Chapter 61 This is the person I like

Seeing that Concubine Zhen looked serious and didn't seem to be saying anything joking, Yunzhi felt mixed emotions of sadness and joy, and tears immediately fell.

She squatted and moved forward, holding onto Concubine Zhen's knees, and choked up and whispered, "My lady, I thought I would die here in this lifetime, but I never expected, I never expected..."

Concubine Zhen patted her shoulders and poured a bucket of cold water on her head: "Don't be too happy too soon. I just think so now, but whether it will work or not is still unknown."

It is difficult for an ordinary woman to leave her husband's family, let alone the woman of a king.

Yunzhi nodded vigorously and raised her hand to wipe away her tears: "I know, I know, but at least I have hope in my heart."

Concubine Zhen murmured, "Yes, there is hope."

Concubine Zhen felt disheartened and became open-minded. She no longer took the initiative to go out to socialize. She just lay on the couch all day, eating snacks, and letting the palace maids and eunuchs take turns telling her interesting stories about their hometowns before entering the palace. She often laughed out loud when she heard something funny, and her life was quite comfortable.

When Concubine Ning saw that Concubine Zhen had not talked to her or taken her out for a walk for several days, she became worried and brought the Eighteenth Prince to visit her several times.

When Concubine Zhen saw that the mother and son were still as enthusiastic as before, she was afraid that she would be bored and took the initiative to invite her out for a walk for the first time, but she refused.

Concubine Ning was not a particularly warm-hearted person, and after being rejected, she no longer invited Concubine Zhen to go out, and only visited her occasionally.

---

Due to the series of major events, all the concubines in the harem became more disciplined in the next few days. Except for going to Fengyi Palace to pay respects to the empress every day, they all stayed obediently in their respective palaces.

Emperor Wen Zhao never summoned any concubines to sleep with him, but only occasionally sat with the empress and talked for a while.

If he got angry in the court, he would ask someone to take Xiaojiu over after the court session to play chess with him.

For several days in a row, Ji Jinyou had to sit at the table and play chess with Emperor Wen Zhao. God knows, she really didn't like playing this game and just played randomly. However, Emperor Wen Zhao seemed to want to train her to be a great chess player and explained to her with extra patience.

Sometimes, when Ji Jinyou got impatient playing, she would cheat and stretch out her two fleshy little hands to slam the chessboard. Every time this happened, Emperor Wen Zhao would laugh heartily, tap her forehead and call her a little bastard.

Fortunately, nothing major happened in the original plot in recent days, and no information from Tong Tong was revealed. The palace finally became quiet and harmonious.

Two days later, the Fourth Prince returned safely to the capital.

He went straight into the palace without even changing his clothes, all dusty and exhausted, to report on his duties to Emperor Wen Zhao.

As soon as he entered the Chongde Hall, before he even got close, he spoke in a high-pitched voice, sounding quite excited: "Father, your son is back."

The man with the loud voice scared Ji Jinyou, who was sitting on the couch and fiddling with chess pieces. He looked up and saw a tall and handsome man kneeling in front of Emperor Wen Zhao.

Seeing that he looked 50% like the Sixth Prince, Ji Jinyou knew that this must be the Fourth Prince. She couldn't help but sigh in her heart: [My dear, Fourth Brother is so handsome, but why does he have such a loud voice? I was shocked.]

System: [People who practice martial arts always have more internal energy, so the Royal Concubine always calls him a reckless man.]

Hearing this conversation, the Fourth Prince was stunned. Only then did he notice that there was a round and plump baby sitting on the couch. The baby was delicate and had a pair of big, round eyes. She was extremely adorable.

Today he returned to Beijing, and his eldest brother went to the city gate to greet him. He told him that there was something strange about Xiaojiu and that his life was saved by Xiaojiu.

He was very puzzled at the time and asked questions repeatedly, but the eldest prince refused to say a word and only said that he would know when he met the person. Now that he saw it, he felt that this matter of Xiaojiu was really strange.

Emperor Wen Zhao saw that the little girl was frightened by the rough man, so he raised his hand to stroke her little head, glared at the fourth prince, and scolded: "Come back if you want, but can't you speak softly? Look how scared Xiaojiu is."

Without waiting for Emperor Wen Zhao to call out, the Fourth Prince stood up on his own, took a step forward, stretched out his two large hands like palm-leaf fans, and picked up the little girl. He smiled and said, "Xiaojiu, I received your paintings. I like them very much. Thank you, Xiaojiu."

Now that Fourth Brother was fine, Ji Jinyou smiled happily and pretended to be stupid.

Seeing the little girl's cute smile, the Fourth Prince was delighted and laughed, "Fourth Brother brought you some small things. I was in a hurry to go to the palace today and didn't have time to pack them up. I'll bring them back to you later."

