Chapter 111 (Test)

The arrival of Zhou Zejing and Yan Qiuyuan made Zhou Lanyi feel like she had found a backer, and she ran over crying. Yan Qiuyuan was so scared that she took two steps back, protecting her belly, and looking at her sister-in-law vigilantly.

She must take good care of the baby in her belly and not let this reckless sister-in-law disturb it.

Zhou Zejing's face wasn't looking good. He glanced at his sister, who was pointing at the place where she was hit and crying. His face looked even worse. He looked at them and said in a deep voice, "Miss Xiao, I wonder what my sister did to make you hit her? After all, my sister was personally appointed as the county lord by His Majesty!"

Yan Qiushu also arrived later and was not good at talking, so she waited on the side without saying a word.

Xiao Huaiya said coldly, "Han Ronglun offended me, but the county lady blamed me for seducing him. Such insulting remarks should not be punished. If it were five years ago, I would have beaten her until she cried for her parents. This time, I only whipped her once and held back!"

Zhou Zejing looked at Zhou Lanyi and saw that she felt a little guilty, but more of aggrieved: "Brother, but she hit me, and I'm the county lady!"

"Shut up!" Zhou Zejing's face changed slightly when he heard this, and he quickly scolded.

Zhou Lanyi stamped her feet in frustration, her eyes red as she said nothing more.

Zhou Zejing felt helpless. He didn't want to bring his sister here in the first place. If he hadn't been bumped into when he came out, how could things have turned out like this? It directly ruined everything he had prepared. He glanced at Han Ronglun with a bad look on his face.

The latter avoided the gaze in fear, lowering his head and not daring to look at him.

Zhou Zejing cursed inwardly and bowed his hands to apologize: "It was my sister who spoke rudely, please don't blame me, Miss Xiao."

Xiao Huaiya smiled suddenly: "It's not strange, but the young man the prince brought here is really annoying. I didn't expect that the prince of Jin, who is so handsome and elegant, would associate with such a person who doesn't know the rules. It's really shocking!"

After hearing this, Zhou Lanyi's face turned green and she was so angry that she wanted to refute.

But before she could object, Zhou Zejing shouted, "Han Ronglun! Is what Miss Xiao said true? As a scholar, you don't even know etiquette?!"

Han Ronglun, who hadn't dared to speak for a long time, bowed decisively and said, "Your Highness, it's my fault. I was born in Wucheng. General Xiao had passed through Wucheng many times before, but I never got to meet him. Now that I've seen General Xiao's sister, I'm overwhelmed and want to ask for mercy. I'm afraid I've offended you, Your Highness, Miss Xiao, so I beg you to forgive me."

Zhou Lanyi snorted coldly and pulled his sleeve unhappily: "Why are you listening to these reckless men? You might as well listen to my brother. My brother is much more capable than him..."

"Lan Yi!" Zhou Zejing looked a little embarrassed, but he smiled and made light of the matter: "Since Han Ronglun has apologized, please forgive me, Miss Xiao."

Xiao Huaiya gave him a serious look and said, "Since he has admitted that he was offended, Mr. Han is no longer welcome here. Please leave immediately."

Han Ronglun straightened up and said calmly, "Yes, Han will leave now."

He turned and walked away. Zhou Lanyi saw him and quickly followed him: "Hey, wait for me, I don't want to stay here anymore. It's not fun at all!"

"Lan Yi, come back!" Zhou Zejing called out quickly.

But Zhou Lanyi didn't want to. She had been feeling aggrieved all day, and now her brother didn't want to seek justice for her. She didn't want to listen to her brother and left without looking back.

Zhou Zejing was so angry that he wanted to catch her back, but he was afraid that if she kept her, something bad would happen, so he had to endure it.

Seeing this, Xiao Huaiya said to the remaining two people, "What's wrong? The prince and his wife are not leaving together?"

Zhou Zejing smiled slightly: "No, my wife is pregnant, so I have to be careful." He bowed slightly: "Now that the matter has been resolved, I will take my wife back to rest."

"Goodbye, Prince." Xiao Huaiya said with a forced smile.

Zhou Zejing and Yan Qiuyuan nodded, and before leaving, they glanced at Yan Qiushu who was hiding in the shadows nearby.

After the two men left, Xiao Huaiya's cold temperament relaxed. His shoulders relaxed, and he looked at Yan Qiushu and whispered, "I guessed right. He came here to find you. Just now, Han Ronglun wanted to invite me to watch the stars. Bullshit! He even seduced me!"

Yan Qiushu patted her shoulder soothingly and said with a smile: "It's okay, as long as you can see it."

Xiao Huaiya smiled complacently: "You've already told me that he's not good. If I still can't see it, then I'm stupid, right?"

Yan Qiushu smiled and said, "Do you trust me so much?"

Xiao Huaiya said casually: "Anyway, you won't harm me, they are all outsiders."

