After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

It was already September, so there were no fresh lychees left. The lychees in the porcelain jar were preserved using a honey-cooking method.

The honey-soaking method is one of the two most famous methods for preserving fresh lychees, alongside the red salt method. Lychees are picked while still covered in dew, their stems are sealed with beeswax, and then they are placed in a jar and soaked in cooked winter honey. Preserved this way, fresh lychees can be enjoyed the following spring.

Lychee Sister-in-law was from Fuzhou. When she was five years old, she was assigned to serve the Emperor as a maid. At that time, the Emperor asked her, "What do you like to eat?" She said, "Lychee." So the Emperor named her Lychee.

Zhu Cuiwei glanced at the exquisitely carved porcelain jar, shook her head and said, "I'm not eating, I have no appetite."

Zhu Boqing smiled, his face pale, and without offering any advice, remained silent for a moment before saying to her:

"Your Majesty, I may be leaving the capital with Lizhi for Fuzhou soon... Hmm, I've already sent people over to keep an eye on things. The Prince of Tang is helping me build a house... I've sent people to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't go on a lavish lifestyle."

Your Majesty? ... Upon hearing her brother's address and hearing what he said, Zhu Cuiwei's expression froze. She immediately sat up straight and said solemnly:

"Why? Brother, aren't you feeling better?"

She checked on him every morning and evening, and knew that her brother hadn't coughed up blood in the past two days.

Zhu Boqing glanced at her, his face showing some helplessness, and said, "First of all, your sister-in-law is from Fuzhou. She hasn't been back to her hometown for over ten years, so it's understandable that she misses home. Ever since she was little, she's been talking about how wonderful Fuzhou is every day, and I can't help but feel homesick... And now this mess has been dumped on you... so I thought I'd take her back to see it..."

As he spoke, the elder brother sighed and said self-deprecatingly, "Actually... I've wanted to select concubines for many years, but my health is really not good, so it would be pointless to select any, and I rejected all those candidates... Before, the Northern Dynasty finally agreed to let one of them marry me, but that girl ran away from the marriage... Ha... Speaking of this, your sister-in-law has been making fun of me for almost half a year..."

Seeing that her brother was in a cheerful mood, Zhu Cuiwei smiled as well.

"The second one, well..."

The elder brother sighed again and said,

"The physician said that if you want to live longer from the clutches of death, you must think less and not worry unnecessarily. Just bask in the sun every day, don't think about anything, eat, drink, and sleep... If you think too much, even his miraculous medicine might not work anymore... After thinking it over, my brother feels that as long as he lives in the capital and in the palace, he will inevitably think more and more, and he won't be able to resist..."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cuiwei fell silent.

Not to mention that her elder brother wanted to think things through more, she herself couldn't help but ask him about some political matters and listen to his opinions, otherwise she was always worried that she might make mistakes in her governance or be misled by her ministers.

Zhu Boqing glanced at his younger sister again, his gaze gradually darkening, and he gave a bitter smile, saying:

"The third reason is that as long as I, the retired emperor, remain in the capital, some people will inevitably come to me, the retired emperor, when they encounter certain problems... rather than to you."

Zhu Cuiwei's lowered eyes suddenly snapped open: "Who?" Then she asked, "What is it?"

Zhu Boqing sighed and said, "Your Majesty, I already know about the Northern Dynasty's request for an alliance. I also know about their demands."

Zhu Cuiwei froze, then a sudden chill ran down her spine and up to the top of her head. She stared intently at her elder brother on the bed and asked, "Brother... what do you mean?"

Zhu Boqing said frankly, "What I mean is... let's wait a little longer."

Zhu Cuiwei shook her head and said, "There is no need to wait. My sister is already married. The reason why the Northern Dynasty has such delusions is because my sister and her husband have not yet held a grand wedding ceremony. Once my sister and her husband are married, their names will be recorded in the imperial register..."

