Chapter 203 The Popular Xiao Shangshu
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The coup finally came to an end when the princess died by self-immolation. That night, the fire at the princess’s mansion burned all night, burning a large area of the dark night sky. It was like a blood-weeping phoenix singing the most moving music at it’s last moment.
Most of the people in the capital were awakened by the fire, watching its light and shadow flicker from a distance until it was gradually extinguished in the early morning.
Early the next morning, Yun Zhong Li, gone from the court for a long time, finally came to court again. The first thing dealt with was to release Lan Yingran and the other officials who had been imprisoned because of the princess. All the officials were restored to their posts. Moreover, these people cleaned up those partisans who were in the same group with the Eldest Princess.
Of course, this was all done secretly. As for the Eldest Princess, Yun Zhongli pondered it for a long time. To outsiders, she had died because of the fire in the princess mansion that night. This six-year plan for revenge, who is to blame? Those who were still in the world have no right to comment, but as a brother who loved his sister, he still hoped that his sister would be in this world leaving a dazzling mark in everyone’s minds with no stains.
As for Wei Yan and the others, they were also pardoned under the explanation of Feng Tingye and the others. Feng Tingye had the intention to ask them to return to the country of Ye, but they had been settled in the country of Shu for a long time, and were a little unwilling. It was hard to force them.
The days have returned to their former calm. It was as if they were the same as before, yet they seemed to be different. The biggest difference should be Yan Tingfang.
The memorial written by Prime Minister Yan personally left by the Third Prince became strong evidence of the Yan family’s murder. Yun Zhongli immediately ordered the Justice Department to thoroughly investigate the matter and return the innocence to Prime Minister Yan’s family.
As the only remaining bloodline of Prime Minister Yan, Yan Tingfang was alone and helpless. Helian Mingyue pitied her for being alone, so she accepted her as a foster daughter, gave her the name Xunfang, and became an actual sister of Yun Xi.
The perfect curtain call for Yan Tingfang meant that Feng Tingye and the others had achieved their goal of coming to the Kingdom of Shu, so it was time to return home.
“Do we have to go back now?” Xia Yuqing glanced at Feng Tingye, who asked everyone to pack their clothes, and was about to leave.
Seeing her like this, Feng Tingye twisted his eyebrows slightly, “You guys pack things first, I have something to speak with Ai Fei.”
Everyone glanced at each other, then tactfully left and took the two buns who were trying to listen in the corner.
Everyone in the room quickly dispersed. In a flash, there were only two people left.
Feng Tingye stepped forward and grabbed Xia Yuqing, “What’s wrong? Are you still worried about what happened that night or are you too fond of Shu Kingdom and don’t want to go back?”
Xia Yuqing hurriedly shook her head. She held on tightly to Feng Tingye’s collar and bit her lip, asking with some difficulty: “Your Majesty, that night, the Eldest Princess said those things about Royal Mother… are all those things true?”
Feng Tingye was taken aback, then he realized that Xia Yuqing had a sad face these few days. From time to time she would look at himself with a kind of hesitant gaze, completely without her vivaciousness and energy in the past.
Feng Tingye smiled, and asked softly: “Ai Fei believed the words of the Eldest Princess, and thinks Royal Mother…”
“Of course not!” Xia Yuqing quickly retorted, but after speaking, she was a little bit distressed, “But… ”
Feng Tingye let out a sigh of relief. He patted her head: “Royal Mother and the Princess were indeed really good sisters. Those two people were also indeed simultaneously in love with the same man.”
Xia Yuqing shook and the hands holding Feng Tingye’s shirt tightened.
Feng Tingye continued: “But it’s not exactly what the Eldest Princess said. When the Eldest Princess talked about Father, Mother did not know that the person she was talking about was him. She only knew that he was an official. Thus, Mother was worried about this for a long time, worried that she would be wronged, but she didn’t expect…thus, it was really a misunderstanding.”
“What happened then? What happened to that safflower tonic?”
