How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

Both of them fell silent.

Xie Jinyu leaned over and touched the young man's forehead to confirm that he did not have a fever. Then he leaned over and carefully picked up the young man by the waist and walked towards the bedroom of Chenghuan Palace.

The palace maids all lowered their heads tacitly, looking at their noses with their eyes and their hearts with their noses.

This is not the first time this has happened. I think the Second Prince will get angry again when he wakes up.

Xie Jinyu has been trained in both literature and martial arts since childhood. Although his lightness skills are not as advanced as those of Shen Yuan and Wuhen, it is still easy for him to send the young man back to the bedroom safely.

Xie Chengze could vaguely feel someone moving him in his sleep, but he was too sleepy. He thought that as long as Shen Yuan and Wuhen Wuzhi were there, he would be fine. So he didn't care who was moving him. He found a comfortable place to bury his head and continued to fall into a deep sleep.

Seeing his defenseless appearance, Xie Jinyu couldn't help but lower her eyes slightly, with a hint of smile in her eyes.

Seeing this, Shen Yuan's eyes flickered slightly, and he stood up and followed the two of them.

Xie Jinyu glanced at Shen Yuan without saying anything. After gently placing the young man on the bed, Xie Jinyu lifted the hem of his robe, half-knelt down, and slowly took off the young man's shoes and socks.

The young man was white all over, even his feet were as white as pearls and jade. Xie Jinyu lowered her eyelids slightly, and gently brushed the side of the young man's feet with the back of her slender fingers. After feeling a touch of coldness, she whispered, "Wu Ji."

The bedroom was silent for a while, and no one responded, as if they were struggling in vain. After a while, Wuzhi came out from the corner reluctantly, "What do you want, Your Highness?"

"Go prepare some warm water, second brother has caught a cold." He said in a cold voice, not even giving Wu a glance.

Wu Ji secretly rolled his eyes and turned to prepare water for washing his feet.

After placing the carved wooden basin securely under the bed, he slowly spoke with a hint of subtle sarcasm in his tone: "Your Highness the Crown Prince is of noble status. It would be better for us servants to take care of the trivial matters of serving the Second Prince."

Xie Jinyu pretended not to answer, as if Wuzhi no longer existed. She rolled up her sleeves, tested the water temperature to see if it was ok, then put the young man's cold feet into the warm water and began to scrub them gently and carefully.

When he was young, he made a mistake in reciting a word while memorizing a lesson, and his mother spanked his palm so hard that he couldn't even hold a pen. In order to make him remember, all the palace servants were withdrawn on a cold winter day, and no one was allowed to heat the walls with water, nor was any candle left for him. He was forced to kneel on the ground in the empty bedroom to reflect on his mistakes.

There wasn't even any cushion under his knees to shield himself from the icy ground that seeped into his bones.

Every time at this time, the second brother would sneak over and bring Eunuch Zhao, who was pried from the imperial study, to the kitchen to boil hot water so that he could wash his feet to warm them, and use his warm little hands to warm his frozen knees little by little.

That winter, my second brother went to the East Palace the most often. Perhaps it was from then on that his health became increasingly weak, and he developed the problem of cold hands and feet as soon as winter came.

After returning to her senses and warming up the young man's feet, Xie Jinyu wiped the water stains on them with the towel beside her. Then she lifted the young man's legs, let him lie on the bed, and covered him with a feather quilt.

He tidied up Xie Chengze's hair with a lingering look, then turned to look at Shen Yuan, whose eyes were complicated, and said softly, "Minister Shen, let's go."

Shen Yuan took a careful look at the young man on the bed, then followed Xie Jinyu.

The two of them were silent all the way until they were almost outside the palace. Xie Jinyu stopped and looked at Shen Yuan with deep eyes, "I know that Minister Shen is very talented and knowledgeable, and he is indeed capable of assisting the emperor, so he treats you well and always sees you off in person after every meeting. I believe that Minister Shen is also a sensible person and knows what to say and what not to say."

This was a warning to Shen Yuan not to tell anyone what he was thinking.

Shen Yuan remained silent. He looked at the familiar prince in front of him, as if he was meeting him for the first time. Past memories kept piecing together into a picture, which finally revealed the prince's hidden feelings for his brother.

Shen Yuan had no intention of discriminating against Long Yang's kindness, but...

He is the prince.

