The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

Li Muyang quietly pushed open the door and saw Shen Tianjiao resting with her eyes closed on a chair, so he slipped in quietly.

When Li Muyang pushed the door open, Shen Tianjiao knew it, but she deliberately closed her eyes and pretended not to know.

Li Muyang tiptoed to behind Shen Tianjiao, stretched out his little hands to cover Shen Tianjiao's eyes, and then lowered his voice and said cutely: "Guess who I am? Oh!"

Shen Tianjiao grabbed Li Muyang's arms with both hands and lifted him up. Before Li Muyang could even exclaim, he had already fallen steadily into Shen Tianjiao's arms.

Li Muyang, still in shock, put his arms around Shen Tianjiao's neck and whispered softly, "Mother, how did you know it was me?"

"Mother knows it. Are there any other little tigers in Yuxiu Palace besides you?" Shen Tianjiao felt better as she hugged the little kid.

"Mother." The little girl snuggled in her mother's arms and acted coquettishly.

"Well, what's wrong?" Shen Tianjiao stroked the little bun head. She wanted to stroke it more while he was still young. It would be no fun to play with the child when he grew up.

"I made a gift for my mother and want to give it to her." The little kid looked up at his mother, his eyes shining brightly.

"Oh, you also made a gift for the Queen Mother. What was it?" Shen Tianjiao became curious. She had received many gifts in her past and present lives, but she had never received a gift from a child.

"Well, mother, wait a minute, I'll give it to you." Li Muyang jumped out of Shen Tianjiao's arms and went to get his gift.

"Here, let your mother show it to you." Li Muyang presented his gift in front of Shen Tianjiao. It was a hand-polished wooden magnolia hairpin.

When Shen Tianjiao saw the magnolia hairpin in Li Muyang's hand, she was stunned for a moment. In her previous life, when she was Chu Qingge, Yan Yu had also personally polished a wooden magnolia hairpin for her.

It was exactly the same as the hairpin in front of her, both made of agarwood, and even the carved patterns were the same. In a trance, Shen Tianjiao seemed to have returned to her previous life and saw Yan Yu holding the hairpin in his hand and smiling gently at her.

Shen Tianjiao stood up and reached out to grab the person in front of her, but he disappeared in an instant, leaving Shen Tianjiao standing there alone.

"Mother, what's wrong with you?" Li Muyang stood there looking at his mother, his face full of tears, and he was almost scared to tears.

Shen Tianjiao was startled back to her senses by Li Muyang's calling her "Mother". Her past life was her past life after all. She was no longer Chu Qingge but Shen Tianjiao.

Thinking of this, Shen Tianjiao felt as if a sharp blade had pierced through her chest. The pain was so piercing that she almost couldn't help crying.

"Mother, what's wrong with you? Don't you like what your son made?" Li Muyang didn't know why his mother lost her composure. He thought he had done something wrong and made Shen Tianjiao unhappy.

Shen Tianjiao shook her head, wiped the tears from her face, looked at Li Muyang and said, "No, Mu'er made a hairpin for the Queen Mother and the Queen Mother likes it very much. Is the Queen Mother happy?"

"Really?" Children are always the easiest to deceive. Because of the environment in which Li Muyang grew up, he is much simpler than many children. Naturally, he believed whatever Shen Tianjiao said.

"It took me a long time to make this hairpin. When I saw the magnolias in full bloom in my husband's garden, I thought my mother would love it, so I thought of making a magnolia hairpin for her."

The little child looked up at his mother with a face full of pride and joy.

Shen Tianjiao took Li Muyang's hand. The white and tender hands were covered with scratches, which made her feel distressed. "Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt." Li Muyang shook his head and looked at Shen Tianjiao and said, "It's already scarred. It hurt a lot at first, but after applying the medicine and the scar healed, it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Mother, this is my first time making this and I have no experience, so I hurt my hand. Next time I do it, I will have more experience and won't hurt my hand. I will also make the hairpin more beautiful."

Shen Tianjiao caressed Li Muyang's little hand. It was really hard for this child to have such a heart. "Don't do it in the future. Your mother is very happy that you have such a thoughtful thought."

