Chapter 356 The Queen's Secret
Upon seeing this, Lady Xia stopped talking about the matter and simply said, "I'll wait for you to rest. You'll have to go to court in less than two hours."
"Tomorrow, when the court is closed, tell them that I have fallen ill because I am sad that the prince is leaving."
There was a hint of fatigue in the queen's voice as she stood up and walked towards the bathroom. Lady Xia knew that she wanted to take a bath, so she hurried over to serve her.
The bathtub was already filled with water. The queen spread out her hands, and Lady Xia skillfully removed her clothes for her. When she saw the bite marks on the queen's arms, her fingers trembled.
After helping the queen step into the bathtub, she quietly returned to the inner hall, took the ointment and waited outside the door.
After following the queen for several years, she knew that the queen would go out several times a month. Every time she came back, she would not allow anyone to serve her. It was not the first time she had seen a wound like the one on her arm.
Sometimes it was a scratch from a sharp weapon, sometimes it was a bite, and once it was even on the chest. The queen had a secret that was unknown to those who served her closely. The female official in front of her who served her closely just asked a question about how the injury came about, and then she lost her life.
She knew that if she wanted to stay alive, she had to keep her mouth shut and just apply some ointment to the wound when the queen called her in to help her get dressed.
Inside the room, the Queen rubbed the bite marks with her fingers, the corners of her lips slightly curved as she whispered, "You are still so kind. After all, you can't bear to hurt me."
After looking at the wound for a long time, the queen stood up and called Lady Xia in.
After the clothes were put on, Lady Xia carefully lifted the Queen's sleeve and gently applied the ointment to her. The Queen lowered her eyes and suddenly asked, "Do you still want to marry Lan Ting?"
Lady Xia knelt hurriedly and said, "I dare not have any extravagant thoughts. I just want to serve the queen wholeheartedly."
She had been in love with Lin Lanting for more than ten years, and the Queen knew it. However, the Queen knew that Lin Lanting had no interest in her, so she never forced her brother to marry her, simply because she needed this brother.
Now, the Queen wants to abandon Lin Lanting and send her to Lin Lanting...
Lady Xia was in a state of panic.
The Queen glared at her. "Although you are a lady-in-waiting by my side, you come from a humble family. Marrying Feng Zhao, the Emperor's uncle, is not an injustice to you. There are so few women in this world who can marry their beloved. You and I have been master and servant for a long time. I am willing to help you."
This means that it cannot be refused.
Lady Xia could only express her gratitude, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
In her heart, she was carefully recalling her recent words and deeds, wondering if she had done anything to displease the Queen. She then heard the Queen say, "Don't panic. I find you very useful. You will have to return to serve me in the future.
Lan Ting has been losing his mind recently and has become quite close to Wei Qingyan's sister. I don't want a woman from the Great Wei Dynasty to infiltrate the Lin family. In two days, I will summon him to the palace and grant you a marriage. Leave now."
"I thank the Queen for her help."
Lady Xia looked happy, but the smile disappeared as she left the Queen's bedroom.
The Queen said that she would return to the palace in the future, which meant that Lin Lanting would die.
She wanted to marry Lin Lanting, but she wanted to marry Lin Lanting, who held military power and was favored by the queen, not an abandoned child who was about to die.
The queen praised her highly by saying that she came from a poor family. She was just a beggar who was sold by her parents, and luckily escaped from the hands of human traffickers, and ended up competing with wild dogs for food.
She had endured countless hardships to get to where she is today. In her heart, love was only the icing on the cake besides power and honor. If she was asked to give up everything for love, it would be absolutely impossible.
But the queen has made up her mind. How can she change this?
Perhaps Lin Lanting should be the villain who offended the queen. After all, he is already a man who deserves to die in the queen's heart, so this one thing is not a big deal.
Lin Lanting, who was sitting in front of the bed with his clothes on, suddenly sneezed.
Shi Yu, who was sitting opposite him, pulled Wei Qingyan back. Lin Lanting saw the disdain in his eyes and rolled his eyes. "You disturbed my sweet dreams in the middle of the night, and you're still disdainful of me."
Ever since he decided to stand on Shi Yu's side last time, he regarded the two of them as his own people from the bottom of his heart, and his words became much more casual.
"I came to see you because I have something important to tell you. Please put on your clothes first."
To avoid catching a cold.
Shi Yula sat down next to Wei Qingyan and told him about the bodies found in the Lin family's ancestral tomb tonight, including the matter of Shi Dehou.
Lin Lanting didn't know that Shi Dehou was still alive. He stood up from the bed in shock when he heard it. Thinking that the two men came quietly, he resisted the urge to scream out.
