Chapter 578 The Truth Revealed (Second Update)
"Mother! Mother! Mother—"
"Mother, I know I was wrong—please give me another chance!"
"Give me another chance... Mother!"
I gave you a chance, but from the day you returned, I knew you were not Ning An.
I know that my peace and tranquility are most likely gone forever.
That single tear I shed was for Ning'an.
That evening, you went to the nunnery.
I will assume you are visiting to remember your mother. You are her flesh and blood, and it is perfectly understandable for you to remember her. I have no objection.
You gave me warmth during the days when I needed you most. I believe that as long as you didn't kill Ning'an, and as long as you sincerely come back to be a princess, then I can accept you.
But why... why did you poison my beloved?! Why did you collude with the people of Yan? Why did you harm Liu Lang? Why did you commit so many unforgivable acts?
...
Empress Dowager Zhuang boarded the carriage to return home.
Qin Gonggong was originally sitting outside, but seeing that Empress Dowager Zhuang was not in a good mood, he thought for a moment and then boldly sat inside.
Eunuch Qin looked at Empress Dowager Zhuang: "Empress Dowager."
Empress Dowager Zhuang rubbed her aching temples: "What do you want to say?"
"No." Eunuch Qin instinctively denied it; to be honest, he was still processing it himself.
Those letters were sent back to the capital by Gu Changqing using the official courier service. They arrived this morning, but he didn't read them after they arrived; the Empress Dowager sorted them out herself.
So what he was hearing just now was actually the first time he had ever heard such a shocking truth.
"Well... this servant feels a bit overwhelmed," Eunuch Qin said awkwardly.
Empress Dowager Zhuang said calmly, "Just ask if you want to, don't be so wishy-washy."
"Yes." Eunuch Qin chuckled dryly. "When Princess Ning'an was little, she was sometimes afraid of the dark and sometimes not. Were they two completely different people?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang closed her eyes faintly and said, "Hmm."
Eunuch Qin gasped weakly: "If she's already left the palace, how did she get back in?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang said calmly, "Her mother is an imperial concubine. Is it so difficult to bring a child in? It's not like she lives in the palace year after year. She just comes over occasionally so that the mother and daughter can be reunited."
"That makes sense." Eunuch Qin suddenly realized. "Does Princess Ning'an know about this?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang pondered for a moment, then shook her head: "She should not know."
Given Ning An's personality, she couldn't keep it a secret, at least not from her and the Emperor.
What was that child thinking at the time?
Seeing Ning'an living a life of luxury and carefree happiness, she made a request to Consort Jing: "Mother, I also want to be a princess."
Consort Jing then dressed her in Ning'an's clothes, making her look like Ning'an, and letting her be a princess for a day, half a day, or an hour.
After that, she returned to her own place.
Eunuch Qin sighed, "Thinking about it this way, she's quite pitiful. Just because she was born an hour later than her sister, the difference between them is like heaven and earth. I'm not a death squad member, so I don't know what kind of life death squad members lead, but I imagine they don't enjoy the same kind of life as the princess."
Empress Dowager Zhuang said, "Compared to a princess? They are far inferior to ordinary people." The hardships of a death squad member are not something that ordinary people can endure.
"That would be even worse." Eunuch Qin sighed and said, "Then...then the one who married into the border region back then was the real Princess Ning'an, right?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang sighed: "It's her."
Perhaps it was from that time that they began to plan for their younger sister to replace Ning An.
Whether Consort Jing had any feelings for Ning'an is impossible to say. Perhaps she did, but it was simply because of her selfishness.
The carriage slowly began to move.
Empress Dowager Zhuang leaned against the carriage wall, and Eunuch Qin quickly placed a cushion under her arm. Empress Dowager Zhuang recalled, "After Consort Jing died, I questioned Granny Cai, and Granny Cai said something to me."
