Chapter 421 The Emperor is About to Be Tricked
Zhou Ruiyuan often disguises himself, so he was difficult to recognize at first glance.
However, Tao Meiyu felt that Zhou Da Niang's portrait looked somewhat familiar, but she did not think that the person in the portrait was Zhou Da Niang.
"My lord, there are no such people in Qingzhou Prefecture."
Lord Yuan was taken aback, his face immediately filled with disappointment. Unlike Lord Jin, who wanted to find him and kill him directly.
He wanted to find it and then go to the capital to claim credit.
Tao Meiyu's mind raced, and she looked up and said, "Sir, why do you insist on finding them?"
Lord Yuan did not say anything, as he did not want to discuss this matter with a strange woman.
Tao Meiyu stood up and said, "My lord, I have a plan, but I don't know if you would like to hear it."
Lord Yuan turned around and looked at her seriously, "What method?"
This time, Tao Meiyu's mind worked up. "Your Excellency is looking for someone, is it to curry favor?"
Lord Yuan did not reply, his gaze slightly narrowed.
Tao Meiyu continued, "Instead of spending so much time searching, why not just find a few people who look similar to the portrait and submit them?"
Upon hearing this, Lord Yuan realized that there was some truth to it.
They don't even know if the Empress and the Crown Prince are alive or dead. They're searching aimlessly, and who knows how long it will take.
Tao Meiyu smiled and softened her tone, "My lord, finding someone who looks similar is much easier than finding the real person."
After hearing this, Lord Yuan hesitated.
After thinking about it, he sent someone to bring Tao Meiyu along.
Tao Meiyu was overjoyed and quickly followed Lord Yuan into the carriage.
After careful consideration, Lord Yuan decided to first find someone similar to try.
It wasn't that he actually believed the words of a girl of unknown origin, but rather that he had planned to do so before. Meeting Tao Meiyu this time made him feel even more that it was fate, and he wanted to take a gamble.
What a coincidence!
On the way, they actually encountered a woman who looked somewhat like Lord Zhou, and her son also looked somewhat like Zhou Ruiyuan.
However, it only resembles it by about three or four points.
Lord Yuan specially made sure to dress them up to enhance their appearance.
At this moment, the accompanying butler came over and asked, "Master, will this really work?"
The woman and the farmer were both honest farmers, and when they huddled together, each of them was more timid than the last.
Lord Yuan laughed and said, "Alright, of course it's alright. The Empress and the Crown Prince have been away from the palace for so many years. If they really farmed and endured some hardship, wouldn't that be what they'd be like?"
The butler nodded after hearing this, "That's true."
The woman's features resembled those of Aunt Zhou, but she was older, with slightly graying hair and a face full of wrinkles.
This woman looked trembling, but she was actually quite something.
Her surname was Fan. In the past, she was a substitute kept by the Lu family to be by Zhou Da Niang's side, so that if something happened to the Lu family one day, she could die in Zhou Da Niang's place.
Later, Aunt Zhou realized that this was wrong, so she released her from the mansion.
Later, Aunt Zhou entered the palace and became the empress.
After leaving the Lu family, the woman married a farmer and spent her life farming. She harbored resentment towards Aunt Zhou all along.
She felt that if she didn't leave the Lu family, she might be able to enter the palace with them and become an imperial concubine. In any case, it would be better than being a peasant woman.
Because she looked like Aunt Zhou, her son naturally resembled Zhou Ruiyuan somewhat, but his overall demeanor was quite different.
Moreover, he was uneducated and incompetent from a young age, and had accumulated a lot of gambling debts.
When the two of them were arrested, they were initially thought to be thugs coming to collect debts.
It wasn't until Lord Yuan asked them if they wanted to go to the palace and live a carefree life that things changed.
Without a second thought, Madam Fan immediately agreed, "Sir, we are willing! We are willing!"
When Lord Yuan inquired about her, he discovered she was a former member of the Lu family. He was overjoyed, thinking, "This is truly heaven helping me!"
However, he didn't know that this might also be a trap set by God.
After settling the two of them in, Lord Yuan set off back to the capital.
On the way back, Lord Yuan told them a lot about the past of the Empress and the Crown Prince.
Fan was originally Zhou Da Niang's stand-in, so she learned quickly and soon became quite adept at it.
Her son was a bit worse; he was just a petty hoodlum and naturally didn't resemble a prince.
Lord Yuan then told him to pretend to be stupid and say that His Highness the Crown Prince was injured and had become stupid.
As for Tao Meiyu, who came up with the idea, she also got a good job: to impersonate the fake crown prince's wife.
She thought she could use this opportunity to become the Crown Princess.
Little did she know, she was pushing herself to her death.
In Cheng'an County, Du Wanchun was busy collecting silver every day, and his family's silver treasury grew day by day.
Not long after, she heard that the Empress and the Crown Prince had been found by Lord Yuan.
Aunt Zhou and the Third Prince sat together listening to the people in the mansion talk about this matter; they were very happy to hear such gossip.
When Lord Yuan brought the fake empress and the fake crown prince to the emperor.
The emperor rushed out, saw the fake empress, and burst into tears.
The sound of crying truly echoed through the heavens.
This startled the Fan family.
"Zhou'er, my Zhou'er, you've finally returned."
Madam Fan mimicked Granny Zhou's tone, saying, "Your Majesty, Yuan'er and I have returned, but..."
"You mean the second and third sons? I heard from Lord Yuan that they were killed by assassins," the emperor said with a guilty expression.
Madam Fan also looked sad and said, "Yuan'er's brain was also damaged by the fall."
The emperor paused slightly, then sighed, "It's alright, as long as you're back."
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