The little dark guard who travels between two lives

Chapter 43 Concubine Shen's Pain

Shen Yining has been depressed since the Lantern Festival. Suqin, whom she trusted the most, actually obeyed her father's order to assassinate Qin Mingxuan, which was a huge blow to Shen Yining. She couldn't help but complain to her mother about her father when her mother came to the palace to visit her. Who knew that her mother, who always loved her, didn't support her this time.

After listening to her story, her mother's face darkened: "Ning'er, your father asked me to come to the palace to tell you something. Your father asked me to warn you that you are the daughter of the Shen family, don't indulge in love affairs. Your father said that the manpower left for you is so that you can better plan for the Shen family and the fourth prince. Don't waste our Shen family's manpower for the grudges between that little woman."

Madam Shen looked at her daughter's grim expression, sighed and said, "Ning'er, you have already entered the palace and have the Fourth Prince. You should have forgotten about that ungrateful Qin Mingxuan. What's the point of bothering Madam Qin? Will Qin Mingxuan come back to you? To put it bluntly, even if Madam Qin dies, Qin Mingxuan won't have any regard for you."

Shen Yining shouted angrily, "Mother!" Madam Shen said with an unchanged expression, "Don't blame me for being harsh. The Fourth Prince is the one that our Shen family should consider and protect the most. You should think about how to consolidate the Emperor's favor and how to make the Emperor like our Fourth Prince more. Your father told me to tell you not to cause trouble during this period of time, and not to do anything to Ji Wanran and her daughter, so as not to bring any trouble to the Shen family."

Shen Yining stared at Ji Wanran's belly, and thought of her mother's words, "Even if Ji Wanran died, Qin Mingxuan would not have any eyes for you." She felt the blood rushing to her head.

This bitch had herself been dragged into the deep palace, pretending to smile to please the emperor and planning everything for the Shen family. But she and her husband were in love, with a little daughter around her knees, and now she was pregnant and was about to give birth to another child for Qin Mingxuan.

Qin Mingxuan, thinking of this name, Shen Yining felt distressed. That year, she had just come of age and went to the mountains outside the city for a spring outing. On the way, she was stopped and molested by a bold lunatic who did not know her identity. Just when she was extremely ashamed and angry, Qin Mingxuan descended to her side like a god, and beat the lunatic to flee with a few punches and kicks. Qin Mingxuan saved her and personally escorted her back home.

She would always remember Qin Mingxuan that day, coming gracefully and with an imposing manner. Since then, the three names Qin Mingxuan were deeply engraved in her heart. In fact, she had known Qin Mingxuan's name for a long time. She and Ji Wanran were also good friends. They were both rich ladies and often interacted with each other. She also knew that Ji Wanran and Qin Mingxuan's families had long intended to marry each other.

In the past, she had secretly envied Ji Wanran and Qin Mingxuan for being a perfect match, but this time, after being saved by Qin Mingxuan, she could no longer control her love for him.

She went to the palace to beg her aunt to propose marriage to Qin Mingxuan for her. Empress Dowager Shen was also happy to win over Master Qin and his son, and readily agreed. But Master Qin did not give the Shen family any face at all, and rejected it outright, saying that he had already decided that Ji Wanran would be his daughter-in-law.

Empress Dowager Shen persuaded her to give up, telling her that the daughter of the Shen family would definitely marry someone better than Qin Mingxuan. But she was unwilling to accept this, because she could not see anyone else in the capital who could compare to Qin Mingxuan.

She was as beautiful and talented as Ji Wanran, so she must give it another try. She wanted to express her feelings to Qin Mingxuan in person. Qin Mingxuan must not know how deeply in love she was with him. If he knew, he would definitely not be willing to give up on her.

She learned that the emperor was holding a banquet in the palace, Qin Mingxuan was on the banquet list, and the queen had also invited all the wealthy ladies and young ladies in the capital. So she quietly left the banquet and asked Suqin to meet Qin Mingxuan in a remote palace. She waited anxiously in the palace, thinking tenderly about how to express her deep love to Qin Mingxuan when he came, but she lost consciousness in the sweet fragrance.

When she woke up, she saw herself sleeping with the emperor in disheveled clothes. She was filled with shame and anger, so she covered her clothes and ran out. Unexpectedly, when she went out, she saw Ji Wanran leading a group of girls from Beijing who were attending the palace banquet and walking over, talking and laughing. Her appearance was immediately seen by everyone.

