Chapter 58 Chapter 58 [VIP]

The autumn rain was lingering, the parasol trees were dripping, and the sobbing sound of a flute came through the window, breaking the silence in the house.

The beauty in the tent struggled to open her eyes, but her hands and feet were still unable to move. She could only slowly move her eyeballs to observe everything around her.

Most of the buildings in the palace had similar structures. She was sure that she was still in the palace, but this was not the residence of the emperor and his concubines that she was familiar with. It was so ancient that it looked like an old palace that had been there for some time.

Shen Youyi was slightly puzzled. She tried to curl up her fingers and pinched her palm.

There was some pain, but not much.

It was like a nightmare. In the dream, she remembered a young man crying beside her, and a dry, warm hand gently stroking her cheek. She could not open her eyes at all, and only with the little consciousness she had left could she catch some unique sounds.

The clanging of armor and swords of the imperial guards as they marched, the rumbling of carriages, and a woman whispering in her ear, gently calling her "Yi Niang".

She cleared her dry throat, wanting to let the people nearby know, but the sound was very weak. Until someone gently pulled aside the curtain and saw her wide-open eyes, as if she was unwilling to close them in death, she couldn't help but scream.

Shen Youyi was also startled, but she was too weak to scream. She said with difficulty, "Mother, is that you?"

She seemed a little confused. Where on earth was this place?

Bai calmed down the shock in his heart, slowly moved to her side, put down the bowl of rice oil in his hand, and stroked the female L who opened her eyes in disbelief. What she had experienced in these days was more ups and downs than the past ten years. It didn't seem so strange that female L could really come back to life.

"Yi Niang, it's me. Are you feeling unwell? Are you hungry?"

Shen Youyi shook her head: “I just feel a little dizzy and nauseous.”

Mrs. Bai breathed a sigh of relief and said lovingly, "Silly child, you've been sleeping for a few days and you don't have any strength at all. Eat something and you'll be fine after a while."

When she woke up, she no longer had to rely on rice oil and ginseng soup to keep her alive. Bai fed her a few sips of warm water and rice oil, and then went to get some food that was easy to digest. Shen Youyi filled herself up a little before she had the strength to ask them about their entry into Beijing.

"When General Feng arrived, your father and I were terrified. But he said you were a noble concubine, and that His Majesty loved you very much, and wanted to find your living relatives. He didn't ask any other questions, but he was a little surprised to learn that you had been selected. After arriving in Beijing, you stayed in his mansion for a few days before being sent to the foot of Mount Zhongnan. His wife, Mrs. He, told us that this place is called Cuiwei Palace, and that we should temporarily live with the Empress."

Bai had been an official's wife for more than ten years, but she was a little nervous about things like meeting the empress and living in the temporary palace... What's more, before leaving Chang'an, General Feng led them into the Taiji Palace and met His Majesty, a man she could barely call her son-in-law.

It nearly scared her to death.

Shen Youyi frowned, "Didn't General Feng receive orders to torture you and Aye?"

This was beyond her expectations. She thought that since Emperor Yuan Shuo had such a strong desire to control her, knowing the existence of her biological parents, he would definitely ask about her ancestors for eighteen generations.

Mrs. Bai thought of the rumors circulating about the Imperial Concubine and the Emperor she had seen with her own eyes that day, and sighed softly, "Your father and I have been terrified for quite some time. General Feng must have noticed something, but he didn't make things difficult for us. He even said that the Emperor hadn't asked him to inquire about the Imperial Concubine's youth, and that asking him to look for her was just to make her smile. Even if there really was something going on... I guess it's nothing serious, and he told us not to worry."

However, as soon as they arrived in Chang'an, they heard the news that the imperial concubine had gone to Mount Zhongnan with the empress, and they felt something was wrong. But when they met Emperor Yuan Shuo again, the emperor who had ordered the death of their own daughter L was more humble than they had imagined.

That was too strange. Shen Youyi hugged her knees. Her parents were not interrogated. She had clearly drunk the poisoned wine given by the emperor, and there were several imperial guards and eunuchs supervising the execution. But now she was lying in Cuiwei Palace enjoying the care of her parents, and even the queen had come here.

During the ten days or so she was in a coma, and even before that, many things seemed to have happened that she could not understand.

Mrs. Bai thought of the years of deception L had inflicted on them. She wiped away the tears from her eyes and murmured, "If Mother had known you would encounter so many hardships upon entering the palace, she really shouldn't have cared so much about the rumors out there. There's nothing wrong with helping you and Weixing get together. Any children you have will be your own flesh and blood. It's just that if the rumors get out, it might sound unpleasant."

One shock after another completely stunned Shen Youyi. When she stood in front of the emperor, she felt so fearless, but when facing her mother whom she had not seen for many years, she could hardly speak.

Shen Youyi said with difficulty: "Mother, he is my biological brother. What's the point of supporting or not supporting him? Isn't that a violation of moral principles?"

She thought of the men outside her family who had pursued her...but that was nothing, those men were just superficially in love with her beauty. An elder brother is like a father, and there is no problem with that. He said those men were not worthy of her, and she took it as it was.

