For the first time, Uncle Qian saw His Royal Highness showing such a helpless and panicked expression, he couldn’t help but wishing to die on the spot to apologize for his offense.

Without King Guang’an, there would be no him either, now he had betrayed his trust in this way.

King Guang’an never asked questions about any matter he explained, even if he had doubts, he kept his duty, and did what he ordered—he did not know the origin of this child, but that His Highness was afraid of his coming. Otherwise, despite how cold this avoid child soup was, His Highness still drank bowl after bowl regardless of his body. He drank until his body almost collapsed, but he still couldn’t avoid the result of the pregnancy.

Although Uncle Qian was a countryside doctor, he tried his best to be proficient in the art of Qi Huang. His Highness’s pulse clearly showed that there was no possibility of childbirth, but how he conceived this child, he really can’t figure out the reason.

Note: Qi Huang: relating to ancient Chinese medicines.

He was weeping endlessly, when he could hear the urgent voice of the man in front of him: “Give me the medicine.”

Li Yuanxi suddenly got up and hurriedly rushed to Uncle Qian: “Go and prepare a medicine for me, the efficient one…”

Although he didn’t say it explicitly, how could Uncle Qian not know what he meant?

At the moment, he kowtowed one after another, as tears flowed: “Your Highness, you must not consume too much of this avoid child medicine, you have already injured your body’s foundation, if that ferocious medicine went in more, I’m afraid you will have excessive bleeding, and your life will not be saved!” 

Nevertheless, seeing that the person in front of him stumbled, he almost fainted.

Uncle Qian hurriedly stepped forward to help him. Seeing that his face was already expressionless, he was terrified: “Your Highness! Your Highness! ”

The sky completely darkened, and everything in the room suddenly disappeared into the dark light, like an undercurrent tide, engulfing everything.

After a long time, a faint voice said: “You leave first.” 

Uncle Qian hesitated, wanting to persuade him with tears, but the person in front of him was already straight-eyed, he couldn’t listen to his words. Thus, he only let out a long sigh and staggered away.

What he didn’t know was that there was another person hiding in the shadows, going through all this sorrow like him.

In the dark corner, Ni Ying, who was hiding in it, burst into tears, biting her lips tightly, refusing to let herself make the slightest sound.

It was completely dark, the people in the room did not call anyone to hold the lamp, but only sat quietly on the head chair. Song Zhu stood restlessly at the door, stretching his neck from time to time to look inside.

“ Song Zhu…” There was a seemingly absent sound inside.

Song Zhu’s heart froze, he hurriedly lifted his feet in.

In the darkness, he couldn’t see the look on Li Yuanmin’s face clearly, but he only felt that his shoulders collapse all at once, lifeless.

“ No need to prepare dinner… I’m tired, I’m going to lie down, do not disturb me. ”

The person in front of him dropped light as feather words as he got up and staggered to the bedroom.

Song Zhu looked at his back worriedly.

The curtain hung quietly, while on the edge of the dark bed, a person sat quietly.

He braced his hands at his sides, lowered his head, and soon large tears fell, soaking the hem of his legs and smudging them.

He wondered why this was the case.

He was not reckless in this matter. Although Uncle Qian concluded it, he was still not at ease, and even privately found several famous doctors for repeated examination, all of them said that he had no possibility of being pregnant.

But why does fate always joke with him like this?

He remembered his fully experienced childhood, the humiliating chastity belt, the suffering he had suffered over the years because of this abnormal body, everything, as if it was telling him that no matter how he struggled, he could not escape the fate brought to him by this abnormal body.

His gaze fell on his lower abdomen, but he quickly pulled away the futon, hid in a panic, and covered himself tightly from head to toe. At this moment he was no longer the lord who carried heavy responsibilities, he was no different from the thin young child in his childhood, just a fearful child.

Ni Ying had been guarding the door for a long time until her feet were numb, then she wiped the tear marks on her cheeks and pushed the door in.

The room was pitch black. Ni Ying lifted the curtain and walked to the bed and slowly squatted down. The embroided silk beddings in front of her bulged like a bag, like a fragile barrier. She choked on her throat, gently uncovered the quilt, revealing a pale and fearful face inside.

“ Ah Ying…” The person in front of her tried to hold on, but he couldn’t hold it, only trembling his lips and crying, “Ah Ying.”

Ni Ying did not cry, but only showed him a relieved smile: “Your Highness, don’t be afraid.”

She stroked his face, completely abandoning worldly etiquette, climbed into the bed, and held his head tightly in her arms, caressing it gently, just like the tenderness she had received as a child.

“Your Highness, don’t be afraid.” She kept repeating.

The person in her arms was shaking terribly, as if he was afraid of the cold.

For a long time, he gradually closed his eyes and fell asleep under the gentle touch of the girl.

***

Deep into the night.

The solemn and majestic courtyard of the mansion was full of lights, the soldiers patrolled nervously, and occasionally one or two people passed by, but they were also daunted and hid far away.

Cao Gang hurriedly stepped into the council hall with several documents. The lights were brightly lit inside, and a tall man in the hall sat majestically in the head seat, flipping through the books in front of him.

His temples were sharp as blade, his eyebrows grave and stern, his bearing solemn, giving birth to a type of invisible might.

Cao Gang secretly praised him in his heart. He took a deep breath, stacked the case file on the table, and said respectfully: “Commander, the strength of the original Liangjiang Battalion has been reorganized, please take a look.”