"No!" Li Muyang, who has always been well-behaved and never contradicts Shen Tianjiao, was unusually determined not to listen to Shen Tianjiao this time.

"In the future, I will make many, many hairpins for my mother. Not only hairpins, but also hairpins, step-shakes, and all kinds of head ornaments. My mother is the most beautiful person in the world, and I want her to look beautiful every day."

Li Muyang's words made Shen Tianjiao laugh, and this laugh made her feel much better.

Seeing Shen Tianjiao smile, Li Muyang said, "Mother, I haven't had lunch yet. Would you mind having lunch with me?"

"Okay." Shen Tianjiao said to the outside, "Serve the food."

Soon, palace servants brought the meal and set it aside. Shen Tianjiao and her son Li Muyang had a delicious lunch filled with the love of mother and filial piety of son.

After lunch, Li Muyang stayed with Shen Tianjiao for a nap.

When Qiong Niang arrived, Shen Tianjiao was fanning Li Muyang. Qiong Niang stood aside and watched, feeling envious.

On weekdays, she takes care of Li Muyang more, but this child relies on his mother Shen Tianjiao far more than anyone else.

When Li Muyang met her, he would be respectful and polite, but he was too respectful, too distant and not close enough.

But he was different in front of Shen Tianjiao. No matter how long he hadn't seen Shen Tianjiao, as soon as he saw Shen Tianjiao, he would rush into Shen Tianjiao's arms and act coquettishly without any care, and no one could drive him away.

Qiong Niang didn't expect Li Muyang to be as intimate with her as Shen Tianjiao. Her requirements were not high. She just hoped that the relationship between her and Li Muyang could improve and they could be closer.

Shen Tianjiao looked up and saw Qiong Niang's eyes, and she knew what she was thinking. She lowered her voice and said, "Okay, stop being envious. If you meet someone you like in the future, I will marry you off. Giving birth to a fat baby of your own is no better than raising someone else's child."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Qiong Niang blushed immediately. "I'm already old, how can you joke like that?"

"Oh, how old are you?" Shen Tianjiao stood up and covered Li Muyang with a thin blanket, then walked out lightly.

Qiong Niang followed him out and said, "I'm already 24 years old, isn't that old?"

"I've long since become indifferent to men in my life. Now I just hope that one day the Wang family can overturn the verdict and I can see my parents and brothers again."

"Look at what you have accomplished." Shen Tianjiao looked up at Qiong Niang. Although her true appearance had been covered up, it was still difficult to hide her natural beauty. It was a pity that such a wonderful person stayed in the palace and wasted her time.

What Shen Tianjiao said just now was not a joke. Although she herself had suffered misfortune, she hoped that everyone around her could be happy.

"People go up, water flows down. Nothing in this world is certain. I don't really want to keep you in the palace forever. Once the Wang family overturns the verdict, I will arrange a new identity for you and let you leave the palace. Then you can do whatever you want. It's so wonderful to be free and unrestrained."

"When the time comes, I will release not only you, but also Chunchao, Xiahe, Qiutong and Dongyang. Go out of the palace and see the beautiful mountains and rivers of Yunli for me, and live a good life for me."

Shen Tianjiao thought of everyone except herself. She knew that her mission in this life was to protect Yun Li. For this mission, she would rather trap herself in this cold palace for the rest of her life.

"You have a good plan, but I'm afraid no one will be willing to listen to you when the time comes." Qiong Niang knew that Shen Tianjiao's wish was to protect Yun Li, so she never thought of leaving. If Shen Tianjiao wanted to protect Yun Li, then she had to protect Shen Tianjiao. The two of them were destined to be inseparable from each other in this life.

"Okay, it's too early to say these things now." Although Shen Tianjiao had not spent a long time with this group of people, she had already developed feelings for them. Even if it was because of the imminent farewell, she would still be sad.

Shen Tianjiao shook her head, not letting the sadness bother her. She looked up at Qiong Niang and said, "Let's talk business first."

