The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

Seeing her father who was different from usual, Shen Tianjiao's heart was also infected.

Although she had never seen her mother, she could imagine what a tough, gentle and amazing woman she was.

Being able to stay in the capital alone, deal with forces from all sides, and manage the family properly is not something that an ordinary woman can do.

"My Lord, Your Majesty, everything is ready, we can begin." Since Qiu Tong was not there, Bai Yunchi took her place and became the messenger.

Shen Tianjiao held the hand of Zhenbei Hou and said, "Father, let's go. Your daughter will accompany you."

The Marquis of Zhenbei laughed heartily and said, "My daughter, let's go. Your father has survived many battles on the battlefield and has experienced all kinds of hardships. What does this little pain mean to you?"

"Just wait outside and don't go in. Dad will be fine."

The Marquis of Zhenbei didn't let Shen Tianjiao accompany him because he was afraid that the scene would be too terrifying and would scare Shen Tianjiao.

"Father."

"Be obedient. If you accompany me, Dad will be distracted." Zhenbei Hou held Shen Tianjiao's hand tightly and said, "Dad has Chen Ping and Li Song by his side, so he will be fine."

"Empress, why don't I go in and guard the Marquis in your place?" Bai Yunchi saw that Shen Tianjiao and Marquis Zhenbei were arguing, so he stepped forward to share Shen Tianjiao's worries.

Shen Tianjiao thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement. It was indeed inappropriate for her to go in. No one knew what would happen inside.

If she went in, the Marquis of Zhenbei would not only have to endure the physical pain, but also have to worry about her, which would consume double his physical strength and energy, which would be bad.

"Okay, I won't go in. I'll stay outside to guard the formation for Dad."

"Yeah." Zhenbei Hou nodded and strode away, followed closely by Bai Yunchi.

After Shen Tianjiao watched the Marquis of Zhenbei enter the inner courtyard, she turned back and instructed Shen Qing, the captain of the Marquis of Zhenbei's personal guard, "We must strengthen our defenses. No one can appear within a radius of dozens of miles."

"Don't worry, Miss. The area is under alert. Not even a bird can fly in, let alone a person."

Shen Qing is a family-born child, and was personally trained by the Marquis of Zhenbei, so his abilities are naturally beyond doubt.

"Don't make it too deliberate, or it will only arouse suspicion."

Shen Tianjiao was not calm at this time. She had too many things to worry about. She had to worry about the Marquis of Zhenbei, the outer defense, and whether something would happen in the palace while she was away.

In a word, the heart is never idle.

"Don't worry, Miss. The farms nearby all belong to our Zhenbei Marquis Mansion. My father told me that after the lady passed away, the Marquis said that the lady liked quietness and didn't like to be disturbed."

"So the Marquis asked Uncle Han to buy all the nearby farms and barren mountains."

Shen Tianjiao was stunned. Her father was really generous. There was a hot spring here. Anyone who could own a manor here must be a powerful person.

If you only have money but no power, you can only look at this place and it is impossible to buy it.

He bought all the farms and barren hills within a radius of dozens of miles. In addition to his strong financial resources, the reason why others were willing to sell was naturally because of the power of the Marquis of Zhenbei.

"You can't be careless, though. Those farms were bought from other people, and the people in them may not be reliable."

"Let's find a chance to do some inventory and replace everyone in the village with our own people."

Only by being careful can you be safe. Shen Tianjiao is now extremely careful in everything she does, because if she takes a wrong step, many people will be implicated.

"Yes, Miss, I will remember this."

In Taihe Hall, Li Rui leaned on the couch listlessly to rest. For some reason, he always felt weak all over and drowsy and wanted to sleep all the time during this period of time.

The Imperial Hospital prescribed many prescriptions to help him recuperate, but they all had little effect, making Li Rui feel irritated and uneasy.

As an emperor, what he feared most was that his body would gradually weaken while he was at the peak of his life, which would make him further away from the center of power.

A power seeker like him will feel extremely uneasy and panicked if he does not hold power in his own hands.

Li Rui attributed his poor health to what the imperial physician had said, that he had indulged too much in sensual pleasures, so he had been quite quiet recently.

Every day, I cultivate my body and mind, apart from sleeping, I occasionally play chess and take various tonics.

