After Xie Mulin returned from Zizhu Courtyard, he quickly returned to his daily peaceful life.

She thought it would be two days before she could see her fiancé Xiao Rui again, but she didn't expect that that night, Xiao Rui would come to Xie's house to look for her.

It's just that Xiao Rui's expression is a little wrong. Don't look at him as if he looked very calm, and his speech and demeanor seemed to be the same as yesterday, but she could just detect that he was not in a very good mood at this time.

When the two of them entered the south study and sat down, Xie Mulin retreated left and right, and immediately asked this question.

"Is it obvious?" Xiao Rui touched his cheek and said with a smile, "No one else thinks anything about it, and only Second Sister Xie can see it." It can be seen how much Second Sister Xie cares about me, and she pays attention to my emotional changes all the time! ”

Xie Mulin's face was slightly red, and he said angrily: "Are you deliberately talking about it left and right?" I thought I was embarrassed to make fun of it, so I wouldn't ask it? If you really don't want to say it, just say no to me, will I still be cheeky to ask?! ”

Xiao Rui laughed dryly: "I didn't mean that." There was a slight awkward pause, "I just don't know what to say......"

But after hesitation, he said anyway. He told Xie Mulin all kinds of strange words and deeds of King Yan and Princess Yan after receiving the secret letter from the eldest princess of Yongning today, and then said: "I always feel that the prince and the princess seem to be hiding something from me. Although the princess always said that the prince has always trusted the emperor very much, so the emperor should not live up to the prince's trust, but I think ...... The prince and the princess actually don't trust the emperor very much. The eldest princess of Yongning reminded them that Xiao Niangniang asked the emperor for something, and the emperor seemed to have a soft heart, so they immediately thought of my canonization. Even if I don't want the throne of the prince, they want to be sure that I can get the title of county king, so they urge me to go to Beijing to meet the queen mother. ”

Xie Mulin was surprised: "You're going to Beijing?!" ”

Xiao Rui nodded: "If there is no accident, you will have to leave tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." Now I just need to wait for the people below to transcribe the drawings before and after the renovation of Zizhu Courtyard as soon as possible, and the prince and the princess will write the folds of the Queen Mother Fengying, let me bring it, and I can set off. "He came to Xie's house today, in fact, to say goodbye to his fiancée. This matter may not be released to the outside world for the time being, so he will only explain it to Xie Mulin in private. As for the future father-in-law Xie Pu and the future mother-in-law Wen, they were informed by the Yan Wang couple on their behalf.

Xie Mulin was a little reluctant in his heart, but he thought that Xiao Rui was just on a temporary business trip, and in a month or two, he would come back with the Queen Mother and the eldest princess Yongning's family, although there would be no time to meet for a while, but the two were going to get married this year, and there was nothing to say, just to give both parties a little space to be alone before they got married.

However, the information revealed by Xiao Rui's words made people a little uneasy: "Will the emperor really pass the three princes to Yanwang's Mansion because of Xiao Guifei's crying and Lin Zhaoyi's suicide?" Not only does King Yan have the problem of having your heir, but also King Yan already has an old grudge against Concubine Xiao, and he also refused the succession of the third prince. If the emperor really wants to go his own way and pass over the three princes, it will be no different from openly slapping King Yan in the face, right? The relationship between their brothers has always been very good, and the queen mother is still there, what reason does the emperor have to treat King Yan like this? Even if the border passes are calmed down, and there is no need to fight for three or five years, there will be no such thing? If you want to place the third prince, you don't have to succeed him, right? The third prince is a prince, and he is a king normally, and he opens a mansion in the capital, can't he? ”

Xiao Rui was stunned: "But Xiao Niangniang ......"

"Of course Concubine Xiao has her own intentions and selfishness!" Xie Mulin said, "I'm afraid that she knows in her heart that she has a crime on her head, and the third prince has no hope of taking the throne, so she retreated to the second best place and took the idea of Yan Wangfu." Because compared with other princes, the Yan Wangfu not only has its own domain, but also has a large army and wealth, and it is the most powerful palace among the kings of the clan. If the third prince can become the heir of the Yan Palace, he may not have the opportunity to force the capital in the future. Even if the three princes can't do this, King Yan's life in Beiping is much better than that of the idle prince who has no real power in the capital! Therefore, she never considered making the third prince an ordinary prince from the bottom of her heart! If the emperor was really moved by her, he was only confused for a while. Who said that if the third prince didn't come to the Yanwang Mansion, it would definitely be a dead end?! Isn't this kind of thing up to the emperor's arrangement?! ”

It's true that Concubine Xiao Guifei is guilty, but if she enters the cold palace, she will not necessarily die, she can persuade the emperor to soften his heart once, and it is not impossible for her to rise back to a high position in the future.

It is true that the third prince is hopeless, but as a prince and a prince, he still has the wealth to enjoy, and he has no choice but to recognize someone else as his father.

Even if the new monarch ascends to the throne in the future, he doesn't want to see the third prince, the elder brother who makes trouble all day long, as long as the third prince himself does not rebel to the death, what can the new monarch do with him? The gentle and well-behaved image of the fourth prince for so many years, whether it is true or not, it seems that there is no need to risk his reputation and be ruthless to an elder brother who keeps to himself. Of course, if this brother is not honest and has to make him unhappy, that is another matter.

After listening to his fiancée's words, Xiao Rui was silent for a while before saying, "So...... Is it true that the father and the princess do not trust the emperor? There must be something behind this that I don't know? ”

"Believe it or not, don't mention it." Xie Mulin said, "The royal family has always had a tradition of succeeding the prince to the Yan Palace, and when the emperor was still in the palace, he ...... to the fiancée of the Yan Wang" She only said half of it, but I believe Xiao Rui can understand that she is referring to the emperor's brother who took his brother's wife and had a personal relationship with Xiao Mingzhu, "It is human nature that King Yan will have distrustful thoughts about the emperor." But he is the king of Yan who holds the military and political power in the north, and people know that he doesn't trust the emperor and will only cause trouble for himself on weekdays, so he has always shown great trust and respect for the emperor. But there were some things that he was always worried about. ”

Xiao Rui was silent for a while, and when he spoke again, he suddenly mentioned another matter: "My biological mother is Li Yaozhi, my father and princess know about this, the county lord knows, Aunt Wu knows, my aunt knows, and the emperor also knows." The reason why I told outsiders that my stepmother, Miss Xiao, was my biological mother, was actually to save my aunt and let the emperor spare her life. But after coming to Beiping, my aunt left home, and the emperor never asked about her anymore, and we don't seem to have to do this scene everywhere.

"However, whether it is my father, the princess, the county lord, or even the aunt herself, they only say that my stepmother is my mother. Sometimes when I went to visit my aunt in the nunnery, she often seemed to be in a trance, and several times thought I was the child that my stepmother had not been able to give birth to. Now inside and outside Beiping City, anyone who knows my background will only say that my stepmother is my biological mother, and no one will mention my aunt. ”

He paused, and looked at his fiancée Xie Mulin with complicated eyes: "Father, princess and aunt...... What are you hiding from me? ”