RPAGF Chapter 128: Born to be a Disaster
Chapter 128: Born to be a Disaster
"Lie?" Ji Anni didn't like this word being used on Yizhen.
Hua Rong said, "My lady, last night after I went to the West Palace to deliver a message for Concubine Baogui, I went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Although it was late, I still found out about Concubine Su Cong's birthday from an acquaintance. Not only that, I also heard a story about Concubine Su Cong's birth."
"Story? That's interesting, tell me about it." Ji Anni said very curiously.
Hua Rong said, "My lady, Concubine Su Cong was born in the winter snow. It is said that she was very weak at birth, weighing less than 150 grams, and there was almost no blood on her body. The midwife said that the child might not grow up and would die before a week. Even if she was raised with great effort, she would still be a sickly child in the future. So her father wanted to cruelly throw his daughter away, but Madam Su refused. The two quarreled endlessly, and finally came up with a solution, deciding to let God decide the life and death of their daughter."
"How could this be possible..." Ji Anni felt sorry for Yizhen. How could there be such a cruel father in the world?
"Your Highness, Nanhu County is not wealthy to begin with. Even for the county magistrate's family, raising a sick girl is a huge burden. And according to the customs of Nanhu County, if a child dies within seven days after birth, it is not considered 'dead', but 'reborn' - meaning to be reborn again. So even if they threw away Concubine Su Cong, no one would gossip about it."
Ji Anni asked again: "Then how do they rely on God's will to decide Yizhen's life or death?"
Hua Rong said, "They decided to leave the baby in the snow overnight. If the baby survived, they would raise her. If not, they would just pretend that the baby had never been born. However, it happened to be snowing heavily outside that day, and the wind was freezing. Even a healthy baby would have died if left outside overnight, let alone a baby with congenital defects. But by chance, when the maid was ordered to carry the baby outside, an old monk passed by. The maid wanted to ask the monk to accept the baby, but the old monk laughed after taking a look at the baby and said that the child's life was extremely noble and would never lose to this little snow. However, there was one thing that must be paid attention to, that is, the child's fate was destined to conflict with the 'West' and must not go to places close to the west, otherwise he would suffer a disaster."
Hearing this, Ji Anni said to herself, "No wonder when Shui Furong asked Yizhen to change rooms on the first night after entering the palace, Yizhen refused to do so. Yizhen said that it was because Shui Furong's room was in the west, and she couldn't live in a place close to the west."
Hua Rong continued, "The maid listened to the old monk and placed the baby in the east corner. The next morning, the snow stopped and the sky cleared. The people in the county magistrate's mansion were all awakened by the baby's cry. The baby miraculously survived. Later, Madam Su held the child and waited at the door for three days and three nights, and finally the old monk appeared again. After Madam Su said many words of gratitude, she asked the old monk what the child's fate was. The monk said that the child's fate was precious, too precious to be described, and if it was revealed, it would be a disclosure of the secret. Madam Su asked for a long time without giving up, and the old monk finally said two words..."
Huarong paused, and said the last two words solemnly: "Yi, Zhen."
"Yizhen?" Ji Anni was stunned for a moment, thinking, isn't this Yizhen's name? "What does it mean?"
Hua Rong said: "The old monk did not say it clearly, just let Madam Su slowly comprehend it."
But what exactly the word "Yizhen" means has not been figured out by anyone in the past 16 years.
Perhaps this is a difficult problem that Yizhen will need to spend her entire life to comprehend.
"And then what?" Ji Anni couldn't wait to know the rest of the story.
Hua Rong said, "Then Madam Su wanted to host a banquet to entertain the old monk, but the old monk said that as long as the child has Buddha in his heart and treats people kindly in the future, it will be the best way to thank him."
"With Buddha in your heart, be kind to the people." Ji Anni repeated these eight words in a low voice, and her heart suddenly became agitated. I didn't expect that Yizhen would have such a story! The most incredible thing was that the old monk actually said the word "people". Could it be that Yizhen's future fate would be related to people? Could Yizhen become a famous figure who will go down in history?
Hua Rong said: "Although we don't know the origin of the monk, the Su family firmly believed what he said. They thought that Concubine Su Cong was a star from heaven, and was destined by heaven. She would definitely make great achievements in the future. That's why they did everything they could to send Concubine Su Cong to the palace. I guess they thought she was destined to be an empress, right?"
At this point, Hua Rong lowered her voice a little, and whispered in Ji Anni's ear: "My queen, this story cannot be told to outsiders. If you tell too much, you will get into trouble."
"Then how did you know?" Ji Annie was curious about how Hua Rong's intelligence network was built.
Hua Rong said, "The person who told me this story was the eunuch who sent Concubine Su Cong to the capital half a month ago. That eunuch was also from Nanhu County, so he had a good relationship with County Magistrate Su. On the other hand, he respected my father very much, and took extra care of me after my father died. I just wanted to ask him about Concubine Su Cong's birthday last night, but he told me this incredible story. He asked me not to tell anyone else, but I couldn't hide it from you, and I only told you. So please remember, you can't let anyone else know about this. If you say too much, it will cause harm to Concubine Su Cong."
"I will never say anything." Ji Anni also knew the interests involved. Yizhen was not from a high-class family, and had been looked down upon by those young ladies since she entered the palace. If those young ladies from official families knew that there was such a story when Yizhen was born, it would be strange if they did not sneer at, slander and insult Yizhen.
But Ji Anni still had one thing she didn't understand, so she asked, "Since Yizhen was born in winter, why did she lie?"
Ji Anni recalled that last night, Concubine Baogui had emphasized the five ages for women to enter the palace, and Yizhen's face looked a little abnormal at that time. It turned out that Concubine Baogui had already noticed that Yizhen was lying, but she did not point it out, but saved Yizhen's face.
But why did Yizhen make such a fuss about her birthday? This was something Ji Anni couldn't figure out.
At this time, Hua Rong guessed, "Your Majesty, maybe Concubine Su Cong doesn't want you to forget her after you become the imperial concubine."
"How could I forget her?" Ji Anni felt that Yizhen's worries were completely unnecessary.
Hua Rong said, "Your Highness has just been named the Imperial Concubine, so there will definitely be many concubines who come to curry favor with you. Concubine Su is probably worried that she will become the kind of concubine who has ulterior motives and comes to curry favor with you, so she deliberately found an excuse for her birthday to make herself close to you. Others are courteous for no reason, but she is courteous for something. What is it? It's her birthday. This is what makes Concubine Su unusual, she is very thoughtful and will not arouse suspicion. But she accidentally revealed a little flaw in her age."
"What does it matter? She didn't do anything bad. She just doesn't want me to ignore her." Ji Anni defended Yizhen.
"Your Majesty, the more attentive and considerate Concubine Su Cong is, the more chilling she makes people feel. Your Majesty can say whatever she wants and do whatever she wants in front of her, but her every move and every word in front of Your Majesty are carefully planned. Don't Your Majesty feel it?"
"Huarong, stop talking. I think you are trying to instigate us." Ji Anni warned half-seriously.
But Hua Rong not only did not stop talking, but also warned with a slightly emphasized tone: "Your Majesty, Concubine Su Cong is smarter than you think."
"So what if she's smart? She didn't do anything bad. She just wanted to be close to me but didn't want to appear too attentive."
“That being said…”
"Enough, Huarong, if you continue, I will be really angry." In fact, in Ji Anni's heart, Huarong is a smarter and more complicated person than Yizhen. She doesn't want to be disturbed by Huarong's words.
After all, Huarong was a palace maid sent by the Queen Mother, so compared to Huarong, Ji Anni believed more in Yizhen's sincerity towards her.