Chapter 67 Chapter 67 Discovery

Liang Hanzhang has been in a state of extreme anxiety since she heard Zhuang Binghuai say that Emperor Jianping was going on a southern tour and that he was coming to Nanzhou.

She knew very well that Nanzhou was so big that she and Li Cheng would never meet unless they looked for him deliberately.

But unfortunately, Emperor Jianping came to Tang County by accident - where she now lives.

In order to avoid encountering him when going out, Liang Hanzhang has not left the house since Emperor Jianping arrived in Nanzhou during his southern tour.

Now, she felt a little regretful. She shouldn't have used her original name without scruples because Tang County was far away in Nanzhou and the emperor was far away.

She seldom revealed her maiden name, but people like the county magistrate's wife and Xu Yin all knew her, and usually liked to call her Zhang Niang.

Although there were many people with the same given name, Liang Hanzhang still felt a sense of unease. Fortunately, she had previously instructed Xu Yin not to mention her given name and to avoid visiting her for the time being.

Xu Yin was a chatterbox, but a girl of her age, devoted to her storybook, would not have run into the emperor.

Liang Hanzhang was very relieved about this.

She had to stay out of the spotlight for the time being. Xu Yin had just asked her to write a new storybook, so she had to think about it in her free time.

Zhuang Binghuai placed Gao in the Liang Mansion. Liang Hanzhang and Madam Gao lived in the same courtyard. She lived in the master bedroom and Madam Gao lived in the next room.

Liang Hanzhang didn't want to let Mrs. Gao down and wanted to give her the master bedroom, but the old lady smiled and said there was no need to go through so much trouble.

After selling breakfast, Zhang Laosan bought a basket of fresh lychees from the street. He returned to his house, closed the door, and only walked to the hanging flower gate of the second courtyard, never taking another step inside.

He shouted at the top of his voice: "Boss, I brought back a basket of lychees and left them at the gate. If you have time, come out and get them!"

Liang Hanzhang was drinking seafood porridge with Mrs. Gao. Upon hearing this, she sighed and stood up to go out and carry the lychees in. Mrs. Gao would sometimes look at Liang Hanzhang in a trance, her eyes delicate and gentle, as if she were looking at her own daughter.

Liang Hanzhang was always grateful for Zhuang Binghuai's kindness and also grateful to Mrs. Gao.

Because of Gao, she finally understood what it felt like to have a mother. She had been an orphan since she was a child, and was sold by her biological parents. She had experienced the ups and downs of life.

At that time, she often thought, if she were like ordinary people, with loving parents, how wonderful it would be. Then, she wouldn't have to worry about being bullied, not having to worry about not having food for a few days because of poor performance, and not having to worry about being beaten and scolded by her master if he was not satisfied.

These nightmares will not exist.

She also knew that these thoughts were nothing more than wishful thinking. She no longer wanted to find her biological parents.

Even if you find it back, those people will still sell it to you a second time.

Perhaps she was born with a weak sense of kinship. If that's the case, don't force it.

She didn't want to force it, but when she was with Mrs. Gao, she could clearly feel how girls from ordinary families lived freely.

No matter what you do wrong, as long as it's not a big deal, they will comfort you in a gentle voice: Don't worry. No matter what you are afraid of, they will also hug you softly and say: Don't be afraid.

The so-called relatives are the affection and confidence that people have in living in this world.

Now she has the confidence.

Gao would always look at her tenderly, listen to her patiently, and tolerate everything about her. When she was with Gao, she didn't have to worry about angering her and getting panicked, because she knew that Mrs. Gao couldn't bear to be angry with her.

In fact, it was not that Mrs. Gao depended on her and was reluctant to leave her. It was clearly herself who had become accustomed to Mrs. Gao's gentleness and was reluctant to leave.

Every time this happened, she would feel immense guilt towards the child she had only been with for a few short months. Such a small child, born prematurely, so fragile, yet he had lost his mother at such a young age.

In fact, how was she any different from her own parents who sold their own daughter? She placed her child in the royal family, but did she ever ask him if he liked it?

In essence, she is also a mean and ungrateful mother.

