The palace maids and eunuchs were all prostrate on the ground.
Interrupted by the old nanny's shout, Consort De finally regained some of her composure. "Waaah... Nanny, what should I do? Thirteenth Prince..."
The more Consort De thought about it, the more heartbroken she became, and she couldn't help but feel grief. When she was pregnant with Prince Jing, she was just a minor concubine, and she kept it a secret until she was almost due to give birth. Even so, she almost didn't give birth.
She barely survived the ordeal of giving birth, only to be caught up in the fact that Consort Yun was appointed a concubine upon entering the palace.
She gave birth to a prince, but was only granted the title of a minor noblewoman, without even the right to raise the child herself. Her resentment and hatred were slowly vented on the fifth prince, whom she could only see once every few days.
When she became pregnant with Thirteen, she had already been granted the title of Noble Consort. After giving birth to Thirteen, she was promoted to Consort De, and Thirteen naturally stayed by her side to raise him.
Those were the children she fed and raised herself!
"Alas... Your Majesty, after all, you are mother and son. When the Thirteenth Prince returns, Your Majesty can give Prince Jing some gifts, and Your Majesty... Your Majesty will understand that Your Majesty is just anxious and will not blame you."
The old nanny sighed.
Unable to persuade her with all her might, she could only try to coax her. This wasn't the first or second time, and Her Highness would understand. The nanny spent half a day pampering and coaxing her, and finally managed to appease Consort De.
Prince Jing left Consort De's palace.
Passing by Lingju Palace, he suddenly stopped. "I received news from Consort Ling's hometown a few days ago. I'll just inform her and go tell her."
The eunuch who accompanied him hurriedly went to Lingju Palace to deliver the message.
Soon, an old nanny who was wiping her sweat came out, bowed, and reported, "Greetings, Your Highness Prince Jing. Consort Ling is residing in the West Hall of Lingju Palace. She is unwell and is resting. She is afraid she will not be able to see Your Highness."
Prince Jing glanced at the old nanny, his sharp eyes seeming to instantly see through her heart.
"I have some news that my beauty desires; perhaps hearing it will help her recover."
"Yes...yes."
The old nanny's clothes were soaked with cold sweat. She dared not stop him any longer and led him to the west hall with trembling hands.
Then……
The pale and weak Ling Meiren was helped out. Upon seeing Prince Jing, a glimmer of light finally appeared in her dull eyes, and she opened her mouth, "Ah...ah..."
The old nanny immediately knelt down, saying, "My lady has injured her throat and can't speak."
Prince Jing's eyes narrowed slightly as he scrutinized her closely, noticing a sliver of skin near her hairline...
If she were the princess of Southern Xinjiang, with her Gu worm abilities, how could she have ended up in this state? She must have already slipped away and gone to find Prince Chen.
The person before me is nothing more than a puppet.
As his suspicions were confirmed, Prince Jing resumed his usual gentle and humble demeanor, smiling warmly. "A messenger from the lady's home inquired about her well-being. I happened to come and see for myself. Her complexion is so pale; why didn't you call a physician to examine her?"
As Prince Jing spoke, he instructed his personal guard, "Go and fetch the imperial physician to take a look."
It would be better to have the imperial physician confirm it again.
If this woman were from the Southern Frontier, she might know where the Southern Frontier princess is.
"yes."
The old man retreated upon hearing the sound.
When the old nanny saw that Prince Jing had actually gone to summon the imperial physician, her face turned ashen, and she knelt down with a thud. "Your Highness—the beauty is not ill, it's just that Consort Li and Consort He come to talk to her every day, and the beauty is a little tired from serving them."
These words were practically a direct indication of how Consort Li and Consort He had tormented Consort Ling to this extent.
Consort Li and Consort He always followed the lead of Consort De, and their fathers and brothers also served under Prince Jing.
If we were to investigate further, it would be like a flood washing away the Dragon King's temple.
Upon hearing the names "Consort Li" and "Consort He".
"Ling Meiren" froze instantly, her eyes widened, and she reached out to Prince Jing while anxiously calling out "Ah ah ah".
Although he couldn't speak, the anger and pleading in his eyes were immediately apparent.
