Peach Blossom.

On the day when Situ Wangyi was buried, his wife Xiao Rui also passed away. This incident spread out of the Situ Mansion and became a strange and bizarre story.

However, Empress Dowager Meng quickly spread the news to the outside world, saying that Xiao Rui had been bedridden for a long time, and had already consumed most of his energy and blood. She could no longer hold on after suffering the blow of her husband's death.

Since it was a fact that Xiao Rui had been bedridden for four years, this seemingly reasonable explanation was easily accepted.

When the news reached Meixiangxie, Tao Ye knew that Wang Yi's death was fake, so how could she believe that Xiao Rui followed suit because he was hit hard?

Tao Ye couldn't figure out what was going on here, and she really wanted to go and take a look.

So, she came to see Shen Hui and pleaded, "I heard that Madam Situ passed away. I want to go and pay my respects. Can I take a day off?"

Shen Hui was sitting on a mat, fanning herself with a round fan. After hearing this, she smiled faintly, her eyes full of doubt: "As far as I know, when you were at the Wang family, Madam Situ didn't seem to treat you very well. Are you sure you want to go and pay tribute to her?"

Tao Ye thought to herself that Shen Hui must be worried that she would run away as soon as she left the house, so she vowed to Shen Hui: "Don't worry, I won't take the opportunity to run away. I will work hard to make money to pay you back the money I owe you. But, after all, I have been a daughter-in-law of the Wang family. How can I not go to pay my respects to my mother-in-law when she dies?"

After hearing this, Shen Hui smiled again: "If that's the case, why didn't you go to pay your respects when Master Situ was buried?"

Tao Ye was stunned. Her logical thinking ability was really poor and she couldn't even find a coherent excuse.

"Is it... because Lord Situ's death was faked, but Madam is really dead?" Shen Hui looked at Tao Ye, still with a faint smile on her face.

Tao Ye was shocked: "You...how did you know?"

"In Jiankang, there are few things I don't know." Shen Hui put down the fan, poured herself a cup of tea from the table, and took a sip slowly: "Wang Situ pretended to be sick and left Beijing more than ten years ago. The so-called "death" was just because he didn't want to come back."

Tao Ye sighed. She thought that someone like Shen Hui, who could even choose not to take the position of Queen, must be a powerful figure. It should not be surprising that she was well-informed.

Before she knew it, Tao Ye asked Shen Hui, "You know so much, so you must also know the real cause of Mrs. Situ's death, right?"

Shen Hui nodded, and chuckled as if chatting, "This is no secret. It has been spread among the people long ago. Madam Situ suffers from asthma and cannot stand spicy food. The princess killed herself with a handful of chili powder."

"What?" Tao Ye's eyes widened in shock. "She is a first-rank imperial lady and nominally the princess' mother-in-law. How could this be possible?"

"The princess did something really excessive this time, and the Empress Dowager reprimanded her for it. However..." Shen Hui waved her small round fan again and sighed slightly: "In the past in the palace, you also knew that no matter what the princess did wrong, the Empress Dowager's accusations were just a formality, and she would always clean up her mess in the end."

"Then why did the princess go so far this time?" Tao Ye was very curious.

Shen Hui raised her head and looked at Tao Ye, smiling: "It's all because of you. The prince consort came back to Beijing to look for you, but heard from the people in the Flower Garden that you committed suicide because of humiliation. He was so angry that he beat the princess. How could the princess be beaten for nothing? She will repay a vengeance a hundredfold, that's how she is!"

After hearing the reason, Tao Ye felt a pang of pain in her heart. Didn't she implicate Xiao Rui?

She remembered the last time she visited Xiao Rui. Xiao Rui held her hand and showed her Yu'er's dowry. She always remembered Xiao Rui's hopeful eyes.

Shen Hui seemed to see through Tao Ye's thoughts and smiled, "Don't worry, the Meng mother and daughter are so capable, it won't be long before they die, and Madam Situ's revenge will be avenged."

Tao Ye shook her head. What she hoped was that Xiao Rui could live well, not whether the Meng mother and daughter could get retribution.

She pleaded with Shen Hui again: "I still want to go and pay my respects to Madam Situ."

Shen Hui smiled, her eyes became much kinder and gentler: "It's not that I don't want you to go. Look, the princess treats her mother-in-law like this, what will she do if she sees you again? I know you have supernatural powers, but you are only one person after all. The princess can have thousands of troops behind her, and you are safest only if you stay with me."

Tao Ye knew that Shen Hui said these words for her own good, but when she found out that Xiao Rui's death was related to her, she really wanted to pay tribute and apologize.

"Even if you go to the Wang family and are lucky enough not to run into the princess, the other people in the Wang family won't welcome you. The eldest son of the Wang family has already regarded you as half a murderer. And your beloved lover, will his daughter hate you even more? Don't go and make others hate you. If something goes wrong, you will have to ask me to stand up for you."

Tao Ye nodded, she felt that what Shen Hui said made sense.

Come to think of it, wasn't it because Yu'er was giving her a hard time all day long that she chose to leave Yongchang early and return to Jiankang?

