Chapter 129 Consort Xiao's Greeting Gift
A gentle night breeze blows, and the bright moon hangs high in the sky.
Jin Shu stood there, gazing at Consort Xiao's haggard face and the faint smile on her cheeks, and pursed her lips.
She glanced at Li Jin, who was supporting Consort Xiao's arm, his face saying, "As long as Mother is happy, you can be a woman for once."
Jin Shu stood there, hesitated for a long time, then cupped his hands in a salute: "Your Highness Consort Xiao, I am a man, but I am rather thin..."
She frowned, shifting her gaze elsewhere to avoid the stares of Li Jin and Consort Xiao.
The thinly dressed woman in front of her chuckled, glancing at her face, her lips curving upwards, her smile deepening: "There is indeed a resemblance."
Consort Xiao gave Li Jin a meaningful look and lowered her voice: "You're quite lucky."
After saying that, Jin Shu, who was completely bewildered, and her son turned around and went into the drafty, cold palace behind them.
Jin Shu and the others were in the courtyard, under a withered tree, where a few scattered flowers were planted.
Although this is the deep palace of the Great Wei Dynasty, all that can be seen is a scene of ruin.
Six years ago, Li Mu's rebellion implicated the General's Mansion of the Great Wei Dynasty. General Xiao's only daughter, who was also Li Mu's mother, fell out of favor and was sent to the Cold Palace overnight.
It's been six years in the blink of an eye.
"Back then, Your Majesty disguised yourself as a man and followed His Majesty to help him establish his rule." Granny Xi placed a cup of warm tea beside Jin Shu and said with a smile, "The young master is so handsome and delicate, which reminds Your Majesty of those old times."
Her words were loaded with meaning, and her eyes scanned Jin Shu from bottom to top.
Jin Shu looked slightly embarrassed, cupped her hands in thanks, and said, "Your Majesty is truly a hero."
Granny Xi smiled and nodded, then sat down beside her and chatted casually.
She asked some trivial questions, and Jin Shu's expression softened a little.
"He is the son of the prefect of Dingzhou." Before leaving, Consort Xiao took a small red envelope in her hand and personally handed it to Jin Shu. "It's nothing much, just a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it, sir."
Seeing Jin Shu's bewildered expression, Consort Xiao gently pushed her fingers together and said calmly by the door, "We'll have to trouble you, sir, to take good care of our Jin'er."
After saying that, he waved his hand, signaling them to hurry back.
Before Jin Shu could even thank her, the palace gates were gently closed by Granny Xi.
Li Jin glanced at the small red envelope in her hand, his eyes narrowed slightly, and after a long while, he only said one word: "Go".
Li Jin could roughly guess what was inside the red envelope.
Thirty years ago, Consort Xiao, disguised as a man, shielded Li Yi from a hidden arrow while surrounded by assassins. She remained asleep for three months and nearly lost her life.
When she woke up, she only asked for a reward of one copper coin.
When Li Yi handed the copper coin to her, the words "immunity from death" were written on top of the original "Da Wei Tong Bao" inscription.
At that time, Li Yi, who was not the crown prince and was a long way from the throne, made a promise to the Xiao family.
If he could become the emperor of the Great Wei in this life, as long as the Xiao family did not rebel, he would always be a key minister assisting the country. As long as Consort Xiao was still alive, that one copper coin could be used to pay for a life.
Originally, Li Jin did not know the story of the copper coin. It was the incident involving Li Mu six years ago that forced Consort Xiao to take it out, with the intention of saving Li Mu's life in the most critical moment.
At that time, the court and the public were in an uproar, only then did they learn of the past where a single copper coin had saved a life.
Although the situation was critical at the time, Li Yi knew from the beginning that it was all a scheme by the Crown Prince, and that he had no intention of taking Li Mu's life.
Li Yi knew that Li Mu's gentle and tender nature made him unsuitable to be emperor and unable to stabilize the country. That's why he secretly turned a blind eye to Li Jing's power struggles.
His original intention was to use Li Jing to remove Li Mu from the position of Crown Prince, give him a remote fiefdom, and let him and his Crown Princess escape from the quagmire of power struggles in the capital.
only……
He never imagined that Li Jing would be so ruthless as to turn his own brothers against each other.
This was Li Yi's only miscalculation during that power transition.
His second son, Li Mu's childhood friend whom he played with every day.
Killing Li Mu alone was not enough; they even fabricated a story about encountering bandits and massacred everyone in Li Mu's mansion, leaving no survivors, not even the hundred or so soldiers who were just escorting him and had no connection to the crime.
After that, he completely discarded those who had once been loyal to him, treating them worse than mere pawns.
The local officials involved in the case either died suddenly or resigned, and then disappeared from the world one by one.
Not only could Li Jin of the Six Doors not find their location, but even the Emperor of Great Wei, who mobilized an organization subordinate to the imperial power, had no news at all.
Li Yi stood atop the palace gates of Taiji Palace, gazing in the direction of Consort Xiao's cold palace.
Watching Li Jin and Jin Shu leave with a palace lantern, his gaze remained fixed on the drafty roof of that small house.
It's ironic that the emperor of the Great Wei had to resort to such methods to save the life of the woman he loved most.
"I'm really getting old. A mistake I made back then took six or seven years to correct." He said with a self-deprecating tone, turned around, looked at the imperial edict behind him, took out three letters from his pocket, and held them up in his hand, shaking them slightly.
"Come, Lord Yan, tell me, how did this six-and-a-half-year-old child suddenly acquire four or five false identities?" Li Yi sneered. "Are you and the Crown Prince trying to hide him, or... take his life?"
After saying that, he threw the envelope in his hand in front of Yan Zhao.
The three letters bear a seal in the lower right corner, which is the same flame pattern found on Li Jin's long scroll, where his true identity has yet to be discovered.
On the palace gates of Taiji Hall, only Yan Zhao and Li Yi stood face to face, no more than five meters apart.
Yan Zhao squatted down, picked up the letters, sorted them in his hands, and after a while, raised his eyes and asked solemnly, "Which one does Your Majesty believe?"
Which one should we believe?
Li Yi sneered: "Yan Zhao, we've known each other for forty or fifty years. I can tolerate anyone betraying me, but not you."
"You and your entire family should remember this sentence clearly, so I don't have a chance to say it a second time!"
Beneath the vast sky, all was silent, and the starlight shone brightly, reflecting the brilliance of the mortal emperor directly above the Taiji Palace.
Yan Zhao nodded expressionlessly, his tone becoming much calmer.
He folded the three letters, tore them in half, and said calmly, "They're all fake."
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened as he looked at Li Yi: "If we're talking about my true identity, it's just a matter of my word. Does Your Majesty believe me?"
Li Yi squinted slightly as he stood on the edge of the palace, with the Milky Way as his companion.
Yan Zhao took out an unsealed letter from his bosom and stepped forward: "That child is the heir of Prince Jing. His mother is dead, otherwise she wouldn't have brought him back so secretly."
These words stunned Li Yi.
He snatched the letter from Yan Zhao's hand and peeked at it.
The letter contained only two sentences: "Li Mu's last son."
The text below reads: "Walls have ears."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