She clearly remembered that bitch Ji Wanran pretended to be surprised and asked her in a startled manner: "Yining, didn't you say that you wanted us to see the Shu brocade that the Empress Dowager gave you? What's wrong with you?" The girls in Beijing were looking at her, pointing and talking. It was not until they saw the emperor walking out of the room that they knelt down to pay their respects.

Shen Yining had no way to defend herself at that time. Finally, the empress dowager arrived and announced publicly that the emperor had taken Shen Yining as his concubine, and the decree to confer the title of concubine was on the way to the Shen Mansion.

The Queen Mother's words silenced the gossips, but the noble ladies in the capital saw this scene, and then Shen Yining's romantic affair of climbing onto the dragon bed became widely known among the noble ladies in the capital. Shen Yining was proud and arrogant, so how could she be willing to enter the palace to serve the emperor who was much older than her? Moreover, even if the emperor made her a concubine, she would still be a concubine. What she had in mind was a talented gentleman like Qin Mingxuan. After returning home, Shen Yining wanted to commit suicide and was unwilling to enter the palace.

It was a slap from General Shen that woke up the almost crazy Shen Yining. General Shen clearly told her two choices: one was to enter the palace to serve the emperor and win favor for the glory of the Shen family; the other was to die and drag down the entire Shen family.

Looking at her furious father and her tearful mother, thinking about the rumors all over the capital, thinking about the smug look of Ji Wanran, she gritted her teeth and finally did what her father said, entering the palace to fight for the emperor's favor and continue to maintain the glory of the Shen family. In addition, she had another purpose in her heart: that is, to use the emperor's favor to crush Ji Wanran into dust, and to see her suffer was her own happiness.

Although she entered the palace for such an ignominious reason, the emperor knew that he had ruined Shen Yining's reputation by walking into the wrong palace because he was drunk. The emperor felt a little guilty and sympathetic when facing the radiant but melancholy Shen Yining. In addition, for the sake of Empress Dowager Shen, the emperor generously made her a noble concubine, second only to the queen among the concubines in the palace, and even the concubine who entered the palace earlier and gave birth to a prince was ranked behind her.

Shen Yining was a smart woman. She knew the emperor's guilt and pity for her, and she was also very good at taking advantage of the emperor's guilt. Moreover, she was a beautiful and charming young girl. How could the emperor bear to let such a woman stay alone in the palace and cry secretly?

Shen Yining enjoyed both the emperor's great favor and the protection of Empress Dowager Shen in the harem. Soon after entering the palace, she gave birth to the fourth prince for the emperor. For a time, she was so popular that even the queen had to avoid her.

But even with such great favor, she still couldn't let go of her hatred. Especially every time she saw Qin Mingxuan and Ji Wanran at the palace banquet, she still couldn't suppress the hatred that welled up in her heart. Every time she saw them, her hatred increased.

This hatred accumulated in her heart year after year. If she couldn't vent it, Shen Yining felt that she would drive herself crazy. Why was she the only one who had to suffer? She also wanted Ji Wanran to suffer as much as she did, no, she wanted her to suffer more than her.

When she entered the palace, her father gave her some of the Shen family's personnel. Later, at a palace banquet, she accidentally heard two noble ladies muttering about the so-called cousin in the Qin Mansion, saying that the cousin had secretly fallen in love with Lord Qin before she left, and she still couldn't forget him after getting married.

Now that the new widow was not living well in her husband's family, Old Master Qin took her back to the Qin family in gratitude for her father's life-saving grace and treated her like a cousin. However, Su Peiyun always flirted with Qin Mingxuan, which made Mrs. Qin Ji Wanran secretly annoyed.

After listening to the gossip of these two noble ladies, Shen Yining felt uncomfortable at first to know that her lover, the white moonlight, was actually thinking about other women. But then she thought that Su Peiyun also hated Ji Wanran, so she could take advantage of her.

Shen Yining recommended Su Peiyun to her father, saying that Su Peiyun could be a useful hidden stake in the Qin Mansion. Shen Taiwei was delighted to hear this. So she sent Suqin to contact Su Peiyun.

Su Peiyun was indeed a ruthless person, and soon surrendered to him. Since then, Daddy has obtained the dynamics of the Qin family father and son from Su Peiyun, and he has used Su Peiyun to deal with Ji Wanran.

She asked Su Peiyun to kill Ji Wanran when she gave birth, but Su Peiyun suggested stealing the child and letting her raise it secretly, turning the child into the sharpest sword to stab Ji Wanran.

Shen Yining didn't expect Su Peiyun to come up with such an idea. For a mother, what could be more devastating to Ji Wanran than to let her lose a daughter first and then be plotted against by her own child? Shen Yining sent someone to assist Su Peiyun, and it worked out easily.

