GBP Chapter 170 Women's World
Chapter 170 Women's World
In the silent darkness, only the faint moonlight leaked from above.
The light is red, with a hint of blood, and it is an ominous sign.
I tried hard to open my eyes, and saw a blurry figure flashing not far ahead.
The figure looked back at him and smiled, the smile was as bleak as frost and snow.
Madam... Madam Bao...
I wanted to shout but no sound came out. I subconsciously reached out to hold the figure, but the figure was slowly swallowed up by the darkness and red light around it. The figure's face disappeared, and so did the body. In the end, only an ice-sculpture-like hand was left, suspended in the empty space, as if trying to grab something and take something away.
Suddenly, a vague illusion of Yun Zhen appeared around me again.
Yun Zhen grabbed Bao Niangniang's last hand, and then the darkness was like the mouth of a monster, swallowing Yun Zhen into its belly bite by bite. Yun Zhen's body became translucent, as if it would disappear at any time.
Seeing Yun Zhen's last shadow getting fainter and fainter in the darkness, I subconsciously grabbed him.
He held Baoer's hand with one hand and his own hand with the other, as if connecting two worlds and standing in the gap between the two worlds.
Yun Zhen...
I wanted to call him, wanted to keep him, but his eyes never stayed on me.
He always follows Baoer, even if the place where Baoer disappears is dark, even if Baoer's hand will lead him into hell, he always holds that hand tightly, very tightly, tighter than his own, without any regrets.
My heart suddenly started to hurt.
I subconsciously let go of Yun Zhen's hand because I felt that I should let him go.
I have no right to take him away from Baogui Fei, nor do I have the right to interfere with his choice. If he is willing to follow Baogui Fei and disappear, if that is his true wish, then my reluctance to let him go and my attempts to keep him are just selfish and cruel.
I watched Yun Zhen disappear with Baoer, and the surroundings turned into chaotic darkness again.
Sadness uncontrollably surged up from my heart, and finally turned into two streams of sour water, bursting out of my eye sockets.
Tears blurred my eyes, and the blood-red light of the moon above my head finally faded, replaced by a few clusters of dazzling white light.
The lonely and sad dream was dispelled by the white light, and a familiar voice came to my ears.
"Empress, Empress, you are finally awake." The person who spoke was Hua Rong.
Before Ji Anni opened her eyes, she smelled a strong smell of medicine. After sniffing carefully, she realized that the smell came from her face, and then she recalled the three slaps she had received.
Without waiting for Ji Anni to ask, Hua Rong said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. Fortunately, Princess Tianning arrived in time and Concubine Baogui is safe. We have already returned to the right courtyard. But Your Majesty's face is badly swollen, and the imperial physician said that you need to rest well."
It turns out that my face was swollen, no wonder I couldn't even speak properly.
Ji Anni lay flat on the bed, letting Huarong wipe her tears. Tears flowed over the place where the medicine had just been applied, and there were bursts of needle-like pain. Ji Anni grimaced in pain.
Hua Rong asked, "Did your Majesty have a nightmare? Why are you crying?"
"I don't know... I just feel sad..." Recalling the slowly disappearing shadow of Yun Zhen in the dream, his flesh and blood felt like it was being torn apart by the dark monster that devoured Yun Zhen, "... I made a decision in the dream, I chose to let go of that hand... I clearly felt that it was the right thing to do, but why am I still so sad?"
Hua Rong said: "If you are sad, then it is not right... The decision that makes the queen so sad must not be right."
Although Hua Rong didn't know what Ji Anni dreamed about, she still comforted her.
Ji Anni thought about Hua Rong's words, not quite understanding them, and couldn't tell right from wrong, nor could she think of an answer. In fact, she wanted to hear Hua Rong tell her: dreams are just dreams, all the sadness and grief are just dreams, and will never really come true.
After Huarong wiped the tears from Ji Anni's eyes, she suddenly smiled and said, "By the way, Madam, the Emperor is here."
"Ah!" Ji Anni was stunned for a moment, her eyes wide open.
"Your Highness, the Emperor is here to see you." Hua Rong said as she lowered the gauze curtain beside the bed. "Your Highness's face is all swollen, so it's better to talk through the curtain. The Emperor has exempted Your Highness from all etiquette, so Your Highness can just lie on the bed and talk."
"Huarong, wait a minute!" Ji Anni shouted in panic, but she saw the emperor walking in through the curtain.
Hua Rong greeted the emperor and then left.
The light suddenly dimmed, and only Ji Anni and the emperor were left in the room.
Ji Anni had just woken up from a dream and couldn't accept such a big stimulation. Her mind was blank for a moment. She didn't know what to say and subconsciously shrank to the corner of the bed. Although she was an imperial concubine, she had only had the experience of being in the same room with the emperor once. Although the other party was handsome and gentle, easy to talk to and easy to bully, Ji Anni was always a little afraid of this man who could justifiably touch her.
"Zhao Ji." The emperor sat down beside the bed and asked softly, "Does your face still hurt?"
Ji Anni hurriedly shook her head, but only after shaking her head did she realize that the emperor behind the curtain couldn't see her shaking her head at all, so she bravely said, "It doesn't hurt."
After a short while, he added hastily, "...Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty."
Seeing Ji Anni so flustered, the emperor couldn't help but smile and asked, "Zhao Ji, are you afraid of me?"
Ji Anni thought for a while and then answered, "No... I'm not afraid."
"But I'm afraid," the emperor's voice became even lower, "I'm afraid that you'll get into trouble every other day, and I don't know when you'll be plotted against by bad guys. You weren't such an impetuous person before, why did your temperament change so much after entering the palace? I thought you could please the Queen Mother, and even if you couldn't become the Queen, you could live out your life in peace in this harem and raise Prince Ming... But now, not only are you separated from Prince Ming, you've also gone to the dungeon, entered the execution ground, and made trouble in the West Palace. You've done everything you shouldn't have done, and caused all kinds of trouble you shouldn't have caused. I'm afraid... I'm afraid that even I can't protect you anymore..."
