The old emperor turned the peach blossom hairpin in his hand and looked up at Ji Lingxue, "This silver hairpin belongs to your mother. Is your mother Liu Mei'e?"
Ji Lingxue nodded, "Yes, then you know my mother..." Then are you my biological father
This plot is common in storybooks. A passionate young emperor falls in love with a common girl, and they secretly get married. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned, and the two lovers are separated for various reasons. The girl leaves, leaving the emperor with all kinds of beautiful memories. Many years later, the emperor sees the girl with their token of love, only to find out that it is his own flesh and blood. When the girl left, she was pregnant with his child. He is filled with sadness and helplessness, and can only sigh.
What a ridiculous scene, it actually happened to him!
Ji Lingxue complained in her heart, staring at the old emperor's somewhat dazed eyes, waiting for his answer.
The old emperor said, "Ahem, there were quite a few people in the hall just now, so I didn't ask in detail. That's why I asked Ruge to bring you here to chat. Your mother is an extraordinary woman..."
Twenty years ago, although Liu Mei'e was born into a scholarly family, she had a rebellious personality. Because she was unhappy with the marriage arranged for her by her father, she ran away from home.
Liu Mei'e had learned some kung fu, and her escape from marriage seemed to be smooth. After she squandered the money she brought with her, she began to think about her livelihood. After arriving in Dayan, she discovered business opportunities here and started doing silk business.
The old emperor was also one of Liu Mei'e's admirers. At that time, he was still the prince. Whenever he had free time, he would take his brothers to take care of Liu Mei'e's business. Gradually, the two became familiar with each other. When he intended to express his feelings, he was rejected by Liu Mei'e, who said that she had already been engaged.
After that, Liu Mei'e's business grew bigger and bigger, and he was busy with court affairs and could not leave the palace for a while. That day was Liu Mei'e's 20th birthday, he sneaked out of the palace and took Liu Mei'e to the silver shop to order jewelry. A peach blossom silver hairpin was designed by him personally.
A few days later, Liu Mei'e was taken away by her family and he never saw her again. He didn't even know that the jewelry in the silver shop had not been taken away. What surprised him even more was that many years later, Liu Mei'e's daughter would appear in front of him wearing this silver hairpin. It was all fate.
Ji Lingxue sighed, she thought she was the illegitimate daughter of the Emperor of Dayan, but it turned out that she was overthinking. In this case, her mother Liu Mei'e was just the first love of the Emperor of Dayan.
The old emperor sighed and said, "Girl, you look very much like your mother. I wonder if you are married?" If not, it would be a good thing to marry her to his son.
Ji Lingxue smiled and nodded. The old emperor sighed again with regret, "This is your first time in Dayan, you can ask Ruge to go out with you. Dayan is a good place."
Ji Lingxue wrote about the old emperor, and Ruge took over the topic and asked the old emperor why he took Yuchi Gongru away.
The old emperor's expression changed from sunny to cloudy. He raised his hand and threw a crumpled piece of paper to Ruge, letting him read it himself.
Ruge bent down to pick up the ball of paper on the ground and unfolded it. Her eyebrows twitched. On the paper was vividly painted a bloody scene of Yuchi Gongru sucking a woman's blood. Perhaps for the realistic effect, the cinnabar-red blood almost covered the woman in the painting, which was really creepy to look at.
"What is this?" Ruge asked tentatively. The old emperor got furious about this at the banquet just now. She wondered if they could find out who painted this
The old emperor said: "The person who made the flowers has a good foundation in chemistry. He was able to draw the figures vividly with just a few strokes. Look, this room is clearly Gongru's room. There is a painting on his wall that was given to him."
Ji Lingxue was upset. If you want to discuss the issue, why don't you let an outsider like me step aside? She didn't want to hear about these royal scandals at all.
Ruge nodded, "Really? I wonder where this painting came from?"
The old emperor's face darkened and he said, "This is also a really puzzling thing. I just asked Fushou (the old emperor's eunuch), and he said that he took a nap, and when he woke up he found this in his arms, and he was shocked and immediately sent it to me."
Fu Shou was the most trusted person around the old emperor. It was not a big deal if he read the contents of the paper. The most hateful thing was to catch the person who did the evil.
Ruge asked, "Father, do you think someone is going to harm my brother? Is that why you keep him in the palace?"
The old emperor nodded and shook his head, "This matter is too strange and needs to be thoroughly investigated. Okay, there is nothing more to do. I am tired too. You all can go back." After saying that, he waved his hand, leaned back in his chair with a tired look on his face, and closed his eyes to rest.
Ji Lingxue held the silver hairpin thoughtfully. After coming out of the palace, she became a little silent. The owner of the silver hairpin was found, but the doubts in her heart were not resolved.
Ruge patted Ji Lingxue's shoulder and said, "Don't think about it. Your mother is such a principled person, how could she get pregnant before marriage? This is all just a deliberate frame-up. If you really doubt your biological father, why don't you go find Ji Baichuan and ask him clearly?"
Ji Lingxue raised her head and smiled, "Yes, I am just worrying about nothing. Ruge, thank you."
