Chapter 180

Chapter 180: Secret of Her Birth

Emperor Chong Sheng strode in and asked, “Qing Ning, how did you manage to upset your Grandmother?”

Empress Dowager’s seat faced the palace doors, so the moment Emperor Chong Sheng entered the hall, he saw the tears on her face.

Sheng Zhi Wan felt his gaze on her back. Without changing her expression, Sheng Zhi Wan slipped the gold bell in her hand away, then turned around. Tears were on her face as well as Sheng Zhi Wan bowed and said, “It was my unfilial fault. Because of the divorce, I made Grandmother worry.”

“So it was because of that.” Emperor Chong Sheng looked at Empress Dowager and said, “If Empress Dowager is still uneasy, we can find Qing Ning someone she truly likes in the future.”

“How could someone suitable be so easy to find?” Empress Dowager wiped her tears and sighed. “Before, I might not have liked the Duke Residence, but just looking at Qi Shu Xian, I thought he was a good one. Who knew… Forget it!”

Empress Dowager added, “If Zhi Wan cannot find anyone, then let Zhi Wan live in the Princess Residence from now on!”

Emperor Chong Sheng laughed twice and said, “What woman does not marry? If all the women in the world refused to marry, who would give birth and raise children? Wouldn’t our Sheng Kingdom fall apart?”

Emperor Chong Sheng continued, “As an Imperial House Princess, Qing Ning must set an example. Empress Dowager can rest assured. I will keep an eye out for her.”

Sheng Zhi Wan lowered her head at those words.

Only then did Emperor Chong Sheng let Sheng Zhi Wan rise. Emperor Chong Sheng said, “I read the medical text Qing Ning sent last time. There was indeed a passage that matched Lu Chuo Prince’s symptoms at the time.”

Emperor Chong Sheng went on, “Recently, Lu Chuo Prince asked several times to come and thank you in person, but I refused. His health is poor, and if something happened to him, it would be hard to answer for it.”

Sheng Zhi Wan listened quietly and answered with a soft sound now and then.

Then Emperor Chong Sheng brought up the cold disaster in Mo Bei and asked, “I heard you sent people to sell low-priced cotton in Mo Bei. The cotton price there had gone mad, and it was only because you sent a large amount of cotton over that the price finally stabilized. Is that true?”

Sheng Zhi Wan’s lowered lashes trembled slightly, but Sheng Zhi Wan still replied in the same tone as before.

Emperor Chong Sheng narrowed his eyes, his gaze unreadable. “If your other Imperial Brothers were like you, I would not need to worry about Mo Bei at all!”

[Was Emperor Chong Sheng blaming Sheng Zhi Wan for being nosy?]

Sheng Zhi Wan pressed her lips together and said, “Imperial Brothers have many matters to handle. How could they be like Qing Ning?”

“Hm. Even so,” Emperor Chong Sheng said, “how did Qing Ning learn about the cold disaster in Mo Bei and stockpile cotton ahead of time?”

Sheng Zhi Wan smiled, looking almost relieved. “It was coincidence. That cotton was meant to be donated to the army. Before it could even be made into padded coats, it ended up being useful.”

Sheng Zhi Wan added, “Perhaps Heaven protected Sheng Kingdom. If Qing Ning could share Imperial Father’s burdens, then it did not matter where the cotton was sent.”

After speaking, Sheng Zhi Wan looked at Emperor Chong Sheng with open admiration.

Emperor Chong Sheng smiled. “Qing Ning is right. Heaven protected Sheng Kingdom. If you had not mentioned it, I almost forgot. I heard you donated all your old dowry to the Frontier?”

“It was not all,” Sheng Zhi Wan said. “Only most of it.”

“Even most of it is no small amount.” Emperor Chong Sheng said, “Qing Ning is a Princess, yet worries about the country and the people. Empress Dowager truly raises offspring better than I do. If I had known earlier, I would have sent the Crown Prince and the others to Empress Dowager as well.”

Empress Dowager scolded lightly, “I am old, Your Majesty. Do not send a pack of little monkeys here to anger me.”

Emperor Chong Sheng stood up and said, “Since you are already here, stay in the palace and keep your Grandmother company. I still have affairs to handle, so I will not stay and chat with Empress Dowager.”

Sheng Zhi Wan bowed and said, “Yes.”

Only after Emperor Chong Sheng’s figure disappeared did Empress Dowager take Sheng Zhi Wan to her bedchamber. The moment they entered, Empress Dowager reached out with trembling hands.

