The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

"..."

There was another round of silence, and in the awkwardness, Hu Ziyi had to speak up: "In fact, we already know about your relationship with His Highness Rong Le. His Highness thinks that you should not be convicted."

Qin Ruying pursed her lips and said, "But I was the one who introduced that evil cult into the princess's mansion."

"They are ambitious and were originally targeting Palace Rong Le. You are just being used as a stepping stone." Both Hu Ziyi's eyes and tone were stiff, without any sympathy for the person in front of him who was repeatedly deceived and used.

Qin Ruying was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly: "Is that so?"

"I am useless after all. My whole life has been controlled by others. It's rare that I muster up the courage to do something on my own, but in the end..."

Her expression became increasingly depressed, and Hu Ziyi frowned: "Being useless is not a reason to be harmed. You should not blame yourself, but the perpetrators should atone for their sins and make amends."

It didn't sound like words of comfort, but Qin Ruying felt comforted. She opened her mouth to say something, but then she heard Hu Ziyi say, "If you feel useless, then learn to do something you think is useful. Anyway, no one will stop you now, whether you go to the fields to plant rice, go to the mountains to hunt, do business, study... or even kill people and set fires, no one will stop you from doing it."

"...It seems that the last two things should not be put together with the previous ones?" Qin Ruying felt that he had fully experienced the eloquence of the princess's favorite minister. Although he was helpless, the depression in his heart was indeed dissipated a lot.

She couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

Hu Ziyi, who had run out of topics to talk about, simply asked directly: "So, what are you worried about?"

She could not understand Qin Ruying's confusion and self-pity. In Hu Ziyi's view, it was not Qin Ruying's fault that her life was robbed. Perhaps she was weak and incompetent and could only compromise, but this was not a reason for others to maliciously control and imprison her. The reason why people are human beings is because they are rational, moral, and know how to sympathize with the poor and the weak, and they are not like beasts that only know how to plunder.

Being weak should never be the fault of the plundered.

Qin Ruying pursed her lips. She had been silent for who knows how many times today. However, the young woman in front of her was even more speechless than her, and was waiting for an answer even more stubbornly.

half an hour.

Qin Ruying finally spoke: "I..."

Another pause.

"The princess and I...I...am just a bird held in her hand, but she can never really get it."

"And she is the cage that has imprisoned me for most of my life."

When Qin Ruying said this, the depression in her heart also flowed out with her words, making her feel that it was no longer difficult to confide in Hu Ziyi: "Because she can only imprison the bird, instead of taming it and making it love its home, she became more and more paranoid, clenched her hands and refused to let go, and the bird slowly suffocated in her palm..."

"I know I will die one day, either from suffocation or from her annoying me."

"That day, I was ready to be killed by her, but she let me go, which made me...very confused."

Qin Ruying and Hu Ziyi walked slowly again. They walked under the shadow of a pavilion. Qin Ruying continued, "I know that before me, the princess had many lovers, both male and female."

"Perhaps because I have been in that mansion for a long time, I can draw some logic from her past actions."

"She likes to chase after things that don't belong to her. If she can't catch them, she will keep chasing them. If she catches them, she will torture them... When she gets tired of them, she will decisively let go and look for the next prey."

Qin Ruying was very scared.

She knew that if she bowed to Princess Rong Le and fell for her like her previous prey, she would eventually be abandoned. But unlike those previous prey, she was a homeless person, and her blood relatives were jackals. She could not protect herself, and she could not take care of those who had done her a favor.

But Qin Ruying also didn't know how long her stubbornness could maintain Princess Rong Le's interest. She insisted on resisting because when she was sent to the princess's mansion by her blood relatives, she had been trapped in a desperate situation with no way out. She could only follow her instincts and make a living carefully.

As time passed, she could not see the way forward clearly, but became more and more confused, desperate and depressed. She wanted to die several times, but was unwilling to die. She wandered continuously in fear and pressure, dragging her broken wings. A thick layer of white film grew around her eyes. She desperately grasped the railings of the golden cage and walked back and forth on the most familiar path, almost forming an instinctive dependence on it.

Staying at the most dangerous source will actually put you in the safest situation.

"...She always said she loved me, but perhaps, only when she finally told me to leave did she really show some love in the form of charity."

The confusion in Qin Ruying's eyes disappeared, but she was still struggling. "Now I can't tell whether letting me leave was because she woke up before her death, or because she finally gave up on taming me, or...she wanted me to leave on purpose. I will have to carry this little feeling of being on edge for the rest of my life. Even if she dies...will my life from now on still be bound by her ghost?"

She gasped for air, her arms involuntarily hugged herself tightly, her whole body trembling, and the two rows of teeth in her mouth kept touching each other up and down, making a strange clicking sound: "I...a wild bird that has been imprisoned for decades, can I still fly?"

"I don't know what she is thinking." Qin Ruying told Hu Ziyi in horror, "But I can't help but suspect that she is not dead, but is still staring at me in a corner, or she is indeed dead, but her ghost is still lying on my back... What should I do? As long as she is still here, I can't do anything, I can't do anything..."

"You are trying to understand her." Hu Ziyi had an indescribable and confused expression.

This expression and the words that came out of her mouth stunned Qin Ruying.

"You actually tried to understand a madman. There is no reason for madmen to do things. They do things just because they want to do them. Have you ever thought about what you want to do?"

Qin Ruying was silent again, and after a moment, he said: "I just kept going against her wishes, but almost every time, I failed."

Now the person she needed to disobey was no longer there, but the shadow of the golden cage still firmly locked her mind.

"Then continue to disobey her and give up thinking about her actions. If you are willing to treat her as if she is still restraining you, then continue to be willing to do so."

"Just like before, continue to do those things that go against her will, and then see how far you can go without her obstruction and control this time."

Finally, Hu Ziyi warned with experience: "We can't even fully understand ourselves. You actually want to understand an outstanding madman. How brave you are."