wedge

Fu Yunjin held Qingya's hand and whispered, "Qingya, go and tell my father that I know I was wrong and that I will always put the interests of the Fu family first. Please ask him to save my child!"

Qingya responded and secretly slipped out of Kunning Palace when no one was paying attention. When she returned, she was surprised to find that Kunning Palace was heavily surrounded.

Her brow twitched, a sense of foreboding creeping over her.

Fu Yunjin is the Empress. Her pregnancy and childbirth were normal. Why did she seal off Kunning Palace? It's as if she's afraid people will find out about something.

Qingya pursed her lips, took advantage of the darkness to avoid people, and sneaked into Kunning Palace through a dog hole hidden in the grass. After changing into a maid's clothes, she followed the other palace servants and sneaked into the delivery room.

After arriving at the delivery room, she leaned close to Fu Yunjin's ear and whispered, "Your Majesty, I have already sent the message to the Fu family. I expect they will have news soon. However, I discovered something strange when I returned."

"What is it?" Fu Yunjin asked softly while pushing as the midwife instructed.

"His Majesty and the Imperial Concubine sent people to seal off the entire Kunning Palace. People were allowed to enter but not leave. I didn't know what they were going to do, but I was inexplicably worried, so I crawled in through a dog hole."

Upon hearing this, Fu Yunjin gasped.

Why would sealing off Kunning Palace be necessary to control information and prevent things from spreading?

Fu Yunjin thought of the time when Cui Sugong had previously lashed out at her.

Could it be that Shen Meiwu finally couldn't bear it anymore and wanted to kill her? What would happen to her child then?

She bit her lip tightly, her mind racing, and after a long while she finally spoke: "Qingya, you said that I saved you, so you were willing to serve me for the rest of your life. Does that still stand?"

"That's definitely true."

"Then after my child is born, go and knock down as many candles as possible near the curtains. Then, while everyone else is putting out the fire, come to my side. I have something to tell you."

Qingya nodded solemnly.

*****

Two hours later, Fu Yunjin finally gave birth to her child, nearly exhausted.

It's a daughter.

Upon learning that she had given birth to a daughter, Fu Yunjin's face turned deathly pale.

It wasn't that she didn't want a daughter, but based on her understanding of the Fu family, they wouldn't care about a princess who couldn't inherit the throne.

Even if this child is her only daughter, it doesn't matter.

Then Fu Yunjin heard the palace servants scream and rush to the window, while Qingya came to her side with bright eyes.

"Your Highness, what should we do next? Should you take the princess out through the dog hole, and I hide under the covers and pretend to be you?"

“No,” Fu Yunjin reluctantly touched her daughter’s face, then shoved her into Qingya’s arms: “Take her with you!”

Qingya hurriedly hugged the child in her arms, her face full of astonishment.

"Your Majesty, I've left with the princess. What about you?"

"Me? I have the Fu family backing me up, so I'll be fine. It's just that I'm weak after giving birth, and I'm worried that I won't be able to protect her if I leave her by my side. That's why I need you to take her away. You just need to find a place to hide for a while, and come out when you hear that I'm looking for you."

Qingya felt something was amiss.

"But Your Majesty..."

"Alright, stop wasting time. If we drag this out any longer, I won't be able to protect the child I risked my life to give birth to. Take her and leave now!" Fu Yunjin pushed Qingya and whispered, "Take my daughter and leave safely."

Seeing the urgency of the situation, Qingya dared not delay and hid Ping An in her arms, taking advantage of the chaos to run out of the delivery room.

After watching Qingya leave safely, Fu Yunjin said softly, "My Ping An is not Cui Sugong's princess. She is neither from the Cui family nor the Fu family. She is just my Ping An."

*****

After Qingya left with Ping An, Fu Yunjin waited for a while, and after regaining some strength, she struggled and somewhat clumsily knocked over the candlestick by the bed.

The fallen candle quickly ignited the curtains beside the bed. Fu Yunjin lay on the bed with her eyes closed, waiting for death to come. But before she could feel the pain of being burned by the fire, she was pulled to the ground by a strong force.

Cui Sugong was drawn in by the firelight by the window.

Cui Sugong looked at Fu Yunjin's flattened belly and roared, "Fu Yunjin, where is my child?"

"A child?" Fu Yunjin scoffed. "Didn't His Majesty say that she was a child who shouldn't exist and that she needed a bowl of medicine to be sent away? I've already sent her away, so you don't need to bother with that."

"You sent the child away...you sent the child to the Fu family, didn't you? You gave birth to a prince!"

"Guess?"

"you…"

Cui Sugong was so angry with Fu Yunjin that he raised his foot to kick her, but Shen Meiwu quickly stopped him.

“Cui Lang, Her Majesty the Empress has just given birth. If you are not careful, you may leave a flaw.”

At the same time, the palace maid who had ascertained whether the midwife Fu Yunjin was male or female also whispered to Cui Sugong.

Cui Sugong withdrew his foot, panting heavily under Shen Meiwu's comforting words. After a while, he spoke sarcastically, "It's just a daughter. Send her to the Fu family if you want. Anyway, she's just a worthless child born of you, you poisonous woman. If the Fu family wants her, then let them have her. I'll pretend I never had that child!"

Seeing that Cui Sugong had calmed down, Yanzhi, who was beside Shen Meiwu, immediately came over with a bowl of medicine to relax muscles and improve blood circulation, and asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the medicine is ready. Should we give it to the Empress as well?"

