In the corridor, two children were discussing what the snacks tasted like. Their childish voices could be heard even from the hall.
"Your Majesty and Your Majesty are grateful for visiting my humble home. I apologize for not coming in person to greet you," Su Zhiruan stood up and bowed again. These two were of high status and esteemed position. Since the empress dowager passed away, the emperor and empress had a deep love for each other in the palace, and there was no other concubine in the palace. The emperor and empress had the highest status in the whole world.
And now, these two people actually came to her residence and were entertained with gifts of branches and leaves.
If outsiders knew about this, they would probably faint from fright.
"Hurry up and get up. Your name is Su Zhiruan, right? Then I'd like to call you Ruanruan, okay?" The queen saw her precious grandchildren, and also saw her daughter-in-law who was gentle, polite, beautiful and fair-skinned to her liking. Her well-maintained face was filled with smiles one after another. "Huaichu is really well hidden. He has been offered marriages over the years, but he refused all of them. It turns out that he already has a lover and even has a child. Ruanruan, after you enter the palace, your mother will also have a companion."
"Ahem." The emperor could hardly bear to hear it any longer. He coughed twice to signal the queen to be more restrained. With just a few words, she was already called "mother". Although he was also very satisfied with Su Zhiruan becoming his daughter-in-law, he still steadied his expression. "What happened between you and the prince? How did you two meet?"
Su Zhiruan knew this question would come, so she answered calmly, "I was an orphan from Sujia Village, and I happened to meet the seriously injured Crown Prince..."
She didn't say a few words. The emperor and the empress knew that the prince had been assassinated and that he had been missing for more than a month, but they never thought that the person who saved him was Su Zhiruan, and they actually met at this time.
"That was also the time when branches and leaves were folded..." The queen showed a look of understanding.
Su Zhiruan nodded.
In the corridor, the two children were still dividing their time. They were brothers from the same mother, and after they grew up a little, Su Zhiruan discovered that they had completely inherited the looks of both himself and Fu Huaichu.
This resemblance was as if the emperor and empress came in and, without even asking any careful questions, they were certain that the two children must be Su Zhiruan and Fu Huaichu's.
Zhe Ye looks like a smaller version of Fu Huaichu. Even though he has never seen his father since he was a child, some of his behavioral habits and speaking style are exactly the same as Fu Huaichu. Zhe Zhi is a little clingy, but she is fair and pretty, and her eyes are exactly the same as Su Zhiruan's.
"So, the prince gave you some money and then left?" When the emperor heard this, he blew his beard and glared, expressing his thoughts, "This kid treats his wife like this?"
"Your Highness came to see me again later, but I had already left by then."
Su Zhiruan told them the whole story truthfully. There was no point in lying in front of them because they already knew what they needed to know anyway.
Sitting in her seat, she suddenly thought of the night a few days ago when Fu Huaichu questioned her almost frantically. Even when she recalled it now, she could still remember those hurt and painful red eyes.
She took a sip of tea.
Maybe she was slow to deal with feelings, or maybe she was only thinking about completing the task and educating Zheye Zhezhi, so she neglected others. She didn't quite understand why he remembered her so deeply in just two months, and why he went back to dig for three days and three nights to try to find some relics that belonged to her. Why did he look for her everywhere after she left?
Su Zhiruan didn't quite understand. She held the teacup and listened to the emperor and the queen talking.
"Ruan Ruan, bring Zhezhi and Zheye to the capital. Your father will give you some gifts." The emperor suddenly remembered that he came in a hurry this time and didn't bring anything, so he said, "Zhezhi and Zheye are Huaichu's children, and they should be canonized as the young prince and princess."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Su Zhiruan guessed almost the same. After they knew that Zhe Ye and Zhe Zhi were Fu Huaichu's children, they thought about taking them back. She hesitated for a moment and then spoke, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Zhe Zhi and Zhe Ye are still young and cannot leave me. I may not be able to get away these days. I hope Your Majesty and Your Majesty will forgive me."
"Don't listen to your father's nonsense. We have just arrived in Jiangnan and haven't been shopping here yet." The queen waved her hand, "We will go to find Huaichu first, and come to see you and the children another day. Let's go, Ruanruan."
After Su Zhiruan paid his respects, he saw the emperor and empress get on the carriage, and the carriage left the crowd.
*
The emperor and the empress sat in the carriage and admired Su Zhiruan.
"Although she is not the daughter of a noble family, her temperament, appearance, way of doing things and educating children are all very good." The emperor nodded in agreement.
The queen lifted the curtain and took one last look at Su Zhiruan's residence before lowering the curtain and said with peace of mind, "Nowadays, the world is peaceful and prosperous, and it doesn't matter whether she is the daughter of a noble family or not. Huaichu doesn't need the daughter of a noble family to stabilize the court."
The emperor was very pleased to hear her words. Peace and prosperity were the good results of his governance.
Fu Huaichu had been busy all day. When he returned to his temporary residence, he saw his father, the emperor and mother, sitting in the hall drinking tea.
At first, he thought he was dazzled, just like he had thought Su Zhiruan was right beside him every day some time ago.
But after taking a closer look, he realized that it was indeed his father, the emperor, and his mother, the empress, so he quickly stepped forward and saluted, "Your son greets you, father, the emperor, and your mother."
"Get up," the emperor and the queen looked at each other. They could both see that Fu Huaichu was very surprised by their arrival.
In that case, why not shock him even more?
Seeing Fu Huaichu stand up and sit aside.
The queen asked with a smile, "Huai Chu, guess who we went to meet today?"
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Fu Huaichu looked at his mother. He was very familiar with this smile and naturally knew who they were going to meet.
He sighed deeply in his heart, "Is it her, and Zhezhizheye?"
"Yes, I guessed right." The emperor continued with a smile, "You rejected so many noble ladies before. Your mother and I were worried whether you liked men. But we didn't expect that you would have Ruan Ruan and two children without telling anyone."
After hearing this familiar name, Fu Huaichu's eyes went blank for a moment. He had forced himself not to look for her or visit the children in the past few days.
He kept busy, trying to finish all the official business he had to do in Jiangnan Prefecture, so that he could have time to express his feelings to her.
Of course, there was another reason. He didn't know how he should face Su Zhiruan, nor did he know how to talk to her about the past and imagine the future without any scruples.
"I am sorry for her. When I left the village and returned to the capital, I didn't know she was pregnant." Fu Huaichu took a gulp of tea. After putting down the teacup, the empty cup turned around in place and finally rolled to his hand. He stood up and said apologetically, "Father, Queen Mother, I will tell the servants to prepare dinner."
Fu Huaichu bowed and left.
At this time, only the emperor and the empress were left in the hall.
The emperor looked at his back with a smile, "This kid is completely screwed."
"I have a good idea—" the queen smiled cunningly.