“ Okay, leave it here.” Ni Lie put down the book in his hand and glanced at him.

After all, he was a ruler of two lifetimes, but with a look from the other party, Cao Gang understood what he meant.

At the moment, he restrained his eyebrows: “Everything is as usual in the capital, all is quiet.”

“Dispatch people to watch, pass on the order, any changes must be reported, especially Sima father and son.” Ni Lie’s eyes narrowed slightly: “All is quiet… The ambition of wild wolves from the previous life, how could they be quiet in this life.”

Now, Emperor Mingde was sick in bed, he had not been in court for many days. The people in the court and the public are unstable, the dark tide was surging.

Others don’t know, but after two lifetimes, how could Ni Lie not know that in another month, that old man Emperor will die. Soon, the palace will decree that the eldest prince Li Yuanqian to be crowned the prince of the Eastern Palace, and given the palm seal of the prison state. Soon the world was about to fall into Li Yuanqian’s palm, it was during this smoothly flowing time that Emperor Mingde somehow became angry in his sickbed, stripped him of the title of prince who had been crowned for less than a month, and degraded him to a commoner.

In less than a few days, Sima Ji, Marquis of Zhenbei, even took Li Yuanqian for the crime of great disrespect to one’s superiors, and in less than half a month, Li Yuanqian committed suicide in prison. Marquis Zhenbei immediately supported the third prince Li Yuanmin to take the throne, the government and the public were in an uproar. Among them, the several roles that the Sima father and son played were suspects to everyone.

However, what kind of person was Sima Ji? With shocking and terrifying means, he handled things ruthlessly. Although the Eldest Prince’s faction was not to be trifled with, under Sima Ji’s iron fist, he killed batch after batch, until there was no more opposition in the dynasty that he rested. Not to mention that since Li Yuanqian’s close confidant Xue Zaixing was cut off from power, the Jiangbei camp under his command was divided into three ways, each with its own claims, and could not be twisted into one force, completely unable to resist the million-eagle army of Marquis Zhenbei. What was even more tricky was that the Wala and Tatar armies took advantage of the chaos to move south. Internal trouble and outside aggression were imminent, so all the better for Marquis Zhenbei to seize the opportunity to control the dynasty. 

In the twenty-ninth year of the Chuwu Dynasty, Emperor Mingde died, and the third prince, Li Yuanmin, under the manipulation of the ambitious Sima father and son, successfully ascended the throne, changed the Yuan system, and became Emperor Chaoyuan of the dynasty.

It was at this moment that Ni Lie seized the opportunity, applied to lead troops to battle, avoided the liquidation of Marquis Zhenbei, and used this as a starting point to strengthen his own troops and slowly accumulate capital to overthrow this dynasty.

At this point in time, Wang Chaoluan’s faction had collapsed, but relying on a good for nothing fourth prince, Li Yuanxu, they had no possibility of turning over. Sima Ji supported the puppet to choose someone with no background support, among the remaining princes, there were only two people to choose from.

Ni Lie’s eyes sank, and a slender figure that he had tried to suppress in his mind surfaced, stirring his originally calm heart. He suppressed the chaos, only thinking, in this life, that person escaped the control of Marquis Sima and went to Lingnan. He didn’t know if he would fall into Sima Ji’s old man’s scheme again, he had some means, but how much could the king of a vessal state in a remote place resist?

Cao Gang saw that his face suddenly become gloomy, he couldn’t help but ask, “What are your concerns, my lord?”

Ni Lie took a deep breath, “Nothing. ”

He thought for a while, and lowered his voice: “Although we are following the path of our previous life now, it is not foolproof in the end, I never believed that there are only a few of us who have memories of the past life in this dynasty.”

Cao Gang’s heart froze, he bowed his head at the moment: “I will definitely keep an eye on it.”

“It is not necessary to panic and treat everyone as an enemy. Now the Jiangbei camp is in our hands, although there is still a Zhu Chen tying us down, we’re not completely vulnerable.” The corners of Ni Lie’s lips rose with ridicule: “Li Yuanqian’s suspicion can also be regarded as a big favor for me, if not, how can I take over this Jiangbei camp for Xue Zaixing with the origin of a slave in a remote courtyard.”

He lightly tapped his finger on the case table a few times and ordered: “Two things must be closely followed. One is to pay attention to the movements on the Wala and Tatar sides, and the second is to send more people to Marquis Zhenbei. On the Old General Xie side, let him help closely watch, we must always have insight into the few tricks, if there is really a change, it is better to find another scheme, so as not to fall behind.” 

Cao Gang took the orders.

After Cao Gang left, Ni Lie took the file on the case and looked at it. After a long time, he threw it aside in a distraught manner, took a deep breath, felt the inside of his bosom, when suddenly there was a simple wooden hairpin in his palm, reflecting the candle flame, with a faint luster.

After that night’s chaos, the man disappeared without a trace, leaving only this thing.

He snorted, placed it on the tip of his nose, and a wisp of cold fragrance lingered on the wing of his nose; it was the breath that appeared from time to time in his dreams, he couldn’t help but slowly exhale a turbid breath.

Wait, he needed to be patient and wait.

His Adam’s apple moved, he suddenly tugged it tightly in the palm of his hand and closed his eyes.

The author has something to say: Li Yuanmin has been healing from his childhood all his life.

Rest assured, it will be cured.