When Cheng Yujin returned to the courtyard, the maidservant guarding the door saw her and quickly ran in to report, "Older Sister Lian Qiao, Older Sister Dugeaux, Miss is back!"
Lian Qiao was anxiously pacing around. When she heard that Cheng Yujin had returned, she picked up her skirt and ran out, "Miss, you're finally back!"
Dugeaux also followed her out with a dignified face. Cheng Yujin pressed Lian Qiao's hand, indicating that she shouldn't say anything, "I'm fine. Let's go in first."
Lian Qiao quickly nodded. Cheng Yujin calmly returned to the room. Dugeaux quietly drove out the maidservants in the room and personally brought a cup of hot tea for Cheng Yujin. The two maidservants surrounded her. Lian Qiao lowered her voice and asked, "Miss, this servant was about to go out to look for you. Fortunately, you're back. Miss, what's wrong? "
Cheng Yujin shook her head. She still couldn't believe what had happened just now. She tiredly sipped the tea. Cheng Yujin's throat had long been dry after the whole afternoon of fright and battle of wits. After she moistened her throat, she moved the lid of the teacup. Her eyes were empty, as if she was thinking.
Dugeaux and Lian Qiao could see that Cheng Yujin was thinking about something. They didn't dare to urge her and waited. Cheng Yujin finally closed the lid and put the teacup on the table. Her eyes quietly swept towards Dugeaux.
Dugeaux understood. She took the needle and thread basket and sat on the threshold. She pretended to be sewing, but in fact, she was guarding the door. When the room was safe, Cheng Yujin asked, "Lian Qiao, how did you come back?"
Lian Qiao also knew that the matter was not trivial. She knelt at the foot of the arhat bed and thought back. She tried not to miss any details, "After Miss went in, this servant followed Miss's instructions and carefully guarded the window. This servant looked carefully and found that no one passed by during this period. But for some reason, after a quarter of an hour, the people around the Ninth Masters suddenly appeared and said that the young lady had left with the Ninth Masters and asked this servant to follow. This servant doesn't know what's going on, but Miss has instructed me not to leave the window. Afterwards, they stared at this servant for a while before dispersing on their own. "
"Soon, someone came to the front door. This servant didn't dare to stay any longer and hurriedly went around. Afterwards, this servant secretly peeked at the entrance of the Old Marquis courtyard, but did not see anyone inside talking about Eldest Miss. This servant was not sure what was going on and thought that Eldest Miss had already come out, so this servant hurried back to the courtyard to look for Eldest Miss. In the end, when this servant ran back, the Dugeaux said that Miss had not returned. This servant panicked and was about to go out to look for you when Miss appeared. "
Lian Qiao kept repeating, while Cheng Yujin listened quietly without asking anything. After listening to Lian Qiao's words, she already had a rough idea of what was going on. Cheng Yujin did not answer and instead asked: "When you came back, did anyone see you?"
"No, this servant was careful and avoided people on the way back."
"En." Cheng Yujin nodded. She had not revealed any emotions, but at this moment, she suddenly became serious and serious, "Today's matter can only rot in your stomach. You can't mention it to anyone, not even the Dugeaux. Do you understand? "
It was rare for Lian Qiao to see Cheng Yujin so serious. In the past, no matter what happened, Cheng Yujin was always calm and composed. Today, it was the first time that Cheng Yujin had such a worried expression on her face. Lian Qiao was frightened and hurriedly nodded.
After beating Lian Qiao, Cheng Yujin was very tired and waved her hand to signal her to leave. Lian Qiao bowed her head and left. Suddenly, only Cheng Yujin was left in the room. It was so quiet that she could almost hear the sound of the fragrant biscuits burning. Cheng Yujin sighed and leaned her head against the pillow. She reached out to cover her eyes.
It was dark in front of her, without any light. Cheng Yujin was able to think more attentively. Under her fingers, her eyelashes trembled quickly and slightly. Cheng Yujin forced herself to calm down. Little by little, she opened her eyes and recalled what happened today.
Cheng Yuanjing's true identity really caught her off guard.
Cheng Yujin had heard some rumors from Old Madam Cheng before. It was nothing more than Old Madam Cheng suspecting that Cheng Yuanjing was not of the Cheng family's bloodline for many years. Instead, he was an illegitimate child that Madam Xue Junior had with a wild man when she was exiled. Seeing that she could no longer hide her old age, Xiao Xue lied that she was Marquis Cheng's son. She wanted to rely on her son to return to the capital and live a rich life.
