Chapter 71 Chapter 71 Mother-in-law returns to the Tenth…
After marriage, Yin Jinglong focused all his attention on Hanyu, especially after Hanyu became pregnant. He had no intention of attending court and asked the palace servants to deliver all memorials to Prince Yin's mansion.
It happened that the south was hit by a flood and the local people were displaced. The panic-stricken little emperor sighed every time he went to court. The court officials had different opinions, so this mess had to be handed over to the regent to deal with.
During this period, whenever Hanyu passed by the study, she would see the prince busy reviewing memorials, from early morning to late night.
At dusk, Hanyu brought in dinner. Yin Jinglong then put down the memorials and looked at her with concern. "Let the servants handle this kind of thing. You haven't even settled down yet, so don't move around. I'll come and accompany you after I finish reviewing these memorials."
"I'm not in the way, but I heard the rainy season in the south has dragged on for months, and the floods are getting worse. Many crops and houses have been submerged, and many civilians have been killed or injured. Recently, many refugees have flowed into the capital. I wonder how Your Highness plans to accommodate them?"
Yin Jinglong picked up his pen, then put it down again, sighing in silence. This was exactly what he was worried about! Although he had planned to open the national treasury to provide disaster relief, the sheer number of refugees meant he simply couldn't make arrangements for it all at once.
Hanyu volunteered to rescue the refugees on behalf of the palace.
"No! You can't go! Those people are very rude. What if they hurt you?"
At this moment, the doorman hurried in to report, "Your Majesty, Princess, there's a southern woman at the door asking to see you. She claims to be from the Bai family of Xinglin."
"The Bai family? Could they be Bai Qiu and his people? Come on! Please come in!" Han Yu said excitedly.
"Wait a minute!" A sharp glint flashed in Yin Jinglong's sinister eyes. "She said she was from the Bai family, so does that mean she's from the Bai family? Refugees are pouring into the city right now, and she's from the south. We need to find out her true identity first to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the opportunity to break into the palace."
He asked the servant to drive her away first, and sent people to secretly investigate the woman's background, to make sure she was not a spy sent by the enemy country to take advantage of the chaos.
The servant went there and came back with a scroll in his hand, saying that the woman insisted on giving it to Prince Yin.
Yin Jinglong waved his hand: "I don't have the leisure time to look at such a crappy painting. Throw it away!"
"Hey~ Why throw it away? You don't have time to look at it, then I'll help you look at it." Hanyu took the scroll and opened it bit by bit.
There was a painting of a little boy playing with a kite. Upon closer inspection, the boy's eyes and eyebrows were somewhat similar to her husband's.
Hanyu jokingly said, "Could this woman have the ability to predict the future and guess that I'm pregnant with a boy? Look, my husband, the child in the painting looks quite like you."
Yin Jinglong glanced up, his face suddenly stiffening. He snatched the scroll and stroked the little child in the painting, as well as the silver dragon kite. Why did this scene seem so familiar? Childhood memories deep in his mind suddenly surfaced.
"What's the woman's name?"
The servant shook his head and said nothing.
Hanyu's gaze swept across the signature at the lower right corner of the scroll, where Bai Rune's name was written.
"This is your mother's painting! This person must be from the Bai family."
She ordered the servant to quickly invite the woman from the Bai family.
The servant brought in a pretty woman wearing a light pink silk dress.
The servant said to her, "This is Prince Yin. Why don't you kneel down and pay your respects to the prince?"
The woman did not follow his words, but stared at Yin Jinglong with tears in her eyes, calling him in a gentle voice: "Long'er~"
Han Yu's face instantly turned pale. She looked at her husband beside her with a puzzled look and asked him, "Who is this woman to you? Why does she call you 'Long'er' so affectionately?"
"Don't misunderstand, Yu. Your husband doesn't know her."
When Yin Jinglong saw this woman for the first time, he felt that she looked familiar. She seemed to be somewhat similar to his biological mother, Bai, in his memory. However, he had never heard that the Bai family had a distant relative of this age, so the identity of this woman was indeed suspicious.
"You don't know him? Why are you calling him so affectionately?"
When she was about to question the woman's identity, she saw the woman suddenly rush forward, hugged Yin Jinglong in front of her, and kept calling him "Long'er".
"Eh? Miss, why are you hugging someone else's husband?"
Yin Jinglong obviously did not expect that this woman would dare to offend him so boldly, but seeing Hanyu's jealous look, he was very happy, so he did not push her away immediately.
Unexpectedly, the woman reached out and touched his face, and said with tears in her eyes, "Long'er, let me take a good look at you."
Yin Jinglong's body trembled. He seemed to see his mother when she was young in her tearful peach blossom eyes. At this moment, he even forgot about Hanyu who was almost unable to stand in surprise.
"Mother? Miss, you didn't recognize the wrong child, did you? You look like you're only in your teens, how could you have such a big son?"
Hanyu thought that this woman might have been stimulated by some reason and mistaken Yin Jinglong for her child. Could it be that the flood in the south caused her to lose her child and become mentally unstable?
