Empress Song was pregnant. The Empress Dowager didn't know how she and Prince Cheng conspired, but she could guess.

From the moment Prince Cheng wanted to marry Consort Chen, to the moment Consort Chen married the Emperor, whether the Empress Dowager wanted it or not, a rift had already formed between Prince Cheng and the Emperor.

In order to prevent any rift between Prince Cheng and the Emperor, and to make Prince Cheng give up on Consort Chen, the Empress Dowager selected a gentle and virtuous princess from among the noble ladies of the capital. She pressured Prince Cheng to marry her, hoping that the two would develop feelings for each other over time and that Prince Cheng would give up his inappropriate feelings for Consort Chen.

The Empress Dowager never dreamed that both of her sons were such devoted lovers.

One of them created a sham palace for Consort Chen and doted on her to the extreme.

One treats Princess Cheng like a decoration.

The Emperor was kept in the dark and could dote on Consort Chen however he pleased, but the Empress Dowager was caught in the middle between her two sons, and she must have been worried sick.

If it weren't for the fact that the Crown Prince of Cheng was born prematurely and was physically weak, making it impossible for him to leave the capital, the Empress Dowager would have had him move to his fiefdom long ago, out of sight and out of mind.

Thinking back on the past, the Empress Dowager still doesn't know exactly what she did wrong.

She didn't want her two sons to turn against each other because of a woman. Was she wrong?

No matter how hard she tried, Prince Cheng and the Emperor still ended up at this point.

The Empress Dowager's nose stung, and tears blurred her vision.

The emperor stood there, feeling a chill run through his body.

He was unaware of Prince Cheng's feelings for Consort Chen, and even less aware that the person who pushed Empress Wei to his side and almost caused him to lose Consort Chen was his own younger brother. The Empress Dowager knew all this, but chose to keep it a secret and did not reveal a single word to him.

The Emperor seemed to have all his strength drained away. "The incident involving Consort Chen at the Yan residence was also orchestrated by Prince Cheng. Did the Empress Dowager know about it?"

His voice was hoarse, and his eyes held a hint of despair.

The Empress Dowager said, "It was not Prince Cheng who harmed Consort Chen."

The Empress Dowager was too protective of Prince Cheng, and the Emperor simply didn't believe her words. "If it weren't for Prince Cheng, why would the Empress Dowager go to the Cold Palace to see Consort Chen, and even help Consort Chen preserve a trace of the Yan family bloodline?!"

The Emperor surely knows who the Empress Dowager is.

When such a thing happened back then, it was already beyond the Emperor's expectations that the Empress Dowager did not take advantage of the situation. Moreover, she helped Consort Chen. The reason given in the imperial edict was high-sounding, but the Emperor did not believe a word of it.

The Empress Dowager knew the Emperor didn't believe her, but what she said was true: "When Consort Chen was in trouble, did the Emperor have any suspicions about Prince Cheng? Even if he wanted to harm Consort Chen, or even if he wanted to kill you, could the Emperor have prevented it?"

Standing three steps behind the Emperor, Eunuch Yuan regretted not kicking out the palace servants and himself as well, thus overhearing so many things he shouldn't have known.

In the palace, the more you know, the faster you die.

However, the Empress Dowager was not wrong. It was only after Prince Ling tried to sow discord between the Emperor and the Emperor that the Emperor began to have some suspicions about Prince Cheng. Even though the Emperor knew that Prince Cheng's fiefdom, Wangzhou, had iron mines and that Prince Cheng had been mining them privately for two years, the Emperor had suppressed it. Given the Emperor's trust in Prince Cheng, if Prince Cheng were determined to harm the Emperor, the Emperor would definitely not be able to prevent it.

The Emperor clenched his fists tightly, his anger undiminished by the Empress Dowager's words. "The person Consort Chen refused to name back then, wasn't it Prince Cheng?!"

"yes."

Just one simple word.

But for the emperor, it was like a knife cutting out his bones.

He had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on when Xie Jingyan showed him the imperial edict.

Even after hearing the Empress Dowager admit it, the Emperor still couldn't accept it. He staggered back two steps and looked at the Empress Dowager, "You knew that Consort Chen was innocent, but you concealed it because you were afraid that I would take my anger out on Prince Cheng. You watched me execute the entire Yan family and demote Yan'er to guard the imperial mausoleum?!"

