It was late and the evening breeze was allowed to enter the open window. An Jia Li was still contemplating behind the window. But instead of looking at the beautiful moon in the sky, he couldn't stop staring at the white peony hairpin that Chunyin had given him.
An Jia Li occasionally looked at the night sky which was very different from the night sky she was used to, because there were many very clearly visible stars filling the sky that could be seen with only the naked eye because light pollution was very little at this time. But that's not what An Jia Li thought.
An Jia Li had been wondering, had her really been reborn in the world of novels? Was the scene she was seeing right now real?, or was it all just an illusion? If you think about the visuals of the two emperors who are very handsome, An Jia Li would definitely say that she is currently dreaming, but with what she is holding now so vividly, An Jia Li knows this is not a dream. She actually came back to life as the character Xiang Lian who was supposed to fall in love with Emperor Feng.
But… An Jia Li didn't feel like continuing her thoughts. She wanted to rest her brain to stop working but her heart was too noisy to whisper a name.
"Emperor Li. Li Xi" murmured An Jia Li who could no longer hold her lips together to get the name out. Right after An Jia Li said that name, her heart immediately beat very fast along with a slamming sound that knocked on her bedroom door loud enough that she was surprised and spontaneously hid the peony hairpin.
"Who?" An Jia Li muttered a little scared because if it was Miss Liu she would not hesitate to immediately open her room and just walk in, but this time there was only a knock on the door which seemed to force An Jia Li to immediately open it.
Blam!
An Jia Li was surprised when the door opened with a very loud slamming sound, she thought that Miss Liu was coming to scold her again but who would have thought that it was the emperor's concubine with a very angry face.
"Concubine Zhi Yang?" thought An Jia Li. She was about to say and greet but before her did that, Concubine Zhi Yang had interrupted her while slapping An Jia Li hard enough that An Jia Li fell and fell silent because she was very surprised by the behavior of the emperor's favorite concubine.
Right now she didn't know what else she had done wrong to the point where the concubine had to bother coming at night just to give An Jia Li an angry face and even suddenly slapped her. And concubine Zhi Yang was the one who first slapped An Jia Li so An Jia Li was completely shocked that she couldn't say anything.
An Jia Li's heart was beating quite fast, she thought hard about what she had done wrong, but An Jia Li couldn't find it. So her could only wonder to herself while waiting for the emperor's favorite concubine to tell her the mistake she had made, or maybe a small mistake that the concubine was deliberately looking for because she did not like this Xiang Lian character.
"You Bitch servant!" said concubine Zhi Yang to An Jia Li.
"Getting leniency from His Majesty Feng and you're being so disrespectful and daring to wear his robe! Who do you think you are?!"
While concubine Zhi Yang continued to chatter away, An Jia Li was still speechless thinking about concubine Zhi Yang's words. Of course her didn't forget what Jiang Yi did at the jade lake when he realized that her was wearing clothes that were all wet and that's when Jiang Yi gave the black robe with gold embroidery to An Jia Li.
"Right … why did Emperor Feng show his kindness so blatantly just now?" thought An Jia Li. She just realized. The Feng emperor character in the novel should be a cold person who doesn't like to show his kindness openly, or rather, he has a hard time showing his true feelings. Even to Xiang Lian, she would definitely do it if no one was around, "when there was Emperor Li Xi and two others" An Jia Li thought.
"Who do you think made that robe so you can touch it!?" said concubine Zhi Yang, still emotional, she was talking about the emperor Feng's robe that An Jia Li continued to wear until he entered the palace. But that was not the only problem, but because it was concubine Zhi Yang's specially made robe for Emperor Feng which somehow seemed that the concubine really loved the emperor sincerely.
"You!, bring this Bitch servant!" said concubine Zhi Yang as she walked away and let her two maidservants drag An Jia Li out of her room.
An Jia Li had no other choice but to comply with the concubine's treatment. She didn't want to cause any more trouble just because of the robe problem. So An Jia Li resignedly walked over and was pulled roughly enough to follow in the footsteps of concubine Zhi Yang where she was going to take her.
