167. Bandit Emperor (13) (1/2)

In the laundry room of the Ji family, in the middle of winter, several old people in coarse cloth were busy washing clothes.

They were not washing the masters' clothes, but the servants' clothes.

The Ji family had many servants. Ji's father worked hard from a poor scholar. Now that he finally made it, he was more particular about the show. He had big and small maids, and even bought a little girl from a human trafficker to train.

With so many people, the daily clothes were enough for these old people to wash from morning to night.

It was better these days. I don't know if the steward who had been swallowing silver had a conscience and finally gave them hot water. Otherwise, their hands would be soaked in the washing basin all day in winter, and they would not be warm even if they went to bed at night.

The old women were used to a hard life. They just worked hard and didn't talk. Among them, there was obviously a young one, the lady surnamed Zhou.

The lady surnamed Zhou was only forty years old, but she had chilblains on her hands, and even her face was not spared. Even so, she still had to endure the pain and repeat the scrubbing action.

The other old ladies sometimes chatted without talking to her.

They all knew that the manager didn't like Lady Zhou, otherwise she wouldn't have sent her to the laundry room when she was still young. She could only work hard all day and couldn't save money. If she didn't have a son outside, she would never see him again in her life.

Lady Zhou didn't talk to anyone, so she didn't talk either. After a day of hard work, she went to see her son at the gate of the mansion, then came back to sleep, and when she opened her eyes, she continued to work repeatedly.

She received a little money every month and suffered hardships, but she couldn't leave. The reason was that her contract of sale was in the hands of the new wife.

As a slave, you can only do what the master says.

The biggest hope of Madam Zhou these days is to stay on the path to the kitchen. Miss Ziru, who is beside the eldest lady, comes here every day to get food. She will tell her what the eldest lady has eaten and used. Every time this happens, the eyes of the quiet Madam Zhou will light up and she will listen with relish.

Most people in the mansion know that she is the eldest lady's wet nurse and was once the most trusted person around the former lady.

When the former lady just left, Ji Xiawan fell ill, and Madam Zhou was exiled to the laundry room by the new lady on the grounds of poor care. After that, no matter how the eldest lady asked to let her go, the new lady just smiled gently and separated all the people left by the former lady to serve her.

After seven years, only Madam Zhou was left.

She didn't have much hope. Even though she knew that it would be useless for her to stay here, she just wanted to see the eldest lady get married. Before the eldest lady returned to the mansion, she was not happy for a few days before she got the news that she was seriously ill.

Madam Zhou was so anxious that she asked her son to buy medicine outside and hurriedly sent it to the small courtyard.

Ji Xiawan then realized that her nanny had been in the mansion all along.

The young woman who once had a young face, fair skin and a gentle smile had spent seven years being wasted to become what she is now. The two had not seen each other for seven years, but they were not unfamiliar at all.

Ji Xiawan still remembered how the nanny fanned her with a fan and taught her etiquette. Her soft hands were rough and swollen, and some parts were even cracked. Her once smooth face was also blown red by the cold wind.

Ji Xiawan took all her silver and wanted to let her redeem herself and leave the mansion, but Madam Zhou refused to leave.

She did not say the reason, but just said that she would never leave the Ji family in this life.

Madam Zhou originally just wanted to see the young lady she served, but she didn't expect that her life would get better after that day. Although it looked the same as before, only Madam Zhou could feel that someone was secretly helping her.

Her heart, which originally had no hope, seemed to warm up a little bit.

After washing the clothes in the morning, Madam Zhou shook her hands, wiped them on her body, and walked out, but she saw the servants walking with joy on their faces.

They talked a lot, saying that the eldest lady was going to be the queen.

Madam Zhou paused, totally different from her usual silence, and grabbed the servant who was talking, "Are you telling the truth?"

The servant was startled and was about to get angry, but seeing her appearance, he somehow became timid, "It's true, the eunuch from the palace passed on the decree, the emperor personally issued an order, saying that the eldest lady should enter the palace as the queen."

