Chapter 81 This secret is like a million ants...

It had been some time since Yuan Chaolu last met Princess Zhenning at Lu Runlan's wedding. Yuan Chaolu's impression of her was that she was as cold as frost and snow, aloof and distant, with an air of detachment from worldly affairs in her every move.

Meeting him now is no different.

Princess Zhenning's face, bathed in the twilight, resembled a jade Guanyin.

Yuan Chaolu said, "That person was the Prince of Yan. I happened to meet the Prince of Yan when he came to the mountains to worship Buddha. We exchanged a few words, but I didn't expect to run into my aunt as soon as the Prince of Yan left."

Lu Zhenning said, "Your Majesty need not call me Aunt; I should address you as Your Majesty."

The three of them descended the mountain together via a small path. Princess Zhenning maintained a cold expression throughout, as if there was an invisible distance between her and others.

Yuan Chaolu had no idea how many times her interactions with the Prince of Yan had been seen. There were quite a few rumors about her and the Prince of Yan, which could easily lead others to speculate.

At this moment, the person beside her stopped. "Autumn has arrived, and the evening breeze is getting cooler. Her Majesty recently had a miscarriage, and this is the weakest time for a woman. She should rest well..."

Before the princess could finish speaking, her legs suddenly went weak, and she slumped to the side as if she were about to faint.

Yuan Chaolu hurriedly stepped forward to help her up and gently placed her on the ground. There she saw a small red-striped snake wrapped around the princess's skirt.

Qingheng, who was standing nearby, reacted quickly and picked up a branch at her feet to scare the snake away. The snake suddenly darted out and disappeared into the grass in the blink of an eye.

A muffled groan came from beside them. Yuan Chaolu and Qingheng put down their bamboo baskets to check and found two red spots on her calf, from which blood was constantly seeping out.

Qingheng said, "It's a red-banded snake, but fortunately it's not highly poisonous. I have some herbs in my bamboo basket."

Lu Zhenning's brows were furrowed, and large beads of sweat kept seeping from her forehead. She was in extreme pain, and her other hand was clutching the hem of Yuan Chaolu's clothes.

Yuan Chaolu grasped her hand and carefully handed it to Qingheng: "Aunt, please wait here. I'll go and fetch the guards."

Princess Zhenning said weakly, "Alright."

Before long, Yuan Chaolu returned with a group of guards. The group carefully carried the princess onto a rattan palanquin and headed towards the nearest Zen temple where Yuan Chaolu practiced.

As the sun gradually dimmed, night fell.

As night fell, Princess Zhenning slowly woke up in her tent. She turned her head and saw two people standing in the room. Yuan Chaolu was wringing a handkerchief in a basin of water while talking quietly with Lu Fu beside her.

When the two men saw that she had woken up, they went to her one after the other.

“Mother has finally woken up!” Lu Fu’s eyes were red. “The guards said that when you were carried back after being bitten by a snake, it really scared your daughter to death. Today, it is my turn to accompany you up the mountain.”

Lu Zhenning raised her hand to pat her head, then looked up and her gaze fell on Yuan Chaolu behind her.

Yuan Chaolu turned around, picked up the teapot on the table, poured a cup of warm tea, and handed it to him.

Their eyes met through the dim candlelight. Yuan Chaolu's lips curved slightly upward, her cheeks glowing with a warm light.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Lu Zhenning's voice was terribly hoarse.

"Auntie, you're too kind."

After finishing everything, Yuan Chaolu left the inner room; it was already late at night.

She and Qingheng returned to their room, but instead of resting immediately, they took out a pen and ink from the bookshelf next to them.

Qingheng said, "Now that the princess is alright, and Your Highness is tired, you should rest early. This is..."

Yuan Chaolu unfolded a Buddhist scripture in front of him, turned to the first page, and then picked up a pen with his wrist suspended.

"Is Her Majesty copying Buddhist scriptures?"

Yuan Chaolu said, "Yes, it's for His Majesty to pray for blessings."

Reflecting on one's mistakes requires the right attitude. These Buddhist scriptures were written for her husband.

She had been thinking about how to return to the palace, and now that she had met Princess Zhenning, perhaps she could help her...

