Chapter 340: Heaven Does Not Betray the Diligent

As of today, the deposed emperor still calls himself 'Zhen', refusing to admit he has failed, 85.

Father already guessed it was the second younger brother, right?

That makes sense, after all, as a father, it's not strange to recognize his son's legs.

The second younger brother came to look for the younger sister?

Azhi, are you and the second younger brother reconciled now? Pei Shangyan couldn't help but feel a bit sour.

Sure enough, living in Jingcheng as well, back and forth, it always makes her soft-hearted.

At that moment, Pei Shangyan regretted his decision, but it was only a fleeting instant.

Finding Father to help Father is the correct decision!

"He has entered the Grand General's manor." The deposed emperor said casually.

As if afraid that Pei Shangyan wouldn't see it.

The Grand General's manor has been freshly repaired, and it now somewhat resembles how it used to be.

In a daze, the deposed emperor felt as if he had returned to twenty years ago, when the Grand General was still there, his loyal right-hand man, who guarded his realm for him and shed blood for him.

With the Grand General present, his throne was as stable as Mount Tai.

Unfortunately, this Grand General of his ultimately died on the battlefield, perishing in a foreign land.

If the Grand General were still alive, what would the situation be like now?

Azhi would not be his daughter, but she would certainly be a beloved junior of his; those treacherous ministers and rebels could not shake his realm, and he would not have fallen to this state!

Grand General, how could you just die like that?!

The deposed emperor's resentful gaze was fixed firmly on the Grand General's manor.

Pei Shangyan could only watch helplessly as Pei Shangjue entered; he thought, it's better to wait here for the second younger brother to come out than to go looking for people at Prince Zhuang's manor, which would be safer.

"Wait."

In the Grand General's manor, Pei Shangjue always comes on the pretext of official business; although his influence in the Ministry of Works is far less than before, he still knows the Ministry well, and the new emperor has not completely stripped his authority.

In fact, he no longer has much interest in the Ministry of Works, because his position in the army is not as good as in the Ministry; he simply rarely goes to the army camp either, so as to reassure the new emperor that he is an idle prince.

If he were using his position as a pretext to see his sister, he would have quit the Ministry of Works altogether.

Mu Yuanzhi naturally knows Pei Shangjue's thoughts, but for the sake of official business she only gives him a perfunctory response—nothing more than official talk, she can't be bothered to chat about personal matters, just a few perfunctory sentences.

For example, now.

"May I see my two nephews?" Pei Shangjue asked.

Mu Yuanzhi questioned: "Your Highness, your two nephews should be in the Grand General's manor, shouldn't they?"

Pei Shangjue's sense of loss was plainly visible in his eyes.

As always, she refuses to acknowledge that she is his sister, and she is unwilling to let him see her children.

He merely wants to see them; even if they are just ordinary court colleagues, one can still see their juniors, right?

"Azhi, I have no other intention; I just want to give them a gift. Is it really not allowed for colleagues to congratulate each other?" Pei Shangjue said sadly.

"If the relationship is merely ordinary, there's no need." Mu Yuanzhi said, "You say so, Your Highness?"

She seemed not to notice Pei Shangjue's loss in his eyes, and directly got to the point: "Your Highness, you are here to deliver the news from the Vice Minister of Works; don't beat around the bush, after all everyone is busy, there's no need to waste time."

"All right." Pei Shangjue took out the drawing Mu Yuanzhi had previously submitted from his sleeve, and said, "You said before that the Ministry of Works could make this style itself, but the Vice Minister of Works says it cannot, and still has to rely on you."

Mu Yuanzhi was rather speechless: "This is the most basic thing; after all these years, the Ministry of Works has made no progress at all—this Vice Minister of Works might as well let me do it."

"His Majesty also has this intention."

"Enough! I was just speaking offhand; who wants to work a few extra shifts? I'm not short on that money, I don't want to work myself to death!" Mu Yuanzhi rolled her eyes.

Pei Shangjue, however, laughed; he hadn't seen such a lively expression from her in a long time—one could say it was lively in front of him, because with her friends she is usually lively.

Mu Yuanzhi also hadn't seen Pei Shangjue smile in a long time; she felt he would be better off not smiling, perhaps because he rarely smiles, and when he does it looks extremely strange.

She also didn't know what kind of gaze her former self had that would make his smile seem to cause heaven and earth to lose color.

People with dull wits truly have dull eyes as well; Mu Yuanzhi couldn't help but silently criticize her former self in her heart.

Pei Shangjue didn't realize he was being disliked, still immersed in the world where his sister's little expression was adorable; after a moment he said, "I also told His Majesty the same thing; he seemed very regretful."

He took the opportunity to boost his own favor.

Mu Yuanzhi didn't believe it; perhaps this person deliberately mentioned it to His Majesty so she could frequently come and go from the Ministry of Works—she, a female official, is merely nominal, only doing key research; even if her rank is not low, her workload shouldn't be too much!

She merely gave a scoffing laugh, with no further comment.

"So you will come to the Ministry of Works, then?" Pei Shangjue asked.

"Since you're so clumsy you can't even do this, how would I get by if I didn't go?" Mu Yuanzhi said helplessly, "I'll go there tomorrow; if there's nothing else, Your Highness, please return."

She issued the order to evict the guest.

Pei Shangjue finally managed to seize the opportunity to visit the Grand General's manor; unwilling to leave just like that, his mind raced to find an excuse to stay a bit longer, when he saw the wet nurse in the Grand General's manor carrying two children over.

Truly, heaven does not betray those who work hard!

Pei Shangjue was overjoyed; the children had come, and he could see them!

Mu Yuanzhi couldn't just kick him out right away; oh well, let's see him—it won't cost her a piece of flesh.

"Let me take a look at the Prince's Grandson and the Duke Defending the State!" Pei Shangjue said, already striding over.

The wet nurse glanced uncertainly at Mu Yuanzhi; Pei Shangjue had already arrived, so she could only smile and call out, "Greetings, Your Highness."

Pei Shangjue finally saw his two nephews; the infant was no longer the wrinkled, unsightly newborn, but now completely snow‑white and utterly adorable.

Just like Azhi!

Pei Shangjue couldn't resist reaching out to play with them.

So alike! Especially the baby girl, she is practically identical to Azhi when she was little!

He remembered it vividly: when his father first brought his tiny sister, swaddled in blankets, to show him, he had been very happy; being poor at expressing himself, he didn't know how to show his joy, so his father assumed he didn't much like this sister and therefore never brought her to him again, and each time he could only stand far off in the periphery watching his older brother and younger brother tease their sister.

Now his sister is a married woman and has given birth to her own little daughter.

Pei Shangjue suddenly felt moved.

The little royal grandson, upon seeing Pei Shangjue, didn't cry but instead disdainfully patted with his hand, as if trying to drive away this big hand that had come uninvited.

Pei Shangjue simply regarded the child as playing with him, and he ended up teasing the child even more enthusiastically.

The wet nurse simply stood there holding the child, from time to time glancing at the master to ask for his opinion.