皇帝到底心软，即便心中怀疑太子非他亲生，即使太子弑君弑父，杀害兄弟，他也不忍心将其杀之。只是废除太子之位贬为庶人，囚禁宗人府而已。
楚络荀落网后，顾南娇搀扶着皇帝回了寝宫，皇帝沉默良久，突然问：“你早就知道太子会谋权篡位？”
顾南娇脸色一变：“父皇这是什么意思？”
"Where did the Crown Prince get the musket?" the Emperor asked. "The Ministry of Works is directly under my control. The Crown Prince's people can't be placed in there at all. The Crown Prince mentioned the blueprints. Did you give him those blueprints?"
Gu Nanjiao was stunned for a moment, then quickly knelt down: "Father, you are wronged! The Crown Prince has impure intentions. Back in Luoshui County, he collected little beggars and trained them into secret guards to be eunuchs in the palace. He has been planning this for a long time. I just happened to lose my musket blueprints, but the Crown Prince picked them up."
"Alright, alright, look how scared you are. I was just joking."
The plan to test the Crown Prince was devised by Lu Yanzhao, and he naturally knew that Lu Yanzhao would tell Gu Nanjiao about it.
In the emperor's mind, women should not interfere in politics, otherwise it would surely cause turmoil in the court.
Gu Nanjiao was personally appointed as the Protector of the Nation by him, and with Lu Yanzhao being such a talented person, if the princess were to harbor any disloyalty, wouldn't the Chu Dynasty have to change its name and surname?
After Gu Nanjiao returned to the manor, Lu Yanzhao had not yet returned, so she went to the wet nurse's place to check on the two children.
With the recent turmoil in the court, Lu Yanzhao, as the emperor's favorite, was naturally extremely busy. After dealing with the crown prince's affairs, the emperor began to attend court and govern.
The court was once again engulfed in bloodshed. The Crown Prince's men were all removed, and the Emperor chose to turn a blind eye to the two-faced factions.
After the Crown Prince fell from power, the happiest person was Zhou Qiyue. Now, the only adult prince is Prince Cheng, and the Empress is in the Cold Palace. Once Prince Cheng ascends the throne, she will be the rightful Empress Dowager.
Even though Zhou Qiyue's life was worse than that of a servant, she was excited. She only needed to wait patiently for the emperor to pass away and for Prince Cheng to ascend the throne so that she could move into Cining Palace.
...
April arrived in the blink of an eye, the weather gradually warmed up, and spring flowers bloomed.
The two little ones can sit up on their own, holding rice cakes made by Gu Nanjiao, and are eating them with great enjoyment.
Lu Xiaomei was packing her luggage: "I stayed at home for a few months and my kung fu has deteriorated. I'm going back to Nanshan Temple to stay for another two years. Once I've mastered my kung fu, I want to become a peerless female kung fu master!"
Now that Lu Yanzhao is a high-ranking official of the second rank and Chu Luoxun has been captured, there is no potential danger around Lu Xiaomei. She wants to return to Nanshan Temple, and Lu Yanzhao does not stop her.
Before leaving, Lu Xiaomei touched her two nieces' chubby cheeks: "When your aunt comes back, she will teach you two martial arts. When you grow up, your aunt will take you to rob the rich and help the poor, and become peerless heroines."
After seeing Lu Xiaomei off, Gu Nanjiao went to Jiaoniang Pavilion and drew some patterns, all of which were children's clothes.
Two sets of paintings were drawn for his own daughter, and two sets were designed for Zhou Yu's child. Hearing that she was about to give birth, Bai Luochen protected Zhou Yu like a Bodhisattva, not letting her go out, and even more so, not letting her get close to the snail rice noodle business.
Now, Jiaoniang Pavilion has moved to the most bustling area of the capital, with eight rooms across two floors, including a lounge, changing rooms, and a reception area. Downstairs, there's a children's play area where Gu Nanjiao specially commissioned a carpenter to make small rocking horses, toys with mechanisms, and a wooden slide, so customers can conveniently leave their children in the play area when shopping for clothes.
