A piece of Japanese incense

Chapter 195 Listening to Stories

Zhi Yihe lowered his eyes for a few moments, then responded to He Feng with a smile: "Then - you let my father go?"

He Feng answered without hesitation: "Okay."

Zhi Yihe was caught off guard and asked suspiciously, "Really?"

He Feng's eyes were focused as he gently brushed the ends of her hair. Then he proposed a condition: "If you marry me, I will naturally not make things difficult for my father-in-law."

"You scoundrel! Me!" Zhi Yihe was blocked by him and was about to hit him, and he was even more furious.

"Hey! I am a dashing, handsome man after all, so I won't let you down!"

Zhi Yihe curled his lips in disgust and made a vomiting gesture.

"Humph!"

With his eyes moving, Zhi Yihe asked nonchalantly, "Then can you take me to see Aban? And Tingzhu and Aqi?"

He Feng hesitated a little: "Well..."

"Tsk! He's still a prince! He doesn't have any real power at all." Zhi Yihe said sarcastically.

"When will we set off?"

Zhi Yihe smiled meaningfully and said, "So, you agree?"

Footsteps were heard: "Young Master? Are you in there?" It was the sound of Tu Hua.

"I'm coming!" Zhi Yihe responded loudly, and then said to He Feng: "See you in the capital?"

"Let's go together." Hefeng disappeared in an instant.

Two days later, after Zhi Yihe had arranged various trivial matters, he took Yu Tuan and set out on the journey back to the capital.

She met Hefeng outside Sanchuan City. It seemed that he also had urgent matters to deal with, so the journey was quite hurried. He didn't even stop at the small mountain village where Yuyi and Shanyi were recuperating. He entered Beijing and the palace smoothly.

"You don't live in the East Palace? You just brought us in like this?" Zhi Yihe was shocked.

Hefeng responded, "Tomorrow is the day of the summer festival, and the palace is busy with the sacrificial ceremony. You can take this opportunity to go to the Women's Academy. You should be familiar with the route."

Zhi Yihe took the token and understood what he meant: "I see."

"Don't stay too long. After reminiscing about the past, leave as soon as possible and don't cause trouble. Do you understand?" Hefeng reminded.

He Feng repeatedly reminded him: "You must not stay for long. After reminiscing about the past, you must leave as soon as possible to avoid causing trouble."

Before the hour of Mao, the palace was already filled with the sounds of dancing, music, and scripture recitation. Yu Tuan's sleep quality was as good as ever. When Zhi Yihe left, she was still sleeping, snoring, and grinding her teeth.

Perhaps due to the influence of Hefeng's instructions, Zhiyihe's actions today were particularly smooth. With the token in hand, he had no obstacles.

Even Wenyuan Pavilion was not blocked by anyone. The cat in the pavilion was gone, and the wooden railings were covered with dust. Zhi Yihe didn't pay much attention and went straight in to check the books. Because her memory had declined recently, she would hide the books in her backpack and take them away when she came across relevant records.

Compared with the girls' school of the past, it is now heavily guarded with layers of soldiers guarding it, but the chains are all rusted. In the courtyard, weeds are lush and unknown wild flowers are blooming.

She first came to the courtyard where she once lived, pushed open the gate, and saw a white-haired old man, resting leisurely in a rocking chair. The rocking chair creaked and swayed slowly with the breeze.

The old man's eyes were closed, and his face was filled with a peaceful and tranquil smile, as if time had frozen at this moment, leaving only this moment of silence. One of his hands was gently placed on the armrest of the rocking chair, and the other hand held a palm leaf fan, which he occasionally fanned to disperse the intruding flies.

"Your Majesty." Zhi Yihe spoke softly.

Hearing the noise, Feng Weichu slowly stood up, his facial muscles slightly stiff, and called out softly: "Shuyun..."

Zhi Yihe mustered up her courage and stepped forward: "Your Majesty, I am Zhi Yihe."

"Oh, He'er, your grandfather..."

"My grandfather has passed away."

Feng Weichu narrowed his eyes slightly, nodded, and lay back in the rocking chair.

Zhi Yihe said nothing, bowed, and prepared to leave.

"Xiao Qi is also related to you by blood. Now that Jing Mo has passed away, let's write off the past!" Feng Weichu said weakly.

"what?"

It was my fault for being arbitrary and dictatorial in the past, but Xiao Qi is innocent. The suffering he has endured for more than ten years should come to an end."

