The Empress Dowager sighed. "It's our fault in this matter. We never told him that you were still alive. But he cried for a long time over this back then. He just couldn't believe that you were gone. This child lost his mother at a young age and isn't close to me. It was you and the Emperor who took care of him. He's really had a hard life..."
Ji Feiyu nodded, hugged the Empress Dowager to console her, and then got up to take her leave.
Before she left, the Empress Dowager said at last, "I'm sorry about Concubine Li. It was I who doted on her all along that made her develop such a temper. Although she's my grand-niece, it's a fact that she framed the Empress and harmed the imperial heir. I have no objections to the Emperor's punishment."
Ji Feiyu couldn't help but admire her and said, "Your Majesty's righteousness in punishing her own relative is truly admirable."
The Empress Dowager covered her chest and said, "No matter how heartbroken I am, a mistake is a mistake."
Ji Feiyu bowed to the Empress Dowager and took her leave again.
After the incident of the red rashes on her face, Ji Feiyu had used the excuse that there were marks on her face and appeared with a veil. The difference was that after being recognized by Yong Yaxuan, she replaced the thick veil with a thin one. Unexpectedly, the hazy beauty created by the veil, combined with her sharp eye makeup, made this woman who had never shown her true face rise to the top of the list of beautiful women in the palace. And for many years later, people still remembered her.
Later, someone accidentally found a portrait of Ji Feiyu wearing a veil back then and imitated it. This makeup style became popular in the palace for a long time. Some later literati commented that this makeup style "was like a light cloud covering the moon. Instead of diminishing its radiance, it added elegance and mystery, arousing people's imagination." Translated, this pretentious remark meant, "Is a beauty not a beauty just because she's covered with a light veil? Do you think people are blind?" The hidden meaning behind this pretentious remark was that hazy beauty was the real beauty, and people's imagination was boundless.
Of course, this was all in the future.
Before Ji Feiyu was crowned Empress, she still normally appeared with a veil, and no one suspected her identity.
When she was leaving the Taiqing Palace, she happened to run into Concubine Ru who was about to move in. Concubine Ru was stunned for a second when she saw her, then called her to stop.
"Sister, wait a moment. Sister has something to say to you."
Ji Feiyu really wanted to ignore her, but Concubine Ru didn't give her a chance. So she had to stop and listen to what Concubine Ru really wanted to say.
Concubine Ru stopped in her tracks, sized her up carefully, and then smiled slightly. "Sister really looks exactly like the late Empress Feiyu. No wonder His Majesty wants to make you the Empress."
Ji Feiyu raised her eyebrows, indicating for her to continue.
Sure enough, she changed the subject. "It was you, sister, who pretended to be the late Empress Feiyu to scare people that night, wasn't it?"
Ji Feiyu smiled but said, "Sister doesn't understand what you're talking about."
Concubine Ru said, "Concubine Zhen and Concubine Li went crazy after that night and later confessed their crimes and were executed. Isn't it too much of a coincidence if this wasn't man-made? Why didn't the ghost of the late Empress Feiyu come earlier or later, but only after you came?"
Ji Feiyu didn't want to answer her. She just said, "These two women deserved their punishment for harming my imperial heir. It was a blessing from heaven that they were willing to confess their crimes. As for the matter of the late Empress Feiyu, the rumors are too mysterious. Who knows what's true and what's false?"
Seeing that she was avoiding the crucial point, Concubine Ru knew she wasn't an easy person to deal with. So she said, "Since sister doesn't want to talk to me more, sister can only give you one last piece of advice. A substitute will always be a substitute and will never be able to regain her own happiness in her lifetime!"
Ji Feiyu nodded in understanding, as if agreeing with what she said. But since she wasn't a substitute, this remark didn't hurt her. So she replied generously, "Sister is absolutely right. But in the harem, if you take things too seriously, you'll lose."
Concubine Ru was stunned for a second, then smiled bitterly. "It seems I've taken things too seriously... Forget it... Forget it..." She shook her head and turned to enter the Taiqing Palace. Ji Feiyu watched her cold and lonely back and seemed to see her future life accompanied by a green lamp. Maybe in the long years, she would finally understand what she was looking for.
Ji Feiyu shook her head and turned to leave. She originally wanted to go directly to Little Eighteen's residence to see him. But after walking a few steps, she thought it would be too scary to show up like this suddenly. So she decided to go back to the Frost Splendor Palace first and think of a compromise.
In the Frost Splendor Palace, Ji Feiyu picked up a pen and ink and wrote a long letter to Little Eighteen in her own handwriting. Then she folded it in the way she had once taught him and ordered someone to send it.
The letter was very simple. She just told him the truth in a playful way. She said that in the past four years, she hadn't died. She had just played a game with his elder brother. Now that this game was over, another game had begun, which was the disguise. If he could find her as soon as possible and keep it a secret, he could join this game.
Ji Feiyu didn't know if such an explanation would be convincing to a growing child. But she thought this kind of explanation would be easier for a child who didn't understand much about love to understand. Her handwriting and the way the letter was folded were evidence of her real existence. Using the name of a game to replace the idea of coming back from the dead was also to make this matter less difficult to accept.
After Ji Feiyu sent out the letter, she sat back on the imperial concubine's couch and was about to rest. Who would have thought that Yong Yaxuan would stroll in leisurely with his hands behind his back.
He seemed to be in a particularly good mood. As soon as he entered the door, he said, "My dear, you went to see the Empress Dowager?"
"Yes." Ji Feiyu nodded and glanced at him, then lay down on the imperial concubine's couch.
"What about Little Eighteen?"
"I just sent out a letter."
"Then don't sleep. Come with me for a walk in the imperial garden."
Looking at his smiling face, Ji Feiyu suddenly felt that he was up to something. So she said, "No. I'm tired from crying in the Empress Dowager's arms just now. Let me lie down for a while."
Seeing this, he came up and pulled her hand and shook it. "Don't sleep. You just know how to sleep all day. You don't even spend more time with me!"
Ji Feiyu lay on the couch and refused to get up. She snorted softly and said, "Just let me lie down for a while..."
"Then I'll lie down with you." After saying that, Yong Yaxuan sat down on the imperial concubine's couch. When Ji Feiyu saw that he was about to turn around and be intimate with her, she immediately kicked him off. "No lying down!"
Since the imperial concubine's couch was really not wide, he had only sat on a little side of it. So it was effortless for her to kick him off.
"My dear!" Yong Yaxuan suddenly sat on the ground. He looked at her in disbelief and aggrievedly.
But Ji Feiyu said with a smile, "Your Majesty isn't having a beautiful dream now. You can't take it out on me!" She was referring to the incident many years ago when he was dreaming of shooting a deer and was kicked off the horse by her.
He immediately narrowed his eyes, got up from the ground, and pounced on her. "My dear, you've really been itching for a beating lately!"
After saying that, he tickled her. Ji Feiyu giggled and pushed him at the same time. "Okay, okay, Your Majesty. I was wrong. Don't do this..."
He grabbed her hand and said, "See if you still dare to bully me! Hurry up and get up. Come with me to the imperial garden."
Ji Feiyu was pulled up from the couch by him, half hugged and half carried, and walked out of the palace hall. She was very helpless in her heart but didn't know what he was up to.