Chapter 357: Get Yanran Back

Xizhou City, Royal Palace.

Chunzhi pretended to be sick for more than half a month. Not only did all the doctors in Xizhou come to take the princess's pulse but were unable to find out what was wrong, even the two imperial physicians from the capital kept apologizing, saying that their medical skills were not good enough.

The two imperial physicians came to Xizhou on the orders of the Empress Dowager, and cooperated with the prince and princess. They had been taking the pulses of the royal family for a long time and had seen all kinds of things, so they didn't ask too many questions. Anyway, they would give the prince and princess whatever result they wanted.

As for the fact that the doctors in Xizhou couldn't find any signs of the princess's "illness", it was all thanks to Jindong.

Honeysuckle went in and out of the palace every day, putting on makeup to make Chunzhi look sick, and giving her acupuncture to make her pulse look messy. The doctors came to different conclusions after taking the princess's pulse, and they argued fiercely during the consultation. When they took the princess's pulse again the next day, the pulse was completely different.

In this case, even if a miracle doctor were alive, he would not be able to "cure" the princess.

So a few days after the emperor married Princess Changning to Beili, Prince Chang'an Huo Zheng also took the princess out of Xizhou City to seek medical treatment.

Huo Zheng arranged all the tasks that the Xizhou officials had to do in the next two months, while Chunzhi entrusted Xiaoxing back to Qingye and the wet nurse. Cui'er was smart and could be mobilized to deal with emergencies by staying in the mansion.

The couple didn't want to alarm the people of Xizhou when they left the city, so after arranging everything, they left the city overnight. Chunzhi couldn't bear to see Xiaoxing crying, so she waited until he fell asleep before leaving.

But the little guy seemed to have a premonition that his mother was going to leave. As soon as Chunzhi got up from the bed, he opened his big round eyes, grabbed Chunzhi's sleeve and shouted, "Mom..."

"Why did you wake up so suddenly?" Chunzhi touched the little guy's head with some helplessness and tenderness, and said softly: "It's late, go to sleep."

Xiaoxing looked back at Chunzhi eagerly, shouting incoherently, "Mother... Mother... No, I won't leave."

Although the child is small, he knows everything.

He knew that his mother used to go out at dawn and come back only after dark.

The little guy didn't have a concept of time yet, but he knew it was wrong for his mother to leave when he was very sleepy.

Chunzhi couldn't bear to lie to the little guy, so she sat beside the couch, gently patting his back to coax him to sleep, and whispered, "Mom is going to pick up your Aunt Yanran. Xiaoxing will miss Aunt Yanran too, won't she? When Mom brings her back, you can play with Aunt Yanran every day."

When Xiaoxing heard that Aunt Yanran was coming, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Huo Yanran loved her little nephew very much. When Chunzhi came to Xizhou to find Huo Zheng, she left Xiao Xinghui in Qiwu Palace and asked Queen Wang to take care of him. At that time, Huo Yanran always ran to her mother and played with Xiao Xinghui every day.

When people are truly kind to someone, the other person can feel it. Even if Xiao Xinghui couldn't even speak clearly, he knew that Aunt Yanran was someone he liked very much. When he heard that his mother was going to pick her up, Xiao Xinghui was not so resistant to his mother leaving.

He just kept looking at Chunzhi, as if asking her when she would come back.

Chunzhi said softly, "Soon, mother will be back as soon as she picks up your aunt Yanran. She won't keep Xiaoxing waiting too long."

She coaxed the little guy for a long time, and the little guy fell asleep feeling aggrieved.

After Huo Zheng had prepared everything, he slowly walked in. When he lifted the bead curtain, he saw the dim lights in the room and the warm light enveloped Chunzhi.

She sat beside the couch, coaxing the little one to sleep, humming a nursery rhyme softly, her expression extremely gentle.

Huo Zheng couldn't bear to interrupt this scene, so he stood not far away and lifted the curtain.

It was not until Xiaoxing fell asleep that Chunzhi tucked the little guy in and got up to walk out, only then did she realize that Huo Zheng had been standing there.

She raised her eyebrows slightly, walked over and asked softly, "When did you come? Why didn't you say anything?"

"You finally managed to coax Xiaoxing back to sleep. If I make a noise and wake him up, you'll have to coax him again."

Huo Zheng whispered, lifted the bead curtain a little wider, let Chunzhi go out, and then walked out of the house with her.

When Huo Zheng was about to leave, he suddenly stopped. Chunzhi was about to ask him why he stopped, but before she could ask, Huo Zheng turned around and picked her up sideways.

Fortunately, Chunzhi was used to being held in his arms, so although she was a little surprised, she did not scream out loud.

Huo Zheng leaned over and whispered in Chunzhi's ear, "The princess is 'seriously ill', how could she let you go by yourself?"

Chunzhi paused. This guy really acted out his role to the end.

Everyone outside the door was ready, and the yard was filled with people, both those who knew and those who didn't.

Chunzhi pretended to be seriously ill, coughing and stopping as she gave instructions to Cui'er and Qingye, asking the wet nurse to take good care of Xiaoxing.

Everyone agreed immediately and advised the princess to take care of herself, believing that she would definitely meet a skilled doctor and return safely.

Huo Zheng nodded seriously, carried Chunzhi out of the palace and got on the carriage.

The entourage mounted their horses and rode out of the city through the night.

Chunzhi sat in the carriage and took out a map to look at it with Huo Zheng. The journey from Xizhou to Beili was much shorter than the journey from the capital, so even if Yanran had already set off for several days, they would still be able to catch up if they set off these days.

The biggest problem is that the appearance of the people of Daxing and Beili is very different. Their group has to sneak into Beili secretly and lurk under the noses of the Beili people, waiting for the wedding procession of Princess Daxing to pass by.

They definitely couldn't take the official road, so they had to cross mountains and hills and take a special route. Huo Zheng had already sent people to explore the way and specially planned a route for this bride kidnapping and drew a map.

Huo Zheng said to Chunzhi, "To prevent the Beili people from noticing anything, we won't inform Yanran in advance about this bride-stealing plan. When the time comes, we'll create chaos and pretend to be from Xiling to attack Princess Daxing. We'll pick her up and leave immediately—"

Yanran is young after all. If someone is sent to tell her about this in advance, she may be too nervous and behave abnormally, which will arouse the suspicion of the Beili envoys. At that time, the Beili people will be more cautious, and it will be even more difficult for them to snatch her away.

It would be better to send someone to follow secretly, keep a close eye on the movements of the wedding procession, and respond accordingly.

"That's great."

Chunzhi has been thinking about how to snatch the bride these days, so she naturally knows what Huo Zheng is thinking.

She said, "Although Xiling has already sought peace with Daxing and even sent its eldest princess to Daxing for marriage, they certainly don't want to see Beili and Daxing become friends. If the situation is set and Xiling can no longer change the status quo, it would be perfect for us to snatch the bride and put the blame on them."

The two of them looked at each other and the matter was settled.

Just wait for the horse to gallop a thousand miles into Beili territory and get Yanran back!