On New Year's Eve, the news that the deposed crown prince had transformed into Prince Chang became the hottest topic of the night.
The next day was the Spring Festival, and it was much calmer.
However, the Xiao family was still lively for a while, because Yan Qiushu heard that the fifth lady Xiao Huaiya was coming from the Taoist temple, so when it was just dawn, she ran to Madam Xiao's door to kowtow and wish her a happy new year.
Yan Qiushu couldn't get up that early, so she missed it.
But she received a blessing of peace!
It is said that the fifth lady made it herself and placed it in front of the Buddha for a long time.
The Xiao family became more and more joyful, and Yan Qiushu was also in a very good mood. When the children came to her to wish her a happy new year, she gave them red envelopes and a lot of food, and even allowed them to eat as much spicy strips as they wanted.
Of course, before she had time to feel sad about how much money she had lost from the red envelopes she had given out, she received red envelopes from Madam Xiao, Madam Xiao, and others. The red envelopes were directly fifty taels of silver notes, which was so generous that Yan Qiushu jumped for joy.
Because she was happy, she became more enthusiastic about cooking.
So the Xiao family ate and drank and celebrated the New Year happily.
But some people had an unhappy year because of the unexpected events on New Year's Eve.
The first to be affected was Yan Qiuyuan.
As a reborn person, from her rebirth a year ago to now, almost all situations have been within her expectations.
Except for the problem that occurred a few years ago when Xiao Pingzhou, the young master of the Xiao family, served as the second emperor's grandson's study companion.
Now, the deposed crown prince who should have been waiting for death quietly, suddenly had news of being seriously ill. It was because he had been in the cold palace for a long time without nutrition, and the weather was cold, which made him suffer from cold weather. What's more, he ate some leftovers from the palace on New Year's Eve, and suddenly he fell ill, vomiting and having diarrhea, and even vomiting blood, causing the guards to go and report it without delay.
Because of Yan Qiuyuan's identity, she couldn't know everything immediately.
But when the Yan family came back from the New Year's Eve dinner in the palace that day, they all knew about it. The news that the deposed prince was named King Chang completely shocked everyone.
Yan Qiuyuan was also stunned.
The moment she heard the news, the shock on her face was even greater than that of Concubine Lu who heard the news in the deep palace.
What's with the deposed prince vomiting and having diarrhea because of leftovers? According to the timeline, he should still be taking the chronic poison. When the news of Xiao Huaiting's death and the Xiao family's complete withdrawal from the center of power comes out next year, the deposed prince will vomit blood due to anger and the poison.
After that, he was taken to the emperor's side for treatment, but because the poison entered his bone marrow, he died soon after.
Who would have thought that the poison would break out so early, and it was said that he had a stomach upset, causing him to suddenly become the King of Chang. This is simply...!
Is this what changed after her rebirth?
Yan Qiuyuan was flustered. If it was a small matter like what happened with the Xiao family, she would not be so shocked.
The deposed crown prince, now known as Prince Chang, is the son of the late queen and the only legitimate son of the royal family.
Unfortunately, the late queen was weak and died shortly after giving birth to her son.
The emperor was grateful for the empress's virtue and made his only legitimate son the crown prince. He invited great scholars to teach him and invited the old Duke of the Xiao family to be his martial arts master. The second young master of the Xiao family, who died young, was his study companion.
With both civil and military achievements, this configuration made it impossible for other princes to stand out.
Because of this, all the princes were united in their treatment of the crown prince, but even so they did not affect his status until five years ago, when the royal father and son had a big quarrel in the imperial study, and the crown prince was deposed and imprisoned ever since!
Yan Qiuyuan didn't know what caused the father and son to quarrel like that, but after that, the other princes began to step forward.
Then in the middle of the next year, when Xiao Huaiting led a large army to fight against the enemy, he was trapped in the city. The food supplies had not arrived and the soldiers were exhausted. In order to have a chance of survival, they opened the city gates to meet the enemy, but were defeated.
News came that the deposed crown prince had also died.
Xiao Huaiwu, the fourth daughter of the Xiao family, took the remaining Xiao family army to collect evidence. It happened that the fifth prince and the sixth prince were fighting fiercely. She accidentally found evidence that the two princes deliberately delayed military supplies due to internal fighting, which led to Xiao Huaiting's death in battle.
In addition, the death of the deposed crown prince was also discovered to be done by the third prince, the fifth prince, and the sixth prince.
When the incident broke out, the two princes completely lost the support of the people. The fourth prince, on the other hand, had no intention of fighting for power. He was fond of poetry, books and Buddhism, and had always been on good terms with the Prince of Jin. Therefore, when the two princes joined forces to force the palace, he and the Prince of Jin led troops to stop them, and then chose to travel around and give the throne to the Prince of Jin.
Now, it is still far from next year, but the deposed prince suddenly appears in public again. What does this mean?
Once the third prince is gone, the fifth prince and the sixth prince will fight each other, and the one who benefits will be the crown prince!
