Chapter 9: Previous life [Must Read]
Suddenly, Tang Wu reached out and grabbed his lapels, using her strength to pull him closer inch by inch. Finally, she leaned back against the headboard, forcing Prince Ying to bend over and encircle her.
Outside, the knocking on the door continued.
She was probing, step by step, to see how far he would allow her to go.
Seeing his expression deepen, she bit his earlobe, slowly sucking and deliberately making a slurping sound to drown out the knocking at the door.
Prince Ying’s arms were propped up on either side of the bed.
The veins on his arms bulged, his eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and his jaw was clenched. She could see that he was just one step away from falling apart.
With a crash, Prince Ying accidentally knocked over the teacup Tang Wu had just placed on the headboard.
The water in the cup spilled all over the floor.
Tang Wu was stunned. Just as she was about to reach out and pick it up, she felt the person behind her completely envelop her, and then press down on her.
She was forced to lie prone on the bed. A moment later, her entire neck felt a tingling sensation.
Although he hadn’t said a word, she felt as if he was whispering in her ear.
His slightly cool lips and his burning palms were all over her body.
She naturally couldn’t handle such intimacy and couldn’t help but bend her calf back.
Just as her heel touched his firm back, she saw the arm beside him reach down. With a flick of his finger, he pulled off her shoes and socks.
Prince Ying’s gaze fell upon her fair and rounded toes, her shapely, upturned buttocks, and a waist so slender he felt he could grasp it in a single hand. He felt the temperature in his throat rise, scorching his voice.
Tang Wu heard his breathing grow heavier and couldn’t help but curve her lips into a smile.
Prince Ying lowered his head and closed his eyes.
He heard her triumphant chuckle and let out a deep breath.
He forcefully dug his hands into her waist.
The kneading was rough, startling her and making her cry out in pain.
For the first time, he felt that the phrase “cherish a delicate woman” was completely insignificant.
A moment later, he finally stopped his repeated movements and let out a low groan.
At that moment, the entire Xitong Courtyard seemed to be filled with nothing but a few rough, guttural pants and an aroma that lingered for a long time.
His rationality returned. Prince Ying looked at the scattered drops of blood on the bed and the quietly sobbing woman, his mind in a jumble.
He had never wanted to have a bond in this life again, yet he had effortlessly fallen for this tempting desire.
Tang Wu buried herself under the quilt, revealing only her messy dark hair and a pair of helpless eyes.
Prince Ying lifted the corner of the quilt, stared at her bruised shoulder, and asked in a hoarse voice, “Does it hurt?” Her skin was so delicate that it turned red with a rub and purple with a pinch. He hadn’t even used much force, and she was already like this.
Tang Wu snatched back the corner of the quilt and clutched it tightly, replying in a soft, sweet voice, “It is my great honor to serve Your Highness.” After speaking, she propped herself up on her arms, preparing to get up and help Prince Ying change his clothes.
“Just lie down.” How could she get up when her body was still trembling?
Prince Ying covered her with the quilt again, then got up on his own, and very quickly transformed back into his previous handsome and serious self.
But only Tang Wu, who was lying down, knew just how two-faced this elegant gentleman truly was.
According to what the other girls would usually do, once they were in the master’s bed, they would naturally act coquettishly and make a request.
But Tang Wu did nothing but remain silent.
Even when Prince Ying asked her what she wanted, she just obediently shook her head.
She didn’t want to make a one-time transaction, nor did she want to use a little scheming to get some small benefits, only to have him become completely disgusted with her.
She wanted to be his beloved concubine; she wanted to turn Xitong Courtyard into a haven he yearned for.
She knew he couldn’t give her these things yet.
After Prince Ying opened the door and saw only Steward Cao waiting outside, he asked, “What was the matter with the Side Consort just now?”
His tone was calm and steady, a stark contrast to his out-of-control voice from before.
Hearing him voluntarily bring up the concubine, Tang Wu couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh from inside.
It was a wonder he even remembered that someone had been standing outside the door for so long.
Tang Wu’s eyes were full of amusement. She wanted to see what kind of expression that haughty Side Consort Chu would have while standing behind the door.
“That Miss Lian just now didn’t want to leave. She said she was being wronged, and that if I, an old man, dared to force her to leave, she would bash her head against the column in front of the hanging flower gate,” Steward Cao paused.
He continued, “The Side Consort said that a human life was at stake and needed Your Highness’s decision, so she rushed here, but unfortunately… she found Your Highness was busy, so the Side Consort returned to Anshen Hall to wait.”
Prince Ying lowered his eyes. He suddenly remembered how Tang Wu had cried so hard later on.
At that time, her pillow had conveniently fallen to the ground, revealing a package of medicine. He looked down at her, wanting to see if there was any panic in her eyes, but he found that she was crying so sincerely that she didn’t even look at him.
Prince Ying let out a silent laugh.
He weighed the powder in his hand and said, “If she’s so set on killing herself, just give her the Three Treasures Box.”
The so-called Three Treasures Box contained a dagger, a piece of white silk, and a bottle of hemlock.
Prince Ying did not go to Anshen Hall; instead, he went straight back to Sui’an Hall.
He stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the high plaque of Sui’an Hall.
This plaque was personally hung by the Empress Mother before she entered the tomb with the Emperor Father…
“I know that you resent me for heartlessly leaving you and Pei’er, and for taking this step without consulting you, but Yan Zhi, you must also understand a mother’s heart. I was born to bear the rise and fall of the An family, and I have lived my life in constant trepidation. The An family could not afford for me to make a single mistake or have the slightest mishap. It was not until I gave birth to you and Pei’er that I experienced a trace of the warmth and happiness of an ordinary family. By doing this, I am not so much fulfilling your wishes as I am fulfilling my own.”
