C104

It was a windy night. The snow was still falling when he opened the door. In the blink of an eye, it was a freezing day.

At this moment last year, the capital was busy with talent shows, preparing for the ascension of the new monarch, and preparing for the empress dowager's wedding. It was hard to find a new year where one could finally take a breather at the end of the year.

From the 24th until the 2nd of the new year, there were no classes for seven or eight days. The ones whose families were closer to the capital, were able to come back home to celebrate the new year, yet Ershan was still unable to leave.

And right now, they were just past Laba Eight, so they sent some food over from the Baisha Town. Ershan could no longer finish eating all of it, so he picked some good stuff and gifted it to the innkeeper and servants.

However, in the classroom, he was still acting alone and didn't make any friends.

Today, when the senior officials of the imperial court, General Shen Shen Zhe, came to the academy to teach, bringing all the scholars to the academy grounds in a world of ice and snow. Although he did not force them to brandish their swords or use their spears, he still hoped that these young students would have a strong physique.

Furthermore, it was necessary to let these future court officials understand that the path of war was not a barbaric one. The word 'peace' was built on the defense of a powerful army.

The sky was cold and the ground was freezing. Although the students with weaker physiques were unable to bear the cold, Bi Zhenye was weaker.

He was the only son of the Grand Councilor Counselor-in-chief Bi, and it was said that the clan's elders raised him like a treasure. Although he had talent, he didn't seem like a man.

However, he himself was extremely strong. He felt free to do whatever he wanted in the snow.

The General Shen was naturally familiar with these few young nobles. Others would not find it strange if he were to speak a little warmly to them.

However, that unknown person, first received instructions from the Emperor, and now that the General Shen saw him, he was very friendly.

Someone heard from the General Shen, "Your brother is proficient in martial arts, he could fight one against a hundred, why didn't he teach you well?"

Brother? Ling Qian still had a brother?

Just where did he come from, why did the Emperor recognize him, and why did the General Shen recognize his brother?

After everyone returned from the drill grounds, they dispersed from school. Everyone was drenched in the snow and shivering due to the cold, and the people from Bi’s Mansion saw that the young master was almost drenched from head to toe. They were extremely anxious.

At home, Grand Councilor Counselor-in-chief Bi and his wife were having dinner in their mother's courtyard. Hanxi ran in and said, "Grandmother, big brother is back."

The grandmother ordered her to sit down and said in a displeased tone, "Your daughter always runs and jumps about, what a shame."

Not long after, Bi Zhenye entered the door, his entire body was drenched in cold, his face was pale, this caused his grandmother's heart to break, he scolded the servants, and immediately went to clean up the young master.

The Prime Minister coldly replied, "It's rare for you to act like a man today. Normally, I would even pretend to only have two daughters of my own."

Bi Zhenye lowered his head and did not speak, only seeing her mother walking forward, gently saying: "Don't make Old Madem anxious, quickly go wash and change clothes, then grill it to be warmer, then come back, are you not afraid of bringing the cold qi to your grandmother?"

"Yes." The young master agreed and left gloomily.

When he left, the old mother refused to comply and scolded the Grand Councilor Counselor-in-chief Bi fiercely, "My beloved grandson is mine, don't always scold him harshly. If you force him to his death, then bring me along to collect his corpse.

Everyone stood up and listened to Old Madem's scolding. Old Madem said with tears in his voice: "I wonder if that child from that industry is still alive. If he is, and I could see him before I die, I would have no regrets. If this industry was still alive, how would I be able to protect Zhenye alone, or if you were to open up a new marriage for him? He is already twenty-one, why are you still not giving him a place to build a family, what are you waiting for? "

The meal became dull. Only after serving the old lady did the crowd withdraw.

Grand Councilor Counselor-in-chief Bi went to his study by himself and brought his daughter to his son's bedroom to look for him.

"Mother, have I seen Brother Xingye before?" Hanxi suddenly asked, "I can't really remember anymore, but the servants said that I was already there when it happened."

"When he disappeared, you were already three years old. You played together when you were young." Mrs. Bi said indifferently, "I can be considered to have seen it before, but you are too young, so I'm sure you won't remember."

"Yeah, I don't remember a thing." Hanxi laughed as she led him to her brother's bedroom. She shouted loudly, "Bi Zhenye, I'm coming in now.

Mrs. Bi laughed, then went forward and slapped her daughter's forehead: "You made Grandma hear you speak so rudely, and wanted to beat you up."

