Chapter 985 A Generation of Prodigies, Starved to Death

"My sister is finally back, and I can finally take a break. Don't laugh at me, but whenever I had free time before, I always felt empty inside if I didn't have something to do. But when I'm really busy, I can't help but want to slap myself. Tending to the flowers in the greenhouse is the real life."

Xiong Liqing said while sitting in the main seat, skimming tea foam with the lid.

The people sitting below laughed along.

With the Prince on an expedition, although Xu Wenzu was providing support in the west, the real base for military supplies and conscripted laborers was still Jindong. They were the busiest here.

For the past half year, everyone's contribution to this Yan-Chu war has been no less than that of the soldiers fighting on the front lines.

At this moment, He Chunlai stood up and said:

"Your Highness, you may have to hold on for a while longer. The Great Princess Consort has only returned to make some arrangements. Didn't she leave for the main camp this morning? The major battle is over, but there are still matters such as stationing troops on the front lines. It's hard to say when the main force will actually withdraw.

In addition, the distribution of rewards is also a very troublesome matter."

Just like how the children in the Prince's inner residence know to call Fourth Mother "Great Mother," the inner circle officials of the Prince's Residence also refer to Fourth Mother and Xiong Liqing separately, calling Fourth Mother "Great Princess Consort."

After all, Xiong Liqing is only temporarily managing things, but the entire financial system of Jindong was personally established by Fourth Mother.

On this point, Xiong Liqing wouldn't feel jealous. From the moment she entered the door... no, even before she entered the door, she never had any intention of competing with Fourth Mother for favor.

"Busy, busy, busy." Xiong Liqing placed the teacup back on the desk. "In the end, it's all you adults who are really busy. As for me, I'm just a lucky ornament."

"Your Highness is too humble. We are terrified."

"We are terrified."

"Alright, alright, I was just joking, just joking. I've reviewed all the documents today, so please distribute them, everyone. Those that need to be supervised should be supervised quickly, and those that need to be prepared should be prepared quickly.

Tell your subordinates that I know everyone is tired, but think about it, the battle is over, and the Prince's return isn't far away. It's time for rewards and promotions, so don't let anything go wrong now, or it'll be a real loss."

"We obey."

"We obey."

Xiong Liqing got up and left the signing room, returning directly to her courtyard.

As soon as she entered, she saw her precious daughter walking out with a bulging bag on her back.

Da Niu: "Um..."

Xiong Liqing immediately darkened her face;

Then,

Her gaze swept over the maids standing around;

In truth, Xiong Liqing only acts coquettishly in front of the Zheng fellow and recognizes a sister in front of Fourth Mother, but she comes from the direct line of the Great Chu royal family.

Without some methods and courage, how could she temporarily fill Fourth Mother's position and how could she keep the officials below the Prince's Residence in line?

No matter how loyal they are, they are loyal to the Prince and loyal to the Great Princess Consort. Even if an ordinary woman is put in place with the title of Princess Consort, people won't really respect you.

The princess's gaze turned sharp,

The aura was truly palpable;

All the maids around knelt on the ground;

Xiong Liqing had once said that if the Little Princess ran away from home again, all the serving maids and their families would be executed.

Her daughter has a clever mind,

She can tell if you're just scaring her;

So she is very obedient. She knows that her mother can do what she says.

However, she doesn't think her mother is "cruel";

Since she was little, after witnessing the mother-child interactions between Great Mother and A'di many times,

She still feels that her mother is already very gentle, although Great Mother has always liked her very much, Da Niu is still a little afraid of Great Mother.

It's right to be afraid of Great Mother, after all, Great Mother is Great Mother, um, after all, her own mother is also afraid of Great Mother.

"Mother, I'm not running away from home. I'm going to bring food to A'di. A'di is living with Grandpa now, and I'm worried he won't be used to the food.

Grandpa eats candles and spirit money,

A'di might get diarrhea from eating those."

"Really?"

"Really, I asked the people below, and no one was ordered to send food and drink to A'di."

Hearing this explanation, Xiong Liqing nodded:

"Then go ahead."

The day Fourth Mother returned, she directly locked the Heir Apparent in the small dark room;

Xiong Liqing is not in a position to speak on the issue of how to educate the Heir Apparent.

