Chapter 245: Concubine De

After leaving the emperor's bedroom, Prince Cheng was about to leave the palace immediately, but for some reason he changed his steps and walked towards the cold palace instead.

He was very familiar with this road. When he was young, he had lived in the cold palace for a period of time. Later, when he was older, the emperor moved him out of the cold palace and moved him into the prince's mansion.

The closer they got to the cold palace, the quieter the road became. The occasional palace maids and eunuchs looked shabby. When they saw Prince Cheng appear, they all knelt down to pay their respects, fearing that they would offend this extremely powerful prince.

Prince Cheng didn't care about their attitude, and walked towards the cold palace step by step with a calm expression.

Although it is called the cold palace, this palace located to the west of the imperial palace is not dilapidated. In fact, it was not the place where criminal concubines were imprisoned in all dynasties. Before Concubine De was imprisoned here, it was once bustling.

Prince Cheng always felt that he could not understand the emperor. If he was sentimental, he had shown no mercy to the Li and He families back then, and he had never visited Concubine De again in all these years.

But if you say he is heartless, the fact that Concubine De can live here, that the royal bloodline can be mixed up, and that the He family can leave behind a Prince Xi, all speak of the emperor's tolerance.

The gate of the cold palace was deserted, but it was very clean. I don’t know if it has always been like this, or if after he became Prince Cheng, no one dared to neglect this virtuous concubine anymore.

When he reached the door, Prince Cheng hesitated.

He looked up at the palace and suddenly remembered the years he had lived in it. When he thought about it now, he still felt a chill through his bones, without a trace of warmth.

"The prince is here!" A surprised voice interrupted Prince Cheng's hesitation.

Prince Cheng took a deep breath and finally stepped in.

"Your Highness, you are finally here. Concubine De has been thinking about you."

Even though she lived in the cold palace and the emperor didn't want to see her for more than ten years, her status as Concubine De remained.

Prince Cheng glanced at the excited maid and sneered, "Alright, no need to give me that. Where is she?"

The maid paused in her enthusiastic words and said cautiously, "Your Highness, the Queen had her own reasons for not visiting you all these years. Fortunately, you and your son have finally found happiness after all the hardships you have endured..."

"Don't let me ask a second time." Prince Cheng's voice was cold, even colder than in the Emperor's Palace.

The palace maid was choked and didn't dare to say anything more. She took him straight to the Buddhist temple. Before they got close, the scent of sandalwood wafted out, accompanied by the sound of beating wooden fish.

"Don't follow me in." Prince Cheng threw down a sentence and walked in alone.

In the Buddhist temple, a woman in plain clothes with her black hair simply tied up was kneeling in front of the Buddha. She forced her eyes to beat the wooden fish again and again, reciting scriptures.

If you look closely, it is not difficult to find that this woman has an unparalleled appearance, which even the now favored Jade Concubine cannot compare to. The corners of her eyes are already covered with fine lines, but she is still stunningly beautiful kneeling in this Buddhist temple, making the humble room shine.

Judging from appearance alone, Prince Cheng is far inferior to her.

Hearing the voice behind her, Concubine De was still chanting Buddhist scriptures, with no intention of looking up at her daughter.

Prince Cheng did not disturb her, but sat on the floor in the mourning hall. After all, there was not even a chair here.

It was unknown how long it took before the sound of chanting stopped. Defei opened her eyes. She was already extremely beautiful when her eyes were closed. Now that she opened her beautiful eyes, people knew what the finishing touch was.

"Let my son go..." Concubine De spoke softly, her voice graceful and moving. If you look closely, you can find that Concubine Xu of the past and Concubine Yu of today have quite similar styles to Concubine De.

Prince Cheng raised his eyelids, looked at her, and called out "Mother" with a smile.

The mother and daughter sat facing each other in silence for a long while. After waiting for a long time, Concubine De asked, "Fang'er, do you have anything to say to your mother?"

Prince Cheng looked at her and said, "The Emperor remembered you and asked me to ask you if you want to stay here or leave."

De Fei frowned, making people want to smooth her brows: "You know that's not what I'm asking."

Prince Cheng nonchalantly asked, "What did your mother ask? It would be better to be more straightforward, otherwise your son will not understand."

Upon hearing his self-proclaimed name, Concubine De grew increasingly displeased. She sighed and asked quietly, "I already know about the palace coup. Now that it has come to this, it would be easy for you to redress the Li family."

"Li family, which Li family?" Prince Cheng suddenly laughed.

Seeing his carefree appearance, Concubine De's eyes flashed with anger and she warned, "Let him go!"

Prince Cheng sneered and said, "I remember now, this Li family should be my uncle's family."

"Mother, you have been in the deep palace for many years and have not heard of the affairs outside the palace. You probably don't know that the Li family has no one left."

Upon hearing these words, Concubine De, who had been expressionless, suddenly changed her expression, becoming even a little ferocious. "Qin Fang! I know you blame me, but the Li family is connected to you by blood, so why do you have to do this?"

Prince Cheng held his chin in his hand and even had the leisure to admire Concubine De's expression: "Mother, I am telling the truth."

De Fei's eyebrows knitted together, and she said angrily, "Your Majesty promised me that he would leave a bloodline of the Li family. Your Majesty would not lie to me."

When Prince Cheng heard this, he laughed as if he had heard some big joke.

Defei was so angry that she threw the wooden fish in her hand.

Prince Cheng caught it, even playing with it in his hands for a while, before looking up and saying, "Mother, mother, how can I say anything about you? Back when you were so favored, even father showed no mercy to the Li family."