When Shen Tianjiao said she wanted to talk business, Qiong Niang perked up. She moved closer to Shen Tianjiao and said, "The situation is just as we thought. Those two have been colluding with each other for a long time. As for when it started, that still needs further investigation."

Qiong Niang shook her head and continued, "Who could have imagined that the dignified Queen Mother of a country could actually commit such an incestuous act with her own brother-in-law? She was a very prominent figure in her time, how could she be so foolish?"

"Although she is the Empress Dowager now, she is not the Emperor's biological mother. If this scandal of her biological mother were to be exposed, Li Rui would still cover it up for her out of consideration for the mother-son relationship."

"But they are just foster mother and son, bound together for their own interests. The friendship they had, which was already limited, has long since disappeared completely amidst all the back-and-forth scheming over the years."

"I'm afraid Li Rui has long felt that she's an eyesore and wants to kill her, but he just hasn't found the right opportunity. Now, she's courting death and has delivered herself into Li Rui's hands."

"Next, I'm afraid this 'mother and son' will start fighting again. Li Rui is no longer the child who relied on her to survive. This time, I'm sure our Empress Dowager Liu will suffer a miserable fate."

Shen Tianjiao and Qiong Niang would naturally not interfere in such dirty matters. They had a ready-made tool in front of them, wouldn't it be a pity not to use him?

After revealing this news to Li Rui, the mother and son will start a dog-eat-dog drama. There is only one thing Shen Tianjiao and Qiong Niang have to do, and that is to watch the show carefully.

"Spread the news and let Li Rui know. Find something for him to do so he doesn't have time to cause trouble for us."

Shen Tianjiao became even more flustered at this moment. She was not interested in the affair between Empress Dowager Liu and Li Hong, but the combination of these two people was definitely not as simple as just having an affair.

There must be an unknown conspiracy hidden between these two people. Li Rui is not scary because all his cards are on the table. What is scary are people like Empress Dowager Liu and Li Hong who hide their cards behind their backs.

"What else did they say?" It's not easy for those two old foxes to meet each other. It must be that it's not just for the sake of having an affair. They must be plotting something. What's more, Shen Tianjiao had offended Li Hong today.

Empress Dowager Liu already hated her to the core, and Li Hong was not a broad-minded person. She didn't believe that these two people would not take this opportunity to conspire to trip her up!

"The talents from Kangning Palace were planted there, so it's impossible for them to serve closely. So we don't know what they are plotting yet. We'll know after we investigate."

"However, he did hear some fragments of something, such as the Second Prince and the future successor to the throne. He couldn't hear it clearly, but he did hear the insults against you."

"I suspect that old man will contact those officials you've disciplined and try to set traps for you. He might even go on strike, disrupting the normal operations of government offices, and force you to submit to him."

Qiong Niang, who came from a noble family and a family of officials, knew something about these people's tricks. This was what she feared most now. If those officials joined forces, Shen Tianjiao would definitely be the one who suffered.

"So, to be on the safe side, we should quickly make something happen at Prince Qing's mansion, and then expose their affair. That way, they won't be able to cause any more trouble."

This was the simplest and quickest method Qiong Niang could think of. Apart from that, she couldn't think of any other tricks to help Shen Tianjiao out of the predicament.

However, what Shen Tianjiao cared about was not that those officials would contact each other to deal with her. What she cared about now were the words she didn't understand just now.

The second prince will inherit the throne in the future? The second prince of the previous emperor had died on the way to the throne. Not only did he die, but everyone in his palace was strangled to death, so it couldn't be him.

Then it can only be the second prince Li Minghua in the palace, but he was born to Feng Yuanyuan, so how could he be related to the empress dowager and Li Hong?

Could it be that Feng Yuanyuan was in cahoots with them? This didn't make sense. In Shen Tianjiao's memory, although Feng Yuanyuan had a good relationship with the Queen Mother, it didn't seem close enough to join forces.

There were also conflicts between the two of them, but at that time they were not too obvious because of the external factor of her.

Feng Yuanyuan and Empress Dowager Liu are the same type of people. They both have a strong desire for control over power. It is impossible for such people to cooperate.