With the wedding date fast approaching, Princess Fuyang was getting increasingly anxious.
"Have you obtained Gu Nanjiao's birth date and time?"
The old woman respectfully replied, "Princess, we have obtained the birth dates and times of Gu Nanjiao and His Highness Prince Cheng, but... this servant has discovered a problem?"
"What's the problem?"
“His Highness Prince Cheng and Gu Nanjiao are born a year apart, which doesn’t seem like what the Crown Prince’s concubine said… that they switched identities.”
Princess Fuyang was taken aback: "How is that possible?"
Then, enraged, she gritted her teeth and said, "That bitch Zhou Wan has lied to me again!"
Princess Fuyang wanted to kill Zhou Wan. She had harmed her time and time again. She had really underestimated this vile woman.
Just then, a palace attendant came over with a box of pastries, saying it was a gift from the Crown Prince's concubine.
Princess Fuyang's eyes turned bloodshot with anger, and she kicked over the pastry box: "You wretch, you're just here to laugh at me."
The snacks were scattered all over the floor, and a white paper strip was visible at the bottom of the box. Fu Yang narrowed his eyes slightly.
The eunuch quickly picked up the note and respectfully handed it to Fuyang.
After a long silence, Fu Yang burst into wild laughter: "Consort Yue, you truly have a clever way of doing things. The net of heaven is vast, and though its meshes are wide, nothing escapes it. So what if you cover it up well? The truth will eventually come out."
"To the Palace of Tranquil Longevity!"
Ning Shou Palace was the Empress Dowager's residence. Fu Yang rushed there without stopping. The Empress Dowager had to be involved in revealing his true identity, otherwise things would get complicated.
"Waaah, Your Majesty, you must do me justice! I don't want to marry Zhou Ping. My life has been miserable enough being sent to the Northern Kingdom. My kind-hearted brother couldn't bear to see me suffer there, so he brought me here. He promised me I would only marry the person I truly love, but Consort Yue interfered and persuaded His Majesty to bestow a marriage upon me and Zhou Ping." Princess Fuyang knelt on the ground, weeping pitifully, her face streaked with tears.
"Poor child, rise quickly. Your brother is also confused. How could he marry someone like Zhou Ping?" The Empress Dowager sighed and comforted Princess Fuyang with some heartache.
"However, that Lu Yanzhao is just a fourth-rank official, and he already has a wife. What's so special about him?"
Princess Fuyang wept bitterly, "But my brother's decree has been issued and cannot be changed. Am I really going to have to marry Zhou Ping?"
The Empress Dowager silently looked away without saying a word.
Fu Yang closed her eyes. Sure enough, without her mother's protection, she was a pitiful little thing. The Empress Dowager kept saying she loved her, but in the end? She couldn't even fulfill her small wish of not wanting to marry Zhou Ping.
It's all just superficial.
So, she unveiled the veil of secrecy surrounding the royal family.
Fu Yang suddenly looked up and said, "Your Majesty, you don't know this yet, do you? Minister Zhou has formed cliques for personal gain, Zhou Ping has committed adultery and abduction, and he has done all sorts of evil deeds. Furthermore, Consort Yue has even disturbed the royal bloodline."
"What?" The Empress Dowager frowned and sternly rebuked Fuyang: "This concerns the royal bloodline; you must not speak nonsense."
She had felt sorry for Princess Fuyang when she was married off to the Northern Kingdom, so how could she slander Consort Yue for disrupting the royal bloodline just to avoid marrying Zhou Ping? This matter concerns the stability of the country, so how could she allow her to talk nonsense?
Princess Fuyang wiped away her tears, knelt down with a thud, took out a piece of paper from her sleeve, and held it above her head with both hands: "Your subject is not talking nonsense, this is the evidence. Your subject accidentally discovered Consort Yue's secret. Unable to get rid of your subject legitimately, she tried to arrange for your subject to marry into the Zhou family in order to secretly eliminate your subject."
The Empress Dowager picked up the note and read it; her pupils contracted.
Princess Fuyang quickly said, "The nun from Qingyun Peak and the midwife from that year were all silenced, but one person was lucky enough to survive, Ping'er, the palace maid of Consort Yue."
...
Consort Yue felt her eyelids twitching violently, as if something big was about to happen.