…

The lychees were freshly picked. Lingnan has a lot of lychees, and lychees are extremely difficult to preserve. Their color changes in one day, their taste changes in two days, and their aroma changes in three days. After four or five days, the lychees are completely spoiled and inedible.

However, Lingnan and the capital Chang'an are thousands of miles apart, with a station every five miles and a station every ten miles. Even if the lychees were sent urgently at a distance of 800 miles, there was no guarantee that the emperor in the imperial city of Chang'an would be able to eat fresh lychees.

So, if the mountain is not mine, then I am the mountain, right? Could it be that Jianping Di Nan's purpose was really to taste fresh lychees?

Liang Hanzhang peeled the red lychee shell, revealing the crystal clear white jade flesh inside. She gently handed it to Mrs. Gao's mouth: "Mom, you eat it."

Mrs. Gao was old and had trouble digesting these irritating foods, so she could only eat a few at a time. Liang Hanzhang didn't dare feed her more than that, so he peeled three or four and stopped.

Mrs. Gao looked at her, still smiling. She was a little absent-minded, and her eyes repeatedly swept over Liang Hanzhang's eyebrows and eyes. Faintly, she could actually see the shadow of her former husband.

Is this child really not her blood?

Gao's tears slowly fell. She straightened up and couldn't help but speak: "Mother Zhang, you said you have no parents and were sold away by your family when you were young? Do you remember what happened when you were two or three years old?"

Liang Hanzhang tried hard to recall, but that memory seemed to be firmly bound by a spider web. She could not see it clearly, nor could she get a glimpse of it at all.

Not to mention two or three, she had no memories of even five or six. Normally, children should have retained fixed memories by the time they reach four or five. But her situation was strange: she had no memories before the age of seven or eight.

She is now twenty-two years old, and looking back on her life, more than half of it is blank.

This realization made Liang Hanzhang very upset.

She covered her head with her hands, feeling a little uncomfortable, and said sullenly, "I don't remember."

Madam Gao did not force her. She was still kind and benevolent, like the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara who saved all living beings. Her eyes were moist and her voice was like the sound of a distant bell: "If, you were really my daughter, how wonderful it would be..."

Not only Mrs. Gao had such expectations, but Liang Hanzhang and Mrs. Gao's eldest son Zhuang Binghuai also had such expectations.

Mrs. Gao lost her daughter, and she had no father or mother. If she was really Mrs. Gao's daughter, how wonderful it would be. At that time, she could clearly tell herself that she was not sold by her parents, but was abducted by a kidnapper.

Because of her abduction, her mother has been distressed for many years and has always been upset about her disappearance. She is not an abandoned existence, she is also thought of by people.

What she was thinking about were her parents and her brother.

Noticing the momentary stiffness in Liang Hanzhang's expression, Madam Gao smiled and said, "Don't worry, whether you are my biological daughter or not, my attitude towards you will never change. In my heart, you are already my daughter..."

Liang Hanzhang's voice seemed to be stuck by sticky frosting, and she tried hard to shout: "Mom!"

She has called him this name many times, but never as much as today, which makes people feel so sweet in their hearts.

She also has a mother. Gao is her mother, her dear mother.

…

Liang Hanzhang locked himself up at home every day and never went out. He was quite pleased that Emperor Jianping could not discover his affairs.

If she had drunk the tea back then, even if Zhuang Binghuai discovered her later, it would have been too late. However, she secretly poured the tea down her sleeve, and neither the palace maids nor Princess Changping were aware of it.

Afterwards, Emperor Jianping would undoubtedly have discovered the poison in the tea, and he would have known that she had drunk the entire cup. The poison was colorless and odorless, and extremely potent. If an antidote wasn't found within a moment of drinking, the person would have died.

Emperor Jianping also realized this, and he firmly believed that her body was eaten by wolves after she fell off the cliff.

It was precisely because of his conviction that Liang Hanzhang's disguise and journey south were so smooth. When she first arrived in Tang County, the name registered in the household register was Liang San.

Except for a few people in the Prince's Mansion and a few people who were around Yan Guang at the time, no one in the world knew the name of Empress Xiaode.

That's why Liang Hanzhang was so confident and revealed his real name to Xu Yin and the others. Thinking about it now, he regretted it.

