Put yourself in someone else's shoes
Sui Zhixu lived a leisurely life, eating and sleeping, and before going to bed, he would ask Gu Qingyi to tell him stories.
"My wife..."
Sui Zhixu lay on the recliner in the courtyard, opened his eyes a crack to see that it was Ruolan, and said, "What?"
Ruolan, having finally seized the opportunity to stay with Zhixu, hurriedly asked, "Does Madam have anything to tell me?"
"Yes. Can Fan Zirong get pregnant?"
Sui Zhixu stared at Ruolan's expectant gaze and uttered nothing.
Ruolan: "..."
"This...this, my lady, you've been in the palace for half a month now, and you'll be showing soon."
"Don't panic, don't panic. But if you count the days, there are definitely enough." Sui Zhixu stood up, stretched, and said slowly.
Gu Qingyi's story has come to an end; it's time for her to begin.
The next second, a palace maid rushed in anxiously, shouting, "Madam, something bad has happened to Sister Ruolan!"
Ruolan was startled: "What's wrong?!"
"Master Xi has requested Her Majesty the Empress to issue an edict to bring the lady back, and he is already waiting at the palace gate."
"Where are Lady Gu and the princess?"
"Lady Gu is discussing matters with His Majesty in the Imperial Study, while the Princess is having tea with Her Majesty the Empress."
"First, find a way to call someone and tell Master Xi that the lady needs to change her clothes and burn incense. Delay it for as long as possible. Go quickly!"
"No need, let's go to the Imperial Study."
Ruolan: "My wife..."
“I can go by myself.” Sui Zhixu turned to her and said, “Don’t worry, just relax and collect your double wages.”
Double the pay!
Ruolan's eyes gleamed, but she said, "No, no, the princess has instructed me to take good care of you."
Surrounded by palace servants, Ruolan could only say this, while Zhixu shook his head.
"I know what I'm doing," she said with a faint smile.
The woman wore a loose-fitting, lotus-leaf-green ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), and stood gracefully. She was still very young and showed no signs of pregnancy.
His clear, cold eyes swept over her indifferently, and Ruolan felt her heart was about to jump out of her chest.
She is incredibly beautiful.
Ruolan hadn't even reacted when Sui Zhixu left.
"Hey, no, my lady!" Ruolan caught sight of a palace maid out of the corner of her eye. "What are you standing there for! Go find the princess!"
"yes."
Ruolan bit her hand. The lady took the initiative to find Gu Qingyi and Sima Xian to expose the truth. What exactly does the lady want to do?
She couldn't understand it; she was just someone who followed orders and did what she was told.
No, should she tell her husband about this? After all, she is his woman, but he listens to his wife, and she didn't tell her to tell him.
never mind.
“You all come with me, we need to stall for time with Xi Langjun as well.”
—
"Halt! How dare you enter the Imperial Study, a place of utmost importance!"
Sui Zhixu ignored them.
"presumptuous!"
Seeing that Sui Zhixu was ignoring them and continuing to walk forward, the guards drew their swords and held them against her.
"The Imperial Study is a restricted area; unauthorized personnel are not permitted to enter!"
Sui Zhixu turned her head and smiled, "Go in and tell him that Lu Kou is looking for him."
"I don't care who you are..."
His companion tugged at his clothes, "Wait a minute, the name Lu Kou sounds familiar, let's inform them inside."
Why are you here?
As she heard a voice behind her, a cold smile flashed in her eyes. She turned around and said, "Long time no see, Mother."
The guard was horrified: "...Madam Lu? She...she's not..."
Is he dead?
The guards, disregarding all else, quickly said, "Please, Princess."
Xu and Sima Heng did not move; they both lowered their heads, trying to hide themselves.
One face was slightly aggressive and menacing, the other gentle and aloof. When they looked at each other, it was like a sword clashing in a martial arts world versus a jade that remained detached from worldly affairs amidst prosperity.
With a flicker of her eyes, Sui Zhixu smiled and said, "Mother, please."
Sima Heng glanced indifferently at those who had stepped over the threshold, and then Xu followed closely behind.
"I've been in the palace for a long time, so I should pay a visit to my uncle."
Sima Heng stopped and smiled silently. "You suffered outside and now you want to come back?"
