"Grandfather!!"
Zhen Ping called out timidly.
Sima Zhao smiled as he lifted the child into his arms, his eyes full of affection.
The child had only just turned four, but he was extraordinarily frail. There were traces of Sima Shi in his features; his frailty, in particular, made him look even more like Sima Shi did now.
Zhen Ping was Guo De's son.
This was how it had happened: Cao Rui had once arranged a ghost marriage between Zhen Huang, the deceased grandnephew of his birth mother, Empress Wen Zhao Zhen, and his own daughter Cao Shu, who had died young.
Since both were already dead, they could not produce offspring.
He had therefore had the clever Guo De adopted by Zhen Huang and his wife, changing his surname to Zhen and having him inherit the title of Marquis of Pingyuan.
Guo De had inexplicably acquired a pair of dead parents, but he had also benefited immensely, becoming the leader of the Guo Family. In private, everyone still called him Guo De. After his "rebellion," Sima Shi had directly stripped him of his status as heir and made him revert to his original name, turning him back into Guo De.
And Zhen Ping, the son Sima Yue had borne, could also be called Guo Ping.
Sima Yue had been frail and sickly from birth, and her son was the same. Neither was in good health.
Now mother and son lived in the Grand General's residence.
Historically, after Sima Yue died, Sima Zhao had married his own eldest daughter to Guo De, and she had borne Zhen Xi.
Holding the little fellow in his arms, Sima Zhao asked with a smile, "Are you happy here?"
"Yes, but I really miss Father..."
At Guo Ping's words, Sima Zhao fell silent for a