However, Marquis Cheng was unprincipled and biased toward the child who came out of nowhere. What was more infuriating was that the child was extremely outstanding, far surpassing Cheng Yuan-hsien and Cheng Yuanhan. Old Lady Cheng was so angry that her heart, liver, and lungs hurt. She hated Xiao Xue and hated her son for not living up to her expectations. Therefore, she did not allow anyone to mention the youngest Ninth Young Master. During the holidays, she also did not allow Xiao Xue and that child to enter the Cheng Family.
As time passed, very few people in the Cheng Family knew about the Ninth Masters. Cheng Yujin and the other juniors had never seen the Ninth Uncle. Fortunately, Cheng Yuanjing did not seem to want to return to the Cheng Family. Over the years, the number of times he returned to the residence could be counted with one hand. After Xiao Xue died, he stayed out of the city and did not even send a message for three years. Even if someone said that Cheng Yuanjing had died out of the city, the Cheng Family would believe it.
Marquis Cheng only had two sons, both of whom were given birth to by Old Lady Cheng. When Cheng Yuanjing came back, he was the ninth in seniority in the family.
Of course, Cheng Yujin did not care about the grudges of the previous generation. What did it have to do with her? Cheng Yujin only thought about it when she was bored. Perhaps, Cheng Yuanjing was really not Marquis Cheng's son. Old Lady Cheng was the person who knew Marquis Cheng the best. Even she suspected that it was not groundless.
Besides, everyone in the Cheng Family was greedy for pleasure and did not want to make progress. Cheng Yuanjing was too ambitious. He did not seem like a melon that could grow in the Cheng Family's field.
Who would have known that Cheng Yujin's joke would come true? Cheng Yuanjing was really not surnamed Cheng.
Cheng Yujin felt scared just thinking about it. Marquis Cheng had done such a big thing without telling anyone. What was worse was that he did not tell his family. Cheng Yujin thought about Cheng Yuan-hsien's arrogant attitude towards Cheng Yuanjing and felt a throbbing pain in her head.
Her biggest wish in life was to become rich and powerful. Unfortunately, it was too difficult to achieve this on her own. Cheng Yujin could only invest in men. Since she was sensible, she had deliberately built up a reputation of being a good wife and loving mother. She pretended to be a good girl in front of the madams and madams. She grew more and more beautiful, and her reputation grew bigger and bigger. She was only one step away from her dream. But in the end, she was held back at this juncture.
First, Huo Changyuan, that idiot, broke off the engagement. The reputation she had built up for so many years was ruined. Fortunately, breaking off the engagement could be considered to have stopped the damage in time. Cheng Yujin was barely able to cope with it. But she never thought that her father would be so eager to court disaster.
Cheng Yujin thought that no one could stop her from marrying a rich husband, not even her father. The Crown Prince was too big. Cheng Yujin did not dare to think about it. But she could still consider using him.
Cheng Yujin opened her eyes and carefully calculated her next steps.
After today's experience, all the strange things in her previous life could be explained.
Cheng Yujin had a dream. In the dream, she watched "Cheng Yujin's" life like a wandering soul. She had never actually experienced those things. Love, hate, love, and hatred were like other people's stories. It was as if there was a layer of fog separating them. Nothing was real. Rather than saying that she had experienced such a life, it was more like she had accidentally caught a glimpse of her other life.
However, she did remember a few idiots, especially Huo Zhangyuan.
In her previous life, she had very little contact with her Ninth Uncle. She did not break off the engagement with Huo Changyuan. She did not bump into Cheng Yuanjing when he returned home. She also did not embroider a screen for Cheng Yuanjing. In the summer of Cheng Yuanjing's return to the capital, she married Huo Changyuan.
Counting the days, it was this month.
She understood how to survive in the inner residence. Although men had a lot of power, the one who truly controlled a woman's basic necessities was the wife of the head of the household. Cheng Yujin had always been very rational. It was so in this life, and it was also so in her previous life. Because of this, in her previous life, she did not offend Old Lady Cheng for an uncle she had never met. After she got married, she and Cheng Yuanjing had even less contact.
But later, she vaguely heard that her Ninth Uncle returned to the capital to show his face, and then went to another place to take up an official post. After that, there was no more news. She heard that he died of an illness.
At that time, Cheng Yujin was already pregnant. She was in terrible shape because of Huo Changyuan and Cheng Yumo. How could she have the time to pay attention to an uncle she was not close to? Then, there was no "then".
Because she died in childbirth. She was only sixteen years old when she died.
When she was dreaming, she did not realize that something was wrong. Now that she thought about it, Cheng Yujin figured out many strange things. For example, after her death, why did Huo Changyuan marry Cheng Yumo so smoothly? Why did Huo Changyuan's official career go so smoothly? Why did the Cheng Family not have any prospects at all? Why did they live in wealth for so many years?