He was the crown prince, the future emperor of the Jian'an Dynasty. How could he ignore the wailing of the common people and indulge in the evil deeds of the other party because of such unacceptable emotions, causing disasters to continue and the dynasty to be exhausted for ten years? !

He is an emperor! He should not be a naughty child who holds a toy that does not belong to him and does not know how to let go!

At this moment, Shen Yuan felt cold all over his body. Every inch of his skin felt as if it was cut by a knife. The pain was so severe that cold sweat almost broke out on his back.

Even though Xie Chengze has become a better person now, Shen Yuan cannot accept the absurd fact that the prince covets Xie Chengze.

In the eyes of outsiders, the two are biological brothers. If the crown prince openly covets his elder brother, at the very least he will be ridiculed by the people of the world, at worst everyone will scold the second prince for being a seductress and not having a good end. For both the crown prince and Xie Chengze, it will be a bloody verbal and written condemnation.

Even Xie Chengze's past achievements would be attributed to the crown prince alone. The Second Prince's mediocrity and arrogance had long been deeply rooted in people's minds. Who could guarantee that those achievements were not written by the crown prince himself because of his favoritism?

It is still unknown how future historians will comment on Xie Chengze. People in later generations who do not know the truth will spread rumors and make fun of it, mistakenly placing Xie Chengze in the category of beautiful women who bring disaster!

"Your Highness, please think carefully!" Shen Yuan did not want to see the prince go astray. He was the crown prince carefully cultivated by Emperor Jian, and he was also his master who had been accompanied by each other and trusted each other. Even though the prince was too emotional in the matter of Xie Chengze, he was indeed the most suitable prince to become the emperor in the entire Jian'an Dynasty.

So he advised earnestly, "Have you ever thought about whether the Second Prince is willing?"

Shen Yuan had advised Xie Jinyu from his perspective too many times in his previous life, but now he realized that the perspective he should really stand on is Xie Chengze.

Xie Jinyu's eyes darkened, and he said in an unhappy tone, "Minister Shen, sometimes, it doesn't matter whether you are willing or not."

There is only one person in this world who is worth him fighting for, and he wants to keep her by his side.

Because in this world, this is the only person who has ever stayed by his side.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, aren't you afraid that the Second Prince will hate you?" Shen Yuan asked harshly, hoping to wake Xie Jinyu up.

"He has hated me for ten years." Xie Jinyu lowered his eyes and gently pulled the hem of his sleeves, "Or maybe he has never hated me, and he will never hate me."

Shen Yuan was stunned for a moment.

What does this mean?

Seeing Shen Yuan's confusion, Xie Jinyu raised a hint of ambiguous smile, "Minister Shen, I don't want to say more about the secrets of the palace, so I'll stop here. I believe that Minister Shen is a man who can judge the situation and knows which side he should stand on."

After saying that, Xie Jinyu said no more, turned around and left.

Shen Yuan stood there for a long time.

The cold wind of early winter blew fiercely on his face, waking up his confused brain and unraveling the memories of two lives, overlapping and intertwining them.

In his previous life, although the prince compromised with Xie Chengze in every way, there had never been any rumors of that kind. After his rebirth, Xie Chengze in the past ten years was exactly the same as the second prince in his memory. Until he returned to Beijing, Xie Chengze in this life suddenly changed his gender.

The prince just said that Xie Chengze has hated him for ten years, but it is possible that he has never hated him and will never hate him... This matter involves royal secrets, what kind of secrets are they?

Is it related to the fact that Xie Chengze is not "Xie Chengze"?

But if "Xie Chengze" was not Xie Chengze, why would the prince in the previous life compromise with "Xie Chengze" in every way?

What other information had he missed?

The midday light was slanting. Shen Yuan raised his head, his eyes looking far away, through the palace walls, towards the deep harem city.

Speaking of royal secrets, the only one that the people enjoyed talking about was that nineteen years ago, Emperor Jian married my wife Hua Ning as Concubine Hua.

I heard that Concubine Hua was a very open-minded person, and because she was good at whipping, she had a very healthy body. However, she died suddenly of illness five years ago, and there is no relevant record in the medical records of the Imperial Hospital.

In his previous life, Shen Yuan had secretly investigated in order to deal with Xie Chengze, but the people in the harem were very secretive about the matter and never mentioned it.

Could it be... related to this matter?

Why did Concubine Hua die?