Xiao Yanchu and Su Ruojin nodded slightly in greeting, "Greetings, Emperor Xiaoyue and Empress Dowager."
Empress Dowager Wu spoke up, "Give the Regent of Great Chu and his wife seats."
Soon, palace servants brought over two chairs.
Xiao Yanchu and Su Ruojin sat down, and Xiao Yanchu got straight to the point, "Your Majesty, Empress Dowager, yesterday the Imperial Advisor came to us and said that my Princess Consort's younger brother may be the long-lost Second Prince of Xiaoyue, and he hopes that my two younger brothers can come here today to verify it."
Now that I have brought the person here, please begin the verification.
The ministers were in an uproar upon hearing this.
Some unsuspecting ministers secretly inquired with their close associates, and the results they heard left them wide-eyed, slowly digesting the news.
"Thank you for your trouble, Your Highness and Your Highness. If Your Highness's younger brother is indeed the Second Prince of Xiaoyue, then it is truly a blessing for Xiaoyue." Empress Dowager Wu spoke the word "blessing" with a profound meaning. "Imperial Preceptor, let's begin."
"Someone come here." Gao Hongyuan called out, and immediately a eunuch came out carrying two bowls, while a nanny helped a little girl out.
Gao Hongyuan looked at the assembled officials and said, "To verify the bloodline of the Second Prince, we need the blood of the late Emperor's children. His Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and his body cannot be easily harmed. Therefore, I have specially sent Princess Ruijin to assist in the blood test."
Princess Ruijin was only two years older than Princess Wanling. Although she looked somewhat fearful, she dared not disobey.
Gao Hongyuan walked up to Princess Ruijin and said, "Princess, please forgive me."
After saying that, he took out a silver needle and pricked Princess Ruijin's finger, dripping a few drops of blood into two bowls.
Gao Hongyuan placed the bowl on a tray, and the eunuch followed behind him carrying the tray, arriving in front of Yuan Hong and Dapu.
"Young masters, please." Gao Hongyuan pointed to the silver needles on the tray.
Yuan Hong and Da Pu did not take the two silver needles, but instead each took out the silver needles that Su Ruojin had prepared for them earlier from their pockets.
With Gao Hongyuan, a master of Gu poison, Su Ruojin definitely had to guard against him targeting Yuan Hong and Dapu.
Seeing how cautious the two were, Gao Hongyuan narrowed his eyes slightly but said nothing.
The blood of the two men quickly dripped into the bowl, but both Dapu's and Yuan Hong's blood slowly blended with Princess Ruijin's.
Gao Hongyuan's eyes widened in disbelief. How could this be!
Consort Yun did indeed only give birth to one prince. Why can the blood of these two people be mixed with that of Princess Ruijin? Could it be that there is another prince born to the late emperor?
No, that's impossible!
I have never heard of any of the late emperor's concubines being pregnant at that time.
Su Ruojin naturally knew the reason behind this; Fu Linglong's life-restoring technique was still in effect.
Blood tests are not very accurate to begin with, and using blood from siblings to verify kinship is something she could have expected, even though she didn't know what secret method Gao Hongyuan used.
Empress Dowager Wu frowned upon seeing this outcome.
What exactly happened?
Gao Hongyuan knew that one of the two people was definitely a fake, but which one was it?
At this moment, Minister Jiang of the Ministry of Revenue stepped forward and said, “Grand Preceptor, I have heard that the royal family has a red jade bead that can determine the royal bloodline. Why don’t we ask the Empress Dowager to take out the red jade bead for testing to ensure that the royal bloodline is not confused?”
Lord Jiang was a neutral figure, responsible only to the reigning emperor, and did not favor either side. No one objected to his statement.
Upon hearing what Lord Jiang said, Empress Dowager Wu's expression changed. She also wanted to use the Red Jade Bead, but the bead had disappeared along with the Second Prince when he went missing.
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