**

Princess Zhenning's foot injury had not yet healed, making it difficult for her to walk, so she stayed here for two or three days. During this time, Yuan Chaolu visited her every day, showing concern and care.

As the afternoon sun shone through the gaps in the leaves, Yuan Chaolu stepped out of the princess's courtyard and suddenly saw a strange monk emerge from a side room. Because he was completely unfamiliar with the monk, she sent a palace maid to call him back.

"Who are you?"

"Greetings, Your Majesty," the old monk said, pressing his palms together. "This humble monk is here today to sweep and dust the rooms in the courtyard."

Yuan Chaolu's gaze fell on the locked room he had just stepped out of, and she asked, "This one?"

When she first entered Chanxu Temple and lived there with the emperor, she noticed that this side room was always locked, but at the time, she never paid attention to what was inside.

What is this building for?

"Your Majesty, this is the meditation room where the late Emperor stayed when he came to Chanxu Temple for spiritual cultivation. His Majesty has sent people to keep it clean and maintain its original state."

This answer surprised Yuan Chao.

Yuan Chaolu pondered for a moment and said, "I need to find a few volumes of Buddhist scriptures, preferably rare and unique copies. Since this is the residence of the late emperor, do you know if there are any?"

“Of course there is,” the old monk said, lowering his eyes. “If Your Majesty wishes to enter, this humble monk will open the door for you.”

When the copper lock is opened, a large amount of sunlight shines in, and even the dust particles floating in the air are clearly visible.

Yuan Chaolu slowly stepped into the former residence of the late emperor. Her fingertips brushed against the sandalwood table, not a speck of dust was visible, as if time had stood still here.

She walked among the bookshelves and asked, "How old is the furnishings in this room?"

"It's been almost twenty years."

Yuan Chao lowered his hand, which had been draped over a scroll: "Twenty years?"

"Yes, Chanxu Temple was built here decades ago. The late emperor lived here for a period of time, and it has remained unchanged for many years since then."

Yuan Chao understood, his fingertips continuing to wander across the bookshelf. Just as he was about to take down one of the Buddhist scriptures, he noticed a long sandalwood box lying to the side.

With her keen eye honed from years of painting, Yuan Chaolu immediately recognized it as a painting box.

She opened the painting box, and the scroll slowly unfurled in her palm, gradually revealing the canvas. Her gaze was completely captivated.

In this scroll of paintings, the beauty's features are exquisite, her eyebrows delicate and arched, her beauty unparalleled. The pearl hairpins at her temples shimmer in the sunlight, her eyes seem to hold boundless springtime passion, and every frown and smile exudes vibrant life.

Yuan Chaolu was amazed by the vivid brushstrokes and couldn't help but raise his hand to touch it. Just as he was about to get close, he came to his senses and withdrew his hand, his gaze sweeping over the blank spaces on the scroll for a long time.

She did not find any signature of the painter, but the person in the painting should be Empress Dowager Lu in her youth.

Yuan Chaolu put the scroll back into the box, glanced around, and seeing nothing amiss in the room, decided not to stay any longer and signaled to the old monk that he could close the door.

She walked out of the temple with the Buddhist scriptures in her hand, the sound of the copper lock falling echoing in her ears. Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind, and she turned back abruptly, saying, "Wait!"

The moment that thought popped into her head, she felt the blood in her chest surge like a raging torrent, making her dizzy.

She went back inside and unrolled the scroll again, this time examining it carefully over and over until she finally found a signature on the back—

In the spring of the tenth year of Zhenchong, Xiao Yuandu invited the hermit Yunhe to paint this picture, which he then gifted to my wife, Aning.

"My wife Aning..."

The painting depicts a beautiful woman with her hair styled in a high bun, her eyes sparkling with spring-like waves, gazing outwards with a smile.

Gradually, her outline became blurred until it completely overlapped with the face that appeared before Yuan Chaolu's eyes.

The beauty in the painting, compared to Empress Dowager Lu, clearly resembles Princess Zhenning.

**

Yuan Chaolu stepped out of the house, staring blankly at the old monk's locked figure, and suddenly asked, "Are you an old monk from Chanxu Temple? May I ask your Dharma name, Master?"

