Chapter 345 Life History
Song Shiwei's face turned pale as paper, and she tried her best to calm down and said, "Your Majesty, I was just summoned by the Queen Mother to make the calming incense, and I have only met Prince Yu a few times. How can I be called as his accomplice?"
"Your Majesty, please find out the truth and clear your name."
The emperor sat on the chair, turning the jade ring on his thumb, and remained silent.
Song Shiwei couldn't figure out what he was thinking, so she knelt down and looked at him carefully.
It was cold at night. Because of the palace banquet and the Queen Mother calling her an accomplice every day in Cining Palace, the Ministry of Internal Affairs naturally didn't dare to send her charcoal fire, so Song Shiwei could only curl up in the quilt to keep warm at night.
At first, she was frightened by the emperor, but she didn't realize it. Now that she came to her senses, she felt the cold and couldn't help shaking.
After a long time, the emperor spoke: "I don't believe you are the accomplice of Prince Yu, but..."
Hearing him say that, Song Shiwei's eyes just rose with joy, and she saw the emperor lowered his eyes, and his deep eyes hid some inquiry: "If as you said, you are just mixing the incense for the queen mother, then why did she frame you and put you to death?"
Song Shiwei's eyes condensed slightly, thinking of the words that the palace maid had delivered before, she kept licking her lips and hesitated: "Because... I know some of her secrets."
"Secret?"
After opening the conversation, the following words were much easier to say. Song Shiwei spat out all the words like she was talking about beans: "Your Majesty, at first I only made the incense to calm the mind. Later, the Queen Mother might have found it useful, so she ordered me to make... aphrodisiac incense for her."
Her voice became lower and lower as she spoke the following words. If the Emperor had not been close to her, he probably would not have heard the three words aphrodisiac incense.
The Emperor naturally knew about the Queen Mother's debauchery, and it was not impossible for him to drag her into this matter.
"Did you see who it was clearly?"
Song Shiwei was thinking about that person in her mind, but she shook her head: "I am only responsible for making perfume. The ones who serve the empress dowager closely are only Qiu Yi and Shuang Ning."
The emperor's eyes were heavy. After a moment, he suddenly asked: "Why did Jiang Zhaorong adopt you as his adopted daughter?"
He changed the subject too quickly. Song Shiwei was stunned at first, then she spoke carefully: "My father died for saving him, and my mother also died of illness. There were no relatives in my family. In order to repay the favor, he adopted me as his adopted daughter."
Song Shiwei was uneasy, and the emperor seemed to be asking casually. Then he continued: "You and Zhiyu have lived together for nearly ten years, and you should know her well. Do you think Zhiyu is different now than before?"
What does it mean?
Song Shiwei's eyebrows raised slightly, and then she pulled it down forcefully.
Did the emperor mean by this that he was suspicious of Jiang Zhiyu?
She cleared her throat: "Your Majesty, I dare not speak nonsense in front of you, but Zhiyu has indeed changed a lot now."
"Not to mention her extraordinary medical skills and martial arts, which I have never seen in the mansion. Just talking about Zhiyu's current style of doing things is very different from before."
"She used to be very filial and never contradicted the words of the elders, but now, Your Majesty should not have heard that when my grandmother was alive, she slapped my grandmother."
Song Shiwei looked heartbroken, and a hint of sarcasm flashed in the emperor's eyes, and he hummed lightly.
Hearing the doubt in his tone and fearing that he might not believe her, Song Shiwei added: "The servants in the palace all know about this. Your Majesty can go and interrogate her. This is definitely not just nonsense from your servant."
The emperor did not say anything, but his face was ugly and dark.
Song Shiwei tried her best to suppress the corners of her mouth that were rising wildly. The emperor also knew that if he did not leave, she would not be able to help but laugh out loud in front of him.
The emperor got up and left considerately, leaving her space to be ecstatic alone.
Seeing the emperor coming out, Fuping followed behind him in an orderly manner and did not dare to speak.
The emperor rubbed his brows as he walked.
Song Shiwei's identity was different. It was possible that she was a debt owed by Jiang Zhaorong outside. But even if she was Jiang Zhaorong's biological daughter, Jiang Zhaorong should not be so partial to her.
He coughed lightly, and Fuping came forward: "Your Majesty? Are you cold?"
"I'm fine, go to the imperial prison and find the thousand households, I have something for him to do," Fuping replied, and was about to leave, the emperor said again: "Tell him to send more people to watch Jiang Zhaorong, and report to me in detail who he meets and what he does."
...
In the mansion, Jiang Zhaorong's face was ashen.
He sat in front of the desk, his eyes were deep, and his mouth was tightened.
I was still anxious, and I exposed the secret line that had been planted in the palace for many years. As a prince, if Xiao Yanli really wanted to send a message, would he not have someone?
It was clearly a test for me, but I didn't think too much and told him. As expected, he
deserved to be the one who could finally sit in that position, his mind was deep, and it was obvious.
He sighed lightly, picked up the letter on the desk, and read it word by word.
But his thoughts drifted far away.
When the emperor first ascended the throne, the court and the country were in turmoil. Because the previous emperor was obsessed with immortality and ignored state affairs, corrupt officials were rampant, and the people were living in misery. Some people thought of restoring the previous dynasty.
The princess and the prince who were lucky enough to escape from the palace became the favorites of all forces.
Jiang Zhaorong didn't know how they were separated. He was leading his elite troops back to the city at that time, but was shot by these people along the way. Thinking it was an ambush set by the enemy, they killed them all. When he was about to leave, he heard the crying of the baby girl.
Jiang Zhaorong picked her up and learned the true identity of the baby girl from the things stuffed in the swaddling clothes. He was hesitant at first, but that was a treasure from the previous dynasty!
The situation in Beijing was like a pool of muddy water, and it was unclear where to go. At this moment, Jiang Zhaorong naturally would not bring back a baby girl of unknown origin to attract everyone's attention.
So Jiang Zhaorong hid it from everyone and handed the baby girl to his trusted wife, who was also his concubine: Du Wen, to raise.
In order to prevent complications, Jiang Zhaorong also lied to her that this was his biological daughter.
At that time, Du Wen had just given birth. Although she was unhappy, she still endured it for Jiang Zhaorong's words: marry her as a wife after the war is settled.
However, accidents happened frequently, and she had to take care of two children alone. Jiang Zhaorong was afraid that spies would find her, so he cut off contact with her. Her husband followed Jiang Zhaorong around, and letters from home would only come once every ten days or half a month.
Without a source of income, her situation became increasingly difficult. Due to the cold winter, both of her children caught a cold. She ran down the mountain with her two children in her arms, and one of them had already died.
The other was also hard to save.
Jiang Zhaorong heard about this and took time out to visit her at night.
After confirming that the living child was the princess of the previous dynasty, Jiang Zhaorong was relieved and spoke sweet words to her again. He comforted her before leaving.