Above the source of Tao

When Chu Jiangruan learned the news about Jiang Qinyi, he wanted to go to Hualing City to see her immediately, but at the same time, he received bad news that his father was critically ill. His mother confined him to the palace to accompany his father every day.

His father's name was Chu Hongxuan. He ascended the throne when he was nearly 38 years old. He married a woman from the Cai family and became queen. In the third year, Chu Jiangruan was born.

His father, King Chu Hongxuan, worked hard throughout his life to reform internal affairs and recommend capable people to govern the country. In nearly twenty years, the Chu Zhao Dynasty surpassed the surrounding royal cities and became a powerful dynasty.

Under the leadership of Chu Hongxuan, they conquered the surrounding cities of all sizes, and expanded the territory more than ten times compared to his father's generation, and his sons were also granted titles and appointed generals in various places.

Therefore, he devoted all his energy to the country, which led to overwork, depletion of qi and blood, and he fell seriously ill after only 23 years in office.

As the crown prince, Chu Jiangruan naturally could not leave the palace during this period of time, so the search for Jiang Qinyi was delayed.

In the spring of the following year, Chu Hongxuan passed away. The crown prince succeeded to the throne and mourned for three years. The entire Chu Zhao Dynasty was buried with him. The entire dynasty could only wear white clothes for three years. Apart from white clothes, no one was allowed to wear clothes of other colors.

Three years after Chu Jiangruan ascended the throne, he changed the country's name to Jingheng, which was the first year of Jingheng.

Chu Jiangruan, also known as King Chu Jingheng, was ordered by the Queen Mother to marry Cai Sihui, the daughter of the Minister of State. She gave birth to the eldest son, Chu Kangyuan, and he canonized Cai as the queen.

In the seventh year of Jingheng, Chu Jiangruan went north incognito for two purposes. The first was to check the attitudes of the princes and generals in various places. The second and most important one was to find Jiang Qinyi.

In August, Chu Jiangruan came to Hualing City. After several twists and turns, he finally found Jiang Qinyi. At this time, the Jiang family had fallen into decline. Just because of the king's words that he would not wear colorful clothes for three years, the Jiang family lost most of their property overnight. If it were not for the city lord who came forward to coordinate, a small part of the property would have been saved, allowing the Jiang family to survive.

But Jiang Qinyi's father was so angry about this that he vomited blood and died. Since then, the Jiang family has declined.

The city lord who showed up was Chu Jiangruan’s half-brother, Marquis of Hualing, Chu Jiangan.

When Chu Jiangruan saw Jiang Qinyi again, she no longer had her former lively and cheerful personality. Instead, her face was full of sorrow, as if she was about to die.

Chu Jiangruan felt even more distressed, so he brought her back to the palace and made her his concubine. In the fourth year, she gave birth to Chu Xiaoxiao. Chu Xiaoxiao was Chu Jiangruan's sixth child, so she was the Sixth Prince.

However, the queen, the imperial concubine, and even the Zhaoyi and Shurong in the backyard of the palace were all descendants of princes, generals, and high-ranking officials. Only Chu Xiaoxiao's mother was born a commoner. Everyone looked down on her and she was often excluded and suppressed.

Even Chu Xiaoxiao was affected and was bullied by other princes and highnesses of the same age.

However, Chu Jiangruan still ran to Jiang Qinyi's palace every night, which made other people in the harem dissatisfied, until finally even the queen saw it and became dissatisfied.

In the seventeenth year of Jingheng, when Chu Xiaoxiao was six years old, Marquis Hualing launched a mutiny. Chu Jiangan took control of the seven huge cities in the north, held military power, and became extremely powerful.

By the time Chu Jiangruan discovered it, it was already too late, so he immediately organized people to attack Hualing City.

The following year, Chu Jiangruan defeated Hualing Marquis Chu Jiangan by relying on the fact that his army outnumbered his own.

Before, their Jiang family benefited from Chu Jiangan, so Chu Xiaoxiao's mother came out to plead for Chu Jiangan, but Chu Jiangruan was obviously in high spirits, and was caught in such a situation by someone else, especially his most beloved woman, so he killed Chu Jiangan in anger.

In addition, the concubines in the harem had been whispering in Chu Jiangruan's ears, and they began to suspect whether Jiang Qinyi and Chu Jiangan were colluding with the enemy, so they also sent Jiang Qinyi to Hanjing Palace.

Since then, Chu Xiaoxiao never saw her mother again. When she learned that she was about to enter Hanjing Palace, she contacted Gao Qingyue and asked him to take Chu Xiaoxiao away.

In the past ten years, Gao Qingyue came to Shangyang Sect by accident. Relying on his own talent, he entered the Sea of ​​Transformation Realm in just a dozen years and became an elder of Shangyang Sect.

Upon learning what happened to his good friend Jiang Qinyi, he rushed to Chuzhao Royal City to pick up Chu Xiaoxiao.

Chu Xiaoxiao gazed into the distance, her thoughts gradually coming back to her senses. This time she came back she must go see her mother and bring him out of the Chu Zhao Dynasty. Perhaps she had already forgotten her master's instructions to her and put them behind her.

Looking back on my twenty-two years of life, too much pain has been left here.

Silent all night.

At noon the next day, Yun Chang'an woke up from his practice. Looking at the Yuan Crystals around his legs that had turned into powder, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. His Qi Palace was so huge that he might need more resources for future practice.

These Yuan Crystals and that Yuan Vein can’t last too long. We are still poor!

Yun Chang'an stood up, walked out of the room, turned around and came to Chu Xiaoxiao's door and knocked on it.

Yesterday, it was already dark and the luxury of this restaurant was not visible. The floor was covered with red carpets with patterns of various Yuan beasts on them, showing the luxury.

This door is also made of high-quality sandalwood, and its hollow design makes it look more noble.

Soon, Chu Xiaoxiao came out of the room with red and swollen eyes, as if she had been crying. Yun Changan still felt that Chu Xiaoxiao was a little uncomfortable coming here for the first time and did not sleep well.

According to the previous discussion, the two came to the Youran Restaurant mentioned by Han Lan. They searched for this place for a long time. Not far away from a winery in the city, they soon saw a fork in the road. There was an old locust tree beside the intersection. Under the tree, there was a large bluestone slab thrown here by someone. Every summer, a group of old people would come here to enjoy the cool and chat.

The path directly opposite the old locust tree is paved with limestone rubble. This limestone can be seen everywhere around the Chu Dynasty. It is a very common rock mine. Because it is very common, the price is not that high. People use it to pave roads.

Follow this path to the end and you will see the You Ran Restaurant mentioned by Han Lan. Although the name is inconspicuous and the location of the restaurant is very remote, many people still come here to eat and chat. The reason is that the price is reasonable, the food is delicious, and the owner of the restaurant is very friendly.

When they walked into the restaurant, the waiter noticed the two of them and came forward enthusiastically, inviting them to sit down at a table.

Although it was morning, there were still many people coming here for breakfast, which showed how busy this restaurant was. After ordering a few dishes that Han Lan mentioned, they sat there and waited.