Chapter 118 Life Story

The carriage rolled through the streets where dusk was deepening, all the way to the marquis's mansion.

Xie Jinglan closed his eyes slightly, and Cai Huichun's last narration echoed repeatedly in his mind, piecing together the fragments of the past bit by bit.

After Cai Huichun and Lu Zhaoyi were forcibly sent out of the palace, although they were both exiled to the ends of the earth under the persecution of the Queen, they both knew that the words "honesty and shame" were more important than a thousand pounds.

If they really live together relying on this awkward relationship, wouldn't that be confirming the false charge of "adultery"?

Both of them are proud and arrogant. They would rather struggle to survive on their own than give others an advantage, let alone humiliate each other.

Cai Huichun was heartbroken and only survived by relying on the sole belief of making drugs to save his daughter. He buried himself in various poisons, paralyzed himself almost in a self-abuse manner, and was indifferent to everything in the outside world.

However, Concubine Lu soon discovered that she was pregnant with the Dragonborn.

She pawned everything she could, set up a small food stall on the street, and made a living in the market with her increasingly heavy pregnancy.

Although she has good cooking skills, her appearance is too outstanding, and even her plain clothes cannot hide her beauty, which often attracts the harassment of some ruffians with bad intentions.

Concubine Lu lived in fear all day long, walking on thin ice.

It was in such a panic and helpless situation that the man who often came to her stall took the initiative to offer her a stable life.

The man had long been in love with her, sympathized with her situation, and did not care about her vague past. He sincerely took her into his home.

But the man already has a wife, and Lu Zhaoyi is very conflicted... She is well aware of her sensitive identity. If she officially enters the mansion, any changes in the future will bring disaster to the man who treats her well.

In the end, she had no choice but to become his mistress and quietly settled down in the suburbs of the city.

Later, she gave birth to a child in that small courtyard.

And that child was Wen Ning!

Xie Jinglan opened his eyes and looked at the person leaning in his arms.

She is a daughter of a royal family, and her bloodline is undoubtedly royal!

But at the same time, she is also the daughter of the convicted Zhaoyi.

He knew very well that once the truth was revealed, it would be like a huge rock thrown into a lake, causing a thousand waves.

He asked himself if he could control the current situation in the court?

Could he be sure that the unpredictable emperor believed the truth that had been revealed twenty years later?

Most importantly, can he ensure that the emperor will not harm his Ning'er out of anger, suspicion, or to maintain the royal face?

Every question was like a cold thorn, entwining and tightening his heart.

He was so absorbed in this great worry and calculation that he did not even notice when the carriage stopped.

The coachman spoke softly outside the curtain, and he subconsciously stood up and got off the carriage directly. With a frown on his face, he completely forgot to turn around to pick up Ning'er who was supporting him.

Xie Jinglan walked in front, taking heavy and fast steps. Wen Ning followed behind and had to lift her skirt slightly and jog at a fast pace to just be able to keep up with him.

Wen Ning didn't know what the master had said to the Marquis, but she saw that he had a frown on his face the whole time.

She thought the man was angry with his master and also blamed herself.

An indescribable feeling of grievance surged in my heart, my nose felt sore, and my eyes involuntarily turned slightly red.

Xie Jinglan was immersed in his turbulent thoughts when he suddenly heard a soft voice behind him calling, "My Lord..."

He suddenly came to his senses and stopped in his tracks. He was shocked to realize that he had been completely immersed in his thoughts all the way and had left Ning'er aside.

He turned around immediately and saw Ning'er standing in the cold wind, her nose slightly red from the cold, her pair of autumn-water eyes filled with mist, and she was looking at him while biting her lip.

Seeing that look, his heart suddenly tightened.

Xie Jinglan immediately turned back and grabbed her hand, but felt it was cold and regretful.

He quickly and carefully tightened the collar of her loose cloak and asked in a low voice, "Why are your hands so cold? Are you frozen? It's my fault. I was lost in thought just now."

Wen Ning felt a little relieved by the warmth from his palm, but she still raised her little face and asked, "What were you thinking about just now, Lord Marquis?"

Xie Jinglan's eyes flickered slightly. He knew that this was a serious matter. He had to find the right time to tell her bit by bit. He must not reveal everything at once and scare her.

He rubbed her cheek with his fingertips and said, deliberately avoiding the main point, "I was thinking... your master's previous promise to detoxify me, I wonder if it still counts now."

He paused, his tone dropping to a low note. "But right now, he's just experienced the pain of losing his daughter, and he's heartbroken. This isn't the time to discuss this. I've been enduring this poison for over two years, after all. There's no need to rush. Let him recover, then we can talk..."

…

The second day.

Xie Jinglan was writing furiously at his desk in the study, carefully copying the prepared memorial.

"I have been ordered to investigate an old case concerning the aftermath of Consort Lu and the reputation of the imperial court.

I have hesitated again and again, feeling deeply that this matter is of great importance and I dare not fail to report it. However, I also dare not make rash decisions on the internal affairs of the royal family. I humbly beg Your Majesty to make a wise and decisive decision.

After extensive investigation by officials, it was confirmed that Concubine Lu's body was not buried in the imperial mausoleum according to regulations twenty years ago.

However, twenty years have passed, and things and people have changed, making it difficult to find direct witnesses and evidence.

In my humble opinion, the key to this case may not be how the body was replaced, but why it was replaced.

Your Majesty is wise and insightful, and knows people's hearts. Perhaps you can ask those who were close to you in the past to find out the whole story. There is no need to mobilize a large army, and you can also preserve the dignity of the royal family.

This is all I have investigated.

The deeper reasons behind this are beyond the reach of outsiders, nor do they dare to delve into it.

Therefore, I will report what I know to Your Majesty, and I humbly ask for your wise decision on how to deal with this matter."

Xie Jinglan wrote with great caution, every word was spoken with care, every sentence was implicit, and he only pointed vague clues to the queen, while the rest of the thrilling inside story was suppressed.

He knew full well that twenty years had passed since the mausoleum incident. How could a shrewd person like the queen be completely unprepared? She must have already prepared countless excuses to deal with the questions.

But if he analyzed the truth too specifically in this memorial, then the first person to be pushed to the forefront and suffer the emperor's wrath would be Cai Huichun!

By then, the secret of Wen Ning's life experience will be exposed.

He didn't dare to gamble, as he couldn't predict what decision a suspicious emperor would make.

Therefore, I would never dare to put Ning'er in such a situation at this moment.

…

Just one day after the memorial was presented to His Majesty, the Empress was summoned for questioning regarding the old case of Concubine Lu.

The queen took out a yellowed silk handkerchief and said it was a letter written in blood by Concubine Lu.

She knelt before the emperor, tears in her eyes, and claimed that before Concubine Lu hanged herself, she had asked someone to hand this handkerchief to her, and the words between the lines were full of boredom with the palace walls.

She said that she was born in a humble family and was unworthy of the Majesty's favor. After her death, she did not want to be imprisoned in the high walls anymore, and she was ashamed to be buried in the imperial mausoleum to be worshipped by future generations. She only asked the Queen to show mercy and send her body out of the palace and find an ordinary place to bury her so that she could be a free commoner in the next life.

This matter concerned the reputation of the royal family. Even though the emperor was extremely angry and his blood was boiling in his chest, he did not impose severe punishment in the end.

He only issued an edict to reprimand the empress for her inappropriate and improper behavior, stripped her of her power to assist in managing the six palaces, and temporarily replaced her with Concubine Hui, and fined her one year's salary.