046 Entering the Palace 2
Li Yang was unaware of Xiao Taozi's identity.
She suspected that Song Xi's identity might be exposed. While it was said to be a summons from the Emperor, it was more likely that the Empress Dowager was using the Emperor's name to silence her, knowing Song Xi's true identity. Taking Yuan Chongjing and Xiao Taozi along would only add another threat to her.
She held Xiao Taozi tightly in her arms, her voice trembling slightly: "Brother Jing, what should we do?"
"It's alright, I'm here, nothing will happen." Yuan Chongjing reassured her, then said to Jinghe, "Go and visit Grand Tutor Lu. Make sure you find him and tell him about this."
Seeing the unusual expressions on their faces, Jinghe knew that this matter was of great importance, so she said firmly, "Don't worry, Second Young Master, I will definitely find Grand Tutor Lu."
“Okay,” Yuan Chongjing nodded, then turned to face Li Yang: “Let’s go.”
When he received Xiao Taozi from the Crown Prince, he knew he would have to face this day sooner or later. Fortunately, he had made preparations in advance, and with Grand Tutor Lu around, the worst outcome would be to send Xiao Taozi to the Crown Prince of Yuzhou.
Li Yang stood still, looking at him pleadingly: "Can we not go?"
“No, this is the Emperor’s decree.” Yuan Chongjing said calmly. Seeing that she was still somewhat uneasy, he went over and patted her shoulder, bending down to look her in the eye. “Don’t be afraid. His Majesty is wise and won’t do anything to us. With me here, I won’t let anything happen to you and Xiao Taozi. Trust me, okay?”
His voice was deep and resonant, carrying a strange power that calmed her anxious heart.
The two of them, one on each side, held Xiao Taozi's left and right hands respectively, and walked out together.
In the main hall of the mansion, Yuan Heng was entertaining Zhou Xing, who had come from the palace. Zhou Xing was the Grand Eunuch serving the current emperor and enjoyed his great trust. Whether inside or outside the palace, he was always greeted with flattery. Although he was nearly forty, his years of pampered life had made him look only about thirty.
Facing Yuan Heng, his expression turned somewhat somber. Upon seeing Yuan Chongjing and Li Yang appear, he raised the whisk in his hand and spoke in a long, indifferent tone: "Since everyone is here, let's go. His Majesty is still waiting in the palace."
Yuan Heng was still sweating bullets. Zhou Xing's urging barely gave him and Yuan Chongjing any time to talk.
Yuan Chongjing secretly gave Yuan Heng a reassuring look, and before Zhou Xing could turn around impatiently to urge him again, he led Li Yang and Xiao Taozi behind him and hurried towards the palace.
Zhou Xing's carriage was very large. After the family of three boarded, he followed suit. Without waiting for Yuan Chongjing to speak, Zhou Xing immediately ordered the eunuch driving the carriage to set off.
The four of them sat together, not in a crowded way, but it disrupted Yuan Chongjing's original plan to tell Li Yang about Xiao Taozi's identity on the way. He glanced at Li Yang secretly, signaling her to come closer to him.
Li Yang understood, immediately bowed and tucked his shoulders in, hugged Xiao Taozi tightly with both hands, and pretended to be afraid as he moved to Yuan Chongjing's side.
This action caught Zhou Xing's attention. He glanced at Li Yang sideways, then turned his gaze to Yuan Chongjing.
The carriage was so quiet you could almost hear everyone's heartbeats. Yuan Chongjing smiled, put his arm around Li Yang's shoulder, and let the mother and daughter lean against him: "I'm sorry, Steward Zhou, my wife has never seen such a thing before, please forgive her."
Zhou Xing smiled faintly, but didn't pursue the matter further, and began to close his eyes to rest.
Li Yang leaned stiffly against Yuan Chongjing's shoulder, stroking Xiao Taozi's forehead with her right hand to make her sit obediently. Meanwhile, Yuan Chongjing secretly grasped Xiao Taozi's left hand, which was hidden behind her back.
Her palm was spread out, and a fingertip moved back and forth in her palm, bringing a tingling sensation.
Li Yang didn't care about any of that. Because she immediately realized that Yuan Chongjing was writing in her palm.
He spent a long time writing those four characters, stroke by stroke.
too. son. Of. female.
The Crown Prince's daughter.
The Crown Prince's daughter!
Little Peach is actually the Crown Prince's daughter!
Li Yang looked at the little peach in her arms, then looked up at him, unable to hide the surprise in her eyes.
Fortunately, Zhou Xing had his eyes closed at the time and did not see their interaction.
Yuan Chongjing raised his hand expressionlessly and pressed her head back onto his shoulder, hiding her face behind his neck, waiting for her to calm down.
After a couple of breaths, Li Yang's breathing gradually returned to normal, and her body went limp. Yuan Chongjing's choice to reveal Xiao Taozi's identity at this moment meant that being summoned to the palace by the Emperor meant Xiao Taozi's identity was about to be exposed.
Li Yang's heart pounded as she listened quietly to the sound of the wheels rolling over the ground, waiting for the coming storm.
The palace was magnificent and imposing, with rows of golden glazed tile roofs stretching as far as the eye could see before Li Yang. Zhou Xing remained calm and composed, leading them forward without looking to either side. Upon reaching this place, Xiao Taozi quieted down, nestled obediently in Yuan Chongjing's arms, and perched on his shoulder, curiously observing their surroundings.
No matter how far the road is, or how slow the pace, there will always be an end to the journey.
Upon arriving at the Hall of State Affairs, Yuan Chongjing put down Xiao Taozi and instead took her hand, with Li Yang flanking her on either side, and followed Zhou Xing into the hall.
