Chapter 416 Da Bao and Er Bao are arguing; she's not the younger sister.
Su Wan'er had a dream in which a great fire broke out in the Su family home.
Her father, mother, loving aunts, and siblings were trapped in the fire, crying out in anguish, "Wan'er, save me! Save us! Cough cough..."
Second sister, please save us!
[Second sister, we don't want to die, please come and save us!]
【Wan'er, we're leaving. Take good care of yourself.】
Su Wan'er tried to rush over and pull them out, but the fire around them burned brighter and brighter, as if it reached out and pulled them in, engulfing them.
She rushed into the fire without hesitation, only to find that the fire had disappeared. "Father, Mother, Aunt, no, don't burn them..."
"Don't go, don't leave me, no!"
"Your Majesty, you've finally woken up?"
Su Wan'er grabbed the palace maid and asked, "How is my father? How is my mother? Are they alright?"
The palace maid, who used to serve her, comforted her, saying, "Your Highness, everything is fine in the Su family. You just said you had a nightmare? Don't worry, the imperial physician said your body is severely weakened and you are ill from worry. You need to rest well and not worry too much."
Su Wan'er felt that the dream was too real, as if she had experienced it herself. Because it was too painful, she chose to forget that memory, but thinking about it still made her feel heartbroken.
She gripped the palace maid's hand, repeatedly asking, "Is it really fake?"
The palace maid nodded. "That dream was obviously false. Your Majesty, you have regained the Emperor's favor. He has already allowed you to move back to Chang Le Palace, ordered Imperial Physician Li to come and take your pulse every day, and has also given you a reward. He has also ordered that no one in the harem should disturb your recuperation. Don't think too much about it, just focus on healing."
After confirming that nothing had happened to the Su family, Su Wan'er turned her attention to herself. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her throat. Every word she spoke felt like a knife scraping across her throat and touching the wounds on her neck.
"My throat hurts so much..."
Her voice has become unpleasant; is her throat damaged?
"Your Majesty, you strained your throat when you hanged yourself. The imperial physician has prescribed you medicine, both internal and external. You will recover soon after taking the medicine."
Su Wan'er was no longer afraid of death, let alone whether she would be injured or scarred.
She was already in such a miserable state, yet she still wanted to kill him! What a cruel heart, a heart of a viper!
Although she didn't know why Zhao Xuan released her, she was determined to take revenge if she had the chance, no matter what, even if it cost her her life.
Yun Jiaoyue! Liu Yiyi! You just wait!
...
Zhao Furou was brought back to the palace the day after giving birth.
Her child did not die.
Yun Zhaoxue secretly decided to hide herself, worried that Zhao Furou would find out, so she didn't tell her the truth.
She wanted to wait until the opportunity was right before telling her.
She had also said at the time that she wanted to send the child away.
On the way out of the palace with Zhao Furou, Yun Zhaoxue had someone prepare a stillborn baby in advance to replace the child Zhao Furou gave birth to.
She placed the child in the separate courtyard where Lu Xiao and the others lived. It was relatively secluded and separated from the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion by a small gate, which could be accessed from inside the mansion without arousing suspicion from others.
Xiao Xuance noticed that Yun Zhaoxue was coming over frequently, so he followed her over the next day.
He heard the baby crying and saw his wife holding a newborn infant.
She was feeding the baby in her arms with the same bottle she used to use to feed her son, and she was also holding him, patting his bottom and rocking him.
Zhao Zhenrou and her maid had no experience in taking care of children and couldn't soothe them no matter what they did. The people living in the other courtyard were all men, most of whom were unmarried or married but had no children. Even those who had children didn't know how to soothe them, so they sent someone to invite Yun Zhaoxue over.
When Yun Zhaoxue heard that the child had been crying, she came over to check on him, and Xiao Xuance followed her.
She took the baby from the maid and said, "Baby, are you hungry? The wet nurse will be here soon. If the formula doesn't taste good, we won't drink it anymore. How about we breastfeed from now on?"
A couple of days ago, she was afraid of being targeted, so she didn't dare to hire a wet nurse and fed the baby formula instead.
"Where did this girl come from...?"
"you guess."
When Xiao Xuance saw the newborn baby in her arms, he knew the child was definitely not theirs.
That was the child of Zhao Furou and Wanyan Zonglie.
