"The Buddha sees the Buddha, and the evil sees the evil. If this is the truth, then when I want to punish someone guilty, wouldn't I also have to bear the same crime? What you just said was too harsh."

Empress Jiahe looked embarrassed. Emperor Zhaowu peeled a lychee with his own hands and placed it in front of her. Empress Jiahe looked down at it, her heart in a mess.

Is this blaming her, or standing on her side? She was unable to tell the difference for a moment, and she was extremely resentful of Jiang Rao in her heart. Finally, she followed the words of Emperor Zhaowu, lowered her head, and said with some self-blame: "When I see the young make mistakes, I am always eager to teach them. Blame me for being impatient."

She actually said that she had made a mistake. Jiang Rao was extremely disgusted with the Queen of Dazhao.

"She can't be called a mistake."

Emperor Zhaowu spoke lightly again, speaking for Jiang Rao, but he did not stop peeling the lychees. Jiang Rao was watching from below, and the subtle feeling in her heart arose again.

She always felt that Emperor Zhaowu didn't treat Empress Jiahe as well as he had treated her aunt before.

After the banquet, Concubine Yun and Jiang Rao walked out together to pick up Jiang Jinxing.

She was a concubine in the harem, so her movements were restricted. She could not show up outside the palace. The farthest she could go was to the corridor of Yiyuan Garden, where she waited for Jiang Rao to bring Jiang Jinxing over.

Jiang Rao first sent Concubine Yun to Yi Garden. On the way, she mentioned Emperor Zhaowu's attitude at the banquet. Concubine Yun narrowed her eyes and smiled, "I also felt something was wrong before. I understand better than anyone what it feels like when the emperor really loves someone. But I have always been conceited, and I was afraid that I was wrong, so I didn't tell you. Since you have also seen it, then my guess may be right. The emperor is good to the queen, and I don't know what he is calculating in his heart."

Seeing Jiang Rao's inquiring eyes, Concubine Yun smiled and leaned close to Jiang Rao's ear, "I don't have to guess what the emperor is thinking. In the emperor's mind, I am just a willful concubine and a beautiful decoration. He ignores me, even if he has other thoughts, I can't see it."

"I'm afraid he doesn't want a concubine who is scheming." Concubine Yun pretended to be sad. "I will pretend to be brainless. If he loves me, I will be spoiled. If he doesn't love me anymore, I will be self-pitying and lose my appetite. When he finishes what he wants to do, he will come back to coax me twice as much."

Jiang Rao was confused by the twists and turns in Concubine Yun's mouth. The more she listened, the more fortunate she felt.

Fortunately, the man she was engaged to was Rong Ting, and the yard was clean and tidy. The sound of all the fighting and quarreling gave her a headache.

Once again

Thinking that Rong Ting would not be able to be exchanged in Huaizhou, Jiang Rao's eyes suddenly lost their spirit. As they got closer to the corridor of Yiyuan Garden, Concubine Yun asked her, "Just now... if the emperor had scolded you, would you have wanted to admit your mistake?"

After a chat with Jiang Rao, Concubine Yun realized that Emperor Zhaowu might stand on her side. Even though Jiang Rao was not wronged in the end, she still regretted not standing up to support Jiang Rao.

"I'm not that strong-willed." Jiang Rao approached Concubine Yun with a smile, her voice very soft.

She did not give a clear answer, but her words showed that if the emperor punished her, she would accept it.

"You have no spine..."

Concubine Yun smiled and tapped her forehead with her finger. She repeated the word "spineless" twice and added, "If you were really spineless, you wouldn't have stood up for the Ninth Prince when the Queen mentioned him just now."

"It was the Emperor who asked me to go over there, not me who insisted on stepping forward." Jiang Rao was pointed at twice by Concubine Yun, and her little head tilted back.

She wondered why Emperor Zhaowu ordered the palace servants to summon her before him and the Queen. It seemed that he wanted to put her there intentionally to anger the Queen and was secretly watching her reaction. But no matter how much she thought about it, it was just thinking. She couldn't guess what the emperor was thinking. She just hoped that Rong Ting could come back as soon as possible, so that Empress Jiahe would not use some annoying means on big and small matters.

"What the Queen said is so infuriating."

She put others down in her words and praised herself highly. The scary thing is that looking at her worried look when she spoke, some people who didn't know the truth would actually believe it.

She had tried every possible way in the past six months on how to find something to hold against the Queen and the Xu family, but to no avail and could only sulk alone. When Jiang Rao thought of this now, she became annoyed again, and her cheeks puffed up a little, and were pinched down by Concubine Yun.

She looked at the little girl in front of her, as helpless as looking at a basin of poured water, "You would rather take the punishment yourself than help him vent his anger. You have such a bad temper..."

She loves this little niece, not only because she is her cousin's daughter. The little girl has been lovable since she was young. She was born in a family that allows her to be domineering and willful, but she is very well-behaved and sensible. She looks timid, but she is very protective of her. You love her, but at the same time you know that she will keep you in mind.

"Do you really like him so much?" asked Concubine Yun.

Jiang Rao unconsciously responded with "hmm" until her cheek was pinched and hurt. Then she came back to her senses. She belatedly thought about what Concubine Yun had said. Her heart beat very fast and her expression froze.

Concubine Yun continued:

I should have seen what you were thinking when you said you wanted to help him. Look at you now. Don’t hide it from your aunt. Did you like him the first time you saw him? ”

Jiang Rao's eyes were blank for a moment.

