After the old Duke finished speaking, he stopped and looked at Xie Nanjia's reaction.
However, Xie Nanjia was not particularly surprised. She just responded with an "Oh" and waited quietly for his next words.
"Did you know this a long time ago?" asked the old Duke.
"No, I just guessed that it might be related to the Yuze Royal Court." Xie Nanjia said, "It's a pity that the lines on it have been worn away, so it's hard to tell what it is."
“No, no, no…” The old Duke waved his hand and said, “This pattern is not smoothed out, but someone has wrapped the surface with a special material. Now that the outer layer of material has been worn away a little, the pattern is revealed.”
"There is such a method?" This time Xie Nanjia was surprised. He took the jade ring and looked at it again and again, but could not find any flaws.
"Is it true? Can it be restored?" Her curiosity was completely aroused and she asked eagerly.
"It is possible, but it will take some time." The old Duke said, "Luckily you found the right person. There is no one in the capital who knows more about this than your grandfather."
"Haha." Xie Nanjia laughed, "Then let's get started. I'll be Grandpa's apprentice and help him."
"Okay, Grandpa will accept you as his last disciple." The old Duke laughed.
"Who is the first disciple?" Xie Nanjia asked.
The old Duke stroked his beard and laughed: "You are also the first disciple."
Xie Nanjia: “…”
The grandparents prepared all the necessary tools, closed the door and started working.
I was busy from the afternoon until dinner time and still hadn't finished.
Sheng Qingyun only knew that Xie Nanjia was with the old Duke, but didn't know what she was doing, so he sent Lan Yan to call her back for dinner.
Liusu and Biluo were guarding outside the study and told Lanyan that the old Duke had obtained a chess endgame from outside and was studying it with the young lady inside, and no one was allowed to disturb them.
Lan Yan believed it and went back to report it to Sheng Qingyun truthfully.
Sheng Qingyun complained helplessly to the young Duke: "Old man, the chess manual is there and it won't go away. Can't we study it after dinner?"
"You don't understand. For chess fans, eating is far less important than playing chess." Su Xian said, "The old man finally has an opponent who is equally good at chess. Just let him be. When Xiu'er gets married, you won't have the chance to play chess with him anymore."
Sheng Qingyun had no choice but to give up, and then asked in surprise: "Xiu'er grew up in the manor, where did she learn all these various skills, and she is so good at all of them?"
Su Xian was also confused and guessed, "Maybe it's talent. Didn't Jincheng's master say he was born to be a martial artist? That means we both have a good foundation, and you, as a mother, can give birth."
"..." Sheng Qingyun said with a red face, "The child is here, stop saying shameless things."
Su Jincheng was concentrating on eating when he was suddenly called up by his parents. He paused with his chopsticks in his hand, then lowered his head and continued eating.
Talking about his sister's ability, he also felt strange. He didn't believe that the little girl who grew up in a wild farm could learn such a skill inexplicably.
She could be said to have trained her archery skills from hunting wild animals, but what about horse riding, literacy, chess, and that overall demeanor? How did she develop these
No matter how good your talent is, it still needs someone to discover it. You can't just acquire it out of thin air.
He even suspected that there might be a hermit living in the deep mountains near Zhuangzi. Just like what was written in the storybook, the hermit discovered that his sister was gifted and secretly taught her skills every night.
Just as he was thinking about it, Sheng Qingyun suddenly called him: "You said before that you would not get married until you find your sister. Now that your sister is getting married, isn't it time for you to consider your own marriage?"
"…" Su Jincheng put down his bowl and chopsticks and said, "Father and mother, enjoy your meal. I'm done. I have to be on duty in the palace tonight, so I'll leave first."
After saying that, he stood up and fled from the dinner table.
"Hey..." Sheng Qingyun was so angry that he shouted behind him, "You kid, you run away as soon as you talk about getting married, come back here!"
Su Jincheng pretended not to hear and walked away without looking back.
"Look at your son. You, as a father, don't even care about him." Sheng Qingyun complained to Su Xian.
Su Xian said slowly: "Why are you in such a hurry? It's still early!"
"It's still early. Children his age are running all over the place." Sheng Qingyun said, "If this continues, he will become a big problem."
"Difficult? Are you kidding?" Su Xian said with a smile, "Our children are worried about not being able to find wives. Just wait and see. Once Xiu'er enters the East Palace, not to mention Jincheng, even Jinxuan and Jinyang will become popular. By then, I'm afraid that the door of our house will be trampled down by people."
Sheng Qingyun: "... I gave birth to a daughter just to help your Su family find a wife. Other families rely on their mothers to gain status, but your family relies on their brothers to gain status."
