Chapter 397: Life Story Revealed
The box contained a jade hairpin that was broken into two pieces. Bright red blood seeped into the delicate and transparent hairpin from the broken end, spreading out like wisps of smoke.
This is the hairpin that the guards found when they were burying Yizhen's bones after killing the beast.
The queen picked up the half-broken hairpin, and a cool chill penetrated her finger bones.
Yizhen wore this jade hairpin on her head throughout her life. It was said that it was a piece of jewelry given to her by her royal brother when he left Northern Qi, as if it was an agreement between the two.
Now that Yu Duanhun is gone, the two brothers and sisters will never meet again.
The queen pursed her lips. Yizhen was a hostage princess and her situation in Northern Qi was very difficult. Before she followed the prince, she was bullied by the children of aristocratic families, and her pride was crushed inch by inch.
In order to send her brother back to the Great Zhou, she sold her body and soul and followed the prince without any status. But her life did not get better. On the contrary, under the indulgence of the prince, even the servants in the mansion could climb over her head.
Even so, when she faced the crowd, she always had a smile on her face and exuded a warm glow.
Such a person who fell into the quagmire and had her spine broken, no matter how hard and humiliating her life was, she still retained her dignity.
She never gave up on herself and let herself sink into the quagmire. Instead, she chose to cheer herself up, struggled to climb out of the quagmire, and worked hard towards the hope and belief in her heart.
She saw her own shadow in Yizhen. Faced with the oppression of the royal family and her family, she did not have the courage and ability to resist, nor could she live the way she wanted in the destiny that was arranged for her.
Yizhen's tenacity and pride deeply touched her heart. She wanted to be like Yizhen, to break free from the shackles that bound her and live according to her heart.
After all, her status and position in Northern Qi was infinitely better than that of the miserable Yizhen. Yizhen had never given up, so why should she give up on herself and accept her fate?
From then on, she began to take medicine well, take care of her body, and learned to refuse the prince.
When she mustered up the courage to take this step, she suddenly discovered that refusing to do something she didn't want to do was not as difficult as she had imagined.
She felt a sympathy for Yizhen, but this woman who made her feel a sympathy died tragically in the Colosseum.
The queen pulled herself out of her thoughts and gently put the hairpin back into the box.
She had the ability to save Yizhen, but because she did not attend the palace banquet, she missed the opportunity to save Yizhen.
If she had been more informed and gone faster, would the situation have been different?
Yizhen did not die, and finally waited for her royal brother to come and take her back to the country.
Unfortunately, there is no if.
All this seems to indicate that no matter how hard they try, they still cannot change their fate.
The queen felt extremely depressed. She closed the box and put it back into the secret cabinet.
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Elsewhere, the wife of the Marquis of Shou'an returned to the Marquis's residence from the Imperial Palace. The servant waiting at the gate bowed and said respectfully, "Madam, the Marquis is waiting for you in the study in the front yard."
Upon hearing this, Lady Shou'an went to the study in the front yard.
The servant guarding the study door saw the wife of Marquis Shou'an coming back, and hurriedly greeted her and opened the closed door.
When the wife of Marquis Shou'an entered the room, she saw Marquis Shou'an sitting in the armchair, flipping through a book.
"My Lord, I have brought your message to Her Majesty. She asked me to tell you that on the day of Princess Guangning's wedding, there is no need to unite with the other officials to petition His Majesty to appoint a crown prince."
The wife of the Marquis of Shou'an sighed, "Her Majesty is thoughtful and stubborn. For so many years, she has only cared about Princess Yizhen. She had the ability to stop it, but because of her health, she was unable to save Princess Yizhen, and she is fighting with herself in her heart."
She speculated, "Now that Princess Yizhen's son has returned, Her Majesty wants to promote Prince Guangling to the position of Crown Prince. Perhaps this is to resolve her own internal grievances?"
Shou An Hou frowned when he heard this: "Absurd."
He threw the book on the table, his expression uneasy. "The entire family has poured all its resources and connections into the Prince of Qi. Now that the virtuous Prince has been demoted to his fiefdom, his status as Prince of Guangling necessitates his eligibility for the crown prince position. That position must go to the Prince of Qi. At the last moment, she gave up on supporting the Prince of Qi. How can I explain this to my family? To the faction that supported the Prince of Qi?"
At this point, Shou'an Hou's face was sullen. "It would have been fine if she'd just made a temporary replacement, but she foolishly wanted to support the Prince of Guangling. This is against all the civil and military officials, and against the people of Northern Qi."
Seeing that the Marquis of Shou'an had a dark face and was furious, the wife of the Marquis of Shou'an knew that he would not act according to the Queen's wishes.
She wanted to say a few words for the Queen to calm down Marquis Shou'an.
Suddenly, Lady Shou'an remembered something.
"I almost forgot. The Queen asked me to bring you a brocade bag." The wife of the Marquis of Shou'an took out a brocade bag from her sleeve and handed it to the Marquis of Shou'an with both hands. "The Queen said that after you read this brocade bag, you will make up your mind."
Marquis Shou'an took the brocade bag, untied the string, and pulled out a letter.
After reading just one line, Shou'an Hou's face darkened, and the bones of his fingers holding the letter turned white, as if he was trying hard to suppress some emotion so as not to tear up the thin letter.
Shou'an Hou read the letter word by word. The veins on his forehead throbbed, making his square face look dignified and extremely ferocious and terrifying.
With a "bang", he slammed his palm on the table: "This evil creature!"
The wife of the Marquis of Shou'an was startled. Seeing that the Marquis of Shou'an looked uneasy, she quickly pulled the letter away and took a closer look. She was horrified and said, "Marquis... Marquis, Chong'er... Chong'er is not the Empress's son?"
Then, isn't it because of the knot in her heart that the Queen wants to support Prince Guangling to be the crown prince?
"No wonder... no wonder the Queen said that only if Prince Guangling takes that position can she survive." Lady Shou'an's face turned pale. "If this matter is exposed, she will surely die. She doesn't dare to argue with Prince Guangling, fearing that it would reveal Chong'er's life story. That's why she wants to send Chong'er to his fiefdom."
Lady Shou'an Hou covered her chest with her hands and repeated the word "confused". She really couldn't understand why the queen did this.
Marquis Shou'an closed his eyes, suspecting that the queen was too weak to bear children, and that she had taken the risk of adopting a child in order to consolidate her position.
He thought that the Prince of Qi was conceived through an affair between a palace maid and a guard, and was secretly kept in a dark room in Changle Palace by the Queen, and his face darkened again.
Some things that I didn’t understand before, now I understand them all.
The Queen intentionally pushed the King of Qi to target the King of Guangling in order to make the King of Qi make a mistake and then be demoted to his fiefdom.
Shou'an Hou's right eyelid suddenly twitched, as if foreshadowing that something bad was about to happen.
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