Qiao Wanyou shook her head: "I haven't thought about it yet."
"Mother, have you seen the man's appearance clearly? Who is he?" Fu Beimo also asked.
"The angle I was looking in from happened to be blocked by the bed curtains, so I could only see the lower half of his face and a bit of his jaw." Qiao Wanyou sighed, "I hope I can remember what they said as soon as possible."
"Take your time, there's no rush." Long Yi said gently, turning his head to his children and speaking in a deep voice, "Have dinner."
Everyone took chopsticks.
After lunch, Qiao Wanyou yawned.
Seeing this, Long Yi gently advised her: "Take a break."
Qiao Wanyou was indeed very sleepy, so she agreed and was helped back to her room by the palace maid.
Long Yi said to his children, "You can go back too."
"There's no rush to go back." Fu Ciyi said.
"Yes, father, let's wait a little longer. When mother wakes up, I can check her pulse if necessary." Yan Funing also said.
Seeing her filial piety, Long Yi nodded and said, "Then you can just walk around the palace. I will go to accompany your mother."
After saying that, he turned around and went to the bedroom.
Fu Ciyi and the other three walked out of the Queen Mother's bedroom.
Fu Nanyao suggested: "Come sit at my place, we'll come back later."
"Okay." Fu Ciyi agreed.
An hour later, Nanny Li arrived at Fu Nanyao's palace.
"Your Highness, Princess, Princess." Nanny Li walked hurriedly, out of breath. "The Empress has woken up, and the first thing she said was that she remembered."
"I remember!" Fu Nanyao stood up excitedly.
Yan Funing lowered her voice and said, "Be steady. There are many people in the palace. We don't know who is whose spy."
"Yes, sister-in-law is right."
Several people suppressed their excitement and walked slowly towards the Queen's Palace.
When they arrived, Long Yi had already ordered all the palace people to leave, leaving only the couple sitting in the main seats.
Nanny Li bowed and withdrew, going outside to guard.
Qiao Wanyou looked at her children and daughters-in-law and said, "Children, I remember now. Someone probably wanted to kill me to silence me."
She clenched her fist.
Her gaze shifted to Long Yi's face: "Your Majesty, I hope that after hearing this, you will not think of killing us."
"After all this, why don't you believe me?"
"The matter is complicated. The Empress Dowager is your biological mother. I don't know what you will do to protect her."
Long Yi raised his hand: "I swear, no matter what you saw or heard back then, no matter what you say now, I will not take your life!"
Thinking back to what happened back then, Qiao Wanyou's palms began to sweat: "So what did I say?"
Fu Ciyi and others nodded at her.
"Go on."
Long Yi's voice was as gentle as possible.
"The morning I saw a man in the Empress Dowager's room was half a month after the fire," Qiao Wanyou began to recall. "At that time, the Empress Dowager was still the Dowager Consort. She required me to strictly observe the morning and evening visits every day."
"As a daughter-in-law, I have to do it."
"I had clearly done everything I could, but she was still unhappy with me as her daughter-in-law. I was also angry at the time, and I woke up very early that morning because of nausea."
"Since I woke up so early, I thought I'd go and pay my respects to my mother-in-law and let her experience what it's like to be woken up so early."
"As an aside, now that I think about it, the reason I felt sick that day was because of Nan Yao Bei Mo in my stomach."
"To continue what I just said, it was still dawn when I arrived at my mother-in-law's residence. Strangely, the courtyard was very quiet. I've arrived early before, but never as quiet as that day."
"So I became more cautious and walked very lightly."
"Suddenly, the sound of a man and a woman talking came from the room, which made my heart skip a beat."
"I bravely peeked through the crack in the door and saw my mother-in-law nestled in a man's arms."
"The mother-in-law told the man that she had wronged him over the years and would continue to wrong him in the future. The man said that as long as he was by her side, he felt only happiness and not wronged at all."
"When I heard this, I was shocked. What does 'all these years' mean? It means they have been together for a long time."
"How can a concubine keep a lover? This is a huge scandal."
"What shocked me even more was what happened next. My mother-in-law told the man that it was thanks to him that she would have been sent to the cold palace."
"I don't understand why it was thanks to that man that my mother-in-law would have been sent to the cold palace. But seeing the two of them snuggling together and hearing them say they had been together for a long time, I was panicked when I heard such great news and quickly retreated."
"I didn't expect that I bumped into something when I stepped back, making a noise, and then I heard someone's questioning voice from inside the room."
"I didn't dare to say a word and hurried out of the yard."
"Now that I think about it, I was probably discovered."
"After all, I am the only one who pays respects to the Dowager every morning and evening. Mother-in-law will know the answer immediately."
"Since then, I've lived in constant fear. After all, my mother-in-law has considerable influence, and she often punishes me. I don't know whether I should tell anyone else about this news, and I don't know who to tell."
"It wasn't until one night half a month later, Your Majesty, that we had a huge argument. I couldn't help but mention that your mother had done something wrong to your father, but I didn't specify what it was."
Qiao Wanyou looked at Long Yi: "Your Majesty, this is what happened."
Long Yi said solemnly, "I believe what you say. Don't worry, I will never take your lives because of this."
"That's good. I'll say a few more words." Qiao Wanyou sighed and pointed at the green-faced, fang-toothed mask placed far away. "Ever since that morning, I've often been frightened by ghostly faces at night. I was young and naive back then, and I didn't connect the ghostly faces with what I had seen before."
"Now that I think about it, the appearance of Ghost Face has a lot to do with me being the one who saw it happen."
Qiao Wanyou said, "Your Majesty, I don't know who is around the Empress Dowager now. The man from back then might still be by her side, or she might have arranged for him to stay outside the palace. I believe it will not be difficult for Your Majesty to find that person, but I am afraid that Your Majesty will not look for him for the sake of your mother's reputation."
"I will find it." Long Yi's face was filled with joy as he looked at his third son and his third daughter-in-law. "But can you tell me specifically where you got the mask?"
"The cold palace." Fu Ciyi said, "Please don't blame me, father. She was just found by chance."
"Okay." Long Yi said coldly.
Yan Funing then said, "The mask was found in Concubine Ling's residence. Concubine Ling once possessed a lot of poisons. The mask was found in her residence. It is very likely that the person who originally wore the mask left it behind while looking for poison."
"In fact, when Concubine Ling was banished to the cold palace, all her poisons were taken away. Among those poisons was a drug that caused amnesia. Concubine Ling once said that her drug would only be effective when combined with intimidation."
"When the Queen Mother left the capital, she was still able to see, and she hadn't lost her memory at the time. So, the person who poisoned her thought the existing toxin was useless, so they went to Concubine Ling to find another deadly poison."
"I didn't expect to find it, so I set it on fire and committed the crime."
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