"Wait for me for a moment. I'll change my clothes and go to the Prince's Mansion with you."
He and Shi Yu came from Fengzhao together, and knew that Shi Yu and Wei Qingyan brought a lot of people with them. Even though the Queen had placed many people in the Prince's Mansion, with those people they brought, the Prince's Mansion was still under Shi Yu's control.
After a while, Lin Lanting also changed into night clothes and followed the two back to the Prince's Mansion.
"You mean to say that Shi Dehou is now in the body of Princess Yanran of the Great Wei, but he might have changed his appearance. A few days ago, he lived in my Lin family's ancestral land, killed my Lin family's gravekeeper, and absorbed all the resentment in my Lin family's ancestral land?"
As soon as he arrived at Shi Yu's study, Lin Lanting couldn't wait to ask.
Wei Qingyan nodded.
"And now he's been taken away. It's very likely that he's been brought to the Imperial City to absorb the resentment of the Imperial City. Are they afraid that the resentment will reveal some secrets to the Crown Princess?
The person behind the scenes is the venerable they are talking about, and this venerable is very likely a person of high position and power in Feng Zhao?"
Shi Yu also nodded.
Lin Lanting suddenly sat down heavily on the chair and was silent for a long time. He figured out a lot of things, such as the master Feng Zhao who appeared at Broken Tiger Cliff, the assassin who appeared at the Wei Palace, and the person Wei Shijun was looking for at Broken Tiger Cliff.
And the real purpose of Shi Dehou stealing Shi Yu, "Since he has such an evil magic of taking over other people's bodies, he stole you back then just to take over your body, and then use your identity to occupy my Fengzhao Kingdom, right?"
Shi Yu nodded.
"Then why didn't you seize the prince's body?"
Wei Qingyan glanced at Shi Yu and saw him nod slightly, then said, "Because Shi Yu's birthday was wrong, Shi Dehou failed."
Lin Lanting had recently taken sick leave at home, but he was in good health and didn't look sick at all. In addition, he had taken the initiative to tell the Queen about his childhood a few days ago.
The two knew that there was a rift between him and Queen Lin, and that he chose Shi Yu over the Queen. So, they could trust him to a certain extent. After all, some things could not withstand the scrutiny of this old fox, and some things even required his explanation.
For example, investigating what happened to Miss Lin San in the past, or making a big deal about the murder of the Lin family's gravekeeper.
"The birthday is wrong?" Lin Lanting frowned. "The birth of the prince is a major event for Feng Zhao. How could they get the time wrong?"
Thinking of something, he looked at Shi Yu in astonishment, "You are not His Majesty's child?"
He quickly rejected his own thoughts, "No, you are. You have a fire poison pattern on your body, and His Majesty only has the Queen, and the Queen only gave birth to you and Zhi'an. So what went wrong?"
"General Lin, when was Cao Yizhao born?" Wei Qingyan suddenly asked.
Lin Lanting stood up from his chair in shock, "What does the Crown Princess mean?"
Wei Qingyan gestured for him to sit down. "Back then, Cao Yizhao and Shi Yu were both brought to the Wei Dynasty when they were still infants. They should be about the same age. Could it be that their identities were swapped?"
"But Third Sister was raped by Xiao Pei back then, and her child is Xiao Pei's. Although Xiao Pei is also the bloodline of the late emperor, he is not the empress dowager's legitimate son. This is also the mystery of the fire poison pattern. Only children born from the emperor's legitimate bloodline have that pattern..."
But Xiao Pei never admitted that he had physical contact with his third sister. Could it be that the man back then was not Xiao Pei, but the emperor's brother-in-law?
But how could the emperor's brother-in-law be that kind of person? Putting aside his feelings for the queen, even if he really didn't intend to make this mistake, he is definitely not an irresponsible person.
Lin Lanting has been with Emperor Feng Zhao since he was a child. To him, Emperor Feng Zhao, his brother-in-law, is both his teacher and his father. He trusts Emperor Feng Zhao more than the empress.
"Are you sure there is something wrong with the prince's birthday?" Lin Lanting stared at the two of them without blinking.
The two of them nodded in unison, waiting for Lin Lanting to say this.
Lin Lanting closed his eyes and said, "Please don't make this matter public for now. I will carefully investigate what happened back then."
After a pause, he looked at Shi Yu, "But whether you are the Queen's child or the Third Sister's child, you are my nephew.
Today, I am being so bold as to ask you for a promise as your uncle: no matter how far you and the Queen go, please do not do anything to hurt Feng Zhao, okay?"
"Since my birth date is different, do you still believe that I am Prince Feng Zhao?"
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