The wind blew the lantern under the eaves, and the lantern swayed back and forth, and finally returned to peace.
Prince Chen: "Father, with you here, why do we need a crown prince?"
"If you become the crown prince, you will have your own Zhanshi Mansion and the power to handle state affairs without having to ask your father for approval on everything." Emperor Longfeng smiled, "The Lingzhou Ming family is just a matter of your words."
"Even if I'm not the crown prince, I can deal with them just by asking you." Prince Chen shook his head: "In the past, I could just ask you if I had any problems. If I have to do it myself in the future, what's the point of being the crown prince?"
"A man should establish a family and provide for his wife and children. Don't you want the princess to see you being calm and decisive, and guiding the world?"
"Do you want your princess to think that you have no other ability except to seek help from your father?"
"Do you want the court to laugh at me and say that I can't find a good successor?"
"Your eldest brother is a straightforward person. Although he is a little smart, he doesn't know how to adapt. Your second brother is even more honest and straightforward. He doesn't have the courage to do big things. As for the third brother, he is gentle and too smooth. However, those who are too smooth cannot become wise emperors. The fourth brother..."
Speaking of Yun Yanze, Emperor Longfeng looked at Prince Chen and said, "His character is the least suitable to be an emperor among all of you brothers."
"You are my beloved son, and you have the ability to be an emperor." Emperor Longfeng sighed, "When the previous emperor was in power, the people lived in poverty. Whether it was Concubine Jinggui or the poor women in the Concubine's palace, they were just a drop in the ocean of the previous emperor's evil deeds. Since you can sympathize with Concubine Jinggui, you can understand how important it is for the people of the world to have a wise ruler."
"The world is more than just two words." Emperor Longfeng opened the window, allowing Prince Chen to see the flowers, plants, trees, and the bright moon in the sky. "The world consists of tens of thousands of people. Their life and death, hunger and cold, and warmth are all determined by the emperor's joy and anger."
"When your princess was born, she was forced to separate from her family and was eventually abandoned in the mountains. The culprit was not the Lingzhou Ming family, but the late emperor."
"He listened to slander and failed to distinguish between loyalty and treachery, making the entire court full of smoke and miasma. Your princess is the lucky one among the victims." Emperor Longfeng turned his head and looked at Prince Chen: "Du Qing, you are the child of Mei Dai and me. You have my decisiveness and Mei Dai's kindness. I believe you will become a good prince."
The Prince walked to the window, closed it, picked up his outer robe and put it on him: "You have taken off your outer robe, why are you blowing in the night wind?"
"Forget it." Emperor Longfeng smiled kindly, "You are still young now, we can talk about these things later. I have promised you about the Ming family in Lingzhou, you can rest in Taiyang Palace tonight."
"I'm already married, what's the point of staying here?" Prince Chen helped Emperor Longfeng put on his outer robe and said, "Go to bed early, don't stay up so late."
Whenever there were many affairs at court, his father would find an excuse to stay overnight in Taiyang Palace, fearing that his mother would know that he was staying up late to handle government affairs. He knew this little trick when he was very young.
"I heard that someone in the palace gossiped about the fourth prince, and you dealt with him?" Emperor Longfeng sat on the dragon bed.
The Prince of Chen sat down next to him and said, "My son should be disciplined by me, why should outsiders interfere? There is a saying among the people that if the meat is rotten in the pot, it is unreasonable to let outsiders take it away."
Emperor Longfeng laughed out loud: "You are right."
Everyone thought that he doted on Ai Duqing especially because of Mei Dai.
But little did they know that what he loved most was his own character.
"You should get some rest as you have to attend the grand court meeting before dawn tomorrow." Prince Chen has always felt that an emperor, especially a wise ruler, often has to get out of bed under the stars, go to the palace at dawn, and often get up in the middle of the night to deal with emergencies.
Although power is tempting, if one fails to exercise self-discipline and self-reflection, being in a high position will only harm more people.
"Your son sincerely hopes that you will live a long and healthy life with peace and happiness." Emperor Longfeng of the Chen Dynasty bowed deeply, turned around and walked out of the Taiyang Palace.