Feng Tingye took a deep look at Xia Yuqing. He seemed to think of something, and a little sadness appeared in his eyes: “The princess said that their sisters had an agreement at that time. If one day the two unfortunately fell in love with the same man, Mother could not fight with her. When the Eldest Princess came to Royal mother to have an argument, Mother knew that the person she was talking about was father. In order to keep this promise, mother went to Concubine Hui, who was Father’s mother and my grandmother. She offered to dissolve the marriage contract with Father.”
Xia Yuqing’s eyes widened suddenly. She straightened up from Feng Tingye’s arms. If Royal Mother offered to dissolve the marriage contract, then how could she still attack the princess?
As if seeing the surprise in Xia Yuqing’s eyes, Feng Tingye stretched out his hand and squeezed her small face. His face was still a bit heavy. If he could, he didn’t want Xia Yuqing to know the secrets of the royal families, but as a member of the royal family, she had to understand them.
“Even though Father was established as the crown prince, there were many possible heirs. Many people were staring at the position of the crown prince. No one could guarantee that the crown prince at that time would be able to ascend to the throne smoothly in the future. Moreover, the identity of Royal Mother was too special.”
“Special?”
“Well, she was the only daughter of the current Xiangye, and Xiangye and the emperor were life and death friends. Mother since young had been set up to get married with the royal family. That’s not the most important thing. The most important thing was that mother’s mother, that is, my maternal grandmother, happened to be the powerful Zhangsun clan of Ye Kingdom. Although the Zhangsun clan was very powerful, the direct line was very thin. Grandmother always regarded mother as her granddaughter to raise. At that time, no matter who married mother, they would receive the support of the Zhangsun clan. So at that time, Mother was a popular character. Countless princes under Royal Grandpa’s knees would cast their eyes on her, fighting to attain her.”
At this point, Feng Tingye paused: “Perhaps, it’s because of this, Mother didn’t want to mention her identity to the Eldest Princess. Because mother’s identity was too special, she had no friends since she was a child. One was to prevent some people from using Mother and the other was for the safety of Mother. That’s why Mother concealed it from her. For those reasons, she only hoped to be a simple pair of sisters with her, who knew that in the end…”
Xia Yuqing nodded, her mood becoming a little complicated.
“Mother and father were childhood sweethearts. Since young, mother and father had been in love with each other. Royal Grandmother was ecstatic when she learned of this, and father was already the crown prince. If she could get the help of mother and the Zhang Sun clan, he was bound to be even more powerful. Even though Royal Grandma had discussed with Grandpa about signing a marriage contract for the two, they would only be married when both of them were adults.”
Xia Yuqing understood this a little bit after hearing this: “So, when mother talked to Royal Grandma about the dissolution of the marriage, Royal Grandma was upset?”
“Yeah.” Feng Tingye nodded, “The things that were supposed to be stable have suddenly changed. How could Royal Grandma be happy? Asking mother for the reason, Mother didn’t want to disclose it. With no other way, Royal Grandma used various methods to find out why mother wanted to stop the marriage. After learning that it was because of the Eldest Princess, Royal Grandma bought over the Eldest Princess’s mother and asked her to add safflower to the Eldest Princess’s tonic. She wanted the Eldest Princess to lose her mind and send her away. Royal Grandma promised the Eldest Princess’s mother once this was dealt with, she would have Royal Grandpa send them back to Shu.”
Xia Yuqing sucked in a breath. She imagined countless possibilities, but never thought that the culprit who had harmed the Eldest Princess turned out to be her own mother!
“Her mother agreed?”
“En, the Eldest Princess’s mother had been in Ye country for nearly sixteen years, she could no longer bear staying. As soon as Royal Grandma said this, she immediately agreed.”
“Why? That’s her biological daughter!” Xia Yuqing exclaimed.
Feng Tingye kissed Xia Yuqing’s forehead with affection, and sighed, “Have you forgotten that the Eldest Princess said that her mother would vent out her anger at her? I think her mother blamed the tragedy of being sent to Ye Kingdom on the Eldest Princess. She felt that if it were not for her, how would she end up in a foreign land, and… moreover in the royal family, daughters will never compare to sons, even to a woman. Even though it is possible for women to inherit Shu, men are still the first choice. What’s more, the Eldest Princess had been sent to another country as a hostage for so many years. In the eyes of others, she had long become an abandoned child. Exchanging an abandoned child for wealth and glory of the rest of her life, after regaining her favor, maybe she could have a better offspring in the future. This sale was not a loss if she counted it like this.”
