Millet porridge, shrimp yakisoba, rose rolls... several kinds of fragrant snacks filled the table. Perhaps because of his different status, Yuan Xi was given special attention during his return home. Xia Mingyuan specifically asked the housekeeper to ask the kitchen to prepare many of their signature dishes and send them to him.

Yuan Xi, however, felt that no matter how exquisite the snacks were, they would have no taste in her mouth. She just picked two to eat at random and then began to daydream.

The Seventh Aunt looked up and saw her gloomy expression. She sighed quietly in her heart, poured her a bowl of porridge and pushed it in front of her, saying softly, "Even if something terrible happened, you still have to eat. Seeing you like this, Aunt feels sorry for you."

Yuan Xi turned to look at her in a daze, and suddenly realized that in less than a year, the seventh aunt's hair had turned mostly white. Her whole life was wasted in the prime minister's mansion, spent countless times alone in the empty room, did she ever feel resentful or hateful?

Yuan Xi then obediently took the bowl of porridge and ate it in small mouthfuls. After a while, she finally couldn't help but asked softly, "Seventh Aunt, do you love Daddy?"

The hand of the seventh aunt holding the chopsticks trembled. She seemed to have never thought about this question. Maybe she was in love. After all, she was young and young. Although she knew she was humble, she couldn't help but have some unreasonable wishes, hoping that the god-like person could look at her more. Just one look would make her happy. However, as time went by, these throbbing finally dried up in the long years. She experienced many hardships, and many obsessions were forgotten and faded. When she thought of that person again, even his face became blurred.

She then showed a tired smile, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes became more obvious. She put down the silver chopsticks and replied indifferently: "I don't remember. Besides, with my status, what qualifications do I have to say this." She suddenly remembered something, looked at Yuan Xi deeply, and said: "Xi'er, your father is not a good person. But... this is your home after all."

Yuan Xi's heart skipped a beat, not knowing why she suddenly said that. But Seventh Aunt's eyes, which seemed to see through everything, actually had tears in them. She stared at her and said, "If you really find it difficult, come back and stay with Aunt, and we can go back to the peaceful and stable life we ​​had before."

Yuan Xi had never thought that the Seventh Aunt was trying to persuade her to stay. Although she did not understand why, she was touched by the emotion in her words and couldn't help but shed tears. She walked to the Seventh Aunt, squatted down and rested her head on her knees, and said softly: "Aunt, I don't want to leave you, but I don't want to leave him even more. What should I do?"

Humans are such greedy animals, because once their hearts are filled with others, they can never go back to those happy days. They can't get rid of it and can't let it go. It would be great if they had never met that person, so they wouldn't have to suffer so much, and every moment without him would become particularly unbearable.

The Seventh Aunt was about to comfort her hand, but it froze in mid-air: Did the thing she was most worried about finally happen? When she came to her senses, the hem of her skirt was already soaked with tears. Her trembling hand finally fell and gently supported Yuan Xi's shaking shoulders. Countless fears and regrets flashed through the Seventh Aunt's heart, and she finally closed her eyes and sighed heavily.

An autumn wind blew, swirling the dead leaves on the ground, and also carried the sigh away into the silent sky of deep autumn.

The fallen leaves piled up on the stone slabs and were swept away, and in the blink of an eye, day and night changed again. In the past two days, Du Guangping, the chief steward of the Prime Minister's Mansion, felt very distressed. Since Xia Mingyuan became the left prime minister, countless people have come to the mansion to curry favor with him and give him gifts, but never like in the past two days, there have been gifts delivered to the mansion almost every hour.

The person who came to give the gift was a steward who could be named by the Xuanyuan Marquis Mansion, so he had to do everything from receiving etiquette to serving tea, for fear that the people below would be in trouble if he accidentally neglected it.

He had hoped that he could handle the situation with ease if he went there himself, but those people had no time to spare and kept chatting with him. They lamented how difficult it was to run errands and asked him to persuade his wife to go home. They talked until he had run out of excuses and was on the verge of fleeing before they were willing to leave.

However, after sending them away with great difficulty, they could not rest for a moment, as a new group of people would appear at the gate on time. As usual, the chief steward and several servants would stand in front of the gilded lacquer door, reading out a list of gifts in a noisy manner, and would force them to open and count the gifts at the gate before they would be allowed to enter the courtyard. The noise was so loud that everyone thought the prime minister's mansion was going to hold another wedding, and even people from several streets away rushed to see the excitement.

Du Guangping wiped his sweat, and couldn't help but sigh that this Marquis's family was so rich and powerful that they were generous in giving gifts, from silks and satins to jewelry and dressing boxes. There were so many things and they were so diverse that he had to send someone to count them one by one and move them to Miss Xi's room without missing anything. The Prime Minister's Mansion didn't have to send servants, but it couldn't stand such a hassle from morning to night.