In their past lives, Wanyan Zonglie raised sons for them; in this life, they raise daughters for Wanyan Zonglie.
Does this count as offsetting each other?
"The wet nurse has arrived."
Zhao Zhenrou did not know who the child's father was.
But she's certain that those beasts in Dajing will remind her of the past whenever she sees this child.
"Sister Xue, why don't you send the child away sooner rather than later?"
She sent the child away as if the child were gone, because she didn't want her younger sister to live in pain forever.
Seeing the child reminded her of past humiliations, and she couldn't treat her as her blood-related niece.
"It's not possible now. The child is too young to travel long distances. We can't send her to a faraway place. It's better to raise her ourselves first and then slowly find a good family to raise her."
That's what Yun Zhaoxue thought, which is why she raised him herself.
Yun Zhaoxue touched the milk in the bottle; it was a bit too thick. No wonder the child wouldn't drink it; it had gotten cold after being left out for so long.
She handed the baby to Xiao Xuance and made some more formula.
The child stopped crying after taking a couple of sips and kept sucking on the nipple with his little mouth.
"I'm just hungry."
This child is usually very well-behaved; he sleeps after eating and only cries when he's hungry or needs to poop.
After feeding the child, Yun Zhaoxue put him in a basket, covered him with a cloth, and the family of four packed up to go to the manor to stay for a few days.
I had promised my two sons long ago that I would take them to the countryside for a few days.
Keeping them next to the Prince's Mansion is still not safe.
The estate arranged for wet nurses and guards, and had tenant farmers with experience in raising children temporarily take care of the children.
Inside the carriage, Erbao stared wide-eyed at the baby girl held in Yun Zhaoxue's arms.
Da Bao's reaction was indifferent; he glanced at it and then looked away.
Erbao reached out his little hand and gently poked the baby girl's delicate face. "Mommy, little sister's eyes are so beautiful, like gemstones, and they look different from ours."
Upon hearing this, Yun Zhaoxue was stunned. She had never imagined that the child's father was a Hu person, who looked different from the people of the Central Plains. The child's eyes were amber, and he might not look much different from ordinary people. His face hadn't fully developed yet, so it wasn't obvious.
It will likely become much more difficult to find adoptive parents for this child as they grow older.
So many people of the Great Zhou Dynasty were persecuted by the people of the Great Jing Dynasty, leaving them homeless, broken up, and dead.
Da Bao retorted, "She's not our sister, and her surname isn't Xiao."
Her father, that big bad guy, is their Great Zhou's enemy.
Erbao said, "Her mother and mother are sisters, so she is our little cousin. A cousin is also a younger sister, so I am the younger sister."
"She isn't!"
“She is, she is our sister.” Erbao tugged at Yun Zhaoxue’s sleeve. “Mother, don’t you think so?”
Before Yun Zhaoxue could answer, Da Bao said to his younger brother, "It's your business if you want to acknowledge her, don't drag us into it."
He gave a soft snort, crossed his arms, and turned his head away, his little face full of anger.
Erbao hummed in response and continued to tease the baby girl, "Little sister, good little sister, you're so pretty."
This was the first time Yun Zhaoxue had ever seen the two brothers argue like this. She gave her husband a look, asking him to mediate.
Xiao Xuance nodded slightly to indicate that he had received the message. He sat down between his two sons, putting one arm around each of them.
“Da Bao, this child also has half the blood of the people of our Great Zhou. You can not treat her as your sister. Before she does anything to harm Great Zhou, just treat her as a child from an ordinary family, okay?”
Xiao Xuance also disliked the people of Da Jing and Wanyan Zonglie. But he couldn't bring himself to harm an infant. On the battlefield, those under the wheels of a cart were spared; she was too young.
"Erbao, it's fine if you like this little sister, you can like her quietly, but you can't deliberately upset your brother, understand?"
Erbao pouted and said, "I understand, Daddy."
At the same time, a caravan of carriages passed by them; it was the delegation from Dajing that had come to sign the ceasefire agreement.
The people on the street saw them dressed in strange clothes and all came to watch.
Some people recognized their nationality and the flags on their carriages, and shouted, "This is the Great Jing delegation! The Great Jing delegation has arrived!"
The baby girl held in Yun Zhaoxue's arms suddenly burst into tears, "Waaaaah..."
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