Chapter 433 The siblings meet
As he grew older and gained experience on the frontier, he learned to understand the situation in the State of Yu and between different states.
Therefore, Xie Yunli sometimes worried that his brothers might fight to the death like they did in the State of Song.
Fortunately, Sheng Sheng and Xie Yun had brought him good news before, which reassured him.
Now that he has returned to the capital and seen his younger brothers in person, and to his dismay none of them have gone astray, Xie Yunli is finally completely relieved.
He truly deserves to be Xie Yunli's brother.
That's awesome!
When Xie Yunli was happy, his straightforward nature couldn't be hidden. After not seeing his younger brothers for several years, he couldn't help but want to talk to them.
However, they couldn't chat freely in this situation. Xie Yunli waved his hand and ordered Vice General Li, whom he had brought back to the capital, to lead the soldiers to continue the march.
After giving his instructions, Xie Yunli noticed Xie Yunqi peeking around behind him and patted him on the shoulder.
"Stop looking, Sheng Sheng and Ah Yang's carriage is right behind us."
Xie Yunqi chuckled: "Big brother, don't misunderstand. I heard that my sister brought back a lot of gifts, and I'm just eager to receive them."
"Really?" Xie Yunli feigned anger. "I thought you no longer cared about me as your older brother, and only about Shengsheng."
"How could that be!" Xie Yunqi exclaimed, patting his chest and vowing, "I, Xie Yunqi, have always been the best at treating everyone equally. Not to mention my brothers and sisters, I treat even the little flowers and grass in the palace equally!"
Xie Yunli laughed uncontrollably, "Alright, you, you were a little rascal when you were two or three years old, always causing trouble, and you're still the same now that you're all grown up."
Where have I caused trouble?
Xie Yunqi was puzzled.
However, his question went unanswered, because Sheng Sheng and Xie Yun's carriage had already arrived in front of them, and Xie Yunchuan had already gone to greet them in a hurry.
Seeing this, Xie Yunqi quickly followed, saying, "Second Brother, wait for me!"
The commotion outside was so great that the people inside the carriage couldn't contain themselves any longer. They lifted the curtain and looked out, only to be met by Xie Yunchuan, who was coming to greet them.
Sheng Sheng's face lit up with joy, and she waved to him with a beaming smile, "Brother, brother!"
Xie Yunchuan was relieved when he saw the little girl's face. He quickly walked to the carriage, reached out and steadily took her outstretched hand. His fingertips touched her warm palm, and his voice was incredibly gentle: "Sheng Sheng, you must be exhausted from the journey."
Sheng Sheng jumped out of the car, her skirt sweeping the ground, and jumped onto his arm, shaking it: "Not tired at all! Brother, I brought you lots and lots of new and interesting little things! I'll let you in on a secret, Sheng Sheng also prepared a very special gift."
The engagement ceremony for him and Sister Yan Yan, isn't that special?
With a beaming smile, Xie Yunqi squeezed through the crowd and eagerly interjected, "Little sister, where's my gift?!"
Sheng Sheng turned her head and smiled at him: "Of course, Fifth Prince, you'll get yours too."
Xie Yunqi was finally satisfied: "That's more like it. I thought you'd forgotten all about us after having so much fun outside for over a year."
"I've only forgotten you, but I haven't forgotten anyone else."
Xie Yunwen was pushed towards Xie Yunli, who said with a smile.
Xie Yunyang simply got off the carriage and joined their conversation.
However, whether it was Sheng Sheng's imagination or not, after Xie Yun-yang got out of the car, Xie Yun-chuan, holding Sheng Sheng's hand, paused for a moment, then looked away and did not join Xie Yun-yang's conversation with the others. Instead, he took Sheng Sheng a step to the side.
Xie Yunchuan looked the little girl up and down, weighing her to see if she had lost weight and observing whether she had suffered any hardship.
She held his hand tightly, repeatedly assuring him, "Brother, I really haven't lost weight. We've eaten all sorts of delicious, spicy, and numbing foods along the way, how could I possibly lose weight?"
Xie Yunchuan ruffled her hair helplessly: "I thought you were reluctant to come back."
"How could that be?" Sheng Sheng hugged his arm and said coquettishly, "Sheng Sheng misses her brother and mother so much, how could she not go home?"
Having not seen each other for so long, the siblings chatted enthusiastically, almost to the point of no return.
It was the Minister of Rites who couldn't contain himself any longer and came over, wiping his sweat, to interrupt them: "Your Highnesses, why don't you all go back to the palace first? His Majesty is still waiting in the palace to welcome the First Prince and all the soldiers. The soldiers also need to be settled as soon as possible. It is not in accordance with etiquette to linger at the city gate like this!"
"The Minister is right. Let's talk again when we get back to the palace."
Xie Yunchuan took Shengsheng's hand, gave instructions to the officials, and then led them all onto the carriage to return to the palace.
Xie Yun-yang, having traveled by carriage the whole way, couldn't resist going on horseback with Xie Yun-chuan and Xie Yun-li.
Thus, the people riding in the carriage with Sheng Sheng became Xie Yunwen and Xie Yunqi.
Xie Yunqi kept pestering her for a gift, and Sheng Sheng felt that Xie Yunqi was the younger one, and she was more like Xie Yunqi's older sister.
Unable to withstand his fussing, Sheng Sheng opened a box of strange and unusual trinkets she had collected along the way and showed it to him. Xie Yunqi finally stopped making a fuss.
"The rest aren't here. Brothers, take a look at these to pass the time. If you like anything, feel free to take it!"
"Hey, that's interesting!"
Xie Yunqi's attention was instantly diverted, and she pulled Xie Yunwen along to start fiddling with this and that.
Sheng Sheng finally had some peace and quiet, but after all that commotion, she had no desire to sit still.
So, Sheng Sheng quietly lifted the car window curtain and looked out, searching through the crowd.
She had just seen Minister Li among the officials. Minister Li was Li Manyan's grandfather. Upon seeing him, she naturally thought of Li Manyan.
With the border troops returning to Beijing, will Sister Yan Yan also come to join in the fun?
Xie Yunqi was engrossed in tinkering with those gadgets, while Xie Yunwen wasn't interested. He watched with him for a while, then stopped.
Seeing Sheng Sheng peeking out, I asked her, "Sheng Sheng, what are you looking at?"
"Hmm?" Sheng Sheng lowered the curtain and replied, "I'm looking for Sister Yan Yan."
She paused, then added, "Because I heard that my brother is going to ask Father for a marriage decree at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, I really, really want to find Sister Yan Yan and ask her clearly what happened between them. How come they've gotten to this point in just over a year since I left!"
Sheng Sheng clenched his fists, unable to hide his excitement: "Fourth brother, do you know anything about the inside story?"
Xie Yunwen seemed somewhat surprised: "Oh... is that so?"
Sheng Sheng noticed his expression was off: "What's wrong?"
Xie Yunwen hesitated for a moment: "It's nothing, it's just that the arranged marriage is probably not going to happen for the time being. Right now... something has happened, so this is not the time to talk about this."
"ah?"
Sheng Sheng was very surprised. She had been looking forward to this all the way, and she rushed back to Beijing before the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet because she wanted to be there for her brother and her future sister-in-law's big day.
Now you're telling her that this won't happen?
This was undoubtedly a blow to Sheng Sheng. As a staunch supporter of her brother and sister-in-law's relationship, Sheng Sheng's first reaction was whether there was a problem between the two.
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