132 Chapter 132

"How dare you hurt her!"

The hall was quiet for a moment.

Although they didn't understand, everyone's eyes were still focused on the envoy who was talking incessantly, which made the envoy feel a little embarrassed. In the end, he finished his words briefly and went straight back to his seat.

Everyone turned to the interpreter, who said, "I don't know what you're arguing about, but I've heard what this princess said. There's indeed a secret technique in the martial arts world that allows a person to change their appearance. A thief in the court once used this technique to impersonate our emperor. The resemblance was so high that he fooled the empress dowager, the concubines, and even several princes, and nearly stole our government!"

"Fortunately, at the critical moment, the eldest princess of our country exposed the thief, confirming his identity and apprehending him, thus saving our country from a major crisis. This incident became known to everyone in our country, and since then, people have paid special attention to the issue of disguise, even developing methods to identify whether someone has used secret techniques to change their appearance."

It turned out that he was so excited just now because he remembered what he had experienced, and he looked at Xu Qinghe frequently because he was thinking of the eldest princess in his country.

Xu Qinghe breathed a sigh of relief, and her tense body relaxed a little. Her palm trembled subconsciously, and then she realized that the familiar body temperature was coming from there.

She pursed her lips and finally pulled her hand back calmly.

"What nonsense are you talking about, you barbarian! What secret technique or disguise? My son is my son. How can you slander him with empty words!" Zhao Wan said excitedly with his eyes wide open.

The envoy had meant to help, but after hearing what the interpreter said, he realized that he had been scolded by the woman, so he wanted to stand up and argue with her.

"Guest, please be patient."

Emperor Yongshun asked, "The envoy just mentioned that there is a way to verify whether disguise was used?"

The envoy nodded and explained, "Most of the techniques used in the world for disguise are similar. Whether it's a human skin mask or a method of truly changing one's appearance, they all require the use of a powder called 'Happy Face Powder.'"

Among the crowd, Wei Che saw Fu Zongying nodding secretly at him.

So he once again clenched Xu Qinghe's palm beside him, firmly preventing her from pulling away.

He whispered to her, "Don't worry."

The envoy then pulled out a small white porcelain bottle from his bosom and explained, "On this birthday celebration trip, to prevent thieves from infiltrating the group, we must apply this powder to everyone's face every day. If anyone uses disguise magic, their skin will immediately fester, revealing flaws."

Emperor Yongshun ordered someone to take the powder and hand it over to the imperial physician for identification.

Only at this moment did he look at Wei Che in the hall.

"What do you want to say about the disguise?"

After receiving Fu Zongying's affirmation, Wei Che knew that he didn't need to be afraid of the so-called medicinal powder. Now he only needed to prove his identity to Emperor Yongshun and everyone else as originally planned.

"May I ask Your Majesty if you have an inch-long arrow wound on your left arm? And do you still remember March 26th, the 19th year of Yongshun?"

Xu Qinghe had heard Jing'an mention that Emperor Yongshun had an inch-long arrow wound on the outside of his left forearm, which looked like an old injury from several years ago.

However, Emperor Yongshun had never been to the battlefield in his life, and naturally no one would shoot arrows at the emperor during the royal hunting. At that time, Jing'an guessed that this might be the wound left by an assassin.

At that time, Xu Qinghe still thought that the palace was heavily guarded and she seemed to have never heard of any assassination.

Until today when Wei Che mentioned this matter.

On March 26, the 19th year of Yongshun, Prince Nannan led his troops back to the capital to report on his work and also to celebrate the birthday of Emperor Yongshun.

In order to commend the great victory of the southern border army, Emperor Yongshun specially hosted a banquet for all his generals in the palace. The banquet was attended by military generals, who drank to their heart's content. Emperor Yongshun was unable to hold his liquor, so he went outside to get some fresh air to sober up.

Wei Che said, "The arrow wound on your Majesty's arm was inflicted at that time."

At that time, Emperor Yongshun was walking through the flowers, but suddenly heard the sound of an arrow breaking through the air. He was startled and dodged quickly, but he was still scratched on the forearm, and the blood immediately dyed the dragon robe red.

Before Emperor Yongshun could find someone to protect him, he saw an 189-year-old boy walking out from behind the woods with a bow and arrow in his hands. He first looked at the arrow nailed to the tree trunk, then looked at Emperor Yongshun's forearm which was still bleeding, and then hurriedly lifted his robe and knelt down.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I did not intend to stab the dragon!"

This young man seems familiar.

Emperor Yongshun asked in a deep voice, "Do you recognize me?"

The young man immediately introduced himself: "Your Majesty, I am the son of Xie Huaiyuan, commander of the Southern Border Army. I once saw Your Majesty from a distance at the birthday banquet yesterday. Your Majesty's appearance surpasses that of ordinary people, and I will never forget you."

Emperor Yongshun's expression softened slightly. "I remember now. You are Xie Qing's youngest son, who fought in battle at the age of nine?"

Xie Qi didn't dare to be arrogant, so he lowered his head even lower and explained, "Your Majesty, the rumors are not to be believed. I was fortunate enough to shoot and wound an enemy soldier with my bow and arrow behind the battle line. It really can't be considered as killing the enemy in battle."

At such a young age, he was quite modest. Emperor Yongshun nodded and asked him, "If you want to practice archery, there are martial arts training grounds available. Why did you come here?"

Hearing the accusation in the Emperor's tone, Xie Qi hurriedly replied, "I just got a good bow and arrow from the princes. I couldn't wait to try it out, but I missed the target and accidentally injured Your Majesty. I hope Your Majesty will punish me!"

How could a young man who was so modest even about his military achievements be so presumptuous as to practice archery in the imperial palace?

