She felt that she had no strength in her body, not even the strength to sit up. She just stared blankly at the gauze curtain above, breathing rapidly.
“Hoo—, hoo—”
Her heart was beating wildly and chaotically in her chest, as if it was about to jump out of her chest.
She once again felt the bone-chilling chill from the day before, as if she were falling into an ice cellar.
"Hahaha……"
She suddenly opened her mouth and laughed, and her laughter was filled with madness, weirdness and sadness.
Her time travel was simply a joke! Because of the long dream she had when she first traveled through time, she firmly believed everything in the dream and put herself in the shoes of Jiang Minshan's daughter.
She felt that Shen Zhi was a bad person who insisted on marrying Chu Lingxiao, breaking up the lovers Chu Lingxiao and Jiang Minshan. It was Shen Zhi who forced Jiang Minshan to become a concubine.
If it weren't for Shen Zhi, she wouldn't have become a concubine's daughter. She should have been the eldest daughter of the Chu family! She thought Jiang Minshan was innocent. Jiang Minshan had no choice but to become a concubine because someone took away her love. She told herself that Jiang Minshan didn't swap the two baby girls. It was all Chu Lingxiao's doing. She even found a reason for Jiang Minshan, thinking that her indifference to Shen Qianchen was just because Shen Qianchen was not her biological daughter...
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Chu Qianhuang's smile became even crazier and more terrifying.
She thought Jiang Minshan was the original owner's biological mother, so she blindly found many excuses for Jiang Minshan, beautified her image, and ignored many obvious points!
Reality slapped her in the face, hard and solid.
She felt a burning pain on her face.
She felt that her busyness over the past year or so was simply a sign of mental illness.
Why did she travel to this world?
She originally thought that she came with a mission, to change the original owner's fate and to avenge the original owner.
But in the end, the one who killed the original owner was Jiang Minshan.
Chu Qianhuang was completely lost in a state of confusion and depression. At this moment, she didn't even know whether to scold herself for being stupid or to hate Jiang Minshan for being insidious...
She kept her eyes open blankly, never falling asleep again, and didn't notice that the sky outside was getting brighter.
I don’t know how long it was before the loud crowing of a rooster was heard outside, breaking the silence of dawn.
After a while, there was a lot of noise outside the house.
Several eunuchs came over and asked the empress, concubines and princesses to go to the mourning hall to mourn the late emperor. After a burst of chirping sounds like sparrows, it became quiet outside.
No one came to invite Chu Qianhuang. She had no title or imperial edict, and with her status, she was not qualified to mourn for the late emperor.
It seemed that Chu Qianhuang was the only one left in the entire Fengluan Palace.
The concubines and princesses all went towards the Yangxin Palace to mourn the late emperor. Everything was the same as in the previous days, like a routine. There was no sadness in their cries anymore, only confusion and uneasiness about the future.
After seven days of rest, the late emperor's coffin was buried in the imperial mausoleum. The funeral was simple, far inferior to that of the previous emperor, but no one cared about it, and even the queen did not raise any objection.
In just seven or eight days, everything in the court had stabilized.
The four city gates of the capital were opened, and normal order and traffic were restored. However, the gates were guarded by the Black Armor Army themselves, and the inspection of civilians and officials entering and leaving the city was stricter than before.
Furthermore, it was now a period of national mourning, and restaurants, theaters, brothels, and the like were all closed. The mansions of court officials and nobles did not dare to host banquets. Basically, 70 to 80 percent of the houses in the streets and alleys of the capital had their doors closed, and there was an indescribable depression in the atmosphere.
However, Shen Qianchen was not affected at all.
At this moment, Shen Qianchen was talking to Queen Mother Yin in Shouning Palace: "Mother, did you sleep well last night?" Shen Qianchen was also worried that Queen Mother Yin would not be able to adapt to the sudden change of environment.
"I am now happy and fat, so of course I sleep well." Queen Mother Yin smiled.
She did not feel any sadness about Gu Lang's death. She and Gu Lang did not have much of a mother-son relationship. They were almost enemies.
Queen Mother Yin did not return to the palace until the day before yesterday, and she still did not care about anything, and did not interfere with the funeral arrangements of the late emperor from beginning to end. She still lived the same life as she did in the palace before.
Gu Lang has been buried. There were fewer mournful cries in the palace today, and Empress Dowager Yin felt it was suddenly much quieter.
Queen Mother Yin drank a sip of Longjing tea and said, "Qianchen, this palace needs to be reorganized."