However, Xiong Liqing never opposes her daughter being close to her brothers. Of course, the mother doesn't have to worry about this either. The men in the family all dote on her very much;

Not to mention her father, and Tian Tian, as the eldest son, has always loved this younger sister;

Even the Heir Apparent, who is somewhat withdrawn in temperament, is much more enthusiastic towards Da Niu than others;

The Heir Apparent is always indifferent to his own father, but he won't refuse to fool around with Da Niu.

Da Niu happily went to the artificial mountain in the back house with her little bag, put down the food, walked to the large iron gate, patted it, and shouted:

"A'di, A'di!"

Inside, there was no response.

Da Niu was a little worried,

Took a few steps back,

Then,

Made a sword seal with both hands:

"Release!"

"Buzz!"

Long Yuan behind her was unsheathed, hovering above Da Niu's head.

"Pierce!"

Long Yuan turned into a stream of light, crashing into the iron gate. After an ear-piercing crash, Long Yuan flew back upside down and landed on the ground.

"Hiss... that hurts!"

Da Niu only felt a sharp pain in the index and ring fingers of her right hand, and quickly put them to her mouth to blow on them.

This large iron gate is solid and has a latch design on all sides. Once it's down, it can be completely sealed from the inside.

The mechanism to open this large iron gate is on the other side of the artificial mountain. You can pull up the iron chain, and at the same time, apply great force to reopen the iron gate, but Da Niu doesn't know this.

Her attempt to use Long Yuan to chop the iron gate is futile unless she has the realm of her master.

After soothing the pain in her fingers, Da Niu came to the iron gate again and found that her previous sword had already dug a nail-sized pit in the iron gate. It wasn't completely ineffective, but it was equivalent to being ineffective.

Da Niu could only lie down, trying to call out through the tiny gap below:

"A'di, A'di!"

But there was still no response.

Da Niu got up, patted her hands and pants, and shouted to the other side:

"Big Snake, Big Snake!"

With two shouts, the green python swam over. It had been living in the Prince's Residence for many years, and it usually doesn't come out very often, but the servants in the Prince's Residence were already accustomed to its occasional movements.

The green python raised its head and looked at Da Niu;

It is Xiong Liqing's demonic beast, so it will naturally be more affectionate towards Da Niu.

Da Niu pointed to the iron gate and said:

"Big Snake, you come and knock it open."

"........." Green Python.

"Be good, Big Snake, you can do it."

"Be good!"

Da Niu got angry.

A look of resentment appeared in the green python's snake eyes, and then, its body slammed violently into the iron gate.

"Boom!"

The green python raised its head, staggered, and withered directly.

…

"There's movement!"

"Ptooey!"

Zheng Lin spat out the wax block he had just chewed and quickly turned over, coming to the back of the iron gate.

It must be said that the green python's impact was more effective than Da Niu's sword. Although it still didn't have any substantial impact on the iron gate, at least it made the inside feel something.

"Who's outside, who's outside!"

Zheng Lin shouted.

…

Seeing the green python outside that was almost fainting, Da Niu no longer forced it and could only sit back down in front of the iron gate.

Cross-legged,

Gathering qi,

Sword intent began to condense,

Closing her eyes,

Sword incantation forward;

On the other side of the thick iron gate, Zheng Lin found that a condensed sword qi appeared in his sight.

"A'jie, A'jie!"

Zheng Lin was excited. He immediately sat down cross-legged and also formed a hand seal.

Soon, Da Niu, sitting outside, saw a sword qi also appear in front of her.

Knowing that this method was effective, Da Niu immediately controlled her sword qi to write the word:

"Di..." (younger brother)

Zheng Lin also controlled his sword qi to write on the ground outside:

"Hungry..."

Succinctly.

Da Niu revealed a look of joy and immediately stopped forming the hand seal, and the sword qi on the opposite side dissipated;

She opened her small bag full of snacks, which contained a lot of delicious things, but excitedly she quickly realized a problem;

This iron gate can even block sound... How can I send the food I brought to A'di?

Da Niu immediately reformed the hand seal,

And wrote three words on the other side:

"Can't send it in..."

Zheng Lin then responded very simply:

"Call someone..."

"Call who..."

"My mother..."