Eunuch Qin asked, "What did you say?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang said, "After the Emperor and Consort Jing became estranged, Consort Jing planned to take out an imperial edict and perish together with me. Granny Cai begged her not to act impulsively, to think of Ning'an, saying that she had not only His Majesty, but also Ning'an. At that moment, her expression was strange, and her words were odd. She replied to Granny Cai, 'Ning'an will never come back in this lifetime… never…'"
"Just like Granny Cai, I thought that Consort Jing said Ning'an couldn't come back because of the angry words I had said to Ning'an. I said, Ning'an, if you dare to marry to the border, you are never allowed to come back for the rest of your life."
Eunuch Qin nodded hurriedly: "This old servant remembers you did say that! This old servant even advised you against it back then!"
Empress Dowager Zhuang sighed again: "Therefore, I did not suspect anything at the time. Granny Cai had never had any contact with that child, so naturally I had no suspicion."
Eunuch Qin clicked his tongue and said, "No one would suspect anything! Who would have thought that Consort Jing gave birth to Ning'an and then hid another Ning'an! Even tigers don't eat their cubs, how could she bear to send her own flesh and blood to become a death squad?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang said coldly, "There are all kinds of people in this world."
Eunuch Qin nodded: "That's true."
Empress Dowager Zhuang said regretfully, "That child didn't appear in the palace very often, and he hasn't appeared in front of me since he was ten years old. If he had appeared a few more times, perhaps I would have discovered something."
Huaqing Palace.
The emperor, who had been suffocated by Princess Xinyang's pillow, finally woke up again.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Princess Xinyang guarding his bedside. His first reaction was to suddenly cover his head with his hands!
Princess Xinyang: "..."
Princess Xinyang smothered the emperor until he fainted, so there was no way for her to escape unless she killed him. Otherwise, the emperor would definitely hold her accountable for her crimes.
But killing him would be troublesome. First, it would be difficult to dispose of the body. Second, she was currently serving as regent, and with the emperor's death and the crown prince's ascension to the throne, she worried that she would have to continue as regent.
This is really annoying.
The emperor looked at Princess Xinyang, whose expression was conflicted, and felt a chill run down his spine.
"cough!"
The emperor cleared his throat, calmly lowered his hand, and pretended that the cowardly scene from just now had never happened.
Princess Xinyang stood up.
The emperor once again clutched his head in disbelief!
Princess Xinyang: Well, I'll kneel down and apologize to you.
The emperor, realizing what had happened, flew into a rage and shouted, "Sit down! Don't move!"
Sit down, then sit down.
It was you who forbade me to kneel.
Princess Xinyang sat down on the stool.
Princess Xinyang didn't know martial arts, but after spending a long time with Long Yi, she honestly developed a murderous aura. Not to mention, she originally had the aura of an imperial elder sister. That pillow slammed down on the emperor left a deep shadow in his heart.
Yu Jin has been removed from the chat.
The emperor composed himself, sat up straight, and said sternly, "Wei Quan! Get in here!"
"Yes!" Eunuch Wei hurried in.
"What happened to your face?" The emperor looked at Eunuch Wei, whose face was bruised and swollen, with a strange expression.
Eunuch Wei lowered his head and said, "He fell, he fell."
Yu Jin beat him up.
He came in once when the emperor was unconscious. He looked at Princess Xinyang’s Adam’s apple, arm hair and... well, you know. After he left, Yu Jin beat him up for being a pervert.
"Xinyang is guilty, please punish me, Your Majesty," Princess Xinyang said, taking the initiative to admit her mistake.
"You've got some nerve!" The emperor slapped the jade pillow, his entire hand going numb...
"Your Majesty may decide what to do."
Please remove me from my position as regent immediately.
The emperor said irritably, "I haven't decided how to deal with you yet, so I'll leave you for now!"
"Oh." Princess Xinyang looked disappointed.
emperor:"……"
The emperor said coldly, "Why did you knock me unconscious? I thought you were going to commit regicide!"
Princess Xinyang truthfully replied, "I misunderstood His Majesty, thinking that His Majesty intended to protect Ning'an."
"I...I'm protecting her?" The emperor was furious. When did he ever say he would protect Ning An?
The emperor glared coldly at Princess Xinyang. She usually acted like his elder sister, rarely like a younger sister.
This feels pretty good.
The emperor cleared his throat: "Did you come to the palace today to ask me something?"
