"How do you know it won't be that grand?" Zisu eyed her suspiciously.
Of course, Yi Qing wasn't going to say it was because the emperor had been cuckolded and Xue Ci deserved to die.
"Just a hunch."
"Come on, I thought you knew some inside story!" Zisu snorted. "You said the imperial noble consort is dead, yet they're still doing a lot of construction over there. Can't we use this as an excuse to report her?"
"Save your breath," Yi Qing said. "Let's just sit back and see what she's up to."
Just guarding against her all the time isn't the solution. They still needed to see what Ping Xinian's cards were.
"Where's Xiao Tian? Why haven't I seen him today?" Zisu asked curiously. "Wasn't he always so clingy to you before?"
Yi Qing was actually curious too. This guy had just come back from the palace. Instead of taking a good rest, where had he gone?
She said lazily, "He's not a kid. Can I keep tabs on him all the time? Why are you bringing him up today? Weren't you two just ignoring each other and minding your own business?"
"I need to tell him to protect you and Baozi well. I'm leaving."
Yi Qing sat up straight. "Why so sudden?"
Zisu said calmly, "It's always around this time every year. You were just too busy to remember."
"No," Yi Qing said. "You left a month later last year. You never mentioned it this year, so I thought you didn't have to go back."
Zisu lowered her head, paused for a moment and then said, "I have to go back. That's non - negotiable."
"Does the Prince of Zhen know?"
"Him? I didn't tell him." Zisu didn't seem troubled at all. "I wasn't going to tell him either."
"Leaving secretly?" Yi Qing thought that the Prince of Zhen must be quite something to have forced Zisu to this extent.
Everyone in the mansion, including Baozi, could tell that the Prince of Zhen had feelings for Zisu. Baozi even secretly asked Yi Qing if they could get married and if Zisu could have a little brother for him to play with.
Baozi had been interested in having a little brother lately. Since he was learning military strategies from Xiao Tian, he felt he couldn't be a general with no soldiers. He needed a foot soldier.
A younger sister obviously wouldn't do, so he desperately wanted a little brother.
But he also seemed to realize clearly that he couldn't count on Xiao Tian to put a baby in his mother's belly - after all, if he was going to, he would have done it long ago, not waited until now. So he pinned his hopes on Zisu.
Yi Qing told him to ask Zisu. But after looking around, he couldn't find Zisu. Instead, he found the Prince of Zhen and asked him.
That stupid Prince of Zhen slapped his chest and promised solemnly that he would definitely have a little brother for Baozi next year.
When Zisu found out, she gave him a good beating. While beating him, she asked, "Will you have one?"
The Prince of Zhen declared that he'd rather die than be humiliated, but his mouth was softer than a duck's. "I will, I will, I will."
So in the General's Mansion, with Yi Qing as the chief on - looker, they all sat there munching on melon seeds, watching these two go back and forth like a couple on their wedding night arguing over eating raw dumplings, only with the genders reversed.
In the end, it was Xiao Tian who pulled them apart.
The Prince of Zhen was beaten black and blue, but the next day he still ran over cheerfully with steamed dumplings to curry favor.
Yi Qing thought that if Zisu was leaving, the Prince of Zhen would definitely stick to her like a plaster.
"Why would I leave secretly?" Zisu snorted. "Don't I have personal freedom? I'm not a wanted criminal."
"What about the Prince of Zhen..."
"He's neither my father nor my elder brother. Who does he think he is to tell me what to do?"
Yi Qing said meekly, "He wants to be your husband."
"If wanting was enough, would you still not be able to sleep with Xiao Tian?"
Yi Qing's pride was hurt, and her fighting spirit flared up. "Who says I can't? I just haven't made my move yet."
Zisu gave her a disdainful look. "Do you think I'll believe that? Not only me, but even Baozi has given up on you. Do you know why Xiao Tian bought a dog for Baozi?"
Yi Qing: "Wasn't it because Xiao Tian annoyed me and wanted to make it up to me, so he bought those turtles and bought a dog for Baozi as well?"
By now, she could accept the gift of the turtles calmly. She could even console herself that this gift was unique in the world and there was no chance of repetition.
Zisu said, "No. It's because Baozi thought you would never have a little brother for him, so he went to ask Xiao Tian if you could have a dog for him to play with."
Yi Qing: "..."
This was really her own son!
If she could have a dog, wouldn't Baozi be a dog too?
Thanks to Zisu's words, the sadness of parting faded a lot.
Yi Qing sighed and said, "I said before that I'd go to the Southern Border with you when Baozi grows up a bit. I don't know when we'll be able to make that trip."
"Let's see in a year or two." A flash of sternness passed through Zisu's eyes, but it disappeared in an instant. Her pupils became as unfathomable as a cold pool again. "I may come back later next year, or I may not come back at all. Don't worry about me."
Yi Qing suddenly got nervous. She had a feeling that something big was about to happen. She stared intently at Zisu and asked, "Do you need silver?"
Zisu was taken aback and couldn't follow her train of thought for a moment.
Yi Qing said, "I think you might need help. But I can't go with you now, at least not yet. I just became the general's wife. There are so many eyes on me. I can't leave. All I can do to help you is give you silver. If you need it, you can take all the silver in the General's Mansion's accounts."
"No need," Zisu shook her head. "I don't lack anything. If I do, I'll send someone to let you know."
"Okay."
Yi Qing and Zisu were actually quite similar. Neither of them was good at being sentimental. They were straightforward and liked to bury their concern for each other deep in their hearts. On the surface, they were always bickering and teasing each other.
"You'd better talk to the Prince of Zhen clearly. Otherwise, I'm afraid he'll run around like a headless chicken looking for you. If he can't find you, that's okay. But if he finds you and suddenly barges into your life there, I'm afraid it will cause you trouble," Yi Qing said.
But Zisu had made up her mind. "No need. I just want to talk to Xiao Tian and ask him to protect you two well. Next spring, he should return me... intact."
Yi Qing laughed. "I hope I won't be 'intact' when you come back next year."
"Come on, you're not intact already! Capture Xiao Tian soon and live a happy, shameless life," Zisu said, smiling in her eyes.
"Okay, stop talking about this."
Yi Qing always felt that these words of blessing were like a prelude to the end. She didn't like it.
"Where on earth is Xiao Tian? Why isn't he back yet?" she muttered, changing the subject.
The Xiao Tian she was thinking about had entered the palace again.
Because of the deaths of the imperial noble consort and the eldest prince, the emperor claimed that he was too grief - stricken to attend court, so he was alone in the Zichen Palace.
When he heard that Xiao Tian had come, he was actually pleased, but he said, "Didn't you sleep enough in the wood shed? Why aren't you going back to cling to your Yi Qing and instead come to see this lonely old man like me?"
Xiao Tian sat down on the chair below him, looking at the emperor's blood - shot eyes and asking, "What did you mean when you said Yi Qing should be careful?"