The room suddenly became chaotic. Shen Xinyan rushed forward and helped her up with Nanny Xu. She loudly ordered the servants to go and call the imperial physician immediately.
Upon hearing the news, Wei Junxian, Yang, and the younger generations from each family hurried over.
The eldest princess was already old, so how could she withstand such a heavy blow? The imperial physician carefully examined her for a long time and sighed that her condition was not optimistic.
The expressions of everyone present changed immediately.
Shen Xinyan's heart was torn. She was worried about her eldest son whose whereabouts were unknown and whose life or death was unknown, and she was also worried about the illness of the Grand Princess.
The Grand Princess had experienced a similar situation once in her previous life. That was when the news of Wei Junhang's accident came back. The Grand Princess, who had once again lost her young son, fell ill and managed to hold on for a few years. Finally, she passed away half a year after Wei Chenglin got married.
Because Wei Junhang was safe and sound in this life, Shen Xinyan originally thought that her life span would be longer than in the previous life. However, man proposes, God disposes. When her eldest son got into trouble, the eldest princess fell ill again.
By the time Wei Junhang got the news and hurried back from the palace, the eldest princess had already been treated by the imperial physician, but was still in a coma.
"Is that news true? Is Brother Lin really missing?" As soon as he came out of the house after visiting the Grand Princess, Shen Xinyan grabbed his arm and asked hurriedly.
The youngsters, led by Wei Chengzhao, all looked at him, waiting for his answer.
Wei Junhang's face was heavy, he paused, nodded slowly, and said in a hoarse voice: "It's true."
Shen Xinyan's body swayed and she almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Wei Chengqi beside her reached out and helped her up in time.
"Second uncle, what exactly happened? How could our eldest brother disappear? The rumors outside are so confusing. Wasn't our eldest brother a garrison commander? He must have brought a lot of troops with him to suppress the bandits. How could he just disappear without a trace?" Wei Chengzhao inquired.
Wei Junhang helped Shen Xinyan sit down, and when he met the worried looks of his nephews, a trace of sadness flashed in his eyes.
Just now, he also received a letter that Lai Lu and his men had sent back at full speed. A month and a half ago, banditry had already broken out in Xiyan, and the eldest son led his troops to suppress the bandits. Unfortunately, they were outnumbered and fought a bloody battle on Qingfeng Mountain for a whole day and night. Not only did the officers and soldiers suffer heavy casualties, but he himself was also seriously injured and eventually fell off a cliff and disappeared.
But how could he dare to tell his mother and his wife about this?
Today, Xiyan City is already in chaos, with bandits rampant everywhere, the people living in poverty, and officials mostly inaction. Only the soldiers trained by the eldest son over the past year are resisting stubbornly. To make matters worse, the small country of Yijiang, not far from Xiyan, is also taking advantage of the chaos to rob.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Shen Xinyan had some guesses in her heart. She suppressed her grief and said, "Just tell me straight. I can hide it for a while, but I can't hide it forever. I can handle any bad news."
Wei Junhang thought about it, and finally slowly told the contents of the letter that Lai Lu had sent back.
Shen Xin's face turned pale, his lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a word.
"Now, His Majesty has ordered the neighboring provincial governments to send troops to suppress the bandits. Just now, Pingfu also asked His Majesty for permission to move westward in the palace." Wei Junhang said slowly.
Wei Chenglin's whereabouts were unknown, the eldest princess was ill in bed, and Wei Junhang had been going out early and coming back late because of his eldest son's affairs, and some people in the mansion were gradually uneasy. Shen Xinyan had to worry about the whereabouts of her eldest son and take care of the eldest princess without taking off her clothes. She was indispensable to everything in the mansion, and she lost weight rapidly in just a few days.
When Lingfu came to say goodbye to her the day before his departure, she only said a few words to him with tears in her eyes, and could not say anything else.
"I will be back as soon as I find Brother Chenglin. During my absence, Ying'er will be in the care of my mother-in-law!" After saying this, he bowed deeply to Shen Xinyan, then turned around and strode away.