"Your Majesty's intention is difficult for me to understand."

"Jing Mo was dissatisfied with my marriage, so after Rui Lin gave birth to Xiao Qi, he left a poisonous insect in Xiao Qi's body. Since you are Xiao Qi's sister, this hatred should end here."

Zhi Yihe absolutely did not believe it, and said in a cold tone: "Grandfather is not that kind of person! Xiao Qi is weak because the princess ate the poisonous insect developed by Yan Xunhua! The same is true for Tingzhu and Zhiyu!"

Feng Weichu was stunned: "Good boy, I found your brother. Xiao Qi doesn't have Jing Mo to suppress the poisonous insect now, so he might have a mutation and his health might be getting worse. Please save him."

Zhi Yihe was worried: "How do you know about the poisonous insect?"

Seeing that he remained silent, Zhi Yihe asked, "So you knew about it all along, then why did you turn a deaf ear to it?"

Feng Weichu remained silent. Zhi Yihe bit her lip and said resolutely, "Your Majesty, please rest here. I will take my leave first."

"What exactly do you want to do by entering the palace?" Feng Weichu suddenly asked.

Zhi Yihe pretended not to hear and left.

"Don't follow in your father's footsteps!"

This made Zhi Yihe stop and she asked, "What kind of future generations are you referring to, Your Majesty?"

"What Yi'an did was just like an ant trying to shake a tree. I have always stood aside and watched, just going with the flow and not wanting to dampen his ambitions."

Upon hearing this, Zhi Yihe's lips curled up into a smile, and he couldn't help but laugh: "Your Majesty claims to control the universe, but isn't he also trapped in this four-sided world?"

When Feng Weichu heard this, he burst into laughter: "You! Compared with your grandmother, you are exactly the same!"

Zhi Yihe felt that he was inexplicable and his mental state was worrying.

"It was also during this solar term that she stood under the jasmine tree, dressed in white, like an otherworldly fairy."

Feng Weichu was immersed in memories of the past. Zhi Yihe shook his head, thinking that this supreme emperor might have been imprisoned for too long and had gone crazy.

"Xiao He'er, do you want to hear a story?" Feng Weichu pointed to the wooden stake next to him, motioning her to sit down, and without waiting for Zhi Yihe's response, he began to narrate the story.

"When I was young, my mother was just a maid who cooked tea in the palace. My father's concubines in the harem could beat and abuse her at will. We were hungry and cold, but we were able to depend on each other and survive."

Until my father, in order to ensure that he could continue to squander and stay in power, ceded territory in exchange for peace, paid countless compensations, and sent me to Xiqi without hesitation.

My days are spent under surveillance and suspicion. Every meal may be poison; every banquet may be a trap.

In a foreign country, where I couldn't speak the language and the customs were very different, for the sake of my mother, I could only swallow the humiliation, keep my head down, and endure the embarrassment and humiliation of my identity.

Until that day, I met your grandmother. I fainted under a tree due to excessive hunger.

When I was starving to death, Shuyun appeared in front of me like a savior and handed me a plate of shortbread. The shortbread was too dry to swallow, so she ran to the pond and scooped water with her hands to feed me.

Later I learned that Shuyun's life was also full of hardships, but she remained tenacious and introduced me to many good friends, including Fengye, Zhensu, and Li'an.

I share the same ideals as them. At that time, wars were frequent and plagues were rampant. Nine out of ten houses were empty. People exchanged their own children for food, and there were human bones everywhere in the pots.

People used human leg bones to make bone hairpins and skulls to make wine glasses. Sacrifices were greater than those to heaven. In order to save the country from decline, people simply prayed to the gods and even performed living sacrifices to heaven.

So we thought long and hard and decided to rewrite history. Under Feng Ye's persuasion, Xiqi finally let me return to Dongli, and I gradually made friends with the powerful and took control of the government.

Yingyi's joining in is even more powerful, and everything is going very smoothly. We plan to have Fengye and Li'an pretend to be captured when the two countries confront each other, and in exchange for this, we will get the secret of the royal family's control of the three major families, and then have Shuyun personally escort them to escape from Xiqi. Later, Zhensu and Jingmo secretly transferred the property of the three major families to weaken the strength of Xiqi.

But things don’t always go as planned. Although I have controlled my father and the government, there is still the eldest son, Prince Jiali. When he learned that Shuyun came to Dongli alone, he ordered the guards of the East Palace to pretend to be bandits and hijack the convoy. "