The maid brought her over and then retreated outside the door.
Even at this point, Hai Sha felt unwilling: "I'm hungry, when do we eat in the manor?"
The maid sneered, "Madam Hai, please stay here. When the manor prepares food, it will naturally not be short of Madam's. Moreover, the Princess Consort specifically instructed that whatever the Princess Consort eats, the same will be sent to Madam Hai. That way, you won't have to run back and forth. Please stay here at ease."
"What?!"
Hai Sha felt her anger becoming increasingly difficult to suppress: "Do I not even have the right to go to the front hall to eat?"
"Tsk—"
The maid let out another scoff: "Do you not know your own status as Madam Hai? If you want to eat in the front hall, you have to be able to go. You spoke so well in the palace, saying you were willing to serve our Prince and Princess Consort. How is it that upon returning to the manor, you've changed? You're unhappy with this, unhappy with that. If you can't get used to the food in the manor, why not leave early? No one will stop you, will they?"
To Hai Sha, this maid was truly unrestrained in her speech.
But Hai Sha had to admit, the maid was not wrong.
A soft knife cut the deepest, yet she had to endure it.
Hai Sha took a deep breath, forcing a smile onto her face: "Alright! Your manor won't starve me anyway. Why should I argue with a little maid like you? I'll eat whatever you send."
—
The Prince Chang's manor indeed kept its word; whatever Song Chaoyu ate, the same was sent to Hai Sha.
After all, on the first day Hai Sha arrived, she couldn't cause any major trouble.
It wasn't until evening, when darkness had completely fallen and Song Chaoyu had extinguished all the lights in the room, that Mu Changxi sat up from the couch.
Perhaps it was due to Hai Sha's presence in the manor, but even though he knew the room was very safe, Mu Changxi lowered his voice as he spoke: "For them in the Southern Kingdom to cause such a commotion, isn't it just to disgust us? I fear that Qian Shan is already with them now."
Qian Shan was the name of the person who had replaced Mu Changxi in going to the Southern Kingdom.
He had spent half his life as Mu Changxi's double. At this moment, he should have been living a peaceful retirement with Madam Han, but he, along with Madam Han, had disappeared and had not been seen since.
Song Chaoyu also frowned: "Did Qian Shan mention this Hai Sha matter to you before?"
Mu Changxi thought carefully and guessed, "I do recall him mentioning before that a maid from the greenhouse had come to him. Later, he felt pity for the maid and let her go. I think he truly didn't know that Hai Sha had given birth to a child."
This was the most difficult part. Song Chaoyu sighed, "Then that child must be Qian Shan's, right? Do you think Qian Shan has betrayed us, or was he captured against his will?"
Actually, Song Chaoyu knew the meaning of the phrase "trust without suspicion."
However, their current situation was not good, and Qian Shan had been missing for a long time.
Many things could not be generalized.
But speaking of Qian Shan, Mu Changxi's gaze also became fixed: "In this world, besides you, the person I trust most is Qian Shan. He could not betray me, just as you could not betray me."
He actually regarded Qian Shan as so important in his heart?
Song Chaoyu became even more curious: "Can you tell me about your story with Qian Shan?"
—
Actually, the story of Mu Changxi and Qian Shan was not a very complicated one.
It all began when the Emperor decided to send Mu Changxi to the Southern Kingdom.
Due to his favor towards the Noble Consort, the Emperor had doted on Mu Changxi greatly from the moment he was born.
But there is a saying, "The tall tree catches the wind."
Many in the court could not stand the Emperor's excessive favor towards Mu Changxi and the Noble Consort. At a time when Da Yue was discussing sending a hostage to the Southern Kingdom, the ministers jointly petitioned the Emperor to send Mu Changxi.
The Emperor initially disagreed, wanting instead to send Prince Ning, whom he did not favor much, to the Southern Kingdom.
But the ministers advised that the Southern Kingdom was powerful, and only by sending the prince whom the Emperor loved could Da Yue's sincerity be shown. They insisted on sending Mu Changxi.
The Emperor at that time could not refuse the continuous pleas of the ministers and had to reluctantly send Mu Changxi away.
In fact, the Emperor understood, and Noble Consort understood even more clearly.
Mu Changxi's journey to the Southern Kingdom was fraught with countless dangers.
But no one could stop the Emperor and the ministers who had become "fanatical."
The Noble Consort's family background was not good, and she only had Mu Changxi by her side.
Therefore, the Noble Consort had only one thought: no matter what, she had to keep Mu Changxi by her side and absolutely could not let him suffer in the Southern Kingdom!
However, after thinking of so many methods, they all proved futile.
The only path left for the Noble Consort was: compromise.
Song Chaoyu already knew what happened afterward.
Heaven was kind; a half-sister of the Noble Consort's family gave birth to someone who bore a seven-tenths resemblance to Mu Changxi, and that was Qian Shan.
They disguised Qian Shan as Mu Changxi and sent him to the Southern Kingdom, undetected. Mu Changxi, along with Madam Han, lived in a manor outside the capital, living under the alias "Han Xi."
Speaking of this matter, Mu Changxi lowered his head and smiled slightly: "Perhaps to allow me to be at ease, my mother never let me and Qian Shan meet. But after I was sensible, I found ways to contact Qian Shan. We occasionally exchanged letters. We were like another self in this world. We understood each other's hearts, and what others could not see or guess, we could. I trusted him deeply, and he trusted me."
At this point, Mu Changxi couldn't help but reach out and hold Song Chaoyu's hand: "Ayu, I had promised Qian Shan. To let him return here safely, I would give him a stable life. We were both looking forward to this day, waiting for it to arrive soon. But now, Qian Shan is missing, and my promise has not been fulfilled. Ayu, I am sorry to Qian Shan."
Yes, Qian Shan should have had a stable life.
Mu Changxi's words, however, brought a sense of peace to Song Chaoyu's heart.
She sat up and held Mu Changxi's hand: "Don't worry, everything will get better. Since you trust him so much, then I trust him wholeheartedly too. We must believe that even if his situation is difficult now, he is still persevering. We cannot fail his trust, can we?"
Mu Changxi's heart stirred, but he could only reach out and draw Song Chaoyu into his embrace, unable to make any further moves: "Ayu is right, we must believe him. Those years in the Southern Kingdom were so difficult, what is there now that we cannot overcome?"