The candlelight flickered dimly, and a faint warm yellow halo enveloped Dong Lingjiu's eyebrows.
　　Although Meng Cheng always knew that his mother was a natural beauty, he privately attributed this special beauty to his father. But this time, it should be the last time for him to immerse himself in the fantasy of beautiful feelings given to him by his parents.
　　Dong Lingjiu thought for a moment, not knowing where to start mentioning Meng Zhen... She bent her fingers, gently touched her chin, and finally began to speak in a speculative tone: "He... seems to be very distant and wise like a saint, but in fact he has his own temper and personality. If you really want to hear praises for him from your mother, then I can't praise him better than those civil officials."
　　Meng Cheng said, "I have read a lot of eulogies from ministers. Although some of them are a bit flattering, exaggerated, and exaggerated, they list the achievements in detail. I am very envious and ashamed, and feel that I will never be able to compare with my father in my life..."
　　"It is very difficult to maintain achievements." Dong Lingjiu sat back, her eyes swept across the chessboard, and she turned the coral bracelet between her fingers. "To expand territory and build achievements, as long as you have the ability, anyone who can do great things can be employed. But when the country is stable and the people are at peace, the selection of generals and ministers must have both character and talent."
　　The little emperor sighed softly. First, he lost Shang Kai, who had grown up with him since childhood, and then his desire for success and fame was hit hard. He was only nineteen years old, and even two years ago he was still cultivated in a greenhouse, without experiencing the wind and rain... He needs time to transition from this violent conflict in life and the growth caused by the conflict.
　　Dong Lingjiu looked at his appearance and told Meng Cheng, who was sad, a more interesting old story.
　　In fact, this is just one of the few wonderful things in her memory.
　　The girl of the Dong family got married for the first time. After just over a month of marriage, the prince was ordered by the emperor at that time to go to Jiangnan to supervise flood control and did not return home for three months. The princess at that time was still a young girl in her prime.
　　She was already very busy just managing the Eastern Palace and presiding over the household affairs, and she often had to ask her father, Grand Tutor Dong, for advice. In the third month after Meng Zhen left, she changed her clothes and washed as usual, removing all the hairpins from her temples and washing her hands with her face bare. Suddenly, someone outside knocked on the window with a lantern and said, "Your Highness, the prince's Black Cloud Stepping on the Moon is at the door!"
　　Black Cloud Stepping on the Moon is Meng Zhen's mount, a divine horse with a jet-black body and only crescent-shaped white marks on its four hooves. It is extremely powerful and can travel a thousand miles a day. How could it be at the door when it followed Meng Zhen to Jiangnan this time?
　　Dong Lingjiu first had some bad guesses in her mind. She immediately picked up the cloak on the screen, tied it around her body and walked out, her steps hurried, asking as she walked, "Where are the people who tie the horses? Where are the people who serve back and forth? Where are the Eastern Palace guards?"
　　"They..."
　　"They haven't come back yet."
　　This sentence was not said by the maid who delivered the message, but a familiar voice interrupted the conversation.
　　Dong Lingjiu paused, raised the lantern, and saw a red robe under the candlelight - this color was not in the clothes she prepared for Meng Zhen.
　　Under the candlelight, Meng Zhen stood in front of her, half of his body red with cooled blood. After he finished speaking, he suddenly took a step forward, stretched out his hand to take the lantern in her hand, grabbed Dong Lingjiu's wrist, picked her up horizontally, and walked back along the way they came.
　　"Don't be afraid, we encountered bandits." There were a few drops of blood on his cheek, and a cut was branded on the peak of his brow.
　　Dong Lingjiu reached out and touched the scar between his eyebrows and asked, "Your Highness, the bandits you mentioned, are they from the mountain of King Yu or the mountain of King Pei?"
　　Meng Zhen smiled slightly, "Neither."
　　He stepped over the threshold and ordered people to guard outside the door. Then he put Dong Lingjiu on the couch, leaned over the edge of the couch, held her hand, and said in a hoarse voice as if it had just been tempered by cold wind and fire, "I killed my father's people."
