Chapter 108 - 107: The Eldest Miss Who Married as a Substitute 23

Chapter 108: Chapter 107: The Eldest Miss Who Married as a Substitute 23

To ensure Ji Xiaosong would become pregnant as soon as possible, the Emperor granted Chu Qingyun a special one-month leave.

For that entire month, Chu Qingyun did everything he could to woo Ji Xiaosong and fill their days with romance.

The Emperor moved with lightning speed to eliminate the last of King Wu’s supporters. Ji Yan, being King Wu’s concubine, was on the execution list.

No matter how she pleaded with the Ji family, she received no response.

If she hadn’t realized by now that she was nothing more than an abandoned pawn, she would have been a complete fool.

’Women in the family had never been considered the most important.’

A nauseating stench of rot and decay filled the dark, damp prison cell.

Ji Yan’s hair was a tangled mess, matted to her tear-streaked face. Her clothes were tattered and torn, revealing bloody scratches on her skin.

The once-clean hem of her dress was soiled with the sewage and filth of the prison floor. She was on her knees, pressing them hard into the cold, uneven flagstones. Leaning forward, she gripped the bars of the cell door so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"Please, I’m begging you! My sister is the Crown Princess Consort! Please, just let me see her! Just once!"

Ji Yan screamed until her voice was raw, the sound echoing in the cramped, suffocating cell.

Her eyes were filled with terror and helplessness. She stared desperately at the jailer outside, as if he were her last lifeline.

The jailer stood with his arms crossed, a mocking sneer plastered on his face.

He curled his lip, his eyes full of contempt. He spat on the ground. Glancing sideways at Ji Yan, he drawled in a mocking, singsong voice, "The Princess Consort? Her Highness is a person of great importance. Do you think underlings like us can just see her whenever we please? Why don’t you take a good look at yourself? A pathetic wreck like you wants to see the Crown Princess Consort?"

As he spoke, he took two steps forward, moving closer to the cell door. He rapped his baton against the bars, making a loud BANG! BANG! that made Ji Yan flinch back instinctively.

"Don’t you know? King Wu committed treason, a capital offense. And the one who killed him was none other than our magnificent Princess Consort. She’s busy assisting the Crown Prince, helping him govern the empire. Why would she have time for someone connected to a traitor like you? Stop dreaming and just wait quietly for your execution!"

The jailer’s voice was sharp and piercing. Every word was a dagger twisting in Ji Yan’s heart.

Ji Yan’s mind drifted back to when Ji Xiaosong had first been brought back to the family. ’How could I, the privileged, legitimate daughter of the Grand Secretary, have ended up like this?’ she wondered.

’Did I ever have a choice?’

’If I could do it all over again, would I still have begged my parents not to marry me to the Crown Prince?’

’If I hadn’t done that, would Ji Xiaosong never have been found?’

Tears streamed uncontrollably from Ji Yan’s eyes. Fat drops splattered onto the filthy ground, creating dark, wet patches.

Flashes of her past ran through her mind like a slideshow, each memory a sharp blade slicing into her heart, over and over.

「The next day」

The sky was overcast, and a heavy layer of lead-gray clouds pressed down on the Capital City.

Ji Yan was dragged from her dark, damp cell. She staggered, her body limp, each step feeling as though she were treading on thorns.

Her hands were bound tightly with thick, coarse rope that cut into her flesh, leaving raw, bloody lines.

Her tattered prison uniform fluttered in the wind, accentuating her miserable, helpless state.

A prison cart waited outside the jail. A jailer roughly shoved Ji Yan aboard.

She sat in the cart, her gaze vacant as she stared straight ahead. The despair and terror of the past days replayed endlessly in her mind.

She had imagined it countless times—the Ji family, remembering their bonds of kinship, would risk everything to save her. But reality was a series of heavy blows, shattering her hopes completely.

The cart began to move, its wheels groaning as they rolled over the stone-paved road, making a dull, grating sound.

Ji Yan’s disheveled hair whipped about in the wind. Though her eyes were vacant, she still found herself scanning the crowds along the street, hoping to see a familiar face.

However, the faces of the commoners lining the streets showed only fear or curiosity. Not one of them belonged to the family she so desperately longed to see.

As the cart slowly approached the Ji Mansion, a flicker of light returned to Ji Yan’s eyes. She struggled to her feet, her hands gripping the wooden bars as she stared intently at the closed main gate.

Her lips trembled, as if she were silently calling for her parents.

Meanwhile, inside the Ji Mansion, Mr. Ji and Mother Ji were hiding in their room, hardly daring to breathe.

They had already heard the news of King Wu’s treason and knew that as his concubine, Ji Yan’s fate was sealed.

Mother Ji leaned against her husband, sobbing softly, her tears soaking the front of Mr. Ji’s robes.

"Husband, our Yanyan..."

Mother Ji was so choked with sobs she couldn’t finish her sentence.

Mr. Ji’s brow was deeply furrowed, his face a mask of anguish and helplessness. He patted his wife’s back gently, his voice low and trembling. "Be quiet. We can’t go. We wouldn’t be able to save her, and we would implicate the entire Ji family."

The prison cart paused in front of the Ji Mansion for a moment. As Ji Yan stared at the shut gates, the last ember of hope in her heart died.

Her gaze turned vacant and hopeless. She slowly sank back down in the cart as tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks.

The cart rumbled on, carrying her farther and farther away, toward the execution grounds.

At the execution grounds, the Executioner sat high on his platform and gave the order: "Proceed with the execution!"

The executioner raised his great, gleaming blade. Ji Yan closed her eyes as another tear slid down her cheek.

The last image to flash through her mind was of her childhood, playing carefree in the Ji Mansion. But now, everything had changed.

The great blade fell. Blood sprayed through the air, and Ji Yan’s life came to an abrupt end.

Ji Xiaosong did not attend the execution. She was busy counting the days and planning her pregnancy.

’I can’t have multiple births this time,’ she thought. ’I must secure the position of the future emperor’s legitimate eldest son.’

On a bright, sunny day, Ji Xiaosong pulled Chu Qingyun into their bedroom.

「One month later」

Good news arrived.

Every Imperial Physician from the Imperial Hospital was summoned to the Eastern Palace. They filed in one by one, their expressions more solemn and cautious than ever before.

Leading them was Doctor Li, a man past seventy who was the most respected and experienced physician in the Imperial Hospital.

He was the first to step forward. After a slight bow, he respectfully draped a silk handkerchief over Ji Xiaosong’s wrist before carefully placing his fingers upon it to take her pulse.

He closed his eyes, his brow furrowed in concentration as he focused all his attention on the subtle variations in her pulse.

The other Imperial Physicians gathered around, holding their breath, their eyes glued to Doctor Li’s every move.

After a long moment, Doctor Li slowly opened his eyes, an undisguised look of joy spreading across his face.

His hands trembled, and his voice shook with excitement. "Congratulations, Crown Prince! And congratulations, Princess Consort! Her Highness’s pulse is joyous. You are indeed with child!"

The moment he spoke, the quiet, tense atmosphere in the bedroom broke, and a stir went through the room.