"Your Majesty," Zhu Boqing said, his face pale, his eyes dimming as he looked at his sister. "I will not interfere with your marriage to your brother-in-law. Your brother also hopes he will become your true brother-in-law... I have even prepared his marquisate. Doesn't he want to inherit both lineages? No problem. You can adopt one child into the Jingbei Marquis lineage, and the other child can inherit the marquisate from your own lineage... Your brother... Your brother just hopes... you can wait a little longer..."

Zhu Cuiwei suddenly felt somewhat exhausted and repeated, "Your Majesty, the reason why the Northern Dynasty has such delusional thoughts..."

Zhu Boqing's breathing became somewhat rapid, and he shook his head, saying:

"We...we...we want them to have delusions, to make them think...we, we want to form an alliance...cough cough cough..." His voice changed, and he coughed for a while with a distorted expression. Lychee handed him a handkerchief, which he used to cover his mouth. He looked up at the middle-aged eunuch Wang Bing beside him.

Wang Bing understood his meaning and respectfully bowed his head, saying, "Your Majesty, according to our intelligence... the Rakshasa... have completely occupied Yaksa and are about to breach Aigun..."

"Aihui?"

"Exactly," Wang Bing said confidently. "Aihui is the Northern Dynasty's supply depot in Heilongjiang. If this place falls, the Rakshasa army will march straight towards Ningguta!" As he spoke, Wang Bing took out a map and explained the military situation to her and his brother in detail.

The Emperor coughed for a long time before saying, "The Marquis of Jingbei said that the Northern Dynasty is full of wolfish ambitions... and would never use the area south of the Huai River as a condition for an alliance... but, but..."

The emperor reached out a pale hand, grabbed her sleeve, and spoke haltingly through his cloudy eyes,

"Before the Grand Prince Consort passed away, he said... there must be no internal strife... the Great Liang must not be in turmoil, especially the imperial clan... as long as there is internal strife... destruction will be imminent... the Tartars cannot defeat us... but as long as there is no internal strife... we can hold on, but... but Cuiwei... has already... has already shown signs... we have already shown signs..." Zhu Boqing's eyes suddenly filled with tears, his tone was weak, and his voice was intermittent.

Zhu Cuiwei's heart skipped a beat when she saw her brother's expression, and her eyes and heart ached.

Her brother first spoke of the Marquis of Jingbei's opposition to the alliance, and then of the young and untimely death of the "Grand Prince Consort." At first, she didn't understand, but after hearing her brother mutter the word "signs" several times, she realized that her brother was referring to the Wu and Qi Kings... the Wu and Qi Kings' rebellion... the internal strife within the imperial clan... the Tang and Gui vassal states... Her brother wanted to take advantage of the fact that the internal strife was still in its early stages, seize the opportunity of the great war between the Northern Dynasty and the Rakshasa, and accumulate more resources for his descendants.

"The Northern Dynasty is absolutely...untrustworthy...there must be something fishy going on...wait a little longer, stall them..." Zhu Boqing, having recovered somewhat with the help of Lizhi, said weakly, "...wait until the Rakshasa people conquer Aigun...wait two months...by then there won't be any fighting on the Heilongjiang side..."

Seeing her brother's state, Zhu Cuiwei felt extremely distressed. She wiped away her tears and said:

"What if the Rakshasa people conquer it?"

Zhu Boqing turned his head to look at his younger sister, reached out and grabbed her sleeve, and said:

"We've taken it... You... get ready... Keep Prince Tang Gui pinned down in the capital... North... Northern Expedition... Reclaim the area south of the Huai River... Borrow... Borrow military force... Reduce the power of the regional warlords... Implement reforms..."

"What if we can't take it?"

Zhu Boqing closed his eyes and shook his head, saying, "Then...then the alliance is fake...Aihui...the Northern Dynasty will never...south of the Huai River...you must be prepared, be ready for the Northern Dynasty to invade next spring..."