Rebirth: The flatterer prince I raised couldn't be so clingy

"At the time, I actually felt that kind of life was really boring, and I even thought about sneaking out to have a look, but every time I had such thoughts, people around me would die in front of me one after another."

"Gradually, I began to get used to the fact that people kept dying in the temple. That was the proof of the existence of evil spirits, and also the source of my deep sins."

Having said that, Feng Zhanye smiled bitterly.

Gu Qingzhi kept looking at him. She couldn't imagine what happened to him during that period of time and felt a tightness in her chest.

"My mother is actually a very thoughtful person. The tragic deaths of the palace maids may have a heavier meaning to her."

"I could clearly sense her fear. Every time a palace maid got into trouble, she would go crazy looking for me. When she saw that I was still alive, she would breathe a sigh of relief. I knew that my mother was afraid that one day, she would see me among the corpses."

"Azhi, to be honest, I have indeed thought about committing suicide. I have also thought about how great it would be if I had never been born."

Feng Zhanye withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Gu Qingzhi, with deep sadness in his eyes.

Gu Qingzhi didn't expect him to say that and looked at him straight.

"But every time I look at my mother's worried and loving eyes, I really can't imagine how sad she would be if I died."

Tears welled up in his eyes, but he held them back just before they burst out.

Feng Zhanye exhaled heavily and continued, "In short, until a while ago, my mother and I still lived together, until the birth of the seventh prince."

"It is a great joy to have a new prince in the palace, and the concubines in the harem should go to visit him. However, since my seventh brother was born, my mother has not been in a good mood. She often cannot sleep and always forgets many things."

"For this reason, the queen came to visit her and left a palace maid named Xianzhi who knew some acupuncture for her."

Feng Zhanye's story seemed to have reached a critical moment. When he mentioned the palace maid, he even pulled his clothes tighter unconsciously.

Hearing this name, Gu Qingzhi was stunned. The palace maid who had just killed the guard who poisoned her had this name.

"A few days later, my seventh brother's biological mother, Cao Shuyi, invited my mother and the queen to the palace to prepare a full-month banquet for her child. Because Cao Shuyi's mother's family had some connections with my mother, she didn't think much of it and even specially prepared a full-month gift to congratulate her child."

"However, on the day she left, the Seventh Prince died."

Feng Zhanye's words were like a blow to Gu Qingzhi's heart. Such a gentle mother finally couldn't escape the premeditated frame-up.

"Without a doubt, after investigation, poison needles were found hidden on my mother's body, and the silk thread from my mother's sleeve was hanging on the cradle of the seventh prince."

"My mother herself was not in a good mental state, and for a moment she could not remember how the needle was put into her clothes. The maid Xian Zhi who went with her insisted that it was made by my mother herself when she went crazy at night."

"But I accidentally saw in the garden that day that before they left, Xian Zhi secretly crushed the poisonous oleander fruit in the corner and smeared the juice on the needle."

Gu Qingzhi was suddenly shocked. It was so strikingly similar. The same thing was done by someone else, the same poisoning, the same frame-up. The death of Concubine Hui was almost a replica of what happened that day, and Feng Zhanye became the person who was framed.

"You know what happened later. I went to ask my father for help and told him the truth. That's how I was kicked out of the palace."

Finally finishing his story, Feng Zhanye laughed at himself, totally unaware of the strangeness of the person next to him. When he turned around, he noticed the complexity in her eyes.

It turned out that the whole picture of the matter was so different from the rumors. Gu Qingzhi couldn't help but feel a little sad. Something that was clearly incomprehensible could be widely circulated as the truth under the power of public opinion.

Gu Qingzhi told him all the results of her investigation in great detail. Now it was finally clear that the one who had been targeting Feng Zhanye was the woman with the highest status in the Kingdom of Yu today - Queen Zou.

Perhaps he had already guessed this would be the result, for he seemed unusually calm, with an unclear light flashing in his eyes, and it took him a while to utter a word.

"Azhi, I hate them so much. I hate them for killing my mother, and I hate myself even more. Why is my life so miserable? I carry evil spirits with me, so shouldn't I have an easy life?"

Gu Qingzhi lowered her eyes to look at his red and swollen eyes. She did not answer his question directly, but swallowed the bitterness in her heart and said lightly: "There have always been many people suffering in the world, but you are in the deep palace and have never heard of them."

Feng Zhanye stared at her in a daze, not understanding the meaning of her words.

"When you watch helplessly as the calm waters suddenly burst their banks one day, destroying farmhouses and rushing towards you, that moment is more powerless than any other, and all you can do is run away desperately."

Gu Qingzhi recalled the devastating flood in Fujiang when she was three years old. She had personally experienced that suffering which she was powerless to reverse.

"Ever since I can remember, we have been on the road of exile. Feng Ping and I have been hiding everywhere with our parents, but no place can be a home to shelter us."

"The flood destroyed our houses and submerged our fields. Everyone had no way to escape and had to go north, but it still followed us like a shadow."

Gu Qingzhi calmly recounted the experience that had long since passed away from her, as if everything in the past was just a tragic story.

Feng Zhanye said nothing, but just leaned against her and listened quietly. This was the first time she confided her past to him.

"The number of exiles kept decreasing, people kept dying in the disaster, and after the flood, the plague appeared."

"In fact, floods are not the main cause of death for refugees, but epidemics are. Everyone is praying that they will not be infected, but the disease always comes to them quietly."

"My mother knew some folk remedies and was considered a half-barefoot doctor. Although she could relieve the pain of those patients, she could not find any way to deal with the epidemic. She could only watch the people around her die of the disease one by one."

"The so-called disaster relief provided by the government was completely invisible from beginning to end. In order to conceal the number of refugees, they not only ignored the rampant epidemic, but also continuously released patients infected with the epidemic among the refugees."

"Later, the flood caught up with us again. My parents were good swimmers, but it was too dangerous that time. For the safety of my brother and me, they stayed in the water until they were exhausted and washed away by the water and disappeared in the torrent."

Gu Qingzhi didn't dare to close her eyes, but just stared at Feng Zhanye quietly. She was afraid that once she closed her eyes, all the scenes from that time would appear in her mind.

In this way, she lost her parents at the age of five, and she and her three-year-old brother became complete orphans.

They followed the few remaining refugees northward in a daze, stealing when they were thirsty and robbing when they were hungry. They were constantly beaten and endured hunger just to survive, until they met Yuan Jie.

Gu Qingzhi really couldn't say all this. The hard times she went through during that period made her almost forget who she was. As long as she and her brother could survive, she would do anything.

"Azhi..."

His heart felt bitter and tears started to fall. For some reason, listening to the voice of the person in front of him made Feng Zhanye feel a pang of heartache.

What Gu Qingzhi experienced was different from the illusory conspiracy she was in. It was a more real and unprovoked catastrophic disaster.

The person in front of me looked so calm, his expression did not change at all because of those things that sounded extremely painful, as if he had become numb.

After he called her, Gu Qingzhi's thoughts gradually came out of her memories. While she was telling the story, she secretly made a decision.

"Pain may be the norm in this world. Losing everything is not terrible, but if you are crushed by this pain, your future life will only be worse. What's more, you still have Aunt Liu and me."

She stretched out her hands to hold Feng Zhanye's shoulders and gently held him in her arms. Feng Zhanye was surrounded by the fresh breath, his tears fell on her, and her voice rang in his ears.

"From now on, I will be your family."

The boy nodded gently in her arms.

"Azhi, I'm cold, hold me tight."

The snow fell silently, and the two shadows on the Longtu Pavilion hugged each other tightly.