Painting Doctor Jinhua

Hearing this, Xiao Jinyu understood what he wanted to say. In the third year of Taiqing, she did send someone to Dongwei to deliver a letter to the Cui family. It was just an expression of friendship between her father and her father, and it did not mean to ask for help.

"When a family encounters misfortune, good or bad fortune is hard to predict. The family should be the most important thing. Mr. Cui, why do you need to blame yourself? This is something that was unforeseen! Your friend will not blame you either!"

"But……"

Cui Heng was about to say something, but Xiao Jinyu interrupted him, "Maybe she doesn't necessarily need your help. One is in the south and the other is in the north. Even if we are thousands of miles apart, it's too late!"

The more Cui Heng heard her say this, the more guilty and sad he felt.

"But I didn't see her for the last time. If I had seen this letter earlier and knew that Hou Jing wanted to marry into a noble family, maybe I could... could lend a helping hand, and she wouldn't have..."

At that time, Hou Jing was a surrendered minister of Southern Liang and was highly valued by the Liang Emperor. The arrogant Hou Jing even proposed to the Liang Emperor to marry the two major aristocratic families, Wang and Xie, but was politely rejected by the Liang Emperor. The Liang Emperor meant that with his identity as a Xianbei slave, he was not worthy of the girls from the Wang and Xie families at all, but he could lower his requirements and seek the daughters of the southern aristocratic families such as Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang.

Hou Jing held a grudge for this reason, and after conquering Jiankang, he carried out a devastating massacre of the two major aristocratic families, Wang and Xie.

Whenever Xiao Jinyu recalled this incident, she felt an unbearable burning pain in her heart.

But she still said calmly: "Mr. Cui, don't blame yourself for this. This has nothing to do with you."

"Then can I still be friends with her?"

Xiao Jinyu smiled slightly.

"Of course, you can," she replied.

Cui Heng looked at Xiao Jinyu with a smile as if relieved. After a long silence, he suddenly asked solemnly:

"Young lady, have you heard about Emperor Wenxuan?"

Xiao Jinyu nodded and said, "I heard Fenghuang and Lu Yu both mentioned it."

"Emperor Wenxuan was a wise ruler during the first seven years of his reign, but for some unknown reason, his temperament became extremely tyrannical. My second brother married Princess Le'an. On the day my father passed away, Emperor Xuan came to our house and asked Princess Le'an how my Cui family treated her. She just casually replied that her husband treated her well, but my mother did not. Just because of this, Emperor Xuan killed my mother and threw her head outside the wall..."

Speaking of this, Cui Heng's eyes revealed a hint of anger and sadness again.

"He was addicted to alcohol and murderous. He even had a pot and a saw in the throne room. Whenever he got drunk, he would go crazy and kill people. Many officials and ministers were slaughtered without any guilt. Later, the ministers had no choice but to send the imperial prisoners in the jail to him for him to kill for fun!"

"Li, the wife of Prince Wei Yuan Mao, was the elder sister of the then Empress Li Zu'e and also an aunt of Li Mi. Emperor Xuan once broke into Prince Wei's mansion and took a fancy to Li, so he... forcibly took possession of Li. Li did not dare to resist. After that, Emperor Xuan often went in and out of Prince Wei's mansion and even wanted to take Li as his imperial concubine. For this reason, he summoned Prince Wei Yuan Ang to the palace and shot him to death with a hundred arrows!

And Lanling Prince Gao Changgong’s mother Yuan...”

Cui Heng paused, and seeing that Xiao Jinyu's expression was still a little calm but clearly curious, he continued,

"Yuan was Princess Fengyi of the Northern Wei Dynasty. When Emperor Wenxiang, Gao Changgong's father, was alive, he wanted to depose his legitimate wife and make a concubine his first wife, but my father strongly advised him against it and he gave up the idea.

After Emperor Wenxiang was assassinated, Emperor Xuan Gao Yang immediately took over his power, controlled the government, and established the Great Qi. Later, due to his alcoholism and because he had been humiliated by his brother Gao Cheng when he was young, he broke into Yuan's Jingde Palace, confiscated all the treasures in the treasury, and humiliated her in Gaoyang Palace... This matter reached the ears of Empress Dowager Lou, who reprimanded Emperor Wenxuan. Unexpectedly, Emperor Xuan pushed Empress Dowager Lou to the ground, causing her to fall and get injured..."

Having said this, Cui Heng remained silent for a long time, as if waiting for Xiao Jinyu to ask him questions, but Xiao Jinyu also remained silent, as if thinking about something and waiting for his next words.

"Gao Changgong was the fourth child in the family, and Yuanshi had only one legitimate son, the Prince of Hejian, Gao Xiaowan. Last year, Gao Changgong's elder brother, Gao Xiaoyu, was hated by He Shikai because he advised Empress Hu not to touch the hands of a minister, He Shikai. He Shikai slandered Gao Xiaoyu to Emperor Gao Zhan, and Gao Zhan ordered someone to secretly drink poisoned wine and Gao Xiaoyu died...

