My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion -
Chapter 105 - 88: Can’t Bear to Let You Go
Chapter 105: Chapter 88: Can’t Bear to Let You Go
The seal script for "concubine" is a dagger hanging upside down below the character for "woman", originally meaning a female slave awaiting punishment.
In the underground palace, after a brief moment of confusion, Lin Wanxiao instinctively shouted towards Chen Yi.
Among these three people, the only one she recognized was Chen Yi.
Before Chen Yi could respond, the Empress Dowager stopped first.
"You call him uncle? That means..."
The Empress Dowager closely examined Lin Wanxiao and then smiled.
The Lin Family Young Lady nodded rapidly like a pecking chick, speaking in a fluster:
"He is my uncle, and I am his sister-in-law, just like that..."
She seemed to grab at a lifeline, explaining repeatedly.
She came from a deep boudoir. Her father was an unsuccessful scholar, but relying on Elder Lin’s rise, the household was still considered an intellectual family. From a young age, she developed a gentle and refined disposition. Although she was literate, the book she read the most was "The Precepts for Women", making her a typical daughter of the boudoir.
Life passed quickly, and it was soon time for her to marry. Before she even saw the Lin Family son’s appearance, she got on the bridal sedan. Fortunately, in prestigious households, the focus was on the three obediences and four virtues rather than on love. A wife only needed to learn to raise a tray to her eyebrows, which was praised as "raising the tray to the eyebrows".
Looking at the panic-stricken Lin Family Young Lady, Chen Yi, even with a playful mindset, couldn’t allow the situation to escalate; he had to restore the Empress Dowager’s memory as soon as possible, not complicate matters.
"Let’s go, leave this place."
Chen Yi said slowly.
The situation was complex, and he was unsure of what tone to use with this "cheap mother". Moreover, there was a blood feud between them.
Hearing this, the Empress Dowager turned her head, and her smile disappeared:
"How can you speak like that? I am your mother!"
Chen Yi was startled, thinking his tone was inappropriate, and so corrected himself:
"Yes... Your Majesty."
"Still using repetition at this age? But it doesn’t matter, as long as you call me mother."
"Alright... then let’s go."
Chen Yi forced a smile despite himself.
The female crown glanced at him and then at the Empress Dowager, with a smile that did suggest the feeling of an unfilial son uncertain about how to deal with a kind mother.
The Empress Dowager turned back, scrutinizing Lin Wanxiao. Though her chest was less substantial than her own, she seemed healthy.
"You are her uncle?"
The Empress Dowager turned to ask.
"Yes."
Chen Yi said, and Lin Wanxiao gave him a grateful glance before quickly nodding.
However, what the Empress Dowager said next made Lin Wanxiao feel as if she had fallen into an ice cave,
"But her husband wants to kill you."
"...Your Ma-Majesty, it must be... a misunderstanding."
Lin Wanxiao trembled lightly, lying in a panic:
"I am very close to uncle..."
Great Yu, unlike the northern barbarians, was located in Ancient Chu and Yue lands, always valuing the three guides and five constants, and kinship.
"Good, then we shall make your kinship closer."
The Empress Dowager smiled, lightly raised her hand, and with great suction drew Lin Wanxiao towards her, causing the latter to stumble and almost fall.
Even Chen Yi was startled by the Empress Dowager’s words? Closer kinship?
"She is a criminal woman, so you shall take her as a secondary concubine."
With that, the Empress Dowager looked at Lin Wanxiao, smiling:
"The elder brother passes, the younger takes over; if the younger dies, the elder takes over. Since you call him uncle, become a secondary concubine, and this time you’ll be spared. By the way, which clan are you from?"
Lin Wanxiao’s heart trembled sharply, her mind blanking out; the elder brother passes, the younger takes over, the younger dies, the elder takes over—wasn’t that a vile custom only present among barbarians?
She didn’t know that in ancient times there were no three guides and five constants.
The Empress Dowager turned to look at Chen Yi, warmly:
"Yi’er, how about this?"
Chen Yi, unable to adapt to the role, felt a little dizzy, momentarily speechless.
The nearby Lin Wanxiao was on the verge of tears, shrinking her neck; a woman’s loss of chastity was no small matter,
"Empress, he, he, he is my uncle!"
"Yes, that’s perfect; otherwise, you’d already be dead."
"Your Majesty, don’t force me; I will... I will take my own life!"
Lin Wanxiao trembled, pulling out a hairpin and pressing it against her neck, threatening.
A woman’s loss of chastity brought disgrace to her family, punishable by caning at least, or exile for three thousand miles at most. Many women would rather live alone for life than lose their chastity, and even if violated, they dared not speak up. A woman from a somewhat prominent family falling into bandit hands unreclaimed within a day would be deemed to have lost her chastity; if she returned, she’d either be locked away for life or secretly beaten to death.
Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager’s face suddenly turned cold, and Feng Rong sneered:
"Yi’er, listen, she doesn’t appreciate this great kindness.
Fine, when she dies, dry her carcass and hang it up; it’s been a long time since mother has eaten human meat."
H-human carcass?
Lin Wanxiao was utterly shocked into stupor; the young lady’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
The Empress Dowager tilted her head, shaking Lin Wanxiao, and she dangled like a little chick in her hands.
Her fainting unexpectedly resolved the situation, allowing Chen Yi to finally regain his composure, taking a deep breath and saying:
"Your Majesty, let us go."
The Empress Dowager remained unmoved, glancing at him sideways with dissatisfaction.
The female crown gave Chen Yi a look.
Meaning roughly to emulate Yu Shun’s deeds.
Chen Yi almost couldn’t hold back but forced himself into character, saying:
"Y-Yi’er will take you to another place..."
....................
Carrying Lin Wanxiao, under the concerned gaze behind him, Chen Yi had never felt such a passive day.
"How long will this situation continue?"
Chen Yi asked, tilting his head.
"Hard to say."
The female crown said softly, then smiled:
"What, can’t endure it?"
Chen Yi didn’t reply, but narrowed his eyes.
He always felt that Yin Weiyin increasingly resembled the Immortal he first met rather than the Princess of the past.
"Need to quickly find other relics of Mount Tushe."
After a long while, Chen Yi said.
"I must also find the Goddess’s legacy; now I’m in this underground palace, step by step comprehending the way."
Her tone was ethereal,
"My master was right; truly a great fortune."
After walking some distance and experiencing so much, Chen Yi felt a bit of fatigue. Staying in the underground palace, unaware of the time passing by, he didn’t know how many hours had slipped away. Shortly after, they found an empty chamber to rest temporarily.
Chen Yi sat down wearily, gasping, his belly visibly shrinking.
The Empress Dowager abruptly stood up, silently stepping out of the room.
Chen Yi looked on, stunned at this scene.
Soon after, the beautifully dressed woman returned, carrying a three-legged bronze tripod in one hand and a three-headed, six-eyed chicken in the other. Sitting down with a smile, she tapped the tripod, which filled with water, and the chicken lost its feathers. She lit a fire, starting to cook the meat.
Chen Yi blinked.
Seeing her use mythical beasts from the Classic of Mountains and Seas in a bronze tripod to make soup was truly startling.
Not long after, the chicken was cooked. She tore off a piece of chicken breast with a large piece of skin with one hand, offering it to Chen Yi,
"Eat, don’t you like chicken skin?"
Chen Yi eyed the mythical beast from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, then the rusty bronze tripod,
After a long pause, he said:
"I won’t eat..."
This was genuinely too daunting to eat.
The Empress Dowager blinked, smiling while pursing her lips:
"It’s delicious."
"Really, I won’t eat..."
Hearing this, the Empress Dowager glared at him fiercely, forcibly shoving it into his mouth,
"You have to eat even if you don’t want to; such a big child, still needing to be fed!"
A mouth full of rust, for the first time, Chen Yi felt on the verge of breaking down.
Facing the Empress Dowager now, he truly felt the awkwardness akin to facing one’s parents.
The female crown, watching this peculiar yet warm scene, couldn’t help but reminisce about the Prince Mansion and then shook her head gently.
After dinner, when it was time to sleep, Chen Yi prepared to lie down anywhere, but the Empress Dowager had taken off an outer layer with wide sleeves, placing it on the ground. Then she made Chen Yi lie down, insisting on holding him as if he were a child.
After going through so much, Chen Yi had somewhat adapted. Unable to resist, he proactively accepted.
Being treated like this by the Empress Dowager made him nostalgic for when he flaunted his authority before Yin Tingxue.
"Yi’er, your mother is alive again; no one will harm us anymore."
The Empress Dowager’s voice was soft and tender.
Chen Yi was momentarily stunned. In the past, Empress Dowager’s voice, though soft, was as distant as rejection, yet now it was genuinely sincere beyond imagination.
It made one instinctively want to sink into it.
After a long while, Chen Yi proactively said:
"Your Majesty, we... are foes."
"Hmm... who doesn’t know?"
The Empress Dowager said, affectionately burying her forehead in his neck,
"But your mother doesn’t hate you, and you can do nothing about it."
Chen Yi was momentarily silent, then couldn’t help but ask after a while:
"Your Majesty, you don’t hate me, then why did you insist on coming back to life?"
The Empress Dowager opened her eyes and closed them again, hugging Chen Yi tighter,
"Your mother just can’t let go of you, doesn’t want me gone and nobody to care for you, letting you be bullied."
Chen Yi was instantly speechless.
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