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This was an Empress Dowager Zhuang that Princess Xinyang had never seen before.
She had always believed that those in power had two faces, but the extent of the inconsistency between what was on the surface and what was underneath surprised her greatly.
Princess Xinyang quickly concealed her surprise and approached, giving a slight bow. With the neighbors around, she didn't want to expose Empress Dowager Zhuang's true identity.
She started to say, "I..."
"West room." Empress Dowager Zhuang, still munching on melon seeds, said without lifting an eyelid.
Finding the west room was quite easy.
Princess Xinyang thanked Empress Dowager Zhuang and walked into the main room, turned and went to the front of the west room.
The door to the west room was slightly ajar, and Xiao Liulang sat at the desk studying the arithmetic book from the State of Yan.
At first, Gu Jiao thought it was just about advanced mathematics, but upon closer inspection, it actually covered a wide range of topics. Some were already in the book, while others seemed like notes added by the book's previous owner.
Xiao Liulang had been researching this for the past few days instead of going to the Hanlin Academy.
He was so engrossed in his studies that he didn't even notice that someone had already entered the room.
Princess Xinyang walked into the room quietly and took a look at the furnishings. Compared to Zhuque Street and the princess mansion, it might not be worth mentioning, but it exuded a faint warmth and an air of scholarly elegance with its cleanliness and simplicity.
The sense of warmth came from the few messy little boxes on the floor.
——Little Jing Kong had once again made a mess of his things. He had nowhere to put his belongings, and finding them required rummaging through everything.
However, it was this seemingly out-of-place mess that gave this otherwise silent and cold room a touch of homeliness.
Xiao Liulang's desk was now divided into three parts.
The largest part was dominated by Little Jing Kong, while the other two parts were divided between Xiao Liulang's personal space and their shared area.
The little guy had even drawn lines on the desk.
Just looking at the lines on the desk brought an image to Princess Xinyang's mind of a big and a small figure staring each other down over territory.
A subtle pang of bitterness surged within Princess Xinyang's heart.
Little Marquis, who could buy all the desks in the world with just a raise of his finger, was now relegated to sharing a desk with a little bean.
But perhaps because of her prior experience of witnessing him cooking, her level of acceptance was somewhat higher than before.
Xiao Liulang didn't lift his head until he had finished the arithmetic problem at hand. By this time, it had been a good fifteen minutes since Princess Xinyang had entered the room.
When Xiao Liulang saw Princess Xinyang, who was silently watching him from across the desk, a hint of surprise flickered in his eyes.
"Can I... talk to you for a moment? After I'm done, I'll leave." Princess Xinyang said calmly.
Xiao Liulang's gaze flickered slightly. He paused for a moment before replying, "Okay."
Princess Xinyang turned around, closed the door of the room, and then sat down across from Xiao Liulang.
The afternoon sunlight gently spilled in through the window.
Outside, there were the sounds of neighbors gossiping about who in the neighborhood was expecting a child or whose cat had gone missing. The quietness of the west room was accentuated by these sounds.
It had been four years since they had sat together like this. Both of them felt a bit uncomfortable, but this discomfort mostly stemmed from the rupture in their mother-son relationship.
Neither of them knew what the other was thinking, and they were unsure whether they should or could continue to maintain a connection.
In the end, it was Princess Xinyang who broke the silence, "Tell me about your experiences. Where did you go after leaving the capital?"
Xiao Liulang remained silent, and it was unclear whether he didn't want to answer or simply couldn’t answer.
Princess Xinyang spoke again, "Forget it, I'll speak first."
Xiao Liulang sneered, "What are you going to say? Are you going to tell me that you don't want me, you don't want to see me, and you don't even want me to be in the capital, so you specially came to drive me away? I don't even have the qualifications to stay in the capital anymore, is that it?"
Princess Xinyang's pupils shrunk dramatically.
She looked at him as if she couldn't believe his words but at the same time, it seemed to make perfect sense.
She lowered her gaze, concealing the complex emotions that flickered across her face, "I didn't come to drive you away. I just want to talk about what happened four years ago."
Xiao Liulang turned his face away, "I don't want to talk about it."
However, Princess Xinyang seemed to not have heard his refusal as she continued, "Where should I start? How about we start with Xiao Su’s younger brother?"
Xiao Su.
This name was like a heavy hammer striking Xiao Liulang’s sealed memory, causing suppressed recollections to surge forth from the depths of his mind.
Xiao Su's mother was Chen Yunniang, and he had only one younger brother in this world—— the real Xiao Liulang.
Princess Xinyang continued, "When Chen Yunniang was on her deathbed, she asked her eldest son to take his younger brother to the capital to find his father. Unfortunately, they were turned away by the servants of the Marquis Xuanping Estate and no one believed them or was willing to deliver their message. Until they happened to encounter the Young Chief who had just returned from the Imperial Academy, the Little Marquis of Zhao, Xiao Heng."
She mentioned Xiao Heng but kept her eyes fixed on Xiao Liulang's face.
Xiao Liulang pursed his thin lips, and his fists tightened slightly.
He didn't look at Princess Xinyang.
Princess Xinyang continued with a steady gaze, "Xiao Heng is kind-hearted. When he heard about Xiao Liulang's background, he didn't look down on him. Instead, he was moved by his tragic experience."
Xiao Liulang thought of the first time he had seen Xiao Su and the real Xiao Liulang.
A youth with a face that bore some resemblance to his own, dressed in tattered clothes and huddled in a corner outside the Marquis Xuanping Estate.
It made him very curious, so he walked over and asked him, "Who are you?"
"I... I'm Xiao Liulang. This is my travel permit, and this..." He took out the token that Marquis Xuanping had left for Chen Yunniang years ago. It was an old-styled token; Marquis Xuanping had long since updated it.
However, Xiao Heng still recognized it as the genuine Marquis Xuanping Estate token.
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