Chapter 111 (Test)
The arrival of Zhou Zejing and Yan Qiuyuan made Zhou Lanyi feel like she had found a backer, and she ran over crying. Yan Qiuyuan was so scared that she took two steps back, protecting her belly, and looking at her sister-in-law vigilantly.
She must take good care of the baby in her belly and not let it be disturbed by this reckless sister-in-law.
Zhou Zejing's face was not very good. He glanced at his sister and saw her pointing at the place where she was beaten and crying. His face looked even worse. He looked at them and said in a deep voice: "Miss Xiao, I don't know what my sister did to make you hit her? After all, my sister was personally appointed as the county lord by His Majesty!"
Yan Qiushu also arrived later and was not in a position to speak, so she waited on the side without saying a word.
Xiao Huaiya said coldly: "Han Ronglun offended me, but the county lord accused me of seducing him. Such insulting words should not be punished? If it were five years ago, I would have beaten her to tears. This time, I only whipped her once and held back!"
Zhou Zejing looked at Zhou Lanyi and saw that she felt a little guilty, but more aggrieved: "Brother, but she hit me, and I am the county lord!"
"Shut up!" Zhou Zejing's face changed slightly after hearing this, and he quickly scolded.
Zhou Lanyi stamped her feet in frustration, her eyes red and she said nothing more.
Zhou Zejing felt helpless, he didn't want to bring his sister here in the beginning. If he hadn't been bumped into on the way out, how could things have turned out like this, directly ruining everything he had prepared. He glanced at Han Ronglun with a bad look on his face.
The latter avoided the gaze in fear, lowering his head and not daring to look at him.
Zhou Zejing cursed secretly and bowed his hands to apologize: "It was my sister who spoke rudely, please don't blame me, Miss Xiao."
Xiao Huaiya smiled: "It's not strange, but the young man brought by the prince is really annoying. I didn't expect that the prince of Jin, who is so glorious and bright, would associate with such an ignorant person. It's really shocking!"
After hearing this, Zhou Lanyi's face turned green and she was so angry that she wanted to retort.
But before she could refute, Zhou Zejing shouted: "Han Ronglun! Is what Miss Xiao said true? As a scholar, you don't even know etiquette?!"
Han Ronglun, who had not dared to say anything for a long time, bowed decisively and said, "Your Highness, it is my fault. I was born in Wucheng. General Xiao had passed by Wucheng many times before, but I never met him. Now that I have seen General Xiao's sister, I was so excited that I wanted to ask for mercy. I may have offended you, so I hope you and Miss Xiao will forgive me."
Zhou Lanyi snorted coldly and pulled his sleeve unhappily: "Why do you listen to these reckless men? You might as well listen to my brother. My brother is much more powerful than him..."
"Lan Yi!" Zhou Zejing looked a little embarrassed, but he smiled and made light of the matter: "Since Han Ronglun has already apologized, please don't bear grudges, Miss Xiao."
Xiao Huaiya looked at him solemnly and said, "Since he has admitted that he offended me, Mr. Han is no longer welcome here. Please leave as soon as possible."
Han Ronglun straightened up and said calmly, "Yes, Han will leave now."
He turned and walked away. Zhou Lanyi followed him closely, "Hey, wait for me. I don't want to stay here anymore. It's not fun at all!"
"Lan Yi, come back!" Zhou Zejing called hurriedly.
But Zhou Lanyi didn't want to do that. She had been feeling aggrieved all day, and her brother didn't want to give her justice. She didn't want to listen to her brother and left without looking back.
Zhou Zejing was so angry that he wanted to catch her back, but he was afraid that if he kept her, it would cause more trouble, so he had to endure it.
Seeing this, Xiao Huaiya said to the remaining two people, "What's wrong? The prince and his wife are not leaving together?"
Zhou Zejing smiled slightly: "No, my wife is pregnant, so I have to be careful." He bowed slightly: "Now that the matter has been resolved, I will take my wife back to rest first."
"Goodbye, Prince." Xiao Huaiya said with a forced smile.
Zhou Zejing and Yan Qiuyuan nodded, and before leaving, they glanced at Yan Qiushu who was hiding in the shadows nearby.
After the two men left, Xiao Huaiya's cold temperament relaxed, his shoulders relaxed, he looked at Yan Qiushu, and whispered: "I guessed right, he came here to find you. Just now Han Ronglun wanted to invite me to watch the stars, bullshit! He even seduced me!"
Yan Qiushu patted her shoulder soothingly and said with a smile, "It's okay, just figure it out."
Xiao Huaiya smiled smugly: "You've already told me that he's not good. If I still can't see it, then wouldn't that be stupid?"
Yan Qiushu smiled and said, "Do you trust me so much?"
Xiao Huaiya said casually: "Anyway, you won't harm me, they are all outsiders."
