C181

On the second day of Old Man Ji's departure, Gu Yun wrote a letter to Si Ma to request to return to his hometown to mourn for three years.

His Majesty was extremely unwilling, how could he refuse to do as they said? Although he had promised Old Man Ji to let him go when Gu Yun wanted to leave, His Majesty really wanted to go back on his words.

If it wasn't, then it wasn't a promise to break, it was just going back to the village to be filial, and if he didn't want to come back, then it was fine to shorten the mourning time. Furthermore, the place where the Ji family lived, was still in the capital, so he could just leave it there for two days.

Just like this, the His Majesty reduced Gu Yun's three years of filial piety to three days and allowed him to return home to mourn the Old Man Ji.

It was said that he went to the cremation place and did not inform his relatives and friends. In the three days that he had been back home, his comrades only thought that he was sick and that he had kept the news to himself, so His Majesty felt extremely uncomfortable and at the same time, felt peaceful in his heart. If everyone did not know, they would not blame him.

Gu Yun finally ended up with three days of vacation. In these three days, he did not take a single step out of the study room, and only did three things every day: eating, reading, and staring blankly into space.

Xie Jingxi knew that he needed time to lick his wounds and ordered no one to disturb him, other than to send Zhao Zhang in to deliver food and water on time.

Old Madem had been staying in the Marquis Mansion for the past few days. After knowing that something had happened to Old Man Ji, he became silent as well and came over to talk to Xie Jingxi today, saying that he wanted to leave.

Xie Jingxi was surprised, "Grandmother, why are you leaving? Is it that no one is talking to you in the Marquis Mansion anymore, I was just planning to return to the Suddenness Garden with you in two days. In another two months, it will be the new year.

The old lady sighed, "I won't stay any longer. When I'm old, it's better for me to go back to my own nest. With Young Master watching over you, I can be at ease. When the child is older, I'll just take a look.

This was a sadness that was evoked by Old Man Ji's departure. The old man would always have some similar thoughts, even though the old lady had not taken him seriously not long ago, but now that he had left, it was filled with real sadness.

She definitely had an excuse to keep her, but previously, because of how she was treated and because she was a newborn baby, Xie Jingxi was filled with selfishness, but she knew that the old lady wasn't willing to do it from the bottom of her heart. After being touched by the matters of the Old Man Ji, she had completely firmed her her heart, and returning home was her own heart.

At this point, Xie Jingxi could only agree, "Since you want to go back, I will get Ming Yu to pack her things, and before snow falls in the capital, the road will be easier to walk."

With her heart at peace, the old lady no longer spoke, and took out the little child clothes that she had sewn recently, telling her that she had to wear all kinds of clothes, boys and girls, there were all of them, and their meticulous details made people moved. Xie Jingxi carried a pile of clothes, and also the collars and other items that Old Man Ji had given her, and kept them together.

The second day after the old lady left, Xie Jingxi went to the study room and opened the door. The light shone onto Gu Yun's eyes and he squinted his eyes, seeing her approaching from the light beam in a hazy manner, and then extended his hand out, "Such a long beard, it's really ugly."

Gu Yun only laughed, looking at the hands in front of his that had turned transparent and glossy from being hit by the light, her fingers were round and full, the kind of appearance that he liked, seemingly wanting to take a bite, but then he really did it too.

However, the Lord Gu was still unwilling to let it go. He lightly tapped his lips for a bit, and then used the green beard that had grown on his chin to rub it against her. "Why did you come only today?"

Xie Jingxi's hand was hurt by his prick, but she still endured the pain and returned to him, "Because today is the third day, I'm afraid His Majesty will come to get me tomorrow."

Gu Yun reached out his hand to hold her, and shamelessly said, "Then, Xi, pull me up, my legs are numb."

Using the strength of two people, she pulled a certain someone who had acted shamelessly all the way to the door. Then, she pulled him all the way to the room's entrance, stopping before he came out, Xie Jingxi said: "Once we leave this house, we'll take care of this matter. Grandfather is gone, Grandmother is also gone, and only the three of us will be left in the capital. We still have to continue walking."

Gu Yun responded softly as he held her hand and led his wife and children out of the room.

Without the Old Man Ji and the Suddenness Garden of the Old Madem, it had suddenly become quiet. Xie Jingxi did not want to stay any longer, so after finishing her accounting and other related matters, she went back to the Marquis Mansion, but this year, she did not need to busy herself for a whole year. Other than the occasional few good wives she would meet, her days were rather quiet.