Hanxi pouted and said: "Grandmother has always been very strict with me, she always needs to be treated by the family rules. Only big brother, other people can't even touch him with their fingers, so it's weird, I'm not a boy."

Mrs. Bi sighed lightly as he pulled his daughter into the room. He was afraid that his son would roll in the snow today and cause a chill when he looked back.

In this side room, Ershan returned to the tavern to wash up and change his clothes. Although he was not forced to practice martial arts by Ling Chaofeng, he was definitely not a young master who was tender and pampered.

However, the innkeeper suddenly knocked on the door, saying that a few scholar like people had come to look for him. Ershan went out to see that they were his schoolmates in the academy.

They passionately said: "Ershan, let's find you for a talk."

In the academy, forming cliques was a very important matter. Most of them would be eliminated in next year's competition, but even if they were eliminated, with a High Scholar's status, as long as there was a promotion, they would be able to obtain a position in the imperial court. Thus, finding the right person to be a friend was as important as reading books.

Ershan didn't know why the Emperor and General Shen had all come to express their intimacy with him, which would push him to the heart of the struggle. But things had already come to this point, he had no choice but to face it.

At the same time, within the Prime Minister's Estate, Bi Zhenye had already changed into clean clothes. He went to her father's study and stood there for a long time before the Prime Minister asked: "What is it?"

Bi Zhenye said: "Father, when General Shen saw that youth called Ling Yu whom you mentioned before, he seemed to be extremely friendly with him, as if they were old friends."

The prime minister frowned, "Really?" He stroked his beard, and thought for a while. "The threshold of Prince Shen’s Mansion is extremely high, and very few people can interact closely with the residences.

"How is your relationship with him?" The Prime Minister asked.

"He is a loner, a loner, not easy to get along with." Bi Zhenye said, "I only say a few words occasionally."

"Useless fool, I'm afraid that your classmates have already gone to chat with him, yet you are still standing here." The Prime Minister reprimanded him. "Bring him home in a few days and let me see him. I'll wait for you for three days. If he doesn't come within three days, I'll skin him alive."

Bi Zhenye withdrew himself from the study and his sister peeked outside the courtyard door. She came up and asked with a smile: "Did you get scolded again?"

"You came to provoke me after you found out?" Bi Zhenye stretched out his hand to pinch his little sister's face, "You are so mischievous, but Daddy never scolds you. This is unfair."

Hanxi pulled him along as he walked out, and laughed: "Isn't that the same. Grandmother protects you, but she never dotes on me. When I was in the temple, I got beaten up several times. She let those old nuns hit me with such a thick stick, and it made my butt swollen. "

"What did you do? Are you going to get beaten up?"

"I'm playing with my gold-threaded cassock as a cape."

Bi Zhenye laughed: "Serves you right."

Seeing that his brother was smiling, Hanxi relaxed and said gently: "Daddy hopes that brother will have a bright future. Daddy doesn't want you to be protected by Grandma as a white-faced young master, if Daddy doesn't care about you, Daddy will not care about you. Brother, don't feel so bad. I heard mother say that Daddy is very happy that you got first place in the capital. "

Bi Zhenye's mood became better, and his heart lit up, and he said: "Our academy's Ling Liu, has a solitary personality, and is unable to eat meat. In the future, you can come and pick me up from school and use your clever mouth to drag him over to my residence as a guest. If he succeeds, brother will grant you a wish.

Hanxi said happily: "Then it's a deal."

On the other hand, Lian Yi came over to help out. She also mentioned that last year, she stole Susu's crime of roasting chickens and cotton shoes and then returned home. Today was the day of celebration, and the shop had been bustling with noise and excitement since a long time ago.

Xiaowan was standing downstairs. Seeing Lian Yi and Susu wiping the floor, she said: "Young miss, you should rest."

Lian Yi was annoyed: "In our family, how can we afford to have servants? I have long done this myself, and I even have to serve my mother."

Xiaowan's belly was very high, she said: "I haven't worked for half a year, once I'm done, I won't even have the strength to wring the cloth."

Just as he finished speaking, the child's voice came from outside. It was Wen Juan who had shouted: "Big sister, big sister..."

It was almost the same situation, could it be that Madam Xu would cause another ruckus again this year? However, the one who followed the two children in was the Master Mu. He had brought many things with him as he stood in front of the door and laughed, "Evening son, daddy has come to see you."