Ruge smiled, "Yuchi Gongru is in big trouble if he meets you and the prince. Father said he was violent by nature and punished him to reflect on his mistakes. Now Father intends to negotiate peace with Dongqi, and the mission of going to Dongqi will be given to me. Why don't you and the prince stay for a few more days, and then we will set off to Dongqi together."
Ji Lingxue thought for a moment and said, "Although Yuchi Gongru was punished, his strength is still there. I'm afraid he will not be willing to accept this and will not let the prince and I go back smoothly."
The two were talking when suddenly the horse neighed, raised its front kicks and pulled the carriage forward. The carriage that Ruge took to the palace carried Xiao Yichen and Bai Mo. This carriage belonged to the palace, but I didn't expect it to be so easily frightened.
Ruge lifted the carriage curtain and looked out. The driver had disappeared. The horses were pulling the carriage down the street, ramming the vendors on both sides of the carriage. The carriage passed through the vegetable shop, and the vegetable leaves flew everywhere. The next moment, it rushed directly into the butcher shop, and the meat on the chopping board fell to the ground. Several pieces of meat were lost to wild dogs that came out from nowhere.
Looking at the miserable state of the street, Ruge held her forehead and said, "You really got it right."
The horses selected by the palace to pull carriages are always gentle in temperament and not so irritable. This horse must have been tampered with, and the only person he had offended recently was Yuchi Gongru.
Ruge flew onto the horse's back and began to train it. People on the street pointed at Ruge and said, "Second Prince... It turned out that it was the Second Prince who crashed into my vegetable stall. I worked hard to grow those two baskets of fresh vegetables for two months, and I was hoping to sell them for some money... Ah..."
"Second Prince, you smashed my meat stall. I have elderly parents and young children to support, and I rely on the meat stall to support my family. You smashed it and we will have nothing to eat today. You must give us all an explanation."
The voices of the people were getting louder and louder. By the time Ruge had trained his horse, he himself was surrounded by the people in the middle of the street, and was caught in a dilemma.
The voices of the people talking at once were like boiling water. Ji Lingxue sat in the carriage and looked up at the sky in silence. This person really had a bad temper. Whatever he said came true.
Ruge touched his waist, opened his purse, and took out the two thousand taels of silver notes inside. He couldn't leave without spending some money today. He waved his hand, and the silver notes scattered into the air, fluttering on the ground like snowflakes. The people all put in their best efforts, opened their arms and started to grab them frantically.
Taking advantage of this gap, Ruge opened the door and pulled Ji Lingxue out of the carriage, and used her lightness skills to leave the street. As soon as the two of them disappeared, the people scrambled for the banknotes, and when they looked at the carriage again, Ruge was nowhere to be seen.
Yuchi Gongru, wearing a black cloak, stood behind a teahouse window, watching the show with cold eyes, sneering, "Ruge, this is just the beginning. Since the Prince of Chen supports you to take the throne and deliberately suppresses me, I will ruin your reputation. Let's see what else you have to fight with me for!"
Yuchi Gongru hooked his finger, and immediately a guard came forward and bowed, "Master."
Yuchi Gongru said, "Go spread the message now and say that the second prince transformed into a flower protector today and rode a carriage with a woman on a parade. Unexpectedly, the horse got scared and trampled the whole street. The stall owners chased after him and demanded compensation. In order not to affect the trip, the second prince spent all his money and flew away with the woman. Remember to tell the story in a beautiful way and spread it to the palace as quickly as possible."
"Yes!" The guard retreated silently, and Yuchi Gongru raised a playful smile.
Yuchi Gongru murmured to himself: "Ruge, the woman you like is probably right next to you in the capital! Haha... It's really interesting. You are the prince of the Great Yan Kingdom, with a bright future, but you like a woman from another country, and she is a married woman..."
Ji Lingxue, being pulled by Ruge, felt the flying feeling again, with the breeze blowing on her face and the air fresh.
She turned her head and saw the room beside her was receding. Gradually, the noisy voices could no longer be heard.
Ji Lingxue asked, "Why are we going back home like this?"
No matter how you look at it, this looks like a desperate escape. It's just giving away money, and the people will naturally disperse and make way for them. This is not a waste of effort.
Ruge coughed and said, "Um... the driver is missing, I don't know how to drive a carriage... Besides, it will be faster to get home this way."
Ji Lingxue thought about it and stopped talking and just focused on enjoying the scenery. Ruge turned her head to look at Ji Lingxue's smiling face, then returned to her senses and continued to look at the road, tapping her toes on the roof tiles but slowing down a bit.
Ji Lingxue and Ruge returned to the mansion. Xiao Yichen and Bai Mo were sitting opposite each other in the flower hall drinking tea. As soon as Ruge and Ji Lingxue climbed in from the yard, Xiao Yichen and Bai Mo stood up together and looked at Ji Lingxue.
Bai Mo's eyes were full of gossip, "Princess, why did the Emperor of Dayan keep you in the palace?" He almost asked, "You are not the princess of Dayan, are you?"
Compared to Bai Mo's excitement, Xiao Yichen's expression was much calmer. As expected of a prince, he handled things in a rather calm manner.
Ji Lingxue gave Bai Mo a look that said "you think too much" and said to Xiao Yichen, "The Emperor of Dayan said he knew my mother. My mother was in the silk business in Dayan 20 years ago. They were friends."
(End of this chapter)