Chapter 258 She had a child with the late emperor
"Such a precious item, and you just give it to me like this?" Empress Song Zhuyi accepted the small medicine bottle. "What about the Lady of the Marquis..."
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. My mother is about to give birth, and I have already given her this medicine."
"There are only three pills in total, because the ingredients are quite precious," Jiang Wanning said simply.
"As long as I am in the capital within half an hour, I will be able to reach Your Majesty's side."
Even the Empress, who was usually so rational, couldn't help but turn around and wipe her tears on the pillow. After a while, she turned back to look at Jiang Wan Ning and said, "Ning Ning, sometimes I really envy Miss Chen."
"Your Majesty will also have people who truly care for you."
The Empress slightly raised the corners of her lips and softly called out to the outside, "Someone come here."
The Empress's personal maidservant stepped forward and bowed, "Your Majesty."
The Empress turned to Jiang Wan Ning and said, "Ning Ning, this Granny Xi was someone I rescued when I was still a young lady, and she has been with me all these years."
“Granny Xi once found a book that I think you might find useful.”
After the Empress finished speaking, she gave a signal with her eyes, and Granny Xi immediately took out the book and handed it to Jiang Wan Ning.
As Jiang Wan Ning took the book and flipped through it, the Empress explained, "This fell off the granddaughter of Minister Wu. Originally, we thought it was useless."
"But later I overheard His Majesty say that the Duchess of England's eyes were bewitched. You are skilled in medicine, so I think you can study this thoroughly."
Jiang Wan Ning closed the book and put it away. "Thank you, Your Majesty."
The Empress waved her hand, and the old woman Xi withdrew. Then she said softly, "This is my way of repaying you."
"There is one more thing, which I told my friend." The Empress said, her eyes fixed on Jiang Wan Ning. Jiang Wan Ning understood that the Empress regarded her as a true friend. "The Duchess of Yingguo once had a child with the late Emperor."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Wan Ning was truly shocked. If this was true, then the Empress truly regarded her as a close friend.
“I know you may still have doubts. Even His Majesty doesn’t know about this matter. I saw his letters with others in my maternal grandfather’s study.”
"Those who knew about this back then are all dead. My maternal grandfather only escaped by chance. Although the late emperor suspected that my maternal grandfather knew about it, he had no concrete evidence."
"One year, when the Duke of England went to war, the Duchess of England stayed in a remote temple in the mountains for five months to pray for her husband's well-being."
"She was already four months pregnant when she went there, but the fetus was small and she wasn't showing yet. She went when she was about to show."
"The three-year-old Crown Prince of England was taken into the palace by the late emperor and cared for for half a year."
The story of the British Duchess praying for her husband was widely known, and she had heard about it before, but she never expected it to be for this reason.
Where is that child now?
The Empress gently shook her head. "The late Emperor protected it very well. No one knows whether it is a man or a woman, or where it is."
"However, two children were born in the palace at the same time that year. One was Princess Yongle, born to Consort Hui, and the other was the Eighth Prince, who is now the Prince of Jin."
The Prince of Jin.
“I remember that Prince Jin’s birth mother died in childbirth. Princess Yongle’s birth mother also died, and Princess Yongle was married off to Mongolia.”
"Not long ago, a letter came from Mongolia saying that Princess Yongle had passed away after a long illness," the Empress said weakly.
If he were the Prince of Jin, he would not resemble the Duchess of Yingguo at all.
"You'll have to find out who it is yourselves. It might be the Prince of Jin, or perhaps that person is out there."
Jiang Wan Ning remained silent, her mind racing. If it was Prince Jin, then was Prince Jin the mastermind behind all of this?
Could the murder of the Duke of England's family have been a staged event orchestrated by the late emperor himself?
“Prince Jin was not favored in the palace at the time.”
The Empress's words were a wake-up call. The Duchess of Yingguo had also suffered greatly in the Cold Palace when she was imprisoned there. If the Prince of Jin was also out of favor, it could only mean that the late Emperor was protecting them, mother and son.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Jiang Wanning said.
The Empress did not say anything more.
On the way back to the mansion from the palace, Jiang Wan Ning remained silent, and Pei Yan Chuan waited quietly for her to speak.
If they don't want to say, then I don't intend to ask.
Jiang Wanning decided to tell Pei Yanchuan everything the Empress had told her.
"Your Highness...this matter may not be true. Let's investigate further," Jiang Wanning reassured him.
Pei Yanchuan placed his hands on his knees and clenched them tightly. "I had already guessed it."
Jiang Wan Ning looked at Pei Yan Chuan in surprise, but Pei Yan Chuan reassured her, "The matter hasn't been settled yet, and I don't want you to worry about it."
"I am very clear that the person who killed my Duke of Ying's mansion was not the late emperor."
"Because the late emperor had six fingers on his left hand, my father once told me that when the late emperor was young, he was always bullied because he had six fingers. When he was only seven years old, the late emperor cut off his little finger with a knife."
"Although I no longer had six fingers, I was left with a scar, and from then on no one dared to laugh at me anymore."
“I can clearly see that the man’s left hand is intact.”
"Could it be that the late emperor ordered someone to do it?" Jiang Wanning said.
"I've thought so too. Over the years, I've had people investigate, and all the capable people around the late emperor have either grown old or died."
“He wouldn’t assign someone he didn’t trust to do this. It would definitely be someone he was closest to and trusted the most. The main reason is that the border was not stable back then. Killing my father would not have been a good thing for the Dongling court at that time.”
“Even if the late emperor had something going on with my mother, he would never gamble with the empire he had won through bloodshed.”
“My mother-in-law…” Jiang Wan Ning wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say.
Pei Yanchuan looked at Jiang Wanning with a comforting expression, but Jiang Wanning could see from his eyes that he was very disappointed and sad.
“If Prince Jin really is... then it makes sense that my mother-in-law framed my maternal grandfather back then, because my maternal grandfather was part of the current emperor's faction, and she hoped that Prince Jin could sit on that throne.”
Pei Yanchuan nodded. "I will investigate this matter thoroughly. There is also something about the Lingxiao Sect that I may need you to ask Miss Shen about." Pei Yanchuan said, "The head disciple of the Lingxiao Sect, Lin Qiqin, looks a lot like one of my mother's maids from the past."
"I felt a sense of familiarity when I first saw her, but it took me a while to remember."
“Zhizhi wrote to me saying that the Lingxiao Sect has a total of four chief disciples. One is Lin Qiqin, and another is Lin Xue, who is acquainted with the Prince of Jin.”
"There are also two others who are said to be in the Western Xia Imperial Palace. Only the leader of the Lingxiao Sect knows their specific names and identities."
Pei Yanchuan suddenly frowned, "Ningning, is this what you talk about all day long when you send messages by gyrfalcons?"
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