C122

As Chu Lingyun sat in the empty palace, the Queen's hysterical curses could be vaguely heard. She heaved a sigh of relief and waved at the silent Xianghe, "Come over and help me dress up."

Xianghe looked at her blankly: "Princess, where are you going?"

Chu Lingyun's eyes were filled with ice, "I want to see Prince Duan."

Xianghe rolled her eyes, and lowered her voice, "Princess, aren't you going to Changchun Palace?"

Chu Lingyun scoffed, "Why would I go to Changchun Palace? I raised a child of my love rival for more than ten years, and when the empress sees me, she will definitely kill me."

Xianghe heard the inklings in her words, and asked: "Princess, have you thought it through?"

"There's nothing that I can't figure out." Chu Lingyun smoothed out the wrinkles on her skirt, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of her lips. "I still have to continue walking down the road."

"Princess, do you still want to go to the Imperial Study to plead for the empress?"

Chu Lingyun silently shook her head, "I'm not going. If I guess the contents of the silk handkerchief in Prince Duan's hands correctly, the Queen definitely won't be able to protect it."

"But the Prince Duan may not accept princesses," Xianghe sized up her expression. "Even though you two are siblings, you were raised by the empress after all.

"I'm naturally clear about this," Chu Lingyun said as she turned her head to the side and smiled, "However, no matter what thoughts Prince Duan has in mind, he will never refuse me coming closer. A title like Princess Poyang is extremely alluring."

"Does the princess plan on making Prince Duan her Crown Prince?"

"With the Queen gone, the concubines in the imperial palace might still have princes, but it would be very difficult for them to have that kind of strength to compete with the Prince Duan. If no exceptions are made, the one to take over the Eastern Palace in the future would definitely be the Prince Duan."

Xianghe understood in her heart, "Seeing that Princess is of the same mother and sister, Prince Duan will definitely leave her a way out in the future."

"Prince Duan is magnanimous, and can go on a campaign, not to mention that he is a child of the Mrs. Heyi. I hope that he can give me a stable future on account of the fact that I have surrendered," Chu Lingyun said as his eyes dimmed, "Before we go to the Xinyang Hall, you will accompany me to go to the Luan Feng Palace once."

Xianghe looked at her in shock, "This servant thinks that the Princess running towards Prince Duan is entirely because of the situation."

Chu Lingyun smiled slightly, but there was an extremely bitter taste in the corner of her mouth. "It's just that Mrs. Heyi is my birth mother, the several times I went there, I always looked at her with hatred. This time, I really want to know if there are any other expressions."

"Then will this servant continue to stay by the emperor's side?"

"The reason I pushed you towards the Emperor was entirely because you looked similar to the Mrs. Heyi, but now that I know that I am her daughter, this feeling is also subtle. As expected, the fickleness of the world is not something we can predict," Chu Lingyun lowered her eyes and laughed.

"This servant has another question."

Chu Lingyun raised her eyebrows, "What problem?"

"Didn't the princess find it strange that the emperor didn't make Prince Duan the crown prince?" Xianghe looked at her with a complicated gaze. "Did the princess think that it was entirely because your Royal Brother was given to you by the empress?"

Chu Lingyun opened her eyes wide, "That's right, Prince Duan is a child of the Mrs. Heyi, so it's naturally more likely that he will join the Eastern Palace.

"What this servant means is that the reason the emperor has not continued to establish the crown prince is because he is still waiting for the concubines in the imperial harem to give birth to a new prince," Xianghe said in a deep voice.

Chu Lingyun secretly gripped her sleeves. "The emperor rejected me, could it be that Prince Duan is not a candidate for the crown prince either?"

"The princess going to reunite with the Prince Duan is the best way out for this situation," Xianghe said as she lightly bit her lips.

There was only a thin layer of snow in the palace. The crystal clear snowflakes fell from the sky, as if someone had sprinkled a handful of jade fragments in the sky.

Cheng Huan Hall's atmosphere was even more lively than usual. After the imperial physician with the goatee finished patting the Emperor's pulse, he happily bowed to the Emperor. "Congratulations, Your Majesty. The Consort Fu is pregnant."

The emperor's tense expression immediately relaxed, a smile blossoming on his lips. "Really? "Awesome."

Li Xiuse's face flushed red as she propped up her upper body. She smiled and said, "It is my fortune to be able to bear a dragon's embryo for the Qin."

"Your Majesty, Empress," Shouxiang looked around, clapped her hands, and said, "You really did accept the title of Empress."

"It seems that the title that I have proposed is very auspicious," the emperor chuckled as he reached out to grasp her jade-white fingers. "Consort Fu, Consort Hua has just had a difficult time giving birth and you are pregnant with a child. I don't know how happy I am."

Li Xiuse shyly and timidly nodded, "Your concubine's failure to reach the Yongle Palace to help the Emperor share his worries was your fault."

"No one could have predicted that the Consort Hua would have such a hard time," the Emperor sighed and smiled, "The fact that you were able to bear the dragon's womb is a part of my worries."

Li Xiuse pulled his hand onto her belly, "Your Majesty, do you want your concubine to give birth to a prince or a princess?"

The emperor stared blankly for a moment before smiling, "As long as you don't give birth to a leopard cat, it's fine."

The surrounding people were stunned for a moment before they started laughing softly again. Li Xiuse pursed her lips into a smile and said gently, "In order to be born, one would have to give birth to a dragon. How could it be a leopard cat?

