Chapter 168: Chapter 167: Traitorous Concubine or Worthy Empress 2
Anning’s eyes, brimming with water, looked at Feng Chengxi in shock: "You... want to send me away, to Prince Jin?"
Feng Chengxi’s sorrow was especially profound: "Cousin, I have no choice. If you do not help me, I can only leave Zhaojing and die miserably in a foreign land."
He pretended to kneel: "Cousin, I beg you, no matter what happens in the future, I will always remember your kindness towards me, and never forget it."
Anning quickly reached out to support Feng Chengxi: "Cousin, you, you don’t have to kneel, you are the Crown Prince, how can you kneel."
Feng Chengxi clutched Anning’s arm tightly: "Cousin, even if not for me, for the sake of my mother, your aunt, you... please help me this time."
Feng Chengxi’s mother was Empress Xie, who was the deceased queen of King Lu; born into the noble Xie Family, she was literate and polite, lovely and intelligent—a rare Worthy Empress. In her lifetime, she was especially kind to Xie Anning, often bringing her into the Royal Palace and raised her with great care.
The year Empress Xie passed away, Xie Anning was just as saddened as Feng Chengxi, unable to eat or sleep for many days.
The mention of Empress Xie caused Anning to close her eyes in grief.
She bit her lip, and her tender lips bled pearls of blood: "Cousin, must it really be this way?"
"It must."
Feng Chengxi nodded, hope in his eyes.
Anning turned her face away: "Cousin, I, I agree, please get up quickly. Auntie, before she passed, hoped I could help you. Now... it seems I might be the only one who can help you."
Anning smiled bitterly, and when she looked at Feng Chengxi again, the tears in her eyes began to fall, one by one.
Her figure was delicate and slender, and now her entire body trembled slightly, like a willow branch swaying in the wind, frail and unsupported.
Feng Chengxi was also reluctant, but for the sake of the greater good, he had to be ruthless and send Anning away.
He got up and reached out to stroke the hair by Anning’s temples. Anning felt nauseated, covered her face as if in mourning, and dodged Feng Chengxi’s hand.
Feng Chengxi took a deep breath: "Cousin, rest for now. Tomorrow, come with me to the manor in the suburbs, I will find someone to teach you how to please Prince Jin."
After saying this, Feng Chengxi could no longer stay and quickly left.
Once Feng Chengxi had left, Anning closed the doors and windows.
The maids stood outside the door, but Anning did not call any of them in.
She sat on the bed, drew the bed curtains, and created a very secluded, independent small space.
Anning sat cross-legged, a cold and disgusted look flashing in her eyes.
That Feng Chengxi was an absolutely despicable scumbag.
When he first sent Xie Anning to Jin Country, he spoke so nicely, and solemnly swore that as soon as he ascended the throne, he would bring Anning back to her home country. But Xie Anning waited and waited, until he took the throne, and still, he did not send for her return.
Instead, what she waited for was the maid from the Xie Family that he sent, who was a spy sent by Feng Chengxi, to keep watch over Xie Anning.
That maid named Qing Xing was always whispering in Xie Anning’s ear, saying that Lu Country was no longer capable, defeated by Jin Country without the power to retaliate, and the common people were also living in extreme hardship. The Great King didn’t dare to discuss bringing Xie Anning back to the country. If Xie Anning wanted to return, she would have to find a way to beguile Prince Jin, and when the power of Lu Country was no longer afraid of Jin Country, they would bring her back.
The naive girl Xie Anning believed it.
She began to devise ways to beguile Prince Jin, making him into a notorious foolish ruler, and herself into a traitorous concubine infamous throughout the ages.
She waited and waited until Lu Country’s troops breached the Royal Palace. Prince Jin, faced with the destruction of his country and loss of his family, hid inside the palace and set himself on fire.
As he was dying, he still thought of Xie Anning, leaving his loyal servant with the intent to get Xie Anning out of the palace.