The queen... the queen...

Madam Zhou's eyes were frighteningly bright, as if all her hopes were ignited, and she stumbled to the small courtyard.

The servant thought she was crazy, and hurriedly shook her body, with a look of disgust, "Why are you so happy, what's the point of rushing to show your courtesy now."

Ji Xiawan's current status is indeed different from the past. Many servants are rushing to curry favor with her. Those servants who used to refuse to work when they saw that she was out of favor and pushed all the work to Ziru almost regretted it. After getting the news, they immediately went back to the courtyard with a licking face.

But things were being moved in the yard. Ziru had already memorized the names of those servants who had taken advantage of their master's unpopularity and turned a blind eye to their service, and was just waiting to settle the score with them later.

Father Ji seemed to have become a loving father again. After receiving the imperial edict and taking good care of his sick daughter, he asked her to move to a courtyard close to him and invited the best doctor to diagnose her.

But before the doctor he invited came, two maids and an imperial physician sent by the palace had already arrived at the Ji family.

Along with them came the emperor's reward. The rare items seized from the house were sent to Ji Xiawan's house like water. Now everyone in the mansion could see that the emperor valued the eldest daughter. Now, when they treated the people around this once unloved eldest daughter, they almost wanted to squeeze a smile on their faces.

Ji Xiawan seemed to have become the beloved daughter of Father Ji in an instant. He used to be stern to her, as if he didn't even look at her face, but now he had the face to smile kindly at her.

Having been neglected for seven years, she was almost living in bitter water. Even if she once longed for her father's love, she no longer needed it.

No matter what her father said, Ji Xiawan's attitude was cold and indifferent, but the man seemed not to notice it, and his expression was still normal, as if he was originally a good father.

"Sir, the girl is tired too."

The maids in the palace were instructed by Wei Mingyan to be respectful to the future queen, but they were cold to the queen's father, Lord Ji.

Father Ji looked normal and touched his beard, "Wan'er, then your father will go back first. If you want anything, just send someone to find me."

Ji Xiawan looked indifferent and bowed slightly, "Yes, father."

She stood there, watching the man walk away, and tightened her hand holding the handkerchief.

How could he be so ruthless?

When her mother died, she despised her. She had been gone for seven years and had never received a letter from her father.

Her younger brother had never received a single good word from him, and let the new wife flatter him.

But if he was so bad to his new wife, he would spoil the siblings like this. He had pampered the mother and daughter for seven years, but he could quickly pamper her when she was about to become the queen.

Ji Xiawan still remembered that when she first went to the countryside, she was afraid of everything unfamiliar. She cried and called her father and mother at night, hoping that this man would come to see her, even if he didn't take her back, just to see her.

But no, for seven years, she seemed to be forgotten and never received a word from her father.

In her memory, her father's love and smile, taking her to the lantern market, they bought lanterns together and gave them to her mother in the mansion.

These seemed to be just her fabrications.

Ji Xiawan was thinking, Ziru walked in, bowed slightly, "Miss, Madam Zhou is outside."

"Please ask the wet nurse to come in."

The girl in heavy clothes quickly hid the discomfort in her eyes, and her face showed a bit of happiness.

She was about to become the queen, and in the future, she would not be helpless about the wet nurse's situation.

Madam Zhou walked in with red eyes, looked at her young master deeply, and knelt down, "Miss, please ask the attendants to leave."

The two maids in the palace were not as tough as they were to Ji's father just now. They were all sent by the emperor, so they naturally knew who to listen to. Therefore, when Ji Xiawan asked them to leave, the two maids bowed and left the room respectfully without saying a word.

Ziru also left. She was a martial artist and had been standing outside the door vigilantly, waiting for Ji Xiawan to call her at any time.

Until, she suddenly heard a desperate and sad cry. Ziru was startled, and without caring about anything else, she quickly pushed the door open and went in, "Miss!"

In the room, Madam Zhou knelt on the ground with tears on her face, while Ji Xiawan covered her chest and cried almost uncontrollably.

