"Seventh Brother, wait a minute. Why did you build a separate small courtyard in your prince's residence outside the palace?"
Looking at the familiar red bricks and green tiles, the deep palace and high walls, Hongqing fiddled with the court beads hanging on his chest and said, "Because I want to bring someone back."
That person is probably still unmarried.
"How strange, who does Seventh Brother want to bring back?"
Just as the Fourteenth Prince finished asking his question, a group of people appeared before him. Among them were embroiderers who had just entered the palace this year, as well as palace servants who were about to be sent out of the palace. A thin girl was with them, supporting a weak embroiderer. Her eyes were red, and she looked very pitiful.
Hongqing didn't look at her closely, but the Fourteenth Prince summoned the head maid and asked, "Where did that girl come from? Is she also from the palace?"
The head nanny first greeted them, then respectfully replied, "That little girl is the embroiderer's child. Not long ago, one of the embroiderers fell ill and couldn't be cured, so her family came to take her away."
The head matron dared not look around recklessly. When she led the group out today, she forgot to ask someone to check if there were any important people present. If they were to offend someone, it would be troublesome.
Another embroiderer?
When Hongqing realized that the person was also an embroiderer, he looked over.
The next second, Hongqing suddenly went towards the group of embroiderers, shouting, "Stop!"
Ah Li felt that the voice was too intimidating. She supported her mother beside her and secretly looked at Hong Qing.
Hongqing stopped in his tracks. He didn't know about her past, but he never expected that she and he had once crossed paths.
He remembered that scene; he had only caught a glimpse of it from afar.
Now this person is standing right in front of him, looking younger than him.
He hasn't received his assignment yet, nor has he gone to the border, but he sent someone to that village long ago to find a girl named Ah Li.
At that time, she had gotten married, and he didn't ask her original surname; he just called her "Mrs. Lin."
Now, he wants to know her name.
Ah Li's mother patted her hand reassuringly, "It's okay, we'll be home soon."
At this moment, Hongqing walked up to them, looked down at Ah Li, and asked, "What's your name?"
Ah Li hid behind her mother, Zhou Shi, who didn't know why the Seventh Prince was staring at her daughter. She replied, "Your Highness..."
"I didn't ask you, I asked her."
Hongqing wanted to pull Ahli away from behind the woman in front of him; he didn't want her to be afraid of him.
At this moment, Ah Li timidly raised her eyes to look over, then looked away and replied, "Your Highness, my name is Chen Li."
"Chen Li".
Hongqing seemed only curious about her name. Once he learned it, he stepped aside and said to his fourteenth brother, "Let's go, let's go back too."
The fourteenth prince looked at Hongqing, not quite understanding. This man stopped him, asked for his name, and that was it?
Ah Li nestled close to Zhou Shi, without looking up at Hong Qing.
The head matron merely glanced at Ah Li before shouting, "Stop dawdling, hurry up!"
Ah Li continued to help Zhou Shi walk forward. Her mother was an embroiderer in the palace, and she had fallen ill due to a cold.
Her health wasn't very good to begin with, and she only managed to get into the palace as an embroiderer because she had connections.
Ah Li's cheap father, Chen Dadan, was waiting outside the palace gate. He glanced disdainfully at Zhou Shi, who walked up to him, then glared at Ah Li and muttered, "They're all money-losing goods."
A trace of sadness appeared between Zhou's brows, but she still took out a bag of silver from her sleeve, coughed a few times to catch her breath, and said, "This is the resettlement allowance given to me by the palace."
Chen Dadan snatched it away, saying, "That's more like it."
He opened the money bag, overjoyed, "Wow, it's still a hundred taels!"
Chen Dadan was delighted. He took a silver ingot out of his money bag, bit it, and said, "Let's go, let's go back."
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