Aunt Qiu straightened up and sighed, "If you ask me, the reputation of Prince Shou was originally good. We ordinary people only knew that he was a calm prince, but the Queen Mother suddenly jumped out and said that he was the emperor's biological son. The current emperor has been replaced, and the notice is everywhere. It sounds very much like it is true. It doesn't make sense for a mother to help an outsider instead of helping her own child..."
An Qingran nodded slightly. That was exactly what she had been worried and suspicious about, but she didn't expect it to be true.
If it is true, then what the Queen Mother did is understandable.
Now she is a mother too. Looking at the pink and tender little guy, she is willing to give her life to him. Therefore, her previous hatred towards the Queen Mother is less. But she suddenly remembered that the Queen Mother might have known the identity of Prince Shou for a long time and had been secretly sabotaging him and poisoning the Prince and the Queen. Her heart hardened instantly. It doesn't mean that you can kill other people's children for your own child.
Is it possible that the Emperor is lucky enough not to have been killed by the Empress Dowager? Or is it possible that she raised him and does she really have some feelings for him?
But Aunt Qiu continued, "We, the common people, don't really care who becomes the emperor. As long as he can make us live a good life and cares about the common people, he is a good emperor..."
I'm afraid what Aunt Qiu said reflects the thoughts of most people.
After An Qingran heard this, she felt somewhat certain in her heart. Even if Prince Shou was really the late emperor's biological son, he had lost most of the people's support. Emperor Yunqi always cared about the people, and his governance over the years was obvious to all.
Therefore, the Queen Mother's chances of winning are less.
But she didn't know what the officials in the court were thinking.
Is Prime Minister Lou also on their side?
What about my uncle's family? Has he been involved?
She didn't know any of this.
Just worried.
She hoped that Dongfang Jin could see who could be won over.
Don't kill them all with one stroke.
*****
In the palace.
The atmosphere is very tense.
Although Prince Shou's first siege had been repelled, Dongfang Jin's injuries worried all officials.
The arrow shot into Dongfang Jin's chest, but luckily it was on the right side. The imperial doctors worked hard for three days and three nights before they finally saved him. Emperor Yunqi was exhausted both internally and externally, and his body collapsed all of a sudden. He began to cough up blood day and night again. Fortunately, the censors and others stood firmly by the emperor's side, which calmed him down.
On the fifth day, when Dongfang Jin appeared in front of everyone, everyone felt more confident of winning. The victory was achieved because the prince sent people to launch a surprise attack on the rear of Shou Wang's troops, forcing them to be unable to take care of both ends. Otherwise, the army would have besieged the city and would have broken through quickly. The people in the city were already in a panic and stayed indoors. They just packed up their belongings and prepared to bribe and escape. The streets were as deserted as a ghost town.
The first thing Dongfang Jin did after waking up was to ask the historian. It was an incident that happened more than 40 years ago, and time has passed, so it is not easy to investigate. Fortunately, everyone knows that what he did is a big deal and they fully cooperate with him.
There must be a record in the jade book. He had investigated this matter before, but the jade book disappeared and many things happened at that time, so he did not continue to investigate. Moreover, the empress dowager was still in the palace at that time, and many of his actions were inconvenient. This time, he conducted a thorough investigation.
There are no records of those years in the palace's scripture repository and other places, so this is even more worrying.
Emperor Yunqi understood everything Dongfang Jin did.
She just let him do it, but she never expected that the empress dowager, whom she had been filial to for so many years, would be so disloyal.
No wonder, the royal family’s descendants have no family affection.
********
It’s finally a full moon.
An Qingran was hesitating. It was not a solution to stay in this village forever. During the honeysuckle period, she asked someone to send messages to the city, but there was no reply. She did not dare to write the matter too clearly and did not want people to know their identities, so it was normal that the news did not reach Dongfang Jin's ears.
"Rosewood, let's go back to the city." An Qingran finally made a decision.
Honeysuckle was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Okay, let's go back to the city."
When Aunt Qiu heard that they were going to the city, she was very worried: "How can you two women take care of a baby?"
"Auntie, we have been bothering you for too long, and our family members don't know about our situation. If we don't go back to the city, I'm afraid something bad will happen." An Qingran certainly couldn't tell her. She was afraid that both sides would not be able to find their master and servant, and a fierce fight would break out again.
Furthermore, she hoped to return to Dongfang Jin as soon as possible, perhaps she could help him.
"I know you are not ordinary people. An old woman like me still has some vision, but Madam..." Aunt Qiu had developed feelings for them and wiped her eyes. "Okay, I'll take you to the official road..."
The official road is more than ten miles away from the village.
An Qingran didn't know how she and Rendong found this village that night. She thought to herself that it was a lucky thing that they found this village, otherwise Dongfang Run might have been kidnapped.