Yan Qiushu felt warm and amused. It was because of her naiveté that she was deceived by that bastard King Huai. She reminded him, "If you have a crush on someone, you must tell me so that I can check it out. If nothing else, I am very good at judging people!"

Xiao Huaiya nodded readily: "Okay!"

But there was one thing she didn't say: she didn't have anyone she liked!

This time, everyone really went back to their own homes.

Xiao Huaiya returned to the yard, and Yan Qiushu also went back. After washing up, they went to bed.

There was no one else in her room, Shui Yu was sleeping next door.

While sleeping, Yan Qiushu suddenly heard a noise. She woke up suddenly and looked at the closed doors and windows.

This familiar feeling!

Could it be Xiao Huaiting again?

But she quickly denied it. The last time was a special case, and he was worried about damaging her reputation, so he stayed in the house and didn't dare let other people know. It's not like he would run here to hide if something happened again so soon.

Then there was another noise, much clearer this time, coming from her yard.

Shui Yu seemed to be awakened as well, and tremblingly said from the next room: "Girl! Are you okay?"

Yan Qiushu said, "I'm fine."

At this time, the footsteps were getting closer, and a voice was heard saying, "Xiang Jun, there are some things I want to talk to you about."

That voice... is Zhou Zejing's!

Shui Yu obviously heard it too, and suddenly her fear was gone. She quickly opened the door and went out, frowning and saying, "Please go back, my lord! Trespassing into the inner courtyard is bad for your reputation!"

Zhou Zejing said in a gentle voice: "I do have something to tell the Lord. If it is inconvenient for you to see me, please give this to the Lord."

Shui Yu hesitated for a moment, but a handkerchief was stuffed into her hand. There was a word "Yan" embroidered on one corner of the handkerchief, but she didn't know whether it was the "Yan" of Yan Qiushu or the "Yan" of Yan Qiuyuan.

In fact, as Yan Qiushu's personal maid, she still guessed the relationship between some girls and the Yan family in Kyoto. When she saw this, she thought about it and turned around and entered Yan Qiushu's room.

"Miss, look at this?" Shui Yu said, "This was given to me by the Prince of Jin. He said he had received help from a young lady when he was at the Zhang residence, and now he thinks it's you, young lady, so he's here to return the handkerchief."

Yan Qiushu took it and lit the oil lamp in the room. The light was dim, but it was enough for her to see clearly that this handkerchief... was embroidered by the original owner.

She inherited the original owner's memory, but not her calligraphy and embroidery skills. The words she wrote were ridiculed by Dongdong, and her embroidery skills were naturally never shown, but she could still recognize the things embroidered by the original owner.

How come the original owner's things are in Zhou Zejing's hands?

Yan Qiushu thought about it carefully, and it took her a while to remember that this was a flower-viewing banquet. When the original owner met Zhou Zejing by chance, Zhou Zejing's hands were wet by tea splashed by a maid, so she handed him a handkerchief.

Because there was no personal mark on it, only the word "Yan", she dared to give it out.

This was also her first time meeting Zhou Zejing.

It was because this time, Zhou Zejing did not blame the maid, but instead gently and politely revealed the matter, which made the original owner feel that the Prince of Jin was not only a good person, but also might not care about the difference between legitimate and illegitimate children.

She was a concubine's daughter born to her aunt, and she had always felt inferior about it. Her aunt always urged her to marry into a good family to change the fate for herself and her aunt. So she set her sights on Zhou Zejing.

As the original owner got to know Zhou Zejing better, this young girl who had never seen the world subconsciously fell deeply in love with this man. Unfortunately, she could have succeeded, but Yan Qiuyuan got there first, and she became the scapegoat instead.

Now this thing appeared before her, and it was delivered by Zhou Zejing himself. If it were the original owner, she would probably die of joy, but she...

And why did it suddenly appear?

Regardless of whether it is true or not, the original owner embroidered countless replacements for this thing, but the significance lies there.

Could it be that they found that King Huai was not capable, so they replaced him with Zhou Zejing?

Or are you testing yourself?

Yan Qiushu's heart tightened. Yes, the Xiao family had undergone so many changes in the past year. Anyone would probably realize that something had changed.

As expected, the Xiao family had a plan to deal with the upcoming military pay crisis. If they changed their approach, something unexpected might happen, and Yan Qiushu didn't want that to happen.

She took a deep breath, squeezed her handkerchief, opened the door and went out.

The moon was very bright today. When Yan Qiushu went out, she saw the young man standing under the moonlight with his hands behind his back. He smiled faintly and said, "I found this handkerchief a few days ago. I didn't expect that he and Xiangjun had crossed paths before. It's just fate."