Years of living deep within the palace forced her to be extra vigilant.
"Granny Zhou!" Consort Yue called out a few times, and Granny Zhou rushed over, her face anxious.
"Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has sent word that you are to go to Ning Shou Palace. His Majesty has already gone there."
What? Consort Yue felt increasingly uneasy and irritably adjusted the seven-tailed phoenix hairpin in her hair.
Inside the Ning Shou Palace, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor sat at the head of the table, while Princess Fuyang knelt below.
When Consort Yue arrived, she bowed to the Emperor and Empress Dowager. The Emperor glanced at her indifferently and remained silent.
The Empress Dowager said in a deep, angry voice, "Kneel down!"
Consort Yue was startled, and unease filled her heart. Without offering any explanation, she obediently knelt down.
Fu Yang glanced sideways at Consort Yue, concealing the smile in her eyes, and said to the Emperor in a leisurely manner: "Your Majesty, I wish to accuse Consort Yue of having an affair and giving birth to an illegitimate child by switching the baby with a male heir. Such an act of defilement of the harem and disruption of the royal bloodline is a crime deserving of death."
As soon as she finished speaking, the Emperor of Chu's face turned frosty, and Consort Yue was shocked. A thin layer of sweat broke out on her back, her unease amplified infinitely, and the chill from her feet shot through her entire body, making her feel cold all over.
"Insolence!" The Chu Emperor roared in anger, kicking Fu Yang in the chest and shouting, "Stop spouting nonsense!"
Fu Yang coughed up a mouthful of blood, clutched his chest, and knelt down again, his smile towards Consort Yue filled with resentful pleasure.
The Empress Dowager also reprimanded in a stern voice: "Palace rules are strict, Fu Yang must not speak nonsense."
Fu Yang knelt on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, looking rather pitiful, but his expression was unwavering: "Your subject did not lie. Back then, Consort Yue had an affair with a scholar on Qingyun Peak. After becoming pregnant, she returned to the palace and lied that she was carrying the imperial heir. Who knew she would give birth to a girl like you? She felt that having a daughter was useless, so she had Minister Zhou send her out of the palace and brought a pre-selected baby boy to be falsely claimed as a prince. Prince Cheng is not of the imperial bloodline, and that baby girl from back then was Gu Nanjiao. The reason she covered her face with a veil was because her face bore an eight or nine-tenths resemblance to Consort Yue."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Prince Cheng is not of the imperial bloodline, but a bastard. Gu Nanjiao and her husband are bewitching Your Majesty in the court. The court and the harem are working together to plot a rebellion."
The Empress Dowager sat at the head of the table and said in a deep voice, "What evidence do you have?"
Fu Yang's lips curled into a cold, venomous smile, quite pleased with himself: "Bring Ping'er up here."
A petite woman walked in tremblingly. She looked quite old, with a slightly hunched back and wearing tattered, patched clothes. As soon as she entered Ning Shou Palace, she knelt down before the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, saying, "Greetings to Your Majesty the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty the Emperor."
Her voice trembled slightly, but it also sounded familiar.
The Empress Dowager said, "Raise your head and speak."
Ping'er timidly raised her head. Her long face was full of wrinkles, like the bark of an old tree. Her eyes were full of the marks of hardship. She glanced at Consort Yue, a cold smile on her lips, and quickly lowered her head.
"Ping'er!" Consort Yue cried out, feeling her back soaked with sweat.
Wasn't Ping'er executed? How is she still alive?
Back then, only Granny Zhou and Ping'er knew about her having a child through surrogacy when she went to Qingyun Peak. After killing her half-sister, she immediately pushed Ping'er off the cliff, leaving her no chance of survival.
Who exactly wants to harm her? Fu Yang alone simply cannot find enough evidence.
Could it be the Crown Prince? Or the Empress?
Without a doubt, this incident is inextricably linked to these two individuals.
Consort Yue's palms were covered in cold sweat, and her breathing was unsteady. Having been forbidden from engaging in illicit sexual activity in the inner palace for many years, she quickly calmed herself. She angrily rebuked Ping'er, "You audacious wench! Years ago, you instigated my half-sister to elope with the scholar, and now you've reappeared! I ask you, where are my half-sister and the scholar?"
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