Upon hearing the old nanny's words, Prince Jing's expression changed. He frowned and looked at "Consort Ling," saying, "Since you're tired, why don't you go and find some food and drink to serve you?"
They sent the old nanny away.
Prince Jing leaned closer to "Beauty Ling," his eyes instantly turning icy. "Where is your master?"
"Ling Meiren's" face turned red and blue. With her mouth agape, she used all her strength to finally squeeze out a few words, "I...I...just...take...take me away."
"presumptuous--"
Prince Jing flung away "Beauty Ling's" pleading hand, his eyes turning fierce. "If you don't tell the truth, no one can save you!"
"Ling Meiren" was exhausted. With a flick of Jing Wang's sleeve, she fell to the ground, panting heavily, her eyes wide open, holding her breath as she tried to speak.
Who knew that as she held it in...
His eyes rolled back, and he fainted from holding his breath.
Seeing this, Prince Jing assumed that the puppet was pretending to faint to avoid telling the truth, and his face instantly turned extremely gloomy. "Since Consort Ling is just tired, there is no need for the imperial physician to come and see her. Let her rest!"
How stubborn!
Even if this pawn is unwilling to reveal the whereabouts of the Southern Border Princess, he will find her by searching the entire capital!
As for this puppet...
He doesn't need to deal with her; as long as news spreads that she angered him, someone else will naturally take care of her.
then……
When "Ling Meiren" woke up, she learned that not only had Prince Jing not rescued her from the fire, but because she had offended him, she had become the target of trampling and humiliation by the concubines in the harem, and she fainted again.
But it doesn't matter, the harem has plenty of ways to awaken people...
Upon returning to his residence, Prince Jing immediately dispatched all his men to search for the Southern Border Princess.
Meanwhile, news broke.
The Cui family has a group of assassins in their residence, just like the group that assassinated Prince Chen. They seem to have come from the palace, and even the descriptions of their clothes and face coverings are becoming more and more detailed.
It's practically obvious that they're people under the Empress's control.
Prime Minister Cui could no longer sit still and cried out for justice in court, even going so far as to reveal the results of his investigation—the Prince of Chen was poisoned by the Southern Frontier Gu, and it was because the Southern Frontier princess had acted out of love turned to hatred.
The person who sent someone to the southern border to inform them was one of Prince Jing's men.
The "Lingmeiren" brought back from southern Xinjiang is irrefutable proof!
then……
Before she could even win the Emperor's favor, "Ling Meiren" offended Prince Jing, angered the Emperor, and fell out of favor. If it weren't for her face resembling "Yun Fei," she would probably have been dealt with by a white silk ribbon.
In the imperial court, a storm was brewing, with Prince Jing and Prime Minister Cui's men turning on each other.
In the inner palace, Consort De fell ill. A few days later, Imperial Noble Consort ate something wrong and suffered a miscarriage. It was eventually discovered that it was the nanny who served the Empress who was responsible, and she was beaten to death in front of the Phoenix Palace.
The Empress fell seriously ill and never recovered.
The entire South Palace was thoroughly cleaned up, a large number of spies were killed, and the area was surrounded like an iron barrel, so that no more news of spying could be heard.
On the other side.
Jiang Jiaojiao and Prince Chen's convoy was repeatedly targeted by assassins. The last time, they broke through the protection of the Imperial Guards, destroyed the carriage, and revealed that the people inside were not Jiang Jiaojiao and Prince Chen themselves.
But the real Prince Chen and Jiang Jiaojiao...
Disguised, they headed towards the mines in Sichuan.
"That convoy has indeed been targeted by assassins one after another! I'm afraid... it can no longer be kept secret."
Dao Hong reported through gritted teeth.
Jiang Jiaojiao got off the carriage and stretched her arms and legs that had been curled up all day. "It's definitely impossible to hide it. It's just attracting some attention. Once we enter Shu, with my maternal grandfather and uncles' guards protecting us, we don't need to worry."
"Huh—"
Jiang Jiaojiao looked at the lake that was both strange and familiar, and her expression changed drastically. "It's here!"
Scenes from my past life before my death flashed through my mind.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com