Chapter 140

Li would ask someone to send things to Jiashan. Although Jiashan was a little surprised, she was not too shocked. Li was always a smart person. From the bottom of her heart, although Jiashan and she belonged to different camps, she could not be said to hate her.

The marriage between Li and Zhao Youcheng was arranged by the emperor, and the Pingyang Marquisate and his family were passively boarded the ship of Concubine Zhuang and Prince Lu. In this matter, Li and the Pingyang Marquisate did nothing wrong, they just had a different stance from Jiashan.

Compared to Shuxian's arrogance and Concubine Zhuang's scheming, Li was not really vicious, and Jiashan even admired her in private. Li and Zhao Youcheng had been married for several years, and even though they had no legitimate son, they were still in love. Not only that, she was also able to coax Concubine Zhuang into submission, which was a rare skill.

Now that Li is trying every possible means to get people to donate jade pendants, Jiashan is indeed curious about what she is selling.

A few days later, Jiashan set out from the princess's mansion on a carriage, and she brought a doctor with her.

Tianxing Temple is a royal temple located in the suburbs of Beijing. At present, the case of treason in Pingyang Marquis Mansion has been settled. All the people in the mansion were beheaded or exiled. Under the painstaking efforts of Emperor Zhanghe, Zhao Youcheng was identified as an accomplice, which was considered a case of being implicated. Although he was demoted to a commoner, at least he saved his life. In comparison, Li was not so lucky.

Li is alive now because she is pregnant. But this child has no maternal grandfather or relatives, and will most likely be left without a mother after birth, and the same fate will befall his father. Moreover, if Li gives birth to a boy, who knows what Emperor Zhanghe will think, and what the crown prince will think...

With these thoughts in mind, the guards of Tianxing Temple were not kind to Li, and even had the vague idea that she was unable to give birth. After all, the emperor had not instructed them to give her special care, which clearly showed that he did not care about this grandson.

No one expected that the eldest princess would come all the way from the princess's mansion and bring a doctor with her.

The leading guard in Tianxing Temple was named Shi Bao. He had worked under Zhan Yue before, so he recognized the carriage of the princess's mansion. He hurried forward and kowtowed: "Greetings to Your Highness. Why are you here? This road is rugged and difficult to walk. You are pregnant, so you must not make any mistakes."

Jiashan's belly was already showing, so how could she not understand his implication? She smiled and said, "Yes, I am pregnant now, so my heart has softened. Li and I were pregnant at the same time, and I thought that since she is my father's flesh and blood, the fetus should not be blamed, so I brought Dr. Gong Yu to see if there is anything I can do to help."

As the director of the Imperial Medical Bureau, Gong Bixing was not allowed to see patients privately, which means that the emperor must have known about Gong Bixing's visit.

Thinking of this, Shi Bao quickly changed his tone: "The princess is kind, it is Li's blessing."

He turned around and said, "I will lead the way, Your Highness."

"The road is not easy to walk on. Please be careful."

His tone was courteous, and Jiashan felt much more at ease, so he said, "Thank you."

Li was under house arrest for a month. Her pregnancy was supposed to be bigger than Jiashan's, but due to malnutrition, her belly looked similar in shape to Jiashan's.

Without her golden headgear and rouge, Li looked much more haggard, but her pupils were still watery. When she saw Jiashan, she saluted in a dignified manner: "Hello, Your Highness."

"He's lost weight." Jiashan skipped the complicated questions and etiquette. She turned to Shi Bao and asked casually, "Why are you so careless in treating the emperor's grandson?"

Shi Bao was stunned, and a few drops of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

This... Prince Lu had been demoted to a commoner, and it was still unclear whether the baby in Li's belly was still the emperor's grandson. But he certainly couldn't refute what Jiashan said, after all, the emperor had deliberately spared Li's life for the sake of this flesh and blood.

He had no choice but to apologize, "Your Highness, please forgive me. Tianxing Temple is located in a remote place, and the food is inevitably rough. I have failed in my duty."

