Soaking in an oval sandalwood bath tub with floating rose petals, Maran Muer comfortably enjoyed the service of two aristocratic maidens.

An Meng picked up the lemon flavor vial, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Maran Mu'er's snort, asking her to sniff the fragrant smell.

Maran Muer buried her head and took a deep breath, only to feel that the aroma was refreshing and fragrant.

"That's it. Let's use lemon flavor in the future. Maran Muer said with satisfaction.

An Meng smiled flatteringly: "There are many pure flavors and long aftertastes in Tianshiyuan, Miss Maran can try everything." ”

This slut girl thinks I don't know? Maran Mu'er stared back at An Meng, looked at it for a long time, and saw that An Meng's heart was furious, and he immediately realized his duty, and lowered his head in disdain.

"I can decide for myself what flavor to use." Maran Mu'er said lightly.

An Meng muttered, "Yes, Miss." ”

Xianzhi pouted at An Meng behind Maran Mu'er's back, and Maran Mu'er said without looking back: "You are the same, I am your master." ”

Xianzhi was startled and nodded hurriedly: "Yes, Miss Maran." ”

Moderately warm water washed away the dust and tiredness, Maran Muer stood out from the oval sandalwood bath bucket, as beautiful and lovely as a hibiscus out of the water, the skin like clotted jade can be blown and broken, the face is full of buds like roses, and the lips are like Zhu Dan and beautiful.

Xianzhi immediately put a water ripple silk coat on her.

The river steward was already waiting in the hall, waiting for Miss Maran's dinner.

"Where's my dad?" Miss Maran Mu'er didn't see Ma Lanxiao's figure, so she asked.

"The lord is very busy, I told the young lady to rest early after dinner, enter the palace tomorrow morning to greet the queen, and the general of the Lieshan Leopard will come to visit tomorrow night, and the young lady should be ready." The river steward said respectfully.

Maran Mu'er frowned: "Didn't you say that you would enter the palace tomorrow to ask for peace?" ”

The river steward smiled: "The master has already arranged it." ”

Maran Mu'er pouted, knowing that it was useless to talk about it.

The lord has already arranged it, which means that it cannot be changed.

Xianzhi and An Meng brought a bowl of sunflower soup, a plate of roast pork, a few slices of toasted bread, and a sweet tomato sauce just out of the tank.

Maran Mu'er took a slice of toasted bread and was about to stuff it into her mouth, when she saw that Steward He, Xianzhi and An Meng were all looking at her, so she put down the bread and sighed: "The three of you have six eyes staring like this, how can I eat it?" ”

The river steward said gently: "Miss, you are tired from the journey, so you should rest early after dinner." ”

Well, the answer is not what is asked, the head of the bull is not the mouth of the donkey.

Maran Mu'er simply stopped looking at the three subordinates with their hands caged, their heads slightly lowered, and their eyes wide open to look at their eating appearances, and they focused on dealing with those roast pork and bread, and finally ate the tomato sauce about the same, picked up the sunflower soup and drank half a bowl of it, wiped his mouth, and got off the table.

Maran Mul crossed the threshold of the courtyard, walked across the patio, and walked towards a separate cottage at the back of the mansion, which was her father's study.

As soon as he walked into the patio, he vaguely heard the sound of his father's study, and continued to walk with his head and hands, but out of nowhere a guard with a long sword came out of nowhere to block the way.

This guard was one of the house slaves that Ma Lanxiao had brought to Tianshiyuan before, and he had seen it when Ma Lanmul entered the house.

"Miss, it's inconvenient for the master to see you at this time, please go back to the room."

"What? You dog minion, don't you know me? This is my father's mansion, can't I walk around as I please? Maran Mu'er was furious.

The guard was still in front of Maran Mu'er, and said neither humbly nor arrogantly: "The little Namaran clan slave Lang guard, of course he knows Miss. The old man told the young lady to go back to the room to rest after dinner, and presumably the river steward also told the young lady! ”

"You!" Maran Mu'er shouted angrily: "Steward River! Father! Daddy—"

There was no sound in Ma Lanxiao's room, but the door was still closed.

Hearing the hustle and bustle, the river steward hurried over, and pulled Maran Mu'er towards her bedroom: "Miss, this second summer in the Eastern Continent is colder than our Nanshu, and it is easy to freeze at night. You can't go out in a single dress like this. ”

"But that dog minion—" Maran Mu'er wanted to sue the Lang guard, who was so rude to her, and was so arrogant that she had to be served by the family law.