In fact, it's not that he didn't have time to rummage through the boxes, but he didn't know at first that his life was saved by Xiaojiu. He just saw the childish drawings tucked in Xiaoqi's letter and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He thought that she had just drawn them casually after listening to what the adults said.

After the matter was resolved, on the way back, he bought some small things for his three sisters when he passed through the town.

Those small things were fine for a sister he was not that close to, but they seemed too insincere for a life-saving favor. He should prepare some expensive gifts in the future.

Ji Jinyou held his little fist and arched his back, saying in a baby voice, "Thank you, Fourth Brother."

The fourth prince touched the little girl's round head, and then touched her small round hands, and couldn't let go: "Father, was I also so lovable when I was a child?"

Emperor Wen Zhao snorted coldly, stood up and snatched the child back: "You are far from it. Come on, don't stand here anymore. Go see your mother and mother first, and come back later."

The fourth prince agreed and reached out to touch Xiaojiu's head, but was slapped away by Emperor Wen Zhao, who said in disgust, "Hurry up and leave."

The fourth prince left with a smile.

Ji Jinyou kicked her chubby legs twice, indicating that she wanted to get off the ground, and Emperor Wen Zhao put her down.

She bowed her little body and said, "Father will talk to Fourth Brother later. Youyou, go play with Seventh and Eighth Sisters."

Emperor Wen Zhao thought that some things were not suitable to be said in front of the children, so he agreed. After Ji Jinyou paid his respects, he went out, holding Jin Xing's hand and walked towards Mingzhu Palace.

When they arrived at Mingzhu Palace, they learned that the seventh and eighth princesses had just heard that the fourth prince had entered the palace, and had just rushed to Fengyi Palace to see him. The maids in Mingzhu Palace enthusiastically led Ji Jinyou inside, saying that she should wait there.

Ji Jinyou waved her hands and said nothing, then took Jin Xing away, "Xing Xing, let's go see the little prince."

Now that the young master is favored by His Majesty and the two ladies, he can go anywhere, and Jin Xing will naturally agree.

---

The wound on Xue Yili's shoulder had gradually healed. The bandage had now been removed and he dared to use a little more force. At this moment, he was sitting on the couch beside the bed, reading a book with his left and right hands alternately.

Cong An came in with a medicine bag in one hand and a bamboo basket covered with a towel in the other. He then closed the door, walked to Xue Yili, put the bamboo basket in front of him, and whispered, "Your Highness."

Xue Yili put down the book in his hand, looking puzzled: "Why are you so mysterious?"

Cong'an lifted the cloth on the bamboo basket and said, "I went to get the medicine and met Yunzhi, a maidservant of Concubine Zhen, on the way. She stuffed this into my hand and left."

Xue Yili sat up straight and looked into the bamboo basket. He saw the package of snacks inside and a purse underneath. He reached out and picked up the purse, and found it was a heavy bag of loose silver.

He frowned slightly and looked at Cong'an: "What does this mean?"

Cong An shook his head: "Yunzhi just said that it was a little gift from her mother, Your Highness, please accept it. I don't want it, but she stuffed the thing into my arms and ran away. There are many people outside, and I can't chase her, so I had to take it back first."

Xue Yili threw the purse back into the basket, picked up the book and leaned back on the couch, saying calmly, "Nothing will happen without profit. This Zhenpin must be up to something."

Cong An nodded, thinking it was true: "Yes, although we are both from Dayao and came to Dasheng together, but in all these years, I have never seen her care about you, Your Highness. Now she comes here like this, she must have some plan. Your Highness, how do you deal with these things?"

Xue Yili said indifferently: "Keep it for now and see what happens to her later."

Cong An Yingshi took it down and took the snacks outside to distribute to the eunuchs and palace maids. After counting the money, he recorded it in his account book which had only a few pages and put it away carefully.

Just as Zong An had finished his work, he heard the palace maid outside come to report, "Your Highness, the Ninth Princess is here."

"Please come in." Xue Yili's eyes lit up, he threw the book on the couch, hurriedly got up to put on his shoes, and hurried out to greet him.

Ji Jinyou had been let in by the palace maid. When she saw Xue Yili, she smiled and said, "Your Highness."

Xue Yili stepped forward and held her with his hand: "Little Princess, you're here."

Last time, the little princess promised him that she would come to him to learn how to read, but later on, the palace was in chaos and several major events happened, and people were in a panic, so the little princess never came.

Now that the palace has been peaceful for the past two days and the little princess has not come, he wondered if the little princess was too young to remember and had forgotten about this matter.

This morning he was thinking that if she didn't come to see him in the next two days, he would go to see her, but he didn't expect that she would come.

