Chapter 329: Unworthy of a Title
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
Nan Mu Bai retrieved a white sheet of paper from his robe and, with a flick of his wrist, unfurled it before everyone.
“Familiar? This is my Southern Kingdom’s Imperial Jade Pendant, the Dragon-Pattern Jade!” He declared, his voice filled with authority. “Finding my lost princess-aunt is crucial, but regaining the Dragon-Pattern Jade is just as important.”
It was said that the jade contained a priceless treasure and had always been a symbol of the Southern Kingdom’s sovereignty.
Old Madam Xu’s face turned pale.
“All thanks to your Lu family descendant, what was his name again? Ah, Lu Jing Huai?” Nan Mu Bai sneered.
“I promised him safe passage out of Northern Zhao and even granted him the title of a foreign prince in the Southern Kingdom. Pity… he didn’t live long enough to enjoy it—stabbed to death by Lu Yuan Ze the moment he returned.”
Xu Shi Yun closed her eyes briefly, her emotions unreadable.
The inevitable moment had arrived.
“Xu Shi Yun, this jade has been worn by you many times. You carry the bloodline of the Southern Kingdom! You are my royal aunt!”
A princess lost to the common world…
Born from a peasant mother…
Nan Mu Bai suppressed his disdain.
“You may leave,” Xu Shi Yun said calmly. “Regardless of my bloodline, I will never return with you to the Southern Kingdom. I was born a Northern Zhao citizen, and I will die with a Northern Zhao soul. The past has been lost; there is no need to revisit it.”
She stood firm, surrounded by her mother, her Xu family brothers, and even the formidable Old Madam of the Stabilizing Duke’s Manor.
Nan Mu Bai’s lips curled into a smirk. “Princess Aunt, I doubt you understand the status of the Southern Kingdom’s royal family.”
“Here in Northern Zhao, you are the Grand Tutor’s daughter, the wife of General Rong. Your son is a top scholar, and your daughter a princess. In Northern Zhao, perhaps you are admired by many.”
“But in the Southern Kingdom, such things are worthless.”
“None of this compares to the sacredness of the Southern royal bloodline!”
“We, the royal family of the Southern Kingdom, are the divine agents of the gods in this world! We communicate with the heavens, worshiped by thousands. We are above mere mortals!”
“How could such a place as Northern Zhao be worthy of your loyalty?” Nan Mu Bai’s confusion was evident.
Xu Shi Yun slowly shook her head. “Northern Zhao is the land that gave me life and raised me. It is my home. No matter how grand the Southern Kingdom may be, it will never compare.”
“If you seek the jade, I will return the Dragon-Pattern Jade to you.”
Nan Mu Bai’s eyes darkened slightly. He wanted that jade—it represented royal authority.
Seeing that the prince’s negotiations were failing, Ming Lang stepped forward and respectfully saluted Xu Shi Yun.
“Madam, may I request a private discussion inside?” Unlike Nan Mu Bai’s arrogance, his demeanor was courteous.
Xu Shi Yun hesitated briefly, then nodded.
Once seated within the main hall, Ming Lang continued.
“This matter involves the deepest secrets of the Southern Kingdom and cannot be discussed openly.”
“Years ago, His Majesty was ambushed and, in his escape, fell off a cliff into a river. Your birth mother, a lonely woman washing clothes by the shore, rescued him. They relied on each other for survival and fell in love. They married and shared a year of happiness.”
“When the time came for your mother to give birth, His Majesty had gone to a nearby town to sell his calligraphy and paintings.”
“That was when the forces of the Eldest Princess found him and took him back to the royal palace. Once he recovered his memory, he personally set out to search for his lost family.”
“But by then, the small mountain village had mysteriously gone up in flames, reducing everything to ashes.”
Xu Shi Yun’s hands clenched into fists.
“How convenient,” she scoffed coldly. “He was taken one day, and the next, the village was burned to the ground. Was he searching for his family—or eliminating loose ends?”
Ming Lang did not refute her words.
When they had found the emperor, he had been terrified, repeatedly crying out that his wife was about to give birth.
It was the Empress who comforted him, coaxing out the village’s location before sending people to ‘search.’
That fire—everyone knew its true purpose.
“For years, His Majesty never gave up, sending men to look for you. As he aged, his regret festered, haunting him.”
“Your mother was in labor when the fire broke out. She had just given birth when the flames surrounded her.”
“With the money His Majesty had left from selling his calligraphy, she had bought an old servant. She entrusted him with her newborn daughter and the jade pendant, telling him to escape through the back mountain.”
“As for her… she had already lost too much blood and was barely clinging to life.”
Old Madam Xu held her daughter’s hand tightly. “Such a tragic fate…”
Ming Lang’s gaze carried a trace of sympathy. He understood that, for Xu Shi Yun, the Southern Kingdom was a den of wolves.
“Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps it was divine intervention.”
“As she was about to perish in the flames, a sudden downpour saved her.”
“Half her face was burned, her body covered in scars. Miraculously, despite her blood loss and injuries, she survived under the heavens’ mercy.”
“Madam Ning dragged her broken body through the world, searching for her lost daughter. She walked across every inch of the Southern Kingdom…”
“She cried for so many years that she lost sight in one eye. The burns on her leg left her with a permanent limp.”
Her face… was ruined beyond recognition.
What Ming Lang did not say was that assassins had pursued Madam Ning relentlessly all these years.
She had evaded death time and time again while searching for her daughter.
Three decades passed before the emperor finally found her. She was a frail shadow of her former self, grabbing at his sleeves and asking only one question:
“Where is my daughter? Where is our child?”
Xu Shi Yun’s heart felt unbearably heavy.
“How is she now? Did His Majesty grant her a title?” she asked quietly.
Ming Lang hesitated.
His silence spoke volumes.
Xu Shi Yun’s eyes widened in shock, then filled with fury as she let out a bitter laugh. “Are you telling me that she saved the emperor, bore his child, suffered the massacre of her entire village because of him, and he still did not grant her a title?”
“His Majesty wished to, but the entire court and noble families opposed it.”
“For now, she is being housed outside the palace. Besides, she refuses to enter the palace—she only wishes to find her daughter.”
Ming Lang avoided Xu Shi Yun’s gaze, feeling as if they had indeed mistreated her mother.
Xu Shi Yun was so furious she laughed.
Even if this woman was not her mother, she found this treatment absolutely laughable.
Nan Mu Bai, however, was utterly baffled by her reaction.
“Why should she enter the palace? She is a mere peasant woman with no backing. To meet the Emperor and bear his child is the greatest fortune of her life.”
“She has no power, no noble bloodline, and now she is a crippled, blind, scarred woman. Without the divine bloodline, bringing her into the palace would only bring ridicule upon the royal family.”
Even Old Madam Xu exploded in rage. “You heartless beasts! That woman saved your emperor’s life, and this is how you repay her?!”
“Had she not saved him, your so-called emperor would have drowned in that river!”
“You wretched, ungrateful dogs! He should have drowned!” she spat, her voice trembling with fury.
Ming Lang could only endure the scolding in silence.
He was a trusted aide of the emperor and knew the truth.
Now, the court was controlled by the Empress’s family. The Eldest Princess was a political powerhouse, with many advocating for her ascension.
If Madam Ning entered the palace, she would become a target, thrown into the storm.
She had no son to protect her. And the aging emperor could no longer shield her from the tides of the court.