Peach Blossom.

When Wang Jing heard this, he suddenly felt his mind go blank and he felt dizzy. He took two steps back and almost fell down.

"Second brother...Second brother..." Wang Ao hurriedly supported Wang Jing.

Si Yao was startled, and hurried over, nervously grabbing Wang Jing's arm: "Are you...are you okay?"

Wang Jing's chest was burning with anger, and he suddenly punched Si Yao in the face.

Si Yao was caught off guard and fell to the ground. When he was about to stand up, he felt pain in his nose. He reached out and touched it, and found that both nostrils were bleeding.

"You...you dare to hit me?" Si Yao roared.

Several maids came to help Si Yao up and wiped the blood from his nose with handkerchiefs. There was a flurry of activity.

Wang Jing wanted to cut Si Yao into pieces, so how could he stop with just one punch? He immediately swung his cane and hit Si Yao again.

Si Yao screamed in fright.

The maids tried their best to stop them, shouting outside: "Hurry up! The prince consort wants to kill the princess!"

Wang Ao saw the guards rushing in from outside and hurriedly grabbed Wang Jing and said, "If he's alive, we need to see him. If he's dead, we need to see his body. Why don't we go ask Shihua Pavilion where they buried him first?"

Wang Jing nodded, and the two of them turned around and walked out.

A group of guards stood at the door with swords in hand, looking at each other, but none of them dared to attack Wang Jing.

"Get out of the way." Wang Jing shouted loudly, and pushed the guards away and walked out.

Si Yao yelled at Wang Jing's back: "Stop right there!"

Wang Jing and Wang Ao ignored him and walked faster instead.

After leaving the palace, Wang Ao said to Wang Jing, "The Flower House is not close. We'd better borrow two horses nearby and then hurry over."

Wang Jing responded, "I have seldom been out in Yongchang these past few years. I haven't ridden a horse for a long time, so I am already rusty. Just lend me a horse and I will ride with you."

Wang Ao nodded and went to find a horse nearby.

As he walked on the road, Wang Ao felt confused. For a moment he was thinking about what the princess said about Tao Ye being dead, and he wondered whether it was true or not. Then he thought about the scene when Wang Jing paid homage to the Empress Dowager in Anshou Hall, which was really a bit outrageous.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong, and the more he felt that Wang Jing was abnormal.

He recalled that when Wang Jing first arrived home and got off the carriage, he stood there for a long time. Then, after Yu'er came to greet him, Wang Jing came over and spoke, as if he was slow to react.

He also recalled that when he went to visit his mother last night, there was no surprise on Wang Jing's face.

Xiao Rui has lost weight rapidly in the past few years. Everyone who comes to visit him is shocked and sighs. Wang Jing hasn't seen his mother for four years. How could he be so calm when facing the changes in his mother when he sees her?

They arrived not far from the entrance of Shihua Pavilion. As soon as they dismounted, several heavily made-up girls came to greet them and took Wang Ao's arm, saying, "Isn't this the third son of the Wang family?"

They saw Wang Jing on crutches again and speculated: "Could this person... be the prince consort?"

As they were talking, the girls also came to pull Wang Jing.

Wang Jing had never been to a brothel before, and felt very uncomfortable with such enthusiasm. He quickly pushed the girls away and asked Wang Ao, "Are you familiar with them?"

"No, no... I've only been here once before, and I was dragged here by a friend. I have never spent the night here..." Wang Ao seemed a little nervous when he explained.

Wang Jing was half-believing and half-doubting, and didn't pay much attention to it. He just asked: "I won't go into such a place. Call the boss out and interrogate him outside."

Wang Ao nodded, and then smiled and said to the girls: "We have something important to do. Sisters, please call your mother out. My second brother has something to ask."

The girls found it very boring and had to go in and call their mother.

When the madam learned that it was the prince consort who came to question her, she hurried out and greeted Wang Jing and Wang Ao outside the door with a smile on her face.

Wang Ao asked, "More than a month ago, did the princess send a girl named Tao Ye to you?"