　　Dong Lingjiu almost jumped up from the bed, but he pressed her wrist and she stopped in time. On the outside, it looked like her back was just stiff. She lay back, her bun loose, and wisps of black hair scattered on the silk pillow like water waves.
　　She looked him up and down, staring at him and asked, "Did my father do it?"
　　"No," Meng Zhen said, "the two groups met. My father's people were sent to monitor me, but they were mistaken for the Eastern Palace Guards by the people who came to kill me. They fought less than 200 miles away from the capital. The convoy returning to the capital was in chaos. There were assassins among the officers and soldiers. My carriage was pierced like a hedgehog."
　　Just by mentioning this, Dong Lingjiu could imagine the danger and severity of it. She frowned and asked, "Are you injured?"
　　"No," he said.
　　Dong Lingjiu turned over and pressed the prince under him. Reaching out and groping, he tore open the jade belt that was half stained with blood, removed the jade pendant and the sachet, and saw his waist wrapped in layers.
　　"Actually, I..."
　　"You rode your horse like crazy, traveling 200 miles at night to rush back." Dong Lingjiu said, "Do you know how much blood you shed? If you can't recover, you will lose 20 years of your life. What's the important matter that requires you to come back? Even if you want to leave the caravan to avoid being attacked, you shouldn't rush back to us like this. Do you know if there were any ambushes on the way?"
　　It rained heavily in the first half of the night, and the wet marks on his clothes were not dry yet.
　　Meng Zhen wanted to roll down to avoid dirtying her bed, but was frozen by Dong Lingjiu's eyes.
　　He looked at her for a long time, then suddenly laughed and said, "I've been with Tan Niang for a month, but this is the first time I've seen you lose your temper."
　　Dong Lingjiu said, "I get angry often, but I never get angry at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. If you use the word 'virtuous' to suppress me, I'll only get angrier."
　　"So you're like this? I said that Master Dong's daughter is so gentle and quiet. It seems that she's been putting up with me."
　　"Now you remember that you're the crown prince. It's too late to put on airs." She noticed the change in her self-proclaimed identity. "It's all my fault that I was deceived by your sincerity. I haven't had a single day of peace since I married you, and I saw my husband coming back covered in blood and looking desperate. Amitabha, I really found a good marriage. I must be so angry that I'll live a few years less than you." At
　　this time, both of them were still too young. Jokes were just jokes, and angry words were just angry words. They didn't understand what it meant for a word to come true.
　　Meng Zhen was afraid that she would go back on her word and be frightened, so he quickly grabbed her hand and said, "I was a little anxious, but I was..."
　　"Because of what?"
　　Meng Zhen hesitated for a long time, and after a long time he said, "On my way to Beijing, I saw the branches and leaves of an apricot tree outside a house stretched out. The apricots on them were big and round, and there were thieves stealing them outside the wall..."
　　Dong Lingjiu opened her eyes wide, pointed at herself, then pointed at the bed under him, and raised her voice, "Do you suspect that I am having an affair? Meng Zirong, now is not the time for you to ask me to marry you. How can you change your face so quickly? Xiaoman, go and give the East Palace's internal accounts to the prince, so that our master can also calculate whether I have the time to get out of the wall-"
　　Xiaoman responded crisply, "Well, I'll go right away."
　　"Don't go, come back!" Meng Zhen hugged Dong Lingjiu in his arms, stood up and shouted, "Why don't you respond when I call you, but do everything the crown princess calls you? Who hired you as a maid?"
　　"Who raised her." Dong Lingjiu pushed him away, sat on the couch, and put her hands to gather her scattered hair. "I don't know who raised her. You sons of the royal family, you look gorgeous on the outside, but you don't even have money to paste window paper when you come in. You are so poor inside that your maid must be starving than Zhao Feiyan! If it weren't for me, she would not even weigh five pounds when she was burned to death with her coffin."
