When the prince is reborn, he will only hit me if he doesn't hit the wall!

Xu Xinyue was quite curious when she heard that Qingyang had chosen the gift.

Qingyang held a two-foot-tall jade Maitreya Buddha statue in his hand, and asked with bright eyes: "Your Majesty, how about this jade Buddha statue? It is carved from a whole piece of Hetian jade, and the whole body is bright and smooth, without any impurities."

"She is a hypocritical person who pretends to be compassionate. Giving her this will only disgrace the Jade Buddha. It's not appropriate."

Qin Yuechuan spoke coldly.

"Then what do you think of this natural turtle stone? This strange stone is completely natural. Look, from this angle, there is a faint Chinese character for longevity."

"The divine turtle lives a long life, but I don't want her to live a long life. That's not right."

Qingyang choked and was speechless. He turned around and took out a scroll: "This is an authentic landscape painting by a famous calligrapher and painter from the previous dynasty. It is said that the Queen Mother also desires it. What do you think?"

Qin Yuechuan took a step forward and slowly unfolded the scroll. Inside was a landscape painted in ink. It was majestic and bold, with overlapping mountains and ridges and shrouded in clouds and mist, just like a fairyland.

Xu Xinyue leaned over to take a look and couldn't help but exclaim in praise: "It is indeed a masterpiece!"

Qin Yuechuan's eyes, which had been casually examining her, suddenly brightened up and he turned to look at her: "Does Yueyue like it too? Since it's a good thing and Yueyue likes it, it can't be given to that old hag."

He rolled up the scroll again: "I also feel that it is not appropriate to give this to her. In this case, this one belongs to Yueyue."

"I do not need……"

"If I give it to you, it's worth many times more than if I gave it to her."

At least if you give it to Yueyue, you can win Yueyue's favor. But if you give it to that old hag, it's just like throwing meat buns at a dog - it's a one-way trip.

Qingyang opened his mouth, thought for a long time, and swallowed his words: He will just look for it again.

Then he brought out some famous jewelry, rare jade and other items. All those with good meanings were rejected by Qin Yuechuan, and he picked out the ones that were just okay and gave them all to Xu Xinyue.

Qingyang was sad: This is not about choosing a gift for the Queen Mother, this is about choosing a gift for Miss Xu!

Xu Xinyue held her arms full of gifts and looked at the empty warehouse.

“Can’t you pick one?”

"Well, I can't be careless when giving it to an old woman. I should 'select carefully'."

However, Xu Xinyue felt that what he said sounded strange.

"Qingyang, is this your job? You can't even choose a satisfactory gift."

Qin Yuechuan was a little displeased.

"There is one last item, but I don't think the prince would be interested in it. This jade otter marrow is a beauty product. I'm sure the prince would say that the queen mother can't use it..."

Qingyang was frustrated and was about to leave to look for another birthday gift, but was suddenly stopped by Qin Yuechuan: "Wait! What did you say was the last gift?"

Qingyang came back to his senses and took out an exquisite jade box from his arms, "It's Jade Otter Marrow, Your Majesty."

Qin Yuechuan took the jade box and opened it casually, "Can Yueyue recognize this thing?"

“It is said that Jade Otter Marrow is very rare in Beixuan and Nanyuan, and even almost extinct. Jade Otter Marrow is even more precious and can only be found by chance. I have only seen it in medical books.

Although it is a medicinal herb, it can also be used to beautify the skin.”

Beauty and skin care, well, it’s Miss Xu’s again.

Qingyang was about to sigh, but heard Qin Yuechuan chuckle and close the lid: "That's it, a birthday gift."

"well!?"

Qingyang was a little bit unbelievable: "The thing I least expected was actually the birthday gift?"

Xu Xinyue also tilted her head and looked at Qin Yuechuan. In fact, she also wanted to hear an explanation:

"Yueyue doesn't know that when the old woman was young and was the queen, she once had a son, but he died young due to illness. It is said that when he was ill, he needed an indispensable medicinal ingredient. He searched all over Beixuan territory but found nothing—"

Xu Xianyue understood everything at once and said with a little surprise: "Could it be that this is the Jade Otter Marrow?"

"Yueyue is smart, that's what it is. So I said it's perfect."

Xu Xinyue licked her lips, thinking, this wasn't a birthday gift from Qin Yuechuan, it was a knife that would stab her in the heart.

Qin Yuechuan looked at her thoughtful expression and said solemnly, "Yueyue, do you think I am too cruel? I am poking at someone's pain points and exposing their scars?"

"Hmm?" Xu Xinyue suddenly realized what he said and looked up at him:

"No, you must have your reasons for doing this. Although I don't know the reason, as long as you are happy, I just hope Qin Yuechuan is happy."

Qin Yuechuan's gaze became softer, his dark pupils gradually regained their luster, and his heart became softer than ever.

"There is indeed a reason."

Now that the birthday gift had been chosen, Qin Yuechuan took her hand again and walked out:

“My mother was once the current emperor’s favorite concubine.

At that time, the emperor had just ascended the throne and was still young and energetic. The empress dowager was assisting in the administration, the harem was empty, and the position of the queen was vacant.

There were not many concubines yet, and although my mother was greatly favored, she was dissuaded from taking office by the ministers because her mother's family was not powerful enough.

The Queen Mother favors her niece, who is now the Queen.

At that time, she was not yet the queen, and her favor was not as good as her mother's. She already had a son, the current Prince Su, Qin Liexing. But Qin Liexing had been weak since childhood.

My mother had a gentle personality and had never thought of competing with her for the position of queen.

But because of me, the current queen regards us mother and son as a thorn in her side.

I was afraid that the Emperor would pay more attention to me because he was concerned about Qin Liexing's frailty, and that the Emperor would make me the empress because of his son's status as a mother.

The Queen Mother also had this concern.

On the Lantern Festival, the palace held a banquet to celebrate. My mother drank a few glasses of fine wine, dismissed the palace maids, and came to the Imperial Garden to sober up. She saw Qin Liexing lying on the ground. My mother thought he was suffering from a relapse of his old illness, so she went forward to check on him. However, she was seen by a palace maid who "accidentally passed by" and witnessed my mother checking his pulse...

Needless to say, my mother was accused by the palace maid of murdering the royal heir. There was witnesses and evidence, as well as the confession of the imperial physician.

I was too young at that time and didn’t know the whole story. I only begged my father to investigate the matter thoroughly and clear my mother’s name, but to no avail.

In desperation, the mother did not want to embarrass the father, and she probably knew in her heart that the whole thing was due to the 'position of Queen', so she asked to live in a temple to practice seclusion, stay away from trouble, and never return to the palace.

I also cried and begged my father to allow me to go with my mother.

I think Yueyue also knows something about what happened afterwards."

As time goes by, his heart should not be as calm as he appears at this moment.

Xu Xinyue tightened her grip on his hand and said, "So, you have already found out that it was the Queen Mother who did it that day?"

"Yes, it is the Queen Mother. So, I really don't have the slightest favorable impression of her.

My mother and I had never thought about that position, but we were accused of "false" crimes, forcing my mother to expel herself from the capital.

Relying only on my memory and searching for the few remaining evidences, I was able to find the imperial physician and the palace maid many years later. Although it was not enough to directly identify the murderer, it was enough to prove my mother's innocence.

Suddenly I realized that this was not a very difficult thing to do. The scheme was very crude. I don't believe that if my father had wanted to do it, he would not have been able to detect it.