“Yan Zhi, I had many narcissus flowers planted near your lakeside pavilion. Would you help me take good care of them?” The tone of the Empress An’s coaxing, he still remembered it vividly.
In fact, she had said something similar in his past life.
Unfortunately, he was naive back then and was only focused on blaming the Empress An for her decision to be buried with the Emperor, so he ordered all the narcissus flowers in the palace to be uprooted.
Now that he had returned to this life, although he still couldn’t dissuade her…
He was willing to take good care of these narcissus flowers.
Prince Ying walked to the table, picked up a wine pot, and poured the wine directly into a cup. He held the triangular base and gently shook it, mixing the powder at the bottom.
He looked at his reflection in the surface of the wine, recalling the events of the past.
When had he gotten to the point where he needed medicine just to be able to sleep?
…
The sky had just turned a light gray when Prince Ying suddenly woke up with a start.
The weight on his body instantly became suffocating. He used immense strength to struggle, only to find that he had just opened his eyes.
Sure enough, he had once again fallen into this nightmare from which he could never escape.
In front of him, raging flames were still burning, as if they were going to burn him to ashes.
In his past life, he was not the valiant Prince of Ying he was today, but an ambitious emperor immersed in power.
He remembered very clearly that in the ninth year of Yonghe in his past life, it was a time of peace.
However, the State of Yu, with the help of a Taoist priest’s divination, accurately calculated the day of the great earthquake in his State of Yan and quietly launched an attack with a 200,000-strong army.
When the enemy arrived, the key city of Ye in the State of Yan was already shattered and devastated, with birds and beasts fleeing everywhere.
The Imperial Astronomer, Liu Nian, had foreseen and reported this matter, so he had ordered the people of Ye City to be evacuated to Baixi Land in advance. However, someone had spread a rumor that there was a treasure from the previous dynasty in Ye City.
People die for wealth, and birds die for food.
Overnight, not only the people of Ye City but even those in the capital flocked to join in on the excitement of the “previous dynasty’s treasure.”
At the moment the ground shook, even though he had not stepped out of the palace gates, he seemed to hear the heartbreaking screams of tens of thousands of people and the wails echoing in the sky.
When hundreds of courtyards were completely reduced to a pile of rubble, Emperor Xiao Yin of Great Yu personally took to the battlefield, seizing the opportunity to pursue the retreating Yan soldiers who had come to rescue the people, catching them off guard.
At this time, Great Yan instantly became a giant mass grave, burying countless bones.
The emperor of Great Yu was known for his ruthlessness. To celebrate Great Yu’s complete victory in this battle, he captured the commander and vice-commander who fought to the very end.
These two were the Prince of Su, the younger brother of the Yan Emperor, and Cheng Yu, the eldest son of the Duke of Zhenguo.
No one would have expected that such favored sons of heaven would one day be subject to a brutal execution.
Du Qiang, a general of Great Yu, suggested that the two men be placed on the cracked earth and have their four limbs and heads tied to several of Great Yu’s warhorses, and then the horses would run freely once, as a reward for their service.
The cruel punishment of being torn apart by five horses became an absurd performance.
After the execution, Du Qiang hung the heads of the two men on the Yanbei Gate of Yan for three days and three nights.
When the Yu army entered the palace, the more than one thousand elite soldiers and generals in the Great Yan palace became human shields sacrificed to protect him.
With the palace gates breached, Yu Zheng, a young guard by Song Xi’s side, blocked the entrance to the Palace of Heavenly Purity and cried in a low voice, “This subject begs Your Majesty to live! This subject begs Your Majesty to live!” His voice, already that of a youth, sounded like a mournful cry.
Yu Zheng had received an order from the Prince of Su an hour ago to pour a large bag of knockout drops into the Emperor’s tea.
The Prince of Su had said that the soldiers of Great Yan were not afraid of death. As long as Emperor Yonghe was willing to live, they would have the day to restore their country.
Song Xi saw through his intentions at a glance and said in a cold voice, “Move aside.”
“As long as Your Majesty is willing to live, this subject is willing to cut off his own head to atone for his sins.” Yu Zheng didn’t know how long he had been kneeling. The once high-spirited young guard had long since become a beggar that everyone on the street cursed.
He only hoped that the medicine would take effect soon.
He raised the corners of his mouth and let out a light, self-mocking laugh. “Even you don’t listen to me?”
Yu Zheng’s hands rested on his knees, his entire body trembling. He knew clearly that, given the Emperor’s nature, there was no reason to live on from the moment the country fell.
Yu Zheng remained kneeling, his eyes bloodshot. By disobeying an imperial decree today, he was deserving of death.
But he had no other choice!
The medicine took effect quickly. Even though Emperor Yonghe fought with all his might, in the end, he could only collapse in the secret chamber and close his eyes…
Bottomless darkness rushed in, just like the nightmare that had been etched into his mind for decades…
Song Xi didn’t know if it was because his obsession with these events was too strong, or because he owed the people of Great Yan too much, but he was brought back to the day before his Emperor Father’s death.
In his past life, he ascended to the throne at the age of seventeen, naturally becoming the admired Emperor of Great Yan. But in this life, if he wanted to prevent everything that had not yet happened, he absolutely could not follow the same old path.
So he found an excuse early on to have Song Pei take his place as the emperor, while he himself became the Prince of Ying, who would campaign on behalf of Song Pei in all directions…