"You've been in the cold palace for over a decade now. How could you still believe what Father said? Do you really think that just by having a face that Father likes, you can save the Li family? Or do you think a fake prince like me can have such influence?"

De Fei was so angry that her blood boiled. The calm expression on her face disappeared. She seemed to have gained a bit more popularity. Her original temperament of being otherworldly also disappeared: "Speak properly."

Prince Cheng laughed and said, "You see, I'm telling you the truth, but you don't want to believe it."

Concubine De took a deep breath and said angrily, "Fang'er, you can blame me, but don't implicate the Li family. The injustice they've suffered is already great enough. Mother asks for nothing else but to wash away the stigma of the past."

Prince Cheng nodded and said sincerely, "Mother, I know that since the day I was born, your only thought has been to redress the injustice done to the Li family."

"Then why are you..." Defei said angrily.

Prince Cheng added, "But mother, I did not lie to you. The Li family is no longer in existence."

Concubine De frowned and said, "How is that possible? His Majesty promised me that he would spare your cousin's life."

Prince Cheng nodded and said, "Indeed, they left it behind back then."

De Fei glanced at him and said quietly, "In that case, no matter how poor your cousin is now, you should give him more support. Things that belong to the Li family should be returned to the Li family."

Prince Cheng smiled and said, "My cousin didn't die back then, but he passed away within two years. Father probably kept it a secret for many years because he was afraid you would be sad."

This sentence was a fatal blow to Concubine De, and her face turned pale: "You lied!"

Prince Cheng continued, "Mother, this is something I only learned after leaving the palace. But don't worry, my cousin died of illness on his own, so it can't be said that my father lied to you."

Concubine De gasped for breath. She couldn't believe that the heir of the Li family that she had saved with so much effort and even sent her daughter to pretend to be a prince in order to win had actually died so early.

If this is true, then what is the purpose of her planning and forbearance over the years?

Concubine De looked up at Prince Cheng. His face, which bore a slight resemblance to hers, was more heroic than delicate. He just stared at her with a smile on his face: "You did it on purpose!"

Prince Cheng laughed and said, "How could my mother think of me like that? When this happened, I was just a child. It was hard for me to protect myself, so how could I have the extraordinary means to save others?"

"You're blaming me!" Defei scolded. "What good would it do you if the Li family had no descendants?"

Prince Cheng asked in return, "What good will it do me if the Li family is rehabilitated?"

"This son of mine will never be able to ascend the throne as emperor in this lifetime. Mother, aren't you most aware of this?"

De Fei shuddered all over, tears streaming down her face. "Can't you think about your mother?"

Prince Cheng laughed and said, "Don't worry, mother. If the Li family is wronged, it won't be difficult to redress their wrongdoing."

Concubine De shuddered again, and then she heard Prince Cheng continue to ask, "But mother, is the Li family really wronged?"

"You!" Concubine De looked at her son in disbelief.

Prince Cheng played with the wooden fish in his hand for a moment, "I still remember when I was young, my mother often asked me to kneel in this ancestral hall and apologize to the Li family for my father and the Great Zhou."

"At that time, I didn't understand and thought I had done something wrong. I was willing to listen to you, Mother, and kneel down obediently."

"But now I understand."

"Mother, look, I am still alive. If you truly consider me a member of the Li family, you shouldn't be so sad."

"How can they be the same? Your surname is Qin, not Li!" Defei shouted hysterically.

Prince Cheng placed the wooden fish back into Concubine De's hands and said with a smile, "Mother, you still remember my surname is Qin. I thought you didn't know this, so you forced me like this."

After saying this, Prince Cheng stood up and asked calmly, "Mother, if you wish to stay here, then stay. If you wish to leave, I can take you away. As for the rest, forget it as soon as possible. The Li family no longer exists."

Concubine De let out a scream, especially when Prince Cheng looked down at her, which made her realize that this was no longer the child she could force to kneel down.

Yes, this child has been born with a rebellious nature. He grew up in the cold palace and beside her, but he has no feelings for the Li family. He is indeed worthy of being a member of their Qin family.

De Fei roared, "Qin Fang, don't you have any mother-daughter affection at all!"

Prince Cheng looked at her coldly and asked, "Mother, when you used the secret medicine on a six-year-old child, did you ever think about the mother-son relationship?"

After he finished speaking, he bent down and looked at Concubine De, and said word by word: "I will tell you the truth. Fortunately, my cousin died early, otherwise I would have been unable to resist and took action."

"After all, to be able to raise a daughter like my mother who can be so cruel to her own children, it shows what kind of people the Li family is. Father has done many wrong things over the years, but attacking the Li family back then might have been the only right thing he did!"

After saying the last sentence, Prince Cheng turned away without looking at the distorted face.

It was unknown how long it had been before Concubine De finally yelled at his back, "Fang'er, come back! You are my only child. How could I not love you? Fang'er!"

Prince Cheng did not stop for a moment. The affection between them as mother and daughter had been worn out during those years of confinement. She might have had expectations in the past, but now she had seen clearly and no longer had any extravagant hopes.

When he walked out of the cold palace, the sadness on Prince Cheng's face disappeared.

The guards on both sides looked at each other and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, do you need to withdraw the guards?"

Prince Cheng simply said, "No need. It will remain the same as it was before."

The two guards who were left behind looked at each other in bewilderment. Wasn't Concubine De the biological mother of Prince Cheng? Why did his words seem to mean that he wanted to continue to imprison Concubine De?

Before leaving, Prince Cheng glanced back at the cold palace and added, "If she wants to come out, send someone to send her to Prince Cheng's residence. Don't worry about the rest."