Eunuch Yuan also sensed that Prince Ling's visit to the palace to pay his respects to the Emperor was a pretense; his real purpose was to find him.

This feeling made Eunuch Yuan feel very uneasy.

The emperor is incredibly jealous.

He'll have a tough time.

Isn't Prince Ling harming him?

When Eunuch Yuan left the Imperial Study, his legs were weak, and he wanted to know why Prince Ling wanted to see him.

After leaving the Imperial Study, Eunuch Yuan walked towards a secluded spot. Sure enough, he had guessed correctly; Prince Ling was looking for him, and Prince Ling had followed him.

Eunuch Yuan, "..."

If the Prince of Ling wants to see him, he can simply send someone to tell him to go to the Prince of Ling's residence.

He'd rather make the trip than be glared at by the Emperor.

What if he gets so angry that he takes a real knife?

With a pained expression, Eunuch Yuan asked, "Does Your Highness have any instructions for this servant?"

Xie Jingyan asked, "Does Eunuch Yuan know who saw the Empress Dowager on the day Father Emperor issued the decree to execute the entire Yan family?"

Eunuch Yuan, "...???"

Six or seven years have passed, how could he possibly remember that?

The Empress Dowager lived in Shou Kang Palace. Not many people outside the palace saw her, but the concubines in the palace would occasionally show their faces before her. However, on the day the Emperor issued the decree to execute the entire Yan family...

Eunuch Yuan said, "That day, the Empress Dowager went to the Cold Palace to see Your Highness's mother, Consort Chen."

Xie Jingyan frowned. "Why would the Empress Dowager go to the Cold Palace to see my mother?"

Eunuch Yuan said, "The Empress Dowager originally didn't want to go, but Consort Chen asked me to pass on a message to her, and that's why the Empress Dowager went to the Cold Palace."

Xie Jingyan then asked, "What did you say?"

Eunuch Yuan remembered those words very clearly. He replied, "Consort Chen asked me to tell the Empress Dowager that she has never forgotten the words the Empress Dowager instructed her when she married the Emperor..."

Xie Jingyan's brows furrowed deeply. "What did the Empress Dowager say to my mother?"

Eunuch Yuan shook his head. He didn't know. "Back when Consort Chen married the Emperor, the day after their wedding, the Emperor accompanied Consort Chen to pay respects to the Empress Dowager. I was by her side. At that time, the Empress Dowager didn't say anything special, only asking Consort Chen to bear children for the royal family. However, after the tea ceremony, the Empress Dowager kept Consort Chen behind for a private conversation. It was probably during that time that she spoke..."

Because Consort Chen asked him to convey a message, the Empress Dowager went to see Consort Chen. Eunuch Yuan found this strange and became suspicious.

He said, "The Empress Dowager went to the Cold Palace to see Consort Chen, but she returned to Shou Kang Palace after a short while and then summoned the Minister of Justice."

From refusing to see his mother to seeking the Minister of Justice to protect a surviving member of the Yan family, the Empress Dowager only visited the Cold Palace once during this period.

The person who truly won the Empress Dowager's help for the Yan family was none other than his own mother, the concubine!

At that time, even her own mother was in dire straits, so how could she possibly persuade the Empress Dowager to willingly help the Yan family?

Just because he kept the Empress Dowager's admonition in mind, he did so for more than ten years?

What exactly did the Empress Dowager admonish her mother about?

Xie Jingyan's trip to the palace resolved one mystery, but also introduced an even bigger one.

His intuition told him that the Empress Dowager disliked his mother and, by extension, him, and that this admonition had a lot to do with it.

Eunuch Yuan told Xie Jingyan everything he knew. Fearing that the Emperor would be angry, Eunuch Yuan excused himself and hurried back to the Imperial Study.

Just as Eunuch Yuan had guessed, he sensed the Emperor's displeasure as soon as he entered the Imperial Study.

The emperor was reading memorials, but the temperature around him was very low.

Eunuch Yuan waved his hand, dismissing all the palace servants attending to the emperor in the study. Once they had all left, he stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Prince Ling just asked me who the Empress Dowager met on the day you issued the decree to execute the Yan family..."

The Emperor, who was holding a memorial, paused upon hearing this. "What did he ask the Empress Dowager about?"

Eunuch Yuan shook his head, "This servant didn't dare to ask any further questions..."

"Where is Yan'er?" the Emperor asked.

"...He's gone."

The emperor had just turned his face slightly when it snapped back to its original expression, looking even uglier than before.

They really did come to see Eunuch Yuan. If it weren't inconvenient to directly approach someone, they probably wouldn't even have entered the Imperial Study.

Eunuch Yuan stood cautiously to the side. Prince Ling was investigating Consort Chen's case and asking about the day the Emperor issued the decree to execute the Yan family. It was no wonder he was in no mood to see the Emperor.

So much time has passed since this case, and probably half of the people in the palace have changed. How easy would it be to investigate?

Eunuch Yuan hoped that Consort Chen was innocent, but he also feared that she had indeed died unjustly.

The Emperor was already in great pain because Consort Chen betrayed him. If Consort Chen was truly framed, and the Emperor not only failed to avenge her, but also executed the entire Yan family and demoted Prince Ling to guard the imperial tombs for four years, the Emperor's pain would probably be more than ten times greater than it is now.

Eunuch Yuan had served the Emperor his entire life, and he truly did not want to see such a thing happen.

If Consort Chen cannot overturn the verdict, then Prince Ling cannot be made crown prince...

Eunuch Yuan sighed inwardly.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door of the Imperial Study, and Xiao Xizi came in to report, "Your Majesty, the Consort of Prince Cheng is pregnant."

Normally, if a prince's concubine were to become pregnant, the emperor would not be informed.

After all, the Emperor is already busy enough with countless affairs of state.

However, it is unusual for a concubine of Prince Cheng to be pregnant. Prince Cheng is the emperor's younger brother, born of the same mother. For many years, Prince Cheng has only had one sickly son, who spends ten out of the twelve months of the year sick and taking medicine. There is no guarantee that he will not die one day. If his only son is gone, Prince Cheng will have no descendants.

Over the years, the Prince Cheng's family has gone to great lengths to cure the Prince Cheng's illness, but the Prince Cheng has not rested either. The Empress Dowager has bestowed women upon him, and the Emperor has also bestowed women upon him, but none of them have been able to conceive.

The Emperor and Empress Dowager had given up hope, but unexpectedly, the Crown Prince's condition improved significantly, and his concubine became pregnant.

However, this is also a good thing. One son is always too few. If something goes wrong, there will be no one to inherit the Prince Cheng's mansion.

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