Crossing the Palace Fighting Fox Harem

Chapter 178 Peach Blossom

Suddenly, she heard the footsteps behind her getting faster and faster. Ji Anni turned around and saw Yun Zhen's figure.

It had only been a few days since they last met, and Ji Anni could no longer recognize who was in front of her.

He looked much more haggard than before, and his hair was messy. His bloodshot eyes flickered with a hazy light after he saw the coffin of Guibao Concubine.

Ji Anni's heart ached. She was afraid that what flowed from Yun Zhen's eyes were not tears, but blood.

"Yun Zhen..." Ji Anni called out softly, but she didn't know what to say to him.

After Concubine Baogui died, she was so sad that she didn't know what to do. How could she have the ability to comfort Yun Zhen?

"Empress." Kang Xiaorong pulled Ji Anni to his side, as if he was afraid that Yun Zhen would hurt her.

Ji Anni pushed Kang Xiaorong away and ran towards Yun Zhen.

As soon as she raised her foot, a strong wind suddenly blew towards her, almost blowing her away.

"Your Majesty, be careful!" Kang Xiaorong leaped over and hugged Ji Annie in his arms.

The strong aura emanating from Yun Zhen was like a typhoon, sweeping away everyone present.

In an instant, Ji Annie felt the earth shaking and the ground surging like a tide, and she couldn't stand steadily at all.

Kang Xiaorong held her in his arms, and after rolling a few times, they were blown into the corner of the wall by the strong wind like rootless weeds.

If there wasn't a wall behind them, they would have been blown even further away.

The strong wind blew sand and stones towards my face, making it difficult to open my eyes or even breathe.

“Clouds… clouds… clouds…”

Ji Anni wanted to scream several times, but as soon as she opened her mouth, the mud and sand that were dancing in the air poured into her mouth, choking her lungs and paralyzing her. She couldn't utter a word.

Kang Xiaorong covered her mouth tightly with his hands and hid her in his arms.

None of them could see what was happening at the scene.

I don’t know how long it took, but the wind gradually died down.

The raging sand that covered the sky finally fell down, making a rustling sound, just like rain.

Ji Anni opened her eyes with difficulty, but Yun Zhen had disappeared.

In the middle of the stone path leading to the morgue, only the coffin of Concubine Baogui was left.

The coffin lid had already been shattered into pieces by the strong wind just now, and fell to the ground in pieces.

"My queen..." Kang Xiaorong let go of the hand that was covering Ji Anni's mouth, "Are you okay?"

Ji Anni broke free from his arms, ran to the coffin of Concubine Baogui as fast as she could, and took a look. Her heart sank immediately.

As expected, Concubine Baogui had been taken away by Yun Zhen...

In the empty coffin, there was only a pile of dust that had just fallen.

At this time, all the guards in the Shangshu Mansion gathered around the coffin and talked a lot, and the scene was in chaos.

Baogui Concubine's father, Minister Bao, also rushed over and whispered with Kang Xiaorong, as if they were discussing countermeasures. Minister Bao seemed very angry, staring and gritting his teeth. It was understandable that Baogui Concubine's death was more or less related to Yun Zhen. Now that she was dead, Yun Zhen still took her body away by force.

Kang Xiaorong quickly gave orders and assigned his men to search everywhere.

Only then did the crowded courtyard gradually quiet down. Everyone went to look for Yun Zhen and Baogui Fei, leaving only Ji Anni and a few others who had not recovered from the shock, standing in the courtyard in a daze.

A lot of sand had fallen into Ji Anni's clothes. When she moved her body a little, she could hear the sound of sand falling to the ground. Her mouth and throat were very dry, as if she had swallowed a lot of sand.

After assigning the tasks, Kang Xiaorong came to Ji Anni and asked, "My queen, why don't you change your clothes first?"

Ji Anni was in a heavy mood and didn't want to talk, so she just nodded silently.

Yun Zhen's sudden appearance and taking away Baogui Fei were not unexpected. For some reason, Ji Anni always felt a little sad.

Just now, Yun Zhen had nothing but Baogui Fei in his eyes.

And I even wanted to comfort him. Could he not hear me at all?

His injuries were heartbreaking; his pain was excruciating.

And I can't do anything because I'm not the person he needs.

The person he needed was Bao'er, just Bao'er. Even though that person was already dead and had turned into a cold corpse, he still risked his life and went into danger alone, just to take away Baogui Fei's body that didn't move, smile, or speak.

#

A maid led Ji Anni and took her to wash the dust off her body.

The light of the setting sun was getting dimmer and dimmer, and the ground was covered with long shadows of the trees.

When passing through the atrium, a petal suddenly floated past Ji Annie's eyes.