Su Xian: “…”
The couple finished their meal while chatting, sat for a while, and then went to the old lady to say goodnight.
When they arrived at the place, the old lady was also complaining about the old Duke, saying that he was old and couldn't even be on time for meals. Her old bones couldn't bear the hunger, but Xiu'er was still growing!
After the incident with the fake county lady, the old lady paid extra attention to Xie Nanjia. In addition, Xie Nanjia was going to be the ruler of the East Palace in the future, which added a bit of respect to her love for her.
Just think about it, a few months ago, Queen Meng came to their house arrogantly and forced a marriage with them, and even summoned the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law to Kunning Palace to coerce and bribe them. What was the result? The situation has changed, and her daughter Xiu'er is about to move into the Eastern Palace, while Queen Meng is sent to the cold palace.
Is there anything in the world that could be more satisfying than this
Sheng Qingyun complained about her father-in-law to her husband in private, but she spoke well of the old Duke in front of the old lady: "You won't be hungry if you skip a meal. It's rare that they have a good relationship between grandfather and grandson. Let Xiu'er accompany grandfather more. When she gets married in the future, she won't have the time to accompany him."
The old lady and her daughters-in-law lamented that the children were growing up so fast and would soon start their own families.
Speaking of this topic, the sisters-in-law can't help but feel anxious. The Duke of Zhenguo's mansion has many male descendants, but unfortunately none of the younger generation has married yet.
"Before, because Xiu'er was lost, the brothers competed to not get married and all of them wanted to wait for Xiu'er to come back. Now that Xiu'er is back, they are still not anxious. What should we do now?" said the Fourth Lady.
The old lady said, "It's okay not to rush. Our family is different now than before. We have to be selective when it comes to finding a daughter-in-law. Just relax, good things are coming!"
Sheng Qingyun couldn't help but look at her husband, thinking that this was truly a mother and son relationship, they even had the same ideas.
While they were talking here, the grandparents and grandchildren finally finished their work.
The old Duke placed the restored jade ring under candlelight and covered it with a lens made of ground crystal. The jade ring was magnified and every detail of the patterns on it was clearly visible.
"Look, this jade is the specialty of Yuze Country, and the pattern engraved on it should be a flying dragon pattern." The old Duke pointed at the jade ring and explained to Xie Nanjia one by one, "The flying dragon is a dragon with wings. It is the totem of Yuze Country, but this jade ring is only half, so we can't see the wings."
"What about this word, Grandpa, do you know what it means?" Xie Nanjia asked.
The old Duke carefully identified the characters and pointed at them, saying, "This one is the red character, and this one is the clothes character. This one is missing half, so I can't recognize it. Judging from the spacing between these characters, the other one should also have two and a half characters. Only by putting them together can we know what it is."
"Hongyi?" Xie Nanjia whispered twice, and suddenly realized, "Zhao Jingyu's mother is Mu Hongyi. Is this her personal token or seal?"
"It's possible." The old Duke said, "But I prefer it to be a token or a token."
"How could she, a deposed princess, have the imperial token?" Xie Nanjia asked, "I heard from Zhao Jingyu that although King Yuze did not execute her as announced to the public, but expelled her from the country, he also issued a death order against her, ordering her never to set foot on the land of Yuze again. So, even if she might have been in charge of something in the past, King Yuze would not let her leave with the imperial token, right?"
"I don't know about that." The old Duke said, "The only way to know what happened is to find the other half of the jade ring."
"I guess we can't find it." Xie Nanjia said, "Zhao Jingyu doesn't even know about this, where can we find him?"
"That's nothing we can do." The old man spread his hands, "It's a waste of effort."
"It's not a wasted effort. At least I know that the girl didn't lie." Xie Nanjia comforted himself.
Speaking of that girl, the old Duke's eyes suddenly lit up: "Doesn't that girl have a marriage certificate? Have you read what's written in the marriage certificate? Maybe there's an acrostic poem or something!"
"Yes!" Xie Nanjia's eyes lit up, but then dimmed again. She tore up the marriage certificate and threw it into the lotus pond to feed the fish.
Old Duke: “…”
The grandparents and grandchildren discussed for a long time without any results. Even though they had many questions and curiosity in their hearts, they had to give up in despair.
Xie Nanjia wrapped the jade again and put it back into her sleeve pocket, planning to return it to Zhao Jingyu tomorrow.
No matter what, this thing is undoubtedly his mother's. It is of no use to keep it with him, so it is better to give it to him as a keepsake.
He always looks nonchalant on the surface, but he is actually very delicate inside. Although he is not sentimental, he is somewhat sensitive. He must miss his mother very much, otherwise he would not wear red clothes all year round.