Seeing that she was almost out of breath, Ziru panicked, "Go and call the doctor!"

"Don't go."

Ji Xiawan's cold hand was placed on her hand. Ziru thought she was worried about her pregnancy being exposed, so she said quickly, "Miss, don't worry. The doctor was sent by His Majesty..."

"Ziru..."

The girl with a slightly bulging belly covered her chest with one hand, her eyes full of tears, and she choked and said with difficulty, "You go and close the door..."

Qing Ziru didn't understand what was going on, but she still obediently went to close the door.

When she returned to Ji Xiawan and helped her to calm down, she asked Zhou Niangzi on the ground in a hoarse voice, "Who else knows about this?"

Zhou Niangzi replied in a hoarse voice, "The old people around the lady are dead or scattered. I guess I am the only one left."

She kowtowed three times on the ground resolutely, raised her head and looked at Ji Xiawan with red eyes, "Miss, originally, I thought that after the lady got married and had no worries, I would stab him to death with a knife, at least to avenge the lady."

"But I didn't expect that the lady could become the queen. Please, avenge the lady..."

"Please, please... please..."

Qing Ziru looked at the woman on the ground. She kowtowed after she said a word. After a while, her forehead had turned purple and swollen, but Zhou Niangzi seemed to feel no pain and kept kowtowed.

Ji Xiawan covered her aching heart, tears could not stop falling.

She originally thought that her mother really could not accept the death of her grandfather, so she left her and Xia Ying and died early.

But it turned out that she was strangled to death by the man she called her father with a white silk.

The reason was just because her mother was the daughter of General Zhou, what a ridiculous reason.

Treat each other with respect...

It's all a joke!

Her mother loved him so much, how painful it must be to see her husband's true face before she died.

Ji Xiawan covered her chest, the pain was so severe that her eyes were already black.

She could only vaguely hear Ziru's anxious voice in her ears, "Miss, Miss..."

In the end, she fell into complete darkness.

Ji Xiawan seemed to have a dream. She dreamed of a child floundering in the water for help. She had never seen it before, but she just knew that it was her child.

In the dream, Ji Xiawan tried desperately to save him, but was blocked by an invisible barrier. She could only watch the child lose strength little by little and start to sink.

"No! No--"

She screamed and rushed forward, desperately hitting the invisible barrier in front of her, trying to save her child.

In the end, the child's head sank.

"No--"

Ji Xiawan's blood seemed to have cooled down. She looked at it stiffly and stretched out her hand.

A man suddenly jumped into the water and picked up the child.

He patted the child's back gently and came to Ji Xiawan, who was lying on the ground in a mess.

"Mom..."

The little child was soaked and cried and stretched out his hand to her. Ji Xiawan quickly held him over, "Don't be afraid, Mom is here, Mom is here..."

The child cried for a while and then stopped crying, shouting, "Mom, I want Daddy."

Daddy?

What Daddy?

Ji Xiawan's mind went blank in the dream, and then she looked at the tall man who had saved her child and reached out to touch the child's head.

He said softly, "Daddy is here."

She felt relieved, and tears fell down without knowing why. She leaned on the man's arms and said with a choked voice:

"Fortunately you are here..."

***

Ji Xiawan opened her eyes weakly, and her forehead was being wiped with a wet cloth. She coughed and her eyes gradually became clear.

What she saw was a man.

He had a pair of heroic eyes, sword-like eyebrows, and wore a white dress. His eyebrows were tightly furrowed, as if he was worried about someone.

Seeing that she woke up, the man immediately showed some relaxation on his face.

"You..."

Seeing Ji Xiawan opening her cracked lips to say something, Wei Mingyan helped her up and hugged her carefully and cherishingly.

"Don't be afraid, I will help you solve it."

He patted her back gently and said firmly in the name of the emperor, "I promise that no one will bully you from now on."

"My queen."

The author has something to say: The first ten little angels sent red envelopes, good night everyone