Chapter 401

It was unexpected that only after a month, Prince Rui's men returned to Changzhou to find Nalan Xing to take her back as a royal concubine. At that time, Nalan Xing already had signs of early pregnancy.

When she found out, she didn't know whether to be shocked or happy, only feeling trembling all over as a crazy plan quickly took shape in her mind.

She wanted to be a royal concubine, and later a queen. She wanted to be the most honorable woman in this dynasty!

What was best to her was that the man leading the group back to find Nalan Xing turned out to be a little boy she had helped when she was young!

He was also from Changzhou and lived next door to her when he was little!

She was excited all night without sleep. The next day, she went to find him.

After years in the brothel, she had learned a lot from the girls there. It was too easy to seduce a man, not to mention Xia Zixi already had feelings for her.

So she joined hands with Xia Zixi and ruthlessly killed the then pregnant Nalan Xing.

She thought herself as beautiful as a flower, with looks comparable to Nalan Xing. If Nalan Xing could gain the emperor's favor, why couldn't she?

In order not to arouse suspicion, she imitated Nalan Xing in every way and got pregnant with Xia Zixi's child. She went north to Bianjing with him.

What happened afterward, the world already knew.

The controversial Guo Mengxue eventually entered the palace against much opposition under the Tianqi Emperor's insistence, was conferred as an imperial concubine, and exclusively enjoyed favor for over ten years.

The story of Concubine Wan came to a halt for now.

Xia Zixi was executed; when Concubine Wan came out of palace prison, her entire body was bloody, only her eyeballs could still move. She could no longer be considered an intact person.

Gu Ying felt the Tianqi Emperor's hatred for Guo Mengxue was not that simple.

Killing a person was too easy; letting her live and suffer torture all her life was the best revenge. A few days later,

Far away in Yueyang, commoners fished a giant stone turtle from the Li River. It was said there was an ancient stele on the turtle's back.

The stele read: "The emerald waves sparkle, and the heavenly purple aster descends to be ordained to become the lord of all under heaven."

Soon, local officials in Yueyang Prefecture rushed overnight to send the stele to Bianjing's imperial palace.

When the Tianqi Emperor learned of this, he was furious,

Immediately ordering a raid on Prince Shu's mansion. The Minister of Justice was ordered to go, and countless gold, silver and jewels worth tens of thousands, as well as 500 armors were seized from the mansion.

By this time, Prince Shu's treason was announced to the whole country.

On the same day, the Tianqi Emperor stripped Li Yang of his prince title, demoting him to a commoner.

His mother, Concubine Wan, also suddenly fell ill from extreme grief, becoming bedridden.

Two days later, Empress Su issued an edict that said Concubine Wan was critically ill, and the foul air might infect His Majesty, so she would be moved from Yilan Hall to Changmen Palace.

As everyone knew, Changmen Palace was the Cold Palace.

The inmates here would only face torture and death.

All palace servants attending Concubine Wan were replaced; chief palace maids who had served her well were thrown into jail. Other palace maids were secretly driven out of the rear palace.

No one knew why the once favored concubine suddenly lost favor.

They only knew Concubine Wan had fallen from power; those who used to rely on her to throw their weight around, including the Commandant of Guards Xia Zixi, were dismissed.

Outwardly, everything was peaceful in the palace; secretly, danger lurked everywhere.

With Concubine Wan's loss of power, the Empress regained the Imperial Seal to rule the harem.

It turned out His Majesty was not ill but poisoned.

After Li Yang's deposition, his spies in the palace feared to be implicated and took the initiative to confess, handing over the poison Li Yang had them put in His Majesty and Prince Duan's food and drinks.

Learning the truth, the Tianqi Emperor was enraged beyond control, ordering Li Yang to be publicly beheaded despite everyone pleading for him.

And the position of Empress was finally granted to Prince Duan.

From then on, Dong Li's sky had thoroughly changed. The once undervalued Prince Duan became Dong Li's heir apparent and entered the central palace. With thunderous methods, he swiftly reshuffled the staff of the Eastern Palace.

Only then did people realize that this seemingly weak and easily bullied Prince Medicine Jar was in fact the cunning, enduring and profoundly politically savvy future ruler.

The Tianqi Emperor's health gradually recovered, greatly delighting him. He even personally granted an edict conferring a princess title.

It was said the princess was named Na Yuan. She was adorable, of civilian origin, and cherished by His Majesty. He didn't allow anyone to see the princess' real appearance,

Saying that a formal enthronement ceremony would be held specially for her sometime later for her true appearance to be revealed to the public.

Speaking of these things with Mrs. Lin while embroidering a peace charm pouch for the Heir Apparent,

Gu Ying heaved a deep sigh, feeling quite sympathetic.

Nalan Xing's fate was too bitter.

Mrs Lin glanced at her disapprovingly. "Why sigh at such a young age? Sighing is bad for health and will sigh away good luck. Ying, this embroidery will be done after finishing this purse. Let me see it."

Gu Ying's embroidery skills had greatly improved. The peace charms and purse were integrated. The charm patterns she embroidered were vividly lifelike. "Here."

Mrs. Lin took it and looked at it carefully, praising, "Good, not bad. Ying embroidered this with the style of the Jiangsu Jiang family."

Gu Ying was too shy to say that her female crafts were terribly sloppy in her last life.

She only learned everywhere to please Jiang Yin.

One of the teachers was a fallen Jiang lady in a brothel who did teach her needlework.

She casually fabricated a reason. Mrs Lin didn't say anything more but kept praising her.

The mother and daughter-in-law chatted the whole afternoon in the Lingxi Pavilion before Gu Ying took her servants back to Changfeng Pavilion at dusk.

The Heir Apparent would leave tomorrow.

She still had to carefully check all the crates and boxes for the Heir Apparent.

After going through them again and again, there were clothes, shoes, weapons, purses, dry rations for the journey, etc.

Large and small crates filled up the entire room.

She still felt it wasn't enough and wanted to pack more things for the Heir Apparent.

Yinlan smiled, "My lady, this is already the sixth time we've added things for the Heir Apparent. If we add any more, he won't be able to carry them away."