“How could this…” Xia Yuqing’s face was a little bit astonished and sad. This was the ancient royal family? Brothers fighting, father and sons turning against each other, and a mother and child becoming enemies? For their own sake, anyone who was connected to their own flesh and blood can be used?!
“What happened later? Since the Eldest Princess’s mother had put things in the tonic, how did Royal Mother get mixed in?”
Feng Tingye didn’t answer. He sighed helplessly: “Maybe this is fate. At that time, Royal Mother went to visit the Eldest Princess, and she happened to meet the palace maid who handed over the tonic outside. Royal Mother took the tonic in. Who would have thought…Mother should have been scared at the time. She hurriedly ran out to ask for a doctor, but she was still a step too late.”
Xia Yuqing tightened her hand, and asked in a muffled voice: “Then why didn’t Royal Mother explain it properly?”
“Explain? How could she explain? Tell the Eldest Princess that the person who ruined her life long happiness was her biological mother who gave birth to her and raised her for more than ten years? Royal Mother couldn’t say it. Besides, she learned the truth later and felt that she had some part in harming the princess. If she hadn’t suddenly told Royal Grandma to dissolve the marriage contract, nothing would have happened.”
“So, the last sentence you said about being sorry to the princess was not because of the tonic, but because of this? So, Royal Mother just wanted to have the Eldest Princess misunderstand her for a lifetime?”
Xia Yuqing leaned her head against Feng Tingye’s chest. She felt so uncomfortable in her heart, tears constantly poured out of her eye sockets uncontrollably. It landed one by one on Feng Tingye’s clothes.
“Ai Fei?” Feng Tingye felt the damp sensation from his chest, and called out with some worry.
“Your Majesty, Royal Mother may have done something wrong.”
“Done something wrong?” Feng Tingye gave Xia Yuqing a surprised look.
“En, Royal Mother only thought that the Eldest Princess would be sad when she knew that the tonic was from the hands of her own Mother, but she did not think that the Eldest Princess would be even more sad when she misunderstood that Royal Mother had betrayed her. She underestimated her status in the heart of the Eldest Princess since the beginning. In the heart of the Eldest Princess, Royal Mother may be as important as her mother. No, even more important, otherwise, the Eldest Princess would not have been so stimulated after the mix up.”
After Xia Yuqing finished speaking, the room became quiet. Only a little bit of her sobbing could be heard echoing in the room.
Just as she wanted to raise her head, there was laughter in her ears. Her chest trembled slightly, making her crying stop. A little annoyed, she growled: “What are you laughing at?”
Really? She was sensitive and sad and this guy dared to make fun of her blatantly? ! The melancholy atmosphere was gone now!
“Nothing.” Feng Tingye stopped laughing. He held Xia Yuqing in his arms tighter. “It’s just that it’s clear for onlookers. Maybe it’s really what you think.”
They were both too caring about the other party’s feelings. Unexpectedly in the end, it caused a tragedy.
“Yeah.” Xia Yuqing was startled, and leaned back on Feng Tingye’s chest again as she responded softly.
The affair between the Eldest Princess and her Royal mother, somehow reminded her of a line from a melodramatic TV series she had watched back then: Meeting you allowed me to gain enlightenment, but because of you I had also turned into a devil. When I heard it back then, I didn’t feel much, but now hearing all sorts of past events between the two, I couldn’t help but admire it.
The two embraced each other like this, enjoying the warmth that belonged to them alone.
After a while, Xia Yuqing felt something wrong. She stood upright against Feng Tingye’s chest, “No, I remember that when Ms. Yan and Second Senior Brother were talking about the Eldest Princess in the residence, Your Majesty did not look like you knew these past events. When did you find out about this?”
