Painting Doctor Jinhua

In front of Xiao Jinyu were sheets of Saki paper, on which were written letters written in Wei's cursive script. The handwriting was elegant and graceful, and the contents of the letters were about trivial matters in life or wars, but extremely pure emotions were revealed between the lines.

"Your Majesty has ordered me to fight Liu Yi. I followed Hou Andu to station troops at the foot of Taozhiling Rock. Three days later, I led a battalion of soldiers to charge into the enemy camp. I was injured in the left neck. Fortunately, Aluan saved my life..."

"The Queen has now instigated Your Majesty to grant a marriage between Princess Yuhua and me. Your Majesty has asked me about my wishes, but I have not agreed..."

"..."

After reading all these letters, Xiao Jinyu understood that these were letters written by Han Zigao to his mother, Xiao. She did not expect that Xiao had been in contact with Han Zigao for a long time.

"Yes, actually, before A-luan entered the palace, she had met General Han several times. A-luan liked to study medicine and often traveled among the people to treat children who were homeless due to the war. At that time, General Han was just a humble commoner who lived in Jingkang to avoid the Hou Jing Rebellion. He met A-luan, who was also taking refuge in Jingkang. General Han was also a gentle person. The two of them had compassion for the suffering of the people, so they often went together to collect herbs or treat the disabled refugees.

I think that General Han probably had a crush on Aluan at that time, but Aluan was the legitimate daughter of the Xiao family after all, and a commoner without an official position like him would never dare to marry into a high-class family.

A-Luan had always considered him a friend and didn't think much about it.

But sometimes fate is so wonderful. No one could have imagined that in just two or three years, the world would undergo earth-shaking changes. After the Hou Jing Rebellion, Chen Baxian killed Wang Sengbian and proclaimed himself emperor of Liang, becoming the emperor of the Chen Dynasty in Jiankang City. When Alua saw General Han again, he was already a favorite of the previous emperor Chen Qian, and he was not as weak as the common people before. His skills of riding and shooting were already as fast as the wind. After Chen Qian succeeded to the throne, he even made him the general of the right army.

At that time, the news spread in the palace that Princess Yuhua Chen Jianchen admired General Han and became ill due to lovesickness, so the late emperor ordered A Luan to come to the palace to see a doctor. Who would have thought that within half a year, such a thing would happen..."

When Yuan Rujing said this, she looked a little sad and couldn't help covering her face and crying.

"Why did that happen? Do you know the truth?" Phoenix couldn't help but ask.

Yuan Rujing shook her head and said, "What is the truth? I'm afraid even Aluan herself doesn't know who framed her. On the day she was kicked out of the Xiao family, I went to see her. She gave me these letters written by General Han to her. You have seen these letters. There is not a single dirty word in them, let alone any desire for pleasure or love. Aluan also told me that although Princess Yuhua is ill, it is not because of lovesickness. Princess Yuhua is not good at poetry, so she asked Aluan to write a love poem for General Han.

But as time went by, General Han naturally knew that the letter was written by her, so he wrote back to Alua, telling her everything he had experienced in his life to express his longing for her.

I think Ah Luan was also moved by General Han’s sincerity, so she agreed to meet him. However, she didn’t expect that the meeting was scheduled for the morning hour. Ah Luan waited for him for a whole day but he didn’t show up. It was not until the evening hour that General Han came to Ah Luan drunk. But Ah Luan didn’t expect that General Han seemed to have become a different person at that time, and he…”

After a pause, she choked up and said, "Aluan said that she didn't blame him, he was drugged, and the other party's purpose was only to target her, and General Han was just a pawn being used.

But A Luan, she had to bear all the consequences alone. She was the eldest daughter of the Xiao family. The honor given by her status could have allowed her to live a life of luxury, and it was even very likely that she would become the queen..."

"Is it Princess Yuhua who planned this?" Fenghuang asked again.

Yuan Rujing shook her head again: "It is possible, it is possible not, the incident has already happened, Aluan was driven out of the palace, driven out of the Xiao family, and the late emperor killed most of the people who were present at the time to stop the rumors. The truth is no longer verifiable.

However, I can tell from a letter from General Han that he feels guilty about A-Luan. He even said that if A-Luan is willing, he is willing to marry into the Xiao family!"

"Marry into the Xiao family?"

"Yes!"

Yuan Rujing took out another piece of silk from her sleeve. This piece of silk was different from the Saeki papers. On it was a sentence written in blood:

Alua, I'm sorry, I have asked for permission from His Majesty. If you wish, I would like to marry into the Xiao family.

"When did he write this letter? When did it reach your hands?" Xiao Jinyu couldn't help but ask.

"It was delivered to me not long ago. In fact, in the more than ten years since Aluan went to Northern Qi, General Han has been writing letters to Aluan and sending messengers to Northern Qi, but Aluan has never replied.

