Emperor Xuan held the two children in his arms and looked at the couple. "Today is their first birthday banquet. I came to see it."
As he said this, the father and son looked at each other, and Dongfang Rui lowered his head.
"No, Father arrived just in time. He was just about to have the two children celebrate their first birthdays."
Although Song Sanniang could not see the changes in Dongfang Rui's expression, the two had been together for a long time, and she could clearly feel Dongfang Rui's complicated feelings towards Emperor Xuan.
There is joy, admiration, nostalgia and a hint of resentment.
This was a matter between the father and son. Song Sanniang had no intention of exploring it, but just silently held Dongfang Rui's hand.
Emperor Xuan suddenly turned his head, looked at Song Sanniang and spoke lightly.
"Thank you for your hard work. You have raised the two children very well."
Song Sanniang said modestly, "Your Majesty, your praise is too great."
When she heard Emperor Xuan's praise, she felt guilty for a moment.
In fact, Dongfang Rui took more care of the two children. Except for the time when he was ordered to go to Jiangnan, Dongfang Rui was the one who really raised the children with all his heart.
She was very insignificant, and Emperor Xuan only knew about the situation in Prince Rui's Mansion, but he still praised her so much, so she had no choice but to accept it with a thick face.
Emperor Xuan seemed to be just praising casually, and without saying anything else, he placed the two children on the large table, then took off the jade pendant hanging on his waist and placed it on the table.
"Since it's the first birthday celebration, this jade pendant will add some fun to the two children."
Because Emperor Xuan had arrived, the scene was already quiet, and everyone below could hear clearly what Emperor Xuan said.
Emperor Xuan didn't care about the impact his words would have on the people present. After he finished speaking, he signaled the ceremonial officer to allow the two children to start the "grab the one-year-old" ceremony.
Xiaoyi and Xiaoer, two little balls full of joy, seemed to be attracted by the various toys in front of them. They struggled to get up and walked forward tremblingly.
Song Sanniang and Dongfang Rui did not look nervous. In their opinion, it was just to let the child scratch something for fun. How could the child's future be determined solely by what was scratched during the ceremony?
On the contrary, a few people with different thoughts in the audience were even more nervous than Song Sanniang and Dongfang Rui.
Those ministers felt that considering how much Emperor Xuan valued his two children, it was only a matter of time before the Third Prince regained his position as Crown Prince.
But the brothers of Dongfang Rui who were present guessed more.
The jade pendant that Emperor Xuan added was his favorite. In their impression, Emperor Xuan never took it off, which shows how important the jade pendant was in his heart.
But now he easily gave them to the two children of the third younger brother/third older brother as toys for the "Zhuazhou" ceremony. Does this mean that the emperor is already considering the next candidate for the heir?
With everyone in different moods, Xiaoyi and Xiaoer got the items they were interested in.
Those who hoped that neither of the two children would choose the jade pendant were disappointed.
The jade pendant was clearly placed the farthest away, but Xiaoyi still managed to get it in his hand, while Xiaoer grabbed a book, or to be more precise, a military book.
Upon seeing this, Emperor Xuan stepped forward, picked up Xiao Yi and lifted him up.
Xiaoyi didn't know what was going on. He was just being lifted up high, and he was very happy, holding the jade pendant tightly in his hand.
Emperor Xuan then placed Xiaoyi on the crook of his right arm and went to the other side to pick up Xiaoer as well.
After handing the two children over to Dongfang Rui, he whispered to him, "Yes, my jade pendant has finally been returned to its rightful owner."
This time Song Sanniang saw Dongfang Rui clearly, and his eyes turned red.
He was a little surprised. He didn't know why Emperor Xuan's words made him lose control of his emotions.
Emperor Xuan patted Dongfang Rui on the shoulder, and finally left the Prince Rui's Mansion surrounded by guards, as if he had really just come to celebrate his grandson's birthday and left after achieving his goal.
Dongfang Rui watched Emperor Xuan's back as he left, and only looked away when he completely disappeared.
He cheered up and continued with the rest of the one-year-old ceremony...
After the banquet, Song Sanniang asked someone to take the two children back to the backyard to rest. They also wanted to send a few adopted brothers to maintain some superficial friendship.
At this moment, someone suddenly came to report the news.
Emperor Xuan was ambushed on his way back and his current injury is unknown.
When Dongfang Rui heard the news, his eyes were bloodshot and he grabbed the person who reported the news.
"What did you say? Explain it to me clearly."
His voice was hoarse, his tone full of disbelief.
Seeing that the man was being strangled and couldn't breathe, Song Sanniang hurried forward to rescue him.
"Jingzhi, calm down first." Then he turned and looked at the person kneeling below.
"Tell me everything you know."
The messenger quickly recounted what had happened.
When Emperor Xuan was on his way back to the palace, those people first ambushed on the eaves and attacked with bows and arrows. The guards did not discover them in time and many people were killed or injured. Then the group of masked men in black jumped down and fought with the remaining guards.
The Imperial Guards arrived in time to deal with the assassins, and then escorted Emperor Xuan to retreat. He thought everything was fine, but halfway through, an arrow came from nowhere and shot at him. Eunuch Liu rushed forward to block it with his body.
The arrow pierced through Eunuch Liu and hit Emperor Xuan. Now all the people in the Imperial Hospital were in the Weiyang Palace to treat Emperor Xuan.
After hearing this, Dongfang Rui immediately realized the problem.
"Is the arrow poisonous?"
The messenger hesitated for a moment and finally nodded.
Dongfang Rui closed his eyes, relaxed for a moment, then opened his eyes and glanced at the brothers present.
When they suddenly heard the news, their faces were filled with disbelief, and they looked at each other vaguely.
Like Dongfang Rui, they all suspected that some prince could not control himself and attacked their father.
But looking at it all, everyone's performance was normal.
Without time to think too much, Dongfang Rui first sent people to the Imperial Guards to seal off the capital and search carefully for any clues left by the secret guards to find the mastermind behind the scenes.
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