The love between men and women caused by lust is far inferior to the connection of blood. Even the prince may turn against her and be ruthless, but brother is her biological brother, and their love and interests will always be the same.

Mrs. Bai was silent for a moment, then hesitated and said, "Yi Niang, didn't your brother tell you that your father and I were childless for many years. Then one day, we prayed to Buddha for a child. On the way home, we saw that he had a connection with us, so we adopted him."

At that time, the couple encountered rain in the mountains, so they went to a poor family to seek shelter. Because he particularly liked children, he saw the thin boy at first sight.

He could speak simple words and had a jade worth a thousand gold coins tied around his neck, which made him look out of place with this short and shabby woman.

But the old woman said that her wife often went out at night and was born to a widow's lover, which scared her.

But her son-in-law had not been home for three months. She had a fever after being caught in the rain and did not even have the strength to go out and beg, let alone feed the child rice milk. If there was a kind person who was willing to save his life, she would never go to his house to beg.

The couple guessed that the child's father must be a thief who robbed tombs or houses, so they exchanged him for ten strings of money and three bags of rice. When they went back to check the files, they found out that the child's father had been beaten to death and his body abandoned by his accomplices two months ago due to an uneven division of the loot. The case had been settled, so they felt relieved and changed his name.

"Not long after that, I became pregnant with you. Your father and I thought it was a reward for our kindness. Perhaps it was because Weixing brought you here, so we treated him better."

Mrs. Bai had not expected that her daughter L loved to follow her brother around like a follower who could not be shaken off, and the eldest son's strictness and kindness towards his sister seemed to be too much... He was too picky, refused to marry himself, and looked down on every man who tried to marry Yi Niang. He had to choose a husband for his sister who was outstanding in every way, otherwise he would rather keep her at home forever.

But how could such a husband be found so easily?

It seemed Yi Niang hadn't understood her brother's intentions all these years. Lady Bai embraced her stunned daughter and whispered, "Wei Xing is actually a very good boy. Although he knows his biological parents, he refuses to acknowledge them, insisting he's your brother. It's a pity he's close to the Crown Prince, and Your Majesty has had a hard time disciplining him. Please, Father, and I, don't mind. We'll be reunited in a few days."

Hearing this person again, Shen Youyi almost jumped up, but she only felt a blackness in front of her eyes. Their reunion here was of course inseparable from the handwriting of Emperor Yuan Shuo, but she had said such words and aroused the emperor's thundering wrath. Would he put on such an attitude when he saw her father and mother?

However, she just turned her head away and said with some resistance: "Mother, am I confused in my sleep, or are you confused in your sleep? Why are you talking in your sleep?"

He knew everything and obviously cared a lot, so why was he so polite? Could it be that the emperor was pretending to have amnesia?

Mrs. Bai was also extremely surprised. Thinking of the towering palace and the eunuchs' expressions, she still felt a little weak at the knees. She recalled, "We thought His Majesty would punish us, but he only asked about our imprisonment. He also spoke many considerate words to your father, saying that he had met him several times and remembered how he was so high-spirited back then, but now he was planting rice and melons in the fields, saying that this was a fault of the king and father. He even rewarded him with a lot of gold and silver."

The emperor was the one chosen by heaven, and there was no reason for the emperor and father to be wrong. In fact, the court had overturned their verdicts and returned their property. The ministers were already very grateful, and Shen did not dare to have any resentment. Bai herself almost thought it was because her daughter L was back in favor.

Shen Youyi covered her ears and listened to L for a while, and she felt that the person who said this was completely another person.

She was not possessed by an unknown ghost, but Emperor Yuan Shuo might have been possessed by such a spirit.

She felt a lot of uneasiness. At that time, she had neither begged him with sweet words nor left a word for him. What on earth was that man going to do?

"Although the palace said you and the Empress went to Cuiwei Palace to relax, Madam He said that His Majesty had ordered you to commit suicide. How could we dare to mention the word 'Crown Prince'? Instead, His Majesty mentioned that the Crown Prince secretly exchanged female prisoners and asked me if I was now a good person."

Bai originally found these things a little strange. She guessed that her daughter L might not have passed away. She trembled with fear and had a meal in front of the emperor. Seeing that the emperor did not seem to be in a very bad mood, she carefully pleaded for her daughter L, hoping that the emperor would forgive the concubine's crime of deceiving her. However, the wealthy king suddenly smiled, and in the palace with thousands of bright lights, there was a sense of loneliness.

"Back then, she was living under someone else's roof, so naturally she had no choice. I won't punish her for that."

The emperor looked at the two old faces that bore a striking resemblance to hers, and for a moment he paused, his voice lowering. "She entrusted her body to me for this very reason. Although I am somewhat concerned, I do not wish to embarrass her."

Mrs. Bai could never have imagined that one day, she and her husband would prick up their ears to hear the king who decided their life and death casually put an end to this scandal that shook the capital, and then relay it to her daughter L who had returned from the dead: "As for what happens in the future, let her do whatever she wants."