"Your Majesty, this humble monk, Chen Ji, has been here for over thirty years."

The two went to a meditation room next door, where the doors and windows were already closed.

Yuan Chaolu sat on the futon and looked at the person in front of her. "Twenty years ago, what else happened? Master, could you tell me about it again?"

She paused for a moment, then said, "His Majesty has already told me the whole story, but I just want to know a few more details. I see that you have been entrusted with this task, so you must be a senior figure whom His Majesty trusts very much."

Upon hearing this, the old monk's expression softened slightly. "What details would Your Majesty like to hear?"

"Let's start with that house."

"The room that this humble monk just mentioned to Your Majesty is not actually the original residence of the late Emperor when he first came to Chanxu Temple. It was later that His Majesty moved some of the late Emperor's belongings here."

"The first place where the late emperor came to worship Buddha was on the mountainside below, where Princess Zhenning has been staying recently. It was also there that the late emperor met the eldest daughter of the Lu family, who had just returned to Luoyang as a widow."

Twenty years ago...

Yuan Chaolu pondered this time.

Twenty years ago, during the Chu Dynasty, Lu Jin, the current head of the Lu family, held significant power in the Chu Dynasty and frequently traveled to various nomadic tribes in the north.

At that time, Lu Jin betrothed his eldest sister, Lu Zhenning, to a tribal chief.

Shortly thereafter, Lu Zhenning's husband was defeated and killed in a power struggle among the grassland tribes, and Lu Zhenning was taken back to the Chu Dynasty by her brother.

Yuan Chaolu narrowed her eyes and said, "Then what about the marriage agreement between the late Emperor and the Empress Dowager..."

The old monk said, "The late emperor has already married the empress dowager."

In other words, the late emperor first married the youngest daughter of the Lu family before having relations with the widowed eldest daughter of the Lu family.

Yuan Chaolu's handkerchief was already soaked with sweat, because she thought that her husband seemed to have a rather distant relationship with Empress Dowager Lu and her son.

Outsiders say that the emperor was raised by the late emperor from a young age, hence the weak bond between mother and son. In stark contrast, Xiao Zhuo seems to place great importance on his relationship with his aunt…

She recalled that the day after her wedding to Xiao Zhuo, when she paid her respects to Empress Dowager Lu, she was told that three years ago, the late emperor had secretly left an edict to confer the title of imperial concubine, and shortly after Xiao Zhuo's wedding, he ordered her to marry Lu Fu, the adopted daughter of Princess Zhenning, into the palace.

At that time, Empress Dowager Lu said, "Lu Fu is devoted to Your Majesty and will not marry anyone but Your Majesty. She even threatened to kill herself. My sister has no choice but to ask the late Emperor for an imperial edict to grant her marriage."

No wonder the late emperor issued this imperial edict. And no wonder Princess Zhenning dared to ask the late emperor for this marriage—it was because it meant marrying her adopted daughter to him…

Yuan Chaolu suppressed his astonishment and said, "Then not long after, Miss Lu became pregnant?"

The old monk said, "Yes, the young lady was recuperating in the temple at that time."

"And then what?"

"After that..." The old monk shook his head, "I don't know what happened after that, I only know that Miss Lu was taken back to the Lu family."

"When the previous Chu emperor was alive, he often traveled between Luoyang and Chang'an, and the noble families also moved there with him. At that time, the Chu emperor lived in Luoyang, and soon he took the noble families to Chang'an as well."

No matter how many details there were, the old monk knew nothing.

Yuan Chaolu quietly told the old monk to leave, and looked at the box in front of her.

Her visit to Chanxu Temple was not entirely due to her loss of power and being forced to live there; she unexpectedly discovered an old story.

What is the relationship between the Lu family, Empress Dowager Lu, the late emperor, and Lu Zhenning?

Why was Princess Zhenning's relationship with the late emperor never made public? Even after the late emperor ascended the throne, the outside world knew nothing about it.

Is His Majesty's background as she suspected?

The moment the thought was planted, it felt like a million ants were gnawing at her heart.

She needs to figure out the cause and effect of the matter.