She Holds the World After Being Reborn-Chapter 297 - 296: Yan Wanqing Disappears, Leaving Behind a Letter and a Bib

Chapter 297: Chapter 296: Yan Wanqing Disappears, Leaving Behind a Letter and a Bib

It was but a day.

The Emperor had died, the Empress had died, and deep within the palace, the Empress Dowager had also ended her remaining days with a cup of Crane’s Red.

Xiao Pingfeng was so disturbed by these events that he hadn’t slept well for an entire half-month.

By the time he had realized, it had been a long while since he had last seen his beloved Wanqing.

That day, as she held the Imperial Edict, a fleeting look of guilt in her eyes made Xiao Pingfeng feel slightly uneasy.

"Your Highness, those ministers from yesterday have come again," the Little Eunuch rushed into the Imperial Study.

Xiao Pingfeng tossed the memorial he was holding onto the desk and rubbed his aching forehead, "I know."

They had come for seven days straight, each time urging him to hold the succession ceremony as soon as possible.

But Xiao Pingfeng didn’t want to be the Emperor at all.

"Block them for me, today I do not wish to see them." Seeing those faces marked by deep concerns again, Xiao Pingfeng felt he might really lose his temper and kill them with a sword.

The Wang Quan Courtyard incident had implicated almost half of the Imperial Court’s officials.

The Dali Temple was now overcrowded.

He needed to handle every single matter.

He was human after all, how could he manage all this?

The Little Eunuch watched as the Crown Prince got up, startled for a moment, "Your Highness, are you going out today?"

"Yes." He could no longer bear it, he needed to go see Wanqing.

The Little Eunuch dared not ask further, only bowing his head in agreement.

What he didn’t know was that the Yan Family’s home was already deserted.

The Township Manor’s plaque had been smashed to the ground and lay covered in dust, Xiao Pingfeng stood under the shade of the trees, his dark eyes turning gloomy.

Returning to the Imperial Palace.

He headed straight to Sun Lianyi’s chambers.

"Where are the people from the Yan Family?"

Sun Lianyi looked up at him, then slowly got up, "Don’t disturb your brother’s sleep, come over here and talk."

She had come out of confinement and had recently taken up the long-abandoned spear again. After the Emperor’s death, she had become increasingly taciturn, her demeanor more valiant, as if she had returned to the days when she was Miss Sun of the Sun Family.

Sun Lianyi poured Xiao Pingfeng a cup of tea, "Crown Prince, please."

Xiao Pingfeng looked at her, took a seat but didn’t touch the tea, "Noble Consort Sun, where is she?"

In the span of half a month, the people of the Yan Family had vanished.

He simply had no way to start.

Sun Lianyi took a sip of tea, a slyness flickering in her eyes, "Is Your Highness impatient?"

"Please, Noble Consort Sun, do not beat around the bush."

"For half a month you were busy with affairs of state, surrounded by a throng of people. Where were you when your poor cousin was living through hell, reviled by thousands?"

"I..." Xiao Pingfeng furrowed his brow.

He really didn’t know.

In that brief time, Xiao Hongshen had died, his father the Emperor had died, the Empress had died, even the Empress Dowager had died... He was overwhelmed with troubling affairs, everyone was waiting for him to make a decision, to provide guidance; he was so busy he could hardly touch the ground. Every day, he was unaware of how he fell asleep or how he woke up.

In the beginning, Wanqing had also come to accompany him, but later her visits became less frequent, until gradually she was completely out of sight.

Sun Lianyi kept shaking her head, "Now that everyone has left, you come here looking for them, what is the meaning of this?"

Seeing Xiao Pingfeng silently brooding, she continued, "The losses among the court officials exceed half, the national treasury is severely depleted, the current court is riddled with internal and external troubles, yet do you not find it strange how things have somewhat improved over this half-month?"

"I know, she is helping me," Xiao Pingfeng was not a fool.

That’s why he had been so at ease staying within the Imperial Palace.

"...It seems the Crown Prince still has some conscience, not in vain did that foolish girl arrange all this before she left." Sun Lianyi originally wanted to give Xiao Pingfeng a hard time, but seeing his anxious gaze and the fatigue of many days without proper rest under his eyes, she eventually softened her heart.

After all, he was still several years younger than her.

Sun Lianyi couldn’t bear to be harsh to him anymore.

"Alright, alright, I was just jesting with you. Although rumors abound throughout the court these days, everyone knows the atrocious acts committed by your late father, and how many lives were saved by Lord of the Township Manor. Everyone has a clear sense of who was right and who was wrong. However, after this time, your cousin is thoroughly exhausted. Hence, she took this opportunity to take her family out for a mountain excursion, the specifics of where they went, I truly do not know." She pulled a piece of paper from under the cushion and pushed it towards Xiao Pingfeng.

