Shen Zhixiu saw Su Qingyu's tears sliding down the corners of her eyes, and his heart felt like it was pierced by a sharp blade, and the pain spread throughout his body.
He walked to Su Qingyu and said apologetically, "Qingqing, I'm sorry, I'm back late."
He had been discussing matters in the Imperial Study since he received the news. As soon as the Emperor let him out of the palace, he rushed back to the palace without stopping, fearing that Su Qingyu would not be able to withstand the shock and something might go wrong.
Su Qingyu put her arms around his waist, pressed her whole body against him, and burst into tears.
Shen Zhixiu stroked her hair with one hand and said comfortingly, "Qingqing, don't be afraid. I'm here for you."
The more she spoke, the more sadly Su Qingyu cried, crying for her brother's death and her past and present life.
I even resented myself for getting involved in my brother's affairs. If things had gone according to plan in my previous life, perhaps my brother would still be fine.
Shen Zhixiu was overwhelmed by her crying, his eyes reddened. He wanted to slaughter the entire Li family immediately to make Qingqing feel better.
He leaned over slightly and kissed her forehead, "Don't worry, I will definitely give Yunzhou an explanation for this matter."
Su Qingyu cried until she was out of breath. Today, she went to comfort her mother, her mother-in-law, and Shen Yue, but she was afraid that others would notice. Even when she was alone, she didn't dare to shed a tear. She was thinking about how to avenge her brother.
But it wasn't until she saw Shen Zhixiu that she truly felt she had someone to rely on. It turned out that she didn't have to face these things alone. Only then did she dare to take off her disguise and become a sister who was grieving for her brother.
After a long while, Su Qingyu's crying gradually subsided, and Shen Zhixiu took out a blue cotton handkerchief to wipe the tears from her face.
He then ordered someone to bring in hot water and wipe her face again.
After Su Qingyu cried for a while, she regained her composure and pulled Shen Zhixiu to sit down face to face.
When he sat down, Shen Zhixiu also saw the wound on Su Qingyu's hand.
He frowned, grabbed Su Qingyu's wrist, and asked in a deep voice, "What happened? How did you get hurt?"
Su Qingyu quickly comforted him, "It's a minor injury. I was so excited today that I didn't pay attention."
Shen Zhixiu wanted to say something to her, but he felt sorry for her, so he ordered someone to get some medicine and re-bandage her wound.
After everything was bandaged, Su Qingyu asked, "Third Master, what exactly happened? Have you figured it out? Why did my brother die in Spring Valley? He didn't pass by there on his way back to Northern Frontier."
Shen Zhixiu explained, "When Yunzhou went to Liaodong, Zhang Pan was in the northern border town. A few days before Yunzhou returned to the northern border, Zhang Pan received news that a caravan was trapped in Quanyan Valley by horse thieves."
"That Spring Valley is just a common horse thief's den. Since it's on the border between the Great Zhou and the Tartars, no one cares about it."
"Zhang Pan led his men to rescue them, but unexpectedly they were trapped in a col within the valley. Yunzhou later got the news and went to help, but he was also trapped there."
"When Li Yunhuai arrived to reinforce, he saw them being killed by horse thieves and falling off a cliff."
When Su Qingyu thought of that scene, endless hatred surged in her heart.
He slammed the table and said coldly, "Li Yunhuai went to reinforce? He's the one who killed my brother and Xuanwu Hou, right?"
Shen Zhixiu's expression also turned cold. "Those horse thieves must have been bribed by Princess Yongjia's people a long time ago. Not only that, there may be many of Princess Yongjia's people mixed in with them."
"After Yunzhou and Zhang Pan fell off the cliff, Li Yunhuai wiped out the horse bandits."
Su Qingyu snorted, "A place where my brother and the Xuanwu Marquis could be trapped, but Li Yunhuai is capable of wiping them out. He is truly a genius."
Shen Zhixiu continued, "I negotiated for a day and finally got the Emperor to order Li Yunhuai to escort the two men's coffins, containing their battle robes, back to the capital. As for the Northern Frontier, General Tian Sheng will temporarily take over."
Su Qingyu's eyes flashed with coldness, "Li Yunhuai... now that he's back in Beijing, don't even think about leaving alive."
Afterwards, she talked about wanting Li Yunzhou to recognize his ancestral roots and planned to wait until the Li family fell before formally bringing this up with the Su family.
Shen Zhixiu comforted him, "It's not difficult. It's our own business, so we just need to discuss it among ourselves."
But what the two of them didn't know was that Princess Yongjia had already made preparations. She wanted to step on Li Yunzhou's corpse and bring the Li family another wave of wealth.
The next morning, Shen Zhixiu got up very quietly, fearing to disturb Su Qingyu. She tossed and turned all night and fell asleep only at dawn.
After leaving the inner room, Shen Zhixiu instructed Feicui and the others, "Don't disturb Madam's sleep. She can sleep as long as she wants."
He came back too late last night and didn't go to Qingyuan Residence. Knowing that the old lady always got up early, Shen Zhixiu was worried and went to Qingyuan Residence to check.
When the old lady saw him coming, she asked him in detail about Li Yunzhou.
Shen Zhixiu briefly explained it and then asked the old lady how Shen Yue was doing.
The old lady glanced towards the inner room and sighed, "What else can I do? I cry until I'm tired and fall asleep. I cry again when I wake up."
"His eyes were swollen like walnut kernels. I tried to persuade him, but it's not something that can be fixed."
"This marriage is not like the previous one with Zhang Pan. She has no feelings for him and doesn't feel anything about it."
"But they've already developed feelings for each other, and now we're separated by heaven and earth, what's going to happen to this girl in the future?"
Thinking of Xuanwu Hou Zhang Pan again, the old lady sighed. They were all good men, and their deaths were so sad.
Shen Zhixiu had no choice. If something happened to Su Qingyu, his reaction would probably be even more intense than Shen Yue's.
I can only ask the old lady to persuade Shen Yue more and not to hurt her body.
Seeing that the time was approaching, the old lady urged Shen Zhixiu to go to court quickly.
In the Ganyang Palace, everyone stood up after kneeling, and the Minister of Rites presented the posthumous title to Marquis Xuanwu.
Suddenly, a eunuch came in and reported, "Your Majesty, the Princess of Shan County requests an audience."
Emperor Xuande frowned and thought to himself, this is an early morning court session, what is Yongjia doing here?
But on second thought, Yongjia is not a person without sense of propriety. After all, she is still his sister, and he should give her the face she deserves.
"Let her come up."
Soon, Princess Yongjia walked into the hall. She was wearing a plain dress, no makeup, and looked very sad.
The court officials present were not surprised by her attire. A bastard who died in battle at the border town would have been criticized if he had worn such extravagant attire to the palace. Everyone in the capital knew that Princess Yongjia treated this bastard as her own son.
Princess Yongjia walked to the center of the hall, knelt down, and said, "Royal brother, please help Yunzhou and make his life story known to the world."
Emperor Xuande was completely bewildered. "Yongjia, stand up and speak. What's wrong with Li Yunzhou? Why does he need me to be his ancestor? He's a bastard of the Li family. Where can he go to claim his ancestral roots?"
Shen Zhixiu, who was standing aside, subconsciously glanced at Princess Yongjia, and suddenly had a vague guess in his mind.
Princess Yongjia did not stand up, but knelt on the ground and spoke with tears in her eyes.
"Royal brother, actually...actually Yunzhou is the child of the prince and Sister Ning."
Emperor Xuande stood up, horrified. "What did you say? Li Yunzhou is Yongning's child?"
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