The personnel in the palace are too complicated and intertwined. We cannot withdraw all the palace people at once. But if we do nothing, it will lay hidden dangers, like a festering sore.
Shen Qianchen laughed heartily and said, "I thought that we should let the concubines take all the people they usually use with us, and keep the others for use first. If there are any problems, we can slowly pull them out."
Anyway, she has time, so there is no need to rush and she can take her time.
Queen Mother Yin couldn't help but laugh.
Her daughter-in-law, although still young, is bold and unrestrained in doing things, which reminds Empress Dowager Yin of an old saying: If this bird does not fly, it will soar into the sky; if it does not sing, it will sing as a surprise.
If Shen Qianchen takes action, it must be drastic and resolute! Queen Mother Yin said jokingly: "I see that your style of doing things is not like your mother. Who did you learn it from?"
She was just teasing the little girl, but she didn't expect the little girl to answer seriously: "My son!"
Queen Mother Yin was stunned and didn't react at first. After a while, she realized that Shen Qianchen was saying that she learned it from Gu Jue.
Queen Mother Yin was amused and burst into laughter, with tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.
She thought about it and felt that there seemed to be some truth in it. Her daughter-in-law's style of doing things was very similar to that of her son.
"So, is this what it means that he who keeps company with vermilion becomes red, or he who keeps company with ink becomes black?" Queen Mother Yin asked deliberately.
Shen Qianchen smiled slyly: "Mother, you should ask your son about this question."
Queen Mother Yin was amused again, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law laughed happily together.
Nanny He watched this scene from the side and also laughed, feeling as if she were in another world. Only a year had passed, and it seemed like everything had changed.
After laughing for a while, Queen Mother Yin continued to talk about business: "I thought about moving Gu Lang's concubines to Huifu Garden to guard his tomb."
No matter what happens in the future, it is really troublesome for these concubines to stay in the palace now.
"Huifu Garden is nice and close to the imperial mausoleum." Shen Qianchen nodded slightly.
This matter is settled.
Shen Qianchen was just thinking about asking Queen Mother Yin for a pulse check when Jiang Yuan came in. He didn't try to avoid the Queen Mother and directly reported, "Princess, Cheng Changshi brought someone with him and said he found the midwife from Daping Temple."
Shen Qianchen's eyes flashed, and Queen Mother Yin hurriedly said: "Qianchen, go and do your work."
Shen Qianchen did not bother to be polite with Empress Dowager Yin. He said goodbye and asked Jiang Yuan to take the person to Chunxi Palace, which was opposite Shouning Palace.
He chose the east wing hall in Chunxi Palace and dismissed all irrelevant people, leaving only Amber to serve.
The empty room seemed particularly quiet, and Shen Qianchen sat there in a daze.
Last year, Duke Mu's Mansion also sent people to Daping Temple to look for clues, but the abbot at that time had passed away long ago, and they only found a monk who saw Chu Lingxiao carrying a swaddling baby.
While he was lost in thought, Jiang Yuan's calm voice came from outside the hall: "Come this way."
6◇9◇Book◇Bar
Shen Qianchen looked in the direction of the voice and saw Jiang Yuan coming in with an old woman in her sixties with gray hair. The old woman was short and fat, wearing a half-worn green cloth dress. She looked very old and frail, and looked very terrified.
Jiang Yuan introduced, "Princess, this is Liu Wenpo, who delivered your wife in Daping Temple in August fourteen years ago."
"Greetings, Princess." Midwife Liu knelt down tremblingly and kowtowed to Shen Qianchen. She did not dare to look directly at Shen Qianchen's face, and her eyes fell on her pair of moon-white embroidered shoes.
Since Liu Wenpo was able to deliver the baby for the wife of the Crown Prince of the Marquis's Mansion, she had naturally seen some nobles and knew some etiquette. Although she was nervous, she managed to follow the etiquette.
Jiang Yuan didn't want to waste Shen Qianchen's time, so he warned him coldly: "Cheng Changshi has already told you what to say, you just need to repeat what you told Cheng Changshi."
"..." Liu Wenpo was sweating profusely and responded meekly with a look of anxiety in her eyes.
She already knew that the young princess in front of her was the baby girl from that year.
Liu Wenpo swallowed her saliva and started from the beginning: "Back then, Duke Mu's Mansion originally arranged a midwife for the Madam, but the Marquis took the Madam back to his hometown to attend the funeral. It happened suddenly, and the midwife happened to be unwell, so the Madam chose me to follow the Madam to her hometown just in case."