Another example was that the Huxue Clan clearly hated other women being close to their sons. After Huo Changyuan married Cheng Yumo again, the Huxue Clan was very polite to Cheng Yumo.
She followed the perspective of the book's author and reluctantly admitted that Cheng Yumo was born to be doted on. But now that she thought about it, it was bullsh * t luck. It was obvious that Huo Changyuan secretly leaked information to the Huxue Clan, letting the Huxue Clan know that there was a god behind the Cheng Family. They wanted to rely on the Cheng Family's daughter to be on good terms with the Crown Prince.
Even if it was only in name, the Crown Prince had protected the Crown Prince for so many years. Because of this, the Crown Prince would help the Cheng Family a little. As for the Cheng Family's men, they were all useless. Didn't the Crown Prince leave all the benefits to his son-in-law?
To hell with the young talents. Huo Changyuan's meteoric rise was all because of the Cheng Family! No wonder he wanted to marry Cheng Yumo. The so-called savior, the so-called first love, were all excuses. At most, death was only a small part of the reason. The real reason he wanted to marry Cheng Yumo was because the Cheng Family was the Crown Prince's benefactor. The Cheng Family's daughter was a ready-made ladder for him.
Cheng Yujin felt angry. How unlucky was she in her previous life? Why did she have to marry Huo Changyuan? If it was someone else, with her carefully planned marriage and the Crown Prince's generosity, she would have been able to live a happy life no matter who she married.
But she married into the Huo family and was betrayed by both her husband and sister. Before the Crown Prince regained his status, she died of blood loss due to her mother-in-law's negligence. Until her death, she didn't know the truth.
Cheng Yujin took a deep breath. The events of her previous life had been cleared. Now, everything had not started yet. She had plenty of opportunities to start over. This time, she had to use the Crown Prince's incomparably shining trump card.
Cheng Yujin didn't know whether to admire Marquis Cheng's courage or admire her own courage. But since she walked out of the closet alive today, it meant that His Highness wasn't interested in her life. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to do this. Since he didn't want to kill her to silence her, the rest of the matter was much simpler. The Crown Prince had to deal with a myriad of affairs every day and shouldered a great undertaking. Why would he care about a little girl borrowing power? Cheng Yujin even planned to have Cheng Yuanjing directly bestow a marriage. Wouldn't she be able to marry anyone she wanted?
Cheng Yujin hurriedly drank a mouthful of tea to calm down. She slowly regained her rationality. Although Cheng Yuanjing was the Crown Prince, only heaven, earth, and the Emperor knew about it. Based on his fifteen years of concealment, he wouldn't publicize his status until the time was right. This was difficult. Who knew when Cheng Yuanjing planned to return? She was already fourteen. Should she wait for Cheng Yuanjing to regain his status and bestow a marriage?
It would be difficult.
Cheng Yujin was a bit worried. Looking at Cheng Yumo's behavior, at least until Cheng Yumo's death, Cheng Yumo didn't know that the Crown Prince was the Ninth Uncle of the Cheng Family. There were two possibilities. One was that Cheng Yumo was also unlucky and died before the Crown Prince regained his status. The other was that the Crown Prince never acknowledged the Cheng Family. When the time was right, the Crown Prince was suddenly found by the palace and brought back to the Eastern Palace. Li Seung-kyung was Li Seung-kyung, and Cheng Yuanjing was Cheng Yuanjing. It was just that Cheng Yuanjing was dead.
Those who knew the inside story were all top figures in the world. Even if the people below felt that the Crown Prince looked familiar, they didn't dare to casually say that the long-lost Crown Prince looked like another person. As long as the Cheng Family was dealt with well, no one would expose this royal scandal.
Cheng Yujin's intuition told her that it was most likely the latter.
She wanted to use the tiger's might to intimidate others, but she didn't know if the tiger would be willing to give her a single hair. Cheng Yujin's heart was heavy. She thought about it for a long time. In the end, the Lin Family's advantage of not taking in concubines prevailed. The Lin Family wasn't weak. Lin Qingyuan was a promising person, and the Crown Prince thought highly of him. Now, it was as if she accidentally saw the answer before an exam. Lin Qingyuan had a lot of room for improvement. How could she let go of such a super potential stock?
Cheng Yujin finally decided on her target husband, the top scholar Lin Qingyuan. At the same time, for her and her husband's good future, she had to curry favor with Cheng Yuanjing while she still had the chance to get in touch with him.
No, this was called sharing the burden of the ruler.