Seeing the little boy's clear eyes and smiling face, Ji Jinyou also smiled: "Your Highness, I came to you to learn how to read. I hope I didn't disturb you?"

"I don't have anything important to do, so I won't bother you." Xue Yili nodded and extended his hand as a gesture of invitation: "Little Princess, please come in."

The two children, one big and one small, were only a few years old, but they acted like adults greeting each other. Jin Xing couldn't help laughing when she saw them.

The group of people entered the house. Ji Jinyou was afraid that Xue Yili would come to hug her again, so she walked a step slower on purpose, wanting to wait for Jin Xing to carry her to the chair. But when she got closer, she found that the chair she sat on last time was much shorter.

She lowered her head to look at the legs of the stool. The original color of the wood was revealed at the feet of the stool. It was obviously just sawed off. She looked up at Xue Yili.

Xue Yili smiled gently and said, "Then you can sit down."

Although he would have liked to hold her in his arms, the little princess said last time that if he held her again, she would not come to him. Children have bad tempers, so he did not dare to take the risk. So when he came back that day, he asked Cong'an to cut off a large section of the chair leg.

Now that the chair was low enough, Ji Jinyou tiptoed a little and sat on it. She swayed a little and found it stable. She was very satisfied and nodded to Xue Yili with a smile: "Thank you, Your Highness."

Seeing that she was satisfied, Xue Yili was quite happy and sat beside her.

Cong An knew how much his Highness valued the little princess, so he hurriedly prepared tea and snacks without any instructions, and they were served in a moment.

Xue Yili invited the little girl to have some snack. Ji Jinyou was not hungry yet, so she waved her hand to thank him and picked up a small cup of tea.

The last time she came, he was still using a large teacup and only temporarily replaced it with a slightly smaller one for her. This time, he replaced the entire set with small teacups, which showed that it was specially prepared for her.

The little girl held the teacup in a serious manner, sipping it in small sips like an adult, and chatted with the system in her mind: [All, your highness is so considerate. ]

System: [You can’t judge a person by his appearance. According to the original storyline, he is not that kind of person.]

Youyou asked: [What do they say? ]

System: [In the early stage, he was a little pitiful, suffered all kinds of humiliation, and endured it in every possible way. In the later stage, he became cold-blooded, ruthless, cruel, and cool.]

Ji Jinyou listened to this series of adjectives and looked at Xue Yili. He saw that he was sitting upright in a chair with a gentle smile on his handsome face. He looked like a well-behaved child.

She really couldn't see that he would become like that in the future. But thinking of his fierce and gloomy eyes when they first met, she felt that he also had the potential to become evil.

Xue Yili sat beside them, drank a cup of tea, and listened quietly to Yi Wa and Yi Tong chatting.

After Ji Jinyou took two sips, he put down the cup and said to Jin Xing, "Xingxing, Youyou needs to learn calligraphy. You go wait outside."

Jin Xing replied, "I'm right at the door. If you need anything, just call me."

Ji Jinyou nodded and instructed like a little adult: "There is a chair under the eaves, sit down, don't stand all the time, it's tiring."

Jin Xing agreed with a smile, bowed to the two of them, and turned to walk out.

Xue Yili nodded to Cong'an, and Cong'an followed him out to take care of it.

When there were only two people left in the room, Xue Yili put down his teacup and stood up to invite them: "Little Princess, please move over here."

Ji Jinyou got down from the chair as soon as he could and followed Xue Yili to the desk.

The chair in front of the desk was a bit high. She estimated that she could still climb up, so she put her two little arms on the chair and prepared to climb.

Xue Yili, however, brought over a small stool from somewhere and placed it at her feet: "Little princess, step on this."

Ji Jinyou looked down and saw that the material of the small stool was still very new, obviously it was newly made. She tilted her head back and looked at him with a smile: "Thank you, Your Highness."

Xue Yili pursed his lips and smiled: "No need to be so polite."

Ji Jinyou stepped on a small stool and sat on the chair, but found a new problem. She was too short. When she sat on the chair, the tip of her nose was just level with the table and she couldn't reach it at all.

This desk was originally for adults to use. Emperor Wen Zhao improved the living conditions of this small courtyard in terms of food, clothing and daily necessities, but he obviously did not care about the spiritual world of a little proton and was not meticulous enough to replace the desk for him.

Normally, the table was a little high for Xue Yili to write on, so he stood most of the time. He was only thinking about the little girl not being able to sit on the chair, but neglected the table.

The two children, one big and one small, looked at each other, and then Xue Yili said, "How about we go to the couch?"

Ji Jinyou nodded: "That's the only way."

Then the two of them moved to the couch and sat on the same side. Xue Yili spread paper on the small table, ground ink, wrote his name, and pointed it to the little girl: "This is my name, Xue Yili."

