Ruyan nodded and started to clean up these things for her in the yard.

About half an incense stick of time had passed, and footsteps were heard approaching. Ruyan turned around happily and smiled and said, "You're back so soon?"

But what she never expected was that the person who barged in front of her was Ji Heng. Ji Heng had changed into a crescent-white suit, and he looked elegant and handsome.

"Where are they?"

"They have gone to the palace to visit the Empress Dowager. It's a pity that you came. They have already left." Ruyan said with a smile while sorting the herbs. Ji Heng also came over to take a look out of curiosity.

"I didn't expect you to study these medicinal herbs." Ji Heng put his hands behind his back and looked at her with a mature face. Ruyan smiled bitterly and said, "This is all Miss Gu's good teaching. Otherwise, how would I know these things?"

"Don't be so modest. If it weren't for your kindness and wisdom, how could you have studied all these things so thoroughly!" Ji Heng's face was rarely filled with a faint smile. This was the first time that Ji Ruyan saw the corners of his mouth raised.

Ji Heng noticed that she was laughing just now, and asked in confusion: "Why are you laughing?"

"It's just that I've never seen you smile easily. Sometimes you look cold and a little majestic." Ji Ruyan thought of Ji Heng before, who always looked so majestic, and didn't dare to get close to him at all.

"You also think I look ferocious, don't you?"

"No, no, not really. I just feel like you give people a distant feeling."

"Yes, since Ruotong left, I have never smiled at anyone easily." Ji Heng's expression would unconsciously become decadent when he missed Shui Ruotong. Seeing this, Ruyan walked forward and said, "Ruotong? It sounds like she is a woman. Does she occupy a big place in your heart?"

"Yes, she does occupy a very important place in my heart." Ji Heng said to him without any concealment. He missed Ruotong and loved only her in his heart. No one could take her place away.

"So that's how it is. It turns out that everyone has someone in their heart that they can't forget. The princess said it very well: once someone walks into your heart, you will no longer look at anyone else. I can understand your feelings." Ruyan reached out and held his hand tightly, and this touch made Ji Heng feel a different kind of subtlety. This is not something that any woman can give him. Even Shu'er has never made him so moved.

"I'm sorry, I offended you just now..." Ji Ruyan noticed that something was wrong with his expression, looked at their clasped hands, and quickly let go.

On the other side, Gu Yunru brought Shu'er to the Cining Palace. Nanny Huahua was waiting anxiously on the side. She looked at Gu Yunru and said, "Princess, you haven't come for a long time. The Queen Mother has been waiting for you for a long time. Your hair has become more and more gray, and your appearance is much more haggard than before!"

"Is there such a thing?"

"Yes, Princess, you should go and take a look!" Nanny Hua led Gu Yunru and Shu'er into the main hall. Due to her old age, the Queen Mother could no longer wear those fancy clothes. She was lying on the phoenix couch in a gray dress with large flowers. She slowly opened her eyes when she saw someone coming in, and the spirit and light in her eyes were no longer there.

Fine lines slowly crept up the corners of her eyebrows and eyes, and even the slightest expression revealed wrinkles on her face. Although time never defeats beauty, if time were truly cruel, even beauties would not be able to resist it.

"Greetings to the Empress Dowager, may the Empress Dowager be blessed with good health and happiness."

The two of them bowed solemnly in unison, and the Queen Mother waved her hand, motioning them to get up quickly and sit next to her so that she could take a closer look at them. "My eyes are blurry, and you are standing so far away that I really can't tell what you look like. Come closer and let me take a look!" Shu'er and Gu Yunru looked at each other, sat on either side, and let her take a closer look. With such a close look, she found that the Queen Mother's black hair was indeed more silver hair.

The emperor is gone, and the eldest prince and the newly enthroned third prince are also gone. How can the old lady bear such a blow? Shu'er felt particularly distressed when she saw this, and slowly stroked her wrinkled face, "Grandmother, you must take good care of yourself. Shu'er can't come to the palace to see you often, but Shu'er will always miss you in her heart."

"It's great that you have that intention. I am already satisfied that my grandmother has lived to such an old age. I just hope that you can be well."

"Cough cough..." Seeing the empress dowager coughing, Nanny Hua asked someone to bring a jar and asked the empress dowager to spit everything into it. Gu Yunru glanced at the sputum she spit out, which was stained with a trace of red blood, and realized that her physical condition was indeed much worse than before.

"Empress Dowager, look what good things Shu'er and I have brought to see you." After saying that, she asked the maid beside her to take out a box and put the cakes on the table, including small and exquisite tofu and shrimp balls, hibiscus corn cakes, and hawthorn strips. These things were the Empress Dowager's favorite foods in the past.

But now, the Empress Dowager frowned and twisted her brows into knots after seeing these things. Shu'er asked in confusion: "Grandmother, what's wrong? Don't you have an appetite after seeing these things?"

Aunt Hua looked at the Queen Mother who was hesitant to speak, and stepped forward and said, "It's like this, the Queen Mother's teeth haven't been very good these days, and these cakes are too hard. In the past, I would order the imperial kitchen to make some soft snacks and food.

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The Queen Mother probably can't chew this shrimp ball." After hearing what Aunt Hua said, the two looked at each other and saw the Queen Mother's worried face and understood what was going on.

"It doesn't matter. Since the Empress Dowager can't eat these things, Shu'er won't make them next time!" Shu'er winked at the palace maid beside her, took away all the annoying snacks, and told a few jokes. The Empress Dowager didn't react, so she had to cast a look for help to Gu Yunru, and then Gu Yunru reacted.

Ji Heng on the other side sneezed and felt dizzy and hot. He shook his head. Ruyan put the tea in front of him, sat beside him and asked warmly: "What's wrong? Is it because of the big temperature difference between day and night these days that you caught a cold?"

"That's not the case. I just feel a tightness in my chest. I have been looking for Du Juan's whereabouts these days, but I didn't expect that Du Juan is already dead. It seems that someone killed her to silence her. The prince has also been unable to eat or sleep many times because of this matter."

Ruyan nodded, looked at him with a slightly raised lip and said, "Since there is still no clue about this matter, let's put it aside for now. One day the truth will come out. It seems that the person is in the dark while everyone is in the light. It is not so easy to collect clues."