Chapter 39: Look no further!
Luan Xue, who had been kneeling, finally made a slight movement.
Her eyelashes trembled slightly.
Ninety-nine cycles had long since worn away all her edges and perceptions.
Everything felt like a dream shrouded in a gray fog, blurring the lines between reality and illusion.
Until that childish, innocent voice burst in.
Some fragments that had long been blurred, even those she considered nightmares, suddenly became clear.
A dark woodshed, the pungent smell of wood ash, and a man's ferocious face.
And the excruciating pain of my wrist burning flesh!
It wasn't a dream after all!
It turns out, it was all true.
Luan Xue slowly raised her head, and for the first time, her empty gaze found focus. She looked up at the small figure on the high platform, hands on hips, standing up for her.
It's Zhaoning...
She is the Empress of the Great Yu Dynasty!
How could she know all this?
Is it really possible to break all of this?
Luan Xue's lips moved, as if she wanted to tell her to give up, that it was no use.
Each time, they have countless ways to ruin her.
But another voice was shouting in my heart.
What if?
What if things really are different this time? After all, Zhao Ning is always a variable.
Suddenly, the old tutor shouted angrily from the side.
"You audacious scoundrel!"
Everyone was startled and turned to look at the source of the sound.
Wang An was so angry that his beard trembled, his old face turned red, and he pointed at the midwife who was still kneeling on the ground, cursing loudly.
"You old hag! Are you blind?!"
"That's clearly an old scar from a branding iron burn! The edges of the scar are everted, and the color is dark and uneven. It doesn't look like a birthmark at all!"
Having lived to this age, Wang An possessed an exceptional ability to read people and situations.
Add to that Her Majesty the Empress's own sentiments, what more is there to say?
The Empress saw that all the gossip came from the gods in heaven! It was never wrong!
He stepped forward, his voice booming.
"How dare you spread such heretical rumors and confuse the royal bloodline in front of His Majesty and the Empress Dowager! I think you're tired of living!"
"Guards! Drag this unruly commoner away! Execute her entire family!"
The old woman was already terrified, and when she heard the words "extermination of nine generations of her family," her eyes rolled back and she almost fainted on the spot.
She kowtowed violently, her forehead striking the cold gold brick with a dull thud.
"Innocent! Your Honor, you've been wronged!"
The old woman cried and wailed, her face covered in snot and tears.
"Everything I've said is true! Even if I'm old and my eyesight is failing, and I've misremembered whether it's a birthmark or a scar, it's absolutely true that Princess Luan Xue grew up in the Mu family!"
She grasped at a straw and spoke rapidly in her defense.
"In the whole of Mu Family Village, who doesn't know she's the Mu family's biological daughter? All the villagers nearby know her! If one person might mistake her, how could hundreds of people possibly make the same mistake? Even if I had the greatest courage in the world, I wouldn't dare to lie about something like this!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Yu, who was standing to the side, immediately reacted, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes.
She knelt down heavily, facing the direction of Empress Dowager Yuanhua, and cried out in anguish.
"Mother! Did you hear that? What she said is true!"
"You can summon everyone from Mu Family Village to the palace! One person can lie, two people can lie, but what about a hundred people, or hundreds of people!"
"Could they all be conspiring to deceive you?"
These words immediately caused an uproar among the already confused onlookers outside the palace gates.
"Yes, the whole village can testify, how could it be false?"
"It seems that Luan Xue really was a fake!"
In the crowd, a young man dressed as a scholar waved a fan, looking heartbroken.
"The evidence is laid bare before us, so why is the Empress Dowager so hesitant to issue the order? Could it be..."
He paused deliberately, his voice not loud, but loud enough for those around him to hear clearly.
"Could it be that the Empress Dowager has developed feelings for that fake princess after spending so much time with her, and now wants to protect her?"
These words caused an uproar!
"Heavens! This is a grave crime of contaminating the royal bloodline!"
"Even the Empress Dowager cannot be so corrupt and abuse her power!"
"How can the land of my Great Yu tolerate the corruption of its bloodline!"
Someone in the crowd shouted something.
"Kill the fake princess! Purge the bloodline of my Great Yu!"
"Kill the fake princess! Get justice for the real princess!"
In an instant, the crowd was agitated, and shouts rose in waves.
The officials inside the hall all looked extremely grim.
They can hear the voices in one's heart, so they naturally know the truth.
But the people outside don't know that!
Once things get stirred up, things will get complicated!
Lin Xiang's gentle face was now covered with frost as he looked at the young emperor on the high platform, his heart filled with anxiety.
Your Majesty! Please provide more details!
Once I catch one crucial piece of evidence, I can completely destroy them!
All the ministers who could hear their thoughts were now like ants on a hot pan, unanimously casting their expectant gazes at that small figure.
Our hopes are all on you!
Yu Zhaoning frowned deeply, her lips pouting angrily.
[Hmph! How dare they incite the crowd to bully my royal aunt! Do they think they're right just because there are more of them? I'll show them what's what today!]
The little guy hummed to himself, then waved his little hand, bringing up the system's gossip panel.
[Let me see what other shady dealings are going on here! Expose them all!]
The system panel flashed and pages flipped rapidly.
The ministers perked up, their ears perked up, and they listened intently.
Quickly! Your Majesty! Speak up!
However, Yu Zhaoning's small body stiffened abruptly as soon as she saw the first line of text.
Her big, dark eyes widened instantly, as if she had seen something incredible.
The next second, she instinctively stretched out her two chubby little hands and covered her eyes.
[Oh dear!]
The child's sweet voice evoked shock and a hint of disgust in everyone's minds.
[This...this...is this something I should be looking at?!]
[Do not look at what is improper! Do not listen to what is improper!]
What? You shouldn't look at what you shouldn't see?
The civil and military officials, who were originally filled with righteous indignation and eager to rush up and fight eight hundred rounds, were instantly stunned.
They were all incredibly curious.
The Vice Minister of Works quietly nudged General Weiyuan beside him.
"Old Zhang, did you hear that? 'Don't look at what you shouldn't see'? What the hell is that?"
General Weiyuan cleared his throat, trying to maintain his serious expression, but a secret fire of gossip quietly ignited in his large, copper-bell-shaped eyes.
"I heard it, I heard it, something's up here!"
Lin Xiang couldn't help but raise his handsome eyebrows slightly.
He glanced at the young emperor on the high platform, who was covering his eyes and secretly peeking through a crack with his little fingers, and his lips twitched involuntarily.