Ji Anni subconsciously raised her hand to catch it, and the thin piece of pink gently fell into her palm - it was actually a peach blossom.

Suddenly, a strong wind blew.

Ji Anni looked against the wind and saw a tree full of peach blossoms, swirling colorfully in the dome under the setting sun.

Those tender pinks, shining through the bleak light of the setting sun, are like the broken wings of a butterfly, blooming chaotically and confusedly in the sky.

A vague voice rang in Ji Anni's ears...

But those words were as ethereal as smoke, impossible to catch.

At this time, the maidservant murmured, "Why are the peach blossoms blooming?"

Suddenly, Ji Anni's mind gradually became clear, and she suddenly realized that it was not the season for peach blossoms. She suddenly knew where Yun Zhen had gone, and hurriedly grabbed the maid's shoulder and asked hurriedly: "Sister, are there peach blossoms outside the city?"

The maid nodded and said, "There is a peach blossom forest outside the city, but at this time of year, the peach blossoms have already withered."

Ji Anni threw her away and turned to run back.

Unexpectedly, just as I passed through the garden arch, I bumped into Kang Xiaorong's arms.

Kang Xiaorong saw her running in a hurry and asked with concern, "What's wrong, Madam?"

Ji Anni grabbed him tightly and begged, "Take me out! Take me out!"

"Where is your Majesty going?" Kang Xiaorong looked confused.

"Peach blossoms! There are peach blossoms outside the city!" Ji Anni wiped the tears from her face and started crying again without knowing when.

#

Ji Anni is not good at riding horses, so Kang Xiaorong rides with her.

When they arrived at the peach blossom forest outside the city, the last rays of sunset in the sky were about to sink into the distant valley.

Incredibly, in this season when the sweet osmanthus should be fragrant, peach blossoms are blooming like clouds on the post road outside the city.

In that blazing splendor, the sound of horse hooves trampled through the layers of fallen petals on the ground, and they galloped along the post road.

Looking up, there are dazzling flowers above; looking down, there are flowers below that cover the horse's hooves.

A full ten miles. Ten miles.

At the end of the ten miles of peach blossoms, there was a white figure, kneeling on the ground among the flying petals.

From a distance, Ji Anni recognized him—he was Yun Zhen.

In Yun Zhen's arms, he was holding the pale-faced Baogui Fei.

Kang Xiaorong pulled the reins, and the horse slowed down and slowly stopped beside Yun Zhen.

Ji Anni jumped off the horse and ran towards Yun Zhen.

Yun Zhen knew they were coming, but he did not look up. He just knelt quietly on the ground without moving, holding Concubine Baogui tightly in his arms.

"Yun Zhen..." Ji Anni called him distressedly.

Yun Zhen suddenly spoke, accompanied by a bitter smile: "These ten miles of peach blossoms... are all in bloom..."

Hearing the sadness in his words, Ji Anni almost cried again. She held back her tears, nodded hastily, and responded, "They are all in bloom... Although it is summer, they are blooming very beautifully."

Ten years ago, before entering the palace, Yun Zhen made a vow to Concubine Baogui.

He said that he would marry her when all the peach blossoms outside the city were in full bloom.

But before the peach blossom season arrived that year, Baoer was chosen to be a concubine in the palace.

Yun Zhen's fingertips gently stroked Baogui Fei's tightly closed eyes. Perhaps he wanted Bao'er to open her eyes and look at the petals flying all over the sky. But Bao'er's tightly closed eyes never opened.

Yun Zhen held her in his arms and whispered in her ear with a trembling voice: "Bao'er... flowers are more trustworthy than people. They bloom when they are supposed to... But what I said to you has been ten years, and it still hasn't come true... Do you hate me? Do you hate me... Bao'er, tell me you hate me... Tell me... You hate me... Please, tell me..."

But Yun Zhen didn't hear any answer, only the sound of the wind in his ears...

The night wind hums softly, like a sad and mournful elegy...

At the end of these ten miles of peach blossoms, the song is chanting slowly.

The bright and splendid peach blossoms, even after the sunset, still float at the end of the sky and the end of the earth like the sunset glow.

The years have passed, and the dead are gone.

Those people, those past events, those promises and vows...

Even though we once loved each other so much that it moved the heavens and the earth, even though we once promised to be together through life and death...

But time could not withstand the wait, and ten years later, with a completely stopped heartbeat and stagnant blood in the body, the peach blossoms that bloomed year after year and the greenness of youth came to a brilliant and sad end in the last prosperous season.

In this world, is there anything more wasting time than waiting?

In this world, is there anything more tragic than the separation of life and death?

In this world... In this world where you are no longer here, where you will never be again...