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

"Who's there?" Cui Qimo asked.

The guards following behind him immediately went forward to check, and soon brought a child over.

The child stood there timidly. If the guards had not held him back, he would have run away.

"This is..." Cui Qimo stared at the child for a long while, then looked at Eunuch Li and asked hesitantly, "This is, Old Eight?"

He seemed to have just remembered his son.

Eunuch Li quickly apologized with a smile, "Isn't it the Eighth Prince? Calculated, the Eighth Prince is already seven years old this year."

Cui Qimo waved at the child, "You've grown so big. Come here and let father take a look."

The Eighth Prince ignored him and just tried hard to pry the guard's hands apart, trying desperately to escape.

Cui Qimo's eyes darkened. He walked over, gently pulled the child over, bent down to look at him, and tried to make his voice sound softer. "What are you doing here?"

The eighth prince looked at him in horror and said nothing.

"Do you like plum blossoms?" Cui Qimo continued to ask.

The Eighth Prince stared at him for a long time before he nodded slightly, then quickly shook his head and tried to run away again.

"Your Majesty, the Eighth Prince never talks to anyone." Eunuch Li said softly.

Cui Qimo felt a little pain in his heart as he looked at his son. He didn't look like a prince at all. Even the clothes he wore were just a very thin old cotton jacket, not only dark in color, but also a little short. There was a hole in the fabric on the shoulder, and the hardened and somewhat black cotton was exposed.

"I saw him running this way. Why is this kid so troublesome!" The voice of the little eunuch came from outside Merlin.

"That's right. Following a master like this, you and I are in big trouble." Another eunuch said, "Let's go and take a look."

So, the two young eunuchs came over slowly and saw the emperor who was furious.

When the Eighth Prince saw the two eunuchs, his body trembled instinctively, and Cui Qimo could clearly feel his fear.

You can be unhappy with your own children, even beat and scold them, but you must never allow others to treat them harshly.

This is true for almost all parents in the world, and the emperor, as a father, is no exception.

With his mother imprisoned in the cold palace, the Eighth Prince was naturally neglected in the palace. Cui Qimo did not let other concubines raise him, and he never came to visit him.

These daring servants did not take it seriously.

Over the years, the Eighth Prince has lived a life worse than that of a palace maid.

This is a slap in the face of the emperor and a challenge to the royal dignity.

What can be tolerated by scholars?

"Your Majesty..." The two young eunuchs knelt down and kowtowed with trembling voices.

"Drag him away and beat him to death!" Cui Qimo's voice was colder than the ice and snow in winter. "Move somewhere else and don't pollute this plum forest."

After the man was dragged away, Eunuch Li knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I am guilty. As the chief steward of the palace, I was totally unaware of the cruel treatment these palace servants gave the prince. I am guilty."

Cui Qimo snorted, "Go and take the punishment yourself!"

"Yes. I will immediately have all the servants in the Eighth Prince's palace replaced and punished severely. After that, I will go to the Ministry of Punishment to receive my punishment."

The Eighth Prince looked at Cui Qimo eagerly. Cui Qimo's hostility made the Eighth Prince even more timid, and at the same time he was full of doubts, as if he didn't know what these adults were doing.

Such a look made Cui Qimo's heart feel like it was grabbed and twisted by something.

He bent down and looked at the child, "I am your father."

As she spoke, she reached out and touched his red, frozen face.

But the Eighth Prince took advantage of his inattention, suddenly broke free from his restraints, turned around and ran away.

He fell on the snow because he ran so fast. He got up awkwardly and continued running.

The guard wanted to chase him, but Cui Qimo raised his hand to stop him, "Forget it, let him go..."

He sighed and was about to leave when the secret guard came to report, "We have found the person who helped Wei Tianjie escape from prison. It was Zhu Shaoqing from the Dali Temple. The secret letter from the Crown Prince and the Emperor of Xiling was also handed to Wei Tianjie by Zhu Shaoqing himself. After multiple investigations, we found no contact between Zhu Shaoqing and Prince Jing."

Cui Qimo was really surprised this time, because Zhu Shaoqing had always rarely interacted with others and was an absolute neutral.

Cui Qimo had already determined that the prince's escape was the work of Prince Jing.

Even if Princess Jing was abducted by the Crown Prince, she was just a chess piece that Prince Jing deliberately released to confuse others and was ready to be sacrificed at any time in order to cover up his tracks.

But this Zhu Shaoqing is not Prince Jing's man.

