"You didn't even ask me. I just wanted to see why you didn't want me to enter the palace. Now that I've heard your honest opinion, I'm extremely satisfied."

Jiang Tian's smile was as radiant as spring flowers.

Yuan Ye suddenly felt a strange, tender feeling welling up in her heart.

He kissed Jiang Tian's lips.

Under the moonlight, to have someone willing to give their life to accompany you is a blessing in life.

Now that we've agreed to let Jiang Tian enter the palace, we must choose a good identity for her.

Jiang Tian had already said that she didn't want her original identity anymore.

The wife of the Duke's heir had long since died in the fire and never appeared again.

All she wanted was a clean and innocent identity.

In the middle of the night, Jiang Tian recounted her experience of escaping.

At that time, Lu Zhixing had already planned to marry the illegitimate daughter of the Jiang family, and Jiang Tian became an eyesore.

“That concubine just wanted me to die quickly, but I was determined to take a gamble. Why should I spend my whole life working for someone else? I’m not reconciled. After they left, I bribed a maid who had an elderly mother who needed medical treatment but had no money. I gave her my gold bracelet and asked her to hire some beggars to spread rumors. Then I set fire to my place and found a fearless beggar to bring me a corpse from a mass grave.”

"After everything was ready, I used my last bit of consciousness to walk out. At that time, I thought, I'll go wherever I end up. I'd rather die than stay in that place that hurt me. If I could survive, I would do anything—and then I met you."

Jiang Tian and Yuan Ye exchanged glances: "The Jiang Tian of that time died in the capital long ago. Now I am just a cook. Haven't you already blocked most of the news from the border? No one can trace it back to me."

The border was too far away, and many messages had to be delivered by manpower, so many messages were intercepted by Yuan Ye.

In order to save her uncle, Jiang Tian revealed her identity in public. Yuan Ye only revealed half of it, saying that Jiang Tian was a distant relative of Zhao Zhen who lived on the border and should call Zhao Zhen her uncle according to seniority, but they were not actually close.

She only admired Zhao Zhen and didn't want him to be wronged, which is why she resorted to this desperate measure.

In short, Jiang Tian was just an ordinary citizen with a low social status.

As for Jiang Tian's other identity—the so-called concubine of a general—no one paid any attention to it.

With so many generals and so many concubines, who can possibly manage them all?

At that time, Yuan Ye's father was only annoyed by the evidence that had been unearthed. After all, he had sentenced Zhao Zhen to death, but then found evidence that proved him innocent. As a monarch, he was naturally unhappy.

With all the civil and military officials present, no matter how unhappy he was, he had to release Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen is currently under house arrest in the capital, which indirectly reflects his father's attitude.

Although his father was confused, his belief in holding power remained firm.

He would be extremely wary of anyone who showed even the slightest intention to seize his power.

Apart from Grand Tutor Chen—who is currently bedridden and no one cares about him.

In short, Jiang Tian is actually very safe.

She didn't want that identity, so Yuan Ye solved it for her. He had no choice but to give in since he was stuck with it.

The two finally arrived in the capital the next day.

Yuan Ye's return was very low-key.

After all, he was going to seek immortality and medicine for the emperor.

If an emperor were to spend enormous sums of money seeking immortality and medicine, and even send the crown prince ahead of him, it would inevitably incur the dissatisfaction of the people.

There are already many complaints in the world. If this matter is brought up again, wouldn't that be deliberately destabilizing the country? The old emperor isn't that stupid.

He went out discreetly on the night of the Lantern Festival and returned discreetly.

"The identity I've found for you is that of a cousin of a censor. There will be several fake young ladies entering the Eastern Palace with you. They are all decoys. Only you will live in the place where I live."

"I will gradually give you power. If you can't handle it, tell me sooner rather than later. The Crown Prince's Palace is not as simple as you think."

Jiang Tian shook her head: "The Duke's mansion is not as simple as you think. I can be a very capable mistress of the house, so don't doubt me."

Yuan Ye seemed quite open-minded: "Then I'll go into the palace first. You go and keep your uncle company. I'll leave a few people for you to use. When the time comes, I'll send someone to pick you up."

"Then you'd better hurry."

After the two parted reluctantly, Jiang Tian went to see Zhao Zhen first.

There was nothing between Zhao Zhen and Jiang Tian that required formalities.

He knew his niece had saved him, and he also knew that in other people's eyes, his niece was now nothing but dust.

He originally wanted to avenge his niece, but he never expected that she had already secretly been with the Crown Prince—she had found a much stronger backer.

Zhao Zhen slapped his thigh and praised Jiang Tian for being such a good girl who could be both flexible and resilient.

Those so-called loyalty are nothing but bullshit in his eyes.

Lu Zhixing should be skinned alive and thrown into jail.

He would only get angry if Jiang Tian was still stuck in her previous relationship and couldn't move on.

Jiang Tian had already moved on. She didn't care about Lu Zhixing, but said to Zhao Zhen, "Uncle, I won't tell you anything else. Actually, I want to tell you—I want to be the Empress. Compared to those so-called ladies, I want to sit at the pinnacle of power. You have to help me."

"What you can do now is to recover and return to the border. With your uncle as a shield, the Crown Prince will definitely think more highly of me."

Upon hearing his niece's ambitious aspirations, Zhao Zhen not only didn't get angry, but instead burst into laughter.

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