If not for the fact that Xie Jingxi knew about this, she probably wouldn't have suspected her at all. The mysterious powers scattered throughout the capital had all been evacuated by the imperial guards, and the women buried deep in the inner chambers, such as the Lady Zou, were still living their lives as usual. Who knew how many more of these people were like her.

"Time flies so quickly, after the new year, I will be able to eat full moon wine." The Lady Zou smiled as she took off her outer robes and sat opposite to her.

Xie Jingxi laughed: "How can you be so impatient? The child hasn't even landed on the ground, and you're already thinking about the full moon wine."

"I was thinking of drinking earlier, but I'm afraid that I won't even be able to squeeze in the door by then." Lady Zou looked at her, "I also said that you will be staying at the manor to wait for labour, thinking of going over to take a look during the new year, now that you are back, I don't need to run errands."

"The manor is rather deserted. It would be more convenient to produce in the capital. Everything in my house is ready, so I know what I'm doing." Xie Jingxi lowered her eyebrows and smiled, "Why haven't I seen Miss Zou around recently?"

Lady Zou just now clearly tried to probe him. She probably wanted to ask about the matter regarding Old Man Ji, since Xie Jingxi said so in proof, Lady Zou laughed and said, "Speaking of which, thank you for everything you did last time, I could easily make this brat run away with just one look. I haven't been able to take care of her recently because she has a lot of family matters and I don't have time to ask her about them.

"That's good."

As expected, Zou Ling was not in the capital, and no one knew where she went. However, Xie Jingxi did not keep him busy, and the matter regarding the Lady Zou's family was related to another matter.

Just a while ago, when the capital was in a state of turmoil, the young royal grandson of the Former Crown Prince Palace was no more. The matters concerning the Former Crown Prince were concealed, so the things he had done were not worth mentioning. This child was not born at the right time, and had never appeared in front of anyone, much less have much influence over them. In any case, even if he grew up properly, he still had to be crowned as the son of the Abandoned Crown Prince. His life had naturally brought about humiliation, and now, he died at the wrong time, not even a name was left behind.

Not long after her young royal grandson died, the news of Fourth Miss's madness spread out. Compared to her young royal grandson, she was even less worth mentioning, a son who originally had no status at all and had no status to rely on, was like an ant, no one would care if he was dead or crazy.

However, the people who were not stupid could tell that Fourth Miss was the shoes that had been abandoned, and that the reason why she had not been killed was already because she had conceded to someone that she was trying to deceive them. Thus, she decided to pack up and return to the second house, as the second house could not even produce a fart, it was just like how she silently carried a palanquin into the back gate of the Eastern Palace.

After Fourth Miss was thrown back to her parents' home, it was rumored that a concubine had snuck out from the mansion. It was probably because she was too young and couldn't stand the cold confinement, and was also greatly provoked by the matter of the Little Emperor's grandson and Fourth Miss. However, she ran away, not even stopping for a moment, and was about to bang the gongs and drums to announce the world, only leaving behind a sign that was written in black and white, which read "I ran out of Former Crown Prince's house".

Someone had heard this a few times and found out that this concubine was actually rather spoiled before, so they knew a lot of things that no one knew about. This "inner story" was similar to the chaos that had been stirred up in the King Qin recently, which meant that the Former Crown Prince was about to return.

The Shi family had some influence in the imperial court before, but they were unlucky and were implicated by the Former Crown Prince. They were a little unknown for the past two years, but they did not want to be left alone. The Shi family was not as nimble and agile as the Zheng Family, instead, the Crown Prince turned around to support the Second Prince. They had never taken off the heads of the Former Crown Prince's remaining factions, and it seemed like they did not want to take them down as well.

This family was none other than Lu Family, some people couldn't help but to question this concubine. Wasn't Lu Family related to the Elder Official Xie family by marriage, and how did they end up in a relationship with the Shi family, that was a little unreliable, but everyone had probably forgotten that Lu Family had more than just Xie Family, and had many descendants. Indeed, the concubine had married a girl from the Shi family, and the words of the concubine were true, and there were even stolen letters as evidence.

The His Majesty had long given up on the Former Crown Prince, and had not extinguished the King Qin's fire. Now that he stood out and became the target of the attack, how could the His Majesty spare him? Furthermore, there was a Elder Official Xie who was bent on getting rid of the Former Crown Prince, even if it was a crime of three parts becoming seven parts, and even if the Former Crown Prince did not die, the Shi Family and Lu Family were still unlucky.