Ye Qingxue was exhausted and fell asleep while holding the child. Yun Zhuo gently stroked her face with his fingertips, his eyes filled with infatuation.

After a long while, he came to his senses: "When the Crown Princess was fleeing for her life, she was taken in by all the villagers of Dafeng Village. Now that the Crown Princess has safely given birth to the little prince, the entire Dafeng Village will reward her."

"Zhan Shuang, tomorrow you should send someone to Dafeng Village to deliver the rewards. Discuss the items of the rewards with the steward."

It should be "Zhan Shuang".

When the news spread, the entire Dafeng Village was overjoyed. They had thought that the Crown Princess's hiding place had brought them disaster, with most of their houses destroyed. Unexpectedly, they had escaped death and their fortunes had taken a turn for the better, and they were even going to receive a reward.

Rebuilding the houses should then be no problem.

Yun Zhuo personally escorted Ye Qingxue and her son back to the Crown Prince's residence. By the time the carriage arrived at the residence, it was already dawn.

Ye Qingxue was still asleep when she was finally carried into the house in Yun Zhuo's soft palanquin. The imperial physicians and female doctors from the palace had come to wait for her early in the morning.

The imperial physician treated Yun Zhuo's wounds, while the female physician treated Ye Qingxue's injuries.

The injuries on Zhan Shuang, Dong Bai, and the others were naturally being treated by other doctors. As the sun rose, the Crown Prince's residence was bustling with activity, and the air was filled with the strong smell of medicine.

Ye Qingxue's body was severely weakened by her injury and childbirth. She slept for a long time and took a lot of medicine before waking up.

When she woke up, she saw Yun Zhuo lying next to her, with the child placed on a small bed next to them. Granny Xing was fanning him, and he was sleeping soundly with his skin rosy.

Seeing this scene, Ye Qingxue's heart was pounding, but deep down she still felt an unconcealable fear.

The fear of losing a loved one, a child, or a close relative...

This kind of experience cannot be completely forgotten and unaffected in just a few days.

Fortunately, Ye Qingxue was prepared for this kind of emotion, so she was able to coexist peacefully with the fear deep in her heart.

The following days were spent recuperating and recovering from childbirth.

Yun Zhuo's injuries were no less severe than hers, and he also stayed at home to recuperate for a full half month.

Over the past two weeks, the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and other dignitaries from the palace have been sending gifts to Ye Qingxue and Yun Zhuo to express their condolences and gratitude.

The Crown Prince's residence was bustling with guests visiting every day.

After Ye Qingxue was able to get out of bed and walk, she went to see Zhuang Xin and brought him all the letters that had been found in Mi Rao's room.

"After she left the Crown Prince's residence, she contacted Prince Xuan and his wife, who were far away in Liangzhou, more and more frequently," Ye Qingxue said. "From the moment I went to the temple to light the eternal lamp, she and Prince Xuan and his wife had already been plotting against me."

Zhuang Xin's injuries had not yet healed, and his face was deathly pale. However, he forced himself to pick up the letter with trembling hands and open it. After reading half of it, he could no longer continue.

"...The Crown Prince's residence handled Mi Rao's matter very well. I was ungrateful before! I will never do that again!"

Seeing that he was reasonable and could distinguish right from wrong, Ye Qingxue stopped talking and told him to go down and rest to recover from his injuries.

Although Zhuang Xin said that Mi Rao's death was her own fault, the incident still dealt him a severe blow. His injuries did not improve for a long time, and he later fell seriously ill. It took him more than half a year to finally see improvement.

Zhan Shuang and Yu Xiao were in high spirits and recovered quickly from their injuries. The day after they returned to the Crown Prince's residence, they pulled the steward aside to discuss what kind of thank-you gift to give to the villagers of Dafeng Village.

On the third day, a list of thank-you gifts was prepared and handed to Ye Qingxue and Yun Zhuo for review.

On the fifth day, the group of more than a dozen people went to Dafeng Village with the steward. They gave the villagers money to repair their houses and rewarded the local villagers with a lot of food and cloth. Every household received some, but Grandma Liu's family received the most.

They even brought two pigs to them, and the whole village slaughtered them and had a meal together.

When Zhan Shuang and the butler returned, they said happily, "When we arrived, they even set off firecrackers to welcome us."

"They even released them when they slaughtered the pig, and said that their village had never had such a lively celebration during the Spring Festival."

After all, slaughtering a pig for the New Year is not something every family can afford. Now, the whole village eats two pigs together, isn't that more lively than the New Year?

"They set off several more strings of firecrackers when we left. They were so hospitable." The group chatted amongst themselves, their faces beaming with smiles.

It is worth mentioning that the brother and sister who saved Dongbai in the past finally arrived in the capital city by oxcart, and after many difficulties, they found the Crown Prince's residence and met Dongbai.

It was only at this point that the siblings finally realized that Dongbai was not lying; she was indeed a person from the Crown Prince's residence, and someone who had grown up with the Crown Princess since childhood.

The brother and sister were terrified. How could they dare to ask Dongbai for compensation? They just wanted to run away as quickly as possible to avoid getting themselves killed.

Dongbai offered them five hundred taels of silver, but they dared not accept it.

When Ye Qingxue heard that they had arrived, she asked Granny Xing to give them two hundred taels of silver to thank them for saving Dongbai.

Granny Xing also gave them some things, more or less, to express her heartfelt gratitude for saving Dongbai's life.

This money was forced upon them; they couldn't refuse, so they left trembling with fear, clutching the banknotes or silver.

When they were leaving, the man remembered to return Dongbai's jade pendant to her, and then quickly ran away. The whole process felt like a dream to both siblings, and was unbelievable.

They only believed it when they exchanged silver for delicious food and beautiful cloth at the market, and happily bought a cartload of goods to take home.

Half a month later, Xiao Bao had indeed grown much plumper and fairer. Ye Qingxue was still in confinement after giving birth, but Yun Zhuo's injuries had improved considerably.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!