Since childhood, Wen Yiqing has had his own ideas.
Yuncheng is a small place, and the Wen family all interact with merchants. Most of the girls they know in the boudoir are also merchants. They only learn female red embroidery, and a few are literate in accounting, so as to take care of household chores in the future. She didn't take it seriously and invited her to study in the Wen family's private school, which also aroused a lot of criticism from the clan.
Fortunately, the Wen family's parents were enlightened people and always loved their daughter. Since she couldn't enter a private school, they hired a female teacher to teach her at home.
Later, when she grew older, she took the initiative to follow Father Wen and learn business and interpersonal skills from him.
She is well-read and sensible, so she knows etiquette, justice and integrity, and has a bottom line in her heart, yet she does something treasonous and unethical. When she was pregnant, she was tossing and turning. She was hesitant before going to the capital. After learning about her daughter's life experience, she even avoided it.
It is common for ordinary people to have three wives and four concubines, not to mention that the person has a noble status, and the concubines in the harem are also of noble birth. But whether she was a common merchant or a member of the royal family, she had absolutely no intention of being a concubine.
But even if it was unintentional, the matter was already done. Wen Yiqing felt even more ashamed when he heard the prince call Shanshan "sister" and the care and love in his words.
"Ms. Wen? Miss Wen?"
The prince shouted several times before Wen Yiqing came back to his senses.
But in an instant, she turned pale. It was still a scorching summer day. The prince was puzzled and took the initiative to pour a cup of warm tea for her.
When he handed over the cup, he caught a glimpse of the gift in the brocade box on the table, and pushed it forward with his other hand.
"Ms. Wen, please take this gift back too."
Wen Yiqing whispered: "Your Highness, the etiquette must not be discarded."
"I regard Shanshan as my sister. Since we are a family, there is no need to be so polite." The prince thought for a while, then smiled and said: "If Madam Wen really wants to express her gratitude, it is better to let Shanshan enter the palace. Get close to Gu Gu more often. We haven’t seen her for so many years, and we usually only see her in school. By the way, she even avoided Gu Gu for a while before."
"..."
Wen Yiqing was silent. Speaking of which, it was her fault again.
"It would be better if Shanshan could live in the palace, and Gu could see her every day." At this point, the prince paused, and felt a little regretful when he saw that she didn't respond.
After the emperor returned to Beijing from the south of the Yangtze River, he began to draw pictures of beauties every day. He saw all the sentiments and sadness in his eyes, and secretly sighed that the people in the paintings died young. Later, he learned that it was a misunderstanding, and he was happy for the emperor.
The emperor was alone. He had devoted his whole life to the country and the country over the years, and his harem was vacant. Now he finally found a lover, but he was still unable to bring her back to the palace. Even he was secretly worried.
Thinking of this, the prince turned around and picked up a brocade box from the bookshelf and handed it to her.
How could Wen Yiqing dare to accept it? He was surprised and said: "What does your Highness mean by this?!"
"Ms. Wen, please don't misunderstand. This is the meeting gift prepared by Gu for Shanshan." He said regretfully: "I originally planned to give it to her when she returns to the palace, but I don't know how long I will keep it. Now that she has called Gu, Brother, why don’t you give this gift now.”
There is nothing rare inside, it is a set of jade chessboards, and the two colored chess pieces have been polished to a smooth texture.
Wen Yiqing was dumbfounded. He only heard him talking about brother and sister. He couldn't say any words of rejection, so he could only thank him softly and accept it for Shanshan.
Her mind was complicated, and thousands of thoughts passed by in a flash. Perhaps it was because of the prince's approachable attitude. It took her a long time before she finally asked: "Your Highness is so good to Shanshan. Don't you ever resent the common women and Shanshan?" ?”
Even civilian merchants have disputes over their concubines, let alone the royal family, which has strict rules.
"Resentment? Where did you start talking about this?" The prince was puzzled: "Over the years, the emperor has raised Gu Quan and spent a lot of painstaking efforts. Seeing Gu Quan in his eyes, he is extremely grateful. The emperor has always been alone. With Madam Wen and you being so kind, it’s too late to be happy, so how can there be resentment?”
"but……"
He remembered something again: "I met the emperor on the road today. Normally, he would have reprimanded Gu Yuqian for his misconduct, but because Shanshan was there, he didn't say anything, for fear of scaring Shanshan."