The palace was extremely quiet, with only the occasional sound of insects. The eunuchs and palace maids on duty walked by with smiles on their faces, but when they saw the sedan chair he was riding in, they quickly put away their smiles and respectfully stepped aside.
Guards in armor passed by, and their swords made sounds as they hit their armor.
They bowed to him respectfully, and the red strings on their helmets moved slowly in the night breeze.
"Stop." Prince Chen looked at the guard on duty holding the lantern and slowly walking away, then turned his head to look in the direction of Taiyang Palace: "Return to Taiyang Palace."
Jiuzhu woke up from the quilt. Prince Chen was still sleeping beside her. She thought for a moment and then retracted her head.
There were birds chirping outside. She looked at the long eyelashes on Prince Chen's face, smiling as she silently counted how many eyelashes he had.
There was someone pacing outside, as if he had something urgent to report to them, but he didn't dare to come in and disturb them.
Jiuzhu propped up the pillow with one hand, turned over and jumped off the bed, wrapped her outer robe around herself, and tiptoed to the outer room: "What happened?"
"Princess." Seeing Jiuzhu coming out, Chunfen walked up to her and whispered in her ear, "Something happened in Zhangliu Palace."
"What's wrong?"
"The Fourth Prince's Concubine has gone into labor." Chunfen's face turned pale. "The messenger who came to tell her said that she woke up later than usual today. The servants around her were worried, so they went into the inner room and found that the blankets under her were all stained red. The baby in her belly is gone."
Jiuzhu was stunned for a moment: "Go to the storehouse and get some herbs to replenish your blood and qi. I'll go over and take a look right away."
"Princess, wait a minute." The maids surrounded her and said, "Let me help you dress up."
Jiuzhu sat down in front of the dressing table with her brows tightly furrowed. She had just met Sun Caiyao a few days ago, and she looked very well pregnant and didn't look like someone who would easily have a miscarriage.
In the house in the small courtyard of Zhangliu Palace, Sun Caiyao was leaning against the head of the bed, drinking the medicine brought by Bai Shao. Her expression did not seem sad, nor angry, but more like numbness.
Yun Yanze walked into the room and waved his hand to ask everyone in the room to leave. The worry and heartache on his face gradually disappeared.
Sun Caiyao sneered: "Your Highness, finally you don't have to act in front of me anymore?"
Yun Yanze: "The child is gone, you are in a bad mood now, rest well in the room."
"You evil hypocrite." Sun Caiyao said hatefully, "I really regret marrying you."
"Didn't you approach me and want to marry me?" Yun Yanze said expressionlessly, "Now that I have lost my power and Yun Duqing is still the high and mighty Prince, do you regret it?"
"What a pity." He sneered: "If you hadn't gone boating with me on the lake, you might have been the Princess of Chen now. Yun Duqing was so good to his princess. He kept putting silks, satins, jewelry and jade in her room, accompanied her to set off fireworks and firecrackers, accompanied her to climb mountains and enjoy the scenery, and accompanied her to make paper orioles."
"It's a pity that you have such a bad fate." He walked to the bed and clamped her chin with his hand: "I know you saw what happened last night."
Sun Caiyao's pupils widened and her eyes filled with tears: "You are a lunatic!"
"You spent so much effort to marry me, but what good thing are you?" Yun Yanze released her chin: "I remember that you have a brother who works in another place. You should pray for him obediently. If something unexpected happens to him, it will not be good, right?"
"The person who rode on horseback and caught the child who fell out of the window was not you at all, right?" Sun Caiyao asked sharply, "You have been lying to me all along."
"Lying to you?" Yun Yanze chuckled. "When did I ever admit that I was that person? This is all just your fantasy. What does it have to do with me?"
“No wonder… No wonder…”
Sun Caiyao finally understood why Ming Jiuzhu in her dream would eventually die with him. Unfortunately, she still thought Ming Jiuzhu was ruthless and worried about him all the time, but she didn't expect that she was the fool.
"Let me think about it. There was indeed a prince who saved the child who fell out of the window that year." Yun Yanze had a crazy look of satisfaction on his face: "Guess who it was?"
Sun Caiyao's face was as white as paper.
"It seems you have already guessed it."
"It's the Yun Duqing that you always disliked." Yun Yanze laughed out loud: "If you hadn't seduced me, maybe you could have married your sweetheart."