Yan Qiushu felt warm and amused. It was because of this innocence that she was deceived by that bastard Prince Huai. She reminded him, "If you have a crush on someone, you must tell me so that I can check it out. I won't say anything else, but I am very good at judging people!"
Xiao Huaiya nodded readily: "Okay!"
But there was one thing she didn't say: she didn't have anyone she liked!
This time, everyone really went back to their own homes.
Xiao Huaiya returned to the yard, and Yan Qiushu also went back. After washing up, they went to bed.
There was no one else in her room, Shui Xuan was sleeping next door.
While she was sleeping, Yan Qiushu suddenly heard a noise. She woke up suddenly and looked at the closed doors and windows.
This familiar feeling!
Could it be Xiao Wai Ting again?
But she quickly denied it. The last time was a special case. He was worried about damaging her reputation, so he stayed in the house the whole time and didn't dare to let other people know. It's not like something happened again so soon and he would come here to hide.
Then there was another noise, this time much clearer, coming from her yard.
Shui Yu seemed to be awakened as well, and tremblingly asked from the next room: "Girl! Are you okay?"
Yan Qiushu said: "I'm fine."
At this time, the footsteps were getting closer, and a voice was heard saying, "My lord, I want to talk to you about something."
That voice... is Zhou Zejing's!
Shui Yu obviously heard it, and was no longer afraid. He quickly opened the door and went out, frowning and saying, "Please go back, my lord. It's not good for your reputation to barge into the inner courtyard!"
Zhou Zejing said in a gentle voice: "I do have something to tell you, if you are not convenient to see me, please give this to you."
Shui Yu hesitated for a moment, but a handkerchief was stuffed into her hand. On one corner of the handkerchief was embroidered the word "Yan", but she didn't know whether it was the "Yan" in Yan Qiushu's name or the "Yan" in Yan Qiuyuan's name.
In fact, as Yan Qiushu's personal maid, she still guessed some of the girl's relationship with the Yan family in Kyoto. When she saw this, she thought about it and turned around and entered Yan Qiushu's room.
"Miss, look at this?" Shui Yu said, "This was given to me by the Prince of Jin. He said that he had received help from a young lady when he was in Zhang's house. Now he thinks it's you, young lady, so he came to return the handkerchief."
Yan Qiushu took it and lit the oil lamp in the room. The light was dim, but it was enough for her to see clearly that this handkerchief... was embroidered by the original owner.
She inherited the original owner's memory but not her calligraphy and embroidery. The words she wrote were ridiculed by Dongdong, and her embroidery was naturally never displayed. However, she could still recognize the things embroidered by the original owner.
How come the original owner's things are in Zhou Zejing's hands?
Yan Qiushu thought about it carefully, and it took her a while to remember that this was a flower-viewing banquet. When the original owner met Zhou Zejing by chance, Zhou Zejing's hands happened to be wet by the tea splashed by a maid, so she handed him a handkerchief.
Because there was no personal mark on it, only the word "Yan", she dared to give it out.
This was also her first time meeting Zhou Zejing.
It was because this time, Zhou Zejing did not blame the maid, but instead gently and politely revealed the matter, that the original owner felt that the Prince of Jin was not only a good person, but also might not care about the difference between legitimate and illegitimate children.
She was the illegitimate daughter of her aunt, and she had always felt inferior about it. Her aunt also kept telling her to marry into a good family to change the fate for herself and her aunt. So she set her sights on Zhou Zejing.
As the original owner got to know Zhou Zejing better, she, a young girl from a noble family who had never seen the world, subconsciously fell deeply in love with this man. Unfortunately, she could have been successful, but Yan Qiuyuan got there first, and she became the scapegoat instead.
Now this thing appeared in front of her, and it was sent by Zhou Zejing himself. If it were the original owner, she would be so happy that she would die, but she...
And why did it suddenly appear?
Regardless of whether it is true or not, the original owner of this thing embroidered countless replacements, but the meaning is still there.
Could it be that they found that Prince Huai was not capable, so they replaced him with Zhou Zejing?
Or are you testing yourself?
Yan Qiushu felt nervous. Well, the Xiao family had undergone so many changes in the past year that everyone must have noticed that something had changed.
As expected, the Xiao family had a plan to deal with the next military pay crisis. If they changed their approach, something unexpected might happen, and Yan Qiushu didn't want this to happen.
She took a deep breath, tightened her handkerchief, opened the door and went out.
The moon was very bright today. When Yan Qiushu went out, she saw the young man standing with his hands behind his back under the moon. He smiled faintly and said, "I found the handkerchief two days ago. I didn't expect that it had something to do with Xiangjun. It's just fate."
Yan Qiushu looked at him and pinched herself secretly. Suddenly, her nose felt sore and her eyes were full of tears. She said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, I don't recognize this handkerchief. Although my last name is Yan, I'm not good at sewing and can't embroider a handkerchief like this. The prince made a mistake."