The river steward interrupted Maran Mu'er's words and took her out of the door with a push.

"Respectfully, Miss sleeps peacefully!" Xianzhi and An Menghou were outside, as if there was a line drawn in front of them, and they couldn't cross it casually, and only after Maran Mu'er walked out of the threshold of the small courtyard did the two come forward and hugged her towards the bedroom.

Maran Mu'er looked back at the small courtyard in confusion, as if even she couldn't enter casually.

Who is coming to my father tonight? Maran Mu'er quietly pondered in her heart.

In Ma Lanxiao's study, there was indeed an uninvited guest, with black curtains and black linen clothes, with his hands in his sleeves, quietly staying in the shadows in the corner of the room.

When the silence returned outside, the uninvited guest spoke slowly, hoarse, unhurried, or even completely emotionless, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

"Mu'er is of marriage age, is my uncle willing to send her to Changyuan Palace?"

Ma Lanxiao sighed, "No one wants to send their daughter to Changyuan Palace. ”

"But did my uncle have any pity when he sent me here?"

Ma Lanxiao was speechless.

Twenty-one years ago, in 828 of the first red year of Rongzhou, the sixteenth emperor Xiangtai Haojing died, and Haojing's eldest son, the crown prince Xiangtai Haoyou, succeeded to the throne and built Yong'an. According to the customs of the Rongzhou continent for 800 years, the eldest princess of Fanguo entered the palace, and the second prince was hostage.

The Shushan clan of the Nanshu royal family was already withered, Emperor An had no children under his knees, and there were no daughters under the knees of the protectors, only the Malan clan and the Shanyang clan were to be married to the county lord of the right age.

And the history of the marriage of that year was Ma Lanxiao.

No one expected that just over a year later, the throne of Shantai Haoyou was overthrown by his own brother Shantai Haoxiu, and the successor of Lantai Haoxiu took his brother's second concubine Lieshan Errong as the queen, and executed the rest of his brother's concubines and concubines, and all the childless were sent to Youyun Palace.

Youyun Palace is also in the Changyuan Forbidden, but it is a place that ordinary people don't know and don't want to go, it is the place where the concubines who have died of their husbands in the past dynasties, or the concubines who have been abolished, are cold palaces, and they are also dead palaces.

All the people who entered the Youyun Palace, unless they were favored by the new emperor, it was impossible for anyone to come out alive.

"In order to reconcile with the imperial court, you have contributed me to the seventeenth emperor; When the Seventeenth Emperor was killed, when I was sent to the Cloud Palace, none of you would have thought of coming to save me, would you? For the peace of Nanshu, I was forced to be sent to the palace, and I was not remembered until I died, is it worth it? ”

Maran Wushuang's hoarse voice continued to speak slowly.

She didn't have such a voice before, Ma Lanxiao thought bitterly. At that time, fifteen-year-old Maran Wushuang had a gentle and pure voice, like the most beautiful lark in Nanshu, and was a beloved elf in the palace of Nanshu.

"Uncle doesn't want to see what I look like now?" Maran Wushuang asked softly.

Ma Lanxiao was speechless.

He was the culprit who sent his own niece to prison, but for twenty years, he not only did not think of rescuing her, but he did not even think of her.

"I'm sorry, I've been busy." He muttered that for the first time, he felt that his grand duke was not necessarily right to serve the country, that he was hurting his relatives, hurting his relatives in the name of patriotism, in exchange for his own political future, but he did not feel half guilty about the innocent sacrifices.

"Excuse me? What am I going to do with my excuses? Maran Wushuang seemed to chuckle, mocking playfully.

She slowly took off the curtains, raised her head, and a wrinkled, dry, lifeless face appeared in front of Ma Lanxiao, no life, nothing bright, just a piece of flesh wrapped in jagged bones.

Maran Xiao opened his face, he finally lost his balance in front of this calm ugly face, and he began to doubt the meaning of justice, fairness, and morality that he had always insisted on.

