"I wonder, which son he is yours?"

After saying this, I held my breath and looked at Pei Ji. Although I knew that he was not the kind of moody tyrant who would suddenly kill people, the words I just said revealed the royal family after all, and it was the secret he had hidden for many years. I was not talking to an ordinary person.

His temperament is gentle, but it does not mean that he will be cowardly and hesitant as an emperor.

Sure enough, Pei Ji's gaze suddenly became sharp at this moment. He looked at me, and there seemed to be an invisible blade in his eyes that had approached my throat.

He said, "You seem to know a lot."

“…”

"And it's impossible that someone told you that no one knew these things."

“…”

"Third brother, he can't do it."

“…”

"How did you know?"

I looked at him calmly, and then slowly said, "After the Supreme Emperor woke up, he probably had asked Yan Wuluo, Eunuch Yu a lot of things, and many people, but there was only one person, you seemed to have never asked."

His eyes flashed at me: "..."

"The Queen Mother."

“…”

"You haven't asked about her."

At this moment, the light in his eyes dimmed. After a long time of silence, he said softly: "Yes, Gu forgot to ask her. She has been practicing in the water pagoda. She has been refusing to see Gu or anyone for so many years. Sometimes Gu is about to forget her."

As he said that, he looked at me: "She is now-"

I interrupted him and said calmly: "She has passed away too."

“…”

Pei Ji suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked at me in surprise: "She, she is also--"

I think this is probably what people often say about things and changes. After all, he has been sleeping for more than ten years. When he opened his eyes, even the dominant rulers of the dynasty were changed, let alone others? Those who had accompanied him, who had feelings for him and had the same joys, anger, sorrow and happiness, all left.

A burst of sorrow rose on his face: "How did she-"

"The Grand Tutor Shen Gongyi formed a party for personal gain and plotted to rebel. He took advantage of the emperor's attack on spring hunting in Mahe Valley and forced the emperor to abdicate. In order to protect His Majesty, the Empress Dowager committed suicide by taking poison and dying for his country."

Pei Ji took a deep breath and his eyes suddenly turned red.

He trembled and said, "She, after all, she is--"

I said, "Yes, the 'son' she protected before her death is the 'son' given to her by the Supreme Emperor."

"..." Pei Ji was trembling, silent for a long time, and finally sighed: "It's lonely, I'm betraying her."

He slowly closed his eyes, as if he could not face what he had done before and that person. I looked at him and asked, "Why did the Supreme Emperor let her down?"

After a while, he opened his eyes and looked at me. There seemed to be a helpless look in his eyes. He said softly: "Although she is not Gu's sweetheart, after entering the palace, her straightforward and innocent nature and vitality made Gu like her very much. Even after she became pregnant, Gu... also wanted to treat her well."

I squinted my eyes slightly.

This sentence is obviously of profound meaning.

Feeling my gaze, Pei Ji glanced at me, as if he had given up hiding and disguising, smiled faintly, and then said, "Since you are here to hold on to her, of course you are familiar with her, and you will not know her identity. She is a person on the grassland, and the people of Shengjing were very happy after they knew that she was pregnant."

I immediately understood: "They must hope that the Queen Mother can win a man in one fell swoop, and that is the eldest, right?"

Pei Ji nodded gently.

"But you don't want it, do you?"

He looked up at me.

I knew he was somewhat concerned about me, so I said to myself: "Shengjing has penetrated the court deeply, and their hands have even reached the south of the Yangtze River. If the empress dowager from the grassland gave birth to a prince, became the crown prince, and then ascended the throne to the emperor, the court would become a Ministry of Revenue in the Central Plains."

Pei Ji's eyes flashed.

At the beginning, he must have simply regarded me as “Huiyin’s daughter” and “princess’s mother”, but after saying these words, his eyes became different.

He looked at me for a while and said softly: "You are right."

I said, "Since that's the case, what did you do at that time?"