Thinking of this, Xie Nanjia felt that she was very lucky. Although she had died once, she was still alive and well now, her son was healthy, and she had two more mothers, a father, grandparents, and a large group of brothers.
The most important thing is that in this life she has someone she loves, and she doesn't have to live a life of despair with a man without feelings like in her previous life.
Just based on this point, she felt that God was taking special care of her in this life.
Especially Zhao Jingyu is a stunning beauty.
She licked her lips, thinking of Zhao Jingyu's handsome face, and couldn't help laughing out loud.
Loving beauty is not only men’s nature, it is also women’s nature!
The next day, Xie Nanjia went to deliver the jade to Zhao Jingyu and told him the old Duke's discovery and conclusion.
Cheng Zhiye was very concerned about this matter and came to inquire about it early in the morning. When he heard that it was not a treasure map, he was very disappointed.
Yun Shu also regretted tearing up the marriage certificate on impulse, destroying the only possible clue.
Zhao Jingyu did not take the jade and asked Xie Nanjia to keep it for him first, jokingly saying that they would live in the same room sooner or later, so it would be the same no matter who held it.
Xie Nanjia's face turned red when he said that, and she put the jade away again.
A few days later, the little boy turned one year old. Marquis Dingyuan named him Zhao Chengxu, opened an ancestral hall for him, put him in the family tree, worshiped his ancestors, held a banquet for the guests, and held a grand ceremony of grasping the week-old.
With the presence of Marquis Dingyuan, Zhao Jingyu and General Wu'an, all the dignitaries in the capital came. The gifts they sent filled an entire warehouse. Even Song Wanji took out an hour from his busy schedule to watch the ceremony.
This was the first ceremony of grabbing the first-born child that was personally witnessed by the emperor since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. The guests joked that even if the child did not grab anything, he had already won over all the children in the world.
Because there were so many guests, the ceremony was held in the reception room in the front yard. Hualou and Xiu'er's mother brought the child from Sijinyuan and handed him to his grandmother Sheng Qingluan. Sheng Qingluan took the child and placed him on a table filled with various objects such as pens, ink, paper, inkstone, abacus, books, seals, wooden swords, ruyi, etc.
The guests gathered around the table to watch the ceremony.
Song Wanji was the emperor, and Marquis Dingyuan did not dare to let him stand. He asked someone to bring a chair and asked him to sit in front of the table to watch. Zhao Jingyu stood on his left.
Zhao Jingping, the child's biological father, stood on the emperor's right hand side with General Wu'an, Marquis of Dingyuan.
The child was not afraid at all in front of so many people. Instead, he sat on the table and looked at the people around him and giggled. His eyes were slightly curved, black and bright, and he was very likable.
After a while, the child began to notice the objects on the table. He crawled around on them and looked at them, but did not take any of them. Just when people were worried about him, he suddenly saw Song Wanji sitting in front of the table. He stared at them with his dark eyes for a long time, then used his hands and feet to crawl towards Song Wanji.
The child climbed so fast that no one could react. By the time they realized what was happening, the child had already climbed to the edge of the table.
Song Wanji was in a hurry and subconsciously reached out to grab the child. The child jumped into his arms and grabbed the pearl on his crown.
The guests were shocked and held their breath.
Marquis Dingyuan and Xie Zhanting stepped over at the same time, trying to take the child, but the child held on to the beads tightly. They were afraid of hurting him if they pulled hard, and even more afraid of damaging the emperor's crown.
Xie Nanjia and Sheng Qingluan brought rattles to coax him, but he didn't even look at them.
The atmosphere was tense for a moment. Everyone wanted to make a joke to ease it, but they were afraid of saying something wrong and upsetting the emperor, so they could only watch in silence.
Song Wanji was not angry, he laughed and joked with the child: "You are good at catching things. You caught something unique in the world, the top scholar in writing, and the general with a sword. Now you caught me, what can you do?"
Everyone started laughing.
"Just be the emperor's godson." Zhao Jingyu added.
Xie Nanjia's heart skipped a beat and he looked at him suddenly.
She had worried before that she would not be able to see her child anytime after entering the palace. Zhao Jingyu told her not to worry too much about the future, saying that when the time comes, everything will be solved.
He also said that no matter what happens, as long as he is there, there will be a way.
So, he is now helping her solve this problem.
Since the child became the emperor's godson, he could enter and leave the palace freely and could stay in the palace for a few days from time to time, so that she could see him often.
Xie Nanjia's throat was tight, her nose was sore, and she looked at Zhao Jingyu with misty eyes. This seemingly unreliable man could always give her unexpected surprises and touches inadvertently.
She looked at him and her heart melted into a pool of spring water.