　　Meng Zhen said, "I was wrong, I was really wrong, Tan Niang, hey, don't go... No, this room..."
　　Dong Lingjiu looked back at the door and glanced at him lazily: "This room is not mine either. It originally belonged to our prince. You raised the East Palace, and it's your room, so you live in it."
　　She stepped out of the threshold and had someone bolt the door with a bang, locking the prince inside. Then she straightened her hair and said to the maid beside her: "Go to the Imperial Hospital and ask Doctor Liu to come and tell me that I caught a cold. I don't know if it's a cold caused by wind or heat. Ask him to come and take a look... When Doctor Liu comes, lock him up with the prince. If he can't be cured, don't let either of them out."
　　"Yes."
　　So, on this moonlit night, Meng Zhen didn't even touch Dong Lingjiu's hair again. He stayed in the same room with Doctor Liu to treat his wounds and change the dressings for the whole night. The next day, the prince ordered all the apricot trees around the East Palace to be cut down for firewood. For many years afterwards, everyone in and outside the court knew that the prince didn't like apricot trees and would frown when he saw them, but they didn't know the reason.
　　This is indeed a wonderful thing.
　　This is something Meng Cheng would never hear from others. Only two years have passed, and the memory of "father" in his mind has been scattered and worn away. He was eager to find the traces left by the man who once woven a safe haven for him.
　　The little emperor seemed to have found a topic that made him feel safe and happy. This is his family, his loving father and mother... Meng Cheng took a breath, and in the face of reality, this short fantasy gradually dissipated. The candlelight was calm, and he sat opposite his most beloved and filial mother.
　　He asked: "Did my father really rush back for this reason?"
　　Dong Lingjiu laughed and shook his head: "Of course not."
　　"Then..."
　　"He was afraid that someone would attack the East Palace." Dong Lingjiu said, "He was afraid that while he was attacked, someone would also secretly kill me and break the alliance between the East Palace and my father. Fortunately, at that time, these people still looked down on me, a 'mere woman' with only talent."
　　Meng Cheng paused and said: "Since my mother came before, I dare not look down on women. I admire and respect the queen, and I am afraid and cautious of the concubines... Although I am troubled, I am also wary and cautious, keep a distance, and never indulge in women."
　　"Is this a warning from me to you?" Dong Lingjiu asked with a smile, "Are you afraid that there will be someone like my mother around you, who is sharper, more pointed, more youthful and energetic than me, and a woman, who will compete with you for the highest power in the world."
　　Meng Cheng fell into silent thought. He seemed to have considered it very seriously for a long time, and then said, "If my mother wants to rule the country, I will be relieved, but still feel lost. If such a person appears, to be honest, except for the Queen and Yingying, I will want to nip her in the bud and will never give up half an ounce of power."
　　Dong Lingjiu said, "Most rulers are like this. Power is like an addictive poison."
　　Meng Cheng's answer was expected.
　　She continued to ask: "What if this person is Yingying?"
　　Meng Cheng said: "If she is really capable, I am willing to rule the world with Yingying, but... my younger sister has never been interested in this. She likes to read some Arabian Nights, mysterious ancient books and stories. Doesn't the mother know it?"
　　Dong Lingjiu smiled: "It seems that you don't pay much attention to her."
　　Meng Cheng stood up and wanted to ask puzzledly, but Dong Lingjiu shook his head and said nothing. He looked at the sky and said: "I guess at this time, the officials of the three divisions have stopped the interrogation and returned to their homes."
　　The little emperor felt a little pain in his heart, sighed softly, and said: "The son will send the mother back to the palace. It's cold and slippery in winter. I'm really worried about you going back by yourself."
　　The author has something to say:
　　Red apricots out of the wall actually refers to apricot flowers, not apricots, to describe the spring. This is just to fit the state of apricot trees in rainy seasons.
　　The ex-husband's words are somewhat prophetic. If you live longer, you can see Xiao Zheng holding his face and secretly peeking at the apricot flowers in the yard.