Feng Tingye looked at Xia Yuqing’s aggressive expression of “you better confess now or else” and he couldn’t help but lean over and bite her small face. He laughed: “After that day, I felt something was not right, so I ran to Mother and asked whether the death of Royal Father was related to the Eldest Princess. Royal Mother refused to speak clearly, but told me these past events and allowed me to come to Shu for her to see the princess.”
Xia Yuqing thought about it for a while, then realized: “No wonder Your Majesty later agreed with Second Brother to come to Shu. I was still puzzled at the time. It turns out…”
Xia Yuqing’s little chicken pecked at the rice a few times, then seemed to think of something. She raised her head quickly and said: “Right, when you came back that night, Your Majesty was acting weird. It was very different from normal times. Was it because of hearing these things?”
Feng Tingye was startled. He didn’t expect Xia Yuqing to remember his blunder that night. The corners of his lips lifted up. He smiled lightly: “No, no, Zhen couldn’t ask the true cause of father’s death at the time, so I asked Mother another question.”
“Huh? What question?”
“Mother and Father were so passionately in love at the beginning. After father’s death, did mother ever think about leaving with him.”
Xia Yuqing’s eyes shrank. No wonder the Ultra Seme Lord would ask herself that question, it turns out…”
“What did…Royal Mother say?”
Feng Tingye glanced at Xia Yuqing’s eyes and whispered: “Mother said, she had thought about it, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t because she promised Father she would live well. Besides, Mother also said that this was a sin she deserved to bear and cannot run from, because the one who is left behind is often in the most pain.”
Xia Yuqing shook. She pursed her lips in Feng Tingye’s arms, and murmured, “Is the one who is left behind in the most pain?”
Untying the knot in her heart, Xia Yuqing quickly regained her former vitality. She started robbing the house with her two steamed buns again, causing trouble for Cui Er and the rest who were packing up.
Fortunately, Yun Zhongli was very busy and there was no time to come over and chat with them, otherwise they would really not be able to leave if they wanted to.
After learning that Xia Yuqing and the others had entered the palace from the secret road in the palace, Yun Zhongli personally went to the legendary secret road and yelled: “Oh, is this not the path Zhen brought Fifth Royal Brother through to sneak out of the palace? Look, there are still the engraved names of me and Fifth Brother!”
“Uh…” Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing. At the exit of the secret path, there were a few strokes of “chicken scratch” that even he might not recognize.
After that, there was no need for anyone to force them to speak. However, a child obsessed Father exposed how the two brothers caused chaos when they were young. Then because of the fight for the throne, they had drifted apart. A series of sadomasochistic affairs was recalled.
As a result, it was natural he reaped a few unanimously cast gazes. Under the persecution of his own wife and daughter, a certain child obsessed wife slave went to repair his brotherhood.
Fortunately, after the incident of the Eldest Princess, Yun Zhongli became more open to many things. Shamelessly visiting doors to apologize was also handled properly.
As a result of this development, the Fifth Princes’ House began to suffer!
At first, when Yun Zhongli and Helian Mingyue ran to the Prince’s Mansion, the Fifth Prince was quite happy. After all, his long-lost brotherhood was reconciled, but soon, he didn’t think so.
After the couple discovered that Lan Yingyao was pregnant, they ran to the mansion under the guise of caring about his younger sibling and his wife. Coming to this point, they would either hog up his time or his wife’s time, causing the husband and wife duo to be separated. The Fifth Prince suddenly changed from being clear skies to a dark cloud.
For the first two or three days, the Fifth Prince thought that since those two were his Brother and Sister-in-law, he could hold back. After persisting for the next five or six days, the Fifth Prince thought that these two were the emperor and empress, so he had no choice but to endure. Then after the next seven or eight days, the Fifth Prince really couldn’t bear it. There was no need to bear it anymore. He packed for the two and threw them out of the house. A sign was then directly hung at the gate of the palace in bold letters: dogs and empresses are not allowed to enter!
All those who dared to disturb this husband and wife’s two-person world, or disturb their family of three should all die! The dissatisfied prince was completely mad.
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