Han was overjoyed. Wasn't it just a few words from the Queen Mother that she hoped for? "Thank you, old Queen Mother."
"Why thank me? Our two families are destined to be together. I didn't feel that way before, but when I saw this girl, I suddenly felt a little regretful that I couldn't find you earlier and save her. However, it might be God's will that she was stranded outside. If she had always been with you, she might be completely different now. Growing up in the wild is a blessing."
"The old concubine is right. Xuan'er is like this now. I have nothing else to ask for."
The old concubine nodded and said no more.
After sending the old concubine away, Han had all the things moved to Xiaocao's yard without asking Xiaocao anything along the way.
When Xiaocao returned to the yard, she realized that Longger had been waiting for her the whole time. When he saw her, he grabbed her clothes, looking aggrieved and almost crying.
Xiao Cao quickly picked him up and coaxed him for a long time, making the little guy smile a little. He was such a well-behaved little kid, so cute that Xiao Cao couldn't help but kiss him. He seemed shy and arched his back on Xiao Cao's shoulder.
It wasn't just Long Ge'er's mother who felt sad in the Du family. Everyone else felt sad. After a whole day of coaxing him, no one's words were of any use. He was going to become someone else's child.
Knowing that Longger had skipped his meal in order to wait for her, Xiaocao changed her clothes and took him to eat.
I don’t know if the little guy knew that Xiaocao “owed” him or something, but he was a little clingy at night. The Du family felt embarrassed, but Xiaocao didn’t think it was a big deal and took the little guy with him, first reading a book and then sleeping together.
That night, there were more people keeping watch for them. First of all, Xiaocao's medical skills were good, and she seemed to be adept at taking care of children during the day. However, she was a girl after all, and she certainly had never taken care of a child at night. Naturally, the Du family was not at ease to leave the child to her. Secondly, apart from the first point, the Du family was embarrassed to hand the child over to others and then completely ignore him.
So, even Longger's mother slept on the couch in the small thatched hut, and there were even more people outside.
Xiaocao's mouth twitched and he remained silent.
All right, since you are happy, just do as you please.
At night, Xiaocao woke up once because she vaguely felt some movement beside the bed. She opened her eyes and found that it was Longger's mother, who was looking at the bed with a lamp, probably because she was worried that her son was turning over the quilt.
Seeing Xiaocao open his eyes, the other party felt a little embarrassed.
Xiaocao simply sat up and said, "You sleep on the bed, I'll sleep on the couch." After saying that, he got out of bed without waiting for the other party to say anything. Then he realized that it had started raining outside. He turned around and went to the window. He pushed it open a little. There was a crackling sound, which was quite loud. He stood for a while, closed the window, turned around, went to the couch, lay down, and fell asleep quickly.
At this moment, about a mile or two outside the city, a group of people were running quickly in the rain, wearing straw raincoats and hats. Four people inside were carrying one person on a "door panel", and several people in the middle were holding torches. The blazing flames were swaying in the rainy night, as if they would go out at any time. There were four people outside supporting a huge oilcloth with wooden poles, and the rain was hitting the oilcloth with crackling sounds.
"Faster, faster!"
The urging voice sounded from time to time, seeming very anxious.
After running for a while, they quickly changed people, with the one who carried the other person holding the torch, and the one who held the torch carrying the other person, but the speed never slowed down even a little.
Because he used too much force, blue veins appeared on the back of his hands.
"No, King Dingbei can't hold on any longer."
It turned out that, at the back, there was a man carrying an old man over fifty years old on his back. It was the old man who was talking. He leaned his head towards the man on the "door panel" and sighed with infinite regret.
"Shut the fuck up, you quacks are useless, and now you still dare to talk nonsense! If you dare to say something bad again, believe it or not, I will throw you into the ditch by the roadside?" The sturdy man who carried him on his back said ferociously, and his expression really showed that he wanted to eat him.
The people around him also looked at the old man viciously, as if they really wanted to eat him alive.
The old man was really scared, but he could also understand these people's feelings.
