Emperor Jingren woke up three days later, and he had been sent to Mobei City. After the accompanying imperial physician examined Emperor Jingren, he confirmed that his body was full of vitality, not only was he not injured, but he was also strong and healthy. According to this physical condition, even if he was 10 years old, his body would probably be similar to that of a middle-aged man, which was a blessing in disguise.
Everyone learned from Su Huailing that Hu Yanxi kidnapped Emperor Jingren just to find the Thousand Snow Lotus, saying that the Thousand Snow Lotus, a magical object, only bloomed for Emperor Jingren, and when Emperor Jingren stopped breathing, the Thousand Snow Lotus that no one had ever seen really appeared. This sounds like a legend, but it is a real thing.
Xiao Jinshu immediately spread the news, saying that Emperor Jingren was a true dragon emperor who could make auspicious signs like the Thousand Snow Lotus bloom for him. When Emperor Jingren arrived in Mobei City, a strange phenomenon appeared in the sky, and the Mu clan master Hu Yanxi was struck by lightning. He then abandoned the Mu clan army and fled, allowing the Dingbei army to win a great victory, and the Mu clan could not raise their heads for decades. The Xia Kingdom had such a true dragon emperor, which was a blessing for the country and the people.
When the news of Emperor Jingren's kidnapping reached the capital, the situation in the capital was unstable for a while. There were still many restless people in the royal family. Many people in the court had suppressed their thoughts and they started to think again. The King of Huainan could not suppress them at all, not to mention that he had a group of people who were urging him to ascend the throne all day long. Shen Junyi was almost scared to death when he heard that the protagonist Emperor Jingren might be in trouble. He discussed countermeasures with several concubines in the harem every day. Several people wanted to commit suicide to return to reality, but they were afraid that Emperor Jingren had already died, and they could not really go back if they committed suicide. People were in a panic every day, so how could they care about the usurpation of the throne
Xu Qingyang persuaded the King of Huainan to send people to look for Emperor Jingren every day. If they found him, they would kill him and blame Hu Yanxi. Before Emperor Jingren left, he had said that if anything happened to him, the King of Huainan would be the legitimate heir. As long as Emperor Jingren died...
Xu Qingyang was devoted to his master, but unfortunately he was dragged away and imprisoned by the Prince of Huainan before he could finish his words. After staying in the private prison of the Prince of Huainan's mansion for some time, he finally gave up after hearing the news that Emperor Jingren was fine.
The situation in the court was not optimistic, but when Xiao Jinshu spread the news to the imperial city, all those who had thoughts shut up. Now the whole country is saying that Emperor Jingren is the reincarnation of the Purple Star Emperor, the only divine emperor after Yao, Shun and Yu. With such momentum, anyone who dares to cause trouble will be drowned by the spit of the world.
As rumors were flying around, Emperor Jingren finally absorbed all the medicinal power of the Thousand Snow Lotus and slowly opened his eyes.
There were people taking care of him every day, including the imperial physician, Jing Xixian, Xiao Jinshu and others. However, it was still Su Huailing who was the first to see Emperor Jingren wake up. She screamed excitedly, and Jing Xixian stuffed a piece of cloth in her mouth and threw her out of the room.
Su Huailing: “…”
Emperor Jingren opened his eyes but did not speak. Instead, he looked around first. After looking at everyone in the room, he remembered that when he woke up from a head hit a year ago, he opened his eyes and saw the empress's tall, safe figure. His heart sank.
"Emperor... Where is General Xiao?" Emperor Jingren asked. His voice was dry and hoarse as if he hadn't been exposed to water for several days. It was unpleasant to hear, but to those who had been waiting for him, it was the sound of nature.
“Your Majesty…” Xiao Jinshu was happy for Emperor Jingren, but also felt sorry for his sister whom he had doted on since childhood. He was speechless.
Jing Xixian knelt in front of Emperor Jingren's bed and reported: "Your Majesty, General Xiao died with Hu Yanxi in order to save Your Majesty. He fell into the snow valley and even his body could not be found."
Emperor Jingren's pupils constricted and he closed his eyes quietly. Although his body felt more comfortable than ever before, his heart was extremely tired. He just wanted to lie down and never get up again.
Jing Xixian organized his words and told all about his experience with Xiao Jinyi that day, hiding only the fact that General Xiao died of bleeding from all seven orifices after taking medicine to improve his power, and only said that he and Hu Yanxi died together. Xiao Jinyi had told him not to tell Emperor Jingren about this. In order to be loyal to the emperor and to respect Xiao Jinyi, Jing Xixian chose to say something that would not make Emperor Jingren sad as much as possible. Anyway, no matter what the process was, the result was that General Xiao saved His Majesty with his life.
"Your Majesty," Jing Xixian said, "When General Xiao left, he left a pendant behind, and I kept it."
It was found by Jing Xixian on the snow after Xiao Jinyi disappeared in the snow valley. He knew that the pendant belonged to Emperor Jingren, so he kept it and planned to give it to Emperor Jingren.
Emperor Jingren opened his tightly closed eyes and slowly sat up from the bed. He just felt a little hungry and dizzy from not eating for a long time, but he didn't feel any other discomfort.
He stretched out his hand and said, "Give me the pendant."
Jingxi Xian placed the blood-stained pendant on a tray and presented it to the Emperor. Emperor Jingren held the pendant in his hand and gently wiped the blood off it. Unexpectedly, the blood could not be wiped off, as if it had originally been stained on the pendant.
"Your Majesty, I originally intended to clean the pendant after I got it, but the bloodstains...can't be wiped off." Jing Xixian said with embarrassment.
"Then there's no need for that." Emperor Jingren said calmly.