As for Wang Dun, he had long held a grudge against her, no matter whether she was Mantangjiao or Taoye. The last time he allowed her to stay was entirely because of Xiao Rui's illness. Now that Xiao Rui was dead, Wang Dun's attitude could be imagined.

Also, she noticed another sentence Shen Hui said, that Wang Jing would look for her as soon as he returned to Beijing. What did this mean?

Wang Jing slept in bed for a day and a night, and finally opened his eyes.

The only one with him was Wang Ao.

"Second brother, are you awake?" Wang Ao raised a slight smile.

Wang Jing slowly sat up and thought for a long time before he slowly remembered what happened before he fell asleep.

Wang Ao supported Wang Jing's shoulders and comforted him, "Don't blame yourself for listening to your elder brother. I know mother's illness best. Even if this incident hadn't happened, she wouldn't have lived for many more years."

Wang Jing lowered his head. He could not agree with what Wang Ao said. Everyone will die one day, but who doesn't want to live a few more years?

He pondered Wang Ao's words and felt something was wrong: "In your mother's eyes, you are the most filial one. If she could live a few more years, isn't that what you want most?"

Wang Ao did not answer.

Wang Jing asked again: "You are at home preparing for your mother's funeral, right? Why are you staying with me instead of going to mourn in front of the coffin?"

"I don't want to see my brother." Wang Ao said suddenly.

Wang Jing was even more surprised: "What's wrong with you?"

Wang Ao didn't answer again.

Wang Jing asked tentatively: "Because he hit you?"

Wang Ao just smiled coldly.

Wang Jing took a deep breath and seemed to understand: "It seems that you two haven't been getting along well in the four years I've been away from home."

"Just because I studied medicine, is it my duty to take care of my mother?" Wang Ao smiled, but couldn't stop laughing: "Whenever my mother gets sick, she scolds me if I'm not there. Don't I need to go out? Do I have to stay at home every day and night?"

Wang Jing reached out and touched Wang Ao's face, and he realized that Wang Ao was crying.

Wang Ao pushed Wang Jing's hand away: "I think you probably all overlooked my age. When you were my age, you were already fathers, but I am still single. My mother is seriously ill, who would care about me?"

Wang Jing comforted him, "Logically, your sister-in-law should have found a marriage for you. She might have been too busy and neglected it..."

"Don't mention your sister-in-law!" Wang Ao interrupted Wang Jing, still in a resentful tone: "Ever since I lost my job as the chief physician, she has been telling the servants to cut costs every few days. Is she killing a chicken to scare the monkeys?"

Wang Jing didn't know what to say and just sighed.

"I've made up my mind. My mother is gone anyway. After my mother's funeral, I'm going to leave home and travel around. I'm going to be a barefoot doctor. Can't I support myself? I don't want to rely on anyone's help!"

Wang Jing nodded, silently calculating the future lifeline of the Wang family: "Perhaps, you can go to find your father as soon as possible. My eldest brother has an official position, which makes it very inconvenient. It is easier for you to leave, and if you leave, it counts as one."

Wang Ao didn't pay much attention to Wang Jing's intentions, but just planned his own things: "I also want to go find my father, but before leaving Beijing, I have to find Tao Ye first."

"Looking for Tao Ye?" Wang Jing was a little puzzled.

Wang Ao felt that it was time to show his cards. He showed an extremely serious attitude and told Wang Jing: "When we find Tao Ye, if you can take good care of her in the future, I will respect her as my sister-in-law. If you can't take good care of her, I will take care of her for you."

"You like peach leaves?" Wang Jing was surprised.

Wang Ao smiled helplessly: "Everyone knows that I like her, only you are a big fool!"

Wang Jing was stunned for a while, then shook his head: "No. We are brothers, she has been my woman, if you marry her, what will happen?"

"I do not care."

"I care."

"It's useless for you to care." Wang Ao responded very quickly. He looked at Wang Jing seriously, thinking that what he said made sense: "You don't have the final say, but hers. You only know how to miss your first wife and care about your daughter's feelings. You ignore her feelings and haven't touched her for four years. What qualifications do you have to ask about her affairs?"

Wang Jing was surprised again: "She actually told you something like this?"

"So what?" Wang Ao said nonchalantly.

Wang Jing didn't know what else to say. He remembered the day Tao Ye left Yongchang and handed him a letter of divorce.

Since she had divorced him, he certainly had no right to interfere in her affairs.

Facing Wang Ao again, he suddenly felt very awkward.

He forced a smile and said to Wang Ao, "We can't sit in the house all the time. You should go to your mother's coffin and do your part."

Wang Ao asked: "Shouldn't you go?"

"I need to change my clothes and clean up. You go first."

Wang Ao nodded and left Wang Jing's room.

After walking out of the room, Wang Ao felt that Wang Jing seemed to have deliberately sent him away, so he did not leave immediately, but hid in a corner of the wall.

Sure enough, as he expected, after Wang Jing changed his clothes, he did not go to the mourning hall, but walked in another direction.

Wang Ao followed quietly, and saw Wang Jing, leaning on a cane, slowly walked out of the back door and walked towards the street.

He couldn't guess where Wang Jing was going at the moment, so he followed Wang Jing closely and followed him quietly.