Cheng Yujin spent the whole night thinking about Cheng Yuanjing's matter. The next day, she went to greet Princess Qingfu as usual and found that Cheng Yuan-hsien was also there.
Strange, the sun must have risen from the west today.
It was obvious that Qingfu's maids were also not used to it. They were all happy as if it was the New Year, and they brought out batch after batch of fruits and pastries. Princess Qingfu was wearing a bright red dress, and her face was full of joy. When she saw Cheng Yujin come in, she unexpectedly smiled for the first time. "Eldest Miss is here."
Cheng Yujin also skillfully put on a smile and saluted the two people at the head of the table. "Daughter greets father and mother. The two of you will live a long and happy life."
When Princess Qingfu heard this, she smiled. Cheng Yujin's words poked at Princess Qingfu's heart. Which woman didn't hope to live a long and happy life with their husband? Princess Qingfu only saw Cheng Yuan-hsien a few times a month. Today, she rarely came to her room. Cheng Yujin said "live a long and happy life" as soon as she opened her mouth. It was very pleasing. As for the happy life, it was obviously talking about the good fortune of children and grandchildren. Qingfu thought of her precious son and became happier.
Princess Qingfu was in a good mood when she heard the auspicious words early in the morning. Even her impression of Cheng Yujin increased. She carefully looked at Cheng Yujin and felt that it was a pity. If Cheng Yujin really crawled out of her belly, it would be great. Having such a smart and beautiful eldest daughter was really a blessing of ten lifetimes. Unfortunately, she was born from the second branch of the family.
On the other hand, Cheng Yuan-hsien saw Cheng Yujin coming and asked, "Sister Jin, how are you these days?"
Cheng Yujin silently glanced at Princess Qingfu and said, "Thanks to mother's care, daughter is doing well."
Princess Qingfu's complexion was visibly better. Cheng Yuan-hsien also nodded at Qingfu with satisfaction. "It seems that you really care about Sister Jin. That's good."
He then said to Cheng Yujin, "Your mother has been in the household for many years and has rich experience. You are not young anymore. You should learn from your mother."
Cheng Yujin quietly looked at Cheng Yuan-hsien, who never cared about his children, pretending to be a kind father. She smiled without any difference. "Daughter understands. Thank you father for your teachings."
Cheng Yuan-hsien said a few words and felt that he was simply a responsible father. He was very satisfied and self-satisfied. Slowly, he revealed his true intentions. "Sister Jin, you were the last to leave yesterday. Did you hear what your grandfather said?"
Cheng Yujin couldn't help but sigh in her heart. Why did Cheng Yuan-hsien ask this? Did he discover something?
Cheng Yujin remained calm and said, "Not at all. At that time, grandfather was already asleep. Daughter did not hear anything. Why did father ask this? "
"It's nothing." Cheng Yuan-hsien clasped his hands. After a while, he couldn't help but say, "I heard from the servants that after everyone left yesterday, Cheng Yuanjing went back. I don't know what father said to him. "
Cheng Yujin understood when she heard this. There were many eyes in the big house. Cheng Yuanjing came back from outside. It was impossible for there to be no one on such a long road. Yesterday, when he returned to Marquis Cheng's courtyard, he was still seen.
However, since Cheng Yuan-hsien said this, at least it meant that her whereabouts were not exposed. The Cheng Family didn't know that Cheng Yujin was also there at that time. Otherwise, Cheng Yuan-hsien wouldn't ask in such a tone.
Cheng Yujin understood in her heart. She calmly said, "Ninth Uncle sent the imperial physician out of the house. He didn't know that father and the others had left. No wonder he went straight to grandfather's courtyard. Does father have a message for Ninth Uncle? "
"What do I have to say to him!" Cheng Yuan-hsien coldly snorted with a look of disdain. "I'm just afraid that father will become muddle-headed and leave his family's property to an outsider."
Cheng Yujin understood. It turned out that Cheng Yuan-hsien was worried about the family's property. It was good that she didn't suspect Cheng Yuanjing's identity. Cheng Yujin was undoubtedly relieved. However, some complicated feelings were born in her heart. Marquis Cheng was scheming against Cheng Yuanjing until his death, for the benefit of his children and grandchildren. And his good sons didn't wait for him to die. They were already calculating Marquis Cheng's property.
Cheng Yujin suddenly felt a little sad. She could hear that Marquis Cheng deliberately used his illness and kindness to hold Cheng Yuanjing hostage yesterday. How could Cheng Yuanjing not understand? His biological father refused to recognize him. Half of his adoptive father only cared about his son. When he heard these words, how did he feel?
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