After a while, they finally arrived at a place that was quite dimly lit, but if in the morning it would be clear the pavilion building stood proudly to prepare to receive prisoners or punish criminals with high justice because that was the nature of the Feng emperor from generation to generation.
"Take this Bitch to the water prison!" said concubine Zhi Yang, planning to torture An Jia Li for a while. At least when the emperor wasn't awake. Her hands were too itchy to scratch An Jia Li's skin, but she still had a lot of thinking to hurt An Jia Li without leaving a trace. So the only torment she can think of is water.
"The stone will have holes if it continues to be dripped with water" thought Zhi Yang's concubine. The plan was to torture An Jia Li slowly, at least she wanted to destroy her mentally if she couldn't destroy her physically. It was cruel enough, but such a heartless thing was by no means cruel to those who were mad for love.
Right. Concubine Zhi Yang did love emperor Feng with her heart even though the emperor only saw her as a means of entertainment, Zhi Yang would still love her and make the emperor see her. But, the first step she had to take, of course, was to get rid of another disturbing sight.
When An Jia Li started to tremble, she felt scared when she saw the pavilion building, especially there was very little light, or maybe it was dark inside, creating an atmosphere like she was about to enter a haunted house that had been murdered.
"No. Don't take me in there!" shouted An Jia Li as her arms were pulled to immediately walk through the door which in An Jia Li's eyes looked like she was about to enter a dark tunnel that reminded her of an incident. And that incident was the day he was before an accident and died.
Just then, An Jia Li and Jiang Yi passed through a strangely long tunnel, until finally a light appeared. Unfortunately, as soon as they exited the tunnel, the abyss had greeted them. The car they were driving came off the roadblock and plunged into the sea.
An Jia Li still clearly remembers that. The feeling of dread he felt when he saw the jade lake was finally resolved. All because of the trauma created after the accident that left him in the water with Jiang Yi before their car exploded.
An Jia Li's feelings of fear spread even more. Dark and water. An Jia Li was now so afraid of those two things. Even before concubine Zhi Yang broke her mind, it felt like An Jia Li already had her own trauma which might get worse when concubine Zhi Yang started her gentle torture with water.
When he arrived at a cell room, An Jia Li was immediately brought in to chain her legs with weights, and that's when he was plunged into a pool of cold water inside the cell which would drown him at the appointed time.
"Yi-ge! ...help me...."
After saying the name softly, An Jia Li immediately fell unconscious. Her fainted and fell into the fresh water up to his waist before concubine Zhi Yang tortured him, so that concubine Zhi Yang was so emotional, she was even very angry when her heard An Jia Li mention Emperor Fengyin's name by his nickname which sounded very familiar. Even though what An Jia Li actually called was Chunyin's name in the past.
"Damn bitch!"
***
Elsewhere in the palace. Jiang Yi in his room also sat quietly by the window, just like what An Jia Li did earlier. He did not look at the moon in the sky, but rather looked at the shiny object in his hand. Jiang Yi still couldn't forget about the shadow of the pitiful woman he saw in the jade lake this afternoon. There was only one thing on his mind. He doesn't care about anything else. For some reason his feelings felt tight when he again imagined the woman's pale face with a tinge of sadness. It felt like he was missing something important.
"What is this strange feeling?" Jiang Yi complained, feeling uncomfortable due to feelings that appeared without any basis because he didn't remember having lost something that he should have protected.
Unlike An Jia Li who was traumatized after remembering the events before he died, Jiang Yi actually felt like sinking into the dark water to meet the pale figure of a woman who was bothering him. Even though the woman's figure was an illusion, he still wanted to try to meet her so that his abstract heart's questions were answered.
"Those two people from the Li kingdom, why do I feel like I've seen their faces somewhere?, especially that short man… oh, women I mean" Jiang Yi muttered as he recalled the events at the jade lake, and as he stared intently at Weiheng. .