The corners of the little emperor's lips curled up slightly, and he said slowly, "My father doesn't have many children, especially princesses, who are even rarer in number."
"I only have this one sister. She was born to Concubine Liu in the harem and is three years younger than me."
"Although we are not born of the same mother, I still love her very much. She also has a pair of big eyes like yours. She would open her eyes wide, hug my neck, and call me "Third Brother" in a milky voice. She would also specially put delicious snacks in her sleeve pocket for me to eat."
The little emperor spoke softly, tears welling up in his eyes, as if he was recalling the past.
"What happened next?" Xia Miaoyuan asked curiously.
The little emperor's eyes dimmed a little, and he whispered, "When she was five years old, she fell into the water and could not be rescued."
"That's such a pity!" Xia Miaoyuan sighed.
For a moment, both of them fell silent.
Xia Miaoyuan regretted asking that last question. "Hey, I think I've run out of conversation! What should I do? What should I do? Find another topic!"
Suddenly, an idea struck her, and she asked, "What about the princess's biological mother, Concubine Liu? Did she have any more children?"
The young emperor took a sip of tea and said calmly, "After losing her only daughter, Concubine Liu was so heartbroken that she fell ill and died a year later."
[Concubine Liu was so miserable. Let me recall.] Xia Miaoyuan listened to him talk about Concubine Liu and recalled the content of the original book.
In the original book, not much is said about Dai Viet.
[I don't remember much, it seems there's no mention of Lady Liu in the book!]
[However, I remember that the book mentioned that Zhu Ling was very domineering in the harem, relying on her status as the late emperor's favorite.]
If another concubine gained favor, she would harm that concubine.
[So, this little sister, could it be that the bamboo spirit harmed her? ]
As she was thinking, she suddenly heard a shout.
"Second Prince, I have finally found you!"
Xia Miaoyuan looked up and saw that it was the eunuch beside Zhu Ling.
When Yue Haoming saw that it was his mother's people, he immediately understood that Zhu Ling had sent someone to call him back to the table. He immediately said to Xia Miaoyuan, "Let's go quickly!"
After saying that, Yue Haoming took Xia Miaoyuan's hand and hurried forward.
Seeing this, the eunuch shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, don't run!"
He shouted and chased after him.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
The prince, disguised as an attendant, has sneaked into the Hall of Mental Cultivation, where the late emperor lived.
The Hall of Mental Cultivation was the late emperor's favorite place to live. Normally, as long as he wasn't visiting the concubines' palace, he would spend the night in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
He later fell ill and stayed in the Yangxin Palace until his death.
Since the founding of Dai Viet, the Hall of Mental Cultivation has been the emperor's residence.
According to Dai Viet custom, when the old emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne, he would move to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
But when Yue Haoming ascended the throne, he went against his usual practice and did not move into the Yangxin Palace.
Empress Dowager Zhu Ling insisted that Yue Haoming live in the same palace with her on the grounds that he was still young.
Later, when Yue Haoming was twelve years old, the censor advised the emperor to move out of the empress dowager's bedroom and move into the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Zhu Ling really had no reason to let the little emperor live with her anymore, so she agreed to let him move out, but she didn't move him into the Yangxin Palace. Instead, she let him move into another palace.
Therefore, the Yangxin Palace has been abandoned since the death of the late emperor.
In order to facilitate the night patrol eunuchs to come in for daily inspections, the gate of the Hall of Mental Cultivation was not locked.
Yue Haoyun carefully pushed the gate open a crack and went in.
The doors of all the rooms in the Hall of Mental Cultivation were locked, but this did not pose a problem for him.
Yue Haoyun took out a delicate needle from his sleeve and opened the door of the main hall with a few pokes.
After entering the main hall, Yue Haoyun took out a tinder to light the way and searched for clues bit by bit.
However, almost all the items in the Hall of Mental Cultivation had been moved away, and the items and personal belongings of the late emperor had been completely taken away.
Yue Haoyun quickly searched the main hall, side hall, and inner room, but found nothing.
His brows were tightly furrowed as he stood in the middle of the inner room, feeling somewhat at a loss.
Should I leave or continue looking?
As he was hesitating, he heard a noisy sound of footsteps.
In panic, he put out the fire, rolled over and hid under the bed.
In the Yangxin Palace courtyard, the little emperor pulled Xia Miaoyuan and hid behind the gate.
"Your Majesty, why don't we go back to our seats?" Xia Miaoyuan looked up at the little emperor and said.
The little emperor quickly made a gesture to silence the crowd, "Hold on, wait until they've passed, then we can come out."
Just now, Zhu Ling's eunuch Wang Gonggong brought people and wanted to find the little emperor to return to the banquet, but he took Xia Miaoyuan and ran away.
The two ran around in the palace, and later, the little emperor simply picked up Xia Miaoyuan and ran.
When he ran away, not only did he get rid of the eunuchs who came to look for him, but he even lost his own two followers.
Only Sang Qi followed closely throughout the whole process because of his martial arts background.
At this time, the little emperor, Xia Miaoyuan, and Sang Qi were hiding behind the gate of the Yangxin Palace.
Eunuch Wang and several young eunuchs were searching the palace roads with lanterns in hand, shouting in subdued voices, "Your Majesty..."
The three of them waited for a while until the sound became farther and farther away, and then the little emperor breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hmph! What bad luck! How dare you ruin my fun!" The little emperor swung his sleeves vigorously and said hatefully.
Xia Miaoyuan looked up at him and said, "But today is His Majesty's birthday. It's only natural for them to come and ask you to return to the feast."
The little emperor rolled his eyes. "I don't want to be controlled by them. What I hate most is a crowd of people, and those princes and ministers groveling and telling lies. They are so hypocritical that I don't even bother to look at them."
Xia Miaoyuan pursed her lips speechlessly. [Ah, this little emperor is really giving me a headache.]
[Teens are the rebellious phase of youth. Furthermore, Yue Haoming's personality and talents are not suitable for being an emperor.]
In the inner room of the Yangxin Palace, Yue Haoyun lay under the bed and listened carefully. He found out that it was his emperor brother who was naughty and took Princess Anguo to hide here. He breathed a sigh of relief and tiptoed out from under the bed.
Just when he was halfway up, his fingers touched the inside of the bed rail and his heart trembled.
In the courtyard, Sang Qi took a handkerchief and swept the dust off the stone bench. He said, "Your Majesty and Little Prince, you still need to stay here for a while. Would you like to sit down?"
Xia Miaoyuan was worried about his sore legs and feet, so when he heard there was a place to sit, he hurried over.
Just then, voices were heard again outside the door.
It was a eunuch's voice, "You two, turn up the lights. This courtyard is too dark."
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