Crossing the Palace Fighting Fox Harem

Chapter 164 The Web of Pain

Generally speaking, there are not many people who commit crimes in the palace. After Ji Anni was released, Yun Zhen was the only one imprisoned in the huge dungeon.

Hua Rong said that since the Queen Mother had given Yun Zhen a chance to live, she would not kill him, but Ji Anni was still worried, always afraid that someone would take advantage of the opportunity to murder Yun Zhen. The poisoning plots in the novels and TV dramas she had read before emerged one after another, so vivid that Ji Anni had to make the worst plan.

What if someone poisons the prison food?

The more she thought about it, the more scared she became. So she asked Hua Rong to plead with the chef in the imperial kitchen, and finally she was able to take over the job of cooking and delivering meals for Yun Zhen. In order to prevent someone from poisoning her, Ji Anni also sent away all the idle eunuchs in the kitchen, leaving only herself and Hua Rong.

Originally, she wanted to send Hua Rong away as well, but Ji Anni could only count on one hand the number of times she had been in the kitchen since she was a child, and she had no experience in cooking at all, so she had to ask Hua Rong to be the chef, and she could only help with small tasks.

The two of them worked in the kitchen for a while, and by the time the three dishes and a soup were all ready, it had already darkened and it was time for dinner.

Ji Anni put the food into the basket one by one and brought it to Yun Zhen while it was still hot.

Although she only helped with some small tasks such as washing and cutting vegetables, at least she personally watched every step of the preparation process, so the food was absolutely safe.

The bigwigs in the palace probably all focused their attention on Concubine Baogui, so the area around the dungeon was surprisingly quiet.

Originally, Ji Anni was worried that she would run into the Queen Mother or people from the Ministry of Justice here, but when she and Hua Rong arrived at the entrance of the dungeon, she found that the number of guards here had not increased at all, and they were still the same familiar faces.

Ji Anni saw Lai De at a glance, and before she could speak, Lai De took the initiative to come forward.

"My queen, is there something wrong?" Lai De probably heard about what happened in the Imperial Suburbs West Garden today, and his eyes showed deep concern when he looked at Ji Anni. Perhaps because he saw that Ji Anni looked bad, he specially comforted her: "My queen, don't think too much, have a good rest."

Ji Anni nodded and told Lai De that she was there to bring food to Yun Zhen.

"Don't forget that you still owe me a favor."

This favor was that Ji Anni helped Lai De conceal the fact that he stole the fruit. At first, she was just joking about asking Lai De to help her do something, but she didn't expect that today he would help her enter the dungeon to visit Yun Zhen.

Lai De went to ask the chief guard for instructions. The chief had known Ji Anni for a long time and had taken good care of her when she was in prison last time. So he didn't make things difficult for her today. After giving her a few instructions, he let Ji Anni in.

The process went so smoothly that Huarong couldn't help but be amazed.

When Hua Rong wanted to follow Ji Anni into the tunnel, she was stopped by the guards at the door. The guards probably thought that Ji Anni wanted to secretly tell Yun Zhen something under the pretext of delivering food, so out of kindness, they stopped Hua Rong, whose identity was ambiguous, at the door.

But when Ji Anni found out, she shook her head and said, "She cooked all the meals, let her in."

"Your Majesty..." Lai De took a step forward, as if he had something to say.

Ji Anni stopped him with her eyes: "I don't do anything shameful, and I don't say anything that people dare not hear. What is there to be afraid of? Not to mention Hua Rong, even if the Queen Mother follows behind me, I am not afraid at all. I just come to deliver food, don't be suspicious."

After saying that, he walked towards the depths of the dungeon, and Hua Rong followed closely.

This time the guards didn't dare to stop them and just stared blankly at their backs.

After a long time, the guard patted Lai De on the shoulder and said, "Your Majesty is not an ordinary person. Our worries are unnecessary."

***

After nightfall, the light in the dungeon became even darker. Although there was an orange torch burning quietly every few steps on the wall of the corridor, the weak light could not dispel the gloomy atmosphere shrouding the prison.

The road was difficult to walk on, and Hua Rong was afraid that Ji Anni would fall, so she stepped forward to support her.

They walked along the single corridor in the dungeon, searching for occupied cells one by one.