Unfortunately, Prince Jin’s trusted advisor also defected, and he handed Xie Anning over to the army of Lu Country.
When Xie Anning saw Feng Chengxi, she was fully convinced that her long-standing wish would come true; she could finally return to Lu Country, reunite with her relatives.
Sadly, however, she was berated by Feng Chengxi until she was covered in spittle.
At that moment, Feng Chengxi, holding his Queen’s hand, vehemently cursed Xie Anning as a traitorous concubine and a destructive beauty.
His Queen also sneered coldly, saying that such an evil woman could not be kept.
To appease the citizens of Jin Country, Feng Chengxi ordered that Xie Anning be beheaded outside the Jin Country Palace as a public example.
Even in death, Xie Anning was full of sorrow and hatred, as well as of longing for her family.
She died with her eyes wide open.
She couldn’t understand how fickle human hearts can be. Once, Feng Chengxi had sworn to her, vowing by all means to return her to her homeland, yet in the blink of an eye, he ordered her execution.
She also felt that she had failed Prince Jin.
Prince Jin treated her with genuine affection, but it was met with her insincere love in return, leading to his kingdom’s ruin and his family’s downfall, earning him an eternal infamy.
Only after her death did Xie Anning understand that Feng Chengxi was not truly pleading with her out of desperation back then; it was clearly a plot between King Lu and Feng Chengxi.
Xie Anning was too beautiful, her beauty was already known throughout all countries, and knowing that Prince Jin had a penchant for beauties, King Lu conspired with Feng Chengxi to soften her heart and send her to Jin Country.
All that talk about King Lu wanting to appoint the Third Prince as the Crown Prince was entirely false.
Empress Xiao came from Jin Country, being a woman of the Jin Royal Family; how could King Lu be willing to appoint a prince with Jin blood as the Crown Prince? Moreover, King Lu was profoundly affectionate toward Empress Xie and held Feng Chengxi in high regard; he never intended to dethrone Feng Chengxi.
All of this was a lie, a grand conspiracy by Lu Country to seize control of Jin Country.
And Xie Anning was merely a crucial pawn used by the father and son of King Lu.
After knowing all this, Xie Anning finally brewed a towering hatred in her heart.
If King Lu and his son wished to seize the world, they should have done so openly. Why deceive her, a weak woman? What wrong had Xie Anning done to deserve being deceived of her true heart and her life?
She was naive and foolish, betraying the genuine affection of Prince Jin for the machinations of a fraud full of nothing but lies.
Filled with regret and hatred, Xie Anning inadvertently found herself in the Nihility Space, where she encountered Anning. Using the jade seal given to her by Prince Jin just before his death, she sought the chance to change everything through Anning.
Anning sat cross-legged on the bed, slowly flipping through the memories that Xie Anning had handed to her.
A cold smile crept across her face.
The father and son of King Lu were truly clever, using a beauty to exchange for the world; the deal was indeed worthwhile.
She then thought that actually, Xie Anning had developed feelings for Prince Jin during her time in Jin Country. However, being a woman of the Xie Family with all her relatives in Lu Country, if she did not follow Feng Chengxi’s orders, her relatives would certainly be subjected to his wrath.
Perhaps, everything Xie Anning did later was not for Feng Chengxi, but for her relatives.
Unfortunately, not only was she let down by Feng Chengxi, but her relatives also betrayed her.
After Xie Anning’s death, not a single person from the Xie Family came to claim her body, leaving it to be chopped up by the vengeful people of Jin Country and fed to the dogs.
The people of the Xie Family also spat on her, denounced Xie Anning for her infamy, as an Evil Concubine who brought calamity to the nation, insisting she deserved her fate.
Deceived by a lover, abandoned by her family, and the one sincere to her died in a raging fire because of her – this was why Xie Anning became disillusioned, desiring to dissipate into the void between heaven and earth.