Emperor Yuanyou and Concubine Ruigui in the palace also personally took care of the eldest princess' illness and sent imperial physicians to the palace from time to time to treat her. However, the eldest princess' illness was caused by mental illness, and unless Wei Chenglin could return safely, there would be no improvement.
Naturally, many people from the mansion came to visit the Grand Princess under the pretext of visiting her. Except for those close to her, Shen Xinyan sent away the rest one by one.
When the Third Prince and his wife came to visit, Shen Xinyan was waiting for the Grand Princess to finish drinking medicine. These days, the Grand Princess was sometimes conscious and sometimes unconscious, but she was unconscious more often. Occasionally, when she woke up, she would just grab her hand and ask, "Where is Lin Ge'er? Is Lin Ge'er back?"
Shen Xinyan tried hard to suppress the grief in her heart and comforted her softly, saying that Lin Ge'er would be back soon. The eldest princess was in a daze and she didn't know whether she listened to her words.
When she heard the maid come to report that the Third Prince and his wife were visiting the Grand Princess, Shen Xinyan would have sent them away if it was someone else, but since it was the Third Prince, she naturally couldn't turn them away, so she had to force herself to go and greet them.
"What happened to Brother Wei? How could he go missing and become a mystery?!" After everyone in the room left, Zhou Wanning grabbed her arm and asked.
Shen Xinyan didn't have the heart to pay attention to her anymore and simply said "no news yet".
"How could this happen..." Zhou Wanning's pretty face turned pale, and she fell weakly on the chair. After a while, she raised her head suddenly, with strong resentment in her eyes, "It's all your fault. If you hadn't forcefully sent him away, how could he have met with such an accident! How can you be so cruel? He is your biological son!"
Shen Xinyan was already exhausted, and now she just pulled herself together to greet her. When she heard her accusing her like this, her face darkened and she said with a flick of her sleeves, "If the Third Prince's wife comes to accuse me, then I'm sorry I won't accompany you!"
Having said that, she turned around and prepared to leave.
Zhou Wanning quickly grabbed her and said, "You can't leave. Explain yourself clearly! Why are you doing this? You must still be blaming him for sending you to the family temple in your last life, so you have never thought about treating him well in this life, right?"
"Let go!" Shen Xinyan brushed her away forcefully. She was blaming herself with every word she said, and she didn't want to argue with her about past and present lives. She just sneered and said, "What does it have to do with you about us mother and son? The Third Prince's wife is now a newly married woman, but she keeps thinking about other men. Isn't this too unfair to the Third Prince!"
"Do you dare to admit it? Do you dare to admit that you don't have any resentment towards him in your heart? Do you dare to admit that you love him as much in this life as in your last life?" Zhou Wanning refused to let her go, staring at her and approaching her step by step.
Shen Xinyan's head ached. Recently, because of the things going on in the mansion, she had less than three hours of rest every day. This morning, she was busy taking care of the Grand Princess and hadn't even eaten breakfast. Now, she was questioned by Zhou Wanning like this, and she immediately became angry.
"I think I have done everything with a clear conscience and I am not afraid of anyone, so I have done my best. But now, who are you to blame me? Because of those strange and fragmented dreams you had?"
"You admitted it, didn't you? You admitted that you also had those memories, didn't you? You did it all on purpose, didn't you? Because you wanted revenge! You wanted revenge on us!" Zhou Wanning became more and more excited as he spoke.
"Revenge? Why should I take revenge? What is there for me to take revenge for? You? Who are you and you? If I want to take revenge on you, I will ask the Third Prince to come and see how his newlywed wife is worried about another man and can't sleep all night!"
Zhou Wanning's face turned pale and he was blocked by her so that he couldn't say a word.
Yes, now she is someone else's wife and no longer has the qualifications to worry about him.
Realizing this, she fell powerlessly onto the armchair.
