You cause trouble and I collect your body, the little emperor’s aunt abuses the scumbag again

The carriage stopped in an alley in the south of the capital.

This place is far from Zhuque Avenue, with houses on both sides of the road, and the occasional barking of dogs can be heard.

Lin Daxiong jumped out of the car and opened the gate. It was a small, detached courtyard with a well and a vegetable garden inside.

Mrs. Meng helped the weak Meng Siya out of the car, and her mute cousin carried the luggage into the house.

The house was dusty, but it would be habitable after a quick clean.

Lin Daxiong busied himself chopping wood, fetching water, and wiping tables, tidying up the house inside and out.

After settling her mother in, Meng Siya sat by the bed and breastfed Sui Sui in her arms. Her face was expressionless, and her movements were practiced, showing no signs of the humiliation she had suffered at the city gate.

Lin Daxiong boiled a kettle of water and brought it into the room. Seeing her lonely appearance, he felt very bad.

“Girl…” He put down the kettle, unsure of what to say.

"You can stay here and recuperate. If you need anything, just let me know. I'm not going back to the East Palace. I'll find a job nearby and stay here to keep you and your children safer."

Meng Siya fed the child without looking up.

"No."

Her voice was flat.

Lin Daxiong was taken aback: "Why? You're an orphan and a widow, what if..."

“The most dangerous place is the safest place.” Meng Siya looked up at him.

Her face was still pale, but the previous fragility was gone, replaced by a calm.

"As long as you don't say anything, who would imagine that his long-lost children are right under his nose in the capital?"

Her words left Lin Daxiong speechless.

“From today onwards, I will be called Lady Meng,” Meng Siya continued. “I am a widow who lost her husband and came to the capital with her child and elderly mother to seek refuge with relatives, but she couldn’t find any.”

Lady Meng...

Lin Daxiong felt terrible.

"You can leave." Meng Siya lowered her head, looking at Sui Sui in her arms. "Go back to your Eastern Palace and work for you. There can be no open contact between us."

Lin Daxiong stood rooted to the spot, unable to move his feet.

He's gone. What will happen to them? A woman who's just given birth, a baby, and an elderly woman—how will they survive in the capital?

Meng Siya put the sleeping Sui Sui on the bed after she had eaten, covered her with a blanket, stood up and walked to the table, where she poured out the silver notes she had exchanged on the way and the remaining gold and silver jewelry.

Then she unfolded a sketch of the capital city, marking the important streets and markets. Her finger pointed to a shop in the west of the city marked with the word "brocade".

“My father has fallen, but the Meng family hasn’t fallen completely.”

"This brocade and silk shop used to be my father's business, but it was later confiscated and changed hands several times. Now the business is very bad. The manager's surname is Wang. He was promoted by my father and is a loyal person."

Her finger then moved to a grain and oil shop in the south of the city.

"And here, I remember the land deed was hidden in the shadows and wasn't taken away by the government."

Meng Siya's voice wasn't loud, but it shocked Lin Daxiong.

She wasn't thinking about how to survive, but how to get back on her feet.

“I don’t need you to watch over me.” Meng Siya raised her head, her expression calm but her tone firm.

"I need you to use your connections to get these things back for me."

"I want to quickly restore the name of the Meng family to its former glory in the capital."

She didn't come to make a scene, nor did she come to beg for a concubine's position.

She came to take back everything that belonged to her and to collect everything he owed her.

Lin Daxiong looked at the map and the silver notes, then at Meng Siya, who had completely changed, and he couldn't persuade her.

He couldn't do anything but listen to her.

"Okay," he squeezed out through gritted teeth.

Lin Daxiong could not persuade her otherwise and could only prepare to leave, looking back every few steps.

It was already dark, and the alley was quiet.

As he reached the courtyard gate, Meng Siya suddenly called out to him.

"and many more."

She took a small oil paper packet from her sleeve and handed it over.

"What is this?" Lin Daxiong took it, opened it, and saw that it was some medicinal powder.

"The Eastern Palace isn't a safe place to stay." Meng Siya's voice came from inside the door, her tone unreadable. "He's now married to the Shangguan family's daughter, which is like asking a tiger for its skin. You're caught in the middle, and sooner or later something bad will happen to you."

"If the day ever comes when you can't stay any longer, eat this. It will make you seriously ill, giving you an excuse to leave."

Lin Daxiong held the packet of medicine powder, his hands trembling.

She had even planned out his escape route.

What is this woman's heart made of? Was it broken so deeply that it became harder than stone?

"Sister, I..."

He wanted to say something, but found his throat was choked with phlegm.

The courtyard gate creaked shut in front of him, shutting out everything inside.

Lin Daxiong stood in front of the tightly closed courtyard gate, staring at the two faded door knockers for a very long time.

He suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face.

The sound of a "smack" was particularly loud in the quiet alley.

My cheeks burned, but the pain in my heart was a hundred times, a thousand times worse.

He turned around, like a lost soul, and gradually disappeared into the myriad lights of the capital, his back view desolate yet resolute.

……

A few days later, on the most bustling main street in the capital.

Lin Daxiong walked down the street, dressed in shorts and blending into the crowd, yet he didn't belong to the lively atmosphere.

He felt heavy-hearted and couldn't breathe.

He didn't know how to return to the Eastern Palace, let alone how to face Ji Yongyan.

Tell him that Ya Ya is dead, a double tragedy.

He dared not imagine how Xingzhi would react to these words.

He walked up to a restaurant called Zuixianju, and the three large characters on the signboard made him very uncomfortable.

This was once the place where he, Ji Yongyan, and their brothers discussed important matters.

Back then, they all believed that they could change the world through hard work, but things are different now.

He tried to smile, but his expression remained stiff.

As he was about to go around the area, a green-canopied carriage stopped beside him.

He was very nervous and instinctively tried to dodge.

A hand lifted the carriage curtain.

Behind the carriage curtain was a thin face, pale and with stubble on his chin; he looked exhausted.

It was none other than Crown Prince Ji Yongyan, who had traveled out of the palace incognito.