"Young master, why don't you stay at the Marquis's residence a little longer?"
The servant said with some confusion, "You've been coming to the Marquis's residence early in the morning and leaving late at night to take care of the young princess. You should ask the Marquis to thank you properly."
"shut up."
Yunmo's expression suddenly turned serious. "You are not allowed to say such things again."
He is the princess's teacher, so protecting her is his duty.
Moreover, without the princess, he would only stay in the courtyard every day fiddling with those mechanisms.
Inside the Marquis of Dingyuan's residence, Jiang He picked up Jiang Yao and spun her around in the courtyard, making Jiang Yao laugh continuously.
"Yaoyao, do you want to go out and play? Daddy will take you."
Jiang Yao nodded heavily upon hearing this, then glanced around and asked, "Where is Master?"
"Your master just left; he probably had something urgent to attend to."
Jiang He glanced in the direction of the mansion gate. Yun Mo, that kid, is quite perceptive.
Knowing when to leave.
"Oh—" Jiang Yao drawled, pouting her little lips, clearly somewhat unhappy.
"What's wrong? Aren't you happy that your father is with you?"
Jiang He lifted Jiang Yao up and said, "Come on, I'll take you to the street to buy your favorite candied hawthorns."
"Yay!"
Upon hearing Jiang He's words, Jiang Yao immediately put the unpleasantness from before behind her. These things couldn't compare to the aroma of candied hawthorns!
"By the way, why is Yao Yao staying in the Marquis's residence instead of in the palace?"
Walking down the street, Jiang He "casually" asked.
“Yaoyao is afraid of bumping into her aunt’s belly.” Jiang Yao said, pointing to her little belly. “Master comes every day, and Yaoyao stays in the mansion.”
"Yaoyao is so great!"
Jiang He affectionately kissed Jiang Yao's little face, then bought a bunch of things with a wave of his hand. Jiang Yao was so happy that her eyes narrowed into slits.
"Yaoyao loves Daddy the most!"
In short, Jiang He was delighted.
......
Zhaoning Palace.
A figure stepped in, and the palace servants hurriedly tried to kneel down, but the newcomer waved his hand and made a shushing gesture before quietly entering the room.
At this moment, Jiang Yu was taking a nap in the inner room. Since becoming pregnant, Jiang Yu would sleep for one or two hours every day.
Gu Lin first changed out of his dusty robes, then stood by the stove to warm himself up before quietly lying down on the bed and embracing the sleeping Jiang Yu.
"You're back."
Jiang Yu's soft voice rang out, and she snuggled closer to Gu Lin, instantly melting his heart.
"I'm back."
Gu Lin kissed Jiang Yu's hair and slowly placed his hand on her abdomen. "Has the little one been bothering you lately?"
"It's so noisy!"
Jiang Yu's voice carried a hint of coquettishness, "It made me feel like throwing up no matter what I ate, so Ayan sent someone to buy me some sour plums from outside the palace. Can you believe how much trouble that caused?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Lin's aura immediately changed. "I actually made you suffer like this."
"Why."
Jiang Yu realized something was wrong and quickly tried to smooth things over, "But this child is already quite easy to take care of. Every woman goes through this during pregnancy, and it's gotten much better recently."
Good heavens, she was genuinely afraid that this white-haired man might get angry and bring her a bowl of abortion soup.
Jiang Yu's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly changed the subject, "How was your trip to Fengshan?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Lin began to explain Fengshan to Jiang Yu in detail.
When Jiang Yu heard that the women of Fengshan had to serve men to make a living, she was so angry that she gasped for breath.
"Killing them like that would be too easy on them."
Jiang Yu couldn't bear to see women suffer, so she spoke again, "I think we should still grant them an imperial edict so that we can feel at ease in the future."
With the imperial decree in place, who would dare to bully these women and children?
“That’s exactly what I was thinking too. Since it’s a group of women, it would be more appropriate for you, Ayu, to take charge.”
As she spoke, Jiang Yu felt even breathing coming from above her head.
Turning her head, she saw Gu Lin's sleeping face.
Jiang Yu stretched out her fingers and carefully traced the outline of Gu Lin's body. "You've exhausted yourself just from going out."
After saying that, Jiang Yu snuggled completely into Gu Lin's arms, and the two of them fell asleep again.
......
Two days later, Qin Zheng arrived in the capital of Dayu.
This time, there was no one to greet him; he was taken directly to the imperial prison.
"What do you mean by locking me up in the imperial prison?" Qin Zheng roared. "I want to see your emperor! Guards, guards, come here quickly!"
"Young Master Qin, please don't worry. His Majesty is busy with state affairs. When he has some free time and thinks of you, he will immediately order someone to bring you to the palace."
"Why does Gu Qingyan have the right to lock me up in the dungeon?"
"Shh, calling the Emperor by his given name directly within the territory of Dayu is punishable by death." Ling Ku said with a nonchalant air. "Young Master Qin, prisoners captured by us in Dayu have always been kept in the Heavenly Prison."
"But don't worry, I have already told Miss Qin that you are here. The Empress Dowager is kind-hearted and has specially allowed Miss Qin to see you."
A bodhisattva's heart?
Qin Zheng seemed somewhat unable to believe his ears. Could the Empress Dowager of Dayu really be described as having the heart of a bodhisattva?
The prison was cold and damp, with rats and ants crawling around from time to time, making Qin Zheng's face deathly pale.
"elder brother!"
Qin Ke'er's voice rang out. After seeing Qin Zheng's miserable state, Qin Ke'er could no longer hold back her tears. The two siblings wept bitterly through the iron bars.
"Brother, how did you end up in the prison?" Qin Ke'er choked back tears. "They dared to arrest you, and Father didn't do anything about it?"
"Ke'er, do you really know nothing?" Qin Zheng was stunned by Qin Ke'er's words.
“Brother, you don’t know this, but Sister Shu and I are imprisoned in the palace. They forbid us from contacting the outside world, so we know nothing about what’s happening outside.” In just a few days, Qin Ke’er had lost the arrogance she had when she first came to Dayu. “Sister Shu asked me to ask you what has happened to you recently.”
"It's a long story..."
"Our Qin family fought a battle against the Dayu in Ju County, and I was defeated and captured by Dayu and brought here..."
"What?!" Qin Ke'er's voice became even more shrill. "Brother, how could our Qin family possibly lose?"
"Yeah, I don't understand why the Qin family lost either."
Qin Zheng murmured softly, "From the time the Qin family became the head of the aristocratic families until now, no one has dared to wage war against the Qin family, so the Qin family has never lost."
This time, however, Da Yu not only fought back, but also defeated the Qin family.
"Ke'er, we might really be in trouble this time." Qin Zheng smiled bitterly. "Originally, the Sun family and the Gong family agreed to fight against Dayu together with us, but after seeing our defeat, they didn't send any troops."
The once-powerful families are now like a pile of loose sand.
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