The nanny was shaken awake, unable to open her eyes, and weakly advised: "Young prince, where can we get anything to exchange for food..."

“Mammy, this is given to me by a little princess, take a look…” The little brother still did not give up.

The nanny opened her eyes with difficulty, but her eyes suddenly widened when she was dazzled by the golden collar shining in the snow!

Is this... a gold collar?

She couldn't believe her eyes, so she quickly climbed up, looked at the gold collar carefully again and again, and then put it in her mouth and took a bite.

It was undoubtedly a gold necklace, a pure gold necklace inlaid with many gems.

She was ecstatic for a moment, then became alert again: "Your Highness, where did you say this came from?"

The little prince pointed to the inner room where he lived and said, "The little princess gave it to me..."

Nanny didn't believe a word of it: How could a little princess come to such a place on such a snowy New Year's Eve?

But the collar in my hand cannot be fake.

She struggled to get up, followed the little prince's steps, and tried to walk to the inner room.

As expected, there was nothing in the room. It was quiet, empty, and shabby.

The nanny looked at the five-year-old prince sternly: "Little prince, children should not lie. Where did this little princess come from?"

"Where on earth did this gold collar come from?"

The little prince looked around and started crying: "Mammy, I didn't lie to you. It was really given by the little princess..."

"I thought I was going to die, but my mother asked the little princess from the underworld to come and pick me up..."

This sentence made the nanny sad: It's already this time, why are you still caring about anything?

To put it bluntly: He is locked up in here and we don’t know how many days he can live. So what if such a young child lies?

She hugged the child tightly and said, "Your Highness did not lie. It was Mammy who made a mistake."

"Mammy, go ask the guards at the door to give us something to eat and two quilts..."

"Um!"

The little prince nodded and looked expectantly at the nanny holding the golden necklace and walking towards the door.

The nanny walked to the door, hesitated for a moment, gritted her teeth, bent the gold necklace in the middle, and pulled it repeatedly until it finally broke into two pieces.

She stuffed half of it into her arms first.

After thinking for a while, the nanny folded the rest into two pieces, put a quarter back into her arms, and then knocked on the door carefully.

The guards outside the door scolded impatiently: "Why are you knocking? It's impossible to find someone else for you! It's snowing heavily. It's all your fault. You made me suffer from the cold..."

The nanny said politely inside the door: "Sir, I want to exchange this for some food..."

The guards became even more impatient: "What broken bricks and tiles can be exchanged for food?"

"Or do you want to tear down that rotten bed and replace it with a bed board?"

"No, no, no!"

The nanny didn't dare to rush or get angry, she just patiently explained: "This is a valuable thing, it's okay for you to take a look at it?"

It was quiet outside for a while, and the small hole on the door for delivering food finally opened: "What is that? Let me take a look first!"

The nanny handed over a quarter of the red gold collar: "This..."

The guards were immediately surprised: "Where did you get such a good thing?"

The nanny pretended to be mysterious: "Keep your voice down, this is given by the noble..."

The guards were silent for a moment, then their tone became serious: "...What do you want to change?"

The nanny was not greedy: "Give us two thick quilts and some food... Today is New Year's Eve!"

The tone was pitiful.

After a long while, I heard someone say outside: "...Wait."

The nanny quickly agreed and stood there waiting.

The young prince stood at the door of the room looking at the nanny. The nanny glanced at him, then walked back and forth with her neck shrunk and her feet numb from the cold, thinking to herself: It must be the noble who is helping me secretly.

With a thick quilt and food, the little prince will have a chance to survive, right?

Maybe I can hold on until someone comes to rescue me?

If she could find a way for the little prince to live, she would be doing justice to the precious concubine who passed away...

At the same time, the nanny was wondering who would send her such a precious red gold and multi-treasure necklace.

The imperial concubine’s maiden home?

impossible.

My mother's family has been completely executed, so where is my mother's family?

The concubine who had ever received favors in the palace?

Everyone is trying to avoid it at this time, who would dare to send it?

Even if someone were to risk the world's condemnation to give something as a gift, who would be willing to give such a valuable thing?

Who has the ability to deliver it?

As for what the young prince said about the little princess sending it, the nanny didn't believe a word of it.

The child is too young, he must be hallucinating or being misled.

Mammy paced back and forth, thinking, and even forgot about the cold.

When the sound of hurried footsteps came, the little prince became obviously excited. He asked softly, "Mammy, have the food and quilts been delivered?"

The nanny's expression changed. She shouted in a low voice: "Quick! Hide in the inner room. Don't come out unless I call you!"

So many footsteps, that's not normal!

The little prince was so frightened by these words that he trembled all over and quickly ran in obediently.

The heavy iron lock outside the door rattled and someone was opening the door.

The nanny's lips trembled with fear, but then she seemed to have figured something out. She straightened her back and stood there looking at the door.

bring it on.

A short pain is worse than a long one.

Your Majesty, I am so sorry. I cannot protect the little prince!

Two lines of tears slid down the nanny's face. She seemed afraid that people would see her weakness, so she raised her sleeve to wipe them away, and her expression became more determined.

The door opened quickly, and there were indeed many guards, eunuchs and palace maids outside.

"Take everyone away!"

The nanny did not struggle, but the little prince inside struggled desperately.

He also remembered Mammy's instructions to "stay at home".

How could the palace eunuchs care about that? A slap came down directly, and the little prince was slapped in the face.

The nanny trembled with heartache and shouted, "Young Prince, don't resist."

The little prince immediately behaved himself and when he was carried out by the arms, his face was already swollen.

The nanny and the little prince were taken in by turns and finally entered the Queen's Fengyi Palace.

The exquisite and magnificent Fengyi Palace was brightly lit, and there were quite a few people there.

The Empress, Concubine Xian, many palace maids, eunuchs, and guards, and the one sitting in the center was actually the King of Nan'an!

The nanny and the little prince were pushed to their knees on the ground, looking terrified and not daring to make a sound.

The King of Nan'an was frowning and looking at the people below him, still holding a quarter of the red gold necklace in his hand.

The palace servant also handed over the other two red gold necklaces that they had searched from the nanny.

When the three pieces are put together, a complete red gold and multi-treasure necklace is presented.

Exquisite and valuable, a lightly carved phoenix with smooth and graceful lines and flapping wings as if ready to fly, one can tell at a glance that it is not something that ordinary people can use.

The King of Nan'an frowned even more tightly.

"Tell me, where did this come from?"

Imperial Concubine Xian looked aggrieved: "Your Majesty, I have already said that I asked someone to beat him up. I was planning to give this to Princess Ningfeng as a birthday gift..."

Concubine Xian has said this once.

Just now, Concubine Xian got the broken piece of gold necklace from the Imperial Guards, and came to the Queen crying for help.

He said that the red gold necklace he gave to Princess Ningfeng as a birthday gift was stolen, but who knew that the thing actually found its way out of the cold palace and was broken.

The emperor happened to be in the queen's palace and heard Concubine Xian's accusation as well.

Concubine Zhengui was dead, and it was impossible for a nanny and a five-year-old child to steal it.

Then the only possibility is that Concubine Zhengui took it in before?

But when the emperor took a closer look under the light, he saw a small mark on the inside of the collar: Tao Tao Ji. (End of this chapter)