Chapter 426 The daughter is still alive, named Anran
Zhao Xuan was plagued by rumors and gossip outside the palace. Fortunately, he had made preparations in advance and eliminated Zhao Rui and his son beforehand. Otherwise, the court officials would have forced him to make Zhao Rui's son the crown prince.
In order to have an heir as soon as possible, he selected another batch of new women to enter the palace. To say that he was immoral and childless is utter nonsense.
His childlessness was intentional.
For some reason, the more eager I am to have children, the less capable I am of having sex.
The imperial physician prescribed him a medicine that would give him the strength to favor the concubines.
After having sex that night, he would rest for a while, but he was still very excited and then favored another concubine in the latter half of the night.
It was difficult for the concubines who had been pregnant before to conceive again, so he didn't even glance at them. He only cared about favoring the new concubines, leaving the old ones alone in their empty rooms. Although the new concubines were not of high rank, they relied on their favor and power to bully the old ones, and the two sides banded together to fight each other.
Yun Jiaoyue and Liu Yiyi were imprisoned in the Cold Palace. In the harem, only Su Wan'er was an old servant from when Zhao Xuan was still a prince.
Logically speaking, she should be in charge of managing the harem.
She claimed to be ill and did not want to stay home or concern herself with matters of the inner palace.
Consort Zhang was promoted in rank and was granted the title of Imperial Concubine Zhang, temporarily assuming the role of Empress and managing the inner palace.
Zhao Xuan was too tired at night and in the morning, and was in a daze during the day. He would doze off and fall asleep during court sessions.
After court, he had no interest in dealing with memorials and reports from court officials.
His only concern was having children; he almost ignored the important affairs of the previous dynasty, leaving everything to the Prime Minister Qin. Only when important matters of state and family were presented to him would such matters be brought to his attention.
The Prime Minister of Qin held almost absolute power.
Wanyan Zonglie went to him and made a request: "Three days from now, the envoys of Dajing will leave Lin'an. You need to find a way to get Zhao Xuan to agree to let me, the Crown Prince, and Princess Furou's marriage procession return to Dajing together."
"Your Highness, rest assured, I will certainly handle this matter properly."
Seeing that he was in a good mood, Prime Minister Qin dared to ask him to release his son and return to the Great Zhou.
"Not yet. I must ensure our safe exit from the Great Zhou territory before releasing the person. To show our sincerity, we can release one of your daughters first."
Despite his dissatisfaction, Prime Minister Qin remained polite and casually cupped his hands, saying, "Thank you, Fourth Prince."
The woman has already lost her chastity in the enemy camp, so what good will it do her to come back?
He didn't even want Qin Yuru to come back, he just considered her dead, but for the sake of his son, he didn't dare to offend Wanyan Zonglie, so he still had to thank him on the surface.
He publicly claimed that his children had been killed by the Da Jing, and that he had an irreconcilable hatred for them.
He personally dealt with Zhao Rui and his son, and presented evidence of Zhao Rui's collusion with Da Jing.
Ministers who supported Zhao Rui's faction were also purged, imprisoned, or demoted.
Only those courtiers who supported Zhao Xuan believed that he was truly loyal to the Great Zhou.
The day before the envoy left Lin'an, Zhao Furou met Zhao Zhenrou outside the palace, arranged by Su Wan'er.
Zhao Zhenrou couldn't bear to watch her jump into the fire any longer.
"Seventh Sister, don't go for the marriage alliance. Run away, run south, go as far away as possible, and come back after this is all over."
Back then, Zhao Furou lured away the pursuers to save her and several other sisters, but she was unable to save Zhao Furou herself, and she felt guilty. This time, she was willing to risk her life to save her.
Zhao Zhenrou continued to persuade, "The people of Dajing are untrustworthy and could start a war with our Dazhou at any time. In their eyes, a peace agreement is not even worth as much as toilet paper."
"If I want to save my father, I must go to Dajing."
This is also why she did not rebel against Da Jing.
Zhao Zhenrou advised, "The whole Great Zhou Dynasty couldn't do it. How could you, a weak woman, bring so many people out of the Stone City of Great Jing?"
There is only one way to save my father: send troops to attack, besiege the city, and force them to hand over the people, or defeat them.
"Will they really besiege the city? Fifth Sister, who told you that? Was it Marshal Xiao? I knew it. The soldiers of Great Zhou are all men of courage and will not give up the chance to avenge their humiliation."
"Yes! It definitely will, so don't go for the marriage alliance. What if the two countries go to war and the Great Jing kills you as a sacrifice to their flag?"
“I must go. They have turned our continent and the imperial court into a mess. I will make sure that their Great Jing is never at peace.”
Wanyan Zonglie had some feelings for her, and she wanted to use these feelings to eliminate his right-hand men.
Zhao Zhenrou knew that her younger sister was always opinionated, and once she made up her mind, it was hard for anyone to persuade her otherwise. So she could only tell her the truth: "If your own daughter were still alive, would you still abandon her and marry into the Da Jing family?"