"Tao... Taoye?" The madam seemed to be at a loss, and stammered, "I... I don't seem to remember very well..."

Wang Jing could tell it was an excuse and felt very angry: "Don't you remember whether the princess came to send someone off? Do you want us to bring you to the princess for a confrontation?"

“Yes, yes, yes…” The madam was in a very difficult situation. She had already told the princess’s housekeeper Zhao Si that Tao Ye had jumped off the building and died. Now it was difficult for her to change her story. She had no choice but to bite the bullet and lie: “She…she jumped off the building and died…”

Wang Jing had already guessed what the madam would say. To verify the truth, he could only ask, "Where is it buried?"

"Bury..." The madam looked at Wang Ao, then at Wang Jing, her tongue knotted again: "I... I can't remember..."

Wang Jing's eyes were still dull, and he asked coldly, "If you really can't remember, why don't you come to our house and think about it slowly, how about that?"

The madam was even more frightened after hearing Wang Jing's words: "No... no need, let me think about it... let me think about it again..."

After hesitating for a while, she asked Wang Ao in a low voice, "Who is Miss Taoye to the Prince Consort?"

Wang Ao didn't know how to describe Tao Ye's identity, so he gave a relatively reasonable answer: "She is my second brother's concubine."

"The princess'...concubine?" The madam was completely confused this time. If she said Taoye was fine, she would be deceiving the princess; if she continued to lie, she would be offending the princess's husband.

"Oh... I feel so dizzy..." The madam's eyes suddenly rolled up and she fainted backwards onto the shoulder of a girl.

"Oh no, my mother's old illness has come back again. Please ask the Prince Consort and the Third Young Master to come and ask about her another day!" Several girls hurriedly helped the madam go back and avoided Wang Jing and Wang Ao.

Seeing this, Wang Ao thought that the madam must be pretending to be unconscious.

He immediately felt much more relieved, and analyzed with Wang Jing: "Before coming here, I was thinking that the Shihua Pavilion has been in business for many years, and there has never been a case of a girl being forced to death. Moreover, Sister Taoye is different from ordinary people, how could she die easily? Looking at this, I think that they must have let Taoye escape accidentally, and then they couldn't report to the princess, so they just said she was dead."

"But if she escaped and is free, why didn't she come and tell us?" Wang Jing was still worried and full of doubts.

Wang Ao glanced at Wang Jing, and thinking of Tao Ye's complaints, he couldn't help but mock Wang Jing: "You don't care about her anyway, so no matter where she goes, is it necessary for her to come all the way to tell you?"

Wang Jing lowered his head, turned around silently, and walked back with crutches.

Wang Ao walked by, leading his horse, and questioned Wang Jinglai: "I heard that you two worshiped heaven and earth in Yongchang. Do you really want to marry her?"

Wang Jing did not answer.

Wang Ao looked at Wang Jing who was walking without saying anything, and couldn't help but feel angry for Tao Ye. He shouted, "If you don't like her, don't take up her position and waste her youth! Someone has liked her for many years, and they are just waiting for you to make room for her!"

Wang Jing suddenly stopped.

Wang Ao also stopped and felt uncomfortable. He thought, after all, they were brothers, and it might not be appropriate to say such things openly.

"Are you talking about Chen Ji?" Wang Jing finally spoke, but shook his head: "No. If he covets Tao Ye, I can't make room for him."

"Ah?" Wang Ao was stunned and didn't know how to continue the conversation.

He stared at Wang Jing blankly, only to see Wang Jing put away his cane and slowly mount his horse, never once looking at him.

Wang Ao had no choice but to mount the horse, pull the reins listlessly, and find his way back home.

As the sun was setting, they dismounted at the back door of Situ's mansion, only to find the door wide open. Wang Ao wanted to ask a servant to take the horse away, but there was not even a gatekeeper.

Something seems to be wrong at home.

Wang Ao walked quickly into the back door and saw the floor in a mess, with scattered fragments everywhere, including porcelain vases, jade and jadeite, as well as broken flowers, plants and branches, all scattered on the ground.

