The camphor trees provide shade, and the warm sunshine shines through.
The sky is high and the land is vast, and Mirror Lake is calm.
Things have been calm in recent days. Shen Xihe has been staying at home in the East Palace. Apart from paying regular visits to Emperor Youning and the Queen Mother, Shen Xihe has not gone anywhere.
Not long after Bu Shulin's wedding, Princess Pingling was due to get married. However, her biological mother, Concubine Rong, was in charge of the arrangement. In addition, Shen Xihe had taken back the power of the harem from Concubine Rong, so there was quite a stir that day, which was a falling out between the two families.
When Princess Pingling got married, Shen Xihe automatically avoided suspicion and left everything to Concubine Rong. Concubine Rong only had one daughter, so naturally she would not cause any trouble and let her daughter's wedding go wrong. Shen Xihe only sent someone to supervise from the side.
The days of pregnancy were particularly leisurely. Zhenzhu and Biyu took on a lot of palace affairs. After more than half a year of training from last year to now, they were able to handle the palace affairs with ease. Shen Xihe spent more time with Xiao Huayong.
They tended flowers and plants together, brewed tea and painted together, played the piano together, played chess together, and talked about their flesh and blood together...
The days were extremely pleasant. The news of the death of the King of Shunan had not yet reached the capital. Shen Xihe was inevitably a little worried: "Did something go wrong?"
"Your Majesty also has spies in Southern Shu." Xiao Huayong explained, "The King of Southern Shu probably doesn't want Your Majesty to know that his death is coming first, so he has been dragging it out."
The King of Southern Shu was far from being bedridden with no cure, otherwise how could he have concealed it? It was just that he really didn't have much time left, at least he should have three to five months, but he didn't want these three to five months, and he couldn't want them.
If he informed Bu Shulin only when he was bedridden, His Majesty would certainly not be able to hide it from him. His Majesty would definitely intercept the news and detain Bu Shulin. As long as the news of the death of King Shunan had not reached the capital, Bu Shulin would have no reason to ask to return to Shunan.
He was making arrangements, and after everything was done, before anyone noticed anything was wrong with him, he took advantage of an opportunity to present the document of death to the Qinzheng Hall when His Majesty was caught off guard, forcing His Majesty to let Bu Shulin go.
"The King of Southern Shu has a loving fatherly heart." Shen Xihe sighed softly, and his eyes suddenly dimmed. "I thought of my mother..."
Tao could have been rescued back then, but she knew very well that if she had not died because of Xiao, Xiao would have become a co-wife, and Shen Yun'an would probably have suffered the same fate as Bu Shulin.
Her glory today, her father's escape from hardship, and her brother's freedom today were all obtained at the cost of her mother's life, and almost the same thing is happening to King Shunan and Bu Shulin now.
Unable to help herself, she reached out and touched her still flat belly: "Is parental love really so selfless?"
Shen Xihe had never thought about risking her life for anyone. Perhaps it was because she had never seen Shen Yun'an and Shen Yueshan facing the line between life and death, and she was not the kind of person who would think too much, so she had never thought about risking her life for her father and brother.
Therefore, she finds it difficult to understand and empathize with such selfless dedication. Perhaps when she becomes a mother one day, she will understand how unswerving and profound it is to throw oneself into a flame.
"It depends on the person." Xiao Huayong put his hands behind his back and looked at Shen Xihe with his head tilted. "Many parents would put their lives aside for their children, and there are also many parents who would sell their children to gain wealth and glory."