But what he didn't know was that the reason why his body was so weak was not only because he indulged too much in sensual pleasures, but there was also a more important reason.

That is the poisonous insect in his body, which has now been integrated into his body. As time goes by, the poisonous insect grows bigger and bigger and needs more flesh and blood to nourish it.

Li Rui took too many tonics every day, which would not only fail to make his body stronger, but would accelerate the growth of the poisonous insects and cause his body to die faster.

Li Rui, who was extremely bored staying in his own palace, started to make trouble again. Since he couldn't get a chance from Shen Tianjiao, he wanted to start with Li Muyang.

Li Rui thought that Li Muyang was his biological son after all. As long as he put in some effort and given time, Li Muyang would definitely become very close to him.

Li Muyang is close to her, so what should Shen Tianjiao be afraid of?

When the time comes, when the father and son join forces, will they still be afraid that they cannot capture Shen Tianjiao and make her go back to the way she was before?

That’s right, the shameless Pu Xin man is so blind and confident. He always thinks that he is the only one in the world and everyone else has to revolve around him.

Li Rui arrived at Yuxiu Palace. Unlike the past, the gate of Yuxiu Palace was closed today.

Li Rui stood at the gate of Yuxiu Palace, looking puzzled and thoughtful, wondering what Shen Tianjiao was going to do.

Huang Chunhua went to knock on the palace gate. After a long while, the eunuch guarding the gate finally poked his head out from the crack of the door. He looked at Huang Chunhua and said, "General Manager Huang, why are you here?"

Huang Chunhua looked at the ignorant little eunuch in front of her and was about to curse, but when she remembered that she was now at the gate of Yuxiu Palace, she swallowed the curse that was on the tip of her tongue.

"What are you still standing there for? Didn't you see the emperor coming? Why don't you open the door and welcome him? Oh, are you going to die?"

Huang Chunhua, who was so angry that he dared not vent it, was almost vomiting to death. The way he gritted his teeth and had to endure it was really rare to see him in a century.

"Master Huang, I'm afraid it's not possible now. This door can't be opened. A crane in our palace escaped from its cage today."

"Everyone in the palace is trying to catch them now. If we open the palace gate, they might fly out, and that would be even more troublesome."

The young eunuch guarding the gate looked at Huang Chunhua and spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly, as if the person standing in front of him was not the chief eunuch Huang Chunhua, and the person he was stopping was not the current emperor Li Rui.

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Huang Chunhua couldn't help but said, "Do you know what you are doing?"

"You're stopping the current emperor. How many lives do you have? Is the emperor less important than a crane in your eyes? If you don't want to die, open the door quickly. Otherwise, when the emperor is furious, it won't just be your life that's in danger."

The young eunuch guarding the palace gate looked embarrassed and said, "Master Huang, it's not that I'm so bold as to stop the emperor from coming in."

"This crane was actually raised by our ancestors. They said it was given by the late emperor as a symbol of good fortune. If we can't catch it, we'll be in big trouble."

"Ancestor? Where did this old man from Yuxiu Palace come from..." Huang Chunhua quickly swallowed back the words he had not said. He had forgotten that the person who used to live in Taihe Hall now lived in Yuxiu Palace.

She couldn't afford to offend the Empress, and he couldn't afford to offend this person even more.

Huang Chunhua looked helpless and prepared to be scolded before turning around and returning to Li Rui.

Li Rui, who was sitting on the dragon chariot, asked impatiently, "What's wrong? Why are you dawdling?"

"Your Majesty, they say that the crane in our palace has escaped, and everyone in the palace is trying to catch it. We can't go in today."

Huang Chunhua said this while glancing at Li Rui's face. This guy has a very bad temper now and he would explode at any time.

"What?" Li Rui's expression changed immediately. "Huang Chunhua, isn't that ridiculous? Do you want to listen to what you're saying?"

"Just because a crane ran away, you're going to shut me out? What? Am I now even less capable than a crane?"

"It's not Your Majesty, it's not. It's all my fault for not explaining myself clearly."

"That crane was given to that person by the late emperor. It's the one that's said to bring blessings and good fortune."

Huang Chunhua was so anxious that cold sweat broke out on his head. He was really afraid of being scolded by his master and was afraid that he would have to endure Li Rui's wrath again if he was not careful.

Li Rui was about to curse, but when he heard that it was the crane given by his father, he had no choice but to hold back his curse.

