A month later, Zhao Yunwan had calmed down.
During this month, the emperor spent almost every day with Zhao Yunwan, becoming increasingly inseparable from her, to the point that he neglected his morning court sessions several times! Among the officials in the court, there were two opposing opinions.
One view holds that the empress was dissolute and indulged in debauchery, clinging to the emperor and neglecting state affairs.
One voice secretly rejoiced, thinking that the empress's ability to control the emperor meant that the future great cause was already halfway to success.
Xiao Sheng lived in the Li family's house. Every day he went to school, and after school he would practice on the plum blossom stakes with the five sons of the Li family in the martial arts training ground. He was so happy that he forgot about home. Occasionally he would return to the palace to meet up with Qianmian.
The emperor almost forgot that he had a son studying outside the palace. It was only when Zhao Yunwan asked about Xiao Sheng's recent situation that Emperor Hui remembered to inquire about Xiao Sheng's studies, and thus summoned Xiao Sheng once.
Xiao Sheng is now adept at concealing his true abilities.
In front of the emperor, he was still the same arrogant person who thought he was destined to be emperor. He kept saying how fun it was outside the palace, how he had a great time every day, and that Grand Tutor Li was a very kind and not strict person.
Qianmian selectively shared the clues he found in the palace with Xiao Sheng.
After all, Xiao Sheng is still too young; I'm afraid he won't be able to handle it. This palace is a cannibalistic palace.
Xiao Sheng felt happy every day at the Li family's residence. This happiness was different from the pleasure he used to get from bossing around and beating the palace maids and eunuchs in the palace.
The pleasure he used to experience was simply to fill his emptiness. He had no mother to take care of him, and although Zhao Yunwan was always there for him, Xiao Sheng felt differently about Zhao Yunwan being with Xiao Ding.
He didn't know what the difference was back then, but he does now.
There's a kind of love that doesn't reach the eyes, that's perfunctory, that's like praising someone to death. These are all words I learned from Li Xingran. How did Li Xingran learn these nice-sounding words?
Fortunately, that night Qianmian made him insist on going to the emperor no matter what to ask Li Ting to become his tutor.
Xiao Sheng was extremely unwilling at the time. Even though he was serving as the Crown Prince in a muddle, he knew which official was more powerful. Li Ting was just a military man with no official position. How could he be qualified to be the Crown Prince's tutor?
Now he feels that inviting Li Ting to be his tutor was the best decision he ever made in his life.
Listening to Li Xingran's thoughts every day, Xiao Sheng always learns a lot. He remembers all those new words and plans to ask Li Xingran about them when she grows up.
On the day Li Xingran turned one month old, Li Ting's cousin, Li Lin, returned to the capital and happened to be there for the banquet.
Li Xingran was dazzled as she looked at her aunt who was holding her in her arms.
[My goodness, the Li family's genes are just too good! Every single one of them is a stunning beauty!]
This aunt was a very strong woman. When the news of her second uncle's murder reached her in-laws, she didn't shed a single tear.
Because her in-laws knew her father had died in a brothel, they were very dissatisfied with her and even considered divorcing her. However, she endured the grief of losing her father, maintained her position as the mistress of the Liu family, and firmly grasped the family's financial power. Her good-for-nothing husband was completely under her control.
[The aunt's ending in the book was relatively good; because the entire Li family was executed, the Liu family she married into was also stripped of their property.]
Fortunately, she was a shrewd and calculating woman. Having managed the Liu family's finances for so many years, she divided the assets into several parts and deposited them in money shops under different identities.
Since Zhao Yunwan's people couldn't be found, her aunt lived off that money for the rest of her life without suffering.
Xiao Sheng listened carefully to Li Xingran's every thought, and then looked at Li Lin. He couldn't believe that such a seemingly beautiful and delicate woman could think things through so thoroughly, while he himself was living a chaotic life, completely controlled by Zhao Yunwan, and still had to be grateful to her.
At Li Xingran's full moon celebration, Xiao Ding surprisingly brought Xiao Yuyan to the Li family, ostensibly to represent the emperor in offering congratulations.
When Li Xingran finished dressing up and met everyone, Xiao Yuyan saw the dark spots on Li Xingran's face and felt disgusted. She didn't want to look at her for more than a second.
Xiao Yuyan's purpose for this trip was to find a study companion. Originally, Zhao Yunwan wanted to select Li Xingran to enter the palace as a princess's study companion after she turned three. However, Xiao Yuyan was obsessed with looks, and anyone who was ugly was not even qualified to be a palace servant in her palace, let alone a study companion.
The Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices has brought his family to the banquet today. Coincidentally, Liang Jiamei is about to be noticed by Xiao Yuyan.
Xiao Ding stared motionlessly at the baby in the swaddling clothes. For no reason, he felt an urge to make the little girl cry, even to crush her in his hands.
For the first time, Xiao Ding made a face at the baby, which was beneath his dignity, and even made a throat-slitting gesture.
[Oh dear, Second Prince, you're only six years old, and you're already thinking about killing me? Do you think I can't see the hatred in your eyes? You usually pretend to be harmless, but you're a born scoundrel.]
【I have no grudge against you, and my Li family has no grudge against your Xiao family either. Yet you and your mother, surnamed Zhao, are birds of a feather. In the book, the Southern Chen Kingdom was destroyed by your hand. What are you pretending for?!】
[You just wait, kid. When I, Li Xingran, can run and jump again, that's when your disaster will strike.]
[However, I won't even need to lift a finger; your ordeal is about to begin. The daughter of Liang Qianfan, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, has been chosen by Xiao Yuyan to become the princess's study companion.]
[In the book, Liang Jiamei and I were both assigned by the Empress to be the princess's companions. However, Liang Jiamei did too many outrageous things. At such a young age, she dared to peep at the Second Prince while he was bathing and even broke into his bedroom. Liang Qianfan, in order to protect his daughter, switched from being a supporter of the Crown Prince to a supporter of the Empress Dowager. He was also a pitiful person.]
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