Chapter 529 Discovering He Was Pretending to Be Sick
As dusk settled, there was no sunset tonight, only a dark expanse of clouds.
Later that evening, a torrential rainstorm hit Cheng'an County.
Inside the Zhou family home, Granny Zhuang collected the clothes and went inside to ask Aunt Zhou, "Madam, did the rain come in time today? Did you get wet?"
Aunt Zhou placed the baby in the cradle, saying, "What a coincidence, it just started raining when we got home."
Granny Zhuang smiled and said, "That's good then."
As she spoke, she pointed to several large boxes in the room and said, "By the way, Madam, the merchant caravan that came from the capital today brought some gifts that Wan Chun prepared."
Aunt Zhou walked to the box, opened it, and saw that it was full of children's clothes and shoes.
She took out one of the items and said with a smile, "Wanchun is really thoughtful. Speaking of which, I miss them a little."
Granny Zhuang smiled and said, "We'll go to the capital to see them sometime."
Aunt Zhou stopped laughing and sighed, "I don't know when we can go back to the capital."
Granny Zhuang replied, "Didn't His Majesty clear the woman's name a few days ago?"
Aunt Zhou shook her head with a bitter smile and said, "Even if I clear my name, I can't go back. The Empress is dead, and that's it."
Granny Zhuang was taken aback.
Aunt Zhou rocked the cradle beside her, looking at the child inside, her eyes softening. "It's good not to be an empress. It would be nice if things could stay this way."
Granny Zhuang softened her expression and said, "What Madam says is also true."
In Aunt Zhou's heart, she was no longer the empress; the empress had already died when she was assassinated.
Or perhaps even earlier, she had already died when she was banished to the cold palace.
The rain lasted for three days.
Three days later, the weather cleared up, and the emperor actually bought a house opposite the Zhou family's residence and moved in.
No one knew who he was; they simply assumed he was a merchant from out of town.
He had his face painted black, wore a fake beard, and was hunched over, looking exactly like an old, weathered wealthy man.
On the contrary, the Third Prince has a wife and daughter, and he is always in high spirits. The two of them look more like father and son than brothers.
Within three days, the emperor had investigated everything thoroughly.
It turns out that Zhou Ruiyuan and Zhou Feng are his sons.
They had been keeping it from him all along.
As for the third brother, he hasn't found out where he is now.
When Zhou Zhao went to the military camp, Zhou Ruiyuan and his uncle deliberately kept a secret and gave him a completely new fake identity.
Apart from a few trusted confidants, no one in the military camp knew about his relationship with the Zhou family.
The Emperor only thought of him as a brave and skilled new nobleman, and was completely unaware that his relationship with Zhou Ruiyuan and Zhou Feng was unusual.
Now that the emperor has discovered the Zhou family's identities, he can conveniently exclude Zhou Zhao from the list.
When the emperor learned that Zhou Ruiyuan was the crown prince he had always longed for, he was both happy and regretful.
I am happy that I have such a good son.
She regretted that she should not have killed the mother and her two children back then. Now that Zhou Ruiyuan never mentions her background in court, he must not have forgiven her yet.
The emperor was not in a hurry. He constantly reminded himself not to be rash. He wanted to welcome them home in a grand manner and return to the days of filial piety and parental love.
He wrote a secret letter to Eunuch Xu, instructing him to continue concealing his departure from the palace and to take good care of Lord Zhou, and to kill anyone who harmed them.
Eunuch Xu was one of the few people, besides Eunuch Zhang, who was loyal to the Emperor.
He had a deep affection for Eunuch Zhang and originally intended to retire and return to his hometown so that Eunuch Zhang could succeed him. However, now that Eunuch Zhang was in a coma, he had no choice but to stay in the palace.
After receiving the secret letter, Eunuch Xu was very surprised and it took him a long time to process what was in it.
Following the Emperor's instructions, he used the excuse that the Emperor was seriously ill and recuperating to temporarily hand over the affairs of the court to the Seventh Prince.
When the Seventh Emperor received this news, he was flattered and rushed to the Zhou family to find Zhou Ruiyuan.
"Brother, why do you think Father suddenly thinks so highly of me and has appointed me as regent?"
Zhou Ruiyuan poured him a cup of tea and said slowly, "Looking around him now, you are the only one he can trust."
The seventh prince scratched the back of his head, smiled, and said, "That's true."
Du Wanchun brought out the prepared food from the backyard and asked, "How long has His Majesty been ill?"
The seventh prince picked up a piece of pastry, ate it, and replied, "I've been sick for about half a month."
Du Wanchun frowned slightly and said, "There's a problem. If she really had been sick for more than half a month, wouldn't the Imperial Hospital be in an uproar? But lately, I haven't heard of anything happening at the Imperial Hospital."
The seventh prince paused, immediately realizing that the pastries in his hand no longer tasted good.
"Sister-in-law, do you think Father might be faking his illness?"
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