As they were rushing to the Northern Frontier at full speed, they met the soldiers who were sending King Dingbei back to the Imperial City on the way. Because King Dingbei was seriously injured and neither the doctors nor the medicines in the Northern Frontier were of any use, they decided to send King Dingbei back to the Imperial City, hoping that he could still have a glimmer of hope. However, the carriage was too bumpy, which would have a serious impact on King Dingbei's injuries. So they made a large wooden board, carried King Dingbei, and ran day and night, just to send him back as soon as possible.
There were thousands of them, most of them rode forward on horseback to meet up at the next point, and they kept changing people in waves, and they changed people every section of the road. Until now, they had been running non-stop on their feet, running hundreds of miles in a day and night, and sent King Dingbei to the outside of the imperial city.
But they were just doing useless work. King Dingbei was too seriously injured. There was no hope at all. It was not that those who went there did not try their best, but they were really powerless. They could only try their best to save his life. Now, he really only had one breath left. King Dingbei was dead. These soldiers...
"Your Highness, Your Highness, please hold on. We will soon reach the Imperial City. Please hold on." A soldier with a very young voice suddenly shouted at the people on the big wooden board.
"Your Highness, hold on, think about the old concubine, think about Princess Changning, think about them, if something happens to you, what will they do? Hold on—"
"My Lord, hold on—"
"My Lord, hold on—"
"My Lord, hold on—"
A group of tough guys almost shouted at the top of their lungs, their voices were filled with sobs that could not be concealed.
Someone secretly wiped his eyes. They were not tears, but just the rain outside splashing in.
Perhaps these words worked, the person who had been covered with the quilt moved, and his dry and pale lips opened, as if he was saying something.
"Your Highness, Your Highness, are you awake? Doctor, please check on Your Highness, quickly!"
The sturdy man carrying the old man increased his speed and reached the same level as King Dingbei's head.
The imperial physician had been tormented these days. Although he was carried on the back of one person after another along the way, who could bear being carried on someone's back except for urinating, eating and sleeping? But he had no choice. These people were unreasonable, so he could only hold on.
At this moment, he reached out to check on King Dingbei's condition, then shook his head, "It's just a last gasp."
"Fuck your last burst of energy!"
Can the last breath be experienced without even opening the eyes
The imperial physician was nearly thrown down. The person carrying him had veins bulging on his forehead and he held back by gritting his teeth.
The useless imperial physician was brushed away. The man leaning against the template leaned over and vaguely heard Prince Dingbei saying "Grandmother, little sister". The man hurriedly said, "Prince, Prince, we will be in the imperial city soon and will be able to see the old concubine and Princess Changning soon. You must hold on, you must hold on! - Faster, faster, faster, faster!"
In order to stimulate his desire to survive, the soldiers kept shouting all the way.
Because of the noise, they were able to spot them first when they were near the city gate, and climbed up the city wall with torches in hand.
"Who are you? What do you want to do so late at night?"
The rain was so heavy that even though both sides had torches, they could hardly see each other.
"Dingbei Army, under the command of King Dingbei, King Dingbei is seriously injured and in urgent need of treatment. Open the city gate quickly, do you hear me? Open the city gate quickly!!!" Because they were anxious, they banged on the city gates.
The people on the city wall looked at each other and scratched their ears, wondering if they had heard it wrong.
"Open the city gate quickly. Do you hear me? If something happens to King Dingbei, how many heads do you have?"
"What should we do?" a guard on the city wall asked another person.
The man gritted his teeth and said, "Open the door and take a look. If it is really the King of Dingbei, we will be buried with him if we delay. Even if it is not the King, there are not many of them, so nothing serious will happen."
So, the city gate was opened, but just as the crossbar behind the gate was removed, the gate was knocked open from the outside. Those who did not have time to retreat were knocked to the ground. If they had not reacted quickly enough to roll to the side, they would have been stepped on by the people rushing in, and would have been disabled if not killed.
I never expected these people to be so fierce. Before I could react, they ran away, leaving only a token behind. When I picked it up, it turned out to be the token of the Dingbei Army.
"What should I do?"
"What should we do? Report it to the palace immediately and let the emperor know."
Such a major event cannot be concealed at all. It is easy to imagine that if the situation was not extremely urgent, King Dingbei would not return to the imperial city without a transfer order, and these escorts would not be so anxious.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we are almost there, almost there, please hold on, you must hold on!"
