No one expected that this would happen in the first month of summer.

Of the princes who originally stood in the front row of the court, only one remained. The others were either ill or under house arrest. As for the remaining two, Jiang Yuanling was, of course, in a different situation.

So the emperor, perhaps out of consideration for their past relationship, only sentenced Jiang Yuanlang to be demoted to commoner status and banished from the capital.

After that, there was no further news. Consort Shu's scandalous behavior in the palace led to the condemnation of all the servants in Fanghua Palace. The Duke of Cheng's mansion then went into seclusion, and everything seemed to have settled down and returned to normal.

In a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the capital, Jiang Yuanlang, disheveled and filthy, huddled in a corner.

Overnight, he went from a high-ranking prince to a beggar whom everyone wanted to beat. The moment his imperial dream shattered, he probably went down with it.

Living now is nothing more than being a walking corpse.

"Why?"

"Why?"

When Xu Nian found him with the Soul-Chasing Butterfly, he was already delirious and kept muttering to himself.

The sound was so faint that it was almost inaudible.

"Can you cure him?" asked the person wearing a veil behind him.

She turned around and saw the two men who looked almost identical except for their height, and was quite speechless. "Fukang is one thing, but you're a grown man, aren't you ashamed to be carrying this thing around?"

A needle was inserted into Jiang Yuanlang's neck, and the medication took effect.

He waved his hand, and immediately someone behind him lifted him up. He followed the three men out of the dilapidated temple.

One man shrugged and said, "What can I do? If I don't bring anything and someone I recognize sees me, they might report me to my father, the Emperor. That would be a real loss."

Jiang Yuanqing watched as the two women boarded the carriage before stepping inside himself.

He removed his straw hat, lifted the curtain, and glanced at the simpler blue carriage behind him. "Could the murder of his mother really have affected him like this?"

"It's not necessarily because his mother committed suicide."

Xu Nian watched, her eyes darkening slightly. She pulled a small bottle from her waist and softly chanted a spell. A small figure floated out of it.

The second prince and his wife were initially startled, but relaxed when they saw the little creature's exquisite and adorable appearance.

Moreover, Jiang Yuanqing wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the little guy looked familiar.

"it……"

Xu Nian: "Everything has a cause and effect. This child is the crown prince who was replaced back then. The real 'Jiang Yuanling.'" The carriage swayed, but the little guy, who was a soul, sat motionless in the middle.

After so many days of baptism, its eyes were pure. Its gaze held the innocence unique to a child that age; it looked to be less than three years old when it died.

She glanced at Jiang Yuanqing and then looked away, timidly shrinking to Xu Nian's side.

Jiang Yuanqing stared intently at it. The last time they met, the child had bloodshot eyes and an aura of murderous intent that made it impossible to see its face.

Now, upon closer inspection, it turns out to bear a striking resemblance to the emperor and empress.

If he can grow up safely, he will surely be a royal prince who captivates countless young girls.

Fukang bent down slightly and tentatively reached out his hand. "Was it clinging to Consort Shu before to seek revenge?"

The two people whose third eye had been opened by Xu Nian could clearly see every expression on the little thing's face; it seemed that it had not forgotten its past.

When Consort Shu was mentioned, his expression turned fierce for a moment.

Xu Nian patted its shoulder and put it into a bottle. "That's right. Back then, Consort Shu was afraid that things would be exposed, so when the child was two or three years old, she secretly left the palace and poisoned it to death."

Back then, when Consort Shu was still a young girl, she wasn't actually favored much in the Prince's mansion.

At that time, the emperor was at a crucial moment in the struggle for the throne, so he naturally favored Empress Ye Ling, who was helpful to his position and with whom he had always had a very good relationship.

After all, the Duke of Cheng had military merits. Such a family was far more prestigious than Consort Shu's maternal family.

She had been lonely for many days when Ye Ze, the Empress's younger brother, came to visit his sister. At that time, a banquet was being held at the Crown Prince's residence, and the two, who were drunk, somehow ended up rolling around together.

When Consort Shu woke up the next day, she felt like killing someone.

However, Ye Ze is the heir of the Duke of Cheng's mansion, and he is not someone she can deal with at will.

She was the Crown Prince's concubine, and even if Ye Ze wanted to make amends, there was nothing he could do for her. This secret night of passion should have been kept hidden from the two of them.

Having tasted the sweetness of life, how could Consort Shu possibly bear the loneliness of being confined to her chambers?

When Ye Ze entered the manor again, she deliberately seduced him. Once something like this happens once, it's bound to happen again.

After several such encounters, the two became less hesitant, and pregnancy became a certainty.

Coincidentally, the Empress had just discovered she was one month pregnant. Consort Shu then deliberately seduced the Emperor, intending to pretend the child was his afterward.

On the day the empress was to give birth, she deliberately miscarried and gave birth to the child.

She nearly fainted the moment she saw the child. The reason was simple: the red birthmark on the child was the same as both the Queen and Ye Ze, and it was in the same spot.

She was terrified and specifically ordered her personal maid to go to the Empress's side.

She has a very keen eye; she can tell the difference between two newborn babies or even twins standing in front of her.

The maid secretly sneaked in to take a look and discovered that the two children not only had the same red birthmark, but their facial features were also almost identical.

Although they will definitely change as they grow up, the risk of being discovered is just too great!

"Consort Shu couldn't bear to kill her own child, so she had Ye Ze secretly switch the baby with her. She then had him take the new baby out of the palace."

This younger brother is no good.

[Yeah, he's way too love-struck. He'd betray his own sister for a woman?!]

“Ye Ze initially disagreed as well.” Xu Nian said this to both the viewers and Jiang Yuanqing and the other person. “Unfortunately, he couldn’t resist Consort Shu’s request in the end. In addition, this woman said that they would just switch the child, and then when he took the child away from the capital, no one would know.”

After careful consideration, he realized that Consort Shu's words made sense.

After all, he was his own nephew, and he certainly wouldn't mistreat him since he had raised him. In case the crown prince failed to seize the throne, the child would at least have his life saved.

Who could have known that during the Spring Festival of the same year he secretly switched the children, the late emperor passed away, and the crown prince was surrounded by court officials and ascended the throne as emperor.

But if the child were switched back then, it wouldn't just be him and Consort Shu who lost their heads. The entire Duke of Cheng's mansion, including the Empress, might be implicated.

Ye Ze dared not go back. On the few occasions he did bring the child back, he dared not enter the palace.

Consort Shu was already pregnant at the time and feared that what had happened years ago would be exposed. With the help of her maids, she secretly left the palace and first killed her child.

Then they gave Ye Ze a slow-acting poison, but he died of illness outside three years later.