That wouldn't mean she would mistake a man taller than her for her son? And how did she get Bai Ruen's paintings?
The woman didn't seem to want to explain. She spoke to Yin Jinglong tearfully, "It's been years since we last met. I never thought my Long'er would grow up. Mother was worried that your frail body wouldn't make it to adulthood! By the way, how's your brother? On the way back to the capital, I heard that your brother had become a general. Is that true?"
Yin Jinglong's mind was full of questions, and he didn't know how to answer for a moment.
After regaining consciousness, he pushed the woman away and scolded her, "What nonsense are you talking about, you crazy woman? My mother died ten years ago."
"Perhaps all this is a little unbelievable, but I really am your mother. I thought I was dead, but when I opened my eyes, I was back in my hometown in Jiangnan. I don't know why it happened. It has been raining continuously in Jiangnan these days, and the roads are blocked. It took me quite some time to return to Shangjing and find you."
Han Yu and Yin Jinglong exchanged a glance and shouted in unison, "Rebirth?"
If they were not both reborn, who would believe that A Niang, who had been dead for ten years, would still appear before them in her ten-year-old appearance.
Yin Jinglong believed that this must be a chance given to him by God to regain his mother's love. This time he must protect his mother well and not let anyone hurt her again.
The prince's biological mother suddenly appeared, and she was the same age as the princess. This matter quickly spread in the capital. Most people thought that the prince must have missed his mother too much, so when he saw a woman who looked very similar to his biological mother Bai, he recognized her as his mother.
Yin Jinglong explicitly ordered his servants to respectfully address Bai Ruen as "Madam Dowager". Her status in the family was equal to that of the princess, and even higher than that of the princess in some matters.
Hanyu was previously happy about Yin Jinglong's reunion with his biological mother, but with the sudden appearance of a mother-in-law, her position as the mistress of the palace was instantly threatened.
According to Central Plains custom, daughters-in-law must pay their respects to their parents every morning and evening. However, Hanyu was from another tribe and had not been able to adapt to this custom for a long time, resulting in small mistakes every time she served tea. The first few times she made mistakes, Bai Shi, considering it was her first offense, did not say much. However, as time went on, Bai Shi would intentionally or unintentionally mention Hanyu's lack of understanding of the rules in front of Yin Jinglong.
Yin Jinglong said to her, "Ayu grew up in the snowy mountains, so it's normal for her to not understand the customs of our Central Plains. Actually, it's my fault for spoiling her too much and not requiring her to learn these things. Besides, she's pregnant now, so it's not easy for her to move around much. I hope you can be more understanding and considerate of her."
Bai recalled the days she spent in Prince Xian's mansion. She felt much more aggrieved than Min Hanyu. She was pregnant with twins and close to giving birth, but she still had to serve tea to Princess Chunyu every day. Why didn't anyone understand her at that time?
Now the Chunyu family was raided for suspected treason, and the old prince was forced to divorce his wife in tears. Although the Chunyu family had fallen, the emperor, considering the Chunyu family's history as a veteran of two dynasties, only demoted her to a commoner and did not let her suffer any hardship, nor did he kill her family.
Although she did not offend Yin Jinglong this time, she was not very satisfied with her daughter-in-law in her heart and would find fault with Hanyu from time to time.
When going to bed at night, Hanyu sat blankly by the bed, stroking her bulging belly with her hands, her face full of worry.
It was already late at night when Yin Jinglong finished dealing with the memorials. Seeing that she had not yet gone to bed, he asked, "Madam, are you waiting for me? Are you worried about me?"
Hanyu rolled her eyes at him and complained, "I'm just as happy as you are that your mother is back, but she's been living in our house these days and has been finding fault with me, her daughter-in-law. Yesterday, I don't know where she got the story of Ah Jiang and me from, and this morning she called me over to give me a lecture, saying I was... a fickle woman who was trying to sow discord between you two brothers. I..."
Hanyu cried out of grievance. If such words were spoken by someone else, it wouldn't be so sad, but when they came from Bai's mouth, she felt aggrieved as if she had been insulted.
Yin Jinglong picked her up and sat her on him, gently wiping away the tears from her eyes. "If you don't want her to live in the mansion, I'll have her taken away tomorrow. From now on, you will be the only mistress of Prince Yin's mansion."
"But she is your mother after all. If you drive her away just for my sake, won't that chill her heart?"
Yin Jinglong smiled lightly: "Who said I wanted to drive her away? Someone wanted to take her away."
Hanyu didn't understand what Yin Jinglong meant until the next morning when Prince Xian came in unannounced and said he wanted to see Bai Rune. Only then did she understand what Yin Jinglong meant by his words last night.
"Father, are you here for my mother? But what can I do? My mother doesn't want to see you."
Prince Xian heard about Bai Ruen's rebirth a few days ago. He thought he was dreaming, but the news became more and more true. He thought about it all day and all night and had not slept for several nights.