He stretched out his hand, trying to touch the wrinkles on Wushuang's face, with tears in his eyes, and muttered his head: "Shuang'er, what do you want me to do to make up for you?" ”

Ma Lan Wushuang stared at him, expressionless: "I want you to find someone, if I was a victim who entered the palace to ensure the safety of Nanshu, then you found him, Nanshu is a permanent country of peace, and I can live in the sun and dignity again." ”

Ma Lanxiao was taken aback: "You mean the Emperor of Heaven?" Apart from him, who can guarantee the peace of my Nanshu forever? Who can let you walk out of the Cloud Palace openly and live in the sun and dignity again? ”

Maran Wushuang smiled, but her smile looked terrifying, more ugly than crying:

"It's not him. It's my son. My son! Uncle, you are the king of Nanshu, as long as you put a heavenly emperor with Nanshu blood on the throne of the Great Hui Dynasty, won't you guarantee the eternal peace of my Nanshu? ”

Ma Lanxiao's mouth opened, closed weakly, and shook his head: "Shuang'er, you are crazy." You have to be clear, you don't have a son! You've been living in Youyun Palace for twenty years, and you've been killed a long time ago, and you don't even know where your bones are buried. ”

Maran Wushuang did not waver in her belief and insisted: "What if this child is the grandson of the sixteenth emperor and the son of Yutai Haoyou? Isn't he more legitimate to succeed to the throne than any of the children of Yutai Haoxiu? ”

Ma Lanxiao smiled bitterly: "When Hao Xiu succeeded to the throne, he slaughtered all the children of his own brother, and every concubine was strictly inspected, and all the concubines who were pregnant with children were killed at that time. You were able to survive and be sent to the Cloud Palace because you never gave birth to or conceived a child. ”

"What if there was a child who escaped the Holocaust for various reasons?"

Ma Lanxiao felt that his heart was aching faintly, he felt deeply sorry for her, and at the same time deeply regretted that he insisted on sending this gentle and lovely child into the palace in the first place, so that he ruined her life.

How could she possibly have children?!

Twenty years of life in Youyun Palace, life is worse than death, so she survives by relying on her own conjecture of having a child.

In the future, he will think of saving her and sending her to live in seclusion somewhere, so that she can live in peace for the rest of her life, so as to atone for the harm he has done to her in the name of the country.

Ma Lan Xiao looked at the skinny face like a father, hoping that Ma Lan Wushuang would listen to his bitter persuasion:

"Shuang'er, be sober, it's impossible for anyone to escape the massacre of Shantai Haoxiu. Since he succeeded to the throne, the most important thing was to slaughter all those who might threaten his throne, as long as there was a reason and excuse to have anything to do with treason or usurpation, he would kill them as soon as possible.

Sixteen years ago, he used the Tianwei Army to slaughter thousands of children across the country on the grounds that the three stars converged in all directions, and on the grounds that the Seven Evil Stars were the culprit of the country, regardless of the opposition of the powerful ministers of various countries, and the danger of turning their faces with other countries.

Shuang'er, it's not easy for you to survive. You go back first, and when I think about how to save you from your country, okay? I promise, Uncle will get you out. ”

Maran Wushuang shook his head, "Uncle, why don't you believe me?" You know, even if you abandon me, I still have a patriotic heart. Look at my hands—"

Maran Wushuang stretched out his hands from his sleeve, what kind of hands were they. The golden branches and jade leaves used to be rich and beautiful, but now they are like chicken feet, bloodless, and the flesh is wrinkled and shriveled, rolled, clumsy, and miserable.

Ma Lan Wushuang put his hands back into his sleeve cage and said lightly: "In order to save up the silver quills for the person who sent me the news, in order to know exactly when the minister of Nanshu came to Tianshiyuan, I poured night toilets for many concubines in Youyun Palace, washed laundry, and even rubbed their feet.

When I knew that you came to Tianshiyuan, or the time when other ministers of Nanshu came to Tianshiyuan, but I always failed to leave the palace on time, I saved money year after year, saved one golden shield after another, and it was twelve years before I finally met you. But you don't believe me. ”

Ma Lanxiao held back the tears that welled up in her eyes, and hugged Ma Lanwushuang's shoulder: "Shuang'er, it's uncle I'm sorry for you-"

Maran Wushuang rolled his lifeless eyes, trying to squeeze out some smiles, but the smile was as terrifying as a ghost.

Ma Lan Wushuang looked at Ma Lan Xiao: "If my uncle really feels sorry for me, then one day he can hold my child as the king and take me out of the Youyun Palace with eighteen majestic white horses, okay?" ”

At this moment, Ma Lanxiao suddenly believed in Ma Lan Wushuang for no reason: "Shuang'er, if this is the case, my uncle will support him as the king with all his might." Just, do you really have children? Where is he now? ”