Wang Jing also walked in and stepped on a piece of broken porcelain. The pain in his foot almost made him fall.

Wang Ao hurriedly helped Wang Jing up and once again looked into his eyes: "Second brother, can't you see the sharp porcelain pieces on the ground?"

Wang Jing didn't say anything.

Wang Ao took another look at the messy yard and recalled the night when the princess first got married. Because Wang Jing went out to look for his ex-wife on his wedding night, the princess had everyone smash everything in the yard to pieces. This was the scene before his eyes.

But the difference was that that time, the princess went to sleep after smashing things, and Zhou Yunniang and the servants spent half a day cleaning up.

This time there were still a lot of rubbish on the ground, but there was not a single servant.

Wang Jing and Wang Ao walked a little further inside when they heard faint crying sounds coming from the west yard. They became alert and walked towards the west yard.

Sure enough, almost everyone was in the west courtyard, and there were sobbing sounds everywhere.

Several maids saw Wang Jing and Wang Ao and cried out, "Second Master, Third Master, you are finally back..."

Wang Ao asked hurriedly, "Did the princess come here?"

As Wang Ao's voice fell, Xiao Rui's door was opened.

Yu'er ran out of the house, rushed into Wang Jing's arms, and asked crying, "Daddy, why did you come back so late? Grandma has been talking about you just now..."

Wang Dun also appeared at the door of Xiao Rui's room, staring at Wang Jing and Wang Ao with tearful eyes: "You two still remember to come back?"

Wang Jing was panicked when he heard this. He grabbed Yu'er and said in a trembling voice, "Your grandmother...she...what happened to her?"

"The bastard princess just came and threw a handful of chili powder on grandma's face. Before the doctor arrived, grandma had already died..." Yu'er said, crying bitterly.

Wang Jing suddenly felt disappointed.

Wang Ao ran to Xiao Rui's door in panic, but before he could even enter, he was slapped by Wang Dun and fell to the ground.

"Didn't you study medicine for your mother? Where were you when your mother needed you? I couldn't find you anywhere. I went to find a doctor outside, but do you think it's too late?" Wang Dun roared, tears streaming down his face.

Wang Ao already understood that it was too late. He squeezed past Wang Dun and entered the room. He saw Zhou Yunniang and her two children, Wang Geng and Wang Huan, all crying like tearful people, while Xiao Rui was lying quietly with a pale face.

His head felt like it was struck by thunder. He remembered that last night his mother was looking forward to reuniting with his father whom she had not seen for more than ten years, but now she no longer had that chance. He burst into tears.

Wang Jing listened to Wang Ao's crying and staggered forward a few steps.

Wang Dun came over and slapped Wang Jing in the face as well: "How can you be so capable of attacking the princess? Why can't you protect your family?"

Wang Jing was supported by Yu'er and did not fall down. He just stood there with an expressionless face, like an empty shell.

Wang Dun pointed at Wang Ao who was inside the house and Wang Jing who lived outside, and said bitterly: "You, you always think I am too old-fashioned, and you look down on my "knowledge of the times". I want to ask, with your tempers and personalities, who can support this family?"

Zhou Yunniang walked out of the room and advised Wang Dun: "Don't say it, they are as heartbroken as you are, they don't want this to happen..."

Wang Dun interrupted Zhou Yunniang and roared like thunder: "They were all bewitched by that vixen! They are all accomplices in the death of my mother!"

These two sentences were like a sharp sword hitting Wang Jing's head. He remembered too many things in an instant: Mantangjiao was forced to leave home and died innocently; Yu'er was disfigured and was rejected by her husband's family before she even got married; Taoye's secret was lost without a trace; his mother's life...

"What sin have I committed?" Wang Jing asked in a low voice. He didn't know who he was asking. He suddenly burst into laughter and couldn't stop laughing.

Yu'er looked at him and was terrified: "Daddy..."

Everyone was frightened when they saw Wang Jing's crazy laughter. He looked up to the sky and laughed, and his laughter spread in all directions. Soon, he fainted on the ground.