Before New Year's Day arrived, a cold wind with guiding banners swept through the streets and alleys of the capital.
The second emperor of the Great Chu passed away three days before the first month of the year, and the whole country was in mourning.
Not only that, the second prince and the fifth prince of the Chu royal family also died of illness one after another.
There are rumors that His Majesty took his two sons with him because he was afraid that he would be lonely on the road to the underworld after his death.
There are also rumors that there are often children crying in the Second Prince's mansion, which is a big taboo. Perhaps the spirits of those children have taken the Second Prince away.
Regardless of what the story is, His Majesty has passed away, but fortunately the Crown Prince is safe and sound. After the coffin is carried into the imperial mausoleum, the new emperor will ascend the throne.
On the day before New Year's Day, Li Shengyi was brought to the palace.
Unlike before when the palace was still somewhat lively, the palace servants gathered in groups of three or five, hiding in a corner of the palace and playing and joking.
After Chu Hong's death, the entire palace fell into silence.
The sky was clear for several days, and even the snow on the streets melted a lot.
The temperature in the already cold capital city became even colder.
Li Shengyi had just gotten off the carriage and walked a few steps when the tip of his nose turned red from the cold.
In her arms, she held a pair of warm gloves made of fox fur, which were the prey Meng Jiuan had captured during the autumn hunt.
The cold air rushed into her nose, and she looked up at the palace with red walls and yellow tiles in front of her. There was no envy in her bright eyes.
On the contrary, when she thought about her father taking her to travel around after the Spring Festival this year, the corners of her lips couldn't help but rise.
Qin Songmo walked to his youngest daughter's side.
The dark pupils took in every move of the little daughter, and the pale thin lips curled up in a faint arc.
Before he could raise his hand to stroke his little daughter's head, he heard another child's voice not far away.
"elder sister!"
When Li Shengyi saw the familiar little face of Little Twelve again, he immediately put aside the joy in his mind and even ignored his father beside him. He raised his foot and ran towards the other person.
"Little Potato, you've worried me to death. How are you? Are you hurt? Did those people do anything to you?"
Chu Huaize's face was flushed red, and it was unclear whether it was because of the cold or excitement.
Seeing Li Shengyi running towards him, he immediately opened his arms and hugged the person in front of him tightly.
"Wow... I miss my sister so much, and I'm so scared. I'm afraid she'll never come back."
"Thanks to my sister's blessing, I can still stand here and meet you. Sister, I miss you."
The soft and tender childish voice had a hint of tears in it. Chu Huaize kept rubbing his head against Li Shengyi's chest, pushing it back and forth, as if...
A little pig is feeding his own cabbage.
Qin Songmo suppressed the smile in his eyes. When he came to the two little kids, he spoke in a deep voice, "Twelfth Prince, pay attention to your appearance."
Chu Huaize raised his head with sobs, and saw Qin Songmo's face with his back to the sun above him. His heart trembled with fear, but he held Li Shengyi's hand and refused to let go.
"Prime Minister Qin, woooo, it's so good to see you again."
Li Shengyi was amused by his every move.
Raising her hand and flicking his head, she laughed, "What nonsense! It's not me who is blessing you. It's the Twelfth Prince's endless blessings and the ancestors of the Great Chu who are protecting you."
Chu Huaize refused to listen and kept saying that it was Li Shengyi who was protecting him.
The sticky look of him hiding in her arms was too much for the usually calm and composed Qin Songmo to bear. She reached out and grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him aside.
"The New Year is coming soon. The Twelfth Prince will be another year older. It's time for him to grow up and become sensible."
There were still two tears in Little Potato's eyes. After hearing what Qin Songmo said, he sniffed his nose and nodded heavily.
"Prime Minister Qin is right. Huai Ze has grown another year older. Sister, wait for Huai Ze to eat more and grow taller. When Huai Ze grows up, he will definitely protect you!"
The more Qin Songmo listened to this, the more he felt something was wrong. The thought that the juicy cabbages he raised at home would really be eaten by pigs came to his mind again.
His face darkened slightly, and he immediately changed the subject, "Where is His Majesty?"
Chu Huaize had just run to the palace gate without carrying his brother's back to pick up Li Shengyi and the others.
However, he had just been rescued from danger and was unable to control his emotions well, which led to his out-of-control appearance just now.
I raised my hand to wipe away the tears from the corners of my eyes, and then I heard him speak in a deep voice, "It's in the imperial study, sister, I'll take you there."
Li Shengyi glanced at the little hand in front of him, and seeing that his hand was red from the cold, he quickly put his hand into his warm gloves.
"It's freezing cold, be careful of frostbite."
"Come on, Daddy, let's go find His Majesty."
Li Shengyi had no idea what Qin Songmo was feeling at the moment.
She has been here for so long, and apart from Lin Miaomiao, she has only made one friend, Chu Huaize.
Even though there is a big age gap between the two of them, it does not prevent her from liking the innocence of children.
After his hands were warmed, Chu Huaize, with a silly smile on his face, went to the imperial study together. Qin Songmo followed behind with a face as dark as the bottom of a pot.
Eunuch Fu Hai, who was leading the way, chuckled, "Miss Shengyi is so lucky..."
Before he could finish the rest of the sentence, he was horrified by a glare from the person next to him and immediately shut his mouth.
Amitabha.
The palace has been extremely busy these days, and he almost forgot about the Prime Minister and how General Meng doted on Miss Shengyi.
He'll have to bang his mouth against the door in the future, otherwise he'll cause trouble. His good days have just begun.
The imperial study, with its floor heating turned on, was warm as spring.
After hearing the report, Chu Huaiyuan put down the wolf hair brush in his hand and saw the familiar figure step into the hall.
Seeing the soft white little ball approaching, he put away his serious expression, stood up and walked around the desk. Before she could bow, he reached out and held her in his arms.
"I haven't seen you for a while. Shengyi has grown taller."
Li Shengyi had a good relationship with Chu Huaiyuan earlier, and the parrot the latter gave her is still being kept in her yard.
Being praised for growing taller, Li Shengyi's eyes curved with laughter. "Yeah, yeah, I just said I've grown taller, but Daddy always says I haven't."
At that time, Qin Songmo had just stepped into the imperial study.
Hearing that the first thing his little daughter did when she entered the palace was to complain, he raised his brows and said in a deep voice, "In Daddy's eyes, Shengyi will always be a child who has not grown up."
After hearing what the father and daughter said, Chu Huaiyuan burst into laughter.
He believed in first impressions and fell in love with Li Shengyi from the first sight.
Later, when I got to know her and learned about her quirky personality, I liked her even more.
He asked the palace maid to bring tea, and he never let go of her hand from beginning to end.
Chu Huaize followed closely beside his brother. Seeing that his brother refused to let go of his sister, he frowned and reached out to tug at his brother's sleeve.
"My royal brother refused to hold me, but held my sister instead. My sister is one year older than me."
"No, I want to hug my sister too."
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