She fell out after crying at the wrong grave

An arm passed in front of her body, with five fingers spread out, and patted A's back rapidly.

Again and again, with a muffled sound.

The other hand tightly clamped her neck, holding her in his arms, almost choking her breathing, and cried sadly, "You have suffered, my child! You have been out there for so long, sleeping in the open air, eating poorly and sleeping poorly, you have lost weight and become dark and yellow! You can tell at a glance that you have been chased by wolves in the woods and bullied on the streets! It's a pity that your father and mother didn't love you since you were a child, otherwise a good princess wouldn't have been locked up here and suffering now! Oh, my baby, you..."

Ah's face turned red from being strangled. She struggled and hit the old woman's arm. Her hair covered her face. She gritted her teeth and interrupted, "It's over... it's over. Uh, cough, cough, cough."

Mrs. Cui stopped crying and immediately relaxed her grip, "Is it over now?"

After being freed, Ah'ao immediately bent down, gasping for breath and coughing violently due to difficulty breathing.

Mrs. Cui quickly leaned over and gently stroked Ah's back. "Ah's, are you okay?"

Following Mrs. Cui, a group of servants came into the yard with courage and placed all the prepared dowry on the stone road. From a distance, it looked like red silk and was very eye-catching.

Ying'en didn't dare to disturb Mrs. Cui as she hugged the princess and cried. She stood in front of the bed, neither knowing whether to leave nor come out, pinching her fingers awkwardly.

After the suffocating feeling finally dissipated, Ah-yi stood up, her hands and feet were weak and she was still dizzy. "It's okay, sit down."

She stepped back and made way for two round stools, but Ah-yi could no longer hold on and fell down on them. Perhaps because of the cold, and the emotional ups and downs, Ah-yi felt sore all over again and felt dizzy.

Ying'en seemed to have found something to do. He quickly put on his clothes and ran out. "Ying'en will serve tea to the two of you."

Mrs. Cui just sat down and looked at the girl with red eyes again and again, and saw that she was grabbed by the wrist by A'ao.

"Where are you going? You still have a fever. Go back and lie down."

Mrs. Cui nodded with satisfaction and smiled unconsciously.

As expected, he is still the good boy who knows how to care for others. He has not grown up in the past year outside.

Ah-yi reached out to grab Madam Cui's hand and smiled, "Aunt Cui, it's been a long time since we last met. Is everything okay?"

The warm touch covered Mrs. Cui's cold fingers, and the coldness from the travel and the fear about Ah's situation seemed to disappear instantly.

Older people always seem to be worried. Mrs. Cui's eyes suddenly warmed up and she felt distressed. "I'm fine, but I'm afraid of not getting any news from you, and I'm also afraid of getting any news from you."

Just now he was putting on a show for the people watching outside, but now that the door was closed and no one was around, he felt really sad.

She raised Ah-an by herself, and always loved her as her own daughter. She had never been separated from her since she was sent to the Shangshu Mansion. It was not so much that Ah-an was reluctant to be separated from her, but rather that she could not stand the endless widowhood and needed this child as a sustenance.

Now when I see her again, I feel that no matter what path she chooses, as long as she is safe, everything is fine.

A'ao hugged her shoulders soothingly and said softly, "You can see me now. I'm fine." When she smelled the familiar gardenia scent on Mrs. Cui, she felt a bitter taste in her heart.

Escaping from the palace was indeed a decision made in a spur of the moment. At that time, Chen Zhaoying and the little maidservant had died beside A'ao one after another. She was still isolated and helpless in the palace, with only Madam Cui as her relative.

The new emperor ascended the throne hastily before the mourning period was completed, and placed the coffins of Shen Cong and Chen Zhaoying, who had not yet been buried, in the Buddhist temple in the palace. A'ao was forced to kneel here every day to reflect on the mistakes she had not made.

When Shen Zhuo was in a good mood, he started to belittle her, saying bluntly, "You see, it was you who killed the heir first and then the parents, otherwise why did my brother and his wife die in their prime? It would be better for you to marry an enemy, kill him and that's it, so you can explain to your elders in the afterlife."

Ah'ao was very young at that time and had no ability to completely ignore these bad words. Her tears fell unwillingly on the cushion, from light to dark, wetting a large area.

Shen Zhuo acted like this only because he felt angry and resentful.

He was competitive when he was young, but his ability was far inferior to Shen Cong. He was also a mess, so Emperor Wu An would scold him whenever he saw this young son.

Moreover, he was born to the empress dowager, was not loved by Emperor Wu An, and lost his mother at birth. In addition, Shen Cong, as his elder brother, was not friendly and often mocked him.

Under repeated suppression, Shen Zhuo grew more and more crooked like an unpruned tree.

His former wife divorced him in anger because she saw through his stubborn and fanatical pursuit of power and his hatred for everyone, and that he was hopeless. She simply lived in seclusion and never saw him again.

However, Shen Zhuo did not give up. Instead, his behavior became more and more intense, and he even felt as if everyone in the world had let him down.

So he hated Emperor Wu'an, and hated Shen Cong even more. He hated everything related to him. He hated him so much that he wanted to kill the emperor and his brother, and he hated him so much that he wanted to force Chen Zhaoying to death.

If this Princess Xuancheng had not been personally conferred by Emperor Wu'an and was not the only heir to the throne, he would have been afraid that if he killed her, he would have lost the support of the court and A'ao would have been killed by him long ago.

Throughout the palace, in the imperial court and the harem, there were people advising him and controlling him everywhere, and even as an emperor, he was still not happy. Only Jin Feng and Xue Ping were willing to flatter him and do everything according to his wishes.

So Shen Zhuo was happy to be a tyrant. Anyway, Shen had no children, so how could she overthrow him and let a young girl take the throne?