The village is located in the mountains. The master and servant took turns holding the baby. Aunt Qiu walked in front with a stick in her hand, cutting the grass as she walked to prevent snakes and insects from suddenly jumping out.
Occasionally, someone passed by, also from the village, and greeted Aunt Qiu, then told them that the world outside was very bad and asked them not to go out.
But these did not stop An Qingran and Rendong. Aunt Qiu sighed as she walked: "Our village was not implicated precisely because it is remote. When you get to the official road, try to walk on the main road and never walk on such remote paths..."
As she said this, she turned back to look at them. Of course, the master and servant had changed into peasant women's clothes and wrapped their heads with fancy scarves, but even so, it was difficult to conceal An Qingran's peerless charm. Aunt Qiu regretted a little. Maybe she should have smeared some black mud on her face. This maid was one of the rare beauties she had ever seen. At least, there was no such beautiful girl in her village, nor in the town. If she hadn't said it, she would really have thought she was a lady from a wealthy family.
She didn't dare say too much for fear of scaring them.
The baby started crying. In such a quiet mountain, the cry was particularly loud, scaring away the Shaolin birds. An Qingran looked at him with pity, thinking that he was in too much pain, probably because he was wrapped too tightly. She loosened the swaddling clothes again, and finally, the baby stopped crying and fell asleep again.
Rendong didn't know why, but she felt a little uneasy. She looked at everything around her, and the uneasiness in her heart became stronger and stronger. She knew why, because the Crown Princess's body was not strong enough, and she didn't know kung fu, so how could she protect them and their son?
It would be great if the prince were here.
Finally, after walking for more than an hour, they finally reached the official road.
Only then did An Qingran realize that they were still more than 200 miles away from the city and it was definitely impossible to walk there.
Aunt Qiu gave them all the money she had, which was only a little over one or two taels of silver, but it was enough to rent a car.
Rendong wiped her tears. She was really sad when Aunt Qiu left just now. She didn't expect to meet such a good person.
"Okay, we'll come back to settle Aunt Qiu when we're safe..." An Qingran stood on the side of the road. People passed by from time to time, but every time someone passed by she was surprised, because they were all refugees, like victims of a disaster, with their families, their clothes in tattered pieces, they all escaped from the capital. Rendong asked them about the situation in the capital, but they were unwilling to say much. They only told them to be careful, because Prince Shou's stragglers were still there, and that there would be bandits ahead who would rob all their property.
This made An Qingran even more worried.
Once the decision is made, there is no going back.
Finally, a carriage stopped in front of them.
They finally breathed a sigh of relief when they got into the carriage.
The car was a bit simple. An Qingran had been walking for the whole morning and was a bit tired. She leaned against the car and soon fell asleep. Rendong held the child in her arms and prayed to all the gods for protection, hoping that nothing would happen.
Then I can see the prince tomorrow.
Your task can be completed.
The sound of the wheels had a hypnotic effect, and before she knew it, she fell asleep...
I don't know how long it was, but suddenly the carriage jolted violently, the honeysuckle sounded, the carriage stopped, and An Qingran woke up. She drew back the curtain, but her face suddenly changed. It turned out that there was a forest outside the carriage. As soon as she turned her head, she found that their carriage did not stop by itself, but was stopped by someone.
"Come down, everyone come down!" someone shouted outside.
Honeysuckle was so frightened that she hugged the child tightly in her arms: "Miss, what happened?"
"Something happened." An Qingran took the child and held it tightly in her arms. Fortunately, the baby did not wake up. The coachman was pulled down and someone kicked him twice, cursing at him, as if it was because he was trying to drive away.
Finally, An Qingran and Rendong got out of the car and found that they were surrounded by more than a dozen people, dressed like standard gangsters, holding swords and long sticks.
But these people still seem to have traces of tanned farmers, and they may have been farmers before the war.
An Qingran glanced at them, her heart filled with sorrow: "Excuse me, everyone, how can you let us go..."
An Qingran signaled Rendong to take out the change she had on her.
Honeysuckle did as he was told: "Brothers, this is all we have. We are just ordinary people and don't have much money..."
She handed it over carefully. A thin man took it and didn't even look at it. He just thought about it and threw it aside: "This is just a small amount. It's not even enough to send away beggars. Everything is expensive now. This little money can't even buy a liter of rice..."
"What? This can buy at least 100 liters of rice." Honeysuckle said.
She wanted to remind.
This is not a small amount of money, it is enough for ordinary people to live for a long time.
But the other party just laughed: "That was in the past. If you want to buy rice now, it's more convenient to eat people. There are dead bodies everywhere..."
"Shut up, why are you talking to these two women about this!" The other fat man chuckled twice, "Look at how delicate they are, you guys are really talking too much nonsense."
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