After the Qingming Festival, the construction of the school was in full swing, and everything was back on track. However, an extraordinary person arrived in Fenggu County.
A group of people stopped at the entrance of Gu Yunyao's courtyard. A guard-like man bowed to the carriage and said, "Your Highness, this is the place."
Xiao Ze lifted the carriage curtain and stepped down, looking around at the small courtyard. It was a small courtyard that could be seen from one end to the other at a glance, and it was not even as nice as the place where the servants lived in his mansion.
Pushing open the door, the courtyard was laid out before him: three main rooms, a kitchen in one side room, a simple woodshed on the other, and a vegetable garden next to it, where some vegetables he didn’t recognize were growing. Two children were playing in the garden, catching insects.
Xiao Ze frowned deeply. His son and daughter were actually doing such dirty things that only servants would do. "Da Bao and Xiao Bei, come here! Who told you to be so unruly and do such things? Where are the people who serve you? Drag them away and beat them to death!"
He's asking for trouble if he dares to let his child do something like that.
The youngest daughter ran over and hugged Xiao Ze's leg, raising her soft little face, "Daddy! I missed you so much."
Xiao Ze picked up his daughter and said, "Daddy missed you too. Where's your mother?"
"Mommy went to buy meat." Xiao Bei counted on her fingers, "Braised pork intestines, pig ears, and roast chicken. Mommy said she'd buy them all."
"Isn't 'fatty intestines' just pig intestines? Is that something a human can eat?" Xiao Ze's face darkened even more. He put Xiao Bei down and had someone take her to wash her hands.
Then he beckoned to his eldest son, who was standing by the vegetable garden watching him without moving, and said, "Come here."
Da Bao walked over, stopped five steps away with a blank expression, and bowed respectfully, saying, "Your son greets Father."
Xiao Ze nodded in satisfaction. "Get up. Your mother has gone out. Where are the servants who take care of you and your sister?"
"Father, there are no servants."
"No?" Xiao Ze's anger, which had just subsided, flared up again. "How old are you? How could your mother leave you out there unattended? She's heartless."
Royal children are all exquisitely crafted, the most precious and unparalleled. The two children are only a few years old; how can they be left unattended?
"What's so heartless about that?" Gu Yunyao came in from the doorway, carrying several oil paper bags in her hand, and the aroma of roast chicken wafted out.
The daughter ran out of the kitchen following the smell, "Mom, roast chicken, I want to eat it."
"Okay." Gu Yunyao took the child to the kitchen to eat before coming out to face the man in the yard.
"You've come all the way from the capital just to interrogate me about how I'm taking care of the children? There's no need for that. They are the children I carried for ten months and gave birth to. No one loves them more than me."
She couldn't help but retort, "Your principal wife allowed you to come to this remote place? She doesn't have angina or dizziness anymore? She doesn't need you to be with her every day to eat or have nightmares? Aren't you afraid that if you're far away from her, she won't be able to survive?!"
"Enough!" Xiao Ze's face darkened. "Rou'er is frail. Why are you targeting her? You ran away from home with the child for half a year, and she was very worried, praying for you every day. And what did you do? You stabbed her the moment you saw her, and for the past six months you've disappeared without a trace with the child. Compared to her, you're simply..."
Gu Yunyao was furious. "You've gone too far! When you married me, you promised me that I would be your principal wife, that we would be together for life. I followed you through thick and thin, even while pregnant, I offered you advice and helped you build war chariots."
And now, for the sake of the throne, you want to marry the daughter of the Minister of Revenue. That woman can put on an act, and you'll believe everything she says!
Xiao Ze lowered his eyelashes, suppressing the hatred in his heart. He loved Gu Yunyao.
But this woman had seen him at his most vulnerable and helpless. Back then, he was able to become the King of War and pacify all directions. Now, he can stand out among many princes, and this woman deserves most of the credit.
Every time he saw this woman, his past incompetence and weakness felt like a thorn slowly rotting inside his flesh.
“Let’s not argue about those things anymore. Take the child and come back with me. You can be free and run away, but I can’t let the child suffer with you.”
Gu Yunyao felt all the blood rush to her head, her face flushed with anger. "If I don't take the children with me, am I supposed to leave them in the manor to become stepping stones and sacrifices for others?"
Li Rou, that green tea bitch, can only fool Xiao Ze. Let alone in the manor, even if she ran away with her child, that woman could send people to hunt them down.
If it weren't for Li Rou's pursuit half a year ago, she wouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state, forced to mingle among refugees and flee with the crowd.
It was thanks to the thousands of refugees fleeing that they could be covered, otherwise the mother and her two children would have been victims of Li Rou's knife long ago.
Xiao Ze shook his head helplessly, "You have too much prejudice against Rou'er. She grew up in seclusion since she was a child. Unlike you, who is strong and healthy, she is delicate and frail. You should be more considerate of her."
Gu Yunyao shook her head in despair and said, "You are not the Xiao Ze I know. He wouldn't be so easily swayed by one side and unable to distinguish right from wrong."
So this is how she sees me? Xiao Ze lost all patience. "Guards, take the concubine and the two children back."
"Who dares!"
Without saying anything more, Xiao Ze stepped forward, grabbed Gu Yunyao, picked her up, and carried her to the carriage.
Gu Yunyao struggled, but in the blink of an eye, Xiao Ze tied her hands behind her back, and the child was also put into the carriage. He ordered, "Let's go."
Gu Yunyao couldn't break free and finally leaned against the carriage, exhausted. "I'll go with you, but I want to say goodbye to someone."
Xiao Ze tenderly tucked her disheveled hair behind her ear. "Don't be silly. Be a good girl and come back with me. If I can find you once, I can find you a second time. You'll be mine for life."
“She’s my friend. If I suddenly disappear, she’ll send people to look for me. Letting me say goodbye will save you a lot of trouble.”
Xiao Ze pulled the person into his arms and sneered, "Me, the mighty War King, afraid?"
"Heh." Gu Yunyao chuckled to herself. How could she have fallen for such a man in the first place? It led to her being trapped in a cage, unable to find freedom or escape.
She was clearly a woman who grew up in the new era, yet in the end she was destined to become this man's concubine, unable to even do something as simple as saying goodbye to her friends.
Xiao Ze disliked her expression and coldly ordered, "Turn around."
The carriage stopped in front of the Qin residence. Qin Xiaozhou rushed out after being informed and stood beside the carriage to bow, "May I ask which esteemed person has graced us with their presence?"
Gu Yunyao turned around and let Xiao Ze untie her ropes before getting off the carriage and taking Qin Xiaozhou's hand. "I'm going back to the capital. I promised you I would teach at the academy, but I'm afraid that won't be possible now. However, I left some blueprints in the courtyard. You can go and see if there are any that you can use."
Qin Xiaozhou gripped her hand tightly, a little anxious, and lowered his voice, "Is something bothering you?"
With so many people, it doesn't look like they went voluntarily.
Gu Yunyao didn't want to involve her, so she just shook her head. "No, I'm so happy to have come all this way and seen you. I'm just afraid we won't have the chance to meet again. You should take things one step at a time and not rush things. One day, everything will come true. I will do my best no matter where I am."
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