Chapter 420 Cuilan's Sister

This was an accident, but thankfully no one was injured.

Seeing the woman's absent-minded appearance, Sheng Sheng assumed she was still in fear.

The child was still crying. After thinking for a moment, Sheng Sheng gave the child the candied hawthorn that Zijuan had bought and smiled, "You can eat it, don't cry anymore."

The child took the candied hawthorn, tasted the sweet flavor, and immediately stopped crying, starting to eat it seriously.

Sheng Sheng smiled and said to the woman, "Madam, it's alright. Just be more careful next time."

The woman snapped out of her daze and answered timidly, not daring to look at her: "Thank you, young lady."

Sheng Sheng asked strangely, why did she seem afraid of him?

But they were just strangers who met by chance, so she had no reason to be afraid of herself.

He shook his head, realizing he was overthinking things.

"Then we're off." Shengsheng skipped and hopped, planning to take Zijuan and Zhuifeng to dinner.

After taking a few steps, the group suddenly heard the woman hesitantly call out to her, "Miss, please wait!"

"Um?"

Sheng Sheng turned around, waiting for her to speak, but Sheng Sheng stopped in her tracks. The woman, however, was too timid to look at her and remained silent.

Seeing her like this, and remembering her fear of him, Sheng Sheng sensed something was wrong.

Zijuan leaned closer to her: "Miss, this woman is quite strange."

Sheng Sheng silently sized up the woman, pursed his lips, and said, "We were just about to find a restaurant to eat at. Why don't you join us for a meal, Madam?"

The woman's eyes flickered, and after a moment's hesitation, she finally nodded.

After the group sat down in the private room, they asked the child with smiles what dishes he wanted to eat, and then selected a few from the list of dishes he gave them.

After the waiter left, the woman looked at them for a long time before finally kneeling down with a thud.

Sheng Sheng was startled, blinked, and asked blankly, "What's going on?"

"Miss..." Her voice choked with emotion, her eyes filled with pleading, she asked, "You're not from Jin, you're from Yu, aren't you?"

"Yes," Sheng Sheng nodded.

The woman felt even more guilty. "I dare to say that Miss is not just an ordinary young lady, but rather... perhaps the second princess of the palace!"

"oh?"

Sheng Sheng became somewhat interested. "Why do you say that?"

The woman pointed at Zijuan and said, "I don't know the princess, but I do know this Zijuan girl beside you! About eight years ago, when Consort Rong was pregnant, she went to a temple in the southern suburbs of the capital to pray for the baby in her womb. I was there to pray for my sister who had just entered the palace as a maid."

There was an unexpected incident then, and I was rescued by Consort Rong. One of the maids serving Consort Rong at the time was Miss Zijuan. When I first saw Miss Zijuan, I felt that her features were somewhat familiar. Later, when I heard my mistress call her name, I was completely certain of Miss Zijuan's identity. Further, guessing my mistress's age, it was exactly around the age of the Second Princess, and that's when I..."

Sheng Sheng looked at Zijuan, who nodded: "Miss, that is indeed true. I did go with Her Highness at that time."

Sheng Sheng understood: "Oh, so my mother is your savior, that's why you were so excited to see me?"

That makes sense. This woman was probably originally from the state of Yu, but for some unknown reason, she ended up living in the state of Jin.

It's hard not to be moved when you meet the daughter of your savior in a foreign land, and this savior's daughter and her group also saved your son.

"Not only that, Princess..." The woman gritted her teeth and blurted it all out, "My name is Niu Qingru, and my sister is Cuilan, the palace maid who carried you out of the palace back then!"

Sheng Sheng was startled, nearly dropping the roasted sweet potato in her hand: "What did you say?"

Zijuan and Zhuifeng were both startled and became extremely alert.

This sentence contained a lot of information, but the group sensed something unusual in the second half of her sentence.

Moreover, isn't Cuilan the palace maid that Empress Zheng sent to Yuqing Palace disguised as a doctor to assassinate Shengsheng when she first returned to the palace?

"What do you mean by that? What do you mean by taking him out of the palace?!"

Zijuan asked nervously.

Although they were all shocked and confused for a moment, they all understood that what Niu Qingru was talking about must be exactly what they were thinking about, and could only be that thing—

“My sister Cuilan became a palace maid after entering the palace. Back then, she was ordered by the Empress to send you out of the palace during that fire, saying that she would protect our whole family’s wealth and status. My sister was just a lowly palace maid and had no chance to refuse. In addition, she was so tempted by the Empress that she was blinded by greed and did not know that after the deed was done, the Empress would turn her back on her and want to implicate our whole family to eliminate future troubles.”

Niu Qingru burst into tears. "My sister was the first one she killed. To protect me, my parents made me feign madness, risking their lives to give me the chance to escape to the south overnight. I traveled all the way to Nanli County, intending to hide there for the rest of my life. But Empress Zheng relentlessly pursued me, demanding to see me alive or dead. I had no choice but to take advantage of the situation and join a passing caravan to the State of Song. Soon after, a war broke out between the States of Song and Yu, and Empress Zheng was unable to attend to the matter, allowing me to finally catch my breath and reach the State of Jin. Fortunately, I met my current husband, which allowed me to settle down in the capital."

Niu Qingru's tears fell like beads from a broken string, continuously.

It's unclear whether he was feeling remorse for Cuilan, thinking of his family members who had lost their lives, or both.

After digesting the information for a while, Sheng Sheng wasn't shocked by the matter.

She had long suspected that the person who forced her to leave her mother in that fire was Empress Zheng, and Niu Qingru's appearance only confirmed it for her.

Zijuan was furious, her hands trembling: "So that's how it is! That's why our princess has been stranded for five years, suffering endless hardships! If it weren't for that night, our Second Prince..."

Zijuan didn't dare to think any further. If Xie Yunchuan hadn't happened to be returning from outside the palace that night, if he hadn't followed those stray dogs in the alley to investigate...

Was their princess on that rainy night...?

And all of this should never have happened!

If it weren't for that fire, their princess would have grown up pampered by the Imperial Concubine and the Second Prince.

Niu Qingru kowtowed deeply to her: "Your Highness, I know my sister deserves to die, especially since the Imperial Concubine once did me a great favor! My sister, my parents, all died at the hands of Empress Zheng. For years, I have hated her every day, but I have never had the courage to expose all of this. Because I am just a commoner, I... In any case, I have no face to face Your Highness, nor to face the Imperial Concubine. Your Highness, please forgive me, I dare not presume to ask for your forgiveness..."