"I suppose Your Highness and Your Highness already knew about the relationship between me and the Dowager Consort Xiao. Before the Dowager Consort Xiao's accident, I happened to be with her, and she told me some news about Your Highness's birth mother, the Dowager Consort Lian." Liu Yunzhao knelt below, her expression calm, without any intention of seeking credit.

Shang Xiye and Ji Fengyao remained silent, and everyone else present also held their breath.

Those close to the Ninth Prince knew that the Dowager Consort Lian was a knot in his heart. After so many years, there was finally news about her, and everyone was very excited. No one dared to speak casually, for fear of interrupting Liu Yunzhao.

Liu Yunzhao kept her head down, but her expression was firm: "The Dowager Consort Xiao said that a few years after the Dowager Consort Lian left Dazhao, she overheard the Empress Dowager and her maidservants cursing the Dowager Consort Lian through gritted teeth in Cining Palace. They said that the Dowager Consort Lian had become the Queen of Jialuo Kingdom. Fearing that the late Emperor would go to Jialuo Kingdom to find the Dowager Consort Lian, the Empress Dowager had kept this news a secret and never told anyone."

These words immediately shocked everyone present:

The Empress Dowager Lian of Da Zhao became its queen only a few years after leaving Da Zhao.

This is a disgrace not only to the ancestral emperor, but also to the Ninth Prince!

"Is everything you said true?" Shang Xiye clenched his fists tightly in his sleeves, his deep, cold voice filled with complex and inexplicable emotions.

“It was all said by the Dowager Consort Xiao, not a single word is wrong,” Liu Yunzhao said calmly.

Shang Xiye remained silent for a long time: His father held a very important place in his heart. If it weren't for his father's careful protection during his dark childhood, he might have died long ago in the palace's intrigues and all sorts of harm.

Although there were hidden reasons why his mother left Dazhao back then, she turned around and became someone else's queen.

Such a thing... was truly unbearable for him.

Ji Fengyao raised her eyebrows slightly, thinking of the old Consort Lian's identity as a cultivator, but she had a different guess.

But she doesn't know yet.

We cannot be certain what exactly happened to the Dowager Consort Lian back then.

"Your Highness, apart from the Dowager Consort Lian, even our late Emperor might not know the truth of what happened back then. We'll probably have to ask the Dowager Consort Lian to find out the truth," Ji Fengyao said gently, holding Shang Xiye's hand.

Shang Xiye felt the warmth of his wife's soft palm, and his mood calmed down: "Yes, you are right. I should ask my mother about the truth myself."

"Perhaps, the Dowager Consort Lian has been waiting for Your Highness to go and find her all these years," Bai Lu cleverly interjected.

“I think Sister Bailu makes a good point,” Xique chirped excitedly. “Young master, don’t be so sad. What mother in this world doesn’t love her own child? Back in the day, Ah Huang from our Vulture Village, that little puppy rolled off the cliff, and it’s been circling around the edge for half a year now, still thinking about it. How much more so for a person.”

Shang Xiye: "..."

Ji Fengyao: "..."

The room was filled with people: "..."

Bai Lu said awkwardly, "Hehe, Sister Magpie, your analogy..."

"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?" Xi Que looked completely innocent.

Ji Fengyao rubbed her forehead and patted her arm in return: "You're right, you're absolutely right."

Seeing the somewhat awkward atmosphere in the room, Bai Lu quickly said, "Sister Xique, let's go to the kitchen and see if the food is ready. Lord Wang, the Princess, and the Prince Consort have been traveling all the way, so they must be hungry."