There is no overnight feud between mother and child. Although his own mother locked him in and beat him hard before locking him in, Zheng Lin really doesn't have any resentment towards Fourth Mother.

"Great Mother is gone..."

Seeing these words,

Zheng Lin's entire eyes widened. He was somewhat, justifiably shocked;

Shocked that his own mother would lock her son up like this and go back to the front line to find his father, without even taking the time to see her son before leaving;

Justifiably... This is indeed something his own mother could do.

It's easy to guess who is more important in his mother's heart between him and his father; it's definitely his father.

Zheng Lin also understands that it is precisely because he and his father have a bad relationship that his own mother also dislikes him.

The ethical relationship in other people's homes is reversed in his own home;

At this time, Da Niu's forehead was already oozing with sweat. It was very tiring to control sword qi to write in the air;

It's a pity that the Sword Saint isn't home. If he were here to see this scene, he would probably think that his two disciples practicing sword qi control like this is really gratifying.

"A'di, I'm going to call someone..."

Zheng Lin saw these words,

And responded:

"Okay..."

Seemingly to add an urgent tone, he added the word "hungry" after the word "okay."

Da Niu stood up, staggered a bit, feeling somewhat exhausted, but still quickly ran away.

…

Zheng Lin leaned against the large iron gate, picked up the candle again, took a bite, chewed twice, and spat it out again.

Heaven have mercy,

If he were truly exiled to the wilderness, or even a dangerous place like Daze, where demonic beasts roam, he would consider himself able to live a good and unrestrained life, but he can't do anything about this place.

Just then,

A voice suddenly sounded in Zheng Lin's ear:

"Are you hungry... I have something delicious here."

Shatuo Queshi, sitting in the coffin, turned his head and looked at the depths, then, let out an angry roar.

Zheng Lin's face showed a look of yearning,

And muttered:

"Really... I'm so hungry..."

"Yes... I have the sweetest food in the world here... As long as you come over..."

"Will you give it to me?"

"Yes... I can give you everything..."

"You're so nice..."

"Of course... I..."

"What an idiot."

The yearning on Zheng Lin's face immediately disappeared, and he revealed indifference and disdain,

Then stood up,

And shouted inside:

"This young master is so hungry now that he's eating candles, I don't have time to play seduction games with you here, shut up, you idiot!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Below, there was a vibration. The black-armored man in the depths of the iron cage clenched the iron chains tightly in his arms. He was angry.

"You don't even know how to lie, you deserve to be locked up here by my useless father, what, you want to seduce me to let you out, dream on!"

Zheng Lin sat down again, picked up the candle, and took another bite like he was venting.

"Heh heh..."

Shatuo Queshi lay back in the coffin again.

…

"Elder Sister locked him in, so I really can't just let him out. You know, we don't have a say in how Elder Sister educates her children, plus our Heir Apparent is not an ordinary child."

"But..."

"Don't worry, Da Niu just went to bring him food. It's okay for her to bring him special meals, they are siblings, even if Elder Sister knows, she won't say anything."

"That's good, that's good." Princess Consort Fu patted her chest.

There are four real bed partners of the Prince in the Prince's Residence;

One is Fourth Mother, one is Xiong Liqing, one is Liu Ruqing, and one is... Princess Consort Fu.

The Fu Prince's Residence has a residence in Fengxin City, but Princess Consort Fu has always lived in the Regent's Residence.

Among the four women, the one who truly cares most about the Heir Apparent is naturally Princess Consort Fu, because Fourth Mother left the child in her care early on.

Originally, everyone didn't say anything about the Heir Apparent being confined, but as soon as Fourth Mother left, Princess Consort Fu came to Xiong Liqing to plead.

At this time, Da Niu ran back.

Seeing that her daughter was fine when she went out, but now she was walking with a shaky step, Xiong Liqing immediately asked:

"What's wrong?"

"Mother, Auntie, A'di is going to starve to death in there!"

…

"Can't open it?"

"Yes, Your Highness. This iron gate has a restriction that is integrated with the surrounding environment. Your subordinates can't open it."

"How is that possible!"

Xiong Liqing looked solemnly at the large iron gate in front of her. Around her, there was a group of Prince's Residence guards standing with torches.