Ji Jinyou recognized them, but could only play dumb and pointed with his little finger, reading: "Xue, Yi, Li."

The soft baby voice was particularly serious. Xue Yili smiled and wrote down three more words, "This is your name, Ji Jinyou."

Ji Jinyou then followed suit: "Ji, Jin, You."

"Xue Yili."

"Xue, Yi, Li."

"Ji Jinyou."

"Ji, Jin, You."

---

In Fengyi Palace, the Fourth Prince turned around and let the Empress and the Imperial Consort look at him. "I am fine, nothing happened to me."

Seeing that he was unharmed, the Empress and the Imperial Concubine were completely relieved.

The fourth prince succinctly recounted the whole incident, and at the end he sighed, "Thanks to the timely arrival of the people sent by my father and eldest brother, otherwise I might not have been able to escape unscathed this time."

Princess Seventh and Eighth came in and heard this as soon as she entered the room. She replied, "Fourth brother, you have to thank Xiaojiu."

The fourth prince looked at his two sisters, stretched out his hands and touched their heads, then nodded with a smile: "I already know. As soon as I saw my elder brother, he told me."

Seven or eight princesses surrounded the Fourth Prince, chattering and asking him questions. They also told him everything that happened in the palace. The Empress and the Royal Consort could not get a word in at all and just kept laughing and shaking their heads.

After learning the whole story, even though the Fourth Prince often traveled and had a wide range of knowledge, he couldn't help but marvel: "I just heard Xiao Jiu and Tong Tong talking, I never thought there would be such a strange thing in the world."

Thinking of the ending of everyone in the original plot, everyone couldn't help but sigh, and secretly feel lucky that they had Xiaojiu and Tongtong, otherwise there would be no one left in the house in the end.

When the Fourth Prince saw that the time was almost right and remembered that Emperor Wen Zhao was still waiting for him, he got up and went to Chongde Hall.

The father and son had dinner together, and then they talked by candlelight. The fourth prince had someone bring a thick box of account books and said solemnly, "Father, these are the accounts of officials in several provinces in Jiangnan who were corrupt, accepted bribes, and sold their positions and abused their powers. Please have a look."

Emperor Wen Zhao picked up the books one by one and roughly flipped through them. When he saw the last one, he was so angry that he threw the account book in his hand to the ground and remained silent for a long time.

The fourth prince sat aside and waited quietly for a while, then suggested, "Father, catch them all and chop them up."

Knowing that his son was the type who would fight without making a fuss, Emperor Wen Zhao did not mind and waved his hand: "You have to chop off a few, but not all of them, otherwise who will do the job?"

The fourth prince said carelessly: "Just promote him again. There are so many talented young people in this world."

Emperor Wen Zhao pointed at the box containing the book and snorted coldly: "All of these people here were outstanding talents. People's hearts will change, and killing them alone is useless."

The fourth prince spread his hands and said, "Then there is nothing I can do." He was too lazy to think about all those twists and turns.

Emperor Wen Zhao patted his shoulder and said, "You have made great contributions this time. Go back and have a good rest. I will discuss the rest with your elder and second brothers."

"As for the person who harmed you behind the scenes, I will also let your eldest brother investigate thoroughly and give you an explanation."

"It must be those termites who did it. When we find out who it is, please let me chop him up myself," said the Fourth Prince.

Emperor Wen Zhao nodded and reminded him: "It was not easy to save your life. You should be grateful to Xiaojiu."

The fourth prince patted his chest and said proudly: "Your son knows. From now on, your son will protect your ninth sister for the rest of her life."

Emperor Wen Zhao admired the chivalrous spirit of this reckless boy very much, nodded with satisfaction, and said: "You are already grown up, it is time for you to get married. I will talk to your mother later and help you choose a girl from a good family."

"Or you can choose whichever family you like, and the emperor will arrange a marriage for you."

In the past few years, the fourth child has been running around and helping him with a lot of things, and all of them are thankless and hard jobs that no one is willing to take on. It can be said that he has worked hard and made great contributions.

Originally, he thought that the fourth son was still a young man, and it would be fine for him to get married in a year or two, so he was not in a hurry.

Of course, it was also because the Empress and the Royal Consort had tried to arrange a marriage for the Fourth Prince several times, but he refused, so the matter was shelved.

But this time something almost happened, and he suddenly felt that it would be better for these fourth sons to get married and have descendants as soon as possible.

Upon hearing what Emperor Wen Zhao said, a suspicious blush suddenly appeared on the handsome face of the Fourth Prince. The tall and rough man who used to be coy suddenly became shy, touching his ears and rubbing his thighs.

When Emperor Wen Zhao saw this, he was immediately delighted, "Oh, so this is the person you like?"