Chapter 31
Chapter 31: A Shocking Bombshell
Qin Rui had barely finished stealing the show, and Li Zi Yu had barely finished turning the place into an examination hall, when Xie Jun Yi finally couldn’t take it anymore.
Those two were standing in front of their boss, basking in glory.
And he was getting left out.
Xie Jun Yi’s eyes went red with urgency. He wriggled forward like a mud eel and shouted, “Move aside, move aside! It’s my turn to shine!”
He planted his hands on his hips and glared at the still-sobbing Shi Mei You. “Shi Mei You! Cry one more time and slander my boss, and believe it or not, my iron fists will make an exception today and hit a girl!”
Shi Mei You choked on his shameless swagger. Her wail got stuck halfway up her throat, and she rolled her eyes in fury.
Then a stern roar shattered the noise.
“Who dares bully the commandery princess of Prince Gong Manor?!”
The crowd split on its own.
Prince Gong strode in, face iron-dark, with Shi Zhi beside him. The father’s presence pressed down like a mountain; the son’s gaze was cold and heavy, like a blade still in its sheath.
A Dai moved without thinking, stepping forward to block Chu Tian Tian completely behind him. He stared at Shi Zhi with raw vigilance.
That man’s eyes when he looked at his master…
Like a snake.
Chu Tian Tian felt him tense and gave his hand a light squeeze, silent comfort.
Shi Mei You saw her backing arrive and instantly turned into a full-time actress. She threw herself at Prince Gong’s leg, sobbing like pear blossoms in rain. “Father! Father, you must stand up for your daughter! The Ninth Princess—she teamed up with these people to bully me! She called me ugly and cursed me to die! Waaah…”
Prince Gong’s expression tightened as he bent to help her up—
“Wrong! Completely wrong!”
Chu Tian Tian’s baby voice rang out, clear and loud enough to slice through the entire garden.
Shi Mei You’s crying stuttered.
Chu Tian Tian lifted her chin, eyes bright and certain. “You called him wrong. Uncle Prince Gong isn’t your father. Your father is over there!”
She pointed—without mercy—at a man trying to melt into the crowd behind them.
Jia Tian Gan.
Then, before anyone could react, she grabbed A Dai by the sleeve and tugged him right out in front of everyone.
“Royal Uncle,” she said, sweet as honey and loud as thunder, “your child is right here.”
The imperial garden exploded.
“What?!”
“Official Jia?!”
“Commandery Princess Mei You’s real father?!”
“Heavens, that can’t be!”
“Is the Ninth Princess out of her mind?!”
A wall of stunned stares slammed into Jia Tian Gan. His face drained of color. His body shook so hard it looked like he might rattle apart.
Prince Gong, meanwhile, heard almost none of it.
All his attention locked onto the boy pushed forward.
That face. Those brows and eyes. The stubborn curve of the lips when he pressed them together.
So alike.
Too alike.
It was like his late beloved wife had been carved from the same mold.
The shock made his steps falter. He stared at A Dai, voice trembling into pieces. “Y-you… who are you? Child… who is your mother?”
A Dai jolted under the burning gaze. His little face went pale like a startled deer. He darted back behind Chu Tian Tian and clutched her clothes with both hands.
“Don’t be scared,” Chu Tian Tian murmured, planting herself in front of him like a tiny shield. “A Dai is good. Tian Tian didn’t lie. He really is your child. Look at how you’re staring at him—like he’s your precious treasure.”
“You’re talking nonsense!”
Shi Mei You’s scream ripped through the air. She jumped up, clinging to Prince Gong’s arm as if she could glue herself there. Her nails dug deep, her voice warping with panic. “Father, don’t believe her! I’m your daughter—I am! That bastard came from nowhere! Chu Tian Tian has gone mad. She’s trying to drive a wedge between us!”
“Bastard” carried all the way up to the imperial seat.
The Emperor’s eyes narrowed, cold displeasure flashing across his gaze.
His Sweetie never lied.
“Silence.” His voice dropped like a heavy lid over the garden. “All of you, take your seats.”
The crowd sat in a haze of unease, as if their minds had been shaken loose.
The Emperor lifted Chu Tian Tian onto a small stool beside the throne and asked gently, “Sweetie, tell Imperial Father. Why do you say A Dai is Royal Uncle’s child—and Shi Mei You is not?”
Chu Tian Tian straightened her tiny back, eyes clear as spring water. Her voice carried a child’s stubborn certainty. “Because Immortal Grandfather told Tian Tian.”
“Immortal Grandfather said Royal Uncle’s little baby was swapped back then. The bad Granny Yi lives on Greenwater Alley. If Royal Uncle doesn’t believe it, just send people to catch her and ask. She’ll confess to everything.”
“Granny… Yi?”
Jia Tian Gan heard that name, and his pupils shrank.
The color drained from his face so fast it was like someone poured all the blood out of him. A chill shot from his feet straight up to his scalp.
Then his legs gave out.
He collapsed like mud, knocking over the table in front of him. Fruit and wine splashed all over his robes, leaving him soaked and wretched.
“Y-your Majesty!” he wailed.
He scrambled forward on hands and knees into the open space before the throne, slamming his forehead down again and again. “I-I was wronged! I know nothing! It was… it was that bitch, Jia Ru Yue! That poisonous woman! She lost her mind—she bribed the midwife—she did it all!”
“I… I was deceived! Used! Your Majesty, see clearly! Your Highness, see clearly!”
The woman he spat out—Jia Ru Yue—was Shi Zhi and Shi Mei You’s birth mother.
Prince Gong listened to the old man’s frantic, shameless blame-shifting, then looked at the trembling boy behind Chu Tian Tian.
That face.
Those eyes.
That stubborn mouth.
He didn’t need to drag anyone back from Greenwater Alley.
He didn’t need Granny Yi to confess.
Prince Gong shut his eyes hard. When he opened them again, icy resolve sat in his gaze—and something fierce and precious, like a starving man finally seeing water.
He flung Shi Mei You off his arm with one savage jerk. “No need… to ask anymore.”
His voice went hoarse, each word final. “My son… is here.”
Shi Zhi stood frozen.
In that instant, the last piece snapped into place.
That “familiarity” he’d hated—the way A Dai’s face felt like a thorn in his chest…
It matched the portrait in his father’s study.
Exactly.