Empress Dowager demanded, “Where is the Guardian Blessing Bell? Quickly, quickly, let me see it!”

Tears filled Empress Dowager’s eyes.

Sheng Zhi Wan took out the gold bell she had hidden earlier. Empress Dowager took it and held it in her palm.

Empress Dowager stared at the tiny bell, yet it was as if she saw another figure.

That was her Yin’er. Yin’er had been outstanding since childhood, always the best at everything. No matter when, Yin’er could smile and comfort her.

Empress Dowager grabbed Sheng Zhi Wan, hope burning in her eyes, and asked, “You-you. Where did you get this?”

But Sheng Zhi Wan said harshly, “Not unless Grandmother tells me what this is!”

Empress Dowager froze. Empress Dowager stared at the gold bell for a long time before giving a bitter smile. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“Grandmother, I am sure,” Sheng Zhi Wan said.

Sheng Zhi Wan had died once already. Sheng Zhi Wan had been prepared.

Empress Dowager sank into memory and said, “Before your Imperial Father, Grandmother had another son. You should already know…”

Sheng Zhi Wan listened in silence.

Not only Sheng Zhi Wan. No one in the entire world failed to know that clear and noble Late Crown Prince – Sheng Yan Yin.

They said Sheng Yan Yin was brilliant beyond measure, skilled in both civil and martial matters, mastering everything. Sheng Yan Yin had loved the people as if they were his own children. Back then, when Senior Imperial Physician Song developed the antidote to Qian Ji Powder, it had been Sheng Yan Yin who withstood the pressure and made the formula public.

Even now, many policies in Sheng Kingdom that benefited the people had first been proposed by Sheng Yan Yin while Sheng Yan Yin was still Crown Prince.

Yet a person like that had died of illness.

[Was there a hidden truth behind it?]

Empress Dowager’s voice shook as Empress Dowager said, “In truth, Yin’er did not die of illness, and Yin’er did not die in the palace. When I… when I saw him, only a broken body was left. He… my Yin’er was torn to pieces by a Fierce Tiger!”

Empress Dowager choked and said, “This Guardian Blessing Bell was something I personally prayed for after he was born!”

As Empress Dowager spoke, Empress Dowager’s fingers clenched around the gold bell, pressing it to her chest. Tears poured down.

For the first time, Sheng Zhi Wan saw such fierce hatred in Grandmother’s eyes. The hatred was vast enough to burn everything, yet when it fell on Sheng Zhi Wan, it slowly faded away, bit by bit.

Sheng Zhi Wan’s voice caught as Sheng Zhi Wan finally asked, “I… whose daughter am I?”

Empress Dowager closed her eyes, then nodded. “Yes. You are Yin’er’s daughter, and you are the only flesh and blood he left in this world.”

“Then why…” Sheng Zhi Wan started.

“Because your mother was a brothel prostitute!” Empress Dowager said.

Empress Dowager continued, “Your Imperial Father said that to protect Yin’er’s spotless name for his whole life, the secret that you were born of a brothel woman could not be known. So your Imperial Father took you as his own child.”

Sheng Zhi Wan asked, “So you always made me hide my talent because of my birth father? You feared Imperial Father would be wary of me?”

Empress Dowager nodded faintly.

Sheng Zhi Wan looked at Empress Dowager and asked, “Then… where was my birth mother?”

Empress Dowager shook her head. “Back then, I was drowned in grief for my dead son. I wanted to follow him to the grave. If your Imperial Father had not told me that Yin’er left flesh and blood behind, I would have died long ago.”

Empress Dowager’s voice grew hoarse. “When you were just born, your Imperial Father sent you to me…”

[Sheng Zhi Wan’s heart felt like it was crushed under a stone, aching and heavy. Yet this whole matter also felt strange, full of gaps.]

[How exactly had her birth father died, and where? If he had truly been bitten to death by a wild beast, how could a Crown Prince have had no guards beside him? On top of that, Sheng Yan Yin knew martial arts himself.]

[And what about Sheng Zhi Wan? That old woman had clearly said Sheng Zhi Wan looked very much like her family’s miss. Sheng Zhi Wan even had the birthmark on her wrist that only Tang Family people had. How could Sheng Zhi Wan have been born of a brothel woman?]

[There was also the Cold Poison that had been in Sheng Zhi Wan since birth, and the killing intent and probing that came again and again over the years.]

[If things were truly as this, and Imperial Father had been upright and honorable, thinking of Sheng Zhi Wan’s birth father at every step, then why had Imperial Father guarded against Sheng Zhi Wan so much?]

[Unless-]