"How can I raise one then? They turned me away just for a crane. Who gave them the guts to do that? Does the Queen know?"

It is obvious that he has already lost most of the momentum, but he still insists on saving face and suffers. No one gives him face, but he still wants to maintain his face.

"Well, probably, I guess I know." Huang Chunhua didn't dare to breathe and said cautiously.

"What do you mean by 'approximately'? You probably know, right? You old fool, you can't even figure this out. What use is there to me if I don't have you?"

Li Rui could only vent his anger on Huang Chunhua. After all, in Yuxiu Palace, there were Shen Tianjiao and Ruan Yuhu, neither of these two women was someone he could afford to offend.

In Yuxiu Palace, Qiong Niang and Ruan Yuhu almost simultaneously received the news that Li Rui was stopped at the palace gate.

"Ah!" Qiong Niang sighed and said helplessly, "He's really haunting me. How could he be so annoying? He comes here every day and then gets rejected. Doesn't he have any respect at all?"

Li Rui used to value his reputation above all else, but how did he become so shameless now? It was truly a headache and disgusting.

"What should we do now? How can we get rid of him?" Although Chunchao had been able to take care of herself a long time ago, she was still a little panicked and at a loss without Shen Tianjiao around.

"Don't panic, let me think about it carefully." Qiong Niang was also worried. Based on her understanding of Li Rui, this man was not so easy to get rid of.

The news that the crane given by the late emperor had escaped was actually released by Qiong Niang. Shen Tianjiao was not in the palace, so she came up with this trick to reduce unnecessary trouble.

After all, the crane was a gift from the late emperor, and its owner was Ruan Yuhu. Using this incident as an excuse, anyone with a bit of common sense would not dare to cause trouble.

But I never thought that I would meet such a shameless person like Li Rui. Not only did I fail to stop the trouble, but now it has become even more troublesome. Oh, it really gives Yan a headache.

When Ruan Yuhu heard the report, she laughed so hard that she spat out the tea in her mouth. That girl was really talented. She could use anything else as a cover, but she chose to use her crane as a cover.

Fortunately, she usually stays at home and rarely goes out. Others don’t know that her crane is extremely well-behaved. Don’t even think about letting it run around. Even if you hit it with a stick, it won’t move away from its little lake.

"Master, what should we do now?"

"What else can we do? Go catch that crane and throw it away. We can't let anyone catch us lying. Jiaojiao'er isn't in the palace right now. If things get out of hand, it will be troublesome."

Ruan Yuhu put down the teacup in his hand, stood up and said, "Let's go and take a look. Even if the emperor is still ignorant, he will still give me some face."

When Ju Ruo helped Ruan Yuhu to the front yard, they met Qiong Niang and Chunchao.

Seeing Ruan Yuhu, Qiong Niang and Chun Chao hurried over to pay their respects, "Greetings to the old ancestor."

"Well, get up." Ruan Yuhu looked at the two of them and asked knowingly, "What are you two going to do in such a hurry?"

Qiong Niang and Chunchao looked at each other, not knowing how to answer this question. They couldn't tell the bad things they had done in front of the person in charge, right?

"What's wrong? Why aren't you talking?" Ruan Yuhu was puzzled as he looked at the two people in front of him. These two were usually the most stable, so why did they act so stupidly today and do such a foolish thing?

"Grandpa, I've gotten into trouble." Seeing that she couldn't escape, Qiong Niang simply steeled herself and stepped forward to admit her mistake.

"What trouble have you gotten into?" Ruan Yuhu looked at the two of them, still smiling.

"I, I, I..." Qiong Niang still found it difficult to speak.

"How could you two be so reckless?" Seeing Qiong Niang's embarrassed look, Ruan Yuhu couldn't bear to embarrass her anymore.

"You, you know everything." Qiong Niang's face turned red and she lowered her head, not daring to look at Ruan Yuhu.

"You want to use my influence to suppress these people in the palace. There is nothing wrong with that, but have you ever considered that the Emperor, who is still in power, is someone whom I might not be able to suppress even with my influence?"

"Even if I use my power to suppress him, how can I resolve the rumors in the harem?"

The emperor was blocked outside Yuxiu Palace. If this matter were to get out, the unlucky person would naturally be Shen Tianjiao.