Majesty. She even sewed that outfit for me. I actually have a vague memory of her, but it was only after you made such a fuss today that I truly remembered her."
"Are you feeling any better? I don't know what your attitude is, and I don't have an attitude towards this matter either. I just want you to live, because you haven't communicated with Li Xiaoyi yet, and he can't possibly tell you about this, right?"
Consort Jia's tears streamed down her cheeks as she allowed the palace servants to pull her out of the pool, offering no further resistance.
Before Shao Sizhi could speak, Li Xiaoran ordered, "Guards, Consort Jia has committed treason, acted arrogantly and disrespectfully towards the emperor, and spouted nonsense that shows contempt for the emperor's authority. Take her to my palace so she can learn some manners!"
Having received Qi Nian'an's hint, she turned to Shao Sizhi and chuckled, "Your Majesty, is there anything else amiss?"
Shao Sizhi chuckled softly, slowly raised his eyes, and gestured with his hand, tacitly acknowledging Li Xiaoran's decision.
He bypassed Li Xiaoyi, who was still kneeling, and stopped beside him: "May you be loyal and chaste, and may your virtue be admired for a thousand autumns."
"The only reason I'm keeping you here is because of the promise you made."
"yes."
Li Xiaoyi rose again and kowtowed deeply, then remained prostrate for a long time.
Shao Sizhi then pulled Qi Nian'an out of the pool, and the next second—
Consort An's graceful figure brought out long, slender droplets of water that splashed onto Shao Sizhi's face. He narrowed his eyes, his expression extremely dangerous, like a giant python lurking in a deep abyss, flashing a terrifying light.
For some reason, a chilling fear welled up in Qi Nian'an's heart.
Shao Sizhi turned around and nodded to Consort Ling.
"I still have something to say to Consort An. If the Dowager Consort has nothing to teach her, I will take her away."
Qi Nian'an frantically made hand gestures all over him.
She made a throat-slitting gesture, pointed at Shao Sizhi, and started rolling her eyes and sticking out her tongue.
Immediately afterwards, she saw Shao Sizhi turn his head and stare at her with an extremely dangerous gaze.
...
The key is here!!
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