Just when Liang Hanzhang thought that Emperor Jianping and the Crown Prince would only stay in Tang County for a few days before leaving, on the other side, Xia Chang had already found out the exact information.

He bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, I have found out. The lady who is good friends with Miss Xu now lives at the end of Maoyan Lane. The house is inscribed with 'Liang Mansion'. She is a widow who has moved here five years ago and has lived here permanently. I heard that she has a noble person protecting her. Even the county magistrate gives her face. She is a well-known figure in the whole Tang County."

Xia Chang hesitated, wanting to speak more but afraid that His Majesty would be angry. Emperor Jianping's eyelids drooped, his slender fingertips tapping the handles of the sandalwood chair.

He asked calmly, "Why don't you say anything?"

Although his voice sounded calm, even without a ripple, Xia Chang had been with His Majesty for so long that he had a certain understanding of His Majesty's character.

Often, His Majesty would encounter something that should have angered him, but he simply didn't. This meant that His Majesty's anger was already raging, but he hadn't shown it because of his good Qi cultivation.

Once it breaks out, it will be unstoppable, like a powerful force that can destroy everything in its path.

As a member of the Azure Dragon Guard, Xia Chang naturally couldn't be afraid of the emperor's wrath. Even if he was afraid, he couldn't show it.

He continued, "I heard that this Madam Liang opened a pastry shop in front of Maoyan Lane, called 'Liang's Shop,' specializing in pastries and sweets. She learned her craft in the capital, and she's always busy with customers. She hired a man to help her sell the goods, so she has some free time. She goes out every day without fail to go out for a walk and look around."

Xia Chang also felt strange when he said this, "But in the past few days, Madam Liang has not gone out again. She has been locking herself at home. I heard that she caught a cold. All the affairs, big and small, are handled by Zhang Laosan."

But Nanzhou is so hot and humid in the summer. How could people catch a cold in this kind of weather? Xia Chang, a resident of Chang'an, found it a little impossible.

When Emperor Jianping heard the word "cold", his eyelids twitched, and he finally said nothing, signaling Xia Chang to continue.

"According to the people of Tang County, this Madam Liang has a very bad reputation. She is a foul-mouthed person and is fierce and unruly. When she first came to Tang County, an old man named Wang from Orange Lane tried to climb over the wall in the middle of the night to steal someone, but Madam Liang cut his groin with a butcher knife. The next day, he could still cry to the officials. Madam Liang's actions were self-defense, and the county magistrate was biased towards her intentionally or unintentionally. In Tang County, she can almost do whatever she wants."

After saying this, Xia Chang felt a chill in his stomach. Although this Lady Liang also had the surname Liang, her personality was completely different from that of the Liang Yuan of the past.

Liang Yuan was kind and polite to everyone, with a soft voice. Although she was favored by the prince, she never made things difficult for her servants.

Even the servants like Chunfen and Xiazhi, who had served Liangyuan and had made things difficult for and ridiculed her, would occasionally think of her kindness.

But the results of the investigation now show that this Madam Liang is very good at spitting filth, spitting everywhere, and standing there with her hands on her hips, and no one dares to provoke her.

Isn't this Empress Xiaode?

Emperor Jianping frowned slightly, noticed the name of Old Man Wang, pinched his fingertips, and murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

Seeing that Xia Chang had fallen silent, Emperor Jianping tilted his head slightly, his expression still calm, unable to tell whether he was happy or angry. He asked indifferently, "Are you done?"

Xia Chang answered yes.

Emperor Jianping stood up and took the wrinkled portrait that had been placed on the desk for a long time and handed it to him:

"Take this portrait and ask people who have seen this Madam Liang if she looks like this. Remember, your actions must be covert and no one can tell anything."

Xia Chang carefully rolled up the portrait and left.

When he reached the door, Emperor Jianping stopped him and said, "Go to the Liang family shop tomorrow morning and buy some cakes."

Xia Chang responded, bowed and left.

Li Cheng sat back on the official hat chair and did not stand up again.

It is June now and the weather is extremely hot. There are many ice cubes placed indoors, but they cannot really dispel the cold. Sometimes, while sitting there, I can still feel the waves of heat rolling in.

