The old lady closed her eyes, then quickly opened them again, with a look of determination in her eyes.
"Do you think the Xie family still has a way out?" Her voice was hoarse.
"The Xie family's century-old foundation must not be destroyed in my hands."
The candlelight in the hall flickered, illuminating the old lady's somewhat hideous face.
Since that rebellious son wants to destroy this family, she will let him see what real means are!
Xie Zhongxin understood, sighed slightly, took a half step back, then turned and left.
——
At the corner under the eaves, Xie Rou looked at Xie Zhong stealthily walking towards the back door with cold eyes, her eyes flashing.
Then she said something to Chun Xing, and the master and servant quickly walked towards the front yard.
On this side, Xie Zhong was walking hurriedly on his way out of the house, but just as he turned a corridor, he bumped into Chun Xing head-on.
"ah!"
"Ouch!"
Xie Zhong was not paying attention for a moment and was knocked to the ground by Chun Xing, falling on his butt. The token in his sleeve also fell to the ground with a clang.
"Hey, Uncle Xie, are you okay? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's all my fault for not walking carefully."
Chun Xing tried to support Xie Zhong while apologizing repeatedly.
At this moment, Xie Rou happened to appear, bent down to pick up the token on the ground, and rubbed it twice in her hand.
Xie Zhong fell so hard that he saw stars. When he opened his eyes, he saw Xie Rou holding the important token in her hand.
He didn't care about the pain at the moment, and immediately stepped forward and snatched the token.
"Miss, I have something else to do, so I will take my leave now."
After saying this, without waiting for Xie Rou to respond, Xie Zhong covered his leg and limped out.
Half a minute later, Xie Rou was in her boudoir.
Chun Xing ground the ink quickly, and Xie Rou took up the pen, accurately outlining the pattern of the token on the paper.
It was a black eagle with its wings spread, holding a half-moon in its claws. The word "Ling" was engraved on the back.
"Send it to Zuixianlou immediately." Xie Rou carefully folded the drawing and stuffed it into a sachet. "Be sure to hand it over to my brother personally."
…
Soon, two days passed in a flash.
On this day, Zhixia also received an imperial edict from the palace, officially conferring her the title of Princess Yiyang, and rewarding her with a mansion, gold, silver, cloth, and the like.
The moment the news reached the Gu family, Gu Tingyuan was holding the document on Gu Yanran's death that his men had investigated.
After a few days of investigation, Gu Tingyuan finally realized that Gu Yanran had done so many evil things in private. For example, she poisoned the concubines in the backyard and caused the aunt to give birth prematurely. She also beat and scolded the servants in the yard at will. She even sold her own mother, Madam Ge, and then found someone to kill her on the way without anyone noticing.
Every single thing that happened is simply outrageous.
With this comparison, Gu Tingyuan and Li felt more and more guilty towards Zhixia. After learning that Zhixia was canonized as a princess, Gu Tingyuan was stunned for a long time.
It would be a lie to say that I didn't regret it. Why was I so rude at the time, arguing with Zhixia and saying that she was just a lowly maid?
Now, these words hit him hard in the face like a slap in the face.
Once Zhixia became a royal princess, he, as her father, would have to bow to her whenever he saw her.
Li was both relieved and sad.
Fortunately, my daughter became a princess and has a noble status.
The sad thing is that her daughter doesn't recognize her as her mother.
"Master, why don't you surrender yourself to the princess and admit that..."
"As long as we show enough sincerity and make amends, I believe we will be able to gain the princess's forgiveness."
Li has been tossing and turning these days. Gu Tingyuan was confused at the beginning and secretly sided with the Third Prince's camp. He secretly won over court officials in the court for the Third Prince and did many wrong things.
Now, she regrets all the time, and this emotion has been tormenting her. In just a few days, Li has lost weight visibly and looks very haggard.
Seeing that Gu Tingyuan was still hesitating, Li clenched the handkerchief in her hand: "Master, we only have Zhixia as our own flesh and blood! Now that she has become a princess, if a princess ascends the throne in the future..."
She didn't dare to say anything more, but her meaning was obvious.
If they stood against the princess, there would be no room for maneuver for them and Zhixia.
Gu Tingyuan sighed heavily, his brows full of fatigue.
"You think I don't want to look back?"
"But the Third Prince has the evidence of the assassination of Xie Yunqi. If I turn against him now, our whole family will be the first to die!"
"Including Zhixia!" he added.
"But are we going to keep making mistakes like this?" Li was so anxious that she burst into tears. "If in the future... in the future she wants to deal with the third prince for the princess, are we going to have to watch our own flesh and blood..."
Gu Tingyuan gritted his teeth, a trace of pain flashed in his eyes: "You don't understand——"
The third prince, Chu Hong, is far from being as handsome and gentle as he appears to be.
In fact, he hid very well, and in terms of strategy and scheming, he was not inferior to Xie Yunqi.
The only obstacle was that his biological mother was of a foreign race, which meant that he was destined to have no chance of that position in this life. But Gu Tingyuan knew it, so he never gave up.
Now that you're on this pirate ship, how easy is it to get out?
Li slumped in the chair, his face ashen.
Suddenly, she thought of something, and a glimmer of hope flashed in her eyes: "How about... we secretly send a message to Zhixia? Let her tell the princess to be careful..."
"Are you crazy?" Gu Tingyuan refused without a second thought: "The Third Prince has planted more spies in the palace than you and I imagined. Going out to report the news at this time is tantamount to seeking death!"
"Now, we can only wait and see and take one step at a time!"
Li did not persuade her any further, but her hesitant look showed that she was fighting a battle without anyone.
——
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