To her utter surprise, she was released after only a few questions. She wasn't imprisoned or tortured. Overjoyed, she thanked him profusely and shouted "Long live the Emperor!" before happily following Zhou Anyuan away.

Zhou Anyuan ordered someone to reward her with one hundred taels of silver and instructed a young eunuch to see her out. Just as the old woman stepped out the door, he said lightly behind her, "Old woman, you're not young anymore. You've lived a long life and seen a lot. You should know what it means to keep your mouth shut, what you should say and what you shouldn't say. You should have some sense of propriety. Don't you agree?"

These simple words immediately sent a chill down the old woman's spine. She realized that the reason she hadn't been punished was not because she was lucky, but because her father-in-law hadn't exposed her past.

The old woman immediately knelt down and kowtowed deeply to Zhou Anyuan, saying, "Thank you for your great kindness, sir. When I get back, I will set up a longevity tablet for you and remember your great kindness forever."

Zhou Anyuan waved his hand, and immediately a eunuch escorted the old woman out of the palace. From then on, the old woman did little and did little, never daring to mention her past in the palace again, and lived peacefully until her death.

Looking at the desolate Xiankun Palace, Zhou Anyuan couldn't help but let out a long sigh. His apprentice, Xiao Jinzi, hurriedly said, "Master, why didn't you kill that old woman? Master, you don't know how gossipy that old woman is! She's so good at bragging."

"You!" Zhou Anyuan glared fiercely at Xiao Jinzi. "You don't even know the meaning of 'forgive and forget'! That's why you killed that palace maid named Ou'er. Whether Ou'er lives or dies is insignificant. You could have arrested her when she tried to run to the Empress Dowager's palace to report the incident, so you could have interrogated her and implicated Consort Yue. But instead, you just killed her outright. I don't know whether to call you stupid or just too bloodthirsty. You go stand aside and reflect on your actions!"

"Ah!" After being scolded, Little Gold stood respectfully to the side and began to reflect on his actions.

...

The Empress Dowager's bedroom.

Jun Zhe stood up and asked the Empress Dowager, word by word, "Empress Dowager, please check if there is a single cinnabar mark on my body!"

The Cinnabar Mark!!!

The Empress Dowager's eyes reddened, and all her emotions collapsed in the face of the cinnabar mark on the child's body. Tears streamed down her face. At first, she just shed tears quietly, but slowly she began to cry out loud. The sound grew louder and louder, as if she wanted to use up all the tears she had in her life.

Jun Zhe remained silent, letting the Empress Dowager cry her heart out.

For a moment, the entire room was filled with the Empress Dowager's mournful cries. Even Yun Nian, who had been gritting her teeth and filled with hatred, was heartbroken by the cries. Yun Yue, on the other hand, remained calm but her grief was palpable.

After a long while, the Empress Dowager finished crying, suddenly raised her head, her reddened eyes looking at Jun Zhe, and answered word by word: "How could you possibly be my exiled son? My exiled son was intelligent and a leader, his eyes were more beautiful than those of ordinary children from birth, and his cry was incredibly loud. How could you possibly be him? You are not even a tenth as good as him. Yes, you are indeed not my son, you are that bastard born of that lowly woman! I regret it so much, knowing that you are not my exiled son, I still raised you, allowing you to have the wolfish ambition to seek revenge one day."

Jun Zhe pressed his lips tightly together, feeling as if his heart was being torn apart.

This was the person he once revered as his own mother; it turns out she never truly loved him in the slightest.