When Yi Yuan brought Ye Xi here, Liu Jingyue had already boarded the carriage. It was just passing the corner where Ye Xi and Sai Xing had overheard Ye Jueyao and Cao Sheng confessing their love to each other when Ye Xi first came to the prince's mansion.
"Madam, wait!"
Seeing the carriage about to turn the corner, Yi Yuan quickly leaned forward and called out to stop it. Then he whipped the horse and drove his carriage closer.
"Prince Yu'an?"
Liu Jingyue poked her head out of the carriage window. She was quite surprised.
"Is there something?"
Reining in his galloping horse, Yi Yuan leaped nimbly and landed steadily on the ground. While reaching out to lift the curtain and help Ye Xi out of the carriage, he said,
"Yes, but it's Xiao Xi who wants to talk. Please get off the carriage and have a chat with us."
As he spoke, Ye Xi bent over and walked out. Holding Yi Yuan's big hand, she got off the carriage.
Her expression was complicated.
Liu Jingyue's heart skipped a beat. For some reason, she suddenly didn't dare to get off the carriage.
However, Ye Xi had already walked to her carriage.
With clear and determined almond - shaped eyes, she stared straight at her.
After a moment of silence, Liu Jingyue got off the carriage. In tacit understanding, she walked a little farther away from Ye Xi. And Yi Yuan and Lu Qiong were smart enough not to follow.
Ye Xi came here just to clarify the situation. She didn't want to beat around the bush anymore. After choosing her words, what she said was extremely polite and distant:
"Madam Yun, I'm sorry to stop you. I just accidentally learned an important thing, which happens to be related to you. Please forgive me if I've offended you."
Hearing this attitude and seeing this expression, Liu Jingyue frowned. She was just about to tell Ye Xi not to be so polite when she saw Ye Xi take a deep breath. As if making a great determination, Ye Xi reached out and grabbed her wrist.
Liu Jingyue instinctively wanted to avoid it, but the words that came out of Ye Xi's mouth next made her unable to move even a bit:
"I know you don't want to get close to me, but just this once. Please, madam... don't avoid me."
"I already know my origin..."
Ye Xi stared at the extremely surprised Liu Jingyue without blinking. Her eyes were as calm as water, which was terrifyingly calm.
"But don't worry, madam. I'm not here to force you to recognize me. I just want to ask. Was it the Yun family's intention to send me away back then? And what was the reason?"
[Does Yingying know? How did she know?]
Unconsciously opening her eyes wide, Liu Jingyue was so shocked that she couldn't say a word.
This was the child she had carried for ten months. She thought she didn't love her.
The pain and sorrow in her heart spread to every limb and bone. Liu Jingyue's mind was in a complete mess:
[No, I can't admit it. I can't let her know the reason for sending her away back then.]
[Master Qingyi said that at least... at least she had to survive until she was eighteen. Otherwise, Yingying would die!]
"Miss Ye, you're joking,"
Liu Jingyue said with difficulty, trying to pull her wrist back from Ye Xi's hand:
"What origin? What recognition? I... I only have two children, Xiaoying and Xiaoqi..."
Suddenly choking in her throat, Liu Jingyue paused. Suppressing the bitter feeling surging in her heart, she continued:
"You... you must have mistaken..."
"Why would I die?"
Ye Xi directly ignored her evasive words and asked her question straight out:
"What did Master Qingyi say? Why did it have to be after I turned eighteen?"
"Is it because..." Ye Xi unconsciously tightened her grip on Liu Jingyue's hand, "the gu poison on me?"
Shivering, Liu Jingyue stared at Ye Xi in shock and grabbed her hand back:
"You have gu poison on you!? What kind of gu poison?"
"Does it hurt your body on weekdays? Is it very painful when it attacks?"
"You don't know?"
Now it was Ye Xi's turn to be surprised, but Liu Jingyue's thoughts were consistent with her words.
Briefly telling the story of how the Ye family took her away from the mysterious man to transfer the gu poison to Ye Jueyao and change her life, Ye Xi thought for a while and said:
"At that time, the Ye family also said that the day I turned eighteen would be the day when the transfer of the gu poison was completed.
"But by then, I would die. Master Qingyi told you that you couldn't contact me until after I was eighteen, and he even left a precious string for me to suppress the gu poison. It shows that he must have predicted that I would have a chance to survive later, which is why he said so.
"Since I can live, what difference does it make if it's a few days earlier or later? Why... did you have to wait until I was eighteen to recognize me again?"
Frowning tightly, Ye Xi asked:
"What exactly happened back then? And what does it have to do with the Yun family's need to secretly send me away?"
Letting out a long sigh, since things had come to this, what else did she have to hide?
Liu Jingyue looked deeply at Ye Xi. Lovingly stroking her hair, she began to tell the past events:
"Forget it. Since you already know so many things, there's no point in my hiding anymore. Maybe it's better to just tell the truth.
"There were two reasons for sending you away back then. One was that there was an epidemic in the palace at that time. Everyone was in danger, and the death toll of young children was the highest. Your father and I already had the idea of sending you and Xiaoqi away to avoid it.
"The other reason was that Master Qingyi was searching for the source of the epidemic and found out that it was related to the Liu family. Although I was married out at that time, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing when the Liu family was in trouble. During our contacts, Master Qingyi accidentally saw you. At a glance, he saw that you would have a great disaster when you were eighteen. If you couldn't get through it, you would only..."
Unconsciously with red eyes, Liu Jingyue didn't say the inauspicious word. Instead, she continued:
"Your father and I were panicked. We quickly asked the master for a way to solve it. The master said that we must quickly send you away secretly, and mustn't let anyone else know.
"Before you turned eighteen, we couldn't see you at all. Even if we saw you, we could only act as if we didn't recognize you and couldn't get close to you. Otherwise, we would surely invite disaster and our lives would be in danger.
"At that time, the epidemic was gradually under control thanks to Master Qingyi's efforts. As long as we planned properly, it wasn't too difficult to send you away. But it would surely attract attention if a child suddenly disappeared for no reason.
"Coincidentally, the Ying State had repeatedly invaded the border of the Great Yin State at that time. With internal and external troubles, the Great Yin State was in danger. Your father and I discussed for a long time and decided to move the whole family to the southwest. In this way, we could guard the territory of the Great Yin State. And since we were in a strange place, no one would know the specific situation of our family. It was also neither too close nor too far from the hometown of the person we carefully chose to take you away, so it was convenient for us to know your news. We planned to pick you up immediately after you turned eighteen.
"Just like this, on the surface, we took you and Xiaoqi and left for the southwest. In fact, when we left the capital, we secretly changed your clothes and dressed you up as the child of a servant. You were taken by You Shang to her hometown in a southern border city to live.
"However, not long after we set off for the southwest, we suddenly lost contact with You Shang. We didn't dare to look for you openly. We could only look for clues bit by bit.
"But we never expected... never expected that after fourteen years, when I saw you again, it would be a moment of life - and - death.
"The master was right. We couldn't see you. Once we saw you, our lives would be in danger... I... I..."
By the end, she was sobbing incoherently.