Upon reading this, Chen Banjun glanced at the emperor.
Seeing the emperor nod, he continued reading, "Emperor Renzhao clearly instructed me that the day your identity is exposed will be the day you die."
Even if he passes away, the new emperor will take over this matter. If I keep this a secret, you will still be the heir of the Marquis's mansion, earning the court's reward through your abilities, and in the future you will inherit the title and enjoy the honor of the Marquis's mansion.
Only now do I truly understand why your mother dissected herself back then; she had already guessed it was Emperor Renzhao.
It is even more so that a docile princess would not have aroused such fear in the emperor, who would have imprisoned her daughter even after her son's death.
The Grand Princess, who could make the emperor so wary and lead her siblings back to their homeland from the marriage alliance, was certainly no incompetent person.
The siblings were separated in Qingzhou, and their hiding place was also in Qingzhou. Qingzhou is not a big city, so how could they not be found?
Only a princess without children could put the emperor at ease, so he dared not reveal his true strength to search for her and voluntarily gave up his two children.
Emperor Renzhao could have killed your mother directly, but he only imprisoned her, and your mother gambled that he still had some feelings for his niece.
Therefore, he committed suicide, hoping to gain the emperor's mercy and secure a way out for you and me, father and son.
Just as your mother had guessed, Emperor Renzhao felt a pang of sympathy for his niece, who had been abandoned by her own mother, married a rough and uncouth soldier who was a hunter, and died in childbirth. Therefore, he did not make things difficult for you and your father again.
I've also secretly investigated the Grand Princess. She's not as docile as she seems. If she finds out your identity, she'll probably drag you into endless trouble.
I am cowardly, selfish, and incompetent. For your sake, I have no choice but to continue hiding the truth.
But fearing the worst, I wrote this letter before my death and entrusted it to my close friend Cai Yu.
Instruct him that if one day, Shu Liu Niang causes trouble, or the Grand Princess gets involved with you, or if anything else happens that is detrimental to you, then have him deliver this letter to you.
My son, your father comes from the countryside and has no wisdom except for brute strength. I don't know whether this is good or bad for you.
If I have done something wrong and implicated my son, please, my son, go to the back mountain of Wuxiang Temple in Qingzhou and scold me. Also, take the opportunity to see your mother. Your father, Zhou Dashan, wrote this as his last words.
The old marquis felt unworthy of being granted the imperial surname, a privilege his wife had earned with her life, so he used his own surname in the letter.
After Chen Banjun finished reading, the Marquis of Zhongyong was already in tears. Ye Zhen did not tell him what happened next.
He looked at Cai Yu and asked, "Uncle Cai, what did my father mean by Wuxiang Temple?"
Wasn't my father buried in the Xie family ancestral cemetery after his death? How could this be...?
But I had some vague suspicions in my mind.
He was also told to go to Wuxiang Temple. Based on his understanding of his father, his father was reminding him that if the royal family was not going to be friendly to him, he should not be blindly loyal and should flee for his life first.
Cai Yu looked weary and sighed, "Your father knew your mother's identity and was worried that she would be disturbed even after her death."
He then found a corpse to bury in her place, while your mother was sent to Wuxiang Temple, where a full ritual was performed before she was buried in the back mountain of Wuxiang Temple.
He only had your mother as his wife in his life, and he had long planned to be buried with her after his death. However, fearing that it would disturb others, he asked me to secretly switch his body and send it to Qingzhou.
Don't blame him; he didn't tell you because it was for your own good.
Besides fearing for your life, he also knew that you were dedicated to serving the court, cared for the people, and possessed great skills, so he believed you should live well and make a name for yourself.
He didn't mean to hurt your mother. I saw him when he was having an episode; he even cut himself. He committed the wrong thing in a fit of irrationality, but he spent his whole life atoning for it. He never touched a woman again after that.
He wasn't mocking himself for being crude and ignorant; on the contrary, your father was a magnanimous and truly righteous man who never allowed you to harbor the slightest dissatisfaction with the royal family or the court.
As he said this, he didn't forget to glance at the Grand Princess, implying that compared to the old Marquis, the Grand Princess was a hypocrite.
"Because he knew that Da Yuan needed loyal and capable military generals, and only when the court was stable could the people be at peace."
He hopes that no woman in the world will ever have to go through what your mother went through…
"How dare you!"
The Grand Princess interrupted Cai Yu with her sharp voice, “How dare you fabricate such a letter to slander Emperor Renzhao.”
She refused to admit that the letter was real.
Marquis Zhongyong coldly retorted, "This is my father's handwriting."
Cai Yu's face also showed anger, "Whether the letter was fabricated or not, the Grand Princess knows best."
You keep saying you want to find your descendants, and you've been protecting the heinous Fu Jiang in every way.
Now, your real grandson is right before you, yet you refuse to acknowledge him. Does the Grand Princess dare to say why?
"Because she felt guilty, she had been pretending to be kind and righteous for so long that she started to believe it herself. When she was exposed, she was afraid to face the truth."
Ye Zhen spoke up, "I was also abandoned by my parents, so I understand my grandmother's despair to some extent."
The reason she underwent a cesarean section was probably because she was abandoned by her own mother, and she understood her mother's thoughts better. In despair, she chose to give in to her mother's wishes.
What pain in this world can compare to being abandoned or even harmed by one's own blood relatives?
These words caused the Empress's eyes to flicker, and she looked at Ye Zhen.
Ye Zhen didn't lift her eyelids, pretending not to know that the Empress was looking at her, and continued, "Fu Jiang's background cannot withstand close scrutiny, but the princess firmly defends it."
It's only because a despicable person like him can shamelessly fawn over you and suck up to you, refusing to investigate the truth of the past for his mother's sake, and only obeying what you tell him, obediently acting as your grandson, that you can deceive yourself into thinking you've made amends to your children.
Marquis Zhongyong has his own sense of right and wrong, and he himself holds a high position, so he has no need to curry favor with the Grand Princess.
Moreover, he was the emperor's confidant.
The Grand Princess was naturally suspicious and always worried that the Marquis of Zhongyong would conspire with the Emperor to harm her.
Ultimately, what she loved most was herself and power. Her children were merely a pretext she occasionally thought of when she was alone and lonely after gaining power.
"presumptuous!"
The Grand Princess roared, "How dare you, a person of no rank or status, speak to me like that..."
"Your Majesty, I wish to file a lawsuit against the Grand Princess, accusing her of deliberately spreading rumors that my master was a spy, which led to my master being assassinated by spies from Dongwu."
"If it weren't for His Majesty's wisdom in dispatching the Imperial Guards in time, I fear the outcome would have been dire."
Ye Zhen interrupted the Grand Princess, "Your Majesty also wants to accuse the Grand Princess of treating human life like dirt and sending royal guards to assassinate a commoner."
After speaking, she looked up at the Grand Princess and said, "Ye Zhen just spoke up to defend her grandparents and father. This is filial piety, and filial piety has no distinction of rank."
You consider yourself of high status, yet you are utterly unworthy of your position and have no right to respect you. Ye Zhen's rebuttal today is merely an expression of sympathy for His Majesty and the many people you have deceived.
Before the Grand Princess could speak, Ye Zhen turned to the Emperor and said, “Your Majesty, I once overheard Ye Wantang threatening the Grand Princess, saying that the plague was actually caused by the Grand Princess, and that her marriage to Rongji Kingdom to seek the antidote was just a result of her own clumsy actions.”
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