She walked ahead, and Sui Zhixu's eyelashes trembled, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, as she followed.
"Your Highness, I pay my respects to Your Highness."
"Uncle." Sui Zhixu bowed and greeted him according to the palace rules of the Yu Dynasty.
Sima Xianzheng was discussing matters with Gu Qingyi. The two disagreed and argued loudly. They did not hear the argument outside and were stunned when they saw Sui Zhixu.
His cool, aloof eyes glanced over, and one look was enough to tell who she was.
His first words were, "Why are you using my old face?"
"Anyway, it's all my face."
Gu Qingyi frowned and walked up to Sui Zhixu, looking at her.
What are you doing here?
Sui Zhixu took her hand, met her displeased gaze, and calmly said, "It was bound to happen eventually."
As if her calm tone could convince Gu Qingyi, the mermaid pearl by her ear swayed gently, its white luster forming a glowing line in the air.
She could see the white light out of the corner of her eye and clearly see every inch of the mermaid pearl's movement.
She turned her gaze to Sima Xian, "Xin Yi was buried by A Niang in the back mountain of Miao territory, next to the graves of Shisan Niang and A Ning."
“Xinyi has been with you for a while, so I should tell you where she is buried. You know about her death. Her sword was broken, and she left no other belongings.”
Gu Qingyi stopped her, "A-Ling."
"You came here to tell me these things?"
Yes and no.
The word "朕" (zhen, meaning "I" or "the Emperor") separates too much.
Sima Xian then noticed her attire, which was very casual, with only a light green jade hairpin in her hair matching her lotus leaf green dress.
The clothing of the Yu Dynasty and the Qi Dynasty, which were preceding and following each other, was similar, but the details were quite different.
During the Yu Dynasty, noblewomen often wore high-waisted ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) with cross-collars. The flowing sleeves and layers of clothing created an ethereal and fairy-like effect, inheriting the ethereal charm of the previous dynasty while retaining its own simplicity.
Sima Xian wondered what she was up to. She clearly knew about her background, yet she still appeared openly in front of him under the current circumstances.
"I need someone from you."
"who?"
Sui Zhixu: "He Miao."
Gu Qingyi frowned. She couldn't find He Miao, so A Ling came here for that reason.
I said a while ago that I didn't want to see them.
"The teacher couldn't find him. He's one of your people, so I came to ask you."
"I haven't seen him recently."
"He's not a good subordinate of yours; you don't even know where he is?"
Despite Xu's relentless pursuit, Sima Heng's brows furrowed in displeasure, and he stopped her, saying, "Enough! He's just a Xuan Master pretending to be crazy. Why should we care about his whereabouts?"
“Why can’t I care? My mother has never cared about my affairs, so naturally she doesn’t think it’s a big deal.”
"I just don't understand what my uncle is dissatisfied with about me. Ye Taoyao killed Thirteen Niang and told me not to act impulsively, saying that we are family. So why is it that when it comes to me, we are not?"
Gu Qingyi stood in front of Sui Zhixu, "Yunhuai, she has amnesia, and her memory has not yet returned."
Sui Zhixu huddled behind Gu Qingyi, gently leaning on her shoulder, her long eyelashes fluttering, her eyes looking fragile and pitiful.
"Amnesia?"
Sima Xian looked at Sui Zhixu behind Gu Qingyi and asked her, "What's going on?"
Gu Qingyi patted Sui Zhixu's head, "After waking up, his soul was unstable and he fell off a cliff again, resulting in amnesia."
A few days ago, Sui Zhixu grabbed Gu Qingyi's sleeve and apologized, just like she used to apologize to her when she did something wrong, saying that she didn't pinch her on purpose when she had amnesia.
“She doesn’t remember much.” Gu Qingyi glared at Sima Xian. “The people I sent couldn’t find any trace of He Miao. They only found out that he had met with Xi Yushao, nothing else. They even said that the child murder case that broke out in Chang’an might be related to Xi Yushao.”
Since Zi Suizhi mentioned that the child case might be related to He Miao and Xi Yushao, Gu Qingyi started investigating them. She initially thought it was related to He Miao, as such an evil person might use evil magic to do things with the child. However, after investigating, she found that it was related to Xi Yushao.
“You have not mentioned the case of the young children to me.”