The prince said, shaking his head: "In the past, I only thought that my father was strict, but it turns out that he has a gentle side."
However, that is my sister after all.
My sister is someone I care for in the palm of my hand. I don’t know which big-tailed wolf will be cheaper in ten years, so naturally I want to love her more while she is still young.
Wen Yiqing responded in a low voice: "Your Majesty is kind and has a loving heart for His Highness. He has high hopes for you."
"I know. Besides, Shanshan is the Emperor's first child and sister after all. It is understandable that the Emperor would love her."
Wen Yiqing was just about to be humble for her little daughter, when she suddenly realized what he said and was stunned.
Then he looked up in surprise: "What did you say?!"
Prince: "...What?"
Wen Yiqing blinked extremely slowly.
"You just said..." She felt that she had heard wrong, and subconsciously held her breath, looked at the prince in disbelief, and repeated softly: "Did you just say... the first child? "
The prince nodded, then froze: "You don't know?"
What should she know?
Wen Yiqing subconsciously realized that what the prince said next would be something earth-shattering. Her instinct drove her to leave, but her feet were as heavy as lead and she could not move.
Before he could think too much, the prince's words were spoken.
"Father..." He paused, and then changed his words: "If you really want to talk about it, I should call you Emperor's uncle."
…
Lunch was the big fish that Shanshan had been looking forward to for half the morning.
The royal chef in the palace cooked them and made a table full of fish feasts. The thin fish fillets bloomed like petals on the plate, the fish heads were stewed in fish soup, and the fish meat was finely chopped into velvet and rolled into balls... When Shanshan looked at it, his index finger moved.
Just waiting for everyone to sit down, she quickly realized something was wrong: "Where is my mother?"
The servant said: "Ms. Wen said she is not feeling well and will not come to eat today."
"Not feeling well?" Shanshan couldn't sit still for a moment: "Is my mother sick? Has the doctor seen her?"
She said that she was about to jump down, but was held down by the emperor sitting next to her.
"Eat first."
Shanshan was anxious: "But my mother..."
"Liang Yong." Bian Chen said, "Let the imperial doctor take a look."
Only then did Shanshan sit firmly, and when he started to eat, he lost his previous appetite.
When we separated not long ago, my mother was still fine. Why did she suddenly become ill?
Bian Chen lowered his eyes and looked at the snow-white fish balls in the jade bowl.
Probably because I don’t want to see him.
father and daughter
The two of them had lunch absentmindedly. After finishing the meal, Shanshan couldn't wait to find his mother, but the Queen Mother was the first to say: "Shanshan, come to Ai's house."
After watching the little girl being taken away by the Empress Dowager and being treated naked, the emperor walked towards the small courtyard where Wen Yiqing lived.
Naturally, he did not come to the palace to escape the heat.
There was neither Shen He to disturb him nor outsiders. He couldn't let A Qing avoid him all the time.
But having said that, when he actually walked to the door, he was about to knock on the door, but he raised and lowered his hand, hesitating.
The emperor stood at the door for a long time and heard no sound coming from the room. While he was hesitating, the door in front of him suddenly opened.
Wen Yiqing appeared in front of him with a cold face.
Bian Chen was caught off guard and looked straight into her eyes. But he saw that her apricot eyes were bright, no longer evasive as before, with a hint of something he couldn't understand. Before he could discern it carefully, Wen Yiqing asked urgently: "His Royal Highness is not your biological child?!"
The emperor was stunned for a moment before he shook his head: "No."
"You...have you really never married?"
"No."
"What about Concubine Zheng?"
Bian Chen frowned: "She is only responsible for the affairs of the harem, other than that, there is nothing else."
"Shanshan is your only child?"
"yes."
"You didn't lie to me?"
"You have no joke."
Wen Yiqing looked at him blankly, with two lines of hot tears rolling down his face without any warning. Bian Chen was stunned for a moment and wanted to wipe it for her, but Wen Yiqing was faster and wiped his eyes himself, roughly.
Her eyes were red, but there was no sadness on her face, but rather a sense of self-mockery.
"what……"
She painfully blamed herself for this incident, but in the end, it was fate that manipulated people and her efforts were in vain.