According to this logic, Shen Zhuo's torture of Ah-yi is not groundless. If he can't kill her, he must not let her have an easy life.

Therefore, even though A'ao escaped from the palace, no one submitted a petition for marriage within a year, and no one agreed to an emperor acting so absurdly.

The original choice was even the old King Youbei, who was over fifty years old, but the other party was unwilling and thought it was ridiculous, so he decided to choose him in favor of his own son Hu Gui.

Shen Zhuo did not blame Madam Cui because he had become increasingly lazy and dissolute in recent years, and it was difficult to maintain the relationship between the monarch and his subjects. Also, because Minister Jiang was the backbone of the country, he did not blame Madam Cui.

But this peace was a fluke after all. Ah-yi looked at the wrinkles on Mrs. Cui's eyes and her haggard face, and felt scared. But another thought that was getting stronger and stronger suddenly jumped out.

"Aunt Cui, it's difficult for me to get away from the palace, but I need your help with something." A'ao said seriously and got down to business.

Mrs. Cui naturally responded to her requests in every way.

"You may have heard that I was found by the Jinwu Guards in Kezhou." Ah'e walked over to get the water in the kettle and filled three cups neatly. She didn't forget Ying'en who was lying on the bed, so she handed him a cup on the table, then walked back and sat down. "Before I left, Kezhou was still fighting with Youbei, but I heard some time ago that His Majesty wanted to summon the Marquis to the capital for the annual banquet. Is this true?"

Madam Cui frowned and thought for a while. The steam from the hot soup rose faintly between the two of them. After a long while, she said, "It seems that this is the case. The annual banquet was prepared early this year. Some time ago, the palace came to give me an invitation, and the female official also mentioned this matter."

Ah-yi immediately caught the topic, "Which lady is this?"

Madam Cui said that it was from the Shang Gong Lady. The Shang Gong Bureau was always responsible for all matters related to banquets for the female members of the royal family.

It was the Shang Gong Bureau. Ah'ao unconsciously spun the cup on the table. It was the Shang Gong Bureau again.

The source of this news was also passed to Changsheng Hall by a female official from the Shangfu Bureau.

But the Shanggong Bureau has always been in charge of palace affairs. Why would they let her hear this for no reason?

Ah'ao tossed and turned, unable to figure it out.

Mrs. Cui didn't know when she became concerned about the war in the court, so she interrupted A'an with a little dissatisfaction, "You should worry about yourself first. Are you really going to marry to the desolate place of Youbei?" Her eyes were full of worry, and she sighed, "Then you and I will never see each other again."

"No." Ah's eyes were bright, as clear as if they had been washed by water, and she said firmly, "I have some old friendship with Prince Youbei, and he has made it clear that he will not force me to marry. I don't like him, and he has no intention of messing me up, so of course he won't be so willing to help my uncle do good things."

Madam Cui nodded with satisfaction. She had become much more resolute than she was more than a year ago when she had to submit to everything in the palace.

She always believed that one must see the world to grow. When Huai Chengbai left the capital to travel, Mrs. Cui wanted him to take Ah-yi with him. But after thinking about it, she was still young, so she had to give up.

Later, I learned that she had escaped from the capital. I was shocked and frightened, but after calming down and thinking about it, it was a good thing. I was reluctant to let go of her hand, but it was good for Ah-yi to break free of it herself and go out to see the world.

Now it can be seen that her theory is indeed correct.

Mrs. Cui praised herself in her heart, but she felt something was wrong and she was missing something. So she thought about it again.

After a long time, he finally figured it out and stared at Ah's almond-shaped eyes, "Tell me the truth, are you attracted to a certain man?"

Yes, no wonder she just said that Prince Youbei didn't want to disturb her. This sounded strange and had nothing to do with the previous half sentence.

The excuse for rejecting a marriage is that he doesn’t want to disrupt it, so the unfinished words can only be about another marriage?

Ah'ao had no idea what she had just let slip. She was dumbfounded by the sudden sharpness of the question and uttered "ah" slowly.

Seeing this expression, Mrs. Cui was even more certain. She stretched out her finger and poked Ah's forehead, saying in a reproachful tone, "You still want to deceive me? How far have you walked? How many bridges have I crossed?"

Ah's face flushed and she lowered her eyes in embarrassment.

"Tell me who it is. Don't let anyone fool you."

After all, it was out of kindness that I was afraid that she would not be able to judge people well and fall into a quagmire.

Ah'ao pursed her red lips, tormented for a long time, but could not bring herself to speak.

After making sufficient preparations and clenching his fists, he spoke out words one by one in embarrassment, "He, his last name is Heng, and his single character is 沚, the character for 沚 in water."

Isn't this what it's like when you first fall in love?

Mrs. Cui thought it was funny but didn't expose it. Instead, she wanted to ask who could have easily kidnapped the princess.

"Where is your home? How many people are there in your family? How do you make a living? Are you married?" A series of questions followed, "How old are you now? What do you look like?"

Ah-yi sighed, "Can you please let me answer them one by one?" Then she really started from the beginning, "He is from Kezhou, he is 21 years old this year, and both his parents have passed away."

"Wait!"

Madam Cui raised her hand to interrupt, "A native of Kezhou? Twenty-one years old? You came in and asked about the annual banquet for the Marquis of Kezhou..."

Ah'ao closed her eyes resigned to her fate. With such a talent for seeing the smallest details, it would be a shame for God not to let her take up a position as a judge in the court.

Madam Cui nodded in understanding, "The newly appointed Marquis Zhao ascended the throne last year when he turned 20, and he has come to the capital to see Your Majesty."

"No wonder." With mixed feelings, Mrs. Cui shook her head again.

Is it because you are not satisfied?

Ah's thought.

(End of this chapter)