The First Auxiliary Road from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 1111 Conversation between Sisters

Before entering the palace, Sheng Yuan had a lot of questions he wanted to ask.

Biruo: Why did her sister send a secret letter to ask her to come back?

Bi Ruo: What's wrong with the emperor? Why is he so obsessed with making elixirs and ignoring state affairs?

Bi Ruo: Has Pingwa's position as the Crown Princess been decided?

Etc., etc.

But after entering the palace and seeing her sister, her endless questions disappeared one by one like dried bubbles.

"【Born with the fragrance of flowers that move the capital, her beauty conceals her talent; who says that one must fight for the beauty of the country all his life, only when he reaches the top of the scepter can he be the hero.】"

Sheng Yuan's gaze lingered on the poem on the peony painting. She was frightened by the undisguised competitive spirit in the poem.

"The Emperor... is he still alive?!" A big question mark appeared in Sheng Yuan's mind.

She didn't dare say this out loud, but somehow, memories of her childhood kept coming back to her mind, as if she wanted to hold her ears and remind her loudly about her sister's temper.

It shouldn't be possible. The emperor doesn't plan to expand his harem and welcome concubines, right? !

Could it be that the emperor was so annoyed by the court officials and clan members that he compromised? He wanted to choose a prince from among the clan members as the successor emperor? !

This shouldn't happen! The emperor's attitude towards Xiongwa is very firm, and he doesn't look like a weak-willed person.

It took Sheng Yuan only a few breaths from the time she saw the poem to the time she started to have wild thoughts, but the ideas churning through her mind were so numerous that they were enough to support an entire opera troupe.

Sheng Ran had been prepared for her sister's chattering to hurt her ears, but the girl didn't say a word for a long time. She looked up and saw that her eyes were rolling around and her round face was a little conflicted. She knew that the girl had an overactive imagination.

"Put aside your imagination!" Sheng Ran raised her hand speechlessly and patted the back of Sheng Yuan's head gently. "It's boring here. Come with me to go boating on the lake in the back garden."

After she finished speaking, she grabbed her sister's hand and squeezed it, saying as they walked, "It looks so well-proportioned, and it still feels so soft, just like my paws when I was a child."

“???” Sheng Yuan’s eyes widened, and she looked in disbelief at her sister who remained calm after making the comment, then she looked down at her own hands.

  What do you mean by "paws from childhood"? She has always had a pair of hands, right?!

What a beautiful hand! It has been beautiful since childhood! How did it become a claw?

I really don't know how to appreciate it!

Sheng Yuan puffed up her cheeks and silently made a few gestures towards her sister, then regained her composure when she turned her head away.

  Humph, the sun is shining brightly today, so she won’t bother with her!

……

When the boat reached the center of the lake, Sheng Ran looked at the scenery with satisfaction and asked Zhiyu to direct the escort boat to move further away.

"Sister, although the scenery is beautiful, you brought me here not just to see the scenery, right?"

Sheng Yuan waited until the lake became calm and finally couldn't help asking.

Sheng Ran seemed to have expected this. She smiled gently and looked back at her with a sharp gaze.

"..." Sheng Yuan felt her scalp tighten, and she felt as if her childhood memories were attacking her again.

  When she was a child, her sister would always look at her like this before she played naughty things.

"You came back early this morning and met Yu Ge'er and our parents. You know something about what's going on in the capital, right?"

Sheng Yuan was very honest and nodded: "I heard some things from Brother Yu, but he didn't know much, and what he pieced together was even more confusing."

Sheng Ran said with a smile: "You should go meet Minister An. He has sent his grandson out to hint at you." Sheng Yuan paused and snorted unhappily: "I hate you riddlers the most. If you have something to say, just say it. You insist on making me guess. I am so tired of guessing!"

Did she not want to see An Laokou? The guy reminded her with a half-hidden face, clearly not wanting to stand up directly, at least not wanting to wade into the muddy water openly!

Even though that guy was a bit stingy and deceitful, he was still a good person after all. She, Sheng Yuan, was not a cold-hearted person. She did not want to drag him into the storm unless it was absolutely necessary. Although as long as An Lao was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he would not be able to leave the eye of the storm.

"..." Sheng Yuan's complaint made Sheng Ran silent.

After a moment, she asked again, "It is said outside that the emperor is obsessed with refining elixirs to become an immortal, and now has no interest in state affairs. He has not attended court for more than a month."

"Is there a strong demand in the court to establish a crown prince?" Sheng Yuan replied with something completely unrelated.

Sheng Ran smiled: "You react quite quickly."

Sheng Yuan didn't laugh out loud: "Sister, I heard that the emperor gave uncle the right to mobilize the troops of the nine cities?"

Sheng Ran slowly put away her smile: "The emperor originally wanted Daddy and Big Brother, but Daddy has never had any ambitions, Big Brother is also not interested in this, plus Uncle has an extraordinary influence in the army, so relatively speaking, this is the best choice."

Sheng Yuan snorted and thought, what is the best choice? It is obvious that father and elder brother's military prestige is not as good as uncle's, and the Sheng family's connections in the army do not recognize them.

"No matter how distant the Marquis' Mansion is, to outsiders, they can't even write two characters of the word Sheng with one stroke." Sheng Ran rubbed his forehead tiredly.

Sheng Yuan saw her sister like this, she seemed to be a little worried about the emperor's decision, and couldn't help but whispered: "In fact, it's not a bad idea to let uncle take over for the time being. Maybe we can use this opportunity to train some helpers for Xiongwa, and then..."

"Time is running out."

Before Sheng Yuan could finish his words, Sheng Ran suddenly interrupted him softly.

"Ah?!" Sheng Yuan couldn't hear the words clearly because they were spoken too softly.

Sheng Ran looked at her bewildered sister and smiled a slightly haggard smile: "Yuan Jie'er, what I meant is that there is no time."

"No, no... No, how could it be?" Sheng Yuan was a little dazed by her sister's words, as if a deafening bell suddenly rang in her ears.

  What my sister said is so scary!

Sheng Yuan moved her lips, wanting her sister to stop scaring her, but when she saw the vulnerability in her sister's clear eyes, the words retreated.

"Sister?!" Sheng Yuan felt as if a lot of words were forced into her head. She knew every word, but she just couldn't piece together the words flying around in her mind to form normal, understandable words.

"Sister Yuan, Brother Yu should have told you that there was a fire in Si Palace some time ago. Zhiyu also told you that Xiongwa almost fell into the water, right?"

Her sister was so close to her, but her voice seemed to come faintly from far away, and her words were like a sledgehammer, hitting her understanding again and again.

"Si Gong?!" Sheng Yuan felt that his head was filled with all kinds of thoughts, which collided passionately and sparked countless conjectures.

"Sister, I shouldn't ask you this... Is the emperor okay?"

Sheng Yuan herself didn't notice that her voice was trembling slightly when she said this.

"Your Majesty..." Sheng Ran looked at the reflection on the lake calmly and said in a very soft voice, "He is in Yongxiang Palace now."