The weather here is strange. In October, it was just a gentle autumn breeze, with no sign of the temperature dropping. Unexpectedly, it's only the beginning of winter, and snowflakes are already falling.
Leng Yue kept rubbing her hands together, watching the snowflakes fall from the sky without any desire to go for a walk. Leng Yue only cared about one thing: when would the earth dragon finally ignite?
"He'er, it's snowing already, the earthen heating system should be up by now, right?" Everyone says it's not cold when it snows, but when the snow melts, it's cold. Leng Yue is already bundled up like a dumpling, and she still feels cold. Now she can only pin her hopes on the earthen heating system!
He'er looked outside and replied helplessly, "Your Majesty, it's just a light snowfall outside. It looks like it will stop soon. The floor heating can't be turned on so early. You'd better move around more."
Actually, He'er didn't feel that cold. Although it was snowing, she didn't feel particularly cold. Maybe it's because she's an adult and has a stronger resistance to the cold?
After hearing this, Leng Yue couldn't help but wail, "How can it not be cold? Touch it, my hands are freezing!"
He'er touched Leng Yue's hand and found it was indeed very cold. "Your Majesty, do you have a fever?" He'er said, touching Leng Yue's forehead. "You don't have a fever. How about this, I'll go and get you a hand warmer!"
Leng Yue nodded, "Go quickly, I'm freezing to death."
He'er brought Leng Yue a hand warmer, which Leng Yue hugged tightly. She put on an extra coat and finally felt a little better. "Oh dear, I'm finally alive! I almost froze to death!"
He'er's lips twitched. "Your Majesty, is it really that exaggerated?"
As the two were talking, Zhan Wudi requested an audience, so He'er and her attendants withdrew voluntarily.
"But has there been any progress?" Leng Yue was wrapped up like a ball, with a small head growing on top of it, looking quite comical.
Zhan Wudi couldn't help but twitch his lips. "Your Majesty, aren't you going a bit too far?"
"Oh, don't worry about these details, Guard Zhan?" Leng Yue didn't actually want to show her head, but she felt that showing only her eyes was a bit too exaggerated, so she did it this way.
Zhan Wudi's lips twitched again. He thought to himself, "I wonder who this little emperor takes after. Why does he seem so unreliable?"
"Guard Zhan? Zhan Wudi? Sit down and let's talk!" Leng Yue saw that Zhan Wudi was standing and her neck was getting tired, so she told him to sit down.
Zhan Wudi nodded and sat down. "Your Majesty, I have found some information, but I am not entirely sure yet."
"What? Tell me about it." Leng Yue said, craning her neck to look at Zhan Wudi, like a turtle that couldn't leave its shell.
Zhan Wudi clenched his fist and covered his mouth, feigning a few coughs. He had no choice; otherwise, he would burst out laughing. "Ahem, it's like this. After investigation, I discovered a secret passage inside the Cold Palace that leads directly outside. Therefore, I believe there must be another secret passage connecting to somewhere inside the palace."
"That makes sense. Have you found it?" Leng Yue listened intently, like a primary school student.
Zhan Wudi couldn't help but cough a few more times, "Cough cough cough, Your Majesty, I searched for a long time and found another secret passage."
"And then?" Leng Yue listened attentively, and when Zhan Wudi stopped, she kept urging him on.
"Another location, this humble servant discovered, leads to the Empress Dowager's palace." Zhan Wudi hesitated whether to tell Leng Yue about this, since she was still unaware of the truth and likely still harbored illusions about Empress Dowager Feng.
"Is that all? Is that all?" Leng Yue's lingering expression made Zhan Wudi's previous hesitation vanish.
Zhan Wudi sighed helplessly. After all that worrying, he'd only been worrying for nothing. "Aren't you angry? Aren't you shocked?"
Leng Yue thought for a moment, "Yes, but I'm more concerned about Qingluan. So, was Qingluan killed by the Empress Dowager?"