Looking down at Fu Yunjin, who was sprawled on the ground and completely disheveled, Cui Sugong coldly said, "Give it to her."

Seeing Cui Sugong's reaction, Fu Yunjin knew that this medicine was not good, but she did not panic at all.

She smiled as she took the medicine bowl and drank it all in one gulp. Then, with her last bit of strength, she smashed the bowl at Cui Sugong and said weakly, "Cui Sugong, Shen Meiwu, I'll be watching from heaven to see what your final fate will be!"

Cui Sugong sneered and left with Shen Meiwu, whose eyes were lowered.

Half an hour later, Empress Fu Yunjin died from postpartum hemorrhage. At the same time, the head of the secret guards brought a baby boy from outside the palace.

"Your Majesty, this child's father looks seven or eight parts like you. His mother comes from a scholarly family. Although his father is of commoner origin, he has already passed the imperial examination and become a tribute student through his own abilities. If it weren't for the unexpected death of an elder in his family, which required him to observe three years of mourning, he would be a Jinshi by now. However, he was born in April and is almost half a year old now."

Cui Sugong took the child.

Although it wasn't a newborn, it's still less than a year old and doesn't remember much, so it's not a big problem.

As for the fact that the baby's body shape doesn't resemble that of a newborn, then say that Fu Yunjin died in childbirth, and let the baby observe three years of mourning before being born.

A six-month-old baby is very different from a newborn baby, but a three-year-old baby is not much different from a three-and-a-half-year-old baby.

However, it was best not to let too many people know about this child's identity. While coaxing his newborn 'son,' Cui Sugong said seemingly casually, "Besides you, I don't want anyone to know about this child, including those secret guards who took action, understand?"

The head of the secret guards remained silent for a moment before agreeing.

As for the child's relatives?

The bloodstains still damp on the hem of the guards' clothes foreshadowed their fate.

*****

Since the child wasn't his biological son, Cui Sugong lost patience after holding and comforting him for a short while and casually handed him over to the wet nurse beside him.

"This is the Empress's son, my eldest legitimate son, Cui Shenzhi. You must take good care of him. If anything happens to him, I will hold you responsible."

Looking at the baby boy in her arms, who clearly didn't look like a newborn, the wet nurse trembled but said nothing.

Cui Sugong is the emperor. He said that this child is the prince who was just born to Fu Yunjin, so he is the prince who was just born to Fu Yunjin.

The others in Kunning Palace felt the same way. Since Cui Sugong said so, then this child named Cui Shenzhi must be a prince born to Fu Yunjin. What princess? They had never heard of her, much less seen her.

Then Cui Sugong announced that Fu Yunjin had died from postpartum hemorrhage after giving birth to the prince. Although the prince was young, he should still observe the mourning period for three years. Therefore, for the next three years, everyone in Kunning Palace had to stay at home with Cui Shenzhi.

The people in Kunning Palace certainly dared not and could not have any objections to this.

The ministers in the court felt it was inappropriate, but Cui Sugong insisted on doing so. After all, observing three years of mourning was an ancient custom, so the ministers couldn't say anything.

A year later, Cui Sugong announced an epidemic in the palace, and then the palace servants in Kunning Palace began to 'die' one after another. As for the midwife and Physician Chen who delivered Fu Yunjin's baby? They had already passed away on the day Cui Shenzhi was 'born'.

Cui Sugong was too lazy to bother maintaining his 'father-son relationship' with Cui Shenzhi, but he wanted Cui Shenzhi to be more like his son, so he instructed the people who came up to him to keep telling Cui Shenzhi that he loved him, but because Fu Yunjin had died from a massive hemorrhage, he was afraid of being reminded of the tragedy, so he dared not go to Kunning Palace to see Cui Shenzhi.

Besides, Shen Meiwu would take Cui Lingxian to Kunning Palace to visit Cui Shenzhi every few days, and when she mentioned Fu Yunjin to Cui Shenzhi, she mostly did so with a nostalgic and affectionate attitude.

After all this, when Cui Shenzhi came out of Kunning Palace two years later at the age of three, he was very close to Cui Lingxian, Shen Meiwu, and Cui Sugong.

Looking at this child who was not related to him by blood but bore a resemblance to him and was full of affection for him, Cui Sugong felt a surge of fatherly affection. Seeing this, Chen Meiwu quickly seized the opportunity to bring up the matter of hiring a tutor for Cui Shenzhi, since this child was Cui Lingxian's future husband and needed to be both literate and skilled in martial arts.

Upon hearing that Choi Suk-gong was already busy finding a tutor for Choi Shin-ji, who was only three years old, the ministers of the previous dynasty were both pleased and worried.

The relief was that Cui Sugong hadn't completely lost his mind. Even though he didn't like Fu Yunjin that much, he still cared about the child and at least acted like a father.

The concern is that under the influence of Cui Sugong and Shen Meiwu, Cui Shenzhi might become more like his father Cui Sugong than his mother Fu Yunjin, which would not be a good thing.

Therefore, the ministers of the previous dynasty also put their hearts into this matter, and one by one they went to great lengths to visit those great Confucian scholars who had gone into seclusion because they could not stand Cui Sugong, begging them to come out of seclusion for the sake of the common people and to properly teach Cui Shenzhi.

The ministers were so anxious not because they thought Cui Sugong would only have one prince, Cui Shenzhi, but because Cui Shenzhi was very likely the only prince among all of Cui Sugong's children who was not born to Shen Meiwu—if Cui Sugong had any other princes.