It was a nightmarish night. Ji Feiyu stood in the darkness, watching Cheng Xuan appear and disappear time and time again. Her heart felt as if it were being cut by a knife. She shouted at him with all her might, but he couldn't hear a word. In the darkness, only a pair of warm hands tightly grasped hers and pulled her back. Ji Feiyu clung to this glimmer of warmth, thinking that if it weren't for this person, she might not know where she would end up or even if she could wake up.
That night was dark and endless. Some yearnings broke free from her body and entangled the entire long courtyard.
Ji Feiyu didn't know why she fell asleep or why she woke up. All she knew was that when she opened her eyes in the early morning, the emperor was sitting beside her, looking haggard. She moved slightly and saw him wake up, looking at her with concern. He asked softly, "Are you awake? Do you want some water?"
She looked at him in surprise, her eyes full of confusion. Then she saw him reach out a hand to touch her forehead. "The fever has finally gone down."
Only then did she notice that his other hand was tightly holding hers. So it was his hand last night.
She was about to get up and say a few words to comfort him when suddenly a maid rushed in, looking panicked. "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! Concubine Xin has had a miscarriage!"
Ji Feiyu and Yong Yaxuan were both shocked. Yong Yaxuan let go of Ji Feiyu's hand and rushed towards Concubine Xin's palace. Ji Feiyu suddenly had a strange feeling that once he left, his heart would never return.
Ji Feiyu fainted again due to the heavy feeling in her head. When she woke up again, she saw Yong Yaxuan's furious face as he shook her.
"My dear consort, are you really willing to do anything just to make me hate you? What on earth did Concubine Xin do to you that you had to use the aphrodisiac incense containing safflower?"
Aphrodisiac incense? Ji Feiyu looked at him innocently, not understanding. Her body was being shaken so uncomfortably.
"Very well! You're really something! Safflower combined with the hallucinogenic powder greatly enhanced the medicinal effect of the safflower. You're truly an expert in using poison. You know you can even use the smell to cause the loss of my child!"
Why didn't Ji Feiyu still understand what he was talking about?
"I never thought you would play such tricks in the harem and be as vicious as those venomous women!"
Venomous woman? No, no, she didn't!
"You don't even care about your own life. Is this all for this poisoning? The hallucinogenic powder allows you to see him, right? You miss him so much, don't you? Fine! Since you don't want to be by my side, I'll grant your wish! Guards! The empress is consumed by jealousy and has deliberately harmed the imperial heir. From today on, lock her up in the cold palace!"
Ji Feiyu suddenly opened her eyes wide and understood what he was saying. She cried out in disbelief, "Yong Yaxuan! What are you talking nonsense about!"
He looked at Ji Feiyu and laughed in disbelief. "What? Are you going to act innocent with me now? Are you going to say you didn't do these things?"
Ji Feiyu grabbed him and shook her head helplessly. "Your servant didn't do it. I really didn't!"
But he just laughed disappointedly. "Even the imperial physicians in the palace may not be clear about the medicinal effects of such a combination of drugs. Besides you, an expert in making poison, who else could it be? Moreover, the residue found in the incense burner ash in your palace has been identified by the imperial physicians. The evidence is conclusive. What else do you have to say?"
Ji Feiyu finally understood why she had fainted. It turned out that the hallucinogenic powder had been added to the incense. Even though she was an expert in using poison, it didn't mean she was immune to all poisons and couldn't be plotted against. Moreover, this time she was in such a passive situation. She had just woken up and didn't even have time to think about the reason when she was already branded as a heartless woman who had harmed the imperial heir.
Framed. This was a blatant frame - up! There must be someone who had done this deliberately.
Ji Feiyu was extremely angry, but what hurt her the most was that Yong Yaxuan didn't believe her at such a crucial moment!
Didn't he promise to love her, dote on her, and trust her?
Ji Feiyu wanted to argue, but she quickly found that arguing was futile.
"Guards, force her to drink the muscle - weakening powder. Search her thoroughly and then lock her up in the cold palace! I don't want to see this venomous woman again!" His cold voice echoed throughout the Qiwu Palace. For the first time, she felt that he was so high - and - mighty and so far away.
Ji Feiyu burst into hysterical laughter. Hahaha, so between a woman and a child, he valued the latter! So when she had poisoned someone before, he had covered it up for her just because it hadn't touched his sore spot. It turned out that he had already regarded her as a venomous woman in his heart. But why had he tolerated her before and not believed her this time?
Ji Feiyu watched him leave mercilessly while her body was held down and forced to drink the bitter potion.
All the maids in her palace were kneeling on the ground, trembling and not daring to get up. Only her closest senior maid cried and begged those people to stop, but no one listened to her.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty..."
Ji Feiyu was held down by several old ladies and had her empress's regular clothes taken off. Her heart was filled with despair. When had she ever suffered such humiliation? The hairpins on her head and all the valuable things on her body were taken away.
"The emperor has given instructions. Be careful with her fingernails too." Someone whispered a reminder.
Soon, Ji Feiyu's fingernail pieces were carefully removed. Then she was carried into a bathtub, washed from head to toe by several old ladies, and without even being dried, she was casually dressed in an inner robe and thrown into the cold palace while still wet.
Ji Feiyu choked on the water and coughed violently. The senior maid cried and said, "Your Majesty, are you okay? Aren't they afraid of being struck by lightning for treating you like this?"
But Ji Feiyu said weakly, "Who told you to follow me in? Get out."
The senior maid cried and said, "Your servant begged the emperor through someone, and the emperor agreed."
"... " Agreed? This was against the rules. What did he mean by this? Locking her up in the cold palace but still leaving someone to take care of her. It was really ridiculous.
At this moment, Ji Feiyu was lying on the cold ground covered with broken straw, her hair wet. As she listened to the sound of the door closing and the footsteps of the maids leaving, her heart was filled with bitterness.
He really was guarding against her like a thief. Was he afraid that she would either poison or use hidden weapons to hurt the guards and then try to escape? Or was he afraid that she would kill herself?
She wouldn't do either, because the former was impossible and the latter wasn't worth it.
Ji Feiyu felt the coldness of the ground and coughed again. The senior maid helped her up and said, "Your Majesty, the ground is too cold. Let's go inside."
Ji Feiyu said, "Why do you have to do this? You didn't have to come with me." She no longer referred to herself as "this palace".
The senior maid pleaded earnestly, "Your servant's life was saved by Your Majesty. Without Your Majesty, your servant would have died long ago."
"But I don't need you to repay me."
The senior maid was anxious. She knelt down with a thud. "Please let your servant stay with Your Majesty."
Ji Feiyu had no choice but to say, "Get up. I won't mention it again."
As the two of them were talking and walking deeper into the cold palace, they heard an inappropriate, sarcastic voice. "I wondered who came in together and was acting all sisterly. It turns out it's you two sluts!"