Chapter 283 If you still want to leave then, I will personally escort you out of the capital.

The snow that fell on the Taiji Hall square that night had already been cleared away by the palace servants.

Jin Shu, accompanied by Jin Rong, stood at the southernmost palace gate, watching Li Jin and Song Zhen slowly walk over from in front of the hall.

She held Jin Rong's slightly cold hand, a hint of unease showing between her brows and eyes.

Jin Rong, however, looked up at Jin Shu's face and suddenly chuckled, attracting her attention.

"Sister, you don't need to worry." He smiled, turned his head, and nodded in Li Jin's direction. "We'll still be family from now on."

Jin Shu paused, unsure how to respond to his words.

The day after New Year's Eve, Li Jin brought Jin Rong into the palace and told him the truth about his background in front of Li Yi.

He thought it would frighten him, but the six-year-old boy showed extraordinary composure. He not only accepted it calmly, but also asked for a great reward for Jin Shu, who had raised him, in the study.

Li Jin "thoughtfully" withheld it, claiming he couldn't carry it.

Seeing Jin Rong grinning, Jin Shu felt a mix of emotions. In the end, she pursed her lips and only said, "Mature beyond his years, he'll have a hard time finding a wife."

Jin Rong was stunned for a moment and didn't react for a long time.

But entering the palace today is truly unfortunate.

Consort Xiao, who had been moved from the Cold Palace back to Yun Ning Palace, was fast asleep. It was past noon, but she still hadn't woken up.

When Granny Xi looked at Jin Rong, who had grown up, and saw that familiar face, she was so excited that her eyes filled with tears, and she could hardly speak.

Yun Ning Palace remained as desolate as ever.

Although he had been confined to the cold palace for six years, Li Yi had preserved the place in its original state.

Song Zhen was led to an inner room for pulse diagnosis, while Li Jin stood in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, looking at the place where he had once lived, and sighed softly.

As if sensing his sorrow, Jin Shu glanced at Jin Shu, who was being stuffed with sweets and pastries by Granny Xi, and said slowly, "A wise man once said that everything you experience and endure will eventually become the greatest wealth in your life."

Li Jin turned his head slightly and looked at Jin Shu, who was dressed in black robes beside him.

She smiled and looked in Jin Rong's direction, her eyes full of tenderness.

"After the injustice is redressed, everyone will return to their rightful place," she said calmly. "Although it was painful, these six years have also been a period of growth for the Prince."

"And what about you?" Li Jin smiled slightly as she stood in front of the blooming winter plum blossoms.

Jin Shu curled her lips and sneered, "I've grown up too. I inexplicably raised a child, and then lost everything due to making bad friends. I had no choice but to leave my hometown. For more than half a year, I had a knife hanging over my head."

The more Li Jin listened, the higher her eyebrows rose.

"I barely escaped with my life and got things done, but today I was tricked again in broad daylight because of bad luck. Now I still have to take care of three apprentices."

After saying that, Jin Shu shook her head and sighed, letting out a long sigh of relief.

This answer clearly surprised Li Jin. He raised his eyebrows, gave an awkward laugh, and said in a serious tone, "What a tragic fate! It's enough to bring tears to anyone's eyes."

Upon hearing this, Jin Shu waved his hand righteously and said, "For the sake of the money, let it go."

She glanced at the faint smile on Li Jin's face, then suddenly changed her tone: "Does Your Highness still remember that one night you asked me who I learned the art of corpse speech from?"

She laughed: "At that time, I did not deceive the prince."

Glancing at her face, Li Jin recalled the words they had spoken before.

The sounds from his memory overlapped with the present moment, stirring a ripple in his otherwise calm heart.

"Does Your Highness believe in reincarnation?" she asked with a smile. "I didn't believe in it before either."

Jin Shu hesitated for a moment, looked down at the withered flower branches in the courtyard, and laughed self-deprecatingly: "But I drank a bowl of Meng Po soup diluted with water, and came to this strange place with some memories of my past life."

She shook her head: "When I was a child, I never understood why God gave me another life, but with these memories that felt like a burden. What was the purpose of it?"

She looked at her hands and felt a deep sense of emotion.

For over two hundred years in the Great Wei Dynasty, women were forbidden from holding official positions. Even though Jin Shu was born with the ability to speak corpses, she had no stage to showcase her talents.

“Until I met Jin Rong’s mother.” She smiled and looked at Li Jin.

At that moment, Jin Shu stared blankly at Cen Shi, who was suffering from hunger and cold amidst the wind and snow. She saw her face covered in dust, wearing tattered clothes, struggling to huddle by the door, protecting her stomach.

Seeing her pleading expression, Jin Shu almost instinctively led her back into the warm house.

At that time, Jin Shu, who was mature beyond her years and had no friends, lived a secluded life alone after her parents passed away.

“I had planned to pack my bags and travel the world after winter,” she laughed. “It was just such a coincidence that if I had been a day later, we would have missed each other.”