"This is the letter she left for you."

Xiao Pingfeng brought over the letter, and Sun Lianyi, holding her tea curiously, said, "Open it up and let this palace see, it’s bulging and I don’t know what’s inside."

The letter was well sealed, Xiao Pingfeng carefully opened it and poured out the contents.

Red, soft, and sticky, the embroidery spread out was crooked and looked so ugly that it was cute.

"What is this?" Xiao Pingfeng did not recognize it for a moment.

Seeing him looking dumbfounded, Sun Lianyi snatched it away, "It’s simple, isn’t this a bib for a child?" Having recently had a child herself, she was particularly familiar with it, having embroidered countless ones these days.

Looking at the twisted pattern that resembled a little mouse on it, she frowned with some disdain.

"My cousin’s embroidery skills are as terrible as ever."

Yan Wanqing was good at everything, just extraordinarily poor at embroidery.

As a child, she had no other place to mock her, so she would pick on her embroidery skills.

Whenever this happened, Yan Wanqing would get huffy and pick up a spear to fight her earnestly.

Thinking about their youth, Sun Lianyi’s eyes twinkled with laughter.

Xiao Pingfeng sat aside unsure what to do, he did not understand why Yan Wanqing would leave a child’s bib in the letter.

Sun Lianyi clicked her tongue twice and handed the unusually ugly bib back to him.

"The two of you really are something, both born into privileged families, yet all the classics you’ve studied have gone to waste? Even pulling off a deception like ’overtly repair the plank road while secretly crossing through Chen Cang’?"

Xiao Pingfeng’s eyes darkened, "Noble Consort should still be careful with her words." Criticizing him was acceptable, but not her darling.

Sun Lianyi snorted lightly, "Did the palace speak wrongly? There’s already a child, and still, I shouldn’t speak?!"

A child?!

Joy shone in Xiao Pingfeng’s eyes, he gripped the bib in his palm, feeling his chest throbbing violently, and immediately stood up, "I must go find her!"

"Go on then, hurry up, soon my son will wake up," Sun Lianyi stretched lazily.

The day was exceptionally fine.

After the old Emperor had passed away, the air in the Imperial City felt fresher.

She now had no desires left, only wanting to focus on raising her son.

If Xiao Pingfeng permitted, she even wanted to take the little prince to some deserted mountains to live; it would be better than living in this Imperial City, where people’s hearts were more terrifying than ghosts.

Learning that Empress Zhang Lanyi had died from poison administered by the Emperor, Sun Lianyi felt a delayed fright.

Fortunately, everything she ate on a daily basis was tested by the nursemaids before she touched it; otherwise, it was really hard to guard against.

Thinking back to the day all the concubines were summoned before the Emperor and she alone was omitted, she knew it was the Empress who had shielded her.

This kindness, unfortunately, she now had no opportunity to repay.

Sun Lianyi sighed deeply.

In just a few days, everything had changed beyond recognition.

"What do you plan to do next, Your Highness?" she asked, watching Xiao Pingfeng’s retreating figure.

Xiao Pingfeng clenched the bib in his hand, "At most a month, once I settle these affairs, I’ll establish the imperial edict and then go find her."

"What?" Sun Lianyi could hardly believe her ears, "You’re not becoming the Emperor?"

Xiao Pingfeng shook his head, "Too troublesome."

If the Crown Prince isn’t the Emperor, then who will be?

A sense of foreboding rose in Sun Lianyi’s heart; just as she was about to speak, she saw the Crown Prince turn back, looking sincerely at her, "Noble Consort has been in the palace for many years. After the Empress’s death, she took on managing the harem, tirelessly and virtuously. My fifteenth brother is intelligent and capable, and looking across the entire Imperial Family, there’s no one better suited... I plan to pass the throne to my fifteenth brother!"

"You’re talking nonsense!" Sun Lianyi immediately stood up, "You dare!"

At that moment, she disregarded all decorum, not caring that the person in front of her was the Crown Prince; she even picked up the teapot, ready to throw it.

"My son is not even two months old—" If the nursemaids hadn’t intervened, the teapot would have already been thrown.

Xiao Pingfeng stood with his hands behind his back, the red bib exceptionally striking in his palm.

"This matter is settled then, Noble Consort need not be so agitated, there’s no need for gratitude, you may leave." He turned to leave, his mood quite good.

Sun Lianyi, feeling aggrieved, had a chest so tight it felt like stone, and directly fell ill with a fever that night.