"When the eldest lady was staying at Daping Temple, she had a miscarriage and suddenly went into premature labor. The birth was difficult, and after giving birth to her first baby girl, the eldest lady fainted from exhaustion..."
Liu Wenpo swallowed hard again, her voice becoming increasingly hoarse.
When Shen Qianchen heard "the first baby girl", the fingers of his right hand suddenly shrank and clenched into a fist, his expression remained calm.
Granny Liu continued, "At that time, Nanny Chen, who was by the Madam's side, went out of the temple to find a doctor for her. As soon as she left, I discovered that the Madam was pregnant with another baby girl."
Twins?! Shen Qianchen's pupils shrank slightly, his chest heaved, and his mind was in turmoil.
She took a deep breath and couldn't help asking herself: Can the twins be diagnosed by pulse? It's possible, but even she wasn't completely sure.
Moreover, in the early stages of pregnancy, the pulse is generally not obvious. It is not until before delivery that the pulse becomes obvious. Ordinary doctors may not be able to diagnose it. Therefore, there are many women who only know that they are pregnant with twins from the midwife when they are in labor. In fact, giving birth for women is like stepping into the gates of hell. Twins are much more difficult to deliver than single babies, and the probability of death of the mother is also higher.
Shen Zhi suddenly gave birth prematurely in Daping Temple that year, which was like she had a close call with death.
Shen Qianchen's eyes were slightly sore, he felt heartbroken for his mother, and his body was tense.
Granny Liu glanced at Shen Qianchen and then drooped her eyelids. She felt even more frightened and nervous.
She continued tremblingly, "The second baby girl was suffocated by amniotic fluid, her whole body was blue and purple, and her life was hanging by a thread. Because the abbot master knew the art of medicine, the marquis took both baby girls to the abbot... But later, only one was brought back, the eldest girl. In fact, the marquis did not tell me where he took the second girl."
"..." Shen Qianchen clenched his right fist even tighter, his eyes as deep as the abyss.
When she first heard Liu Wenpo say that she and Chu Qianhuang were twins, she thought it was a possibility, but she didn't want to believe it.
After all, Shen Qianchen had lived two lives and experienced a lot of things, so he quickly calmed down and concentrated on thinking.
Granny Liu wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve and finished the last part with gritted teeth: "The Marquis did not allow me to tell the First Lady that she actually gave birth to twins, and asked me to completely forget about the Second Lady. Afterwards, the Marquis gave me 500 taels of silver as hush money. Later, about a year after I returned to the capital, the Marquis released my family from slavery."
This matter is of great importance. When she was found by the Duke Mu's Mansion last year, she knew that she could never tell this matter even if she died. If she told it, it would not be a merit but a sin. The Duke Mu's Mansion is powerful and her family would be completely finished. She would also offend the Marquis Yongding's Mansion.
However, when she was found by Prince Chen's Mansion this time, Mrs. Liu no longer dared to harbor any hope.
The people in Prince Chen's Mansion directly handed her eldest grandson, who owed a lot of gambling debts, over to the people in the gambling house, and then the eldest grandson had a finger cut off by the gambling house's thugs on the spot.
The eldest grandson fainted from the pain, and the cut on his thumb was bleeding...
This scene is still deeply engraved in Liu Wenpo's heart.
At that time, Liu Wenpo realized that it would be over even if she didn't say anything. When she arrived in the capital and was sent to the palace, the last bit of hesitation in her heart disappeared.
If she still wants to save the lives of her entire family, she has to tell the truth.
Her life is nothing, she can't let her whole family be implicated.
If it is a blessing, there will be no disaster; if it is a disaster, there will be no escape.
Back then, when she was lured by the Marquis into committing such a heinous mistake, she should have known that the net of heaven is vast and nothing can escape it! She has gained these fourteen extra years for nothing.
Mrs. Liu was so weak that she almost turned into a puddle of mud. She kowtowed in fear and said, "Princess, please spare me. I had no choice! I was just following the Marquis' orders. Everything was done by the Marquis and Aunt Jiang!"
Her voice was trembling, like the fallen leaves in the wind and rain.
"..." Shen Qianchen's eyelashes fluttered twice, and a cold edge flashed in his eyes.
If what Liu Wenpo said was true, then all the clues that he hadn't figured out before would fall into place, and even Jiang Minshan's strange attitude towards Chu Qianhuang could be explained.
She was 90% sure that she and Chu Qianhuang were twins! Neither of them was Jiang Minshan's daughter... Jiang Minshan was so vicious!
How much does Jiang Minshan hate Shen Zhi to set up such a meticulous plan.
(End of this chapter)