"No matter what, you must have resentment towards him in your heart. I'm sure you can't deny this." After a long while, she said slowly.
Shen Xinyan said frankly: "Yes, I hate him! Why can't I hate him? I hate you, your second brother Zhou Zhuo, and your Zhou family to the extreme."
"So, Zhou Wanning, if you want to hate someone, then hate Cang for making me have memories that I shouldn't have. In this life, I will never be free of grudges against you. If you want to take revenge, just come at me!"
"Madam, His Highness has woken up!" Zi Yan hurried in and reported.
Shen Xinyan no longer had the heart to care about Zhou Wanning, whose face was as pale as paper, and immediately walked out holding up her skirt.
Zhou Wanning was stunned for a moment, and then followed as if possessed by some unknown force.
Shen Xinyan walked to the bedside in one swift step and held the Grand Princess's waving hand. Before she could say anything, the Grand Princess recognized her and asked anxiously, "Where is Lin'er? Is Lin'er back? Let him in quickly!"
"Mother, he is on his way back, but the journey is long, so he cannot come back to the house yet. Mother, please rest and take care of yourself. When you recover, Lin'er will be back." Shen Xinyan's hand was so painful from being gripped by her, but she did not show it on her face and comforted her softly.
"Really? You're not lying to me? Is he really on his way back?" The eldest princess stared at her closely, her pale and haggard face full of doubt.
"Yes, I didn't lie to you. Lingfu has already gone to pick him up. If you don't believe me, I'll call Ying'er and you can ask her in detail, okay?" Shen Xinyan's voice became softer and she coaxed him patiently.
"Grandma, what mother said is right. Linfu went to pick up my brother a few days ago, and he must be on his way back now. You must take good care of yourself. If my brother comes back and sees you like this, he will feel very sad." Wei Yingzhi walked in without knowing when.
Zhou Wanning stared in amazement as she watched the mother and daughter naturally coaxing the eldest princess, who seemed to have aged several years overnight, and was speechless for a long time.
Although the memory in the dream was not very complete, she still remembered that after the marriage, the Grand Princess never looked at her straight in the eye. Although she was not harsh, the disregard in her words and actions was even more embarrassing.
Fortunately, her husband always stood by her side, and his tenderness towards her never changed no matter what happened. She thought that she would never find another person who treated her as well as he did in this life.
And half a year later, the Grand Princess passed away...
I walked out of the house in a daze, and suddenly, I saw Chunliu, the maid beside Shen Xinyan, leading a woman and walking towards me hurriedly.
She looked carefully and recognized the woman as Shen Huiran, and her heart tightened.
This Shen Huiran was the best daughter-in-law in her mother-in-law's mind in her previous life. Even the Grand Princess praised her more than she, the legitimate granddaughter-in-law. If it weren't for the fact that her husband never had her in his heart, I'm afraid she wouldn't have been able to sit in the position of the Duke's wife in her previous life.
Later, Wei Yingzhi died unexpectedly, Shen Huiran hanged herself, and her mother-in-law died of illness in the family temple. What happened next? Although she didn't dream about what happened next, she thought that with her husband's love for her, they would live happily and lovingly together until old age!
People in the mansion came and went in a hurry, and no one paid any attention to her. Occasionally, a respected maid would loudly pass down the instructions of the mistress or the fourth aunt, and the servants would respond and leave.
So it turns out that she is the head of the Duke's Mansion this generation, not Fang from the eldest house? Zhou Wanning bit her lip lightly, and saw a three or four-year-old child running all the way to the Grand Princess's Courtyard. The wet nurse behind him was so anxious that she kept shouting, "Little Master, slow down, little Master, slow down."
She became even more depressed and felt unhappy.
Could it be that this child, which did not exist at all in the previous life, was God's compensation to her former "mother-in-law" in this life?
She didn't know how she walked out. When she turned around, she saw that her husband of this life, the Third Prince, had an anxious look on his face. When his eyes met hers, a look of surprise suddenly appeared on his face.
