Qi Yuning walked to the gate of the palace, but the guards at the gate didn't recognize her at first and stopped her.
Qi Yuning took off the headscarf on her head, took out a jade token from her bosom and said, "I am Princess Qi!"
After seeing the jade token, the guards knelt down and said, "Greetings, Princess!"
Qi Yuning walked inside and saw a golden nanmu coffin standing upright in the main hall of the North City Palace. Steward He was kneeling beside it and burning paper money.
"Butler He!"
When Butler He saw Qi Yuning coming, he knelt down and stepped forward and said, "Princess."
Qi Yuning said: "Hurry up, who is the body in the coffin?"
Lu Ze walked over to the nanmu coffin and saw a charred corpse with an unclear face, wearing gorgeous clothes...
Butler He sighed and said, "My lord, the person in the coffin is Miss Ping."
Qi Yuning asked: "Miss Ping? How could something happen to her?"
Steward He said, "Miss Ping was originally going to Shengjing City, and she wanted to go to the Taoist temple to pray for a safe journey. But halfway through the journey, the carriage caught fire, burning Miss Ping and the maid beside her to charred corpses. Miss Ping died with one body, she is truly a beautiful woman with a tragic fate!"
Qi Yuning was extremely surprised, "Where's my brother?"
Steward He said, "The prince was in great grief and had been staying in Miss Ping's room for the past few days. In the days after Miss Ping passed away, the prince couldn't eat or drink anything. It was only when General Wen came and said that he still had the Qi family army that the prince reluctantly ate something to hold on."
Qi Yuning asked housekeeper He to lead the way to the courtyard where Miss Ping lived, and saw Qi Yu'an who was in a very embarrassed state inside.
Qi Yuning had never seen such a haggard and lifeless brother. In Qi Yuning's eyes, his brother was a young general, the noble and aloof Prince Qi, full of vigor and vitality.
I never thought Qi Yu'an would have such a messy hair, painful and pale face...
"elder brother."
Qi Yu'an heard the voice and slowly raised his head, "Ningning, why are you here?"
Qi Yuning walked up to Qi Yu'an and said with tears in her eyes: "Brother!"
Qi Yu'an put down the gold bracelet in his hand and said, "You came here alone?"
Qi Yuning shook his head. "Lu Ze, Lingling and the others are here too. Brother, Miss Ping..."
Qi Yu'an said slowly: "In the future, don't call her Miss Ping, call her sister-in-law, sister, she is your only sister-in-law."
Qi Yuning couldn't empathize with the pain of losing a loved one, but she knew it must be heartbreaking, so she could only comfort Qi Yu'an and said, "Brother, cry if you want."
Qi Yu'an said: "Sister, you came at the right time. The twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month three days later is a good day for a wedding leave.
You arrange a wedding for your brother and your sister-in-law. After your sister-in-law and I get married, we will celebrate the New Year together as a family. After the New Year, we will send your sister-in-law back to the Qi family ancestral tomb in Shengjing City for burial."
Qi Yuning nodded and said, "Okay, brother."
Lu Ze was too embarrassed to go in at the door, so he waited for Qi Yuning to come out and said, "I have never seen Brother Qi look so haggard."
Qi Yuning said: "Me too."
Lu Ze continued, "Lingling said that the portrait of Ah Ping was of her aunt, so how could Ah Ping become a burnt corpse with two lives?"
Qi Yuning shook her head. She didn't know why it was like this.
Qi Yuning first settled the people she brought from Shengjing City. She also had a courtyard in the North City Palace, and after the servants cleaned it up, they could move in.
Steward He stepped forward and said, "Princess, how do you arrange the residences for Prince Lu and Prince Lu?"
Qi Yuning said, "There is no need to make any arrangements for Prince Lu. Prince Lu, you can take him to the guest room."
Butler He was stunned for a moment, "There is no need to make any arrangements for Prince Lu, so where will he live?"
Qi Yuning said: "Just live in the same courtyard with me."
Butler He was a little surprised, but thinking that it would be fine to have different rooms in the same courtyard, he went downstairs to arrange a courtyard for Lu Yun.
Lingling was still taking a nap. When Qi Yuning took her down from the carriage and put her on the bed, Lingling woke up.
She blinked her eyes and looked at Qi Yuning and said, "Mom, dear, have we arrived at my uncle's house yet?"
Qi Yuning nodded, "Yes, we're here."
