Confusion flickered in Xie Huaishan's eyes. He asked, "Who? Tricked you?"
"Huai Shan, we aren't of the Eldest Princess's bloodline. Mother was deceived by them. The Xie family doesn't know yet, and the troops under your grandfather's command can protect us for a while longer. Mother will find a chance to keep us both alive!"
Until the Eldest Princess left Great Xia, she absolutely could not let the Xie family discover her true identity.
Otherwise...
She dared not imagine the consequences.
Xie Huaishan frowned and slowly sighed.
"Wait until I... grow up a little... I'll protect you..."
He was already growing dissatisfied with the identity of this mother of his.
After everything he had experienced, he had long since stopped believing that his mother or his idiot father could do anything to help him grow.
He had to rely on himself!
Xu Rourou took it as nothing more than a child's joke. He was only a year old. How many years would she have to wait before he could protect anyone?
At the very least, she absolutely could not expose her identity before the Eldest Princess left.
Just then.
Yinliu hurried inside with an older serving woman, then glanced around and shut the door securely.
Looking anxious, the woman pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Xu Rourou.
The writing was crooked and splattered with ink, as though whoever had written it had been trembling so badly they could barely hold a brush.
The woman lowered her voice and said to Xu Rourou, "Eldest Madam, we found this beside the Old Madam's hand this morning. There was wastepaper and ink all over the floor. This was the only slip with any writing on it."
Xu Rourou could not read it, so she asked what it meant.
The