Painting Doctor Jinhua

When she woke up again, Xiao Jinyu found herself walking in a long corridor. There was no one around, only the sound of footsteps. There seemed to be a voice calling her in her ear, which made her curious and she walked forward involuntarily. After walking for a while, the view in front of her suddenly opened up, revealing a large garden.

It seems to be the early summer season, with all kinds of flowers blooming in the garden, vying for beauty and fragrance. Large flower beds are presented before your eyes, and not far away you can see various pavilions, towering buildings with flying eaves and double-eaved nine-ridged roofs, one after another.

Xiao Jinyu knew that she was dreaming again, but the strange thing was that even though she knew it was a dream, she had a real feeling as if she was living in another world again.

The scenery before her was not unfamiliar to her. If her guess was correct, this must be the Imperial Garden in Jiankang Taicheng. As a noble lady of the Xie family, she was a frequent visitor to Prince Zhaoming's mansion. Emperor Wu of Liang would often summon her to the palace to teach the princesses of the Xiao family.

So she was already very familiar with everything in the palace.

After entering a peach forest, Xiao Jinyu heard someone talking in the forest.

It was a woman's voice.

"Put this medicine in Han Zigao's wine. If you can successfully make him drink this glass of wine, I will reward you handsomely."

"Yes."

"Also, inform Princess Yuhua about this matter and ask her to prepare."

"Yes."

Han Zigao? After hearing this name, Xiao Jinyu walked closer curiously and saw a woman wearing a colorful palace dress with golden embroidery and a bun on her head, talking to a little palace maid.

The little palace maid lowered her head and nodded in a timid voice.

The woman continued, "You must be curious about why I did this. But this is not what you care about. The Xiao family is a century-old family. If it is tainted by a woman, the descendants of the Xiao family will never be able to hold their heads up. As for Han Zigao, he is just a commoner of humble origin. I am doing him a favor by doing this. What? Are you still afraid of him?"

"No, I dare not." The little palace maid said repeatedly.

"Then go ahead! After the matter is done, not only you, but your entire family, I can let them live a life of luxury from now on. They will enjoy wealth and glory."

"Yes."

The palace maid lowered her head and walked away in small steps. Xiao Jinyu glanced at the palace maid and walked towards the woman in gorgeous palace dress. But just as she approached, everything in front of her, including the woman, suddenly disappeared. The originally bright and beautiful scene of the imperial garden was suddenly replaced by a dark and damp one.

A dungeon surrounded by iron bars suddenly appeared in front of her eyes. In the dark and cramped corner, a tall man with messy black hair stood with his hands behind his back, and heavy shackles on his hands and feet.

There was a small window on the top of the cell, through which a sparse light shone, illuminating the man's face.

She has creamy hair, naturally long eyebrows, and slender, white hair. If it weren't for the heroic temperament she exudes from a man, one could really mistake her for a woman.

Xiao Jinyu's heart skipped a beat and she was extremely surprised. It was not because the man was so handsome, but because this face was exactly the same as the one she saw in the mirror.

Could this be Han Zigao? The original owner's biological father?

So where is he now?

Just as I was thinking, a voice came to my ear: "I heard about Zhou Xiaoshi in the past, and now I sing about the boy under the moon. The jade dust is always in my hand, and the sheep cart is empty in the market. Zi Gao's beauty is rare in the world. He is handsome and elegant. I feel pity for him. Even if he is in prison, he will not lose his appearance and demeanor."

This sound?

Xiao Jinyu suddenly turned around and saw a man in a snow-white straight-collared robe walking down the stone steps one by one. When he appeared in front of her, Xiao Jinyu's face changed in horror.

Because this person was none other than Chen Shili, but this Chen Shili was different from the humble boy from a poor family in the past. Dressed in gorgeous clothes, he already had the aura of a king.

"I have already given you a chance, but you insisted on going against me. Is my brother really worthy of your loyalty?"

"Oh, how can a stolen kingdom last forever? Emperor Wen regarded you as his own brother when he was alive. He would rather cede territory than redeem you from the Northern Zhou. Before his death, he entrusted all power to you. But I didn't expect you to be so heartless and ruthless that you even spared his only legitimate son."

"Speaking of being ruthless, my brother is no less ruthless than me. Wasn't it your doing that the crown prince died of a sudden illness? Han Zigao, how much cleaner are you than me?

The way of being a king is to not tolerate womanly kindness or soft-heartedness. Only by losing something can you gain something."

"So, you can kill your loved ones and betray your closest relatives. But why don't you even let go of an innocent woman?"

When mentioning his beloved, Chen Shili's expression changed slightly, and complex emotions flashed in his eyes.

"Han Zigao, who do you love most, my brother or that woman?" Chen Shili suddenly asked, "Don't think I don't know. Over the years, you have been sending people to find out the whereabouts of that woman and trying every means to protect her safety. Moreover, that woman gave birth to a child for you, right?"

Han Zigao's expression suddenly changed.

Chen Shili laughed again, "Hahahaha... Everyone in the world says that you, Han Zigao, are my brother's favorite, loyal to him and unwavering. This is really a ridiculous thing. In fact, you just relied on my brother's favor to get the wealth, glory and power you wanted. In the end, you betrayed him and fell in love with another woman."

"Emperor Wen has shown me kindness and recognition, not what you think."

"In fact, I don't care about the things between you and my brother. I care about another thing. As long as you tell me, I can spare your life. Are you still unwilling to tell me?"

Han Zigao sneered and closed his eyes.

"You can kill me if you want. Since Emperor Wen is dead and I have repaid my debt of gratitude, there is really no point in me living on in this world."

Chen Shili then asked, "You don't care about your wife and children anymore?"

Han Zigao's face changed, and a hint of fear and pleading appeared in his eyes.

"They are innocent. I can admit that I committed treason and take all the blame, but please don't implicate my family."

"Then write down everything you know."

After Chen Shili finished saying this, he walked towards Xiao Jinyu, laughed loudly, walked through her body and left.

Seeing that the man's figure had disappeared at the end of the corridor, Xiao Jinyu turned her head to look at Han Zigao who was standing in the cell with his hands behind his back, but saw tears in the eyes of this handsome man who was as handsome as a woman.

He stood in the cell for a long time, and suddenly murmured, "Aluan, I'm sorry, I have harmed you in this life."

After saying this, he picked up a wine glass, which contained fine amber wine with a slightly reddish hue.

Xiao Jinyu knew that it was the golden wine bestowed by the emperor, specially given to the guilty officials to drink.

"The only solution to worries is Du Kang."

Just as she was about to grab the wine cup from his hand, she heard him say something with a smile, then raised his head and drank it down in one gulp.

"Brother Qing——"

Someone was pushing her. Hearing the boy's call, Xiao Jinyu suddenly opened her eyes and sat up from the bed.

"Brother Qing is having a nightmare again?"

No, this is not a dream. This should be something that really happened. It was the dream she got through divination. It turned out that the truth was like this. But what did Chen Shili in the dream want to know from Han Zigao?

Who is the woman who framed my mother?