Husband, please lend me your virtues

While Zhao Zijin was sleeping lightly due to a cold, Zhao Xinyu accompanied the old lady and wife of Duke Jingguo to a pavilion outside the city, waiting for the prince of Jingguo to return with the army.

The commander-in-chief of this expedition was General Yuan, who had fought on the battlefield for many years and was also the empress dowager's brother. The deputy commander was Sun Jue, the eldest son of Duke Jingguo.

Seeing Sun Jue, who was on the right side of General Yuan, being praised by the Emperor who came out in person to welcome the army, Zhao Xinyuo and the other two showed proud expressions at the same time.

When the emperor returned to the palace after meeting the army, Sun Jue also saw his grandmother and mother who came to pick him up personally. Sun Jue bowed deeply on the ground and followed his family back to the Duke's Mansion. After changing his clothes, he chatted with his grandmother and mother about family matters before entering the palace for the banquet.

During this period, apart from the old lady introducing Zhao Xinyou and Sun Jue to each other again, after all, Sun Jue had been away for almost five years, and the twin sisters who had lived with him back then had grown up and looked different from many years ago. Sun Jue and Zhao Xinyou no longer had any communication, and even their eyes never lingered.

Zhao Xinyu felt a little uneasy sitting in the flower hall, afraid that the Duke's wife would be like she was in her previous life. She remembered Zhao Zijin's fortune and kept trying to bring them together.

After the Duke's wife had asked about her son's well-being, she began to worry about Sun Jue's lifelong affairs. "Ordinarily, you should have been married a long time ago, but you were away on the expedition for five years, and now you're back injured. I want to find you a wife who is good at giving birth, regardless of her family background." As long as she can give birth, that's fine.

"Your second cousin, Zijin, has just reached the age of marriage this year. Mother wants to marry her to you. What do you think, son?"

Zhao Xinyu's heart was lifted by the Duke's wife's words. She stirred the handkerchief in her hand. Her aunt acted like this, probably because she had already made preparations and wanted to ask for Zhao Zijin's hand in marriage on behalf of her son.

"My son doesn't want to. In his heart, my second cousin is just a sister he grew up with. How can he marry her? Besides, my mother and grandmother know my son's health. I don't want to delay any girl."

The Duke's wife felt sorry for her son's difficulty in having a child, and was so hurt that she didn't care about her own marriage. Her words even revealed that she didn't want to get married.

"Son! You are the only son of the Jingguo Mansion. You are destined to take on the responsibility of reproducing offspring. Otherwise, what will happen to the future of our Jingguo Mansion?"

"Mother, my son has made up his mind. You don't need to persuade him anymore."

In order to produce offspring for the Jingguo Mansion, he doesn't have to marry a wife. The same goes for taking in a few concubines who are good at bearing children. If he marries a wife, Zhang Xinghuai will probably be so jealous that he will drink up the jar of jealousy.

After hearing Sun Jue's firm refusal, Zhao Xinyu made up her mind. If her cousin was determined not to marry Zhao Zijin, her aunt, as a mother, would definitely not be able to persuade her cousin.

As long as she doesn't let her cousin meet her sister before her sister gets married, her aunt will probably not be able to bring her sister and her cousin together.

Soon it was time for the palace banquet to begin. The old lady and the Duke's wife went back to their rooms to put on their makeup, then followed Sun Jue and Duke Jingguo out of the house.

Zhao Xinyu was just an orphan living in the Duke of Jingguo's Mansion. She had never had the honor of attending the banquet in the palace. After seeing off the three people from the Duke of Jingguo's Mansion, she called her maid Yan Ping. Yan Ping and Yan Lin were both brought from the Zhao family by Zhao Xinyu and Zhao Zijin, and they were the most loyal to Zhao Xinyu and Zhao Zijin.

Zhao Xinyu asked Yan Ping to go to a pharmacy in the capital to get her a medicine that could make people weak without knowing the cause.

She wanted to buy it and take it herself. Her body had been weak and she couldn't find a reason. When the time came, she would beg her grandmother to send her to Qingxin Temple on Yuantai Mountain to rest for a while.

There are many legends about Yuantai Mountain in Dari, and many noble ladies from aristocratic families would go to Qingxin Temple on Yuantai Mountain to burn incense every few months.

Especially since Prince Kang Gao Su, who was predicted by the imperial physician to not live beyond a full month, has been recuperating in a house in Yuantai Mountain and is now twenty-one years old, people have flocked to Yuantai Mountain.

She believed that her grandmother would be willing to send her to Yuantai Mountain for her health.

She took Zhao Zijin along on the pretext that she was afraid of being alone, temporarily preventing Zhao Zijin from meeting Sun Jue, and then slowly planned her actions.

Yan Ping followed the prescription Zhao Xinyu gave her and returned to the Duke Jingguo's Mansion without staying outside.

A few days later, just when Zhao Zijin had recovered from his cold and was able to go out for a walk, Zhao Xinyu "coincidentally" fell ill, and his illness was so severe that even the palace doctor employed by Duke Jingguo's mansion found it difficult to deal with.

Zhao Xinyuo had been ill for a few days, and Zhao Zijin would visit her in the yard where she lived every day.

Until this day, Zhao Xinyu first asked her maid Yan Ping to go to the old lady to ask for a grace, allowing her to go to Yuantai Mountain to recuperate and let her sister stay with her.

When Zhao Zijin came to visit her, Zhao Xinyu made an unwelcome request that Zhao Zijin accompany her to Yuantai Mountain to recuperate for a while. Zhao Zijin just wanted to avoid Sun Jue, so she agreed to Zhao Xinyu's request.

Not long after Zhao Zijin left, Yan Ping, who had been to the old lady's courtyard, came back and told Zhao Xinyu that the old lady had agreed and arranged for guards to accompany them.

Zhao Xinyu sent someone to tell Zhao Zijin the news, urging Zhao Zijin to pack his luggage as soon as possible. That afternoon, he took Zhao Zijin to Yuantai Mountain in a carriage.

Zhao Zijin and Zhao Xinyu were staying in the guest house of Qingxin Temple. Although they lived in the same courtyard, the sisters lived in the east and west wing rooms respectively. Zhao Xinyu stayed in her west wing room claiming to be sick and refused to go out, even Zhao Zijin refused to see her.

After being rejected several times, Zhao Zijin no longer went to Zhao Xinyu's room, but went out with Yan Lin to a peach forest in the back mountain.

This large peach forest is in the season when peaches are ripe. It is hidden in the back mountain of Qingxin Temple and has not been discovered by any pilgrims. It looks deserted. When Zhao Zijin came over, there were only her and her servant Yan Lin.

Zhao Zijin was very envious of the peaches on the peach tree. The peaches on the tree were big and red, and he could smell the fragrance of peaches under the tree. Unfortunately, this peach forest had an owner, so he couldn't pick the peaches easily.

The master's guards' swords were almost pointed in front of the master and servant.

Zhao Zijin saw the man in green suddenly appear, and the people in front of him who seemed to be the man in green's guards, walking towards them with swords in hand and scolding them.

"Who are you? How dare you trespass into a forbidden area?"

Yan Lin looked at the sword that was almost in front of her and her legs were shaking uncontrollably. Fortunately, the girl had just stopped her from picking peaches.

This peach forest was originally owned by someone else. No wonder no one else is willing to set foot here even though it is so close to Qingxin Temple.

"My two lords, my maid and I didn't know that this peach forest was a forbidden area, so we accidentally entered it."

Zhao Zijin pulled the frightened Yan Lin behind him and said, "The two of us will leave now."

"Girl, please stay!"