"What did you say? Fifth Sister, you're saying the child is still alive? Is it true?"
"It's true, she's inside the house."
Zhao Zhenrou went inside and brought the child out. "Seventh Sister, this is your daughter. Her nickname is Nannan. We're waiting for you to choose her formal name."
"Fifth Sister, what's going on? My child isn't already..."
Zhao Furou looked at the child in her arms who was smiling at her, feeling a mixture of surprise, shock, and joy.
She had always believed her child was dead.
That poor child who was born and whom she never even saw once.
She had gradually accepted the fact that her daughter had died, but now she suddenly says that the child has come back to life. What's going on?
The child's nose and mouth were small and straight, like hers; her eyebrows and eyes had a touch of heroism, and her brown pupils resembled those of Wanyan Zonglie.
This is her child, it really is her child, and she is still alive.
Zhao Zhenrou revealed the truth: "Back then, Cousin Xue was worried that the child would be in danger, so she used a stillborn baby to replace Nannan. She didn't tell you about it because she was worried that you would be dragged down by this child."
If Wanyan Zonglie knew that his daughter was still alive, he would definitely take the child away to threaten or harass Zhao Furou.
"I know you all meant well for me. Thank you for helping me keep my baby. As long as she's safe, I'm relieved."
She was very glad that the child was a daughter.
If it were a son, and Wanyan Zonglie found out, took him away, and raised him to be a marshal or general of the Great Jing, so that he could attack the Great Zhou in the future, she would be a sinner against the Great Zhou.
"How about we name him Anran? What do you think, Fifth Sister?"
Zhao Zhenrou nodded, "Anran, Zhao Anran, sounds nice."
"Ran'er, I'm sorry, I gave birth to you but didn't raise you, I'm so sorry..." Zhao Furou lowered her head and kissed her daughter's forehead, two tears falling onto her cheeks.
He wiped away his tears with a handkerchief, looked up and blinked, holding back the tears, his eyes reddening.
She gently patted her daughter's back and said, "Ran'er, from now on, your aunt will be your mother. You must listen to her and grow up safely, okay?"
"Fifth Sister, never tell the child about her background. I'm entrusting Ran'er to you now. I have to go." With that, she hardened her heart, placed the child in Zhao Zhenrou's arms, and turned to leave.
She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she would be reluctant to leave. But she couldn't. She was a princess, and she was entitled to the provisions of the world. She had to do something for the country and its people.
Zhao Zhenrou chased after her to the door, "Seventh Sister, you must live. Don't do anything foolish. Fifth Sister and Ran'er are waiting for you to come back in Da Zhou."
Watching her sister's figure disappear into the darkness, she was terrified that this parting might be forever.
She deeply regretted not telling her sooner that the child was still alive; otherwise, she wouldn't have made up her mind to go to Dajing for a political marriage.
Little Anran, nestled in her arms, watched her departing figure and burst into loud sobs, "Waaaaah..."
"Ran'er, don't cry. Your aunt is here. Your mother knows she's still alive. We'll wait for her to come back. She'll definitely come back alive..."
She murmured to herself, as if comforting the child, or perhaps comforting herself.
...
On the day the marriage procession set off, Zhao Zhenrou also took her children to the street to watch the procession depart.
Zhao Zhenrou and several other women who had been rescued by Zhao Furou came.
Inside the carriage, Zhao Furou seemed to sense something. She lifted the curtain and saw several women in the crowd wearing veils looking in the direction of the carriage.
Their eyes met, and Zhao Furou looked at her daughter again, but it was too far away to see the child clearly.
Zhao Zhenrou took a few steps forward with the child in her arms, and she saw it clearly.
Seeing that the other person still wanted to follow the carriage, she shook her head to indicate that they should not follow anymore.
An arm wrapped around her waist from behind, and the man's warm chest pressed against her. "Fu'er, what are you looking at?"
Zhao Furou quickly lowered the curtain. "It's nothing. I was just afraid I'd never have the chance to return to Lin'an again, so I wanted to take a few more glances."
"How could there be no opportunity? You like Lin'an. If you lead me to conquer the Great Zhou, then let the Emperor bestow Lin'an upon me."
"No way! I knew you were still up to no good and wanted to covet the throne of my Great Zhou. You deceived our Great Zhou and now you want me to go for a marriage alliance. I'm not going. Have the carriages stopped."
Fearing that he would discover the existence of her daughter, Zhao Furou deliberately went mad and tried to push him away to get off the carriage.
"Someone, stop the car."
The guards driving the carriage were replaced by soldiers from the Great Jing Dynasty, who ignored her commands.
"Tell your men to stop the car, or this princess will not marry."
"Once you're on the carriage, you're mine. Whether you marry me or not is not up to you!" How could Wanyan Zonglie let her have her way? He grabbed her waist from behind, threw her back to her seat, and leaned down to kiss her red lips.
Zhao Furou resisted, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't push him away. She slapped his back and bit his lip, pressing her red lips, painted with lip rouge, against the man's wound while struggling.
Poison him.
The marriage procession passed through the city gate and left Lin'an.
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