In the carriage, Xiao Jingkang held Xiao Yuan, who sat obediently, in his arms. Lin You examined Xiao Yao in detail. Xiao Yao lay quietly on the thick quilt with a pale face. Seeing his daughter in this state, Xiao Jingkang couldn't help but recall that he had been with her for a day and a night when she was injured and unconscious. He didn't expect that seven years later, this scene would happen again.
"Sister..." Xiao Yuan asked in a crying voice.
"It'll be okay." Xiao Jingkang comforted his niece while also comforting himself.
The royal villa was indeed very close, and the carriage stopped soon. Lin You got off the carriage first and helped to carry Xiao Yuan down. Xiao Jingkang wrapped his daughter in a quilt and then gently held her in his arms and slowly got off the carriage, treating Xiao Yao as a fragile treasure.
"Dad, is that you?" Xiao Yao woke up slowly as soon as she entered the door. She didn't open her eyes, but asked weakly when she smelled the familiar smell.
"Yeah! Do you want to scare us to death, kid? How do you feel now? Do you feel any pain?"
"Don't worry, my daughter is fine. Maybe she will be fine after a good night's sleep."
"You fainted and you're still saying it's okay. From now on, you're not allowed to go anywhere. Just stay home."
"The kittens and puppies need some fresh air! You're too nervous." Xiao Yao forced a weak smile and tried to comfort Xiao Jingkang, but her actions made Xiao Jingkang's eyes red, and he almost couldn't hold back his tears.
"Sister." Xiao Yuan called out worriedly and a little scared.
"Ruyi, don't be afraid. Sister is fine now." There was still one person who needed comforting. In a daze, Xiao Yao remembered the whole process of her fainting. This must have scared her family members!
"Sister, please don't faint again. It's too scary. Ruyi is scared. I promise you that I will never eat snacks secretly again, and I will never lie on your bed after sleeping with Xiaobai. You also promise me that you will never faint again, okay?"
"Okay, sister promised Ruyi that I will be careful in the future." After a few words, Xiao Yao was tired and sleepy. She curled up in Xiao Jingkang's arms and fell asleep again.
Lin You and Yun Yichen heard the conversation between the Xiao family members. Lin You secretly praised her, saying, "What a sensible little girl!" Even when she was sick, she still comforted her father and coaxed her sister.
Yun Yichen was in a state of confusion at this moment. He recalled his first impression of Xiao Yao and thought that she was just a cunning, eccentric, and fickle little girl. As he got to know her better, the little girl he knew became flesh and blood and different. She did not fight for the limelight and was loved by the whole family but was not arrogant and willful. And when he sent General Xiao on a trip last time, Yun Yichen saw the little girl's sincere feelings for the old man again. Those tears seemed to wet his heart.
Today, Xiao Yao, even in her daze, hadn't forgotten to comfort her father and sister, which had given Yun Yichen a new understanding of her. The mischievous her, the one who defied him, the tearful her, the sensible her... Yun Yichen didn't know which of them was the real her anymore. But one thing Yun Yichen understood more and more clearly was that this little girl had taken root in his heart, something he couldn't erase or wipe away.
"Could you please prepare a guest room for us? We will leave after my daughter recovers a little." Xiao Jingkang thought that as long as he waited for his daughter to wake up and take a short rest, he could go home.
"I don't know how often the servants will clean the guest rooms, so let's send little...Miss Xiao to the backyard." Yun Yichen hadn't planned to let Xiao Yao live in the guest room from the beginning. He explained to himself that if his mother knew that he had placed the little girl in the guest room, she would definitely teach him a lesson.
"That's impossible. How can we go to where the prince and princess live?" Xiao Jingkang shook his head and refused to go to the backyard.
"If I let my cousin's sister stay in the guest room, my mother will definitely punish me. Lord Xiao won't want Yichen to be punished, right?" Yun Yichen found a plausible reason.
"This..." The princess seemed to like her two children very much, but this was not a reason to live in someone else's main courtyard!
"Do you guys still want the little girl to wake up earlier?" It's just a place to live, why bother with that? If you keep refusing, it will be dark soon. Lin You has a free and easy personality, and those worldly rules annoy him the most.
Xiao Jingkang looked down at his daughter who was sleeping with a frown in his arms. Without saying anything else, he obediently followed Yun Yichen to the backyard.
Walking into a magnificent room, Xiao Jingkang gently placed his daughter on the gorgeous big bed.
"You go out first. I want to give acupuncture to this little girl." Lin You ordered Xiao Jingkang to leave.
Although Xiao Jingkang went out, he refused to go far and paced back and forth at the door.
Yun Yichen sat quietly at a stone table, with his head down and not saying a word.
After an unknown amount of time, a maid came hurriedly to report, "A woman claiming to be Madam Xiao wants to see the prince."
Yun Yichen glanced at Xiao Jingkang, and after seeing him nod, he waved his hand and asked the maid to invite the person in.
"What happened to Ping'an? Why did he faint?" Tong Mingyu asked as soon as she saw her husband.
