In Prince Gong's Mansion, Princess Zhen had already checked the layout of the guest house repeatedly, and the next person came to report that the prince had returned from Hu's mansion - then it should have been halfway to the road by this time.

Zhen looked at his appearance in the mirror again, and after making a slight adjustment, he ordered his subordinates to wait at the main gate with him.

Halfway through, Zhen looked up at the night sky full of clouds, and somehow his mind couldn't calm down for a while.

"Let's go this way." She suddenly stopped, and raised her hand in the direction of the prince's residence.

"Does the princess want to go and see the prince?" The subordinate on the side asked, "It's all this time, the prince should be asleep." ”

"Then go check it out." Zhen said in a low voice.

The subordinates whispered in response, and the subordinates who walked in front of the lantern turned in the direction of Zhen's finger.

The group soon came to the courtyard where Shizi lived in silence, and through the low bamboo fence, Zhen vaguely saw that there was still a flickering candle flame inside—Shizi had not slept yet.

Maybe there really is such a thing as a mother-son connection, right?

Zhen sighed and sent someone to call the door, but it turned out that the courtyard gate was ajar, and there was no one in the courtyard who kept vigil.

Zhen's heart swelled with ominousness, and he was about to break in to take a look, when a person suddenly rushed behind him - it was Lu Dou, the eldest companion who had taken care of the son's food and clothing since childhood.

"What are you doing here when you don't wait by Shizi's side in the middle of the night?" Zhen was slightly annoyed, pointing to the empty courtyard, "Where have all the people gone!" Is this how you take care of the son? ”

"Back to the princess, it's not that the slaves and maids are derelict in their duties," the eunuch lowered his head and replied, "After the prince came back from the prince tonight, he asked everyone to go to the palace to catch the crickets, saying that on the way back, I heard a cricket crying ......."

"Ridiculous," Zhen interrupted, "I haven't even arrived at Lixia at this time, where are the crickets?" ”

"The slave said the same thing, but ...... But the prince of the world has to be, and don't let anyone stay in the yard to serve, we don't follow, the prince will hit the corner of the table with his hands and feet, we are really afraid that the prince will hurt himself......"

Saying that, Lu Dou raised his head and looked at the princess sadly, "So the slave maid asked everyone else to go to the yard to catch crickets, and he himself was here to watch and listen to the movement, in case something happened, the slave and maid could take care ......of it."

Zhen's eyes rarely swelled with fire, and he slapped Lu Daban's face, "Bastard! ”

Lu Dou was stunned for a moment, and didn't explain at all, he hurriedly opened his bow left and right and began to slap himself, crying while beating, "The princess is careful with her hands, don't hurt your nails for the slaves......

Zhen was in no mood to ask anything more, she turned around and walked towards the prince's house with worry, and the eldest companion did not dare to delay, so she hurriedly got up and followed behind the princess.

Entering the door and bypassing the screen, Zhen really saw Shizi lying on the bed alone.

"Cong'er." She called.

The boy lay on his side facing the wall, without looking back or responding.

Zhen approached the bed sitting on the side of the prince's bed, "Have you slept?" ”

Shizi didn't answer, but just moved his body in again.

Zhen suddenly realized something, and reached out to explore Shizi's pillow, which was already wet where his cheek was close to the pillow.

…… This child was secretly crying alone.

Zhen frowned, reached out to hold his son's shoulder, and wanted him to turn around to look at him, but Shizi immediately pulled his shoulder away as if he was spasmodic, and sat up straight with a flash.

Zhen sensed that something was wrong, "...... Was it injured when I was in the study just now? ”

“…… No. The boy gave his mother a cold look, then lowered his eyes, "I just don't like people touching me." ”

On the side, Lu Dou opened his mouth aggrievedly, "Back to the princess, not only did the prince fight tonight, but the prince practiced arrows too hard a few days ago, so ......"

"Shut up!" The young man's face on the bed turned a little red, he grabbed the pillow in his hand and smashed it towards Lu Dou, "When will it be your turn to interject when I talk to my mother?" ”

The down pillow fell on Lu Dou with a bang, he pursed his lips and caught it.