He admitted his mistake quickly, so Jiashan didn't want to criticize him any more. He just said, "Go and tell the kitchen to make a few more side dishes for lunch. Pregnant women have a poor appetite, so they can't eat too much oil, but they can't lack meat and fish. You need to be more careful in your daily life."

"Yes, I understand." Shi Bao bowed. After hesitating for a moment, he closed the door and left.

As soon as Shi Baoyi left, Gong Bixing said, "I will take Madam's pulse first. If Your Highness has anything to say to Madam, you can go to the inner room later."

Li said, "It's unnecessary to trouble the judge. Just taking the pulse is not necessary."

Jiashan and Gong Bixing looked at her together.

Although Li's face looked a little thin, her expression was firm: "Time is precious, Your Highness, please come directly to the inner room with the guilty woman."

She paused and said respectfully, "I am a sinner, but I have something to ask for your help."

She used the word "begging", Jiashan frowned slightly and said lightly: "Please."

The conditions in the inner room were not good. The clothes were made of coarse cotton and were very simple. Li was not here to enjoy herself. After entering the inner room, Dancui frowned and said subconsciously, "Your Highness, wait a minute. I will clean up first."

There was no need for Dancui to do anything, as Li's maids had already come forward to clean up. Jiashan waited for them to finish cleaning up before sitting down. She said, "What's the matter? Let me make it short."

Li did not dare to delay, she walked up to Jiashan and knelt down.

Jiashan raised her eyebrows, but she said nothing, waiting patiently for Li's next move.

Li said in a flat voice, "Since I was imprisoned, I have sent messages to Princess Shuxian and Princess Hui'an, but I didn't expect that they would not come, and the first person I met was you, Your Highness."

Li's tone seemed to be somewhat mocking, but she quickly wiped it off and said, "Well, Shuxian and Huian have been implicated by us, and I'm afraid they can't save themselves. When disaster strikes, everyone flees, even a princess is no exception."

"No matter what, I am grateful that you are willing to come." Li's expression remained unchanged and she said softly, "I have a gift here, just right for Your Highness."

Jiashan remained silent, just looking at her indifferently, obviously not intending to respond.

Li did not dare to play tricks and quickly said, "In this rebellion, in addition to the participation of Pingyang Hou, Lu Wang, and Qin Wang, there is also a group of people coming from the northwest. I once wondered how the northwest, which is so far away, could have any connection with the capital. So I asked my brother to investigate for me. Although my brother is not as talented as my son-in-law in both civil and military affairs, he has a lot of clever ideas in such matters. He lived up to expectations and spent half a year to find out a lot of dirt in the northwest."

Li raised her head and said, "It even involves the Yongding Marquis Mansion back then."

Yongding Marquis's Mansion... Jiashan sensed something, but was not swayed by her. He asked directly, "Where is the evidence?"

Li said: "It was on Huaiqing's wet nurse."

She answered very straightforwardly, and Jiashan finally had to say, "You are so frank with me, I wonder if there is anything I can do for you?"

Hearing Jiashan's words, Li almost shed tears. She kowtowed to Jiashan and said sincerely with a nasal voice, "Your Highness is merciful. Your Highness and I are both mothers. At this point, the only thing I am still worried about is Huaiqing."

Since the Prince of Lu was deposed and imprisoned as a commoner, Huaiqing was also stripped of her title of county lord and demoted to an ordinary royal family woman. Royal family women, to put it simply, are women born from royal families without any titles. Most of the concubines born to princes receive this treatment. Compared with the fate of the Prince of Lu and Li, the emperor's punishment of Huaiqing was not too severe.

But Huaiqing is only four years old. In the days ahead, without the support of her father, the protection of her mother's family, and everything else, as a woman, she may face many bad possibilities...

Jiashan sighed: "The child is still young, I will try my best to take care of him."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Li was very satisfied to receive Jiashan's word of "care", and she kowtowed again.