Outside the window, cicadas chirped non-stop, each one louder than the last, making me extremely annoyed. In such a temperature and such an environment, one should be feeling hot, irritable, and irritable.

However, Li Cheng felt a calmer mood than ever before. Beneath that calm emotion, a chill quietly spread, gradually spreading through every part of his body.

His chest was so cold that it actually hurt a little.

Li Huaizhou gently tugged at the corner of his clothes and said, "Father, are you saying this Madam Liang is the Queen Mother?"

A sneer slowly appeared on Li Cheng's lips. He lowered his eyes to look at the ground, and his voice seemed to float in the air: "Father doesn't know."

"Who knows?"

Li Cheng clearly wanted to be alone. Li Fu understood and coaxed the little prince out, who was about to ask something. "Your Highness, there's a new cage of rabbits outside. May I take you to see them?"

Li Huaizhou didn't want to watch any rabbits, he didn't like watching them. He wanted to ask more about Madam Liang, about his mother, or about his father and mother in the past.

However, although he was only five years old, he was able to read his father's expressions and knew that his father was in a bad mood at the moment, so he nodded obediently and let Li, the chief steward, lead him out.

After leaving the palace, the little prince was still listless. He couldn't help but ask, "What happened to my father?"

The old steward sighed. He could roughly guess what the emperor was thinking, but how could he talk about all these grievances to a five-year-old child?

What's more, all these past events, grievances and entanglements are related to the prince's relatives by blood.

The old steward didn't dare to say anything, nor did he want to say anything. He coaxed her, "Your Majesty is tired after a busy day, Your Highness, please don't think too much."

Li Huaizhou glared at him resentfully. He was already five years old, an adult, so why did everyone still treat him like a child?

He feels uncomfortable!

…

Weiye.

Inside the bedroom, calming spices were burning in the Boshan furnace. The green smoke rose slowly, gradually spreading in the room, and finally drifted to Li Cheng's side, blurring his handsome face.

He repeatedly stroked the teacup in his hand, feeling a mixture of emotions. He was happy, angry, and even had a hint of dark resentment in his heart.

When Xia Chang reported the situation in the afternoon, Li Cheng had a hunch that Zhang Niang was not dead that year, and she might be living in Maobian Lane in Tang County now, just like any other day.

She is actually alive, she is actually alive!

Li Cheng only felt his heart beating non-stop, he could feel the palpitations, he felt like his heart was going to explode!

What a joyful thing this is!

Having seen the sea, all other waters are but puddles. He no longer needs the monks and Taoist priests to chant sutras daily to summon Empress Xiaode's spirit.

Because her soul was in the human world. How could a young girl in her prime attract her soul?!

Li Cheng couldn't help laughing, his chest shaking with laughter, and his face became much warmer.

But in an instant, his face was replaced by gloom. He didn't understand, since she was still alive, why didn't she come to find him?

In the past five years, had she never thought of him once? This little liar, who kept saying that she loved him and would no longer lie to him, had deceived him completely in the blink of an eye and left without a trace.

She even ran to Nanzhou, thousands of miles away from Chang'an. Was she afraid he would find her? She actually hid here!

This liar really wasted his trust!

Emperor Jianping suddenly became extremely angry and threw the teacup on the table to the ground with a gloomy and terrifying expression.

Li Fu was waiting outside. When he heard the crackling sound inside, he shrank back nervously and dared not make a sound.

Emperor Jianping looked at the shattered teacups on the ground and suddenly frowned. This shouldn't be the case. Why was he so angry? As long as people lived well, why bother with these trivial details?

She did this at the time and concealed her whereabouts for five years. She must have had her reasons.

Emperor Jianping consoled himself in this way. However, his expression only softened for a moment, as he recalled Xia Chang's words about how she had been staying at home and refusing visitors these past few days, and her behavior was quite different from usual.

Did you know that he was on a southern tour and were afraid of being discovered by him?

Although she had many difficulties and secrets that she could not tell others, he was her husband after all, and Zhou'er was her own son. Could it be that Zhang Niang could not even trust the two of them?