At that time, Cen was extremely weak. Jin Shu cooked porridge, brought her some food, helped her wash the dust off her face, and gave her some new clothes.

"She remained silent the entire time, and for a period of time, I always thought she was a mute who couldn't speak."

At this point, Jin Shu paused for a moment, then shook her head: "Although it was only a short half-month, I could tell that she came from an extraordinary background. Her manners and demeanor were not those of an ordinary family."

"But if she doesn't say, I won't ask."

That half-month period of wind and snow was the coldest winter in the history of Dingzhou in Jiangnan.

In a small town in Jiangnan that had never seen heavy snow before, it snowed for a whole month, and many people froze to death in the streets and alleys.

Jin Shu estimated the size of her belly and guessed that she was almost full term, so he intended to hand over his house to her.

"At the time, I thought that since she was going to travel around and not know when she would return, she should stay since she had nowhere else to go."

But a look of loneliness appeared in Cen Shi's eyes. She shook her head and did not respond.

“That night it snowed heavily again.” Jin Shu looked at Jin Rong, who was being led by Granny Xi. “I live on a secluded mountainside, and the snow was so heavy that I couldn’t see the road.”

That's when she went into labor.

Having said that, Jin Shu let out a long sigh.

After wandering for half a year, Cen's health was extremely poor. Although she was recuperated in Jin Shu's house for half a month, she was still thin and emaciated.

With the mountain blocked by heavy snow, it was impossible to hire a midwife, so Jin Shu had to deliver the baby herself.

For half a month, Cen Shi had not uttered a single word. It seemed that she knew she would not survive this ordeal. She tightly grasped Jin Shu's hand and said tremblingly, "If I can't make it, please, cut open my stomach."

Jin Shu was taken aback, staring in astonishment at her determined gaze.

"Open it up, save the baby."

The wind and snow howled, like mournful cries.

Cen cried and screamed, her heart breaking with pain.

On a snowy night, in front of Jin Shu, she used all her strength to give birth to a boy.

As Jin Shu held the child close to her, the lifeless Cen Shi, with her last strength, tremblingly placed the exquisite white jade she had always hidden on her person into Jin Shu's hand.

He left behind the words, "Rong'er is in your care," and never woke up again.

Jin Shu pursed her lips into a thin line and smiled bitterly: "At that time, I felt like I was extremely unlucky."

"Out of nowhere, I picked up a child, which disrupted all my plans." She waved her hand. "I couldn't possibly take a baby on a trip, so in the end I had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask my father's old friend for help."

She said, "I feel that his mother went to such lengths to bring him into this world, and for some reason, I really don't want to let her down."

For six years in a row, Jin Shu acted as both a mother and an older sister, raising Jin Rong single-handedly.

Watching the boy grow up and become a bright and intelligent man, she, who had become "Mr. Jin" in Dingzhou, lost her desire to leave Dingzhou.

Time is peaceful and life is long; if one could live out one's life in peace and tranquility, it would be a blessing.

Until Li Jin, as if guided by fate, stepped into the gates of Dingzhou Prefecture.

“I know that the prince deliberately dragged me to eat fish and deliberately brought me to the capital.” She raised her eyes and looked at Li Jin. “I also know that the prince came to find me only for the knife in my hand that can speak for the dead.”

"I dared to come back then because the gambling king still needed me to live." She paused, her smile fading, and she became unusually solemn.

Before she could finish her sentence, Li Jin reached out and grabbed her chin, pressing his thumb directly onto her lips.

He leaned forward, smiling broadly, his voice as gentle as water: "Be good, don't be naughty."

Jin Shu paused.

Those eyes, which had long seen through her little tricks, now reflected her somewhat stunned expression, and smiled, their corners narrowing into crescent moons: "Shu'er, next time, you don't need to do such a long preamble, just say it directly."

He chuckled, releasing his hand from her lips, and unexpectedly said with a smile, "A gentleman's word is as good as his bond. I already said at noon that if Shu'er wanted to leave, I would not stop her."

Li Jin narrowed his eyes slightly: "But we do need manpower now. In the case of the Crown Prince, there are a large number of remains that need to be examined."

He paused, noticing Jin Shu's furrowed brows and the word "disbelief" etched on her forehead, and added sincerely, "If you are worried that I might break my promise, you can sign a contract as proof."

In the blink of an eye, the disbelief on Jin Shu's face turned into surprise.

“In May, on your birthday,” Li Jin leaned forward, smiling as he looked at her face, “if you still want to leave then, I will personally see you off from the capital.”

Seeing his utterly sincere expression, Jin Shu frowned and glanced at him up and down: "Really?"

"really."

Seeing her suspicious look, Li Jin carefully calculated it again in her mind.

The process of establishing a new crown prince and completing the ancestral temple procedures will take place as early as the end of April or as late as the beginning of May.

Whether or not one can actually leave is another matter entirely.

Yes, that's a safe bet.