On the way, they met a group of people from the Jiucheng Bingmasi who were patrolling the city. However, before they could open their mouths, they started yelling, "Get out of the way! King Dingbei is seriously injured. Don't block the way!" They rushed straight over without stopping.
They looked so aggressive, like a group of ferocious beasts that wanted to tear apart anyone who stood in their way.
The people from Jiucheng Bingmasi looked at each other, then followed doubtfully.
Halfway through the journey, the troops split into two groups. One group sent Prince Dingbei back to Prince Dingbei's Mansion, and the other few went straight to the Imperial Hospital. The quack doctors in Northern Frontier were useless, so maybe the ones in the Imperial Hospital could be of use.
There was a knock on the door of Prince Dingbei's mansion.
"Open the door, open it quickly, the prince is back, hurry up!"
The doorman was startled by the two "princes" and opened the door quickly, but it was knocked open when he opened it halfway.
"Go inform the old concubine."
The gateman vaguely saw the situation on the wooden board. Basically, everyone in the Prince's Mansion knew that the prince was injured in the northern border. After all, someone came to the palace that day and the old concubine fainted, and the news was not blocked in time. Seeing this situation at this moment, they were startled and crawled to the backyard, although they were actually in the same direction.
The old concubine did not sleep well tonight and felt a little uneasy. Later, she got up. The room was brightly lit. She sat under the lamp, twisting the Buddhist beads. She was actually not a big believer in Buddhism, but she didn't know when she started to have a string of Buddhist beads that she always carried with her.
Before I heard the announcement, I seemed to hear a voice, "Go and see, what happened?"
Just as the servant was about to say no, the old woman guarding the door outside came in hurriedly, "Old Concubine Dowager, the prince is back. He said that the situation is very bad." His hands and feet were shaking and his face was pale.
The old concubine's eyes went dark and she almost fainted. She bit the tip of her tongue hard to keep herself awake. "Let's go, let's go and take a look." The old concubine suppressed the fear in her heart and her body trembled uncontrollably.
On the way, she didn't care about the heavy rain at all and just walked forward quickly. The maid could only try her best to shield her from the rain.
Although the master of the main courtyard was not at home, the servants were there and the house was cleaned every day. At this moment, the lights in the house were on, so bright that it made people feel uneasy.
When the old concubine came in and saw her grandson placed on the couch, she almost lost control again. He was so thin that he almost lost his shape and had no blood at all. In fact, it was no wonder that this happened. The Prince of Dingbei was injured, and the Northern Frontier sent people to deliver the news to the imperial city at full speed. The emperor sent the imperial doctor to the Northern Frontier, and it has been nearly a month since he was sent back. At the beginning, he was still conscious and could eat something. Later, he couldn't wake up, and he couldn't drink much even if he was forced to drink.
To be honest, the fact that he is still alive shows that King Dingbei is very lucky.
A strong man was pulling the imperial physician towards the Prince of Dingbei. "Heal him, heal him quickly. Don't say that I can't do anything. Find a way. If anything happens to our prince, I will break your neck!"
"Shut up!" the old concubine shouted.
When the people in the room saw the old concubine come in, they immediately fell silent, moved aside, and lowered their heads, "Old concubine... It's all our fault, we are useless, we didn't protect the prince well..."
The eyes of the iron-hearted man were already bloodshot, and the tears that he had been holding back for so long could finally be held back no longer and fell down.
The old concubine pushed forward and said, "Two of you go and have the mansion harness a carriage to the Wenren family. Ask the fourth young lady of the Wenren family to come over and tell her that the Prince of Dingbei has returned. If she asks about the prince's situation, you must tell her the truth. Remember, tell her everything you know and act quickly."
Almost as soon as she finished speaking, two people rushed out.
The old concubine walked to the edge of the bed and sat down, looking at her grandson, her only grandson. Her maternal family was gone, her husband was gone, her son was gone, and now, was even her only grandson going to leave her
The old concubine stretched out her hand tremblingly, but was afraid to touch his face, fearing that it was cold. Finally, she gently put her hand on it, "Bei'er, Xiaobei, my good grandson, please don't leave grandma, you must live, please don't abandon grandma... Xiaobei..." She was originally a very resolute person, but now she looked helpless and weak.
The next moment, Princess Changning rushed in disheveled, "Brother—"