This letter written in blood was probably written before he knew he would die soon. This letter was not sent to Northern Qi, but directly to me. I think General Han had already made up his mind that he would die before he wrote this letter!

As expected, not long after this letter reached me, he was sentenced to death in the court for treason."

Xiao Jinyu sneered in her heart: the so-called crime of treason is nothing more than a means for the superiors to eliminate dissidents. Han Zigao has too much military power and is loyal to the late emperor, which must make that person very uneasy!

Thinking of this, she naturally thought of Chen Shili and the scene she saw in her dream that day. What secret did Chen Shili want to learn from Han Zigao? And why did Han Zigao prefer to bear the charge of treason rather than say a word?

"Ayu, I don't know if I can call you that... Actually, General Han... He is really your father... Aluan has always been very strict with etiquette and has never had anything to do with anyone privately. General Han... is her only man..."

Seeing Xiao Jinyu lost in thought and seemed to have doubts, Yuan Rujing suddenly held her hand and spoke as if to comfort her.

"I know. My appearance forces me to admit that my father is Han Zigao." Xiao Jinyu said.

Yuan Rujing looked up in astonishment, staring at Xiao Jinyu's face which looked exactly like Xiao Luan's. She asked in confusion, "Your appearance? No, you look exactly like A Luan. Could it be that you..."

Xiao Jinyu did not answer directly, but changed the subject: "You just said that General Han sent letters to my mother during the more than ten years my mother was in the north?"

"Yes!"

"But there is not a single letter from him among my mother's belongings, only a brocade handkerchief..." After saying that, he asked Fenghuang to take out the brocade handkerchief and hand it to Yuan Rujing.

Yuan Rujing opened the handkerchief and read it word by word: "People say that the round fan is like the full moon, but you say that the full moon is not always full. I wish that Yanzhou would be free of frost, and that I could walk in and out of the city with joy for thousands of years." After reading it, she looked at Xiao Jinyu in surprise and said, "This is a letter from Princess Yuhua Chen Jianchen to General Han. Why would Alua keep this?"

Chen Jianchen?

Xiao Jinyu suddenly became suspicious and took the handkerchief back to look at it again and again.

At this time, Yuan Rujing said: "Alua didn't hate General Han at all, and even had feelings for him. How could she not keep General Han's keepsake, or...did she not receive the letter General Han wrote to her at all?"

Xiao Jinyu naturally didn't know that although she could occasionally recall some scenes of the original owner and her mother Xiao getting along with each other in her mind these days, they were all extremely blurry images, so blurry that she couldn't even see Xiao's face clearly.

Whether Xiao has feelings for Han Zigao, perhaps only she herself knows her feelings best. However, she probably has many secrets that are unknown to others.

"Whether it was received or not, the person is gone and everything has disappeared!" Thinking of this, she smiled bitterly.

Yuan Rujing's face suddenly turned pale, and her expression once again revealed deep sadness. She couldn't help but cry and blame herself again.

"I never thought that after we parted outside the city gate, we would never see each other again. I feel so guilty towards Ah Luan. If I could have said a few words for her like Ah Yu did today, or told her the truth, would Ah Luan not have…"

Seeing her mother crying in regret, the little girl Ayuan came running over and seemed sad too. She held her mother's hand and comforted her, "Don't cry, mother. If you are sad, Ayuan will be sad too."

Yuan Rujing immediately stroked her daughter's hand, burst into laughter, and replied very gently: "Okay, mother won't cry anymore. Ayuan, you should go play with sister Axiu first. Mother still has something to say to this sister!"

"it is good!"

Ah Xiu also came over upon hearing the sound, gently pulled the little girl away, and walked towards the yard, talking and laughing.

"What you said made you feel extremely guilty was that you did not tell the truth or say a word for my mother back then?" Xiao Jinyu continued to ask after the little girl walked away.

Yuan Rujing lowered her eyes sadly: "Yes, when something like that happened, all the noble families were silent. My father even put me under house arrest and did not allow me to enter the Xiao family again. My father said that this was a warning from the Chen royal family to the noble families. Anyone who dared to speak a word for Xiao's Aluan would be courting death! So I never showed up from beginning to end... Even though I knew everything about Aluan and General Han... I knew that Aluan was framed..."

"It's not your fault. Even if you said it, no one would hear you... So, you don't need to feel guilty or blame yourself."

Hearing Xiao Jinyu's words, Yuan Rujing's eyes lit up with an incredible light of gratitude.

"You don't blame me? Ah Luan, you really don't blame me..."

She looked at Xiao Jinyu with a dazed expression. After a long while, she seemed to wake up and laughed at herself, "No, you are not A-luan, you are her daughter A-yu..."

Seeing that she was absent-minded, Xiao Jinyu became suspicious and asked again, "So, where is the imperial edict that General Han asked the late emperor for? Do you know?"