"Your Highness may not know, the restrictions here can only be removed by the teachers of the Prince's Residence. Although I have been working in the Prince's Residence for some years, I don't usually get involved here. This place is a forbidden area of the Prince's Residence.

But now, the teachers are not in the Prince's Residence, so..."

The guard leader is a veteran who retired from the former Embroidered Uniform Guard.

But even he has no way to deal with this dungeon.

After all, since the Demon Kings dare to imprison the black armor at home, they will naturally arrange many layers of defenses in advance.

Xiong Liqing took a deep breath,

And said:

"Then call the patrol division over. If that's not enough, transfer troops from the city defense. Dig, dig it open for me!"

"Yes!"

It's true that the large iron gate can't be opened, but it's still possible to open the situation by forcibly digging from the surroundings, as long as there are enough people.

And from Xiong Liqing's point of view, she can't interfere with how Fourth Mother educates her children, but she can't possibly watch the Heir Apparent starve to death in the Prince's Residence!

What is this about,

The Heir Apparent of the Regent Prince's family of Great Yan, in Great Yan, almost the second most noble existence that can be on par with the Crown Prince of Yan, visible cultivation talent, a generation of eagles,

Just died young from starvation?

"Elder Sister, Elder Sister, can't you just be so negligent towards your son?"

Xiong Liqing was a little scared. If Da Niu hadn't discovered it early, when the Prince and Elder Sister returned, what they would have seen would probably have been a dried-up corpse starved to death, right?

Da Niu, who had been resting for a while, hurriedly sat down in front of the large iron gate and started to condense sword qi:

"A'di, don't panic... We'll dig it open..."

Zheng Lin, behind the large iron gate, initially thought it was normal when he saw this line of words, but then he finally understood what the people outside were planning to do,

And immediately responded;

"Can't dig..."

Da Niu blinked and looked at this line of words seriously.

Soon, the second line of words appeared:

"Absolutely can't dig..."

Opening the iron gate to let himself out, that's no problem;

But if he's really dug out directly, then the black-armored man suppressed below will break out of the seal.

"Mother, A'di says, can't dig." Da Niu immediately informed her mother.

"What?" Xiong Liqing frowned.

During the New Year and holidays, she would go with Fourth Mother to offer incense to Shatuo Queshi, so she vaguely knew that below this, there was actually another door.

She rarely asked about these things before, but she could probably guess that in addition to Shatuo Queshi living there, there should be another existence, and Shatuo Queshi was more like... a guard.

She had ignored this point when she was anxious and angry, but now, after this reminder, she immediately had an impression in her mind.

Zheng Lin wrote again:

"Grandpa has offerings to eat here... Won't starve to death..."

"Mother, A'di says Grandpa has offerings to eat."

Xiong Liqing raised her hand and ordered:

"In addition to the group of people sent out to chase after the Great Princess Consort, send another group of people to report to the Prince at the front line camp, go at full speed!

Here,

Temporarily not allowed to dig."

"Yes!"

Xiong Liqing looked at her daughter and instructed:

"Set up a small tent here and sleep here. Talk to your younger brother every half day."

"Got it, Mother."

…

Behind the large iron gate,

Zheng Lin wiped his mouth,

One hand covering his stomach and one hand propping up the coffin lid,

And said:

"Grandpa, I'm really very hungry."

The coffin didn't respond.

"You're not worried at all, you must have a way to keep me from starving to death, right?"

A rich and refined baleful aura slowly floated out of the coffin, hovering in front of Zheng Lin.

Seeing this group of baleful aura,

Zheng Lin immediately understood what it meant,

And said with a bitter face:

"Grandpa, I'm not Demon Pill brother, I have to eat, this thing isn't filling."

The coffin didn't respond, and the baleful aura ball dissipated a little.

Zheng Lin gritted his teeth, opened his mouth, and sucked the ball of baleful aura into his mouth.

The next moment,

His body presented a purplish-blue color,

He was in so much pain that he was crawling on the ground, convulsing madly, like a leech stimulated by salt water.

But he was tough, always gritting his teeth, not crying out in pain, but cold sweat had already soaked his entire body.

After a long while,

The pain was suppressed,

Zheng Lin, lying on the ground, facing upwards, with his limbs spread out, this painful feeling was more outrageous than his mother pricking him with needles.

But after the pain,

There was:

"Hiccup..."