After dinner, Lu's mother took the two little ones away and said to Gu Nanjiao, "You and Yanzhao have been busy all day, so get some rest. The wet nurse and I can help take care of the two children."
Gu Nanjiao was exhausted after a long day, but she didn't fuss. After washing up, she crawled into bed and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
In a daze, she felt someone holding her with both hands and feet, but those hands were a little restless, always touching her body.
Lu Yanzhao, familiar with the place, reached inside, rested his chin on Gu Nanjiao's neck, and gently inhaled her fragrance.
Gu Nanjiao found him annoying and tried to push him away twice but failed. The two of them lingered for a while before rolling around together again.
Gu Nanjiao almost knelt down to him. Wasn't he tired and sleepy after working all day?
Lu Yanzhao tormented her relentlessly until midnight, still unwilling to let her go, and continued to press down on her.
Gu Nanjiao jolted and pushed Lu Yanzhao away, asking in a panic, "Did you spill anything outside just now?"
Oh my god, these few days are her ovulation period. If Lu Yanzhao doesn't pull out, won't she get pregnant?
She really doesn't want to have any more children. She has stretch marks on her belly, and although they've faded quite a bit now, they're still noticeably different from her former youthful appearance.
Lu Yanzhao was stunned for a long time before stammering, "No...no!"
"You..." Gu Nan was extremely annoyed. It was all her fault for forgetting this matter in her confusion and infatuation.
Men's mouths are deceitful; they promise not to have children, yet they can't control their lower bodies.
She threw off the covers, opened a small drawer in the dressing table, took out the birth control pills she had prepared, and swallowed them.
"What are you eating?" Lu Yanzhao's eyes sharpened as he stared intently at the bottle in Gu Nanjiao's hand.
"What else could it be? Contraceptives!" Gu Nanjiao put the medicine bottle back in the dressing table drawer, but Lu Yanzhao took out a handful and threw them away: "Don't take this, it'll hurt your health."
"Tch!" Gu Nanjiao rolled her eyes, got into bed alone, and crawled under the covers. "What if I get pregnant if I don't eat this? My two daughters are so young, I don't want to have any more children. Do you expect me to give you a son?"
"No." Lu Yanzhao hugged Gu Nanjiao from behind, his voice filled with concern. "I was afraid of harming your body. It's all my fault for not being able to hold back today. Don't take that medicine anymore... it's bad for your health."
Gu Nanjiao sighed. Being confused and infatuated is not one person's fault. Of course, she couldn't help herself either. After all, they hadn't been together for more than half a year since she gave birth, so it was only natural that she felt a little itchy.
"How can we prevent pregnancy without taking medicine?" Gu Nanjiao couldn't think of any other methods of contraception in ancient times, and she didn't want to use fish bladders, which smelled fishy and unpleasant.
"Then I'll pull it out as early as possible next time! I definitely won't let it leak inside." Lu Yanzhao didn't want to use the disgusting fish bladder either; this was the only contraceptive method he could think of.
The two of them spent a sleepless night embracing each other, their worries revolving around contraception.
The next morning, Gu Nanjiao rubbed her dark circles and said to Lu Yanzhao, "I heard there are many natural rubber trees in Qionghai, I plan to go and take a look!"
"Go to Qionghai!?" Lu Yanzhao asked, puzzled. "Why go to such a far place? And what about this rubber you mentioned? Why are you looking at it?"
Gu Nanjiao blushed and whispered mysteriously in his ear, "I'll go see if that rubber can be used to make condoms. If I can invent it, what a great business opportunity that would be!"
"You tossed and turned all night thinking about this?" Lu Yanzhao looked at her with a complicated expression, really not knowing what was going on in her head.
Condoms, how could she even think of that!
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