Hearing that Bai Ruen refused to see him, he, an old man, couldn't help but burst into tears and cried, "Yes! I have let her down, I have let the Bai family down, and I am too ashamed to see her. But since God has given me another chance to meet her again, I will definitely not let her down this time! Long'er, please help me persuade your mother!"
Yin Jinglong shrugged with a helpless expression. He and Hanyu tried to persuade Bai Runen with all their heart for an hour, but Bai Runen remained unmoved.
She said, "Unless he takes off all his clothes and kneels in front of my door to apologize to the Bai family and begs me to go back, then I will consider whether to go back with him."
Take off all your clothes and kneel down? Yin Jinglong absolutely did not believe that his old father, who always regarded himself as proud, would do such a humiliating thing.
However, the slap in the face came quickly. Prince Xian had lived for most of his life, and except for kneeling to his parents and the emperor, this was the first time he knelt to anyone else. Moreover, while kneeling and begging Bai Runen for forgiveness, he took off his clothes one by one.
"Yes, yes~ It's my fault. Please give me another chance! This time, I only love you and will listen to you. If you tell me to go east, I won't dare go west. Yes, yes~ Please see me!"
Han Yu, who was hiding and peeking at the scene, said to Yin Jinglong, who was protecting her from behind, "I didn't realize it! Your father is such a lovesick person? Didn't everyone say before that his favorite was Princess Chunyu? Even though the princess hasn't been out for years, they're still as loving as ever. Now it seems that their previous love was all fake."
Yin Jinglong stroked her cute little head, "You weren't born into a royal family, so you don't understand the importance of family marriage. Now I'm gradually seeing clearly that my father and the princess are just a couple of convenience. The only person he truly loves is my mother."
Prince Xian was almost fifty years old. He threw away his dignity and knelt in front of Bai Rune's door, begging for three hours, but Bai Rune still did not open the door to see him.
In the evening, Hanyu ordered the kitchen to prepare some exquisite dishes and send them to Prince Xian. She then said to Yin Jinglong, "The old prince's health cannot withstand prolonged kneeling! I think your mother is quite cruel. There is no room for her to change her mind. Why don't you go and persuade your father to give up!"
"Okay! I'll go and persuade him right away."
As soon as he finished speaking, the servant who had delivered the food came running over with a smile on his face to announce the good news: "The Madam...she agreed to go back to the palace with the old prince."
"Are you serious?" They were surprised.
"I dare not speak nonsense. Just now, when I went to deliver food to the old prince, I saw the old lady and the prince hugging and crying!"
Such a rare and famous scene, of course they both had to rush to the scene to witness it with their own eyes as soon as possible.
When the two arrived, they saw the old prince crying with joy. He held Bai Rune's young and beautiful face in his hands, looked left and right, pinched his thigh, and slapped his face, thinking he was dreaming!
"Mm, mm, twenty years have passed, how come you're still so young? You look about the same age as Long'er, did you take some elixir of immortality? Then, do you dislike your husband being old and ugly?"
Bai Ruen scratched his nose, stroked the white hair on his temples with her fingertips, and smiled: "You are just right. As long as you treat me sincerely, why should I dislike you?"
"Okay! Let's go home then!"
Prince Xian had been kneeling for too long, and he was staggering and about to fall when he walked, and had to rely on Bai Rune's support to walk.
"Father and Mother...you?"
"Get out of my way. I want to take your mother home."
Looking at the extremely disproportionate backs of the two, one old and one young, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This time he really hoped that his father would treat his mother sincerely, but he didn't know how long they could stay together.
Hanyu put her arm around his waist from behind and whispered softly, "Don't overthink it. Life is short. Even if we can only be together for a moment, it is extremely precious to this long-parted couple. You and I are the same. There's no need to worry about the future. Just cherish the person in front of you."
Yin Jinglong took advantage of the situation and hugged her tightly in his arms, kissing her gradually blushing cheek. "Madam, you are right. Life is short, so we need to enjoy it while we can."
He roughly picked up Hanyu's heavy body and gently placed her on the bed.
"I'm pregnant, please don't do this~ it hurts~"
"It's okay, let's take it slow."
"But……"
He silenced all her words with a deep kiss, and the candlelight flickered faintly amidst the intertwined sounds of breath.
Also enjoying themselves were the long-parted couple, one old and one young.
In Prince Xian's mansion, Bai Ruen suddenly pushed the man away and walked out from the curtain with an expression of helplessness and disgust on her face.
"What's wrong, ma'am? Are you feeling unwell?"
"It's you, my lord, who didn't make me feel comfortable."
Prince Xian smiled awkwardly and said, "A man of my age naturally cannot compare to the youthful vigor of Long'er and the others. It's good enough that I can still do things. If Madam doesn't feel satisfied, why don't you come back later in the night?"
Bai Ruen nodded shyly, snuggled into his arms, and waited for the passionate lovemaking in the second half of the night.
But she waited all night, only to hear her husband's snoring getting louder and louder.
She sighed deeply: "Ah~ If I had known this would happen, I would rather not have been reborn."
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