Yan Qiushu looked at him and pinched herself secretly. Suddenly, her nose felt sore and her eyes were full of tears. But she said in a low voice: "I'm sorry, I don't recognize this handkerchief. Although my last name is Yan, I am not good at embroidery and can't embroider a handkerchief like this. The prince made a mistake."

Zhou Zejing sighed when he heard this: "That's such a pity. Please return the handkerchief to me as a souvenir."

Yan Qiushu pursed her lips and smiled, then handed over the handkerchief.

Zhou Zejing took two steps forward and took it. His fingers accidentally touched hers, and he quickly separated them, saying, "My wife said that the owner of this handkerchief might be gone. I didn't believe it at first, but it's good that the country gentleman is well. Whether he's here or not doesn't matter."

He smiled, his handsome eyes fixed on her, as if he wanted to remember her in his mind, then he bowed and strode away without making any extra sound.

Shui Yu exhaled and said nervously, "Girl, don't do anything stupid!"

Although the girl might have something going on with the prince, she is already engaged to the sixth young master and will be the future wife of the Duke of Zhenguo. The eldest young master cannot inherit the title, so Yan Qiushu's position is set in stone. However, the prince already has a wife!

Yan Qiushu smiled, her tone relaxed: "I know, the prince and I only had this one encounter, and he married someone else. I won't do anything."

After saying that, she went into the house.

Shui Yu felt a chill on his back and wanted to chase in, but he didn't dare. He stamped his feet anxiously outside.

Naturally, she did not see the black figure disappear from the wall.

Zhou Zejing returned to the house.

Yan Qiuyuan, who couldn't sleep at all, came up to greet him immediately and asked nervously, "How is it? Did she admit it?"

Zhou Zejing shook his head: "No."

Yan Qiuyuan's heart sank. "She hasn't even admitted it, so what's her attitude? Which Yan Qiushu is she?"

She started to panic after unexpected things happened again and again. It was not until Yan Qiushu appeared again that she realized that all these changes might not only be due to her rebirth, but also because of Yan Qiushu.

At first, she thought Yan Qiushu had encountered some adventure. Her adventure was rebirth. Her adventure might be cooking skills, or something better, which could bring new life to the lifeless Xiao family.

Yan Qiuyuan was terrified that everything in her past life would change because of her and Yan Qiushu. She watched as Prince Huai nearly met with disaster, the Third Prince was beheaded, and Prince Xuan met with disaster even earlier than in her previous life. Only Prince Huai and Prince Chang, who shouldn't have existed, remained...

The change was too big, and she didn't dare to take the risk. She had no choice but to confirm that she was pregnant. Zhou Zejing would not leave his child without a mother, so she told Zhou Zejing about her situation.

After some discussion, the couple decided to test Yan Qiushu. If this person was still Yan Qiushu, the Yan Qiushu whose marriage was ruined by her in this life, then they would not have to worry.

But if not, then... they have to consider the next deployment.

Seeing her panic, Zhou Zejing soothed her, "Don't be afraid. If nothing unexpected happens, she should be different from you. She doesn't hold any resentment and doesn't know about the past life you mentioned. She was very calm throughout. She had some emotions, but mostly regret. It's obvious that she just felt that I missed her."

"Really?!" Yan Qiuyuan was pleasantly surprised: "She really didn't reincarnate?"

"No." Zhou Zejing reaffirmed: "A normal person would definitely feel resentful knowing that she had gone from being a queen to an orphan, relying on the opportunity given by God to help the Xiao family in exchange for the position of a young lady, which is far inferior to the queen. If I show my kindness, she will definitely show some of it."

"Of course I will!" Yan Qiuyuan also nodded. In addition to this reason, she also clearly remembered that Yan Qiushu and Zhou Zejing were very affectionate. If she was really reborn, it would be impossible for her to see Zhou Zejing's kindness without much reaction.

She must be Yan Qiushu in this life, not reborn!

Zhou Zejing also felt much more relaxed: "Okay, now that we know what happened, let's leave tomorrow. I don't know where Lan Yi has been coaxed to!"

Yan Qiuyuan nodded obediently and frowned, "I don't want to stay here anymore. It's not convenient at all. It's not as good as the mansion."

"Yes, you are right. We can't let our child suffer." Zhou Zejing coaxed. If the arrow was not on the string and had to be shot, he would not have come here in person for the sake of caution.

The Xiao family and the Shen family have joined forces. Now it seems that Prince Chang's ascension to the throne is destined. However, the old emperor prefers Prince Shun. Concubine Lu is still in control of the harem. They can only use hard tactics, and it must be foolproof.

Now that Yan Qiushu's condition has been confirmed, we can make the next move.

Zhou Zejing's words made Yan Qiuyuan laugh. The couple returned to bed and drew the curtains. Yan Qiuyuan lay on the bed and asked, "What should we do next?"

Zhou Zejing smiled and said, "Don't worry about it. Just focus on taking care of the baby."

"Um!"