She certainly didn't care about him, but the prince had lost his mother since he was young and hadn't seen her in five years. Such a young child, such a pitiful child, didn't she feel sorry for him and didn't want to see him?

It was not until today that Li Cheng realized that he had always underestimated the cruelty of this woman.

But what if the so-called "Mrs. Liang" wasn't actually Mrs. Zhang? Although the truth was about to be revealed, and he had more and more evidence, what if she was wrong?

Li Cheng's mood was up and down all night, as if floating in mid-air. The joy of regaining what he had lost did not last long, and was followed by anxiety and fear of loss.

He had already lost her once and could not lose her a second time.

The lights in the bedroom remained bright all night long.

…

That morning, Zhang Laosan was selling sweets at the Liang family shop as usual, and the people lining up were all familiar faces. They were regular customers of the Liang family shop, and Zhang Laosan knew exactly what this customer liked and where that customer lived in Maoyan Lane.

Suddenly, a stranger appeared among the regular customers. The stranger was a man in his twenties or thirties, with cold eyes, sharp brows, and spoke Chang'an Mandarin.

Zhang Laosan suddenly felt something was wrong. Liang Dongjia came from Chang'an and had escaped. She was often frightened, fearing that one day someone in Chang'an would find her and take her back.

To Zhang Laosan, the boss is his reincarnated benefactor. He will never let the boss fall into such a dangerous situation again, so he will pay close attention to the people from Chang'an who go south.

There were people who came south from Chang'an and Luoyang and bought sweets from him, but no one made Zhang Laosan feel as uneasy and frightened as he did today.

He tried to remain calm and chatted with the guest as usual, "Hey man, you're from Chang'an, right? Why did you come to this far south? I wonder if you can adapt to the climate here?"

The man looked up, gave him a cold glance, and said nothing. But Zhang Laosan had been through a lot since he was a child, and he had been whipped and beaten countless times, some even trying to kill him.

Therefore, when Zhang Laosan saw the man's eyes, he was not unfamiliar with them at all.

Those were a pair of murderous eyes, with fierce glare and lips pressed into a line. Within those dark eyes, there was a brewing storm.

Although he was now wearing an ordinary man's linen shirt, the way his legs stood and the angle at which his hands hung showed that this man was well-trained and obviously of extraordinary status.

Zhang Laosan took a deep breath and said awkwardly, "Sorry to bother you." He wrapped the prepared buns and dessert in lotus leaves and handed them to him.

The man left behind a string of copper coins and disappeared in an instant with his footsteps.

Looking at the direction where the man disappeared, Zhang Laosan's smile disappeared instantly. His brows were gloomy and his body was cold. It was unknown what he was thinking about.

That day, Liang Hanzhang was writing a storybook in the yard, and Mrs. Gao was reading a book beside him. There was steaming hot tea and snacks on the stone table. The two of them bathed in the fresh morning air and felt refreshed.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Laosan came back early and called her anxiously outside the yard, wondering what difficult situation he had encountered.

Liang Hanzhang walked over to open the door. When Zhang Laosan saw his boss, he briefly told him the purpose of his visit: "Boss, this is a letter from that noble man. He said the content is extremely urgent and asked him to be mentally prepared as soon as possible."

Liang Hanzhang opened the envelope and Zhuang Binghuai told her that Emperor Jianping was secretly investigating her and might have already known her true identity.

Emperor Jianping was very angry. Although he had not yet come to the palace, it was only a matter of time. He asked Liang Hanzhang to make a decision as soon as possible, either to alleviate the emperor's anger or to find a way to escape.

Zhuang Binghuai disagreed with the latter view. In his view, Emperor Jianping had placed Empress Xiaode at the center of his heart. In the five years following Empress Xiaode's "death," the once gentle and refined emperor had become sullen and irritable. The emperor was only twenty-seven, but his temples were already covered in gray hair.

Emperor Jianping cared so much about her, and Liang Hanzhang was the biological mother of the crown prince. With the crown prince pleading for her, even if the emperor was furious, he would not be willing to punish her.

Therefore, she advised Liang Hanzhang to reveal her identity and go to Emperor Jianping in person to gain the emperor's sympathy.