Ever since Concubine Lu took control of the harem, there have been no surviving princes in the harem for more than ten years, only princesses. Therefore, the Fourth Prince himself did not want to be the emperor, so he chose the Prince of Jin.
If there is any other option, even if the Fourth Prince wants it, the royal family will not agree.
Yan Qiuyuan's face turned very ugly. The deposed prince could not live!
Even though he is now just a person who was crowned king in advance and kicked out of the fight for the crown prince, as long as he is alive, the forces that once defected to the deposed prince will be wary.
She took out paper and pen to write a letter to Prince Zhou Zejing of Jin.
Just as she started writing, Yan Qiuyuan stopped again. If she could think of this, Zhou Zejing would naturally think of it too. She had to write something useful.
After thinking about it, she changed the paper and changed the content to how to completely control the Xiao family.
Apart from other things, the Xiao family's biggest weakness is their emphasis on friendship and loyalty. At the same time, they are too conceited and are not shy about being close to the newly deposed crown prince, which will inevitably arouse the fear of the other three princes.
In less than a month, a war will break out on the border of the Great Zhou. At that time, Xiao Huaiting will definitely lead his troops there. Since he is not in the capital, many things can be planned.
For example, the Third Prince has lost his most important supporter, the Qiao family, and his heyday has passed. He must be forced into a desperate situation as soon as possible, otherwise once his power is swallowed up by the Fifth Prince and the Sixth Prince, the two of them will lose balance.
There is also the second branch of the Xiao family, such as the hidden fifth young lady of the Xiao family.
She clearly remembered the fifth lady of the Xiao family, who later fell in love with the fourth prince.
The Fourth Prince is still traveling abroad. When he comes back, he will go to the Kyoto temple to worship Buddha on the first day of every month. The two met by chance and discussed Buddhist insights. Because of this, Zhou Zejing was able to smoothly recruit the scattered Xiao family army and made great efforts to intimidate the royal family and the aristocratic families!
In her previous life, Yan Qiuyuan was just a woman in the harem. She had to hear many things indirectly from her husband, so she didn't know the details.
But in this life, her status changed, and she was engaged to Zhou Zejing, becoming the future wife of the prince. Her father would tell her many things, and Zhou Zejing would discuss things with her because of some of her foresight, letting her know a lot of things.
Some people are actually far from being as pure as they appear.
Was it really just a chance encounter between the Fourth Prince and the Fifth Miss of the Xiao family?
Yan Qiuyuan smiled strangely, blew gently on the ink on the paper, and when it was dry, folded it and put it in an envelope, then handed it to the maid beside her: "Put it in the food box and give it to the prince."
"Yes." The maid took it and left.
"Girl!" Shui Yan shouted, "The popcorn is ready!"
Yan Qiushu stared at the small milk pot in front of her without turning her head, stirring it with chopsticks: "I'm ready too, turn it over."
Shui Yu immediately went over with the small milk pot in both hands and poured all the popcorn in the pot into it.
Then Yan Qiushu cooperated and covered the lid. Aunt Xu handed over a thick towel to keep it warm. She pressed the lid and shook it hard, trying to get every grain of popcorn coated with its caramel.
At this point the whole kitchen was filled with the aroma of caramel popcorn.
Shui Xuan looked at the already prepared bucket of popcorn with great concern: "Girl, if you make so much, will it really not go bad?"
"It's not bad, at most it's not as crispy, but it's good to have something to eat on the way." Yan Qiushu smiled. When she felt it was almost done, she put down the small milk pot and poured the popcorn into it: "Pack it up separately and try to keep it as airtight as possible."
"Yes." Shui Yu nodded obediently and said with a smile: "If you do this, Young Master Ping Yu will be reluctant to leave."
Yan Qiushu sighed with some reluctance: "I didn't expect him to leave so early. I was thinking we could go out and play together during the Lantern Festival."
The Xiao family is very nice, but the adults can't play with her. They have too many things to consider and can't do whatever they want. But she is different. She grew up in a safe society without so much intrigue. She traveled here and quickly found a golden leg for herself. Even a child like Shen Pingyu thinks more than her.
Yan Qiushu also played with them.
When she plays with others, she is afraid of being sold without even realizing it.
Especially the kid Shen Pingyu, although he looks serious and old-fashioned, and sometimes like a little old man, frowning when he sees Dongdong eating badly, but he is tough on the outside but soft on the inside, a little bit arrogant, and good-looking, so she still likes him very much.
However, after the Spring Festival, he will rush back to the Shen family to celebrate the Lantern Festival.
The Shen family is ten days away from Kyoto, and he left on the second day of the Lunar New Year, just in time to catch up.
Yan Qiushu was afraid that he would be bored on the road, so she prepared a lot of food. Popcorn was just one of them, and there were also spicy strips, bread, cakes and so on.
The weather is cold now, so things won't go bad if you leave them outside.
By the way, the weather is cold. If we go straight ahead and bump around on the road, we might catch a cold easily.
