Su Xuerong thought for a moment and then told him about her great-aunt from back then: "...She should have been one of the concubines in your grandfather's palace."
Xiao Yuan was stunned: "Also surnamed Su?"
"Um."
He thought for a moment and said, "There shouldn't be many palace servants left from the time of my grandfather. I'll have the Palace Steward check on the people who entered the palace back then. If they entered through the imperial concubine selection, there will definitely be records."
Su Xuerong shook her head: "She wasn't chosen for the imperial concubine selection... I heard from my mother that your grandfather met her when he was traveling south, and he took her directly back to the palace."
The Su family was not actually from Suzhou; their ancestral home was in Wuning, Hongzhou. So, the great-aunt must have been taken in by Emperor Taizu when she was in Hongzhou and brought back to the capital.
Xiao Yuan remembered that his grandfather had indeed made several southern tours after ascending the throne, and must have brought back some stunning beauties from the region...
Su Xuerong said with some melancholy, "Back then, my great-aunt was just an ordinary fisherwoman. Unexpectedly, she caught the eye of the founding emperor. I thought it would bring the entire Su family to prominence, but I never expected..."
Less than six months after this Lady Su was brought back to the capital, the tragic news arrived that she had died of illness in the palace.
"My great-grandfather and the others were met with nothing but bad news and three hundred taels of silver in the end..." Su Xuerong smiled self-deprecatingly, "The lives of ordinary people like us are probably insignificant in their eyes."
Wasn't she the same in her previous life? In the eyes of the Xu family, the lives of her entire family were nothing more than insignificant ants under their feet, and they could kill them however they wanted.
Xiao Yuan said softly, "I'm sorry..."
He apologized to her on behalf of his imperial grandfather.
Su Xuerong sighed: "It wasn't you who did it, so you don't need to apologize to me. I just want to know what the real cause of my great-aunt's death was back then."
She never had this idea before because she couldn't access the secrets of the inner palace, but now that she's the Empress, surely she can find out the cause of her great-aunt's death back then?
Xiao Yuan nodded: "Okay, after we get it, I'll have Gong Zheng find all the records of my grandfather's trip south back then."
He immediately ordered Feng Bao to handle the matter and, incidentally, to find the palace maids who had served Emperor Taizu in the past.
Three days later, Su Xuerong saw several documents personally delivered by Gong Zheng.
"Your Majesty, the founding emperor made three southern tours in the past, bringing back a total of seven concubines. Among them, two were surnamed Su. One was Su Yueming from Tanzhou, the daughter of the prefect of Tanzhou, and the other was Su Xuan'er from Linpu, Fuzhou, who was a dancer on a pleasure boat..."
Gong Zheng looked at Su Xuerong cautiously and noticed that her brows were tightly furrowed.
No, neither of these two people is my great-aunt. My great-aunt's name is Su He, and she is from Wuning, Hongzhou.
She looked at Xiao Yuan in surprise: "Why wasn't it recorded?"
Xiao Yuan was also puzzled. He carefully looked through the records of Emperor Taizu's southward journey. Even dancers were recorded. It was impossible to miss an ordinary fisherwoman.
"Don't rush, we'll question him in detail after Feng Bao brings him back."
Feng Bao returned to the palace in the evening, bringing with him three palace servants, including two eunuchs and one maid.
Xiao Yuan sent the three of them directly to the Imperial Study, where Su Xuerong would personally inquire.
The three men, all with white hair and hunched backs, knelt and kowtowed tremblingly upon seeing the two young emperors and empresses.
Xiao Yuan had a seat offered to him and asked, "I would like to ask if, after the Taizu Emperor returned from his three southern expeditions, did he bring back a fisherwoman surnamed Su?"
The three were taken aback when the new emperor summoned them to ask about this matter. They exchanged bewildered glances and began to rack their brains to recall what they had been doing.
After a long while, a thin eunuch said, "This old servant remembered something. When Emperor Taizu made his third southern tour, he brought a concubine with him. I heard she was a fisherwoman, but whether her surname was Su is unknown. After she entered the palace, she was given the title of Consort Miao, and no one knows her real surname."
The old palace maid suddenly realized, "Oh, it's Consort Miao? I did hear that she used to be a fisherwoman..."
Su Xuerong hurriedly asked, "Have you seen this beautiful woman before?"
All three shook their heads.
"We were just ordinary palace servants, and we never had any direct contact with this lady. So we only heard that this beautiful lady was favored by Emperor Taizu, but we never saw her..."
Su Xuerong suddenly looked at Xiao Yuan: "Does the palace have any portraits or records of the concubines?"
Xiao Yuan immediately looked at Gong Zheng.
After a moment's hesitation, Gong Zheng hurriedly said, "Emperor Taizu also ordered people to paint portraits of his favorite concubines. I will send people to find them immediately."
She immediately arranged for several female officials to go to the Longtu Pavilion to find portraits from the time of Emperor Taizu.
When nearly a hundred portraits of beauties were sent to Cining Palace, even Xiao Yuan felt a chill.
It's truly astonishing how lustful the once wise and powerful Emperor Taizu was.
Su Xuerong took a deep breath and slowly looked at each portrait.
Xiao Yuan also began to examine the portraits from the other end.
Since she is Su Xuerong's great-aunt, she should look somewhat similar to Su Xuerong.
Not only that, even Xiuchun and Granny Cheng followed behind them, slowly admiring these former palace beauties.
Su Xuerong stopped halfway through her journey.
When she saw the portrait of the fisherwoman dressed in extremely simple and unadorned manner, she recognized her at a glance as Suhe.
Seeing that she hadn't moved for a while, Xiao Yuan walked over.
When he saw the stunningly beautiful face in the portrait, he was stunned.
Su He looks more than just similar to Su Xuerong, she looks almost exactly the same!
However, although her face was stunningly beautiful, her watery eyes held a sorrow that could not be described in words.
If Arong were to wear this fisherwoman's outfit, it would be impossible to tell who was who.
Granny Cheng, Xiuchun, and several female officials including Gongzheng were all astonished.
It's unbelievable that there are people in the world who are so similar.
Xiao Yuan immediately said, "Go find all her information."
Gong Zheng immediately stepped forward and looked at the records on the back of the portrait. He said in surprise, "This is indeed the beautiful lady, but the record of her entering the palace does not show her surname as Su, but as Wang. She is from Wuning, Hongzhou."
Su Xuerong was stunned: "Surname Wang?"
Why not use the surname Su?
Gong Zheng quickly found all the records of this beautiful woman.
Su Xuerong looked at the few lines of text on the booklet and felt a pang of sorrow in her heart.
It's quite simple. When Emperor Taizu traveled south, he encountered a fishing girl on a fishing boat in Wuning, Hongzhou. He took her to the imperial palace that very day and favored her. Afterward, he brought her back to the capital and made her a concubine. However, half a year later, the concubine fell seriously ill and died.
The record book only listed the name "Wang," without even a proper name.
Su Xuerong was extremely heavy-hearted, so Xiao Yuan had someone leave behind the portrait of the beautiful woman and the booklet, and then dismissed everyone.
"Your Majesty, I would like to invite my father and mother to the palace."
Xiao Yuan nodded: "It's getting late today, I'll send Feng Bao to pick them up tomorrow."
That night, Su Xuerong slept very restlessly. Every time she closed her eyes, she seemed to see the fisherwoman's sorrowful eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com