Zhou Zejing sighed when he heard this: "That's really a pity. Please return the handkerchief to me as a souvenir."
Yan Qiushu pursed her lips and smiled, then handed the handkerchief out.
Zhou Zejing took two steps forward and took it. His fingers accidentally touched hers, and he quickly separated them, saying, "I heard from Madam that the owner of this handkerchief might be gone. I didn't believe it at first, but it's good that the gentleman is fine. It doesn't matter whether he is here or not."
He smiled, staring at her closely with his handsome eyes and brows, as if he wanted to remember her in his mind, then he bowed and strode away without making any extra sound.
Shui Yu exhaled and said nervously: "Girl, don't do anything stupid!"
Although the girl might have something going on with this prince, she is already an engaged couple to the Sixth Young Master, and will be the future wife of the Duke of Zhenguo. The Eldest Young Master cannot inherit the title, so Yan Qiushu's position is set in stone, but the prince already has a legal wife!
Yan Qiushu smiled and said in a relaxed tone: "I know, the prince and I only had this one encounter, and he married someone else. I won't do anything."
After saying that she went into the house.
Shui Yu felt a chill on his back and wanted to chase after her, but he didn't dare to. He stamped his feet anxiously outside.
Naturally, she did not see the black figure disappearing from the wall.
Zhou Zejing returned to the house.
Yan Qiuyuan, who couldn't sleep at all, came up to greet him immediately and asked nervously, "What's up? Did she admit it?"
Zhou Zejing shook his head: "No."
Yan Qiuyuan's heart sank: "She hasn't admitted it yet, so what's her attitude? Which Yan Qiushu is she?"
She started to panic when unexpected things happened again and again. It was not until Yan Qiushu appeared again that she realized that all these changes might not only be due to her rebirth, but also because of Yan Qiushu.
At first she thought Yan Qiushu had encountered some adventure, and her adventure was rebirth. Her adventure might be cooking, or something better, which could bring new life to the lifeless Xiao family.
Yan Qiuyuan was very afraid that everything in her previous life would change because of her and Yan Qiushu. She saw that Prince Huai almost got into trouble, the third prince was beheaded, and Prince Xuan got into trouble earlier than in her previous life. Only Prince Huai and Prince Chang, who should not have existed, were left...
The change was too big, she didn't dare to take the risk, and she had no choice but to confirm that she was pregnant and that Zhou Zejing would not leave his child without a mother, so she told Zhou Zejing about her situation.
After some discussion, the couple decided to test Yan Qiushu. If this person was still Yan Qiushu, the Yan Qiushu whose marriage was ruined by her in this life, then they didn't have to worry.
But if not, then... they have to consider the next deployment.
Seeing her so flustered, Zhou Zejing soothed her, "Don't be afraid. If nothing unexpected happens, she should be different from you. She doesn't have any resentment at all and doesn't know about the previous life you mentioned. She was very calm throughout the whole process. She had some emotions, but mostly regrets. It's obvious that she just felt that I missed her."
"Really?!" Yan Qiuyuan was overjoyed: "She really didn't reincarnate?"
"No." Zhou Zejing confirmed again: "A normal person would definitely feel resentful if she knew that she had gone from being an empress to an orphan, and that she had to rely on the opportunity bestowed by God to help the Xiao family to get a position as a young lady, which was far inferior to that of the empress. If I showed my goodwill, she would definitely show some of it."
"Of course I will!" Yan Qiuyuan also nodded. In addition to this reason, she also clearly remembered that Yan Qiushu and Zhou Zejing were very affectionate. If she was really reborn, it would be impossible for her to not react much to Zhou Zejing's kindness.
She must be Yan Qiushu in this life, not reborn!
Zhou Zejing also felt relieved: "Okay, now that we know what happened, let's go tomorrow. We don't know where Lan Yi has been coaxed to!"
Yan Qiuyuan nodded obediently and frowned, "I don't want to stay here anymore. It's not convenient at all. It's not as good as the mansion."
"Yes, you are right. We can't let our child suffer." Zhou Zejing coaxed. If the arrow had not been on the string and had to be shot, he would not have come here in person for the sake of caution.
The Xiao family and the Shen family have joined forces. It seems that Prince Chang's ascension to the throne is destiny. However, the old emperor prefers Prince Shun. Concubine Lu is still in control of the harem. They can only use force, and it must be foolproof.
Now that Yan Qiushu's condition has been confirmed, we can make the next deployment.
Zhou Zejing's words made Yan Qiuyuan laugh. The couple returned to bed and drew the curtains. Yan Qiuyuan lay on the bed and asked, "What should we do next?"
Zhou Zejing smiled and said, "Don't worry about it. Just focus on taking care of the baby."
"Um!"