The first look at him...

To be honest, the first time I saw him was probably in a dream.

The dream was exceptionally clear, and she later conscientiously recalled its contents over and over again, fearing that she would forget something and leave a source of trouble. She has not forgotten it to this day.

At that time, she was brought in front of him in a filthy state. Looking at him sitting high above her in the first seat, the first thought that came to her mind was not fear or panic, but that this man was really handsome.

But this idea was quickly shattered by his terrible temper.

However, after waking up from the dream and meeting each other until now, the good impression we had when we first met seems to have been pieced back together bit by bit.

Jiang Rao's heart suddenly pounded, and she sank into her own thoughts for a moment, blushing and lowering her head. Concubine Yun heard that she had not replied for a long time, and glanced at her sideways. She knew her little niece's character and habits very well, and knew that the little girl was shy. She said in her heart that she was not wrong, and no longer forced Jiang Rao to answer her, "Okay, okay, Yiyuan is here too, you should hurry up and bring your brother here."

Jiang Rao came back to her senses and met Concubine Yun's mischievous gaze. Her face suddenly turned red and she was annoyed that she was distracted.

She hurried out of Yi Garden and walked outside the palace. Her quick steps seemed to be an attempt to avoid Concubine Yun's sight.

The carriage from the Ning'an Marquis's Mansion arrived a little earlier than her, and Jiang Jinxing stood under the carriage waiting.

He could never learn to be quiet. He scooped a handful of snow from under the carriage, lay down under it and made a snowman, with only his legs exposed.

Jiang Rao was terrified, and together with Ming Shao, she pulled him out from under the carriage by his legs. Jiang Rao looked at the snow on his jacket, stretched out her hand to pat it off, and couldn't help scolding him, "Why did you get under the carriage? If the horses get scared and step on you, how many lives will you lose?"

"The snow underneath is clean." Jiang Jinxing stood up with a pout, holding the snowman in his hand and handed it to Jiang Rao, "This is for my sister."

Jiang Rao looked down at the snowman that was the same size as her palm and didn't take it. "Don't think I won't scold you just because you gave me the snowman. The next time I see you crawling under the carriage again, I will send you to the ancestral hall to copy books."

"It wasn't me who gave it to him." Jiang Jinxing always just listened to Jiang Rao's instructions. He knew that his elder sister was soft-hearted and would not punish him too harshly, so he had nothing to fear.

Jiang Rao held the snowman in her hands and asked curiously, "Who gave it to me?"

"Brother-in-law."

Jiang Jinxing touched his red nose from the cold and said, "He asked me to make it for you."

As he was a little older, it was embarrassing for him to ask someone else to carry him, so he walked into the palace by himself.

Jiang Jinxing had already taken several steps forward, but Jiang Rao stood there in a daze, just staring blankly at the snowman in his hand.

The snow gradually melted in her palms.

"Young lady, please stop holding this snowman. Give it to me. It's easy to get your hands frozen."

Jiang Rao regained her senses but did not let go. She caught up with Jiang Jinxing and did not ask about Jiang Jinxing calling her brother-in-law. She just asked, "When did he tell you that?"

"Of course it was before he left." The older Jiang Jinxing got, the more casual his tone and demeanor became. "Before he left, he told me that if he couldn't come back in the winter, you would be unhappy. He told me to remember that when winter comes, I will build snowmen for you, cut window paper-cuts, and catch little birds to make you happy. Otherwise, I won't come."

Jiang Rao lowered her head silently, and suddenly felt a little sad as she watched the snowman gradually melt in her hands.

Suddenly I wanted to take a look at Rong Ting.

The sky around was getting darker, and when I looked over I saw snow falling from the sky again.

Jiang Rao bent down, scooped up a handful of clean snow from the snow pile under the steps, and filled the melted part with new snowflakes.

Seeing how much she cherished the little snowman, Jiang Jinxing also rolled up some snow and said, "Since you like it so much, I'll make a few more for you."

Jiang Rao looked at his red, frozen hands and said, "I don't want what you did."

Jiang Jinxing kicked the snow curiously and pointed at the snowman in her hand, "Didn't I make this too?"

Jiang Rao: "You did it."

"But it wasn't you who gave it to me." She was stubborn, unusually.

She brought the little snowman back to the yard and placed it next to the bonsai. She would look at it several times a day. If it became smaller and dirtier, she would fill it with new snowflakes. Day after day, it still looked the same as it did at the beginning.

As time went by, Jiang Rao couldn't help but want to give the little snowman a name similar to Xiao Fugui.

After thinking about it, I thought that if spring came, the snowman would melt sooner or later, so I finally gave up.

Jiang Jinxing scattered rice in the yard and prepared a slingshot to catch sparrows. Jiang Rao was afraid that he would accidentally hurt her little snowman, so she moved the little snowman to the foot of the wall. She looked at the green grass buds emerging from under the snow, and suddenly felt a little worried that when spring comes, things in Huaizhou will not be settled.

It has been ten days since she arrived at the palace. During these ten days, she sent people out every day to inquire, but there was still no news from Huaizhou.

Ming Shao ran into the yard breathlessly. Jiang Rao looked at her anxiously rushing back and couldn't help but hope that she had heard some useful information. When Ming Shao came to her side, she didn't mention Huaizhou in her report, "Miss, the emperor suddenly wants to return to the palace."

Her heart sank, and she was feeling a little disappointed. Ming Shao paused, panting, and said, "It seems there is some movement in Huaizhou."