The Empress Dowager, her eyes red, said, "How can I tell you? The person who set this up back then wanted you to see Consort Chen and the eldest son of the Han family. Prince Cheng rushed to the Yan residence to save Consort Chen after receiving the news. The eldest son of the Han family was afraid that Consort Chen would hate him and that the entire Han family would be implicated. He stabbed himself with a knife to stay sober and far away from Consort Chen. When he saw you arrive, he knew that things would not end well, so he committed suicide at the Yan residence, leaving behind a corpse to prove to you that he did not lay a hand on Consort Chen."

If it weren't for Young Master Han's decisiveness, not only would he have met his end, but the entire Han family would have been implicated.

If it weren't for the fact that it was confirmed that Young Master Han was not that person, the Emperor wouldn't have even given Grand Secretary Han the opportunity to resign.

The Emperor loved Consort Chen as much as he hated her betrayal. The Empress Dowager knew that the son was her own.

The Empress Dowager looked at the Emperor and said, “Consort Chen knows that what I fear most is that the Emperor and Prince Cheng will turn against each other because of her, and she will be banished to the Cold Palace. She tried to see me several times, and finally asked Eunuch Yuan to help her convey a message to me, so I went to the Cold Palace.”

The Emperor was surprised to find that Eunuch Yuan was involved in this matter, and he turned to look at Eunuch Yuan.

Startled, Eunuch Yuan knelt down with a thud. "Back then, when I saw the Emperor was about to execute the entire Yan family, I went to persuade Consort Chen. When Consort Chen found out, she knelt down and begged me to help her send a message to the Empress Dowager. I couldn't bear it, so I helped her..."

Fearing the emperor's wrath, Eunuch Yuan recounted in detail what Eunuch Yuan had asked him to convey years ago.

In Yuan Gonggong's view, they were just two very ordinary sentences.

However, Yuan Gonggong now suspects it is related to King Cheng.

The Emperor looked at the Empress Dowager and asked, "What did the Empress Dowager say to Consort Chen back then?"

The Empress Dowager did not hide anything and said truthfully, "On the first day Consort Chen entered the palace, I admonished her that if the Emperor and Prince Cheng turned against each other because of her, I would not let her off lightly."

"No matter how much the Emperor pressed her, she refused to reveal who it was, but she asked Eunuch Yuan to deliver this message to me. I also suspected that Prince Cheng wanted to destroy her because he couldn't have her, which is why I went to the Cold Palace to see her."

"Consort Chen did not threaten me. She simply knelt on the ground and presented me with the jade pendant that the late Emperor had bestowed upon Prince Cheng. She said that she remembered my teachings and dared not do anything to cause Prince Cheng and the Emperor to turn against each other. She had been plotted against and caused the Emperor to lose face. She was not worth dying for, but the Yan family was innocent and should not be implicated by her. She begged me to protect Prince Ling and help the Yan family preserve a bloodline, considering that she had never disobeyed me."

The Empress Dowager recognized the jade pendant at a glance as the one Prince Cheng usually wore. If Consort Chen were to hand it over to the Emperor, the brothers would definitely turn against each other.

How could the Empress Dowager not be moved when Consort Chen chose to hand over the jade pendant to her?

The Empress Dowager accepted the jade pendant and granted Consort Chen's request.

This is why the Empress Dowager helped preserve a single bloodline of the Yan family.

It wasn't the Empress Dowager who saved the Yan family, but Consort Chen.

Eunuch Yuan stood aside, sighing deeply.

Consort Chen's choice to plead with the Empress Dowager instead of the Emperor was a wise man's helpless move.

Consort Chen had no way out at that time, and so did the Yan family. Regardless of who plotted against Consort Chen, the incident happened in the Yan family, and the Yan family could not escape responsibility.

The person who plotted against her was not Prince Cheng. Given Consort Chen's kindness, she wouldn't do such a thing. Besides, if she really wanted to save the Yan family by handing over Prince Cheng's jade pendant to the Emperor, not only would she fail to save the Yan family, but she would also send Prince Ling to his doom.

Moreover, Consort Chen was completely devoted to the Emperor. He was already in great pain because he thought she had betrayed him. If he knew that the person was Prince Cheng, his own brother, the Emperor would be in even greater pain.

Although the Empress Dowager was biased and protective of her own, she generally kept her promises.

If it weren't for the Empress Dowager's consideration for Consort Chen's understanding nature, Prince Ling would have lost countless lives during those four years guarding the imperial tombs.