Lu Anyuan looked up in surprise, a hint of admiration in his eyes: "You figured out my people so early? Remarkable. That's right, Mr. Yao is indeed a descendant of the Si Chong people, and my mother did find this group of 'aliens' outside the palace to perform a ritual for her.
Later, the Si Chong people were wiped out by the imperial court, and my mother thought Mr. Yao was a rare treasure, so she hid him away. It was really ridiculous." Lu Anyuan recalled, and he could still remember how he and Mr. Yao used to harm ants and earthworms together when they were children.
At that time, Mr. Yao was only a child, but he was incredibly strange, and no poisonous insect dared to approach him. To be honest, he might have learned to torture earthworms from Mr. Yao when he was a child.
"Later, when I opened my mansion, I brought him out. He has been researching various rare medicines for me in the mansion ever since. It can be considered as a way of repaying me for saving him."
"Ah? So, Concubine Yi really did use those harmful methods?"
"yes."
Xu Yixing was silent. She had thought there might be other reasons for Concubine Yi's death, but she hadn't expected it to be purely her own doing. She finally understood why Lu Anyuan thought his mother was stupid. If Concubine Yi were still alive, she might have done something that would have brought down the whole family.
"How do you know? Since the Queen has preserved her reputation and allowed her to be buried in the imperial mausoleum, she should have told everyone the reason for her death. Why do you..."
"It wasn't the Queen's mercy, it was clearly my aunt's desperate pleading! Back then, the Queen brought my mother before my father to be punished, and it was my aunt who went to the Imperial Study and begged for a whole day to save my life. As for how I knew..."
Lu Anyuan closed his eyes in pain. This was the downside of being naughty. When he was little, he loved to run everywhere. On the day the palace servants came with poisoned wine and white silk, he was at the gate of the Second Palace. He happened to see his mother, like a mad woman, refusing to obey until death, and being strangled to death by the strong man who came to supervise the execution.
If Mr. Yao hadn't covered his mouth tightly behind him, there's no telling what the outcome would have been. Later, the Queen announced the news of her mother's death to the six palaces. Lu Anyuan stood expressionlessly beside the Queen, his eyes filled with resentment and hatred.
Fortunately, the queen was only concerned with exerting her power as the empress at the time. When she looked at Lu Anyuan again, he had recovered from his sadness. The queen lovingly touched Lu Anyuan's little face and sent him back.
"Hey, hey, hey! Are you okay?" Xu Yixing saw Lu Anyuan closing his eyes for a long time and quickly shook him.
"Ah, I'm fine. I just found out the truth by accident. So you see, our mother's early death is actually a good thing for us, right?" Lu Anyuan gave a bitter smile, which made Xu Yixing feel sad.
"Forget it. Things have come to this point. Human intervention is useless. Now that the Second Prince is gone, what are we going to do next?"
"You really can't stop for a day!"
"I can't help it. Being with you every day is like walking on a tightrope at high altitude. If I don't plan ahead, I'm afraid I'll fall to my death."
"Don't worry, I'm here to hold you up, so you won't fall!"
The departure of the Second Prince caused quite a stir in the capital, but unlike the previous gossip, this time the people affected by the stir were almost all affected in secret, and no one talked about it openly.
And soon, four days after he left the capital, the funeral of the eldest prince, Prince Pingsong, was held in the capital. The funeral procession entered the imperial mausoleum in a huge procession, with wailing sounds everywhere. Paper money was like snowflakes, being carried everywhere by the wind and snow.
To make matters worse, King Pingsong's father-in-law, General Fenwei, who was already seriously ill, died immediately after learning about this.
For a moment, all that was heard was the suona, but no tall candles were visible. This added a touch of melancholy to the already heavy officialdom in the capital. For months, an atmosphere of unease permeated the court, everyone fearing danger, yet not knowing what they were fearing. It was an indescribable and strange feeling.
The Dragon Boat Festival came again. The flowers in the prince's mansion bloomed and then faded. Summer was quietly approaching, and people felt much more relaxed.
Regardless of how the outside world changed, these past few months had been the most relaxing time for Xu Yixing. Without a powerful rival in the court and no household chores to worry about, he was truly at peace.
This year's Dragon Boat Festival banquet will still be held at Prince Cheng's Mansion. There's no other way. The old couple is rich and they don't mind holding as many banquets as they want.
The Lakeside Pavilion was not used this year. I don’t know if it was because the shadow left by Wu Xueyan last year was too heavy, but Prince Cheng and his wife actually abandoned the pavilion that they had built at great expense. It was such a pity.
Xu Yixing sat in the curtained women's area. From time to time, he could hear exaggerated laughter and pedantic poetry coming from the men's side. It was so boring.
The fourth princess suddenly appeared out of nowhere and came to her with a glass of wine in hand: "Haha, sister Yi Yan, we meet again!"
Xu Yixing stood up to salute, but saw that the fourth princess' belly was slightly bulging under her skirt. Did she seem to be pregnant?
"Your Highness, what are you doing?"
The fourth princess patted her belly gently and said, "Five months!"
"Congratulations, Your Highness! Congratulations, Your Highness!" Xu Yixing bowed again to offer his blessing. It was a wonderful feeling that his childhood playmate was now pregnant.
"No need, no need. Just give me a big red envelope later. That will be a token of your kindness!" The Fourth Princess' face was full of happiness, which made Xu Yixing feel happy.
"Have you told the palace about this happy news? The atmosphere in the palace is not good right now. I'm sure your pregnancy will make the emperor, empress, and queen mother happy for a long time!"
"Not yet. Ever since I became pregnant, there have been constant incidents in the palace. I think it's unlucky! However, I have to tell you today. I have just told my uncle and aunt, and they will definitely tell my father and mother."
Xu Yixing smiled bitterly. When something happened in the palace, only the Fourth Princess dared to say the word "bad luck". She was really childish.
"But Your Highness, you are pregnant and shouldn't drink."
"It's okay. I asked, and those barbarians always drink at all times. I only drink a little bit, so it's okay."
"this..."
"Forget it, stop nagging. The princess has been talking for a long time!" The fourth princess covered her ears, her face full of disgust.
"Okay, then you sit here?" Xu Yixing gave up his seat to the fourth princess, but she had no intention of sitting down.
"No, I'm here to congratulate you." After saying that, he raised the wine bottle, waiting for Xu Yixing to clink glasses.
But Xu Yixing didn't understand what this meant: "What are you congratulating me for?" I'm not pregnant...
"Of course, congratulations on having another mother." The fourth princess laughed so exaggeratedly that Xu Yixing couldn't help but suspect that she was here to laugh at him.
But... "What mother?"
"Don't you know? No way!" The fourth princess became interested and said with a beaming face, "General Xu is getting married again!"
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