Time travel, quick transmigration

Then she raised her head and smiled weakly at Li Longji.

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty."

"Also, my two elder sisters, Yuhuan will not accompany you."

Jiang Caiping couldn't understand Shi Yan's thoughts. She had witnessed the interaction between Li Longji and Shi Yan, and their closeness and casualness bothered her greatly. She had never interacted with Li Longji like that before, and the person she so deeply admired had never treated her with such casual intimacy. She felt envious yet also a pang of bitterness. Shi Yan's sudden departure puzzled her, and her feelings towards the kindness she had shown were complicated. Seeing Shi Yan say goodbye, she returned the smile.

Madam Qian, with her chin slightly raised, gave a soft hum.

Shi Yan didn't care what Jiang Caiping or Qian Shi thought of her; she just wanted to leave as soon as possible.

"Your Majesty, if I have nothing to say, I will have Xiaodie come and tell you, so that you can be at ease. You promised Sister Jiang to go to her palace tonight, how can you go back on your word?"

Li Longji was taken aback upon hearing this and was somewhat at a loss.

Shi Yan seemed to see the emperor's predicament and said very understandingly.

"I, Yu Huan, cannot let His Majesty be seen as a person who breaks his word because of me."

"Your Majesty, then I will return."

Li Longji suppressed the words he was about to say, gave Shi Yan a deep look, and nodded in response with an "Mm".

Shi Yan smiled gently, then took Xiao Die's hand and stepped down the stairs, with A Man and two other palace maids quickly following behind.

Li Longji stared at Shi Yan's back for a long while before turning his gaze away.

Jiang Caiping watched Shi Yan's graceful departure. Although she had indeed gotten to be with Li Longji as she wished and even received some of his favor, she couldn't be happy no matter what.

Upon returning to Nanxun Palace, Shi Yan went straight to Mianhua Pavilion.

Xiao Die and A Man each took off Shi Yan's cloak, while the other served Shi Yan by washing her face and hands.

"Your Majesty, you just said you felt tightness in your chest. Now that you're back, you should go back to your bedchamber and get some rest. Why did you come to Mianhua Pavilion?"

Xiao Die placed the hot tea brought by the palace maid on the small table to Shi Yan's left and looked up at Shi Yan with concern.

Shi Yan sat down on the small couch.

"It doesn't matter."

Seeing that Shi Yan didn't care at all, Xiao Die disapprovedly took the blanket from A Man's hand and covered Shi Yan's legs with it.

"Your Majesty, you must not neglect your health like this."

"Aman, go and fetch Physician Xue. Hurry!"

Aman agreed and then turned and left.

Seeing their nervous expressions, Shi Yan let them be.

She did feel a dull ache in her heart, but not for any other reason than the impending separation from Xiao Huanling. Right now, she truly had no energy to deal with anything else. Although Xiao Die and A Man were worried about her, she was just too preoccupied to explain.

Xiaodie noticed that Shi Yan had looked gloomy since she returned, and assumed that she was really not feeling well.

"Your Majesty, why don't you lie down and rest on this couch?"

Shi Yan took off her shoes, climbed onto the couch, and leaned against it, glancing sideways at Xiao Die, who looked at her with concern.

"I'm fine, I just need some rest. Don't worry too much."

Xiaodie nodded.

"Alright. Then you rest. I'll wake you up when Physician Xue arrives."

Shi Yan let out a soft "hmm" from her nose, then closed her eyes.

After leaving the palace and returning to Xiao Garden, Xiao Huanling and Jiang He had just dismounted when they saw the steward approaching them quickly.

"General, your elder brother is waiting for you in your study."

Xiao Huanling frowned upon hearing this.

Seeing this, the steward thought he had done something wrong to displease Xiao Huanling. He hesitated and dared not ask, so he looked at Jiang He for help.

Jiang He gave him a reassuring look.

"Brother Xiao, I haven't met your family yet. Why don't we take this opportunity to meet them today?"

"Logically speaking, now that I've acknowledged you as my elder brother, I should pay my respects to your family."

"Let's go, let's go. Since they're all here, we can't be rude. We can't be rude and neglect the proper hospitality. Otherwise, they'll look down on us."

Xiao Huanling glanced at Jiang He.

"Hospitality? I had no idea that my residence had become yours, Jiang He's."

He then strode up the stone steps toward the gate.

Jiang He touched his nose and gave the steward an awkward smile.

The manager smiled gratefully at him.

"Let's go, let's see what's going on with Brother Xiao's so-called elder brother's sudden arrival."

Xiao Huanling walked to the door of the study, but hesitated for a moment before entering. Perhaps it was because he had complicated feelings towards his two so-called elder brothers. After all, they had never been very close and rarely spoke to each other, which naturally created a deep rift between them.

But some people and some things must be faced. With that thought, Xiao Huanling stepped into the house. As soon as he entered, he saw his second brother, Xiao Hua, standing in front of the painting "Cold River" and looking at it intently.

So much so that the other person didn't even notice him entering the house.

"Second brother."

Hearing a deep, clear voice coming from behind him, Xiao Hua was slightly startled. He then turned around and looked at Xiao Huanling, who was dressed in a light blue brocade robe. Xiao Huanling had clear and bright features, a figure like bamboo, and a reserved elegance. He was Xiao Huanling, the fourth brother of his mistress whom he had once ignored and looked down upon.

However, his second brother no longer looked down on the other party as he used to. The other party is now highly valued by His Majesty and is young and successful, so he is no longer someone who can be ignored.

In that silent moment of eye contact with Xiao Huanling, Xiao Hua thought of many things. He recalled how, although he was now the Vice Minister of both the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War, he remembered the scene in court not long ago when the Emperor appointed Xiao Huanling as the Military Governor of Hedong, the officials were divided into several factions and argued endlessly. Xiao Huanling was clearly the center of everyone's attention, while he, a fellow member of the Xiao family, felt utterly insignificant. Watching his young brother face such supreme honor with such composure, neither arrogant nor servile, he felt a surge of admiration and respect for the first time. He asked himself honestly, if he were in Xiao Huanling's shoes, he too could not be as calm and collected.

“You haven’t been back since you left home these past few years. I don’t know what happened back then that made you decide to leave the Xiao family, sever ties with us, and even break off your father’s relationship with you. Father was furious at the time, so he removed you from the family genealogy and forbade anyone in the manor to mention you again. But so much time has passed. Shouldn’t you go back to the manor to see your father? Father is getting older and his health has been poor lately. He’s also very weak. I can tell that even though he doesn’t say it, he really wants you to come home to see him.”

"I heard from Steward Xiao that you often asked him to send things to Granny Chen at Biluo Pavilion these past few years. You are so kind to even a nanny who only took care of you halfway, so why can't you be a little more tolerant of your own father?"

"For the past few years, you have never told anyone that you are from the Lanling Xiao Clan, nor that you are the son of Xiao Song. Even when we were in the same court, you treated my elder brother and me like strangers. Do you, Xiao Huanling, really want to sever all ties with our Xiao family? But we all have our father's blood in our veins. We are of the same lineage, that is a fact. Even if I still don't like you as my younger brother, the fact that we are brothers cannot be changed."