"The evidence is unclear, and there have only been some clues over the past two weeks. How can I report to you?"
Gu Qingyi replied to him, and took the opportunity to turn around and comfort Sui Zhixu. Sui Zhixu was on the verge of tears, looking as if she had suffered a great injustice.
"She's pregnant, so don't upset her. Apologize to her!"
"You want me to apologize to her? What did I do wrong?"
Sima Heng said sternly, "Gu Qingyi, putting aside the difference between ruler and subject, she is a junior, how can she expect an elder to apologize to her?"
Sui Zhixu: "You have it!"
Sima Heng's voice rang out at the same time as Sui Zhixu's, leaving Sima Xian completely bewildered.
Sui Zhixu lowered her reddened eyes and suppressed her sobs, "He Miao told me back then that it was all your orders."
Sima Xian met her eyes. Why did he bring this child back to the Prince's mansion in the first place?
Sima Jing sent a message to the mansion that the Gu worm had transferred from Zhou Qin to the baby. Jiang Li happened to be nearby and asked him to take the child out so she could study it.
However, the baby in the swaddling clothes was too small, and the Gu worms would sometimes awaken and sometimes fall asleep, so Jiang Li couldn't figure it out and had to wait until the child was a little older.
He had not yet married Huaiyu, so they had no children and he could only place her under Sima Heng's name.
Sima Heng was meticulous in his work and always managed to keep the child alive.
He was the enemy's child to begin with; he only wanted to keep her alive to fulfill Jiang Li's request.
A few years later, when he heard that Sima Heng had placed her in a secluded courtyard, with only a mute nanny to take care of her, he still softened.
I was thinking of going to see her, at least to let her live a normal life, but who knew that the first thing she said was "Ah Ye".
They can't speak, but they can eavesdrop.
With her father in her mouth, her round eyes wide open, she tugged at his clothes and looked at him, and his heart softened.
He brought her back to the palace. The prime minister said he was soft-hearted. Her grandfather had destroyed his country, and her father was sitting in the seat he should have been sitting in... There were countless reasons to kill her, but he used the excuse of keeping Jiang Li calm to keep her alive.
He taught her to speak, and later to read and write poetry. He even made Qingyi her teacher. He kept her true identity a secret, and few people in the world knew about it. In the Prince's mansion, there were only him, the Prime Minister, Sima Heng and his wife, and Ye Taoyao who had overheard the conversation.
As she grew older, the prime minister said she would become a menace sooner or later and that he should get rid of her as soon as possible.
The same applies to systems.
Over the years, it has become impossible to distinguish between genuine feelings and feigned sincerity.
The first child he raised.
He stayed.
The prime minister resented his soft heart and was angry at his lack of assertiveness, saying, "Then marry her off. She's still a wife after all, and it'll be easier to get rid of her!"
"Who will he marry? The Xuanping Prince's Mansion is weak. When the late Emperor was alive, the Prince's Mansion married Sima Heng, a lowly ninth-rank official, in order to humble themselves as a minor general. Does the Prime Minister want to use the same trick again?"
"I will find a distant branch of the Ye family."
"No matter what, she is still my niece in name only. The Prime Minister doesn't need to worry about this. I will choose for myself."
...
Time flies so fast that he has forgotten what he was thinking back then.
“That was not my intention,” he said slowly. “It was my fault.”
Sui Zhixu was a little stunned that Sima Xian agreed so readily.
"Ah, oh. Well... I forgive you, Uncle."
Sima Xian looked at her quietly, "If you were always..."
How wonderful it would be to lose my memory.
"besides!"
"What's wrong?"
Hearing his gentle voice, Xu became even more unrestrained, "Xi Yushao is looking for Xi Yuzhen, that... I..."
She lowered her head and remained silent, clearly not knowing what to do after causing trouble.
"I'll handle it."
Sui Zhixu: "My aunt has issued an imperial decree."
"...You won't come to see me unless you cause trouble, right?"
"...Uh, half?"
Gu Qingyi shielded Sui Zhixu, keeping her behind her, and glared back at both Sima Heng's dissatisfaction and Sima Xian's helplessness.
Sui Zhixu touched the mermaid pearl beside her, a look of doubt flashing in her eyes.
He's not here?
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