After reading my mind, Daddy, why don't you smile?

Everyone looked towards the owner of the voice.

Zhao Ying stood there expressionlessly, her eyes so red that they seemed to bleed.

She seemed sad, but the words she spoke were so cold and inhuman.

"Father, Shangguan Shu and I have already divorced. It is against the rules to bury him as a consort..."

Shangguan Qingwan's face was covered with tears. Hearing this, she asked in confusion: "Mother..."

She was questioning why her mother was so cruel to her father?

She didn't understand, she really didn't understand, just like she didn't understand why her once happy family fell apart overnight, and her parents who had loved each other for many years divorced...

Shangguan Bailin lowered his brows, his long eyelashes trembled slightly, as if he understood something.

The father made a mistake, and the mother was right to do this.

He should agree with his mother for the sake of reason and justice, but... his father is dying... his father is dying...

Shangguan Bailin was in a dilemma.

Prince Liang frowned, "Cheng Qian, the prince of Zhenguo died because he saved you. It's just a posthumous name. Why do you care so much?"

Prince Liang seemed to be speaking for Shangguan Shu, but in fact he wanted to use this opportunity to split the Zhenguo Mansion and the Eastern Palace.

Sure enough, Shangguan Dan sneered and shook his head repeatedly.

Emperor Jianxi spoke up, "Chengqian, you have to listen to your father on this matter..."

“No need, Your Majesty…” The old Duke turned around and saluted.

His voice was low and he seemed to have aged ten years.

He raised his head, frowned and looked at Zhao Ying, his eyes misty.

"Your Highness, I don't know...how my son angered Your Highness and forced Your Highness to divorce me. Although I am old, I am not stupid. I know that it must be the matter between Runzhi and Princess Huai'an that angered Your Highness. He was bewitched and betrayed the princess for that whore. It was his fault alone and has nothing to do with Your Highness."

"Your Highness has been married to the Duke of Zhenguo Mansion for fourteen years. You have brought honor to the Duke of Zhenguo Mansion, given birth to children, and served as a wife and daughter-in-law. It is only the Duke of Zhenguo Mansion that owes your Highness. Your Highness does not owe the Duke of Zhenguo Mansion a single thing."

"Runzhi... what happened to him..." The old Duke opened his eyes wide, forced back tears, but his voice betrayed his pain, and he choked with sobs, "It's all his fault."

"But I want to tell your Highness something."

"What's the matter?" Zhao Ying's voice was so faint and faint that it seemed as if it would disappear with the wind.

"Your Highness, do you know why I wanted to discuss marriage with Queen Hyomin?"

Shangguan Zhu's heart skipped a beat when he heard the voice, and he glanced at Zhao Ying with some fear.

Zhao Ying shook her head imperceptibly.

Seeing this, the old Duke’s grief almost overwhelmed him and he burst into tears like magma erupting. “It was Runzhi… It was Runzhi who begged me…”

"When Runzhi was four years old, he followed my wife into the palace. When he first saw the princess, he fell in love with her. Since then, he often asked me to bring him to the palace to see Your Highness. Your Highness's kite fell into the lake, and Runzhi went into the water to retrieve it. When he returned, he caught typhoid fever and took several months to recover. Knowing that Your Highness loved to eat lotus cakes, Runzhi tried all the shops in the capital and asked me to bring the best ones to Your Highness..."

Kite...hibiscus cake...

Zhao Ying suddenly remembered something.

His body went limp and he stumbled, only to be caught in time by Nanny Li, who prevented him from falling.

"When he was eight years old, it happened to be His Highness's seventh birthday. He spent half a year preparing a birthday gift for His Highness, but His Highness did not like it. Runzhi cried very sadly during the banquet..."

The old Duke looked at Emperor Jianxi, asking for help, "Your Majesty also knows these things!"

Emperor Jianxi nodded solemnly.

"Runzhi once said that his greatest wish was to marry Princess Chengqian when he grew up, but he forgot about it later, he forgot it all of a sudden, but I haven't forgotten. Runzhi is my eldest son, and I have devoted my whole life to him... I am not like Your Majesty, I don't understand the love between husband and wife, I only know how to love my son," the old Duke became more and more sad, crying and beating his chest, "but how could my son end up like this today? Someone wants to harm him, but I am incompetent and can't find the murderer..."

He suddenly raised his hands, cried out to the sky, tears streaming down his face. Every word he said sounded like a question to the heaven, or a humble plea.

"God, please tell me, who wants to destroy my son!! Who wants to harm my Runzhi! Let him die with regrets and without any illness!!"

It’s Zhao Yao.

Shangguan Zhu added silently in his heart.

He kept staring at Zhao Ying's reaction. When he saw that Zhao Ying was indifferent to his father's words, he felt relieved, but then he felt endless pain.

Zhao Ying was stunned, her soul was sucked away in an instant, leaving only a shell on her body. The empty body could not cry or feel pain. She witnessed the grief and noise in the hall like a bystander. In a trance, this group of people were strangers, but she felt that she knew them.

The figure was vague and distinct, the voice was far away and near...

In her sight, there was an old man crying so sadly. He was telling a story while crying, and his snot and tears were flowing into his mouth. She felt sick for a moment but wanted to laugh.

When she was a child, she was like this too. She cried until she tasted the saltiness of her snot, which she thought was fun. Later, she often cried just to lick the salty snot.

Because she suddenly became tearful, her father and mother thought she was wronged and had hysteria, and they gave her a lot of trouble.

The prince also comforted her and said that his sister looked pretty even when she cried!

When will this farce end?

It started when Wei Fu made fun of her.

While she was "turning over a new leaf", she was also annoying Wei Fu to death.

How much did she get bored? If she had other playmates who were more "safe" when she was young, she would never play with Wei Fu again.

She had a small notebook in which she recorded Wei Fu's evil deeds. She often played with Wei Fu during the day, and at night, she wrote down all the words and behaviors that offended her. She swore to herself while looking at the candlelight that she would take revenge when she grew up.

The prince accidentally discovered this record of vengeance and was shocked, saying that she was insidious.

So what if she is insidious?

Her proud kite was dropped into the lake by Wei Fu. Her favorite lotus cake was always snatched away by Wei Fu as soon as it was served on the table. He looked like a starving ghost. After eating, he would make faces at her with the leftovers on his mouth and show off to her.

How could she have such an annoying cousin like Wei Fu?

She didn't really like lotus cake, but after Wei Fu snatched it from her, he gave her a psychological hint, making her feel particularly satisfied after eating a bite of lotus cake...

She was insidious, because every time Wei Fu was annoying, she never lost her temper or got angry with him. Instead, she smiled sweetly, but in fact she was rolling her eyes like turning the pages of a book in her heart.

When she was older, she understood some things and knew that her cousin was just naughty and mischievous when he was a child. It was not worth it for her to bring up the past with him when she grew up, which would damage the royal reputation.

Perhaps the hatred for the hibiscus cake disappeared, not only because she grew up, but also... One day, there was suddenly a dish of hibiscus cake in her palace. The taste was different from the one made by the imperial chef in the palace, and it had a unique flavor. The most important thing was that it contained a flavor of locust flower, and her cousin was allergic to it!

Wei Fu's face was swollen like a pig's head, and she stuffed her mouth with lotus cake.