Chapter 176: Second Brother, Once the Prince’s Slave

Wei Si put down the palace flowers and picked up the plain gauze dress.

The weaving process is extremely fine, and the whole piece of clothing is not even as big as half a palm when folded.

She opened her skirt. Although the silver thread on it had long lost its luster, one could still glimpse its exquisite beauty that was rare in the world. It was obvious how noble and honorable the girl who wore it was.

Wei Si lowered her eyelashes, as if shadows cast by time. "Back then, I was young and ignorant, always arguing with my father and my brother. Whenever we argued, I would go to the Eastern Palace to pester the Empress's wife, eating and sleeping with her. This is the nightgown I left with her. I didn't expect she'd keep it."

The woman's slender fingers tightly clasped the cicada's wings.

But the cicada wings were like the years that could not be grasped, and would eventually slip through her fingers.

There is light snow falling outside the window.

The woman sighed softly and lowered her head, like the noblest peony of the previous dynasty about to wither and die.

Wen Xingluo's hands and feet were always cold.

She could guess that her mother came from a noble family, but she never expected that her mother was actually a princess of the previous dynasty.

She subconsciously looked at Wei Ying.

Wei Ying stood with her hands behind her back under the nine-branched lanterns. Her high ponytail made her silhouette on the wall sharp and clear. She was slender and tall, looking like an extremely sharp yet beautiful sword.

Wei Ying said, "Aunt, my father and mother died tragically. The Wei royal family and their loyal subjects also perished at the hands of Xie Zhe. Back then, Xie Zhe was merely a hostage sent to the capital by a vassal king. It was you who took a fancy to him and chose him as your consort, giving him the opportunity to inherit the title and military power. But Xie Zhe was ungrateful and slaughtered my entire clan. I cannot swallow this humiliation, aunt. I want to restore my country."

Thank you...

Wen Xingluo knew that this was the name of the current emperor.

But she never expected that the emperor of the time was actually her mother's ex-fiancé.

She looked at her mother.

My mother looked dazed, as if she hadn't heard this name for a long time.

For a mother, this name must be like a nightmare, right?

Wei Si buried her face in her palms.

She didn't want to hear that name.

All the wealth and prosperity of the past seemed like a dream, and the vows made by young people turned into shackles that strangled people in the blink of an eye.

Wei Si's slender shoulders trembled slightly, and tears rolled down her palms.

She missed her royal brother and his wife terribly, but she hated her own weakness and incompetence, and even more regretted that she had chosen Xie Zhe from among the many hostages. These three emotions kept raging in her mind, and she gradually became so painful that she covered her head and screamed.

"Mother!"

Wen Xingluo hugged her tightly without hesitation.

The girl was gentle and soft, with the sweet scent of peach blossoms lingering on her clothes.

Wei Si likes to smell the scent of Xingluo and likes her little daughter.

She choked with sobs in Wen Xingluo's arms, "It's my fault..."

Wen Xingluo gently stroked Wei Si's long hair until she fell asleep, then he and Wei Ying returned to Xiejinyuan.

Wen Xingluo dismissed the maid and said bluntly, "My mother is seriously ill and cannot participate in your plan to restore the country."

She didn't want her mother to take any risks.

She wanted her mother to live peacefully as the princess of Zhenbei Palace.

Wei Ying didn't care. "I've thought about this for a long time. If you can't help me, I'll go directly to Jiangnan to meet up with my old subordinates. But now it seems that although my aunt can't help me, my cousin seems to be able to help me."

Wen Xingluo was silent.

In her previous life, she was busy planning and scheming for her father and brother, and was probably no different from a fool in Wei Ying's eyes, so Wei Ying did not show up in her previous life.

Facing Wei Ying's invitation, she pondered for a long time and said solemnly, "I am very grateful to my uncle and aunt for sending my mother away from the capital, but I was born in Chengdu and grew up in the southwest. I have never participated in your country's destruction, family's demise, and separations, so I really cannot empathize with you. If you want me to help you restore our country, it is difficult for me to do so."

Wei Ying played with the teacup. "I'll be staying in the southwest for a while. Cousin, you can take your time to think about it. There's no need to rush to give me an answer."

The candle flame falls quietly.

That night, Wen Xingluo kept his eyes open and fell into a light sleep at dawn.

The next morning.

Cuicui helped Wen Xingluo with her makeup and whispered, "News has come in from outside. Notices are being posted everywhere in the city, saying that a very important female slave has escaped from the Eastern Palace. The Eastern Palace has used its power to order all counties to search for her... I looked at the portrait of that female slave, and she seems to bear some resemblance to the girl who knocked me unconscious yesterday..."

Wen Xingluo used pearl cream to cover the dark circles under his eyes. Before he could say anything, a sneer suddenly came from above the beam.

Wen Xingluo looked up and saw that Wei Ying had actually slept on the beam of her boudoir last night.

At this moment, Wei Ying was doing her morning exercises in a hanging position. "That bastard borrowed the power of the Eastern Palace to search for me. I've been his slave for six years, and he still won't let me go. I should have killed him before I left!"

Wen Xingluo probed, "Cousin, could the bastard you're talking about be Xie Zan, the Crown Prince's confidant, also known as Third Master Xie?"

"Indeed. This man is vindictive, sinister, and vicious. He's the most difficult person to deal with around the Crown Prince." Wei Ying hesitantly touched the brand on her wrist. "If he finds Rongcheng, it will be troublesome. He will torture me to death..."

The fear in the girl's eyes didn't seem fake.

Wen Xingluo also didn't want to bring trouble to the Zhenbei Palace and be charged with harboring a fugitive.

She stood up and said, "I'll take you to the warm room to see my second brother. He's the best at medicine and might be able to help you remove the brand and make a human skin mask. I just don't know if he's still asleep."

The two of them came to the warm room, and the court doctor deduced the antidote based on the residue of Xie Yanchen's medicine. At least he woke Xie Yanchen up and didn't let him sleep for three to five years.

The young man was dressed in white, with a figure as white as snow and a body as graceful as an immortal. There was a spot of bright red cinnabar between his eyebrows, and he had a face that looked like Guanyin, with a beauty that was difficult to tell whether he was male or female.

He rubbed his head and laughed, "How come in the blink of an eye, there's another girl next to my sister? You two look alike."

Wen Xingluo was silent.

What did it mean in the blink of an eye? Her second brother had clearly slept for a whole day and night.

She was too lazy to explain and was about to ask Xie Yanchen for help when she suddenly thought of the mark she saw on his wrist yesterday.

At that time, she thought she had seen it wrong, but thinking about it today, it was clearly the same slave brand as Wei Ying's, just with different words engraved on it.

She thought carefully and thought that the brand on her second brother's wrist seemed to be the word "late".

Late.

Prince, thank you for your delay.

When my second brother was a hostage in the capital, he was the prince's slave...