"It's all Bai Jieyu's fault! She stole my child!"
Consort Li suddenly released her hand and covered her chest. "Moreover, I have just lost my beloved daughter. His Majesty will surely understand me and entrust a baby girl without a birth mother to me to raise!"
"Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager intervened, and you were still taken away by her."
Consort Li looked in the direction of Shouchang Palace and spat on the ground.
No one is taking your child away.
"If it weren't for my grandmother, I would be a dead soul by now!"
Listening to Consort Li's words, Yun Duoduo understood the whole story.
"Don't tell me I'm not the reincarnation of your daughter; even if I were, you still couldn't protect me!"
That year was the sixth year of Nanyang. On the third day of the first lunar month, heavy snow fell and the weather was freezing cold.
Yun Duoduo was just born and hadn't even had a hot meal before she was taken away and thrown into a well.
"Do you know that on the day I was born, I was almost thrown into a well?!"
Yun Duoduo stood up, looked at Consort Li, and spoke in an icy tone.
"Besides, you just said that you hope your daughter will be reincarnated into an ordinary family, so how could I be your daughter's reincarnation?!"
Upon hearing Yun Duoduo's words, Consort Li stiffened, a glint of light flashing in her eyes, before collapsing slumped into her chair like a deflated balloon.
"You, you are not Hua'er's reincarnation..."
Consort Li murmured to herself.
"I can't even protect Hua'er, I can't even protect you, I'm just a useless piece of trash."
Consort Li hugged herself, buried her head in her chest, and began to sob.
[Hua'er must be her daughter.]
Yun Duoduo looked at Consort Li, who was in a state of emotional turmoil, and said nothing.
Consort Li actually harmed the birth mother of a baby girl just because she was thinking about her unborn child. What a cruel heart she had!
Driven by their own desires and obsessions, they completely disregard the lives of others.
After a long while, Consort Li stopped crying, her voice hoarse: "Yes, it was my fault for being confused."
"I have already helped Hua'er's spirit to pass on to the afterlife. How could she possibly be reincarnated into the royal family?"
"It's all my fault, I've ruined Consort Jieyu's life..."
Consort Li's voice grew weaker and weaker, and she felt a sharp pain in her chest. She coughed violently and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
With that cough, Consort Li felt as if she were about to vomit up her internal organs. She was in so much pain that large beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and she slid off the stool and knelt on the ground, her body trembling uncontrollably.
"I will be punished for the mistakes I have made. It is all my fault. I only ask that you not implicate Qiu'er."
Consort Li's voice was soft, almost like a whisper. The palace was very quiet, but Yun Duoduo could still hear it clearly.
Looking at Consort Li, whose mouth was stained with blood, Yun Duoduo said, "I, the princess, will not implicate others in the mistakes you have made."
"It's all my fault. I was blinded by my own heart. Your mother was so good..."
Consort Li murmured to herself as she took out a piece of jade from the box and rubbed it in her hand.
This was a gift from Bai Jieyu to her back then.
[Sister Lipin, my chambers are small and don't need this much charcoal, so I brought some for you. Your chambers are large, so you'll need to burn more coal to keep warm.]
[Sister Lipin, this is a fragrant jade that I asked my father to bring back from the northern desert. You can't sleep well every day, so put this jade by your pillow, and you'll surely sleep soundly.]
[Sister Lipin, this white jade lotus has been blessed by the holy monks of Ganye Temple. If you place it in the child's coffin, the child will surely go to the Pure Land of Bliss.]
Consort Li's mind was filled with the image of Consort Bai's voice and smile. She silently shed tears, filled with remorse.
Yun Duoduo looked at Consort Li, who was sometimes crying and sometimes laughing, and left Linhua Palace without saying another word.
...
"Princess." Seeing that Yun Duoduo looked like she had been crying, her face and lips were pale, so Ah Xiang hurried forward to support her.
"I'm fine."
"Let's go to the imperial kitchen to get some food and drinks, and then go see Mother."
Ah Xiang nodded, helped the somewhat unsteady Yun Duoduo, and went to the imperial kitchen to get pastries and wine.
Afterwards, Yun Duoduo took the foods that her mother had liked to eat to the Hibiscus Palace.
The Hibiscus Palace was kept very clean.
"This place is exactly the same as when Miss lived here."
Ah Xiang touched the bed with emotion, her mind filled with images of her making the bed for her mistress, helping her wash up, and the two of them brainwashing each other.
Yun Duoduo looked at the hairpins and pearl hairpins her mother had used on the dressing table, and reached out to touch the clothes her mother had worn in the cabinet.
She murmured, "Mother, are you alright? Look, Duoduo has grown up so well."
Yun Duoduo picked up a jade pendant, held it in her hand, and placed it on her heart.
"The person who harmed you has been found, Mother. I long to see you."
As she spoke, Yun Duoduo's heart ached terribly. She squatted down, hugged herself, and cried silently.
Ah Xiang watched from the side and burst into tears. She went up to Yun Duoduo and hugged her.
...
After leaving the Hibiscus Palace, Yun Duoduo was in a very low mood. Although she had avenged her great enemy, she did not feel as happy as she had imagined.
My longing for my mother remains intense.
What she has lost, she cannot get back; all she can do is cherish the people in front of her.
Lost in thought, Yun Duoduo arrived at the entrance of Shouchang Palace.
"Princess, we've arrived at Shouchang Palace. Shall we go in?"
Yun Duoduo stood outside Shouchang Palace without moving. She gestured to the palace maids to keep quiet, pretend that she didn't exist, and not to disturb the people inside.
She didn't want her grandmother to see her looking so sad and haggard.
She stood silently to the side, using a pillar to shield herself, watching the master and servant strolling in the courtyard.
Granny Zhang seemed to have aged considerably; there were more wrinkles around her eyes and more silver hair in her hair bun.
Granny Zhang's body was even more hunched over, and she walked with a shaky gait, unlike when she first met her, when she was as agile as she had been.
The Empress Dowager didn't seem to have much energy or spirit either.
I need to take the pulses of my grandmother and Granny Zhang another day.
[And the medicine she sent earlier, we need to remind them to take it.]
Looking at her increasingly aged grandmother, Yun Duoduo felt a pang of sadness and tears welled up in her eyes again.
Afraid of being seen, she lowered her head and quickly left Shouchang Palace.
...
The next morning, early in the morning, the gates of Zhaoyang Palace were knocked open. When Cuiling, the head palace maid in Zhaoyang Palace, heard the messenger's message, her face turned pale.
She walked to Empress Zhaoyuan's window and gently called out to her, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, something has happened."
Seeing that Empress Zhaoyuan frowned but did not wake up, Cuiling gently nudged the Empress's shoulder.
"Hmm? What is it?"
When Cuiling told Empress Zhaoyuan the news, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her, and Empress Zhaoyuan immediately sobered up.
"What did you say?!"?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