Since his life was already full of misery, seeing others in pain also made him happy.
"Sister Chunfen, listen, it seems like someone is crying." Jiuzhu looked behind the rockery: "Take someone to see what's going on?"
Chunfen came back quickly: "Princess, I am a maid who raised a cat for Princess Roude. Someone broke the limbs of the cat she raised, and when she found it outside Zhangliu Palace, the cat was already half dead. She felt sorry for the cat, but was afraid of being punished by the princess, so she hid here and cried."
Jiuzhu frowned, she remembered Concubine Zhao's cat, whose two front legs were also broken in Zhangliu Palace.
She walked behind the rockery and saw the little palace maid holding a cat and sobbing softly. The plush cat looked extremely pitiful.
"Still alive." Jiu Zhu thought for a while, took a pill out of her purse, pinched it lightly with two fingers, opened the kitten's mouth, and fed the pill in.
"Princess, what kind of medicine is this?"
"My master's medicine is said to be able to cure diseases and save lives as long as it does not hurt the internal organs." Jiuzhu saw that the cat was breathing out more than breathing in, and it was useless to find a doctor: "Let's give it a try."
"Thank you, Princess. Thank you, Princess." The little maid held the cat and thanked Jiuzhu repeatedly.
"It's okay. You stay here and guard the cat. Don't move it." Jiuzhu touched the cat's head and said, "When I come out of Zhangliu Palace, I will help you send the cat to Princess Roude."
The princess is protecting her.
The little palace maid understood what was going on. She knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Jiuzhu.
After Jiuzhu left, she leaned against the rockery, holding the cat and sat there in a daze. She didn't know how long she had been waiting, and suddenly she heard the cat call softly.
She lowered her head excitedly and saw the cat opened its eyes. Hot tears flowed from her eyes again.
When Jiuzhu arrived at Sun Caiyao's room, the other princesses had already arrived. The princesses all looked a little depressed, and when they saw Jiuzhu coming in, no one smiled.
"Fourth sister-in-law." Jiuzhu gently held her wrist: "How are you?"
Sun Caiyao looked at Jiuzhu who had rushed over from Qilin Palace, held her hand tightly, and the tears that she had been holding back for a long time suddenly rolled down.
"You don't cry easily now. Take good care of yourself now, and you will have everything in the future." Seeing the beauty weeping, Jiuzhu's heart softened. She took out a handkerchief and gently wiped Sun Caiyao's tears: "No matter what time, girls should be nicer to themselves."
"It's better to cry it out." Seeing Sun Caiyao crying so sadly, Princess Huai's eyes also turned red: "Doctor Yu said that she had a miscarriage because she was too angry. If there is something on your mind, crying will make you feel better."
But they didn't expect that the fourth brother's wife and the fifth brother's wife, who didn't seem to have a very close relationship, burst into tears after she came.
After hearing Jiuzhu's consolation, Sun Caiyao became even more sad. She hugged Jiuzhu's waist and burst into tears.
This woman whom she had once feared, felt guilty about, and been on guard against, ended up being the only person who could give her a slight sense of security.
Jiuzhu was stunned for a moment, then stretched out her hand, gently placed it on Sun Caiyao's back, and patted it slowly.
Bai Shao came in with the medicine and saw the Fourth Prince's wife leaning in Princess Chen's arms. She lowered her head to look at the steaming medicine in the bowl, then stood aside with her head down.
"It won't happen again, it won't happen again." Sun Caiyao cried and kept saying, "It's all my fault, it's my fault."
She muttered so quietly that no one except Jiuzhu could hear her.
"It's not your fault." Jiuzhu comforted her: "The child was just too naughty. He ran away to play somewhere else and forgot the way home. When you recover, you will come back."
"It's better for him not to come to a house like this." Sun Caiyao leaned over to Jiuzhu's ear and whispered quickly and softly, "Be careful of Yun Yanze, he's a lunatic."
Suddenly, she pushed Jiuzhu away and sneered at her: "What's the use of such comforting words? I think you are laughing at me."
Jiuzhu turned her head naturally and saw Yun Yanze standing outside the door, looking haggard and in pain.
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