After all, Shen Pingyu is thin and his physique is definitely not as good as Dongdong's.
"Miss Yan, Young Master Pingyu is almost ready!" a maid came over to remind.
Yan Qiushu quickly came back to her senses: "Yeah, I'm almost there too!"
She responded and asked someone to pack the popcorn first. She took the ginger and chopped it up, quickly wrapped it in gauze, and squeezed out the yellow ginger juice.
Then take out the milk, add a little sugar, and heat it in water for the time it takes to make a cup of tea.
At this time, Shui Yu had already prepared everything and had someone send it to the outer courtyard.
Yan Qiushu asked Aunt Xu to take out the food box. She took out the milk through a thick towel and poured it into the bowl of ginger juice.
The tender white milk poured out from the bowl, causing the ginger juice at the bottom of the bowl to sway, but soon the two merged into one.
"Put this in your pocket and let Pingyu drink it before he leaves." Yan Qiushu handed it over.
Aunt Xu packed it up and said, "The old servant will take it over."
"Go ahead." Yan Qiushu nodded, tidied herself up, and followed behind.
At the Xiao family's gate.
Everything was ready now, just like when they came, two carriages, several entourages and servants.
However, as the servants packed up, the original one carriage for the goods increased to two. Shen Pingyu looked at the many things helplessly, most of which were various kinds of food, and said, "Why does Pingyu need so much food?"
"Ashu is kind-hearted and loves you. Eat more." Mrs. Xiao rubbed her grandson's head reluctantly and looked at him without blinking. Suddenly, she pulled the corners of her lips and smiled again.
Shen Pingyu blinked blankly.
Madam Xiao said, "Ashu has fattened you up. You look much more pleasing to the eye than when you first came."
Shen Pingyu's face turned red, and he moved his feet as if he wanted to leave.
But in the end, he didn't move. Instead, he looked around the house, frowning slightly: "Aunt Yan's trip out really takes too much time."
The last time they were waiting for her to go see the opening of a braised food shop, this person made them wait for a long time, although she was indeed dressed very beautifully in the end.
Madam Xiao pursed her lips and said nothing. The child himself didn't even know that he was living more like a child than before.
I don’t know whether her decision is right or wrong.
Just then, Yan Qiushu finally arrived. She had calculated the time. She had done a part yesterday and could do the rest today. But she didn't expect that when she came out, everything had been cleaned up so well. She said apologetically, "Pingyu, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for a while."
"It's okay, we're half an hour early." Shen Pingyu shook his head.
Yan Qiushu smiled and asked Aunt Xu to open the food box. She picked up the ginger milk that had solidified after a while and handed it to her: "Drink it, it will warm your body, so that you won't get sick after just going out."
Shen Pingyu took it with both hands and placed the spoon on it. He thought it would feel like the double skin milk he had eaten before, but when he got closer, he smelled a slightly hot and spicy ginger.
The solidified milky white color is like egg custard. When you put it in your mouth, you can taste the sweet milk and the ginger flavor you just smelled.
Chen Pingyu actually doesn't like food with a strong ginger flavor.
But under the suppression of the milk flavor, the taste does not seem so unbearable. Soon after the "soft tofu" is cut between the lips and teeth and swallowed, it seems that a heat rises from the abdomen.
His chest, which had been a little cold standing outside, began to feel warm.
After finishing a bowl, there was some sweat on the tip of my nose and my hands and feet were not so cold anymore.
"Thank you, Aunt Yan." Shen Pingyu said softly.
"You're welcome." Yan Qiushu rubbed his head. "I hope that when you come back, the little bit of meat I managed to feed you will still be there, okay?"
The young boy blushed a little embarrassedly, but did not deny it. Instead, he nodded hard: "Pingyu will try his best."
Saying one thing and doing another has turned into saying one thing and doing another.
Yan Qiushu couldn't help but pinch his handsome face: "Well, see you next time."
Shen Pingyu felt pain from being pinched, and took a step back slightly cautiously. He glanced at her and said, "Then next time, I hope you will also be engaged. After all, you are not young anymore."
Although, but, you are just you, what are you doing!
Yan Qiushu: “???”
After Shen Pingyu finished speaking, he quickly looked at Madam Xiao and others seriously: “Grandma, uncle, aunt…Pingyu left first.”
Then, without waiting for anyone's response, he left for the first time, fleeing in a somewhat embarrassed manner.
"Oh, hahaha..." Xiao Huaiwu seemed to have just reacted. He looked at his nephew, then at Yan Qiushu, and laughed so hard that he fell forward and backward!
Yan Qiushu: ...
Fortunately, Xiao Huaiting is not here because of something!
She quickly called out and returned to the yard. However, before she left, another carriage appeared in front of the Xiao Mansion. The maid put down the footstool, opened the carriage door, and helped the people inside out.
At this moment, Xiao Huaiwu's smile suddenly stopped. A look of vigilance and preparedness appeared on her pretty face. She said sarcastically, "Hey, what wind blew you back here, Second Sister-in-law?!"
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