Chapter 341 Thunder, the Prince's Life Story

The court officials cursed each other for a long time, especially those from the prince's faction, including Zhang Lun, they all wanted to drag Wu Chengqi out and behead him, and exterminate his entire clan.

Finally someone noticed the gloomy expression on Emperor Liang's face, which was the pressure from the emperor.

The ministers who had been making a fuss just now reacted and immediately knelt down, asking Emperor Liang to punish Wu Chengqi.

Emperor Liang said nothing and glanced at Yan Xiuyun beside him.

Yan Xiuyun pointed at Wu Chengqi with shock and anger in his eyes, his lips trembling as if he was extremely angry, but he didn't have the courage to utter a single word for a long while.

Beneath his angry appearance, a fear that penetrated his bones was eating him away bit by bit.

Yan Changwen, who had been silent until now, finally stood up and looked at Wu Chengqi, saying seriously:

"Master Wu, in front of the emperor, do you know what you are saying?

"Your Highness is the future crown prince of Daliang. You are of noble status and cannot tolerate slander from others. If you have no evidence and make false accusations, as the prefect of Jingzhao, do you know what kind of crime this is?"

"I know that slandering the Crown Prince is a crime punishable by the death of nine generations of the clan, but I am not making this up out of thin air!"

Wu Chengqi looked calm and said that he was only devoted to the country and had no selfish motives at all.

Then, two people, one tall and one short, were brought into the hall and walked past Zhu Lan.

It was Old Lady Chen and Chen Li.

…

"Mr. Xiao Yuan, how are your preparations going?!"

Before Xu Shiming arrived, his voice had already been heard from afar in the empty courtyard of the East Palace.

Eunuch Zhao was there too, leading a group of maids and servants to help Xiao Yuan.

Xiao Yuan looked towards the breathless Xu Shiming and said, "Mr. Xu, everything has been prepared as you said."

There were already four or five bronze mirrors placed in the yard, each of which was half a person's height - these were all hastily bought from the market by Eunuch Zhao, who spent a lot of money on them.

Xiao Yuan was holding a wooden board that was about the same size as the bronze mirror. The board was very thin, and a winding pattern was carved out in the middle.

The pattern looked like a snake, two fingers wide, with very flexible lines. It was obvious that it was carved by a sharp blade in one go.

"It's so exquisite. Mr. Xiao Yuan is good at swordsmanship." Xu Shiming couldn't help but praise.

He then put the package in his arms on the ground. The package had not been unpacked yet, but he could smell a pungent odor through the cloth.

"Mr. Xiao Yuan, please stay and help me."

Xu Shiming spoke very quickly, and then said to Eunuch Zhao, "Please wait outside the East Palace wall for a while. When white smoke rises in the courtyard, shout loudly to attract as many people as possible."

"Okay, okay, let's go now."

…

"Your Majesty, the Chen couple's original surname was Jin. Old Mrs. Chen's husband, Chen Rong, whose real name was Jin Rong, used to be a low-ranking guard in the palace. Later, Jin Rong made a mistake and was expelled from the palace, so he changed his surname to Chen, got married and had children." Wu Chengqi said.

Hearing this, Zhu Lan suddenly realized a problem that he had previously overlooked.

The Jin couple became the Chen couple. She originally thought that it was because this family was involved in an identity swap with the prince and they were afraid of getting into trouble, so they changed their names.

However, according to Magistrate Gan of Xiangyang County, the couple already had the surname Chen when they gave birth to the twins, a boy and a girl. They also named the children Chen Zao and Chen Li. Later, Chen Zao was brought into the palace to exchange identities with the prince.

This means that before coming to Xiangyang County, Jin Rong had already changed his name to Chen Rong.

Wu Chengqi continued:

"Twenty years ago, the palace was ravaged by a plague. In order to prevent the little prince from being harmed by the plague god, they searched for a baby born on the same day from the people to bring into the palace to replace the prince. The person who was swapped with the crown prince was Chen Zao, the son of the Chen couple.

When the little prince was born, the palace caught fire, and only one of the two babies survived and became the current Crown Prince."

Yan Xiuyun's face turned pale and he asked Wu Chengqi what he meant.

Some old officials in the court could no longer be bothered to avoid the issue and stood up and said, "Your Majesty, although only one baby survived 20 years ago, I remember that Concubine Lan believed that the one who survived was her own child, and Your Majesty also approved of this. It is said that mother and child are connected by heart, so how could a mother mistake her own child?

Now, twenty years have passed, and someone has suddenly dug up an old story and made a big fuss about it. It is obvious that their intentions are sinister. Your Majesty, please take a closer look!"

Wu Chengqi retorted, "In order to hide the truth from the God of Plague, babies were covered with gauze when they were born. Concubine Lan had never seen the prince's appearance. Moreover, there was a fire in the palace at that time, and there was chaos. Concubine Lan was weak after giving birth and could not bear the pain of losing her child. So she lied to herself. Isn't it reasonable?"

"Wu Chengqi, everything you said is just conjecture! Even if there is a possibility of mistake at that time, are you going to slander His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who has been the crown prince for many years based on this possibility!?"

The court officials were filled with righteous indignation and questioned Wu Chengqi on what evidence he had.

Emperor Liang said nothing, but his face was filled with gloom and his eyes left no doubt that if Wu Chengqi could not produce evidence, the Wu family would be confiscated and exiled on the spot.

Wu Chengqi kowtowed again and said, "Many of the descendants of the Chen family have brown birthmarks on their bodies. Your Highness, please ask the female official to check."

He then looked at Yan Xiuyun and said, "May I ask if your Highness has any birthmarks on his body that are brown with black spots?"

Yan Xiuyun seemed to be suddenly struck by lightning, and his whole body trembled violently, as if the sky was falling.

He staggered back several steps and fell beside the dragon throne, muttering "Impossible" under his breath.

What I have been worrying about day and night for so many years has finally happened...

How could he not know about the brown birthmark on his back!?

He raised his head tremblingly to look at Emperor Liang's expression, and found that Emperor Liang was also looking down at him.

For the first time, Yan Xiuyun felt that the father in front of him was so strange.

Yan Changwen stood up, looking somewhat distressed.

"Father, I heard that there were many natural disasters twenty years ago. Your Majesty was busy with government affairs, and Concubine Lan was weak after giving birth. Perhaps the servants were afraid of being punished, or perhaps some bad guys took advantage of the situation and did not tell the truth when investigating the identity of the surviving baby, thus deceiving your father and Concubine Lan.

This matter concerns the reputation of the royal family and the fate of our Daliang country, so we must be careful. Now that there is ironclad evidence from Chen's mother and daughter, I am just sad that my father's kindness in raising and cultivating me for so many years has gone to the wrong person.

I am even more heartbroken that my brothers had died in that fire 20 years ago..."

(P.S. I'm super busy moving house recently, so there may be more single updates in the next week or so. I apologize in advance to my dears!

But after moving, I have more time to write because my commute is more convenient. I will try to make up for it in three updates later.

There will be some twists and turns in the story about the prince's identity, and the truth that comes out in the end may be a little... touching, haha. I'll try to write it in a more touching way, so you can wait and see. (Chimi~)