Zhao Jingyu felt her gaze and looked over at her. He raised his chin slightly and gave her a coquettish look, as if to say, Wife, am I awesome
There were still tears in Xie Nanjia's eyes, but a smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of her lips.
The guests stopped laughing and carefully observed the emperor's reaction.
Song Wanji didn't know whether he was doting on his son or really liked the child, he actually laughed twice and nodded, "I think it's okay. I'm old and still don't have a grandson, so it's good to have a god-grandson first. Maybe he can bring me a lot of grandchildren!"
Guests: “…”
Why is the Feng Shui of the Dingyuan Marquis family so good? The son is the crown prince, and the grandson is going to be the emperor's grandson. Although it is a fake, it is unique in the world!
This, isn’t this what we call a unique advantage
Everyone was envious and congratulated the emperor, Marquis Dingyuan and Zhao Jingping with nice words.
Zhao Jingping was completely bewildered. He had been around for so many years but had not achieved anything remarkable, yet his son suddenly became an emperor and rose to fame overnight.
Who can I go to for justice
Fortunately, he is his biological son, otherwise he would be jealous to death.
The adults were noisy and had their own thoughts, but the children didn't care about anything else and only wanted to get the string of beads.
Song Wanji simply ordered his men to remove the beads on both sides and gave them to him as a recognition gift. He pinched his little nose and said, "You have accepted my gift, and from now on you are my grandson. When you grow up, remember to respect me."
Sheng Qingluan secretly poked Zhao Jingping, signaling him to hold the child and kowtow to the emperor.
Zhao Jingping came to his senses and quickly did as he was told. He picked up the child, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Song Wanji, indicating that the child recognized this grandfather.
Song Wanji was very happy and asked if the child had been named.
"Yes, my father gave him the name Zhao Chengxu," Zhao Jingping replied. He blurted out with some wit, "If the emperor could give him a name, that would be great."
"It's too early to give him a name, I'll give him a nickname first!" Song Wanji said, "A nickname doesn't need to be too fancy, it's best to be ordinary. Why not call him Kang Kang, I hope he can grow up healthy."
"Kang Kang is good, Kang Kang is good, thank you for the name given by the emperor." Marquis Dingyuan and his son knelt down together to thank the emperor for his grace.
The guests' eyes turned red with envy.
Xie Nanjia's eyes were also red. Song Wanji's words touched her heart. Her greatest hope for her child was that he could live a peaceful and healthy life. As for fame, wealth and power, those were not important.
After the one-year-old ceremony, the guests were invited to sit at Zhiwei Garden, while Song Wanji went directly back to the palace.
Zhao Jingyu and Marquis Dingyuan escorted him to the sedan chair. Zhao Jingyu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, take care."
Song Wanji smacked his lips and asked half-jokingly and half-seriously: "When are you going to call me father?"
Zhao Jingyu paused and did not answer.
Song Wanji did not ask any further questions and ordered his men to return to the palace.
Marquis Dingyuan and Zhao Jingyu watched the carriage go away and walked back together.
"You are the same, kid. Why are you still refusing to change your words?" Dingyuan Hou said, "Look how disappointed the emperor was just now."
Zhao Jingyu said: "I just think you are my father."
“…” Marquis Dingyuan was stunned, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Don't talk nonsense, it's not good if people hear it." He blinked desperately and looked around to cover up his gaffe.
"Why is it not good?" Zhao Jingyu said, "Once a father, always a father. I have called you daddy for ten years. Who dares to say that you are not my daddy? Daddy, daddy, you are my daddy."
Marquis Dingyuan couldn't control himself for a moment and hugged him, choking with sobs.
"It's been ten years. I still remember the first time I saw you. You were wearing a sackcloth and sitting in front of your mother's coffin. The sackcloth was wide and big, and you were thin and small. It was heartbreaking to see you. You were holding a small wooden box in your hands and asked me why I didn't come earlier, causing your mother to cry every day. From then on, I decided to take care of you for the rest of my life. No matter what happens in the future, you are my child, Zhao Jiuzhou."
Zhao Jingyu's eyes slowly turned red, and he patted Dingyuan Hou's back and said softly, "Yes, Dad. No matter what happens in the future, I will always be your son and you will always be my father."
The father and son expressed their deepest feelings to each other and walked back side by side.
Zhao Jingyu suddenly thought of something and excitedly grabbed Dingyuan Hou's hand: "Dad, you just said that I was holding a small wooden box in my hand?"
"Yes, you said that it was left to you by your mother. You held it while eating and sleeping, and would not let anyone touch it." Dingyuan Hou said.
"Well, what happened next? Did I bring it back to the capital?" Zhao Jingyu asked.
(End of this chapter)