Li Yang kept her head down, staring at the smooth, reflective ground, following Yuan Chongjing's footsteps. When he stopped, she also stopped and knelt down to kowtow with him. Only after Yuan Chongjing finished his greetings did she say, "Your subject, Yuan Li Shi Li Yang, pays respects to Your Majesty."
Little Peach looked at her, then at Yuan Chongjing, and knelt down with them.
There was no response for a long time inside the hall. When Xiao Taozi's legs were getting sore from kneeling, she finally heard a very authoritative voice from above: "Get up."
Li Yang pulled Xiao Taozi to her feet, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw quite a few people standing around them. Closest to them were two pairs of black cloth shoes, one large and one small, seemingly belonging to a man and a woman.
As she pondered this, the voice rang out again: "Li Yang, look up. Do you recognize the woman next to you?"
Li Yang did as he was told, but dared not look directly at him. Instead, she turned to the side as he instructed. A woman in her thirties, dressed in light brown, appeared before her. She kept her head down, so Li Yang couldn't see her face clearly. However, the young man standing next to her was none other than Qiu Qiu, whom Song Xi had mentioned, who had already fled the private residence with his mother.
Li Yang thought that the woman next to him must be Qiuqiu's mother.
Just then, the woman slowly turned her head toward Li Yang.
When Li Yang finally saw her face clearly, a storm of emotions surged within her.
This woman...this woman was clearly the first wet nurse she hired for Xiao Taozi when she and Yuan Chongjing first arrived in Chenzhou.
Looking at the woman and Qiuqiu standing beside her, Li Yang immediately understood what had happened.
Just as she was still in a daze, a voice came from above her head again: "Li Yang, are you sure you see this woman clearly? Do you recognize her?"
Li Yang glanced at Yuan Chongjing and replied, "Your Majesty, I know her. She is my daughter Xiao Taozi's wet nurse. She fed Xiao Taozi for a month when we were in Chenzhou."
“In that case,” Emperor Mingde paused for a moment, then continued, “Yang Chenshi, repeat what you said in front of both of them.”
Yang Chenshi puffed out her chest and replied excitedly, "Yes. This servant wants to accuse Yuan Chongjing and Li Yang of deceiving their superiors and concealing the truth. Their daughter, Xiao Taozi, is not four years old this year, but five. No, Xiao Taozi is not their daughter at all, but was born to the Princess Consort of Yu on her way to Yuzhou."
"You're talking nonsense!" Li Yang shouted immediately.
Zhou, the head of the pipeline who was waiting to the side, said: "How dare you make such a racket in front of His Majesty!"
Li Yang knelt directly before the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, Yang Chenshi's words are not credible. Xiao Taozi is the biological daughter of my wife and Jing Ge. After my wife and Jing Ge got married, we went to Chenzhou. Not long after, my wife found out that she was pregnant. This can be proven by the letters between my wife and her family."
Yang Liu retorted, "Those are your family members, how can their testimonies be taken seriously? Your Majesty, I remember very clearly, they asked me to nurse their children less than three months after Lord Yuan took office. May I ask, how did you become pregnant and give birth in just three months?"
Three months, unless Li Yang was already six months pregnant when they got married.
Everyone thought of this possibility without prior agreement.
At this moment, someone else in the hall said, "That's possible, Father. Although I am a few years younger than them, I have heard of Yuan Chongjing and Li Yang from the academy. They were mortal enemies. For them to suddenly get married, something must have happened."
It is the Eighth Prince.
The Eighth Prince looked at Li Yang and said, "Besides the coincidence of becoming pregnant, I really can't think of any other reason."
“Eighth Brother, your words are somewhat biased,” a seemingly harmless and gentle young man standing next to the Eighth Prince spoke up. “Women of our Great Qi are most particular about virtue. How could they possibly have an affair before marriage? Besides, this Li Yang comes from a family of court officials.”
The Eighth Prince asked anxiously, "Fifth Brother, what do you mean by this?"
"Alright," Emperor Mingde, sitting at the head of the table, suddenly spoke. He turned to Yuan Chongjing, who had been silent, and asked, "Yuan Chongjing, I ask you, is this little peach your biological daughter with Li Yang?"
If he admitted it, it would mean he and Li Yang had an affair before their marriage, ruining their reputation. If he didn't admit it, it would mean he had committed the crime of deceiving the emperor and taking away the Prince of Yu's daughter without permission. Without hesitation, Yuan Chongjing firmly replied, "Your Majesty, Xiao Taozi is indeed my and my wife's biological daughter."
The Fifth Prince said, "Father, they each have their own version of events. I believe that only a blood test can reveal the truth."
The Eighth Prince sneered, "Fifth Brother, your argument is too outdated. The Imperial Medical Academy has long said that blood tests for kinship are unreliable. Adding something to the water can easily control whether the blood of father and son mixes."
At this moment, Madam Yang Chen interrupted, "Your Majesty, Your Highnesses, this servant has something to say."
The Eighth Prince glanced at her impatiently: "You're so good at talking, aren't you! Father, in my opinion, this old woman is just bored and wants to amuse us before she dies. She should be dragged away and given eighty strokes of the cane, and then we'll see if she dares to spout nonsense again."
"Your Highness, spare my life! This servant does not want the royal bloodline to be lost to the outside world."
Yang Chenshi knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times, until her forehead was bruised and swollen.
Looking at Li Yang, she seemed to have nothing to lose and said confidently, "Your Majesty, I have given birth to eight children. I can tell at a glance whether a woman is a virgin or a married woman. This Li Yang is clearly a virgin who has not yet had sexual relations! Your Majesty only needs to have a few old nannies in the palace examine her to know whether what I am saying is true or false!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com