In addition to Gao Xiaowan and Gao Xiaoyu, he has three brothers, namely Guangning Prince Gao Xiaoheng, Ande Prince Gao Yanzong, and Yuyang Prince Gao Shaoxin..."

Hearing this, Xiao Jinyu nodded and asked, "What about Gao Changgong's biological mother? Who is his biological mother?"

Cui Heng was slightly startled, and said hesitantly: "It is said that his biological mother's background is very controversial and cannot be made public, so even the historian erased the woman's name. No one knows who his biological mother is?"

"Cui Lang doesn't know either?" Xiao Jinyu asked again.

Cui Heng still nodded: "Yes!"

Xiao Jinyu nodded and stopped asking questions.

After a moment's silence, Cui Heng continued, "My dear, no, Princess, I am not telling you this to scare you or to make you feel afraid of the Gao family or even Gao Changgong. I know you are not someone who can be easily frightened, but the emperor of the Gao family of Northern Qi is not the emperor of Southern Chen... Although the current emperor Gao Zhan is not as crazy and bloodthirsty as Emperor Wenxuan, his tyrannical and lustful nature..."

"I know what Cui Lang means. Although the Southern Chen Emperor Chen Xu was hypocritical, he still did a good job of pretending to be a wise ruler and listened to advice. However, the Emperor of the Gao family of the Northern Qi Dynasty was an unfilial and unfraternal emperor who even wantonly killed his advisers. He was a beastly emperor who was unwilling to even pretend to be a wise ruler. Cui Lang wants to tell me this, right?"

Seeing her summarizing everything he had said so frankly, Cui Heng was embarrassed for a moment and didn't know what to say. He really wanted to say that the current emperor of Northern Qi was also an extremely lustful king who even liked to occupy his brothers and ministers' wives. If Gao Zhan heard about her beauty, Gao Changgong might not be able to protect her!

But he couldn't say such words, so he could only remind her: "Princess, you are too beautiful. When you arrive in Qi, for the sake of safety, it is best to hide your appearance..."

"Yes! I will!"

Xiao Jinyu smiled and nodded, "I am also very grateful to Cui Lang for telling me all this, so that I know what to do in the future." Then he asked, "By the way, Cui Lang knows so much about the Northern Qi royal family and the court, does he know Lu Lingxuan?"

Cui Heng's expression changed and he nodded, "I know. She is the second female official in the court of Qi State besides your mother Xiao Luan. She was originally the wife of the traitor Luo Chao. After Luo Chao rebelled, she was confiscated from the palace and later became the wet nurse of Gao Wei, the current crown prince. Because of this, she is deeply trusted by Queen Hu and Emperor Gao Zhan!"

"Is it just because she is the prince's wet nurse that she has the trust of the emperor Gao Zhan?"

Cui Heng thought for a while before answering, "I heard that this woman is good at divination and can predict the fate of people and countries. She once prayed for rain for the people at the Bingjing Terrace in Yebei City and succeeded in getting rain. Therefore, she is deeply loved by the people!"

That's it!

Taking advantage of the right time and place, he won the hearts of the people!

So he won the favor of the emperor!

Xiao Jinyu nodded and bowed to Cui Heng again: "Thank you, Cui Lang. Ah Yu will take his leave first!"

Turning around to leave, Cui Heng suddenly called out in a low voice: "Xie Yuqing!"

Xiao Jinyu's steps suddenly stopped and she turned around to look at him.

Her eyes were somewhat cold, and Cui Heng quickly changed his words: "No! Xiao Jinyu, what I want to tell you is that your father wrote to my father in the past, hoping that our two families would become relatives and form a good relationship. If my father had not encountered such an accident, he would have agreed, and I would have agreed too."

There were tears in his eyes, filled with regret and sadness.

"But I missed it! If... I mean if Gao Changgong has any accident in the future, you can come to me at any time. I won't miss it again..."

"Cui Lang--" Xiao Jinyu suddenly interrupted him and said seriously, "Let go of your guilt and obsession with your friend!"

"Besides, I will not let anything happen to Gao Changgong. Since I have chosen this path, I will keep going.

I will be with him, live and die together!"

Cui Heng was anxious for a moment, thinking that she had misunderstood what he meant, and hurriedly explained: "No, that's not what I meant..."

"I know. I know you have no ill intentions, Cui Lang."

Gao Changgong has been fighting in battles for many years and has survived many deaths on the battlefield. There are also people in the court who don't want him to have an easy time. As a member of the royal family, there are always swords and sabers around him, and life and death, fortune and disaster are unpredictable.

"Cui Lang, put it down!"

She said this solemnly for the last time, then turned and walked out of the cabin. As soon as she walked out of the cabin door, she saw Lanling Wang standing in front of her, looking at her intently.

"Chang Gong——"

She called out with a smile.

Gao Changgong didn't say a word, but just held her in his arms.

The river was roaring, the boat had sailed to the center of the river, and the sound of wind, waves and sails could be heard constantly.

The river breeze made people feel very cold, and Gao Changgong hugged her tighter without realizing it. After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly picked her up and walked into a booked room in the cabin.