"Go get some ginger and wine, and a knife and a bowl." Zhen commanded softly.

Lu Dou retreated, and after a while, he came in with a tray and put all the things the princess ordered on the table.

Zhen got up, took a knife and cut out a section of two palm-sized pieces of ginger, then threw both pieces of ginger into the bowl, and poured a small half bowl of wine into it.

Then, she took out a piece of rice paper from the desk, lit it in the candle flame, and then quickly pinched one end of the rice paper, and shook the flame in the wine bowl, and the whole bowl immediately lit up with a blue flame.

"Cong'er, sit down and let my mother see the wound on your back."

"I-" Shizi still wanted to refuse.

"Chen Yicong."

Zhen suddenly called the name of the prince, the prince instinctively felt a chill down his spine, he lowered his head, endured the grievances and anger in his heart, and got out of bed and sat next to Zhen.

On the side, Lu Dou approached the candlestick in time to illuminate the princess, and the prince took off his clothes, revealing his scarred back and arms.

Zhen Shi gasped when he saw it, "Didn't you say that it was just practicing arrows?" Practicing archery will hurt like this!? ”

Shizi did not answer.

On the side, Lu Dou rolled his eyes and looked at the two masters beside him, and couldn't help but say, "The princess doesn't know, the prince often goes to the shooting range to see the prince, sometimes the prince misses the target if he doesn't care, and the prince ......."

Before he finished speaking, Shizi had already slapped his palm on the table, and Lu Dou had to be silenced.

Zhen looked at her son's back distressedly, although these injuries were not serious, but the general left some bruises, and the skin and flesh were still good, but she was really worried about the mottled traces.

"Where's the blood on your arm?" Zhen asked softly, "Did you get it tonight?" ”

"It's an inkstone." Shizi said in a low voice, "I was distracted tonight, so I didn't dodge, but it didn't hurt." ”

"How can it not hurt," Lu Dou interjected again, "The corners of the inkstone are so sharp, but the prince's clothes have been cut out, I don't believe I brought the clothes to the princess to see——"

Shizi turned his head and glared at Lu Dou, "You go out for me." ”

Zhen was a little helpless, and waved his hand to Lu Dou lightly, signaling him to go down first.

Lu Dou retreated respectfully, "The slave and maid are outside the door, and the masters will call me if they have orders." ”

As Lu Dou closed the door from the outside, the room fell silent, only to hear the flames of alcohol burning Jiang Bibi, Zhen moved a stool to sit beside Shizi.

She expertly picked up the ginger block from the flames with her bare hands, pressed it to the bruise on Shizi's back while it was hot, and rubbed it vigorously repeatedly.

"Hurts, right? Bear with it,......" Zhen said softly, "Several places behind you are still blue and yellow, and if you scatter all the bruises for a while, it won't hurt." ”

Shizi didn't say a word, just closed his eyes and bit his long hanging hair.

After rubbing for a while, Zhen cut the old ginger noodles, threw the ginger pieces back into the fire to burn, and then picked up another piece of hot ginger and rubbed them.

After a while, Shizi was sweating profusely in pain, and the blue-yellow wound on his back gradually turned into a large purple-red - although it looked more hideous, the pain was much more soothing than before.

"Mother is too busy these days...... Zhen said in a low voice, "So it's my mother's fault that I didn't take care of Cong'er well......

Shizi's eyebrows relaxed, and he opened his eyes slightly.

"Actually, your father invited me a few times and asked me to go to the hunting ground together, but the embroidery work in my mother's hands was too heavy, and I was in a hurry to give you a gift to your imperial grandfather, so I really didn't dare to delay, and I couldn't hand it over to anyone else to do......

Shizi said something indistinctly, Zhen didn't hear it clearly, but the tone seemed to be considerate.

"As for your father...... the movements in Zhen's hand stopped, she was silent for a while before she whispered, "Don't hate him, he is also a father for the first time, so he should be messy." ”