My Lord, the princess doesn't want you anymore.

Concubine Wan held the broken jade comb tightly in her hand and sat alone until dawn.

That jade comb was the only thing left to her by the person she cared about most.

It was already dawn when a palace maid knocked on the door. "My Lady, Prince Xiao and his wife are here to pay their respects. They are already waiting outside."

The maid said it twice before Concubine Wan raised her eyes slightly and opened her dry lips, "No! Tell them that they don't need to come to pay respects in the future."

Outside the door, the palace maid looked at Cui Hongxiao with some embarrassment, "Your Majesty, look at this..."

Cui Hongxiao looked at Mei Qianyue beside him, and pulled her to kneel on the cold cobblestone floor. "Mother, since we got married, Qianyue and I have come to pay our respects to you every day, but you have always refused to see us. If you have any difficulties, please tell me. I am willing to do my best to help you."

Mei Qianyue also kowtowed heavily: "If you are not satisfied with me, I will leave now. However, Prince Xiao is your son. He has always missed you and begged you to see him."

There was silence in the room for about a quarter of an hour, and then the door finally opened slowly.

Concubine Wan was finally willing to see them, and the two were delighted.

But just a moment after entering the house, the two men came out, their faces looking even worse than before.

The two walked silently on the path in the palace.

Mei Qianyue turned her head to look at the man next to her. She had to say that this man inherited more of Concubine Wan's appearance. He was really handsome and looked a lot like Concubine Wan.

But what's the use?

Beneath his handsome looks, his upright body, and the exterior of a great war god, he hides a broken heart, a heart that was deeply wounded by his own mother.

I don’t know how he managed to come this far alone all these years.

Thinking of this, Mei Qianyue felt a lump in her throat and reached out to gently hold Cui Hongxiao's hand.

Feeling the gentle care coming from that little hand, Cui Hongxiao's brows relaxed slightly.

He opened his big hand and gently wrapped the small hand around it.

Fortunately, with her love accompanying him on the road ahead, he will no longer be alone.

God still has some mercy on him. How nice.

"Why is my mother like this?" Mei Qianyue looked at the man beside her and couldn't help but ask.

"My mother is also a pitiful woman." Cui Hongxiao said, "Don't think about it. Anyway, we just need to do what we should do."

Mei Qianyue nodded and clenched her hands tighter.

But her heart could never calm down.

Just now in Jinxiu Palace, Concubine Wan only said two sentences to them.

The first sentence is "Today is the day when Prince Jing leads his army to war."

The second sentence is "You have to promise me that no matter what, you will not be his enemy and you will protect him. Otherwise, I will not let you go even if I become a ghost."

What kind of mother would say such things to her son?

After hearing these two sentences, Mei Qianyue clearly felt the man next to her shake, but he still agreed.

She once again doubted whether Cui Hongxiao was the son of Concubine Wan.

But how could they not look so similar?

"Prince Xiao, Qianyue, has Concubine Wan agreed to meet you today?" A voice interrupted Mei Qianyue's thoughts.

Concubine Shu came over in a hurry.

"Greetings to Madam Shufei. We have already met Madam Mother."

"That's good." Concubine Shu looked a little embarrassed, and stepped forward to hold Mei Qianyue's hand affectionately, "I also know that you go to the palace every day, but... Alas, Concubine Wan is just a little introverted, you must not take it to heart."

Mei Qianyue shook her head. "How could that be? Your Majesty is worrying too much. Qianyue does have an unwelcome request. Your Majesty Shufei is currently in charge of the affairs of the harem. My mother is in the palace, so please take care of her."

"What's the point of taking care of me? We are sisters. Besides, Concubine Wan's rank is higher than mine." Concubine Shu patted her hands and looked at Cui Hongxiao, "Don't worry."

"By the way, Madam, why are you in such a hurry? Is there something wrong?"

Concubine Shu couldn't help but sigh, "The Eighth Prince is not well again, the Emperor is busy, so let me go over and take a look."

Cui Hongxiao said: "If it is convenient, I would also like to go and see my eighth brother. It has been quite some time since I last saw him."

"Of course that's good! The Eighth Prince might be happy to see you." Concubine Shu said quickly, "Then let's go quickly."

Anyuyuan was still deserted, but much cleaner and tidier than before.

Eunuch Li replaced all the previous palace maids, those who should be killed were killed, and those who should be punished were punished.

Now, all the palace maids in Anyu Garden are people that Eunuch Li can trust.

After the beginning of spring, the flowers, plants and trees in the yard also sprouted new buds, and the yard was full of vitality.

However, in stark contrast to the prosperity in the courtyard, the eighth prince's illness seemed to be more serious.

To be precise, the poison in him seemed to have deepened.

When Mei Xueer came to Anyuyuan for the first time, she felt that he was hiding in the shadows like a little devil.

She came to see him again before leaving for Yunzhou, only to find that the Eighth Prince's face had become even paler, and the worst thing was that his limbs had begun to become uncoordinated.

This is a sign that the poison has penetrated into the bone marrow. If it is more serious, the person will really become a living dead.

"This means that someone is continuing to poison the Eighth Prince." That day, when Mei Xueer informed Cui Qimo about the Eighth Prince's situation, Cui Qimo was shocked and angry.

Everyone in Anyuyuan is trustworthy, and it is absolutely impossible for anyone to poison us under our noses again.

Mei Xueer left some medicine, saying that it could only delay the onset of the poison in the Eighth Prince, but could not cure it.

As for how to detoxify and whether it can be detoxified, we have to wait until she returns from Yunzhou to decide.

Mei Qianyue had heard about the Eighth Prince's situation before, but she only knew that the Eighth Prince had a problem with his character and did not know that she had been poisoned.

This was her first time entering Anyuyuan and her first time interacting with the child in private.

The Eighth Prince still stood in the shadow behind the window, looking at the three people in the yard with a ghostly look.

Mei Qianyue was shocked when she suddenly saw the pale face.

"Eighth Prince, I am Aunt Shu. Don't you recognize me?" Aunt Shu walked over and held his hand.

The Eighth Prince slowly turned his head, gently pulled his hand out of Concubine Shu's hand, and his eyes fell on Mei Qianyue.

Cui Hongxiao held Mei Qianyue tightly in his arms, "Eighth brother, this is Sixth sister-in-law, she came to visit you specially."

The Eighth Prince ignored him and turned to look out the window again, his facial muscles a little stiff.

"Doesn't the Eighth Prince like Aunt Shu the most? Come, let's have some candy." Concubine Shu took out a porcelain bottle from her body and shook out a candy. "Here, it's so sweet... Well, the Eighth Prince is so good."

After watching the Eighth Prince take the medicine, Concubine Shu sighed and whispered to Mei Qianyue, "This is the candy that your eldest sister left behind before she left. He will only eat it if I feed him. Alas, this child..."

"The Empress Shufei has a kind heart, and the Eighth Prince knows it."

"I don't care whether you understand or not. I'll just do my best to help as much as I can. We're all mothers, so put yourself in their shoes. We all have human feelings..."

At this point, she herself felt that it was inappropriate to say this in front of Cui Hongxiao - wasn't Concubine Wan also a mother?

……