After all, Ruan Ningyun was under house arrest, unable to go out, visitors were prohibited, and letters could not be delivered.

But what happens in the palace will not be spread outside.

So she waited, and several days passed, then more than ten days passed.

The Ruan family did not wait for the imperial edict to cancel the granted marriage, but instead received a notice from Bei Yanming asking Ruan Ningxiang to accompany him.

Originally, Bei Yanming planned to stay in the capital for a while, but he suddenly received news that the north was being harassed by small countries on the border. The border was in turmoil all day long, and two border towns had already been lost.

This is an external threat.

There are also internal worries.

There was a heavy snowfall in the north a while ago, freezing countless livestock to death. They will have a hard time surviving the end of this winter.

He had to go.

The situation in Ukraine is not actually very good. Fortunately, Gu Rui had long predicted that Ukraine would suffer from floods in the south and drought in the north. Chu Younan had secretly stockpiled rice from major grain merchants last year.

After winter comes spring, and as long as all things come back to life, there will be plenty to eat.

Chu Younan lived a life of luxury and of course didn't know any of this. Su Bei told him all this.

"In the beginning, we could pick some edible weeds, wild flowers, and leaves. I drew all the edible ones, and then asked people to pick some and dry them, and use them as food to satisfy hunger."

When saying this, Su Bei's expression was very solemn.

She was not a saint, but she couldn't bear to see the people of Wu country suffer because of the curse of the Northern Snow Girl. But she was also unwilling to kill herself to remove the curse.

Is this the only way to break the curse?

It’s best to discuss these mysterious matters with Gu Rui.

Gu Rui did make a lot of suggestions, such as asking Su Bei to curse drought in the south and continuous rain in the north. For example, asking Su Bei to curse the small countries bordering Ukraine to come up one after another to offer their heads and their own food. Another example is asking her to curse that only one rice seed can grow on each stalk of rice, and this one is as big as a basketball...

These suggestions can be taken into consideration, and Su Bei decided to give it a try.

However, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst, and the food shortage from last year's famine will not last until autumn.

Su Bei still wanted to solve the urgent problem first.

Before the two of them finished their discussion, they heard someone report that Princess Jin had arrived.

Gu Rui was afraid of anyone related to Concubine Mei, so he planned to avoid them and hid in the backyard.

Xue Jinrong did not come alone today. In fact, she came with her as a family. However, Chu Youyang went to the imperial study to find Chu Younan, so only Concubine Mei came with her.

Before Concubine Mei even entered the door, she felt uncomfortable in her stomach.

It's been a cold spring these days, so she might have caught a cold on the way.

Let’s deal with it first, the toilet is in the backyard.

When she lived in the palace before, she had never been to the toilet, and she always used the toilet in the room. However, the toilet in Kunning Palace was different from what she expected. She thought it would have a strong smell, but it was unusually clean and even had incense burning.

After solving the problem, Empress Dowager Mei walked out comfortably, but was suddenly stunned.

The person coming towards her, wasn't that Gu Rui whom she often saw in her dreams? It had been several months since they last saw each other.

Not only was she stunned, but Gu Rui was also dumbfounded.

He thought he could forget it, but when he saw the stunning beauty of Concubine Mei, his heart felt like it was hit hard.

Some words don't need to be said, the eyes say it all.

It was just their status that prevented them from getting closer to each other.

"Mother! Why are you here?" Chu Youyang's voice came.

Gu Rui was startled, bowed hastily, turned around and left.

Concubine Mei was unconsciously flustered.

In Chu Youyang's opinion, there must be something fishy going on between these two people.

Although he is no longer the emperor, he is still a prince.

"Gu Rui! Stop!" Chu Youyang shouted loudly.

Gu Rui paused and turned around slowly, only to hear Chu Youyang say fiercely: "You don't respect me when you see me, do you know any rules?"

If Gu Rui was really a pure ancient man, he would be so scared that he would kneel on the ground, but he was not. That was why he could boldly like Concubine Mei. It was just that women in this era regarded reputation as their life, so he did not take action, which was a respect for Concubine Mei.

But that doesn't mean he is afraid of Chu Youyang.

"Your Highness is now a first-rank prince, and I am a first-rank heavenly master. In reality, there is no need for you and me to perform formalities." Gu Rui said calmly.

Chu Youyang was indeed of the first rank, and this was conferred upon him by Chu Younan as an exception, because only the regent could be conferred the super first rank, and no one else, even the emperor's own son, could be so.

Let him be the regent? Unless Chu Younan is crazy.

Chu Youyang didn't expect Gu Rui to speak to him like this, and was so angry that he couldn't speak for a moment.

Gu Rui said, "What happened before was purely a misunderstanding. It was just that the little princess insisted on letting me take care of her, otherwise that wouldn't have happened. I'll explain it to the prince today, and I hope the prince won't confront me like this again in the future."

"Who said she has to be taken care of by you? She's doing fine without you during this period!" Chu Youyang said angrily.

But Concubine Mei sighed silently.

In fact, the little princess was not that good. Perhaps because she was used to the taste of goat's milk, she didn't like the wet nurse very much, especially the one who didn't smell of goat's milk.

So the imperial physician always said that the little princess was a little thin.

Gu Rui keenly noticed Concubine Mei's slight displeasure.

"Let's not talk about this matter for now. The Queen asked me to come here today to discuss the curse. I will take my leave first." After saying this, Gu Rui walked away arrogantly.

The reason why he was so arrogant was because he knew that Bei Shijing had not only cursed floods in the south and droughts in the north, but also the Chu family.

This is also Chu Youyang's biggest worry. Xue Jinrong had miscarried several children before, and has not been pregnant for a while. He doesn't know if she is cursed to cut off Chu Youyang's bloodline.

If Xue Jinrong couldn't have children, would he really take a concubine? But if he took a concubine, Xue Jinrong couldn't stand it, so there was no answer to this question.

Hearing Gu Rui say that he was here to discuss such an important matter, Chu Youyang automatically suppressed his arrogance.

Gu Rui, who was avoiding her, suddenly returned to the main hall. Su Bei was a little surprised, but she didn't expect that Gu Rui would sit down and discuss with her seriously, "I have a good idea about the curse."

"Oh? Then tell me quickly!" Su Bei was overjoyed.

"As for this matter, I haven't considered it in detail yet. I need to go back and make a detailed plan." Gu Rui deliberately kept the secret.

Su Bei clicked his tongue. He had no idea what this guy was up to!

Xue Jinrong didn't take this matter to heart at first. After all, she couldn't get involved in such mysterious matters.

But she heard Gu Rui say: "I remember that there was another item in the Snow Girl's curse, which was the heir of the Chu family. Now it seems that the emperor's heir should not be a problem, except for Prince Jin..."

Xue Jinrong immediately pricked up his ears.

Gu Rui smiled confidently, "I have an idea about this, but I need to talk to the Queen alone."