Jiashan couldn't help but sigh a few times.

If she were the one who became a prisoner today, would she also run around like Li for her only surviving flesh and blood? If such a day really came, who would come to save her?

When Jiashan was lost in thought, Li suddenly said, "In fact, I knew earlier than Your Highness that the Fourth Prince would be made the Crown Prince."

Jiashan said "hmm", and after a while, she reacted, her face changed slightly, and she looked at Li deeply.

Li said, "The emperor's heart is like the sea. Your Highness is a smart man, and he must understand what I mean."

Jiashan said nothing, his face slightly downcast.

Li said: "Your Highness and the Prince Consort are deeply favored by the Emperor, and the Prince Consort has military power in his hands. Your Highness, please forgive me for saying something extra. In the current situation, you..."

Jiashan's eyes were gloomy, and he shouted decisively: "Enough!"

"When a dying man is about to die, his words are good. I will regard your words just now as an offense, and not the crime of instigation. If you continue to talk nonsense, don't blame me for being merciless." Jiashan was no longer merciful, and his eyes were like sharp swords, shooting straight at Li.

Li smiled and readily changed her words, "Yes."

"Don't be so smart. I can save Huaiqing's life, so I can naturally make her disappear without a sound." Jiashan issued a faint warning.

Li lowered his head and did not dare to respond.

Jiashan ignored her and after Dancui shouted "Get started" to the outside of the door, Jiashan got up and left under Li's gaze.

As soon as they got on the carriage, Dan Cui spat, "What a ungrateful fellow! Your Highness was kind enough to help her, but she still wanted to make trouble. Otherwise, Your Highness should not worry about it. Once you get the evidence, you can just take care of their lives."

Jiashan smiled and said, "If it's a promise, how can it be ignored?"

Dan Cui sighed: "Your Highness is too kind."

The "too kind" Princess' eyes were slightly curved, and the corners of her lips were slightly pursed, forming an arc of deep thought.

Inside Tianxing Temple.

There were only two maids who served Li. After Jiashan left, one of them helped Li sit down on the couch and muttered, "I thought you would tell the princess what you heard from the Princess of Qin."

"Where is the Qin Prince's Consort?" Li said in a light tone with a barely perceptible contempt, "It's the criminal Wei."

"Since she is a convicted woman, who would take her words seriously? Why should I be a villain?" Li said, "I just said those words to the eldest princess to test whether she has the intention to retreat at the peak of her power. Since the princess doesn't like to be pried into her thoughts, then forget it. After all, she is a princess and the only sister of the prince. No matter how the world changes, as long as she is willing, she can protect Huaiqing."

The maid sighed and said, "Yes, the princess is now the most noble princess in the world, but I am still curious, how can you be sure that the princess will come? Even the two princesses Shuxian and Huian only want to protect themselves."

"I'm not sure, let's just gamble." Li said, lowered her head and touched her belly, whispered, "If she comes, I will take the secret that Princess Qin told me into the underworld, and no one will know it anymore. If she doesn't come..."

What if you don’t come?

Li thought to herself: Then I will find a way to let her know about this. By then, the whole world will be in chaos. I wonder if the prince will still tolerate her?

Fortunately...she came, and fortunately she is a kind person.

Li closed her eyes, exerted a little force with her hands, felt the strong heartbeat from her belly, and cried silently: It's a pity that I'm not a kind mother, I'm sorry for my child.

Ten days later, Li died in Tianxing Temple, leaving two people dead. After the coroner examined the body, he said that she was pregnant with a fully formed male fetus.

Li committed suicide and left a suicide note which read: The Marquis of Pingyang has failed to live up to the emperor's grace. I know that I have sinned deeply and dare not give birth to an heir. I beg Your Majesty to forgive my crime of acting on my own initiative.

The will was delivered intact to Emperor Zhanghe and the Crown Prince. Emperor Zhanghe took a look at it and put it aside, asking the Crown Prince, "What do you think?"