Li Zhaole hesitated for a moment before saying, "There's something I've been keeping from you all. I know it's wrong, but I just wanted to stay at the Ji residence to give Xiao Junjun a safe place. Now I'll be frank with you."
“I already know, and I've already taken care of it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have let you stay here for so long.”
I looked at Xie Yuancheng. He was actually hiding something from me, even though he said he would always put me first.
"I didn't mean to hide it, but I really had no choice at the time. I managed to shake off the tail behind me, but I don't know why the Second Prince came looking for me."
“He came looking for you not because your information was leaked. I would never let anyone I want to help be in danger. So now the Prime Minister and I have found a solution, but we just need to wait. You can stay in the mansion, nothing will happen to you.”
Li Zhaole bit her lip, but finally smiled and said, "Brother Yuancheng, thank you."
“You’ve helped me secretly before. My Ying’er is immature and has interfered with your and Lin Yu’s affairs. Consider this compensation.”
"What did I do that was inappropriate!" I grabbed Xie Yuancheng's arm. How could he say that about me?
"Ying'er, we're talking right now, I'll talk to you later."
Li Zhaole chimed in, "Yes, Brother Yuancheng loves you very much, so you should cherish him. Don't be like me. We could have salvaged things, but we were too stupid back then. We were both used by the Crown Prince, and now we have different goals and have to separate."
"Stop defending him, he's just a scheming man!"
"You two are like this, I won't interfere. I'll go check on Xiao Junjun first."
I smiled and saw her to the door, then closed it completely: "Tell me, what are you hiding from me?"
"Ying'er, I go out with my father-in-law every day. You don't think we're just going for a walk, do you?"
"Of course not. I thought you were going to handle matters concerning the Crown Prince and his subordinates. I never imagined that Zhaole would keep it from me."
"You're sometimes adorably naive. Luckily I took you in, otherwise you'd be waiting to be scammed."
Xie Yuancheng pulled me to sit at the table and told me about Li Zhaole's escape. She did intentionally conceal some details, but it didn't have much impact. However, if she was caught red-handed, she would lose everything.
When she and Xiren escaped, they met Lin Yu on the road. Lin Yu's condition for her was indeed that he would forgive her past mistakes, but he could not give her the child.
He also said that losing one child wouldn't be a big deal, as they could have another one later. He wanted to make Xiao Junjun the crown prince, but he couldn't let her raise him; he wanted to give him to the empress.
The empress came from a prominent family in Dongqin, but she was unable to bear children. Therefore, she needed to use Xiaojunjun to consolidate her position so that she could become the true emperor of Dongqin.
At that time, Li Zhaole asked him whether he truly loved her or was using her when he made the offer of a vassal state a condition for marrying her.
Lin Yu said that by becoming a vassal state, he could eliminate the most threatening foreign tribe and bring her back to save her from her suffering; he was rescuing her.
Li Zhaole soon learned that if she went back, she would simply become like her mother. If she grew old and lost her beauty, Lin Yu would have a new woman.
Little Junjun was raised by the Empress. If he was lucky, he could become the Crown Prince. However, she was not a generous person and could not possibly treat Little Junjun as her own child. Who could say that he would definitely live to become the Crown Prince?
Back then, the crown prince wasn't second only to the emperor, but he became arrogant and turned out the way he is now.
So Li Zhaole ran away with Xiao Junjun and Xiren, but Lin Yu had planted spies around her. Fortunately, Xiren was willing to sacrifice herself to protect them, so they escaped unscathed.
However, she still had feelings for Lin Yu, so she kept this part from Lin Yu and only talked about the Crown Prince.
"What a silly woman. If I were a man..."
"You're a man and you're mine too," Xie Yuancheng said domineeringly from the side. "I'll stop at nothing to get you back, so don't even think about showing any mercy."
"I was just expressing my feelings; it's not like it'll actually happen."
"You're not allowed to sigh, you can only sigh about me. If you dare to have any wild thoughts in your mind, I won't sit idly by."
"What's wrong with you today? You're being bossy again. Don't you feel sorry for them? Think about how they got through that journey."
“Everyone makes different choices. Once you’ve made a choice, you have to be able to bear the consequences. If I hadn’t chosen to give you time back then, and if you had continued to be stubborn and didn’t like me, you would be my caged canary now.”
I pinched Xie Yuancheng's handsome face: "Stop adding to your own troubles. You already have so much to do every day, why are you taking on more problems?"
Xie Yuancheng held me in his arms: "Ying'er, I mean it. If anyone dares to try to take you away, I'll wipe them all out and disappear without a trace."
I suddenly remembered what Lingwu said in the cave back then, and I never imagined it was true.
"You're just worrying too much. I would never leave you. Now that we have three kids, it's even less likely I'll leave. If we were separated, where would I find someone who loves me this much!"
"Your words are getting sweeter and sweeter."
"Go check if Yu'er is awake yet. He'll probably be fussy tonight, so I asked Mom to help take care of the two little ones and let him sleep with us tonight."
"Ying'er~ You only think about Yu'er, you don't even care about me~"
“I always dream about being separated from my son. I want to spend more time with him. We are already one, and we go everywhere together. Yu’er is so young, and we are always separated from him. I feel so bad for him.”
"Okay, let the little guy sleep in the bed tonight, but I reckon he'll be fussy for a long time."
"Let him make a fuss. If I could shrink Yu'er, I would take him with me all the time and never let him leave my side."
"Be careful, Yu'er might grow up and hate you. You'll have to keep him by your side for the rest of your life."
"Ugh~"
That's what I said, but Yu'er woke up and made a fuss in the middle of the night, which ruined my good mood. I just wanted him to go to sleep early and stop bothering me in the future!
"Yu'er~" I was about to cry. I held Yu'er in my arms and played with all sorts of toys for him, but he just wanted to cry.
"My dear son, I won't scold you anymore. I'll give you whatever you want. Don't cry."
His clothes were soaked with tears, and he looked pitiful. Xie Yuancheng went out and brought back the small pillow he had washed, and dried it over a fire. He was still whimpering beside him.
"Waaah~ I want a hug."
"Isn't Mom holding you?" I felt incredibly sleepy. How did Mom used to comfort Yu'er? She was so energetic in the mornings.
"Waaah~ I want Liangliang."
"Here you go, it's all dried out." I gave him the little pillow, and Yu'er hugged it and started whimpering and gasping for breath.
Xie Yuancheng took out the clothes and placed them next to Yu'er, stroking his little hand: "Good son, come to Daddy, let me change you into some nice clothes."
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