Lingling screamed, jumped up from the bed, twisted her waist and danced, "Cousin, aunt! Lingling can finally meet cousin and aunt!"
"Lingling, are you sure she is your aunt?"
Lu Zegang drew another portrait of A Ping and showed it to Lingling.
Lingling nodded and said, "It's my aunt!"
Qi Yuning looked at Lu Ze and asked, "Could there be two Miss A Ping? The Miss A Ping that Qin Feng mentioned is not the charred A Ping?"
Lu Ze said, "There can't be so many coincidences. Let Butler He come and see if this is Miss Ping."
Qi Yuning ordered someone to find Butler He and ask, "Butler He, is the person in the painting Miss A Ping?"
Butler He looked at the painting in Qi Yuning's hand and said, "It's Miss Ping. This painting is so lifelike."
Qi Yuning waved his hand and said, "You can go down."
After Butler He left, Lingling pouted and said, "Mom, this is my aunt. Lingling wants to play with my aunt and cousin. Why hasn't my cousin come over to play with Lingling when Lingling is here?"
Qi Yuning hugged Lingling and said, "Be good, Lingling."
Lu Ze looked at Qi Yuning and said, “If Miss Ping had died right now, Lingling would not have known Miss Ping.
I want to examine the charred body. I suspect that the charred body is not Ah Ping at all."
Qi Yuning also felt that Lu Ze was right. Since Lingling knew Ah Ping, it was impossible for Ah Ping to die at this time. It was just an autopsy...
"Lu Ze, I have never seen my brother so sad. If my brother doesn't want to do an autopsy, don't provoke him. He is the only family I have now."
Qi Yuning really couldn't bear to see Qi Yu'an get into trouble, as Qi Yu'an was her only blood-related relative in this world.
Lu Ze nodded and said, "Yes."
Lu Yun entered Qi Yuning's courtyard and said to Lu Ze, "Brother, this palace is full of white banners, it's scary. My guest room is empty. I'm scared. Come and sleep with me."
Lu Ze frowned and said, "If you are afraid, then you can go to the military camp before the New Year. There are many men of your age sleeping with you in the large bunk beds in the military camp."
Lu Yun: “…”
Lingling was still making a fuss, "Mom, I just want to play with my cousin. Why doesn't my cousin come to find me? Lingling can go find my cousin herself!"
Lu Yun was even more curious and asked, "Where did Lingling's cousin come from?"
Qi Yuning could only coax Lingling and said, "Aunt is taking your cousin out. Be good and mother will take you to play in the streets of North City in a few days."
Lu Yun was even more puzzled. Where did his aunt and cousin come from? But neither his brother nor Qi Yuning showed any intention of explaining to him.
When Chunfen heard Qi Yuning coming, she came forward to pay her respects and said, "Princess, I failed to live up to your trust and failed to take good care of Miss Ping. I deserve to die!"
Qi Yuning looked at Chunfen, who looked guilty, and said, "Why didn't you follow Miss Ping when she went to the Taoist temple?"
Chunfen said, "I wanted to follow you, but Miss Ping said she wanted to bring you some gifts from North City. I didn't know what you meant, so she ordered me to buy some gifts you like and not to follow you."
Qi Yuning sighed and said, "Get up. It's not your fault if something like this happens."
As evening approached, Butler He came to report that dinner was ready.
Qi Yuning carried Lingling, Lu Ze and Lu Yun to the dining hall, but Qi Yu'an didn't show up for a long time.
Qi Yuning asked Lu Ze to feed Lingling while she took the wine and food into the food box and went to Miss Aping's room. After thinking for a while, she went back to her room and took the portrait that Lu Ze had drawn with her.
Qi Yuning took the portrait and went to A Ping's room, looking at Qi Yu'an holding the gold bracelet as if he had lost his soul.
"elder brother."
Qi Yu'an looked up when he heard the voice and said, "Sister."
Qi Yuning put the food on the table and said, "It's rare for us to eat together, brother, please eat with me."
"I can't eat, sister, I can't eat anything."
Qi Yuning took out the portrait drawn by Lu Ze and handed it to Qi Yu'an.
Qi Yu'an took the portrait and said to the person in the painting: "This..."
Qi Yuning said: "Brother should have heard that Master Lu has outstanding painting skills."
Qi Yu'an clenched the portrait in his hand and gently stroked the picture of A Ping on the paper. "How did Lu Ze know A Ping?" (End of this chapter)
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