Du Guangping held his forehead and sighed. If things continued like this, he would have to ask the Prime Minister for help. If he didn't persuade Miss Xi to return to the Marquis' Mansion, they would all be killed. He shook his head and was about to pick up a cup of tea to moisten his throat when a servant ran in hurriedly and said, "Master Du, the Marquis' Mansion... the Marquis' Mansion has sent something again!"

With a "puff" sound, the tea that Du Guangping had not yet swallowed spurted out. He really couldn't stand this endless torture anymore. He stood up, slammed the table, and shouted with a distorted face: "What kind of shit did you send me this time!"

The boy's expression twitched a little, and he finally swallowed his saliva and said with a bitter face: "What you sent this time is really a bird!"

A macaw with a fat body, a pointed red beak, three-colored feathers, and a tuft of fluff on its head, had its legs hooked on a hanging ring, its eyes darting around, looking very cute. An He and the maids liked it more and more, and couldn't help but reach out and tease it, causing the parrot to stand up with its feathers raised and jump around in fear on the hanging ring.

Yuan Xi frowned and stared at the poor parrot in front of her, unable to help but feel angry and amused. In the past two days, her room has been filled with various things sent by the Marquis' Mansion. Just when she was annoyed and waiting to see what tricks Xiao Du could come up with, she didn't expect him to be able to find a new way and actually start sending living things.

An He was still young, and she couldn't let go of this interesting bird. She played with it for a while, then turned around and said to Yuan Xi with a smile, "Miss, this parrot is so stupid, I don't know if it can talk. What do you think it will say?"

The parrot seemed to understand that its ability was being questioned, so it ruffled its neck feathers and opened its mouth to scream: "Fuck, the ghost is coming! Fuck, the ghost is coming!"

The maids around were stunned and looked at each other, all confused. Yuan Xi also widened her eyes in surprise, not understanding what the parrot was yelling. So the maids curiously surrounded the parrot and kept teasing it to talk, and the parrot kept reciting with its head raised, repeating the same two sentences over and over again.

An He's expression suddenly changed. She timidly pulled Yuan Xi's sleeve and said, "Miss, do you think this parrot can see those dirty things..."

Yuan Xi tapped her head gently and said, "What are you thinking about? The words this parrot says are all taught by humans. Even if it really sees a ghost, it can't scream." But she felt puzzled again. She tilted her head and thought for a long time, but she couldn't figure out why Xiao Du taught it such a nonsensical sentence.

At this time, Nanny Li came out after arranging lunch. Seeing everyone gathered on the veranda, she squeezed in curiously and asked, "What happened?"

An He pointed at the parrot and said, "Madame Li, you've come at the right time. Come and listen to what the parrot is saying. It seems to be saying something about ghosts. It sounds really scary."

Madam Li looked at the lively parrot and listened attentively for a long time. After all, she was old and experienced. She suddenly laughed and slapped her thigh and said, "It said: Madam, come back! I guess it's because I didn't teach it for a long time and the parrot can't speak clearly, so it speaks like this."

When the parrot saw that it had met its confidant, its little eyes sparkled and it jumped and said even more happily: "Mom and dad, ghosts come! Mom and dad, ghosts come!" Everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter, and while laughing they secretly glanced at Yuan Xi.

Yuan Xi blushed and deliberately put on a stern face and said, "What are you laughing at? Take it back to my room. It's just a stupid bird, don't you feel ashamed?" After saying that, he turned and walked towards the room. However, the parrot's rough and funny words made his chest palpitate inexplicably. So he thought angrily in his heart, "Shameless people really can't teach any good birds."

At this moment, the innocent person who was dragged by the bird was holding his breath and writing something on a piece of paper.

After writing only a few sentences, sweat began to form on his forehead. He read it over and over again, but it still felt awkward. He put down his pen in frustration. He had never thought that it would be so difficult to write down the love words that were so fluent. It was also his fault that he had never written any letters except military newspapers in all these years, let alone a love letter to coax his wife back home.

He then let out a long sigh of resentment, not knowing whether Luo Yuan was deliberately trying to make trouble for him by giving him such an idea.

If he hadn't been desperate, he wouldn't have lowered his dignity to ask this love rival whom he had been so wary of. But no matter how unwilling he was, he had to admit that Luo Yuan had known her longer than he had and understood her preferences better.

Thinking of this, he became more and more upset. He stared and crumpled the paper in front of him into a ball. But in the end, he had to sit back and write again, stroke by stroke.

At this moment, someone knocked on the door and announced, "My Lord, the Third Miss is here."

Xiao Du quickly put down his pen, carefully put away the paper, and then told the man to bring Xiao Zhixuan in.

Xiao Zhixuan was wearing plain clothes. Her once lively eyes had become dull and her chin was frighteningly sharp. Xiao Du felt distressed and said softly, "Brother, I know you are sad, but you can't ignore your health. Didn't you eat well today?"

Xiao Zhixuan looked at the elder brother who had loved her the most. Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes. She knelt down with a plop and cried, "Brother! Auntie didn't commit suicide. She was killed by someone. You must not let her die in vain!"