She was also the sweet girl of the family, but she had been living a really hard life in the past few years. Pregnant out of wedlock, parents died one after another, surrounded by jackals, raising the child alone... I have experienced a lifetime of suffering in the past few years, but it was God's will, and the people who hindered it have already been sent away. Yuezhou, in the end, she could do nothing but sigh.
Her tears fell, like beads and threads, in an endless stream. Bian Chen reached out to brush them away for her, but she slapped them away.
The emperor looked at her helplessly, not knowing what was happening.
Wen Yiqing couldn't hold back her tears. She wiped her tears and said with a choked voice, "Please tell me clearly."
"say what?"
"The prince's life experience."
"That was more than ten years ago."
"I want to listen too."
Bian Chen didn't know why, but there was nothing wrong with it.
He frowned and thought about the past events of more than ten years ago for a long time before slowly talking about them.
At that time, the Queen Mother gave birth to two sons and one daughter. He ranked second and had an elder brother.
His elder brother was a former prince. He was talented, talented and strategic, generous to others, courteous and virtuous. He was a very talented and beautiful person.
He has regarded his brother as a role model since he was a child, and has vowed to serve as his vanguard, open up territories for him, and be a minister of humerus.
However, the late emperor was a debaucher, spoiled his concubines and killed his wife. He also listened to sycophants and believed that the former prince had evil intentions. He even turned a blind eye to the several assassinations of other princes. After deposing the prince, he still continued to raise suspicions and even wanted to drive the former prince to a dead end.
On the day he was forced to conceive, he was only fifteen. He is about the same age as the current prince.
He was young and frivolous, thinking that victory was in sight, so he was complacent and careless, and he was unprepared for the cold arrows secretly made. However, his brother was keen and risked his life to block it for him.
He went to the Jinluan Hall and beheaded the late emperor with his own hands. The blood of his father and brothers dyed the white marble steps red. The world said that he killed his brother and his father. He was cruel and ruthless, but he could not exchange for his brother's life.
When his brother was dying, he was asked to take care of his infant child.
He adopted his nephew, made him a prince, and raised him carefully.
All the old officials in the court knew about these old things, but no one dared to talk about the royal family. In the early years, there were people in the palace who gossiped in front of the prince and were punished. After more than ten years, no one gradually mentioned it again.
Wen Yiqing's tears slowly stopped. She wiped her face and listened quietly with red eyes.
Bian Chen finished speaking slowly, not knowing what to say for a moment, and looked at her silently.
"In that case, why did you come to provoke me in the first place." Wen Yiqing closed his eyes and said complicatedly: "You will be your emperor and carry out your great ambitions. If you want to establish a queen and a concubine, there are many noble ladies in the capital who can do it. help you."
Bian Chen didn't answer.
He planned everything step by step, educated the prince, worked diligently in government affairs, governed the sea, Yan and rivers, and made the country peaceful and the people safe. He believed that he was doing his best, and he did not dare to have any selfish motives for fear of betraying his brother's entrustment.
But people are unpredictable.
From the moment they met in Yuncheng, there were changes in his plan.
"Those things in the past are all in the past." Bian Chen took a step forward, tentatively held her hand, and said softly: "Ah Qing, please follow me back to the palace and be my queen, so that what I owe you in the future will be I’ll make it up to you, okay?”
Wen Yiqing turned his head slightly, frowned, and his eyes moved slightly.
Bian Chen whispered: "I've been thinking about you."
"..."
"I……"
"mother--"
Suddenly, a little girl's childish cry came from outside, coming from far away.
"mother----"
Wen Yiqing's expression suddenly changed.
Bian Chen looked at her and before he could react, he was pushed hard by her, took a step back and was pushed out of the door. Immediately afterwards, the carved wooden door slammed shut in front of him.
In the blink of an eye, Shanshan had already passed through the corridor. Carrying her book bag, she crossed the threshold of the courtyard door and ran in with a clatter of a bag of odds and ends.
When passing by the emperor, Shanshan glanced at him in confusion: "Uncle the emperor, why are you here?"
Bian Chen: "..."
"Shan Shan." Wen Yiqing's voice came from the room: "Come in."
"oh!"
Shanshan immediately forgot about the emperor's uncle, pushed the door open a crack, and quickly got in.
With a bang, the wooden door closed again.
The little girl's concerned words came from the crack in the door: "Mom, how are you? What's wrong with you?"
Bian Chen: "..."