Shouxiang covered her mouth and laughed secretly: "The Empress just ate a lot of sour dates cake. People say that sour men are spicy women, the Empress should be able to give birth to a prince for the Emperor."

"It would be even better if it was a prince. There are only Prince Duan in the palace, I still want to have a few more boys to ride with me and shoot arrows."

Li Xiuse thought for a while, then laughed: "Chenqie heard that Princess Poyang's archery is even better than Prince Duan's. I presume that the princess would not lose to the prince."

The emperor's smile grew wider and wider. "Indeed, but I saw that Prince Duan's archery skills didn't improve much a few days ago, so I'm afraid that Little Yun is going to fall behind."

Shouxiang interrupted: "Does the Empress like the Little Princess?"

Li Xiuse shook her head, "A prince or a princess, I like them both. It's just that looking at Princess Poyang's clever appearance, it's also not bad to have a princess by his side."

The Emperor said with a smile, "I am only a month old now, and no one knows whether I am a princess or a prince. loving consort only needs to properly nurture my womb, and after ten months, we will know whether I am a princess or a prince."

Everyone gathered together, talking and laughing. Suddenly, the emperor caught sight of a familiar figure in a corner far away from the crowd.

"You …" The emperor narrowed his eyes. "Aren't you Ru Yan?"

The quiet Ru Yan faced the emperor's gaze, her entire body shivered, then she quickly knelt down.

"Why are you so afraid of me?" "It's been a long time since I've seen you, why are you no longer in Yongle Palace? I still want to chat with you."

Shouxiang called Ru Yan over and explained to the emperor: "This is Ru Yan, it's just that she can't speak anymore."

The emperor was puzzled. "Why is it so good that you can't speak?"

The lower Ru Yan's head got, the lower Shouxiang said in a low voice: "Ru Yan made a mistake with her Yongle Palace, her tongue was cut off by the Consort Hua and she was thrown into the alley. This servant and the Empress just happened to pass by and the Empress saw that Ru Yan was pitiful, so she didn't send her back to Yongle Palace.

When the people present heard this, they couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. The Emperor frowned, looking displeased. "What kind of mistake did she make to actually cut off her tongue?"

Shouxiang hesitated and looked at Ru Yan, then said with a trembling voice, "Consort Hua doesn't like Ru Yan talking to the Emperor."

"Because of this," the Emperor said with a sullen look on his face, "Consort Hua is too cruel and merciless."

Li Xiuse sighed helplessly, and said: "Ru Yan will remember the time when Consort Hua took out the blade, it was really a nightmare. However, Consort Hua has already left, it doesn't seem like good to bring up the old matter again."

"This is a cruel action that she has committed, you are not allowed to bring it up yet," the Emperor looked at Ru Yan pitifully. "I only saw you being smart and spoke a few words to me, causing you to suffer."

Ru Yan bit her lips tightly and shook her head with tears in her eyes.

"Chenqie will heal her body and her heart," Li Xiuse said as she gently waved her hand, "Ru Yan, you may leave now."

"I also know that the Consort Hua is a difficult person to get along with, but who would have thought that she would be so ruthless," the Emperor said as a trace of disgust flashed past his eyes. "She didn't give birth to a prince well, perhaps because of heaven's will, if she had such a vicious mother as an example, her child wouldn't be much better."

Li Xiuse smiled at him consolingly, "Don't be angry Your Majesty, everyone has their own personality. At least Consort Hua suffered a little before she died."

"Sigh." The emperor stroked her black hair that hung down from her shoulders. "Your gentle and steady nature is still the best."

Li Xiuse's eyes were filled with a gentle smile. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Xue Ronghua brought Little Zhui to the courtyard and shaved off the snow on the branches of the trees into the jar. Chu Zongge, who was standing behind, saw it and quietly walked over and patted them on the shoulder.

Little Zhui was so shocked that she almost flipped over the jar in her hands. She calmly turned around and looked at him with a provocative gaze.

Little Zhui replied: "Your highness almost scared this servant to death."

"How can you be so easily scared to death?" Chu Zongge curled his lips, glanced at Xue Ronghua, and said, "Look at how calm your young miss is."

"Miss knows martial arts, how can we compare?"

Xue Ronghua raised his eyebrows, "It's better if you don't play these tricks. Speak, why are you here on such a cold day with your Prime Minister's Mansion?"

Chu Zongge muttered "boring", and curiously shook the jar, "Why do you guys collect snow water?"

"This is the first snow," Little Zhui laughed, "Miss used a jar to collect all the water and planned to brew wine."

"What kind of wine is it?" Chu Zongge tilted his head and asked, "If you want to drink, go to the Tingxue Building."

"The Tingxue Building's wine is not as tasty as before." Xue Ronghua lowered her eyes. Every time sshe went to Tingxue Building, he would inevitably think of the Prince Jin.

Chu Zongge coughed lightly and took the jar in her hand, "I know what you're thinking, those tall snow are not easy to deal with, let me help you guys."

Little Zhui also placed the jar into his hands, and laughed: "Little miss and Prince should chat for a while, I will go to my room to make tea."

Chu Zongge watched her hurried back as he left, the corner of his mouth curving into a beautiful arc. "Every time this Little Zhui sees me, he will disappear at the fastest speed possible.

"You don't want her to go away?" Xue Ronghua made a shouting gesture, "Then I'll help you call Little Zhui back."

Chu Zongge covered her mouth and smiled, "You, ah, always have to misunderstand my meaning on purpose."

Xue Ronghua pouted, "What misunderstanding?"