He has endured too much today. First, his daughter hates him, and now she tells him that Consort Jing is a princess from the previous dynasty, and that she only approached him for revenge. How can she accept this?
"Your Majesty, look."
The Empress stepped forward and presented the evidence to the Emperor one by one.
What are these things?
The Empress explained, "A while ago, a wise man predicted that Qingwan and Qingyin would suffer a bloody disaster, saying that they would be harmed by villains."
"I was very worried, so I set up a scheme to find out the mastermind behind the murder, but I accidentally discovered Consort Jing's secret."
“These prayer beads were given to me by that wise man; they can record the voice of the wearer.”
"These two beads were worn by the palace maids Shaoyao and He Fang in Consort Jing's palace."
As the empress spoke, she pressed a switch, and the recorder emitted sound, recording their conversation.
The emperor was both shocked and amazed to see that the two ordinary beads could actually make human voices.
"It was after overhearing their conversation that I realized Consort Jing must have a secret, so I sought help from a wise person."
"The master has given me another magical artifact, which can not only record sound but also record images of people."
As the Empress spoke, she turned on the video recorder again, which showed Consort Jing smearing blood on her face in front of the camera, then her skin wrinkled, and she actually tore off a human skin face.
The face beneath the human skin was also beautiful, but completely different from Consort Jing's, and its whiteness was somewhat unnatural, perhaps because the skin had been covered for a long time, making it look very unhealthy.
"After discovering this secret, I must not alert her, lest she become desperate and harm Your Majesty, or you will not believe me and think that I am deliberately framing her."
"After all, this woman is adept at bewitching people."
"In order to find out her true identity, I went to great lengths to find this portrait."
"This is a portrait of the former dynasty's empress, who looks about seven or eight parts similar to this woman."
The Emperor looked at the portrait and ordered someone to peel off the human skin mask from Consort Jing's face. Her pale face did indeed look very similar to the one in the portrait.
Consort Jing looked bewildered. Had her years of planning all come to naught?
"No, that's not how it is."
"It is the Empress who is framing me. I beg Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly."
The Empress angrily retorted, "Injustice?"
"How could I have wronged you? How much power do I have to give you a new face?"
"But you, you've fooled the Emperor for twenty years with a fake face, you're really something."
"I have already sent people to arrest your lover. You want to confuse the royal bloodline and have Chu Zhongyuan overthrow the court and restore the Great Zhou? Keep dreaming."
Upon hearing the Empress's words, the Emperor was so shaken that he could barely stand, appearing deeply shocked.
What did the Empress mean by that?
Could it be... could it be that Yuan'er isn't his biological son?
Consort Jing was so angry she almost vomited blood. Her slender white fingers trembled as she pointed at the Empress: "You...you poisonous woman, you're spouting lies!"
"Your Majesty, do not believe this vile woman's words. Yuan'er is your child, without a doubt, the real one."
"Don't doubt Yuan'er, Yuan'er really is your child."
The Emperor stared at Consort Jing's unfamiliar face, feeling no sympathy whatsoever: "How can I trust you?"
Consort Jing was speechless; she didn't know how to explain herself.
At this moment, the dying Golden Peony spoke again: "Mother, don't beg him. His heart is made of stone. He won't soften his heart."
“He has already become suspicious of his elder brother. Even if his elder brother is his biological brother, he will not pass the throne to his elder brother.”
"Moreover, the Emperor was not his child to begin with."
“He is a treacherous dog who stole our Great Zhou Kingdom. You are a princess of Great Zhou, how could you bear his child?”
Consort Jing roared, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
"Mother, stop struggling. Rather than being humiliated and tormented by this tyrant, you'd better come with me."
"He'er, don't talk nonsense. You and your brother are both the Emperor's children."
“It is no pity that my mother died, but your identities cannot be questioned.”
Jin Mudan adopted an indifferent attitude towards life and death: "Mother, I heard everything you said to that person behind the rockery that day."
"You said that your brother was conceived with you on the night of the Lantern Festival twenty-five years ago."
Consort Jing's eyes widened. It turned out that the person who had been eavesdropping that day was not Mo Lingchen, but her daughter.
Consort Jing was filled with regret. If she hadn't used tricks to send Mo Lingchen to war, none of this would have happened.
But Yuan'er really is her child with the emperor, and if she wants to restore the country, she must let Yuan'er ascend the throne.
Isn't giving birth to someone else's child a recipe for suicide?
How could she make such a basic mistake, and why would she leave herself with such a fatal weakness?
She truly regretted it. She had said those words herself, and even He'er believed them, let alone the Emperor.
"That's not how it is. Your mother lied to him so that he would help your brother deal with the Crown Prince."
“Your elder brother is truly the Emperor’s child.”
Tears streamed down Jin Mudan's face: "It doesn't matter whose child my brother is anymore, he has already lost."
"Mother, we have failed."
"Mother, it's all my fault. If I hadn't been so willful, none of this would have happened."
"Mother, don't live in pain anymore, come with me."
As Jin Mudan spoke, she used all her strength to plunge the hairpin into Consort Jing's heart.
"He'er, you...you..."
"You're not He'er, who are you?" Consort Jing stared at 'Chu Qinghe' with a look of horror.
Jin Mudan met her gaze: "Mother, of course I am your daughter, but you shouldn't have let my husband go to war, and you shouldn't have cut off his path to survival."
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