"You come and meet the prince first." Xiao Jingkang signaled his wife with his eyes to quickly pay her respects to the prince.
"Your Majesty the King of Jing, I am very grateful that you would allow my daughter to go to the other courtyard for treatment." Tong Mingyu bowed and saluted.
"Mrs. Xiao, you are too polite. To be honest, this matter was caused by our palace. If we are to apologize, it should be us who say it." Yun Yichen, who is usually not good at speaking, now explained the whole story. If Yun Yifan and Mu Fengwu were present, they would definitely be shocked.
"Where is Ping'an now? I want to go and see him." Tong Mingyu turned around and talked to her husband again.
"In this room, the miraculous doctor Lin You is giving Ping An an acupuncture treatment. No one can enter now."
"Father-in-law, have you found Dr. Lin? That's great." If it wasn't a bit inappropriate, Tong Mingyu really wanted to cheer. His family had been looking for him for seven years, and finally, God rewarded their efforts and they found Dr. Lin.
"There is one more thing you need to be prepared for." Xiao Jingkang really wanted to make his wife happy for a while longer, but time waits for no one. When his father comes back soon, the family will probably face a storm.
"What's the matter?" Tong Mingyu wanted to ask Yun Yichen to leave, but then she changed her mind and thought that this was someone else's courtyard, and it was not reasonable for a guest to ask the host to leave. If the prince left on his own accord, that would be another matter. Tong Mingyu saw Yun Yichen sitting on the stone bench as steady as a rock, and he didn't seem to have any intention of leaving.
"Father has begun to suspect the reason why Ping'an fainted. I'm thinking this matter may no longer be kept secret." Xiao Jingkang expressed his concerns.
"Now that he knows, he knows. I originally thought that after one or two years, when Ping'an's health has recovered, even if my father-in-law knew about this, he wouldn't be too angry. Now it seems that we thought things were too simple." What was supposed to come finally came, and Tong Mingyu's heart calmed down.
"Here's what I thought. You stay and wait for Ping An to wake up. I'll send Ruyi back and tell her family so they can prepare."
"I heard from Ayi that my father-in-law and second brother were injured, right?"
"Well, Ping'an fainted because she saw them injured." Xiao Jingkang briefly explained the reason why his daughter fainted.
Yun Yichen felt even more depressed when he heard this. He wondered if this little girl would be even angrier with him after she woke up, and would even be too lazy to argue with him in the future!
"My second brother was also injured this time. If father wants to punish us, I, as the older brother, will have to bear more responsibility." Xiao Jingkang wanted to talk to his wife before anything happened.
"You're also forty years old. If your father-in-law is really too harsh, you should hide if you can." Didn't they say that if you are beaten with a stick, you should run away? Why did this man only think about taking more punishment for his brother, but didn't think about how to avoid some punishment!
"If I hide, should I let Ajun and Aqi take over? How many military sticks can each of them withstand?"
"But you are not a young person anymore! How about letting Ayi come to keep Ping An, and I will go back with you. Father-in-law will be embarrassed to beat me, his daughter-in-law. Then my second brother's wife, my mother-in-law and I will beg him together, maybe he will show mercy!"
"I'm worried about others taking care of your safety. Besides, I still have to go to court. Father won't take any harsh measures. Just rest assured and stay with your daughter."
No wonder his father wanted him to spend more time with the Xiao family. The relationships between father and son, husband and wife, and grandparents and grandchildren were very deep. It looked so real and touching. Yun Yichen thought about how his own family not only had to be careful and wary of Concubine Han and the people in Jinxiu Garden, but also his mother and the Empress Dowager were incompatible and never had any contact with each other. Just look at how hard his father's life was every day. In the future, he would emulate the Xiao family and would never make a mess of the backyard.
With more women, there are more disputes. There are legitimate sons, illegitimate sons, legitimate daughters, illegitimate daughters. It's exhausting to look at them. My family has few children, but my sister doesn't have any contact with the two in Jinxiu Garden. The mother and daughters are even more difficult for my mother and sister. If my father hadn't tried his best to protect her, and if my uncle hadn't secretly supported her, what would my mother's situation be like...
Xiao Yao, half asleep, overheard some of the conversation between her parents. How could she convince her grandfather to give up the idea of punishing the family? She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, thinking about how to convince her grandfather.
"You don't have to worry about me. Just take good care of our daughter. I'll take care of everything at home!" Xiao Jingkang said to Xiao Yuan, who had been lying at the door, prying through the cracks and listening to the sounds. The child was also scared today. How about sending her to Yuan's house to stay for two days, and then taking her back after the situation calmed down and the family returned to normal?
Go back and remind my third brother to send his wife and children back to her parents' home to stay for a few days. The two children from the third room are innocent and must not be implicated.
Xiao Jingkang picked up Xiao Yuan and walked slowly towards the gate. He looked up at the setting sun. He wondered whether he would be lying on the bed looking at it through the window tomorrow, or would be unconscious and not be able to see it at all!
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