"Where have you been? Let me find you." The third prince breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to hold her hand.
She subconsciously tried to avoid his touch, but in the end she stood still and let the big hand hold her.
"I went to see the Grand Princess." She said softly.
"How is my great-aunt? Is she feeling better?" the third prince asked with concern.
"It doesn't look good..."
If she continues on the path of her last life, the Grand Princess will pass away in a few months...
***
Wei Junhang has been extremely busy lately. He has sent out batch after batch of people to look for the whereabouts of his eldest son, but they have never been able to find him. Whenever he met the expectant eyes of his mother and wife, he felt a pang of pain in his heart, making him speechless for a long time.
Half a month later, the Rongdi people suddenly launched an army and marched south, conquering two cities in succession. When the news came back, the government and the public were shocked.
The banditry in Xiyan has not been quelled yet, and the Rongdi people have risen up to invade again. The current Great Chu Dynasty is worried about internal and external troubles, and the people are in panic.
A heated debate broke out among the court officials over who should be sent to lead the troops to resist the Rongdi people. After some consideration, Emperor Yuanyou issued an edict, ordering General Murong and Duke of Ying Wei Junhang to lead the troops.
"Don't worry, ma'am. Although the decree says so, the task of leading the troops to fight still falls on General Murong. I'm just worried about the empty title of general." Seeing that Shen Xinyan was worried after receiving the decree and was completely concerned about herself, Wei Junhang hurriedly comforted her.
In fact, although he was nominally leading troops, he actually had another mission.
The banditry in Xiyan and the Rongdi invasion to the south were too coincidental. The Rongdi were powerful, but the generals of the Chu Dynasty were not the kind of people who would eat for free. How could they be allowed to capture two cities at once? There must be something strange going on.
In addition, it was discovered not long ago that Prince Cheng had appeared in Rongdi, so Emperor Yuanyou suspected that this series of incidents must be the conspiracy of Prince Cheng, so he took the opportunity of leading the troops to go to the expedition and let Wei Junhang go to find out the truth.
Shen Xinyan suppressed her worries and packed her bag for him. Wei Junhang held her busy hands and pulled her to sit beside him. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I'm afraid I won't be back in the short term. I'll leave my mother and the affairs of the mansion to you."
"Don't worry, I know what to do." Shen Xinyan nodded and responded in a hoarse voice.
"If you are too busy, let Ying'er come back to accompany you more often." Wei Junhang reminded her worriedly.
Shen Xinyan shook her head: "That's not necessary. Although Lingfu is not in the mansion now, she is also the mistress of the Loyalty Marquis's mansion. There are many things going on in the mansion. How can she get away completely?"
"Is General Murong Tao also in the army this time?" The couple were reluctant to leave each other. After a moment, Shen Xinyan thought of this and asked hurriedly.
Wei Junhang nodded: "He is General Murong's son, so he will go with us."
Really? Murong Tao will go too!
For some reason, Shen Xinyan always felt uneasy and did not trust Murong Tao. After all, in order to get Zhou Wanning in his last life, he even pretended to be a traitor and kidnapped someone.
"General Murong is fine, but I am worried about Murong Tao. No matter what, you must be careful of this person when you go there this time." She was still worried and said seriously.
Wei Junhang didn't understand why she had such an idea. Although Murong Tao had some conflicts with his eldest son, he would not be confused about the affairs of the country. However, seeing that she was telling him so seriously, he didn't want her to worry, so he nodded and agreed: "Don't worry, Madam, I've taken note of everything you said."
A few days later, after seeing off Pingfu, Shen Xinyan saw off her husband again. She watched Wei Junhang, dressed in military uniform, kowtow several times in front of the Grand Princess's bed, and then suddenly stood up and left. When he reached her side, he paused slightly, but in the end, he strode out without saying a word.
Shen Xinyan subconsciously wanted to chase him, but stopped after taking half a step. With tears in her eyes, she watched his figure gradually go farther and farther, and finally disappear completely from her sight.