Zhan Wudi nodded. "We can now basically conclude that Miss Qingluan died in the Empress Dowager's palace. However, there is still one thing, and I am unsure whether I should mention it?"
"Speak," a gust of wind blew in, and Leng Yue couldn't help but shrink her neck.
"The cause of Qingluan's death is unknown, so I'm not entirely sure whether the Empress Dowager killed her. I only know that she must have been imprisoned by the Empress Dowager before she died." Zhan Wudi was conflicted. He wanted to avenge Qingluan, but was that enough to convict her?
"If you want to know how Qingluan died, I think you just need to ask the people in the Empress Dowager's palace." Leng Yue knew what Zhan Wudi meant, but if you wanted to know what Qingluan experienced in the last moments of her life, wouldn't you still have to ask the person involved?
"Furthermore, I'm also very puzzled as to why they imprisoned Qingluan. If Qingluan really did something that made them wary, why didn't they just kill her?" Leng Yue unconsciously voiced her previous doubts, but seeing Zhan Wudi's grim expression, she quickly explained, "Don't misunderstand, I'm just stating the facts."
"Your Majesty knows, and I share the same doubts about this matter," Zhan Wudi replied in a muffled voice. The death of Qingluan was shrouded in too many mysteries.
Leng Yue breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Zhan Wudi say that. She still remembered that this guy was very fond of taking his anger out on her, and he might make things difficult for her again one day.
"Actually, I also want to ask Guard Zhan to help me investigate something." Leng Yue decided to take a gamble, "Please investigate my background."
Zhan Wudi suddenly raised his head, looking at Leng Yue in shock, "Your Majesty, you...you...how much do you know?"
This time, Leng Yue was shocked. "What do you mean? Guard Zhan, do you... know something?"
Zhan Wudi gritted his teeth and said, “Your Majesty, you are indeed not Empress Dowager Feng’s biological child. Your mother… she was Empress Dowager Feng’s aunt and also the wife of General Yang Jiancheng, Chan Ruoxue.”
“Aunt? Mother? Then she… my biological parents…” Leng Yue was a little surprised; this amount of information seemed a bit overwhelming.
"Madam... she's dead..." Zhan Wudi's next words further shattered Leng Yue's understanding.
At that time, Empress Dowager Feng had only been in the palace for a short time, but thanks to her beauty and the power of the Feng family, she was very favored by the late emperor and soon became pregnant.
In the third month of her pregnancy, Empress Dowager Feng summoned Chan Ruoxue to the palace under the pretext of missing her family. Unexpectedly, the late emperor was immediately captivated by Chan Ruoxue's beauty, but she was already the wife of a general. Moreover, General Yang Jianye was a decorated general, deeply respected for his military achievements, and popular with the people stationed at the border. Even if the late emperor had designs on her, he dared not act recklessly.
Empress Dowager Feng witnessed all of this and devised a plan to help the late emperor succeed. That night, amidst wind and rain, a traitor appeared in the army, and the enemy launched a surprise attack. Yang Jianye, carrying the enemy on his back, was killed in battle at the border.
That night, Chan Ruoxue lost her support and became the late emperor's woman who could not be seen in public. That night, Yang Jianye and Chan Ruoxue's only son, Yang Jin, became an orphan. That night, Yang Jianye's loyal followers were all wiped out by the enemy; those who remained either became beggars on the streets or bandits in the mountains.
Later, Chan Ruoxue coincidentally gave birth on the same day as Empress Dowager Feng. Chan Ruoxue had a difficult labor, but the child survived while she herself died. Empress Dowager Feng, on the other hand, reportedly gave birth to a stillborn child and raised Chan Ruoxue's child.
Zhan Wudi wasn't entirely clear on how many twists and turns had occurred in between. In any case, from then on, there came the Zhao Dynasty, a young emperor disguised as a man, an extremely unlucky puppet with no real power.
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