Wen Bao and Wen Juan circled around Xiaowan, yelling: "Big sister, your stomach is so big!"

Aunt Zhang came over and took them away, then said: "Have some sweet rice porridge. Don't make big sister dizzy."

Master Mu put down everything and helped his daughter to sit down, saying, "I heard Wen Bao's mother say that you are pregnant, so I wanted to come and take a look. I brought some food and some diapers, see if they work. "

Xiaowan asked, "How did she know?"

Master Mu said: "I heard it from the town."

Ling Chaofeng came down the stairs to receive his father in law, the family sat down and chatted for awhile, but when her father asked her when she was born, Xiaowan said that he did not know, and that it was his first time being pregnant, so he did not understand anything.

Although she knew that her father would not casually say those words to his stepmother, with the two little ones by the side, they had already sent word that Xiaowan did not want to have anything to do with the family, and did not intend to invite them to take a look once the child was born.

Before noon, his father left. He didn't want to stay for lunch either, the Xiaowan didn't force him, so he packed some snacks for his brother and sister without stuffing any silver.

After they left, Xiaowan strenuously sat down and said, "I wonder if she instigated my father to come here. It's such a cold day, and we have walked such a long way. Really."

Susu advised: "Maybe uncle is worried about you, don't think too much of it, I heard from Aunt Zhang that when that woman came last year, you guys did it very fiercely, at least you did not leave unhappily this year, and next year will be even better."

Just as Xiaowan wanted to happily say something, her stomach started to churn and the child's kick to the back nearly made her pass out. Everyone quickly supported her back to the third floor. After she laid down, they saw her belly rise and fall. The little guy was causing a ruckus inside.

"It's fine if she's a son, but if she's a girl, then she's going to be a hero." The Aunt Zhang smiled happily, "It's so energetic inside your stomach. Little darling, take it easy, don't burst your mother's stomach."

Xiaowan took a long time to recover from the pain, causing Ling Chaofeng to frown. He had been in the sect for a long time, but he did not seem to be able to calm down due to any mishap.

"I wonder how the empress is doing? If the empress knew I'm also in labor, she'd definitely be very happy." The Xiaowan asked, "Would you know if I thank you?"

Ling Chaofeng said: "Our correspondence with the Emperor is one-way, I cannot go overboard, so I am unable to send our message to the palace, unless the Emperor himself wants to know, maybe the Empress already knows, maybe she doesn't."

The Xiaowan replied, "I wonder if the Empress likes the Little Princess or the Little Prince. I wonder if our child will have the chance to see the Empress and the Empress again in the future."

Ling Chaofeng said: "That is a ruler of nine or five years."

The Xiaowan was also deeply moved, "A villain like me is actually able to see the Emperor. Now that I think about it, my legs and stomach are still trembling."

Ling Chaofeng coaxed her to rest, and Xiaowan snuggled into his warm embrace, quickly falling asleep.

However, she was still dreaming. Even though Aunt Zhang comforted her and said that she was dreaming, her dreams were still very difficult.

However, occasionally dreaming of peaceful and beautiful scenes, I always wake up feeling happy inside.

During that afternoon's nap, maybe it was because she was talking about the Queen with her husband before she went to sleep, but in her dreams, she saw potbellied beauties. Xiaowan had never seen the Empress pregnant before, so she must have imagined this.

They ate green bean cakes together on the edge of the huge, smoky lake, each with his or her belly high. When the palace brought them fish food, they sprinkled it into the lake.

Suddenly, the surface of the lake turned, the whirlpool like wind, only to see a Golden Dragon coming out of the water, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws as it pounced towards them.

"Empress …"

"Xiaowan …"

Xiaowan was jolted awake. It was a dream again.

Her heart was beating rapidly. The Golden Dragon in her dreams was so lifelike, not like the dragons and lions dancing in the market, but rather like flying, incredibly huge, with sharp golden claws, dazzling scales, and a dazzling brilliance …

The bedroom door opened and Aunt Zhang entered carrying a piece of dessert. Seeing that she had sat up, she hurriedly asked: "Evening, are you feeling well?"

The Xiaowan shook her head. "Aunt, I dreamt that when I was with the empress, a Golden Dragon rushed out of the water and charged towards us."

"And then?"

"Then I woke up."

"Looks like our Empress is going to give birth to the little prince." The Aunt Zhang smiled as she calculated the time, "If it's soon, the Empress will have a month. Evening, you must have dreamt for the Empress."