Where is the early stage of the marriage alliance?

"Uncle, please teach us archery! My little brother missed the target earlier and he's been very upset; he almost cried!"

Ling Yu tugged at Qin Qi's sleeve and swayed back and forth. Only then did Xiao Ce and Qin Qi look seriously at Ling Yue, who stood alone to the side with a tense little face, looking sullen and awkward.

"Yue'er, what happened?"

Qin Qi spoke softly and walked slowly toward him.

"We just had an archery contest, and only Ling Yue's arrow missed the target."

Xiao Chen'an blinked and explained the reason with a serious expression.

Qin Qi suppressed his smile, quickly walked to Ling Yue, knelt down, and looked him in the eye.

"It's alright, Yue'er, it's nothing, don't be sad. Uncle will teach you archery, okay?"

Upon hearing this, Ling Yue suddenly turned around, puffed out his cheeks, and glared at Ling Yu beside him.

"I'm not upset about that."

"That's exactly what you look like! Every time you're about to cry, this is what you do!"

Ling Yu immediately retorted, eager to prove his point.

Ling Yue's words struck a chord, and his ears instantly burned. His eyes visibly reddened, and tears welled up in them, but he stubbornly refused to shed a tear.

"It's alright, Yue'er. You're the youngest of the three, so naturally you're a bit weaker than the others. Your uncle will teach you slowly in the future, and I guarantee that your archery skills will be perfect in the future."

To everyone's surprise, Ling Yue immediately turned his head, his small figure revealing a stubbornness, and retorted in a low, muffled voice:

"I'm not the youngest..."

"Uncle Rui, why don't you teach us archery? Xiao Chen'an said you personally taught him archery on horseback. He just hit the bullseye with one arrow. You must be really good."

Ling Yu looked up at Xiao Ce with his little face full of admiration. When he started flattering, most people couldn't resist. Xiao Ce's eyes were gentle, and he was about to respond when Ling Yue suddenly interrupted him.

"He is Xiao Chen'an's father, not our father. If you want to learn archery, go back and find our own father to teach you."

Ling Yue stiffened his neck, his tone clearly awkward.

Xiao Ce frowned slightly as he looked at the child in front of him who was clearly hostile to him. He had just saved the child yesterday, but the child was showing no sign of distrust towards him today.

"Even if you wanted to ask Uncle Rui to teach you, it's not possible right now. Uncle Rui was still injured yesterday while saving Yue'er."

"Yes, my father was seriously injured. Even the physician from the Du family said that he might suffer from chronic illness in the future."

Xiao Chen'an frowned, looking at his father with heartache.

Ling Yue seemed to recall what happened yesterday, and the resistance on his face gradually faded. Suddenly, he looked at Xiao Ce with some worry.

"When you come to Jinling again in the future, I will teach you archery, shall we?"

"Really? That's great..."

Ling Yu was overjoyed and cheered loudly.

……

After seeing Qin Qi and his nephew off in the afternoon, Xiao Ce returned to Chuixing Courtyard. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw his mother sitting alone in the courtyard. When he got closer, he saw that she had a worried look on her face, as if she was thinking about something.

"Mother? What are you doing here?"

Upon hearing the sound, Consort Rui slowly turned her head, her brows furrowing, the worry that had been building up between her brows could no longer be concealed. She looked at Xiao Ce approaching, her expression filled with apprehension.

"Mother Consort has some questions she would like to ask you."

Seeing his mother's solemn expression, Xiao Ce sat down opposite her and couldn't help but become more serious as well.

"Mother, please speak freely."

Consort Rui's gaze was deep, and after a moment's hesitation, she spoke decisively:

"Don't you think that Ling Yu and Ling Yue don't seem like twins?"

Xiao Ce's heart skipped a beat, his eyes filled with surprise. His mother's behavior today was already unusual, and this question was completely unexpected.

"Why would Mother Consort make such a conjecture? Is it perhaps because they appear so different in appearance and temperament?"

Xiao Ce paused for a moment, then continued:

"Bai Xu mentioned before that there are indeed special cases of twins who look completely different. Ce'er is curious, though, why has Mother's behavior been so strange since she saw those two children today?"

"Ce'er, back then you and Ling Xi suddenly divorced, and she had been living in your Chuixing Courtyard for about half a year. Tell your mother the truth, was she pregnant during that time?"

The word "pregnant" struck Xiao Ce's heart like a hammer, causing him to shudder violently. The pain he had deliberately suppressed and gradually forgotten surged back in an instant.

She had been pregnant with his child, but she had an abortion.

"Ce'er?"

Seeing that he remained silent for a long time and his face was pale, Consort Rui's heart tightened.

"She was indeed pregnant, but..."

"You were pregnant before? When was that?"

Consort Rui interrupted him anxiously, her eyes filled with urgency, and leaned forward to ask him more questions.

Xiao Ce's Adam's apple bobbed heavily, a bitter and melancholy feeling stuck in his chest, making his voice hoarse.

"Mother, that child... is long gone."

"That's it?"

Consort Rui froze, her eyes filled with disbelief.

"She didn't want to keep the child, so she aborted it herself after returning to the State of Chu."

Consort Rui remained stunned for a long time. After a moment of deep thought, her chaotic thoughts suddenly came together, her eyes narrowed sharply, and a terrifying guess suddenly popped into her mind.

"Ce'er, that child... perhaps it wasn't aborted?"

"Didn't it get aborted?"

Xiao Ce's voice was weak and he pondered for a long time before slowly shaking his head.

"Impossible...she couldn't possibly have kept the child."

"Perhaps she secretly gave birth to the child?"

Consort Rui became anxious and quickly pressed for answers.

"Won't."

Xiao Ce felt a dryness in his throat, and his eyes betrayed his pain.

"She hated me to the core back then, so how could she have kept my child..."

"Didn't you go to the State of Chu again the following year? Did you notice anything unusual? Or...did you see her with a child?"

Xiao Ce suddenly lost his focus, his eyes glazed over, and those images he had deliberately buried in the past uncontrollably surfaced before his eyes.

That year, after returning to Jinling from the State of Chu, he was in a daze, his mind and spirit completely broken. He had planned to wait a while longer, hoping that the resentment in her heart might dissipate, and that he would go to Jicheng to find her and beg for her forgiveness then.

But life is unpredictable. Not long after returning to Jinling, Mu Wanning fell seriously ill and passed away suddenly within a few months. Xiao Chen'an cried day and night and could not be separated from him, so he had to stay in Jinling.

When he returned to Jicheng six months later, he found that she was nowhere to be found in the Prince Huan's mansion. After inquiring, he learned that she had gone to stay at her aunt's house for a while and that her return was imminent. So he patiently waited in Jicheng for ten days and finally saw her.

That day, in front of the Prince Huan's mansion, he watched from afar as she gracefully stepped down from the carriage, her eyes smiling, radiant and beautiful. Standing beneath the carriage was a refined gentleman who carefully helped her down.