He took a deep breath and said slowly: "Actually, Gu had many ways and many choices at that time. No matter how he chose, he could quietly do so. He would not disturb anyone at all to deal with this matter, nor would he make her so sad."

"But, it doesn't seem to be what you said?"

"Yes, because there was something unexpected back then."

"What accident?"

"The Guigong Fire."

My heart leaped.

I have thought about many things to ask him, and many doubts to let him solve them, but I did not expect that things would come so quickly. I thought yesterday that when I opened my mouth, my mother had passed away, but he talked about the past that had become a taboo in the deep palace.

The fire that caused Queen Zhao Lie to die!

My voice was trembling: "What's that-"

Before I finished speaking, he took the conversation coldly and continued: "When the fire in Guigong was extinguished, until... everything was settled, and when Gu claimed that the queen had passed away, someone came to tell Gu that Concubine Xian and her were about to give birth."

Although he was talking about this with a cold expression, I could feel that his heart was very painful. Even after saying this long list of words, he stopped himself and gasped violently, as if something was constantly hitting his heart, making him unable to get even a moment of peace.

The fire in Guigong.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Queen Zhao Lie who died in the fire.

And... that child.

All this, after decades of escaping, was finally put before him again.

Even I was a little unspeakable throbbing at this moment, and my heart was beating like thunder. I took another step forward, my legs had already touched the edge of the bed. Seeing his eyes slowly becoming congested and red, I said nervously: "Concubine Xian... That is, your later queen and queen mother, both of them are about to give birth, so what did you do?"

He suddenly raised his head and looked at me, gasping for breath: "You ask me about these, how much do you know? What do you want to do after you know?"

I said, "Men's girl, I can't do anything."

“…”

"But it was the Emperor that you said that secret word to the people's daughter - under the frost all night, guiding the people's daughter to find the imperial edict and the jade seal. However, in the imperial edict, there was no name of the crown prince you enthroned, nor the name of any of your sons. Instead, it was a strange name, written on it by you, and you can inherit the throne."

“…”

"Shouldn't the Supreme Emperor himself give an explanation?"

“…”

He took a deep breath, as if he was a little amused and laughed: "What Gu didn't expect was that the little palace maid who was following the third brother would be Huaiyin's daughter..." He said, and raised his head to look at me again: "Is this Huaiyin's spirit in heaven, protecting Gu and Gu's son?"

I said lightly: "To talk about blessings is too harsh."

He glanced at me, said nothing, but just lowered his eyelids. After a while, he slowly said: "At that time, Gu had no intention of asking about the affairs of the harem again, but, after all, they were two of them, Gu was still in the imperial study room, waiting for news."

"Then, what news have you been waiting for?"

“…”

He suddenly trembled, as if he had been hit hard, and his whole body trembled slightly.

Then, he said in a hoarse voice: "The first son of the lonely is born."

My breathing suddenly became tense.

The first son, the eldest son of the emperor, is the name I saw in the imperial edict then-

"Your first son, the eldest son of the emperor, Pei Yuanchen, right?!"

He nodded gently.

“Yes, who is it?”

I was a little incoherent, who gave birth to the eldest son of the emperor? Of course it was not Empress Yin, Pei Yuanxiu was her son; and if it were her, that would be wrong—

Just when my mind was in a mess, Pei Ji slowly raised his head and looked at me, and said calmly: "When the eldest son was born, no one guarded him, no one delivered him, and no one even knew about it."

“…How did you know?”

"Because, someone heard the cry of the child."

“…”

"In that deserted place, the lonely man has already closed it."

“…”

"However, because of the fire, it was useless to close it. Several of her personal palace maids secretly went there without telling it, guarding her coffin, and secretly burning incense and praying for her. Then, they heard the crying."

“…”

"The cry of the child came from the coffin."

I just felt that my heartbeat stopped and my breathing could not continue. It seemed that the scene appeared in front of me, a deserted ruin, a heavy and lonely coffin stopped in the center, and several palace maids heard the crying and rushed forward in panic.
To be continued...