When Ji Junye regained consciousness, he felt awful all over and his mind was hazy.
Strange. He was already dead. How could he still be conscious?
He and Qingqing had loved each other for a lifetime and passed away in old age.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a palace maid holding a bowl of medicine and about to pour it into his mouth.
That palace maid looked somewhat familiar.
The surroundings were shabby and the houses were low. It wasn't his Zichen Palace, nor the imperial study. It seemed more like a place for servants.
He looked at his own hands, which were clearly the hands of a child.
He had actually returned to the day when he was poisoned.
On this day, Ji Huaiyan broke the vase in the emperor's imperial study but framed him for it. He was punished by the emperor to kneel and caught a high - fever in the rain. That venomous woman dissolved the Bone - Eroding Poison in his medicine and had the palace maid pour it down his throat.
This day was the start of his nightmare.
A glint of hostility flashed in Ji Junye's eyes. This time, he wouldn't let her succeed!
He suddenly grabbed the palace maid's wrist. The maid who was feeding the medicine was startled when she didn't expect him to wake up suddenly. She almost spilled the medicine.
The next second, it was her neck that was being strangled.
"Your Highness..."
With a "snap", before she could plead for mercy, her neck was broken.
Ji Junye took the bowl of medicine. His body felt a bit dizzy, but he had endured the Bone - Eroding Poison so many times in his previous life. How could he not bear this discomfort?
He carried the medicine to the Consort Xian's palace.
In the dim candlelight of the palace, Consort Xian was asking about Ji Huaiyan's studies. It was a picture of a kind mother and a filial son.
Ji Junye sneered. He found it an eyesore.
"Your Highness, you can't go in."
When he reached the door, he was stopped by a palace maid.
"Get out of the way."
The palace maid wasn't afraid of him. She was about to drive him away immediately. "Your Highness, you can't come to the palace without the empress's summons. If you don't leave, I'll call for help."
Ji Junye lowered his eyelids, making it hard to see his expression. No one could see how he made his move. Before the palace maid could react, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen and involuntarily took several steps back.
And Ji Junye had already stepped inside.
Both Consort Xian and Ji Huaiyan in the palace were stunned. A look of displeasure and contempt appeared on Consort Xian's face. "What are the guards outside doing? Quickly throw him out. How dare he come to my palace?"
Ji Junye didn't say a word. Consort Xian didn't see how he moved. She only knew that he was at the door one moment and the next, he appeared behind Ji Huaiyan. He pinched the child's chin and poured the medicine from the bowl into his mouth.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
The five - year - old Ji Huaiyan couldn't struggle and choked on the medicine several times, but he still swallowed a lot.
Consort Xian's pupils shrank. She let out a shrill scream. "What did you give him?!"
Ji Junye let go of Ji Huaiyan and turned to look at Consort Xian. He smiled faintly. "Of course, it's what Consort Xian prepared for me."
"How dare you!!!" Consort Xian let out a shrill voice. He didn't drink it himself but gave it to her Yan'er!
How dare he!
Ji Junye stepped forward slowly. "Why wouldn't I dare? Come on, Consort Xian, did you put something in it?"
Consort Xian was angry and terrified.
Impossible!
How did he know what was in it? She had secretly bought it from a Beirong merchant. How could he possibly know?!
"Rebellious child, do you want to kill your mother? Guards! Guards! Quickly capture him!"
Ji Junye kicked away the surrounding palace maids with a few kicks. Although this body was not in good condition and he had no inner strength, he still remembered the moves and it was more than enough to deal with a few palace maids.
"Kill my mother..." Ji Junye sneered. "Do you even deserve to be called a mother? I'm just returning what you gave me."
Because of this Bone - Eroding Poison, he had suffered so much. It was all her doing.
She didn't deserve to be a mother!
Consort Xian looked at Ji Junye. Although he was just an eight - year - old child, his eyes scared her. It was as if he wasn't an eight - year - old child but an emperor who held people's lives in his hands.
Just today, he was still punished to kneel in the rain. How could...
Was he possessed?
But Ji Junye wouldn't tell her the answer.
He pinched her chin and poured the remaining half - bowl of medicine into her mouth.
"Cough, cough, cough... Vom..."
Consort Xian desperately dug at her throat, trying to vomit out the medicine, but she couldn't.
And her son had already fainted.
Ji Junye smiled bloodthirstily. "You can go and tell the emperor, but you know better than anyone how this thing came about. Do you think the emperor will tolerate you and your maternal clan?"
Consort Xian looked at Ji Junye as if she were seeing a ghost. He was still wearing wet clothes, and the water dripping from his hem seemed to turn into blood in her eyes.
Her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
Five years later, in Shengjing, the capital of the Jiang Kingdom.
"I heard that His Majesty has won another great victory, completely defeating the Beirong. The Jing Kingdom is so scared that they've sent their prince as a hostage?"
"It's no big deal. The emperor of the Jing Kingdom is so muddle - headed and the people are so poor. How can they compare with our Jiang Kingdom? Sending a hostage is a smart move by the Jing emperor!"
As they spoke, they burst into laughter.
Ji Junye was sitting in the carriage, looking at the somewhat unfamiliar street scene. His heart was filled with excitement.
He was finally going to see Qingqing.
In these five years, he had got rid of Consort Xian and Ji Huaiyan and quickly gathered people's hearts. He thought that with the experience of his previous life, he could grab Qingqing by his side earlier. But unexpectedly, he found that the young lady of the Duke Protector's Mansion wasn't her but Shen Mian.
In a flash, he seemed to understand something.
He quickly sent people to inquire and found that the Ninth Princess of the Jiang Kingdom had been living well in the palace.
It turned out that in this life, she hadn't been harmed and lost.
He settled everything in the capital and then set up a scheme. He deliberately made some mistakes so that the emperor would send him to the Jiang Kingdom as a hostage.
He would never tolerate another situation like Xu Yanchi!
Moreover, she was probably only eight years old now.
Just thinking about seeing the young Shen Qing made Ji Junye's heart burn even hotter.
The carriage soon arrived at the palace. Emperor Jing of Jiang was very young now, quite different from what he had seen in his previous life. He was high - spirited and showed no sign of decline.
Maybe it was because Qingqing hadn't been lost.
In this life, many things would be different.
Emperor Jing of Jiang didn't make things difficult for him. After meeting him, he instructed that everything should be arranged according to the specifications for a prince - consort. He also asked Ji Junye to go to the imperial study with the princes and princesses.
The princes of the Jiang Kingdom studied in the imperial study before they were fifteen, while the princesses studied until they were ten. Ji Junye immediately saw the little girl with two pigtails, seriously biting the end of her pen.
Si Bao looked just like her.
Ji Junye's heart started pounding.
Ji Junye's appearance stunned everyone. Liang An smiled and said, "This is the Fourth Prince of the Jing Kingdom. From today on, he will study with you, Your Highnesses."
Everyone took a look at him and understood.
The hostage from the Jing Kingdom. They had heard about him before.
Shen Qing also looked up at him and was immediately attracted.
"He's so handsome."