Queen Meng lay in bed for three days.
During these three days, the capital city suddenly became unusually quiet.
It's the calm before the storm.
The princes who were supposed to leave for their fiefdoms on the tenth day of the first lunar month did not leave. It was said that the empress dowager was old and was reluctant to let the children leave, so she specifically asked the emperor to allow them to leave after the Lantern Festival.
In fact, it was Prince Wei who went to bid farewell to the Queen Mother and cried bitterly. The Queen Mother loved her youngest son, so she went to ask His Majesty for help. It happened that His Majesty was in a good mood that day, so he made an exception and gave face to the Queen Mother.
The Lantern Festival is the first major festival after the New Year. The whole nation celebrates and all nations come to pay tribute. From the 14th to the 16th of the first lunar month, the city lifts the curfew and lights lanterns for three days. People celebrate all night long and the court is busy receiving envoys from various countries. It can be said that the whole country celebrates and there is singing and dancing everywhere.
The Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion has not celebrated the Lantern Festival for twelve years. Although the child was found this year, they were still afraid of this festival. No one, including the Su brothers, took the initiative to go out and play no matter how lively it was outside.
Especially after the emperor issued the imperial decree granting the marriage, the family did not feel relieved. Instead, they became more cautious than before. The quieter the queen and the prince were, the more worried they became, and they dared not relax for a moment.
Xie Nanjia was not interested in the Lantern Festival. In order to reassure the whole family, except for the two days on the tenth and eleventh day when he stayed at the general's residence, he stayed at home obediently and did not go anywhere else.
Having solved the problems of Qin's aunt and nephew, Zheng and the fake county lady, and her own lifelong event, she should have been able to relax and wait for an auspicious day to marry back into the marquis's mansion, and live a peaceful life with her son from then on. However, the expected relaxation did not come, and instead she felt a new worry in her heart.
Because she never expected that Zhao Jingyu would have another identity.
She had always been very surprised by the emperor's indulgence of Zhao Jingyu. She always felt that the emperor was not pretending to favor Zhao Jingyu just for the sake of Marquis Dingyuan, but she didn't think about anything else at that time.
If it weren't for the incident of the Daughter of Phoenix, in which the emperor's attitude towards Song Jingxing and Zhao Jingyu was too different, causing rumors to spread from outside, she still wouldn't have thought too much about it.
Because Zhao Jingyu is too flamboyant and domineering, and doesn't look like a person with secrets at all.
Now thinking about it, maybe this was exactly his strategy, just like a great hermit hiding in the city, the more high-profile he was, the less people would suspect him, so he was able to successfully live under the nose of Queen Meng for more than ten years and became the only prince who was not killed by Queen Meng.
Xie Nanjia couldn't help but admire his scheming and acting skills. If he was not the man she wanted to marry, she would have been unable to help but applaud him and take him as a role model.
But he was the man she wanted to marry, which made her feel humiliated and deceived. She felt like a fool being played around by him.
In order to marry him, she had put in so much thought and calculation, even at the cost of offending the Queen and the Crown Prince, just to be able to live a peaceful life with him.
Now, she has rejected one prince and is going to marry another, which is tantamount to putting herself at the center of the struggle for imperial power. What is she trying to do
She just wanted to live a good life with her son, but as it stands now, this wish is unlikely to come true. Once she is caught in the vortex of the struggle for imperial power, it is hard to say whether she can save her own life. It is even more wishful thinking to have a peaceful life.
Therefore, she was very angry with Zhao Jingyu. After the imperial edict was issued, she avoided Zhao Jingyu for several days. No matter how anxious Zhao Jingyu was, she did not give him any chance.
She even wondered whether she should find a way to get the emperor to revoke his decision and cancel her engagement with Zhao Jingyu.
If she wasn't afraid that Song Jingxing would take advantage of the situation, she would really want to do so. Anyway, she didn't really like Zhao Jingyu, she just wanted to use him to be with her son.
What's so good about that liar except his face? Only a fool would like him!
She didn't admit that she was a fool, she just got on the pirate ship accidentally.
In her previous life, she had to marry Zhao Jingping by the emperor's order, and in this life, she was granted marriage to Zhao Jingyu. Is this a trick of God or her destiny
Why is her life so bumpy
Zhao Jingyu didn't understand Xie Nanjia's anger and humiliation, nor did he understand why Xie Nanjia suddenly didn't want to see him. She had clearly wanted to marry him wholeheartedly before, but after the marriage was arranged, she seemed like a completely different person, ignoring him and being extremely cold.
People say that once you get something, you will no longer cherish it. But she hasn't even completely gotten him yet, so how could she become disgusted with him overnight
Even if women are fickle, they shouldn't change so quickly, right
Zhao Jingyu couldn't figure it out after much thought, so he had no choice but to ask Cheng Zhiye for help.
Cheng Zhiye helped him analyze it in detail and finally came to the conclusion: "She is so smart, she must have guessed your identity and thought she was deceived by you, so she resented you and didn't want to see you."
