The three-year-old host decides to raise an emperor father for himself.

The Empress was gentle, generous, dignified, and beautiful.

Even with a sickly appearance, she was still beautiful.

When Xuanyuan Lin looked at her, his gaze softened.

The Empress answered all of Xuan Yuanlin's questions, but rarely said more than a few words, and her expression remained almost unchanged.

Feeling somewhat discouraged, Xuan Yuanlin could only smile, showing no sign of anger, and turned his gaze downwards.

He consciously avoided looking in the direction where Xuan Yuan Lan Jia's family was, but after looking around, his gaze eventually returned to that direction.

At that time, two more people appeared around Xuan Yuan Lan Jia's family. Xuan Yuan Ling Gao was in a superior position, and he could only see their profiles, so he did not recognize who they were.

He tilted his head slightly and asked the eunuch beside him, "Who is with Princess Jiaxuan?"

Wang Tai was unable to attend the palace banquet with Xuan Yuanlin today because of the previous incident of Xuan Yuanlanxing going missing. Standing next to Xuan Yuanlin was another of his trusted confidants.

A eunuch surnamed Xu, named Xu Kang.

Xu Kang was more low-key than Wang Tai and rarely appeared in public. He was also the person that the late emperor had bestowed upon Xuanyuan Lin.

He is quiet and unassuming, yet perceptive.

Even from such a distance, he recognized the two people with just a glance and whispered in Xuan Yuanlin's ear, "Your Majesty, it is Prince Ping and his eldest son."

Xuanyuan Lin raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Send someone to check what's going on."

Xuanyuan Lin didn't have much emotion towards his niece.

Neither hate nor like.

It felt so-so.

However, compared to Xuan Yuanlin's dislike for some other members of the royal family, Princess Jiaxuan's evaluation of him was quite high.

It was only because Princess Jiaxuan did not vie for power and profit that her father did not participate in the struggle for the throne.

Therefore, when Xuan Yuanlin learned that Xiao Lanxing was with Princess Jiaxuan, he didn't think much of it and assumed that she was just being kind and not had any other ulterior motives.

Xu Kang bowed his head and agreed.

Xuan Yuanlin's mind flashed with Xiao Lanxing's face, and he murmured, "So similar."

——————————————————————————————

Xuanyuan Lanjia was a little annoyed.

Although Prince Ping was also her elder, they were the same age, with only two months between their birthdays, but their relationship had not been very good since childhood.

One reason is that Prince Ping suffered from severe male chauvinism, looking down on women while demanding that all the women around him make sacrifices for him.

Secondly, Prince Ping was very petty. Even when he was young, he couldn't stand people who were better than him, especially women, and he would speak harshly to them. Xuan Yuan Lan Jia happened to be one of those people who were better than him.

Although he was the son of the late emperor, the late emperor had many sons, and even after a period of struggle, many of them had survived. The title of Prince Ping reflects his high status.

Having too many sons diminishes their value, which is why the late emperor treated Prince Ping less kindly than he treated Xuanyuan Lanjia.

After all, they are of different generations and are members of the royal family without ambition. Showing them some affection and care can also demonstrate respect for the royal family.

As a result, Prince Ping became jealous.

"When did Princess Jiaxuan's household gain such a beautiful little girl? How come I didn't hear about it?" Prince Ping said with a smile. Although she was not bad-looking, her face just made people uncomfortable.

Although Xuan Yuan Lan Jia disliked Prince Ping, she still observed proper etiquette and had already calmly performed her greetings. Now, because Prince Ping was standing there, she could only remain standing as well.

Huo Qingshan was no exception.

Upon hearing Prince Ping's words, Huo Qingshan's eyebrows twitched slightly, but Xuan Yuanlanjia coldly said, "Uncle Prince, you misunderstand. This is not my daughter."

She was telling the truth, but in the eyes of Prince Ping, who couldn't stand to see her doing well, her words were interpreted as meaning that she wasn't his biological daughter.

So Prince Ping looked at Huo Qingshan with a smile and said, "Oh dear, this is your fault, nephew-in-law..."

Xuan Yuan Lan Jia's lips twitched, disgusted and speechless, and interrupted, "Uncle Prince, this is not my daughter, but the daughter of Uncle Jing. Be careful what you say."

Prince Ping: "..."

Prince Ping got stuck.

There are many people in this world who admire Xuanyuan Jing, quite a few who hate him, and even more who fear him.

Prince Ping was the third party.

He has many brothers and sisters, and five or six of them are still alive. But what he fears most is not Xuan Yuanlin sitting above him, otherwise he wouldn't have dared to run over to mock Xuan Yuanlanjia at the banquet.

His greatest fear was Xuanyuan Jing.

Many people knew that Xuanyuan Lin valued his reputation, and Prince Ping was also aware of this. He did have some ability to assess the situation, otherwise he wouldn't have survived to this day.

He wouldn't die so easily with Xuan Yuanlin.

But with Xuanyuan Jing, if the other party says they want to kill him, they will kill him without hesitation or any resistance.

Because Xuanyuan Jing didn't care.

He was almost killed by Xuanyuan Jing back then, after Xuanyuan Jing discovered that he had raped and murdered several young girls.

At that time, the late emperor was still alive and sent people to stop it in time, which saved Prince Ping's life, but he also completely lost the capital to rise to power - although it was not much at the beginning, at least it was not without any hope.

Logically speaking, under these circumstances, Prince Ping should have completely hated Xuanyuan Jing.

But...no.

The feeling of being on the verge of death, along with Xuan Yuanjing's eyes that were both extremely angry and calmly calm like a cold pool, became the nightmare of Prince Ping. Every time he had a nightmare, Prince Ping became more afraid of him.

Then Prince Ping became completely obedient.

Because he had a gut feeling that if he were caught by Xuanyuan Jing again, he would really die this time, without the late emperor.

Prince Ping wondered if he had misheard. He stared blankly for a moment, then looked at Xuan Yuan Lan Jia, before turning his gaze to the two little ones who were being shielded behind Xuan Yuan Lan Jia and Huo Qing Shan.

He remained silent, but the eldest son, who had been brought to the banquet by Prince Ping, couldn't help but speak up: "Really? Jiaxuan, you haven't been fooled, have you? Uncle Jing has never married and has no women in his harem. Where did this daughter come from?"

Xuanyuan Lanjia looked at her cousin with pity.

For no other reason than his cousin's limited access to information.

The news that a young girl had appeared beside Prince Jing, and that she was suspected to be of his blood, was not exactly a secret, but there was still no definitive conclusion.

Those who knew... at least seven out of ten people at the palace banquet had heard about it.

Prince Ping also came to his senses, forced a smile, but realized he couldn't bring himself to laugh.

He stared intently at Xuan Yuan Lan Jia: "Really?"

Xuanyuan Lanjia smiled calmly, without replying, but everything was understood without words.

Prince Ping turned and left. His eldest son was stunned for a moment, then glanced at Xuan Yuan Lan Jia, and quickly turned and chased after him.

Xiao Lanxing peeked out from beside Xuan Yuan Lanjia's legs, and Huo Wubing followed suit, peeking out from the other side.

Xiao Lanxing made a startling statement: "He's been poisoned."

Xuanyuan Lanjia & Huo Qingshan: "What?"