Shen Yining was very happy about this. But Ji Wanran had stubbornly endured the pain of losing her son. Although she was sick, she still raised her little daughter well. After the death of Old Master Qin, Qin Mingxuan was increasingly valued by the emperor. As a result, Ji Wanran also became more and more popular among the noble ladies.

The noble ladies in the capital all envied Ji Wanran. Her husband was valued by the emperor and was loyal to Ji Wanran, without even a concubine. Her little daughter was smart and cute, and was even valued by the emperor and the queen. The noble ladies envied Ji Wanran's good fortune.

Ji Wanran lived happily and smoothly, but Shen Yining was unhappy. She could not tolerate Ji Wanran's prosperous life, and she would never allow it. So, taking advantage of the Lantern Festival, she ordered Su Peiyun to deal with Ji Wanran's little daughter. Since the other one was still alive, there was no need to keep this one.

But unexpectedly, Commandant Shen took advantage of the Lantern Festival to assassinate Qin Mingxuan without telling her. It was obviously her father who rashly targeted Qin Mingxuan, but not only did he fail, but he also angered the emperor, who conducted a series of thorough investigations, causing panic among the court and the public. Even the harem felt that the emperor was very unhappy during this period of time and had not entered the harem for many days. Her father scolded her for the things he had caused, and even her mother did not speak for her. Listening to the scolding of her father brought by her mother, Shen Yining was simply nauseous, full of grievances and resentment.

At this moment, Shen Yining couldn't suppress her grievance, resentment and hatred when she heard Concubine Xi say that Ji Wanran had another child.

She looked at Ji Wanran who was paying respects, staring at her closely, without asking Ji Wanran to stand up. Ji Wanran's body was already shaking slightly. If it were in the past, she would not be afraid of Shen Yining targeting her. This kind of making her pay respects to Shen Yining but not letting her stand up was already an old trick.

But now that she was pregnant, she dared not be careless. Zi Yuan looked at Ji Wanran's trembling body and was a little anxious: "My Lady Concubine, the Queen asked me to escort Madam Qin out of the palace safely. Please don't make it difficult for me, my Lady Concubine."

Shen Yining's beautiful phoenix eyes looked coldly at Zi Yuan: "Why, you're just a little palace maid, can't I, the imperial concubine, make things difficult for you?" Zi Yuan watched how Imperial Concubine Shen was arrogant and domineering, and how she refused to give face to the Empress, and she secretly groaned in her heart.

At this moment, Xin He suddenly got up from the ground, rushed over and hugged Ji Wanran, crying and shouting: "Mother, mother, what's wrong with you? Don't scare Xin He!"

Ji Wanran was about to give up when her daughter rushed over to hold her up. The little girl cried loudly but without a single tear. She kept blinking her eyes. Seeing Xin He stand up, Yu Shen, who followed her, also saw the little girl's winking and immediately said, "Master's wife, why did you faint?"

Ji Wanran finally understood and was touched that the two children could come up with such an idea. She let out a cry and fell gently into the arms of Zi Yuan who came over to check on her.

Zi Yuan looked at the little girl who continued to blink her eyes and felt like laughing. She turned around and told the little palace maid, "Go, report to the Queen and ask for the imperial physician. Send a sedan chair to carry Madam Qin."

At that moment, several young palace maids scattered. Shen Yining was so angry watching them acting in front of her that she almost died. "You, you think I'm blind. Can't you see that you, Ji Wanran, are pretending?"

"My lord, be careful with your words!" An angry shout stopped Shen Yining's shouting. The emperor came over with Qin Mingxuan. The emperor was in a very bad mood recently. Two of his close ministers were assassinated one after another. This was a great provocation to his imperial power. The evidence of several important officials in Jiangnan that Yu Huaian brought back at the risk of his life made him even more furious. They were all parasites of the country, embezzling Jiangnan taxes, deceiving their superiors and subordinates, and bullying the people. Their heads were not enough to be chopped off.

These days, he had been busy discussing things with Qin Mingxuan. After discussing government affairs today, Qin Mingxuan said he was going to pick up his wife and daughter to go home. The emperor thought that he had not been to the harem for a few days. So the emperor brought Qin Mingxuan to Kunning Palace. As a result, he saw Ji Wanran and her daughter hugging each other from a distance, and Xinhe girl was crying and shouting.

The emperor and Qin Mingxuan were both startled and hurried over. They just in time to hear Concubine Shen, who always looked like a little bird in front of them, now had a ferocious look on her face and was yelling at Ji Wanran and the two children.