Could it be that there are other people behind the scenes fanning the flames?

He believed that what the secret guards found out could not be wrong.

It was late at night and snow began to fall again in the dark sky before Cui Hongjing and his party returned to the capital.

Because Mei Xueer's right leg was injured, Cui Hongjing specially changed the carriage on the way so that she could lie down comfortably while traveling.

Mei Xueer leaned her upper body against the wall of the carriage with her legs resting on the cushions.

She looked to the other side, where Cui Hongjing was leaning against the bed with his eyes closed, and she seemed to have returned to a few months ago.

That day, the two of them did just that, sitting far apart from each other, neither speaking, as they walked into the palace to thank the Queen Mother and the Empress.

"Your Highness hates me so much, why don't you divorce me?" She said to him that day.

At that time, there was undisguised disgust and anger in his eyes.

But since when, the relationship between the two seemed to have some subtle changes.

For example, at this moment, there is still silence in the carriage.

The only sound that could be heard outside was the sound of car wheels crushing ice, snow and mud.

Monotonous and hurried.

Cui Hongjing kept his eyes closed and rested.

Just the breathing, a little uneven.

Mei Xueer looked at the handsome face in front of her in a daze, not knowing what she was thinking, and finally let out an imperceptible sigh.

Cui Hongjing suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed her legs.

His voice was unusually soft, "Does it hurt?"

Mei Xueer moved as if she had been electrocuted and tried to retract her legs.

But he held her tightly, and she didn't dare to struggle.

But the word "pain" made her feel a sudden heat flow starting from her heart and spreading throughout her body.

It's like a stone is suddenly thrown into a calm lake, and the ripples quickly spread in circles all over the body.

Everyone's heart is probably a forest.

There are roaring tigers and gentle little white rabbits.

The Dog Prince is probably no exception.

She thought of the dream again.

Or rather, she thought again of the hallucination she saw when she was on the verge of death.

The Cui Jing in the hallucination is a reflection of the Dog Prince.

To be more precise, it was the appearance of Cui Hongjing that she longed for in her heart.

In that illusory world, he was no longer cold and violent.

He is a gentleman who is affectionate, caring and considerate.

He is a man of flesh and blood.

He is a man who understands and appreciates her.

Even though she later scared him away, he remained gentle.

Cui Hongjing was still staring at her motionlessly. Her eyes were unfocused and he didn't know what she was thinking about.

Then he patiently asked again, "Does it still hurt?"

She shook her head stupidly and bewilderedly, "If you don't touch it, it won't hurt."

Cui Hongjing immediately let go, becoming even more panicked and at a loss.

At this moment, he actually wanted to say "I'm sorry" to her.

But he couldn't say it.

The key is that he didn't know where to start, let alone how to speak.

What I have done is indeed shameful.

At the same time, while singing "Because tomorrow, I will become someone else's bride...", Mei Xueer received more guilt points from Prince Jing.

Cui Hongjing: Nanxing will definitely tell her everything after returning home. I will not say anything at this moment, so as to avoid getting even more angry when seeing her face to face.

He wasn't sure if she would still be so calm with him after she knew the truth.

But he still had a glimmer of hope.

After all, she had been forced to take the abortion pill and suffered such humiliation last time, but she had forgiven him afterwards, and never mentioned it again.

Since she didn't mention it, Cui Hongjing thought that she had forgiven him, so naturally he wouldn't take the initiative to ask her "Hey, that medicine, does it have any effect on your body?"

She is a doctor herself, so there will definitely be no problem.

He felt relieved, so he didn't ask or mention it.

Anyway, the straight man Prince Jing is always so mysteriously confident.

He will never become the Cui Jing in Mei Xueer's heart.

But this time, it was different from the last time. This time, he treated Mei Xueer as a chess piece.

Moreover, according to the original plan, he would not leave the city to find her.

According to the original plan, he was going to get rid of this bastard at the same time.

According to the original plan, if Mei Xueer fell into the hands of the prince, even if she came back alive, her innocence would be ruined, and he would have reason to divorce her.

No, she won’t die. Didn’t Li Mo save her?

Thinking of the infuriatingly handsome Li Mo holding Mei Xueer against the tree, Prince Jing looked very unhappy: If I hadn't rushed over, would she never have returned to the palace? Would she have run away with that wild man?

Cui Hongjing couldn't help but look at Mei Xueer again, as if trying to find some answers from her face.