Chapter 184: Chapter 183: The Traitorous Concubine and the Worthy Empress 18
Prince Jin had that dream again.
He had dreamt it more than once.
The first time Anning was brought into the palace by Feng Chengxi, that very night, Prince Jin had a dream.
In the dream, Anning seemed somewhat different.
Of course, the Prince Jin in the dream was also not the same.
Everyone was a little different.
In the dream, Feng Chengxi, wanting to use Anning, the number one beauty under the heavens, to create chaos in the Jin Country’s court order, abandoned many years of sentiment and sent Anning to Prince Jin Palace.
At that time, Prince Jin had already grown weary of everything.
He felt that living was truly meaningless.
Prince Jin was undoubtedly a highly intelligent man, able to see through the minds of everyone, yet he couldn’t feel any emotions, the common joys, angers, sorrows, and delights were all intangible to him.
He was neither joyful nor sad, neither hurt nor in pain, looking at each affair as if it were a preposterous play. After watching too much, it all became tasteless.
On the day Anning entered the palace, Prince Jin was utterly bored, but suddenly, a foolish beauty arrived, which made him want to observe a little more.
Why Feng Chengxi sent Anning to Prince Jin Palace was clear to Prince Jin.
He never accepted beauties with unclear origins; he was aware of the background and purpose of every beauty in his palace.
Prince Jin wanted to see what Anning, a beauty whose heart only contained Feng Chengxi, would do, and whether Feng Chengxi could realize his ambitions.
And then...
He saw a completely foolish beauty.
Feng Chengxi’s lies weren’t particularly clever, but Anning was absurdly gullible.
She was fooled by Feng Chengxi in every possible way, and then attempted to deceive Prince Jin with her own not-so-clever lies.
Prince Jin found it really amusing.
He just watched a fool performing foolishly, and yet this fool didn’t realize her own foolishness and even thought herself quite smart.
This fool provided Prince Jin with a lot of amusement in his tedious life.
Prince Jin kept playing along with her.
In the end, his playfulness ruined Jin Country.
By then, Prince Jin also lost interest in the fool’s acts; he could no longer find anyone or anything that interested him, living became truly meaningless.
So, he simply set himself ablaze.
Even in death, he wanted to leave cleanly.
As for the fool, Prince Jin thought she was really pitifully stupid; considering the many delights she provided him, he decided to grant her a chance at life.
He had long foreseen that Jin Country would fall through his hands and had arranged many contingencies.
He had people arranged to escort Anning out.
Of course, he didn’t trust those people too much.
Sure enough, those people handed Anning over to Feng Chengxi, and the fool was killed by the very person she loved.
Prince Jin still had a contingency.
After Anning’s death, his true loyal retainers supported the remaining royal descendants of Jin Country to rise in rebellion, with the people following.
And Feng Chengxi, who did not sit stably on the throne for long and at the height of his perceived eternal reign, was thus pulled down from the throne by the Xiao Family.
Prince Jin remembered this dream very clearly.
After waking up, recalling everything in the dream, he felt it was absurdly ridiculous.
Anning, how could she possibly be so foolish?
Noble Princess Consort Xie, whom he personally made his consort, was both intelligent and ruthless—how could she be like the foolish girl in the dream who was taken advantage of so completely?
Prince Jin sat up, gazing blankly at Anning under the moonlight filtering in through the window.
From the moment this girl entered the palace, she had brought him many surprises.
He was able to feel from her the emotions a common person should have.
For the first time, he knew what happiness felt like, and understood what anger was.
Even more so...
He used to understand what jealousy tasted like.
When he learned about Anning’s past with Feng Chengxi and their years of affection, he was actually furious and jealous.
However, when Anning hesitantly drank the poison he gave her, all was forgiven.
It was then that Prince Jin realized how much Anning mattered to him.
This girl had taken over his entire heart.
Dreaming of Anning made him want to join her in play-acting, it felt quite amusing despite the lack of genuine emotion.
But the real Anning is someone he could truly pour his heart out for; he would trade the world for her smile.
Even if the Anning from his dreams betrayed him, he wouldn’t care, just thinking she was a real fool and would surely die dumb.
But if the real Anning betrayed him...
Prince Jin didn’t know what he would do.
Anning was also restless in her sleep.
She turned over and, feeling someone watching her, was startled and sat up.
Prince Jin reached out and embraced her.
Feeling Prince Jin’s somewhat cold embrace, Anning finally settled down.
"Your Majesty."
She opened her eyes to look at Prince Jin: "Why isn’t Your Majesty sleeping in the middle of the night, staring at me?"
Prince Jin moved his right hand from Anning’s cheek to her neck, tightened his grip for a moment, then quickly let go: "You must stay with me for a lifetime, never to leave."
Anning rolled her eyes at Prince Jin: "What nonsense is Your Majesty talking about, where could I go? Here I have food and drink, and whatever I want Your Majesty provides for me, I definitely won’t leave."
She lay down, muttering: "If I went elsewhere, no one would be as good to me as here, I can’t bear to part with such a fool like Your Majesty."
Prince Jin laughed: "Heartless and heedless."
But, such a heartless girl by his side was really quite nice after all.
Hostage Mansion
Feng Chengxi caused a ruckus again in the middle of the night.
He found his Maid rendezvousing with a guard and ran over with a knife in a fit of anger.
In the end, he was restrained by the two and severely beaten.
Feng Chengxi was beaten so badly that he couldn’t get up when the two left.
The Maid walked away cursing: "Is he sick or what, incapable himself yet demanding others to remain chaste for him? He wishes. He’s nothing but a broken man."
The guard teased the Maid: "He can’t handle it himself, he must be intolerable of our love."
The Maid’s eyes turned: "Seeing us so in love, he must feel uncomfortable. We should find someone for him, maybe then he’ll be better."
She sighed pretentiously as she said this: "Alas, he really brought it on himself. Originally, I had a sister assigned to serve him, but he despised her for being pregnant, despised the child for having Jin Country’s blood, and forcibly administered drugs to induce abortion. Now, he can forget about holding a child for the rest of his life. If he hadn’t been so cruel, he’d still have an offspring now; regardless of whether it’s a boy or a girl, it’s still his own, someone to care for him in his old age."
The Maid was clearly gloating as she spoke.
Perhaps the guard, resentful of Feng Chengxi for interrupting his affair, indeed found another attractive male guard for the Hostage Mansion within a few days.
Feng Chengxi was handsome and had lived a pampered life for years, naturally his skin was delicate and tender, even better than a woman’s.
A few days after the attractive male guard arrived, he took a liking to Feng Chengxi and, with the help of many guards, he forced himself on him.
Anning heard about this incident while Prince Jin was coaxing her to drink soup.
It was extremely cold that day, and Anning’s body was somewhat sensitive to the cold, preferring to stay indoors rather than go out. Yet, despite her slothfulness, she was losing weight day by day.
Prince Jin had a nourishing soup prepared, urging Anning to drink it every day, hoping to put some meat on her bones.
Anning had just sipped some soup when she heard the Palace Attendant speak of the Hostage Mansion and sprayed the soup out.
She looked at Prince Jin: "Your Majesty, this is... you really know how to play."
Prince Jin frowned, his clothes wet with soup, but before changing, he was more concerned about whether Anning had been choked.
"It’s not me who knows how to play, but those guards, I didn’t tell them to do that."
Anning: ...
She was clearly skeptical of Prince Jin’s words.