Before they could find Yun Zhen, Yun Zhen saw them first, rushed forward nervously, grabbed the iron bars and asked, "My Lady, why are you here?"

The tone was very strong, and it sounded like "My Queen, you shouldn't have come!"

Ji Anni felt a prick in the heart, but she still smiled and pointed to the basket on her arm and said, "I was worried that you wouldn't eat well, so I brought you food."

As he said this, he squatted down and put the basket on the ground. Only then did he realize that he had forgotten to get the key from Lai De and could not open the prison door.

At this moment, Yun Zhen suddenly grabbed Ji Anni's hand and asked, "My Lady, where is Bao'er?"

The voice sounded very excited, as if something hard and solid suddenly burst out of the mouth, hitting Ji Anni's ears fiercely, causing a buzzing noise. Yun Zhen probably had been holding this question in his heart for a long time, but he hadn't found anyone to ask it. Finally, when he saw Ji Anni coming, he couldn't help asking it.

Just as he had always been worried about Yun Zhen, Yun Zhen had also always been worried about Concubine Baogui.

At that moment, Ji Anni saw the contrast so clearly that her vision suddenly went dark.

Concubine Baogui was undoubtedly a thorn in Yun Zhen's heart, and it hurt whenever he thought of her.

And Yun Zhen is also a thorn that is most likely to hurt Ji Annie.

In fact, this is not anyone's fault. If you want to blame someone, just blame them for why they are the ones who are most likely to hurt themselves.

"Empress, where is Baoer..." Yun Zhen asked again, and tightened his grip on Ji Anni's wrist. Perhaps it was Ji Anni's brief silence just now that made him have terrible associations.

Ji Anni's throat choked up, and she forced herself to calm down. She slowly took the dishes out of the basket, placed them on the ground one by one, and said, "Mrs. Bao is fine, you don't have to worry."

After a pause, he quickly changed the subject. While serving the rice, he said, "These dishes are all made by Huarong herself. Eat them while they're hot... I wanted to cook them for you myself, but my cooking skills are not good and I'm afraid you won't like them... But I trust Huarong's cooking skills. I've tasted these dishes and I guarantee they're not inferior to the chefs in the imperial kitchen... From now on, we'll deliver meals to you every day until you get out safely..."

Having said this, Ji Anni had already brought a bowl full of food to Yun Zhen.

Yun Zhen stared at her silently without any movement - his eyes were somewhat fierce.

"Can't you eat?"

As soon as Ji Anni asked the question, Yun Zhen knocked the bowl to the ground with a "bang" and growled, "My queen, it's already this late! You still have the leisure to do this!"

"What are you doing..." Contrary to Yun Zhen's excited roar, Ji Anni's response was surprisingly calm.

"Cook!" Yun Zhen tried his best to suppress the inexplicable anger rising in his heart.

It was hard to tell who the anger was directed at. Maybe it was at Ji Annie, who couldn't tell the severity of an incident from the urgency of one's actions. But more likely, it was at myself, who couldn't do anything - I could only vent my anger on Ji Annie.

"Isn't cooking wrong?" Ji Anni continued to ask, her voice still like well water without ripples.

"Empress..." Yun Zhen really didn't know what to say and turned his head away angrily.

At this time, Ji Anni stood up and growled, "Then tell me what I should do, and I will do it right away! Now I don't know what else I can do besides cooking for you! I just want you to live well and not be harmed by anyone... Apart from cooking for you, I can't think of anything else I can do for you..."

It's strange, my eyes hurt so much, tears are about to flow, and I can't stop saying what I want to say.

"Yun Zhen, I know you are suffering now... because at least I can still cook for you, but you can't do anything for Baogui Fei... so you are suffering... but if you don't even give me the chance to cook for you, it will make me suffer as much as you, do you understand, Yun Zhen?... That will make me become a person like you who can't do anything, who can do nothing, who is only worried, afraid, at a loss, and full of horrible fantasies! In the end, I can only condemn myself and can't break the web of suffering that binds myself!"

After taking a deep breath, he slowly continued, "...I am smarter than you, Yun Zhen...I will not let myself suffer like you, so even if you don't allow it, from now on, every day, every meal, every dish - I will still deliver it to you."