I don't.
Princess Xinyang glanced at the emperor, whose forehead was swollen like a pig's head.
Never mind, I can have it.
Princess Xinyang racked her brains for a moment, then asked, "Why would Princess Ning'an attempt to assassinate His Majesty?"
The emperor said, "I saw the confession and know that she was responsible for the incident at Xianleju."
Princess Xinyang gave the emperor a seemingly ambiguous look: "Your Majesty believes it?"
The Emperor coughed lightly and said, "I didn't believe it at first, but her sudden suicide by hitting her head against a pillar to prove her innocence reminded me of something I had long forgotten. It was many years ago, before you and Ning'an were married. The late Emperor was seriously ill, and I went to visit him. I found two Ning'ans there! One Ning'an pushed the other, causing her to suffer a severe head injury and bleed profusely, just like... just like that day in the Imperial Study..."
"Two Ning'an?" Princess Xinyang frowned.
The Emperor's expression became complicated: "That was the first time I saw two Ning'an. I was terrified, thinking I had seen a ghost. Just then, Consort Jing appeared. She took me back to my palace and told me not to tell anyone what I had seen. I asked her what had happened, why there were two Ning'an. If she didn't tell me the truth, I would go to my father. Consort Jing told me that Ning'an had a younger sister, but unfortunately, she was stillborn. She thought it was stillborn and was worried that it would displease my father, so she had the midwife secretly take the child out of the palace to bury it. But after taking the child out of the palace, the child came back to life. Since it had already been announced that there was only one child, bringing the child back would expose her burying the stillborn, and my father would definitely be furious. So she had no choice but to secretly raise the child outside the palace."
"Your Majesty wouldn't believe that, would you?" This kind of plot sounds obviously fake.
The emperor, though outwardly fierce, inwardly trembled and said menacingly, "I...I...Of course I don't believe it!"
Princess Xinyang pouted.
You believed it.
"Is Ning'an, the one who pushed the person, your younger sister?" Princess Xinyang asked.
"How do you know everything?" The emperor looked at Princess Xinyang in surprise.
Princess Xinyang didn't say it, but even a fool could guess that if there was a kind Ning'an and a demon Ning'an in this world, then the Ning'an who grew up with them must be the kind Ning'an.
"And then?" Princess Xinyang asked the emperor.
"Afterwards, Consort Jing begged me to keep her secret." At this point, the emperor paused.
Princess Xinyang spoke on his behalf: "But His Majesty and the Empress Dowager are so close, like mother and son, that His Majesty will surely tell the Empress Dowager."
The emperor did not deny it.
He knew his own nature very well. Even if he promised Consort Jing not to tell anyone, he would definitely tell his mother afterwards.
“The Empress Dowager will definitely not believe the story fabricated by Consort Jing. She will sense that something is amiss.” Princess Xinyang said, referring to what had happened before. “So… Consort Jing was in a hurry to make His Majesty break with the Empress Dowager, but she was afraid that the break was not thorough enough, so she gave His Majesty a white medicine to make him obedient to her. Under the influence of the white medicine, His Majesty naturally forgot everything that might affect your relationship with your mother.”
The emperor sighed and nodded: "That's right."
Princess Xinyang suddenly realized: "That makes all of this make sense."
The emperor continued, "That accident in the Imperial Study backfired, reminding me of what I saw in the late emperor's bedchamber. I immediately concluded that she is another Ning An, not the Ning An who grew up with me!"
So that's how it is. She wondered how a mere confession could have sown discord between His Majesty and Ning'an.
Princess Xinyang asked solemnly, "What does Your Majesty intend to do with her?"
The emperor said sternly, "She is not Ning An, and I will not tolerate her."
That's more like it.
Xinyang slowly stood up: "It's getting late, Xinyang will take his leave."
"Xinyang." The emperor suddenly called out to Princess Xinyang.
"Hmm?" Princess Xinyang looked at the emperor in confusion.
The emperor hesitated for a moment, then spoke with difficulty, "You mean... Ning'an is still alive?"
Princess Xinyang did not speak, but gave a slight bow and turned to leave.
(End of this chapter)
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