The arrogant imperial concubine arrives, the favorite of the regent

Yun Mujiu looked at Du Ziheng with surprise. She only knew that Du Ziheng left Duti Valley when he was in his teens and had been working under Ye Xiaohan since then. But she didn't know that Du Ziheng was driven out.

She has also been observing Du Ziheng's character these days. Du Ziheng is kind-hearted and steady-minded. No matter how you look at it, he doesn't look like someone who would be driven away.

Du Ziheng paused for a moment, then replied to Yun Mujiu: "Princess, I was expelled from Duti Valley by the elders when I was seventeen, and they sternly warned me never to come back. But before my master passed away, he insisted that I go back to attend the funeral, so I had the opportunity to go back to Duti Valley some time ago."

He looked at Ye Xiaohan and continued, "As for the reason why I was driven out of the valley, this is the first time I've told anyone about it..."

Ye Xiaohan raised his eyes slightly and looked at Du Ziheng, his eyes were a little deep.

He remembered that Du Ziheng only said that he was driven out of Duti Valley and had nowhere to stay, and he didn't say much else. But he still chose to take Du Ziheng in, and Du Ziheng did not disappoint him and always worked hard under him.

Yun Mujiu asked cautiously: "Du Ziheng, is it convenient for you to talk about your past? It's okay if it's not convenient, you don't have to tell me."

In fact, she wasn't the kind of person who particularly liked to gossip about other people's affairs, but Du Ziheng was a good person, and he was kicked out of the pharmacy. There might be something strange about this, so she wanted to ask clearly...

Du Ziheng raised his chin and glanced at everyone in the room.

"I didn't dare to tell you before, for fear that you would think I was too bad. Now that the princess asked me, I suddenly felt that it would be a good idea to share my past with you. After all, we are all a team!"

"One day when I was seventeen, it was my turn to watch the pharmacy. I was cleaning the third floor of the pharmacy, and the younger apprentice brother who was on duty with me was busy on the first floor. I was wiping the surface of the medicine cabinet, and suddenly a sharp and piercing strange sound rang in my ears, and then I felt dizzy, and my mind became increasingly blurred. In a daze, I don't remember what I did afterwards. When I woke up..."

Du Ziheng took a deep breath, looked at everyone's serious expressions, and continued, "After I woke up, the pharmacy was in chaos wherever I looked. The medicine cabinets were overturned and the medicines were scattered everywhere. What's worse is that the precious medical books and some rare medicines hidden in the dark room of the pharmacy by the predecessors disappeared. And I had some fragments of common herbs and precious medicines on my body, and there were residues of these medicines inside my mouth and nose."

"At that moment, many people suspected me. I was the one who wanted to steal the medical books and medicines, but I was accidentally poisoned by the hidden poison in the dark room, and then I fainted on the ground. As for the other missing medical books and herbs, they thought I colluded with outsiders and delivered the things to others before the poison took effect."

Yun Mujiu frowned as she listened. She glanced at Ye Xiaohan, only to see that Ye Xiaohan's sword-like brows also slightly furrowed.

"No matter how I explained, the elders just didn't believe me, and most of my brothers and sisters also blamed me. I couldn't defend myself, and I couldn't say anything! Even though my master kept pleading for me and said that he would find out the truth as soon as possible, the elders were full of anger and didn't want to wait any longer. They united to punish me. My master pleaded hard, so I was spared. Then they drove me out without telling my master. I paid the price for my mistake in guarding and the so-called "betrayal"..."

Du Ziheng finished a long paragraph in one breath, and he was almost out of breath. Yun Mujiu took the opportunity to pass a glass of water, Du Ziheng took it with a smile and drank it all in one gulp: "Thank you, Princess!"

Ye Xiaohan looked at Du Ziheng's face without saying a word. Now that Du Ziheng was willing to talk about the past, he opened his heart and wanted to deal with this tragic incident in a good and perfect way.

Ye Xiaohan tapped the table with his fingers and asked, "Du Ziheng, when you were in Duti Valley, did you and your master offend anyone in the valley, or did you have any overt or potential rivals?"

Du Ziheng had just finished drinking the second glass of water handed to him by Yun Mujiu, and his brain started working quickly.

"Your Highness, there has always been harmony within Duti Valley. People help each other and there is no competition. My master and I have never offended anyone, and we have no competitors."

Ye Xiaohan raised his eyebrows, "At that time, your body suddenly showed abnormalities, and after waking up, all the evidence pointed to you. This is very wrong..."

Hearing Ye Xiaohan's analysis, Du Ziheng felt warm in his heart and sad for himself at the same time. He said with a bitter face: "I also felt something was wrong, but I was powerless to resist at the time. After leaving the valley, I wandered alone for a long time. Fortunately, I met you, Your Majesty, who took me in. Otherwise, I would have died under the knife of that gang of criminals."

"Hmm?" Yun Mujiu interrupted appropriately, "It turns out there is a story behind the meeting between the prince and Du Ziheng!"

Ye Xiaohan glanced at Du Ziheng, and Du Ziheng immediately spoke to satisfy the curiosity of his prince's sweetheart.

"Princess, not long after I left Duti Valley, I was wandering around alone. One winter day, I was walking through a bamboo forest when I unexpectedly ran into a group of criminals. Not only did they steal my only belongings, they also wanted to chop off my head with a knife!"

Seeing Du Ziheng's angry face, Yun Mujiu blinked and asked, "Did the prince just appear, like a god descending from heaven, to save you from your predicament?"

"Princess, your guess is so accurate!" Du Ziheng grinned sincerely, "Princess, you don't know how charming and handsome the prince was at that time!"

Yun Mujiu was even more interested, and everyone except Ye Xiaohan also stared at Du Ziheng with burning eyes.

Wei Bo couldn't help but yelled, "Du Ziheng, stop keeping us in suspense and tell us now!"

Wei Song was so excited that he punched Du Ziheng in the back. He didn't hit him hard enough, causing Du Ziheng to move and groan in pain. However, Du Ziheng didn't get angry, he just turned around and glared at Wei Song.

Ye Xiaohan silently looked at Yun Mujiu's shining eyes, feeling quite helpless.

Yun Mujiu was actually so interested in his past! It seemed that he would share his past with Yun Mujiu from time to time when there was a chance in the future to deepen their understanding of each other...

He is not a person who likes to share, but if the person being listened to is Yun Mujiu, he is willing to talk about those things with Yun Mujiu.

Du Ziheng stood in the middle of the room and looked at Ye Xiaohan with pleading eyes.

Ye Xiao said coldly: "Just say what you want to say. You don't need to ask for my opinion."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Du Ziheng smiled and cleared his throat.

Ahem…why does it feel like he’s performing a stage play in front of everyone?