Emperor Yongshun snorted coldly, realizing that these were clearly his unpromising sons. Hearing that the boy in front of him had some skills, he encouraged him to show off, and then he started shooting arrows here.

"Forget it, get up. You're already capable of killing enemies at such a young age, so you're quite capable. However, you still need to learn more about archery from your father and practice your aim."

"I bow to thank Your Majesty."

Xie Qi breathed a sigh of relief and did not mention the incident where those princes insisted on asking him to draw his bow and arrow to shoot sparrows, and even did something bad behind his back at the critical moment.

"I am still young, and my skills are not very refined, but I will work very hard in the future and become a general who protects our country like my father and the prince. I will guard the southern border of Da Ling and will never let Your Majesty down!"

…

"At that time, I was afraid of being punished by my father, so I asked Your Majesty to conceal this matter for me and not tell anyone. I wonder if Your Majesty still remembers it."

"Of course I remember."

Emperor Yongshun came back to his senses and said, "Sir, I have never told anyone about this."

At this moment, the eunuch came back with the medicine bottle to report.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Physician has examined it and confirmed that this powder is made from herbs and is not inherently toxic."

Emperor Yongshun said, "As the envoy said, if this powder causes your face to ulcerate, it will prove that you are Xie Qi, the son of Xie Huaiyuan, and that you have disguised yourself as the heir of the Fuguo Mansion for many years. Are you willing to give it a try?"

Wei Che bowed his head and said, "I am willing to give it a try."

The next moment, someone grabbed the corner of his clothes.

Wei Che turned around and met Xu Qinghe's clear eyes.

She was very firm: "No."

"Don't worry, it'll be fine."

He lowered his voice to comfort her: "This powder is also on Fu Zongying's hand. It just caused a temporary ulcer. It will heal in a few days and it won't hurt."

Even so, Xu Qinghe did not give in completely. With the permission of Emperor Yongshun, she took the powder from the eunuch's hand, poured it into her palm, and only used her fingertips to dip a little on his chin.

The familiar soft touch poked at his face, like a feather brushing against his heart. Wei Che clenched his fists tightly, and only then did he restrain himself from hugging her in public.

After a while, the area where the powder was applied began to sting gradually. In the eyes of everyone, the skin and flesh there had begun to break and turn inside out, revealing the bright red flesh inside.

Fortunately, it was only an inch long and didn't look very scary.

The envoy saw this and quickly said, "Yes! That's exactly the reaction! This person must have used a secret method of disguise before, so that's why he behaved like this!"

There was a burst of noise at the table.

“There are such wonders in the world!”

"If Prince Wei is really General Xie, and the Duke of Fuguo is the real culprit of treason, then hasn't General Xie acknowledged the enemy as his father for many years?!"

"It's not just General Xie. If the Duke of Fuguo is the real murderer, wouldn't the princess also recognize the thief as her father and even include him in the Wei family tree?"

"No wonder the Crown Prince wanted a divorce after the princess fell into the water. It turned out he wanted to take this opportunity to cross out the princess's name from the Wei family tree."

"If this current Prince Wei is fake, then where is the real Prince Wei?"

"Yeah, what about the real Prince Wei? Could it be... could it be that he has already..."

…

"What about my Che'er... What about my Che'er..."

Zhao Wan slumped to the ground.

If the son she had raised for so many years was fake, then where was her Che'er?

"Where is my Che'er? You thief, return my Che'er to me!"

Zhao Wan lost her mind for a moment, pulled out a hairpin from her bun and rushed over.

Xu Qinghe was shocked and subconsciously moved towards Wei Che, protecting her lower abdomen.

The next moment, a familiar breath enveloped her. Wei Che raised his hand and pulled her into his arms to protect her, while his other hand grabbed Zhao Wan's wrist to restrain her.

The force was so great that it almost crushed Zhao Wan's wrist bones.

"How dare you hurt her!"

Zhao Wan sneered, "Why wouldn't I dare? You killed my son, you deserve to die! Not only her, I'll kill you too! You all deserve to die!"

Seeing that she was about to stab him with the hairpin, Xu Qinghe was afraid that he would not want to do it because of the so-called mother-son relationship they had over the years, so she stretched out her hand to push her away, and because of the reaction force, she fell into Wei Che's arms again.

"Come quickly, help the wife of the Duke of Fuguo."

Only the orders of Emperor Yongshun were heard in the hall. After Emperor Yongshun nodded, several eunuchs beside him immediately stepped forward to restrain Zhao Wan.

Xu Qinghe clung to Wei Che's arm and breathed softly.

She is also about to become a mother, so she might understand Zhao Wan's current state of mind. But she is not Zhao Wan, but Xu Qinghe.

She didn't care whether the real Wei Che was really killed by Xie Qi, nor did she care about the torment this poor mother would suffer after learning the tragic news about her son.

That was the son of her enemy. What did his life or death have to do with her? When Wei Yiqun collaborated with the enemy, did he ever think about the wives, children and elders in the families of the 50,000 Southern Border Army soldiers?

She was no longer the soft-hearted girl that Xie Qi often talked about.

After recovering, Xu Qinghe pushed aside Wei Che's protective hand and said to Zhao Wan, "You want to kill him to pay for his life? Wei Yiqun killed 50,000 soldiers of our Southern Border Army first, and then framed the loyal and righteous Xie family. Who should pay for their lives? Wei Yiqun's crimes are too numerous to list. He should be the one to pay for everyone's lives!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a sneer suddenly came from the hall.

"You are putting such a big accusation on me just based on a short play. Your Highness thinks too highly of me, Wei."

When Zhao Wan collapsed on the ground with tears streaming down her face, Wei Yiqun suddenly spoke.