"Protect me?"
Oh my god... Ji Anni couldn't help but sneer. Recalling her experiences over the past few days, she almost wanted to curse.
"I don't remember when you protected me. I only remember that when I took out the golden medal of immunity from death at the execution ground, thinking that I could escape death, the Queen Mother told me that she would dare to execute me even if you, the Emperor, were present, let alone a medal. Is this what you call protection? Is this the protection given by the current emperor?"
"Soo-hee..."
The emperor tried to explain something, but was interrupted by Ji Anni: "Your Majesty, you should not be here now, you should be with Baogui Concubine. Because the person who needs your protection the most now is not me, but Baogui Concubine and the little prince in Baogui Concubine's belly. Don't you know what happened in the West Palace? Don't you know that Concubine An wants to kill your child? ... When Concubine Baogui was bluffing to protect the little prince, where were you? When Concubine An led people to make a fuss in the West Palace, where were you? ... Is this the protection you can give as a husband and a father? ... Empress Bao's child was almost gone, have you done anything for her? Have you sought justice for her? ... What's the point of you coming here to visit me now?"
"Zhao Ji, Zhao Ji..." The emperor lifted the curtain and grabbed Ji Anni's hand tightly.
Ji Anni yelled at him frantically: "I don't need your protection at all - go protect Guibao Fei!"
"Zhao Ji!" The emperor roared, finally stopping Ji Anni's shouting.
"Zhao Ji, listen to me... You are the one I am most worried about, and you are also the one I love the most... No matter what happens, I hope you and Prince Ming are safe."
"Love me?" Ji Anni was not moved at all after hearing this, but only felt an inexplicable anger. "Since you love me, whose child is Baogui Concubine's? Isn't it yours?... Now the whole palace is saying that Yun Zhen and Baogui Concubine have an affair, where are you hiding? You love me, fine, you love me... Don't you love Baogui Concubine? Don't you love your flesh and blood in Baogui Concubine's belly?"
I thought that such questioning would leave the emperor at a loss for words, but the truth surprised Ji Anni even more.
The emperor did not show any embarrassment or guilt, but just said naturally: "Zhao Ji, the only person I love is you... not Baogui Fei, nor anyone else, just you... everything I do is for you."
"For me?...Okay, very good...You and Guibaofei gave birth to a child for me?"
Ji Anni didn't know whether to laugh or cry, she had never heard such a ridiculous defense. But to Long Mohan, all this was not ridiculous, but the best protection he could give to Zhao Ji as he had just entered the palace and had nothing.
Long Mohan held Ji Anni's hand and said, "Zhao Ji, Prince Ming is my only child. He is like a fat rabbit in the wilderness, without the cover of grass or the hiding place of caves. He is nakedly exposed to the gazes of hunters, hawks, wolves, tigers and leopards, and all other enemies who want to devour him. Do you know how dangerous he is? Haven't you thought about him? Not only him, but also you, Zhao Ji... You are all dangerous, don't you know?"
“I know. I know…”
Ji Anni looked at him in disbelief, and suddenly felt that the man in front of her was not as simple as she had imagined.
He was not infatuated with women, but was brewing a whirlpool.
Ji Anni tried her best to suppress the trembling of her voice and said, "I finally know...it turns out that Baogui Fei is just the grass you use to cover your rabbit..."
If there was only one prince, Prince Ming, then Prince Ming would undoubtedly be the target of public criticism.
But if there are two princes, or even more, the targets will be dispersed.
If there was no little prince in Baogui Concubine's belly who had not yet seen the dawn of the world, everyone would have conspired to deal with Prince Ming alone. Now that there was Baogui Concubine's child, some people in the harem would turn their attention to Baogui Concubine's child, which would win more safety for Prince Ming.
Ji Anni took a breath with difficulty and said, "It turns out that from the very beginning, Guibao Concubine was just a weed in your eyes... It turns out that from the very beginning, you just wanted to sacrifice Guibao Concubine... Do you think that you have the right to do this because you are the emperor? Do you think that Guibao Concubine's current fate is what she deserves?... Even if she is a weed in your eyes, do you know that she is a treasure in the hearts of others... Someone has loved her for ten years, willingly and silently protected her for ten years, but still couldn't really get her... Now she is easily obtained by you without any effort... But you treat her like a weed!"
Ji Anni didn't care about the wound on her face. Tears and medicine ran down her face and flowed into her mouth. It was very bitter.
The wound was very painful, but it hurt more for Concubine Baogui and Yun Zhen.
Long Mohan didn’t expect Ji Anni to be so excited, and just grabbed her hand over and over again, trying to explain to her.
Ji Anni pushed him away again and again, not wanting to be touched by him because his hands suddenly felt dirty.
Ji Anni choked up and said, "If this is your love for me, and your protection for Prince Ming, I advise you to keep it to yourself... Prince Ming and I don't need you to use such dirty methods to protect us. I will protect Prince Ming in my own way. As long as I am still alive, I will not let him be bullied."
"Zhao Ji, you misunderstood me."
"I didn't misunderstand you. I see you very clearly now, and I also see this palace very clearly."
Ji Anni wiped the tears from her eyes and suddenly felt that the world became clear.
"When Yun Zhen brought me into the palace in a carriage, I sighed that this was a man's paradise. Yes, there are so many beautiful women here, it is indeed a man's paradise... But paradise is only on the surface, the truth beneath the surface is - this is a woman's world."
A paradise for men and a world for women, this is the harem where Ji Anni lives.