Zhao Jingyu panicked when she heard this: "What should I do? I didn't mean to lie to her. This is a secret that can't be told!"
"She doesn't care whether you can speak or not. Smart women are proud. You lied to her, which is equivalent to trampling on her dignity. She hates you to death." Cheng Zhiye said. Out of sympathy, he took out his treasured tea and brewed it for him. "Don't blame me for not reminding you. It's hard to appease a woman when she gets angry. You are in big trouble this time."
"So what should I do?" Zhao Jingyu had no time to drink tea, and said with a sad face, "Is it okay if I go and apologize to her and tell her my difficulties?"
"How could she not know your difficulties?" Cheng Zhiye used the tea lid to scrape the tea foam slowly, "You can tell from her reluctance to enter the palace. Her original intention was to marry a simple man and live a peaceful life. She didn't expect to pick the most complicated one. Do you think she was disappointed? Given her personality, she was patient enough for not immediately asking the emperor to take back his decision."
The more Zhao Jingyu listened, the more unsure he felt. He thought Cheng Zhiye was right. Xiu'er was a very stubborn girl and might really ask the emperor to revoke his decision.
Why was she determined to marry back into the Marquis's Mansion? In the final analysis, it was for the young master, not for him. Of course, after spending more than half a year together, she might have slowly fallen in love with him, but that love was definitely not as much as her love for the young master.
Because, all signs indicate that she is the mother of the young master, the wife of the crown prince who was supposed to have died, the legitimate daughter of General Wu'an, and the sister-in-law Xie Nanjia whom he respects and pities!
On a thunderstorm night in early summer last year, she and her cousin who lived three hundred miles away died at the same time. However, she did not know what kind of mystery and destiny allowed her to be reborn through her cousin's body. It was also at that time that Hu Qianshan predicted the miracle of the birth of a girl with the destiny of phoenix.
Before this, he had guessed her true identity countless times, and every time he felt that he guessed right, he found out that he was wrong in the end. It was not until Abbot Wuchen of Fanyin Temple said those words to him that he specially recalled Hu Qianshan from southern Xinjiang and asked Hu Qianshan to read words and predict the fortunes for the two cousins, that he finally confirmed his guess.
After confirming her identity, he couldn't sleep all night, not knowing how to face the girl who used to be his sister-in-law and is now his fiancée.
If he still approached her purely because she was the Daughter of Phoenix as he did in the past, then he would not have any psychological burden. But now it is different. Now he has fallen deeply in love with her and it doesn't matter whether she is the Daughter of Phoenix or not. Although she is a different person now, he cannot completely ignore her previous identity. He can't even tell whether he loves Xiu'er or Xie Nanjia. His heart is in a mess.
This complex emotion far outweighed the joy brought by the imperial decree of marriage, and made him miserable. After two sleepless nights, he finally figured it out. Both Xiu'er and Xie Nanjia were new lives now. He loved her because she was good enough and worthy of his love, and nothing else mattered.
After realizing this, he suddenly felt enlightened and went to find Xie Nanjia happily, wanting to confess his thoughts and understandings to her openly. However, he was unexpectedly turned down and has not seen her until now.
"I lied to her, but she also lied to me. I'm not angry with her, so why should she be angry with me? This is so unfair." Zhao Jingyu said depressedly.
"What did she lie to you about?" Cheng Zhiye asked curiously.
"Don't worry about it. Your job is to help me find a solution." Zhao Jingyu said.
"What can I do? She doesn't even come out to see the lanterns. I'm a grown man, I can't just run to her house to persuade her!" Cheng Zhiye spread his hands to show that he was powerless.
Zhao Jingyu's eyes suddenly lit up: "Men can't go, but girls should be able to go, right?"
"What do you mean?" Cheng Zhiye asked.
"My fourth sister!" Zhao Jingyu said, "I asked my fourth sister to go find her and tell her that Zhou Yuncheng had asked my fourth sister to go watch the lanterns. My fourth sister didn't dare to go by herself, so she asked Xiu'er to accompany her."
"Good fellow, you figured it out after going through so much trouble." Cheng Zhiye couldn't help but give him a thumbs up and praised him, "I've never seen you so smart in serious matters, but you're really good at doing crooked things."
"Who said that? Isn't coaxing your wife a serious matter?" Zhao Jingyu said seriously, "In my opinion, this is the most serious thing in the world."
"Tsk!" Cheng Zhiye curled his lips in disdain, "You, you will be a henpecked husband from now on!"
"I'd love to!" Zhao Jingyu smiled and turned away.
"Where are you going?" Cheng Zhiye asked.
"Looking for my fourth sister." Zhao Jingyu left after saying this.
Tonight is the last day to light the lanterns. If you don’t take action now, you will miss the next chance.
However, at this time, he was only thinking about coaxing his wife and did not know that unpredictable dangers were waiting for him ahead.
(End of this chapter)