Chapter 119

Xiao Jieyun shuddered all over: "Anniang?"

Anniang burst into tears: "Your Highness! You don't recognize Anniang? I am your wet nurse! From the moment you were born, I have been by your side!"

Xiao Jieyun stared at her face: "Why... why do I have no memory of you?"

"Because when you were two, Murong Shi forced me to take medicine and threw me into the cold palace."

Anniang raised the copper token in her hand: "This is an old item from the Empress's palace; you loved to play with it as a child, and I have always kept it with me."

"Anniang, the prince you call Yangyang— isn't that Yangyang? How could it be me?"

"That is the nickname the Empress gave you, Your Highness— you don't remember?"

Xiao Jieyun shook his head, looking utterly bewildered.

Anniang's tears eased: "Your Highness, you, you have grown so big— it's wonderful that I can see you again, how great."

Xiao Jieyun asked what he most wanted to know: "An... niang? You just said the Empress— is she the former Empress? But my mother is the Murong clan."

Anniang shook her head violently: "Your Highness! You are not the Murong clan's child; you are the former Empress's own son!"

Xiao Jieyun's eyes widened in shock.

Xiao Ze and Eunuch Cheng sucked in a breath of cold air, Tuan Tuan looked puzzled— isn't the Imperial Uncle the Empress Dowager's child?

Anniang sighed and recounted everything that happened back then:

"Your Highness, you were born to the former Empress after a ten-month pregnancy, against all odds."

"That year, the Murong clan and the former Empress both became pregnant, and they happened to give birth on the same day."

"Your Highness was the first to cry out, and soon word came that the Murong clan had also given birth to a prince."

Anniang, filled with regret: "Your Highness! I have sinned! I am sorry to the Empress!"

Xiao Jieyun's heart jolted: "Anniang, don't panic, speak slowly."

"That day, when the Empress was giving birth, she saw a great deal of blood, her body weak, and she was lying on the bed resting."

"That wicked woman suddenly barged in with people, holding a dead fetus to threaten the Empress!"

Xiao Ze gaped in shock, and Tuan Tuan also widened his eyes.

"I remember her words at that time crystal clear!"

"She abandoned her usual gentleness and virtue, and as soon as she entered she gritted her teeth: 'Why is it that we both conceived at the same time, yet you give birth before me?'"

"Why is your child fine while mine perished? Clearly you have cursed our mother and son!"

"Elder sister, you cannot protect your own child; why not let him become my child?"

"If you are unwilling, then I will have him buried as a companion for my prince!"

"The Empress wanted to call for help, but then she realized that, because she was weak from pregnancy, authority over the six palaces had already fallen into the hands of the now Consort Murong, who had bribed everyone in the palace."

"The Empress, helpless, made her swear a poison oath to treat you as her own child for life; that wicked woman spoke up, saying that if she ever broke the oath, she would be struck by heavenly thunder."

"Then she brought a bowl of poison and forced the Empress to drink it on the spot!"

"Ah?!" Tuan Tuan exclaimed in shock.

"I personally saw the Empress swallow her last breath!"

"That wicked woman had them place the dead fetus beside the Empress, while she herself snatched up Your Highness!"

Anniang trembled all over: "Your Highness! The Empress gave her own life to save yours!"

"That wicked woman! She paved her way to the throne with the Empress's life!"

Xiao Jieyun slammed his eyes shut, his chest heaving violently.

"What happened next?" he opened his eyes, his voice hoarse: "She already got what she wanted, so why did she spare your life?"

Anniang gave a bitter laugh: "The late emperor was away on campaign and would soon return to court; I had been appointed as the Empress's wet nurse when she first became pregnant, and the late emperor knew me."

"She needed me, an old servant by the Empress's side, to personally testify that the Empress died from bleeding."

"I served as a witness before the late emperor, and, shameless and obsequious, I fawned at her side, only wishing to stay with you a few more years, fearing she might again harbor ill intentions toward you."

"When you were two, Murong Shi was made empress, and the late emperor named you crown prince, after which no one doubted the cause of the former Empress's death."

"She then reported to the late emperor that I had gone mad with worry and was moved to another palace to recuperate."

"In fact, she forced me to take medicine and threw me into this cold palace to waste away."

"After drinking the drug, I became addled; many things I can no longer recall."

She gazed greedily at Xiao Jieyun's face: "Your Highness, you have grown so big; I can die in peace."

Xiao Jieyun drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surge of killing intent in his chest.

He gently gathered Anniang's disheveled white hair behind her ear, the motion exceedingly tender.

"Anniang, you are not at fault." He said each word distinctly: "If not for your forbearance back then, how could I have lived to this day? You protected me."

"Rest assured, this blood debt—I will collect it myself!"

He looked at Tuan Tuan: "Tuan Tuan, could you let my purple aura remain on her?"

"No way," Tuan Tuan shook his head, "the Imperial Uncle's purple aura belongs to the Imperial Uncle; it can only be like this."

Xiao Jieyun understood, a faint bitter smile appearing on his face: "Is that so..."

Anniang, however, didn't mind; she extended another bony hand, trembling as she placed it on the Emperor's arm, gently patting as she had done to lull him to sleep years ago.

"Your Highness, that's enough— to be able to look at you once more, to tell you the truth in person, to let the Empress's injustice see the light of day; I ask for nothing more."

She suddenly exerted force, actively withdrawing her hand, her gaze gradually scattering, her voice growing faint: "Your Highness, you must become... a good emperor."

Tuan Tuan's hand came up empty; Xiao Jieyun instinctively reached to grab Anniang's hand again, but stopped midair.

Anniang's gaze turned vacant and bewildered again, her mouth beginning to mutter incoherently.

She clutched the copper token tightly, curled back into the corner, and murmured to the wall: "Yangyang! Where did you go?"

Xiao Jieyun's hand remained in that empty grasp, he stared fixedly as Anniang instantly reverted to her maddened state; a great sorrow washed over him, causing him to close his eyes, unable to bear looking.

After a long while, he opened his eyes, took a deep look at that curled-back figure, then turned sharply and strode out of the hall.

Eunuch Cheng's face turned pale as he gestured to Xiao Ze and Tuan Tuan, and several people hurriedly followed him out.

"Cheng Jinyan!"

"This old servant is here."

"Move An Niang to the side hall of Zichen Hall, assign the most reliable palace attendants to serve her, and provide her with the same provisions as an Imperial Consort."

He paused: "Give her whatever she wants."

"If anyone dares to be negligent in the slightest, exterminate their nine clans."

Eunuch Cheng broke out in a cold sweat: "This old servant obeys the order! I will carry it out immediately!"

Xiao Jieyun looked at Xiao Ze and Tuan Tuan.

He crouched down, leveling his gaze with Tuan Tuan, then glanced at his son, his expression complex.

"Today's matter is of great importance. You must forget it completely and never mention it to anyone."

Xiao Ze knelt on the ground and said solemnly: "I understand, my lord; I will keep my mouth shut like a sealed bottle."

Tuan Tuan blinked her big eyes: "Imperial Uncle, what did you say? I didn't hear you!"

Xiao Jieyun smiled slightly, rubbed her head: "What a clever child, thank you, Imperial Uncle."

He stood up and turned to leave.

Xiao Ze gazed at his father's back: "Tuan Tuan, you really hit the nail on the head—the Empress Dowager truly is a broken Empress Dowager!"