The Queen did not even want the pendant, and died together with Hu Yanxi, probably because she had completed her mission and returned. Emperor Jingren smiled bitterly and wanted to throw away the pendant that was no longer useful, but he kept replaying the scenes of the Queen giving him the pendant twice in his mind, and he was reluctant to throw it away.
Never mind, just keep it as a thought, he thought.
Unlocking the pendant chain, Emperor Jingren put the pendant on his neck without anyone's help. However, unlike the previous two times, the pendant radiated a gorgeous light as soon as it was worn by Emperor Jingren. The originally gray pendant seemed to come alive, shining brightly, as if there was some crystal clear liquid flowing inside. Even though Emperor Jingren had seen countless treasures, he had never seen such a beautiful thing. For a moment, everyone in the room was stunned.
A glazed light enveloped Emperor Jingren, and the light circles shrank inwards, and finally all entered Emperor Jingren's body. The pendant stopped glowing, but it was still so beautiful. In the center of the pendant, a bright red color looked particularly beautiful in the crystal clear liquid.
"This is..." Everyone was stunned, only Xiao Jinshu looked at the pendant thoughtfully.
"What is this?" Emperor Jingren saw Xiao Jinshu's doubt and asked, "General Xiao once told me that this is his family heirloom and it can be used for self-defense."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty... I seem to have some impression..." Xiao Jinshu frowned. He felt that he had no impression of this treasure, but when he saw the pendant, he seemed to remember it. It seemed that he had known about the existence of this pendant for a long time, but it also seemed that he had just known about it...
Xiao Jinshu couldn't figure out why his memory had such a problem, so he simply stopped thinking about it and replied, "Your Majesty, I have an impression that this seems to be the case. According to records, this pendant is usually gray and useless, but once it recognizes its owner, it will not only become unusually beautiful, but also protect the owner of the necklace from getting hurt."
"Really?" Emperor Jingren stared at the pendant without blinking, "Then I'll have to give it a try."
He ordered Jing Xixian to bring a dagger and asked him to stab his own leg with the dagger.
"Your Majesty, this is just a rumor. Commander Jing, please be careful..." Xiao Jinshu said worriedly.
However, before he could finish his words, Jing Xixian's dagger stopped just before it stabbed Emperor Jingren's leg. It was not stopped by human intervention, but by an irresistible force that protected Emperor Jingren.
Jing Xixian tried several times, but found that he could not hurt even one corner of Emperor Jingren's clothes even if he used all his internal strength, and it was no use even with the Embroidered Spring Sword. On the contrary, the eunuch who served Emperor Jingren could easily touch Emperor Jingren's clothes when he was changing his clothes, without any hindrance.
"This thing is truly magical. It can even distinguish between damage and touch," Jing Xixian knelt down and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty, for obtaining this magical item!"
Everyone in the room knelt down and shouted "Long live the emperor", but Emperor Jingren stared at his pendant and smiled faintly.
"Your Majesty, I will always protect you." The gorgeous blood color in the pendant seemed alive, constantly repeating this sentence to Emperor Jingren.
"Yes, I know." Emperor Jingren said lightly.
He knew, he had always known. His queen was a man of integrity. Even if she was no longer in this world, she would always protect him. He had never lied to him. She was a man of her word.
His handsome, strong and beautiful queen.
Emperor Jingren ordered those who knew about the pendant not to tell anyone. This was natural. A man was innocent but guilty of possessing a treasure. It was better to keep such a treasure secretly to protect himself. After hiding the pendant under his clothes and recuperating in Mobei City for a few days, Emperor Jingren returned to the court.
This time, the King of Huainan returned to the court safely. When he saw Emperor Jingren coming back, he knelt on the ground in front of all the ministers and cried excitedly. He hugged Emperor Jingren's thigh and cried loudly, saying things like "Brother, you are finally back. Brother, I am so worried about you. If you die, I will not want to live anymore." Emperor Jingren resisted the urge to kick him away.
"I understand my brother's intention," Emperor Jingren said calmly to Jingxi Xian, "The Prince of Huainan is so excited that he may not be able to stand steadily. Please give him a seat and help him go back to rest."
Jing Xixian and two Jinyiwei immediately pulled the Prince of Huainan off the thigh of Emperor Jingren and pressed him onto a chair. They left another Jinyiwei to hold the Prince of Huainan down, preventing him from getting up, for fear that he would pounce on Emperor Jingren again.
After returning to the court, the first decree of Emperor Jingren was to commend the Dingbei Army and the Xiao family. The Marquis of Zhenbei was promoted to the first-class duke, and then to the Duke of Zhenbei. The title of the Duke was hereditary, and now Xiao Jinshu inherited it. Xiao Jinyi, the sixth son of the Xiao family, had made great contributions in protecting the emperor, and was posthumously awarded the title of Marshal. One person from the Xiao family could be adopted to continue the incense for Xiao Jinyi.
Every soldier and civilian in Mobei received a reward. Even Su Huailing was given a position as deputy commander in the Jinyiwei and was rewarded with a lot of silver.
After the rewards were given, Emperor Jingren went back to rest. He stayed alone in the Qifeng Palace that night, unable to sleep.
A month later, the empress died of illness, and the whole country was in mourning. Emperor Jingren built an imperial mausoleum and buried the empress in it, waiting to be buried with the empress a hundred years later.
Three years later, Emperor Jingren still had no heir, so he began to select concubines. The Empress Dowager, who temporarily held the Empress Seal, was in charge of the selection. The Empress Dowager was old and her eyesight was dim, and the concubines she selected were ugly, dark-skinned, and there was also a tall and strong woman...