595 Recognition
The group stayed in the Ziwei Pavilion. The layout of the Ziwei Pavilion was very ingenious. It not only retained the original design of the two-doors courtyard, but also had a small three-story embroidered building. The embroidered building was exquisitely repaired and was not grand enough in Yu Wan’s aesthetics, but in the eyes of the little fellows, it was simply like a small ancient castle tailored for them.
The three little fellows didn’t even want the swing anymore. They ran upstairs and climbed onto the railings without any guidance. They slid down with a whoosh!
Fu Ling stood calmly downstairs to pick up the eggs.
After everything was arranged, Eunuch Wang returned to the palace to report. The Prince Consort stayed in the quiet and elegant main room.
This was indeed a courtyard that was repaired for the Little Commandery Princess to have a quiet moment. There were bricks, tiles, a table, and a chair. It did not look luxurious, but it was actually expensive. The work of the royal family was indeed not exaggerated.
That girl had really accumulated eight lifetimes of fortune to be an adopted daughter like this.
Old Cui stayed next door to the Prince Consort so that he could keep an eye on his illness. As for Yan Jiuchao and Yu Wan, they lived in the east wing near the embroidered building. The three little black eggs lived with them.
On the right of the east wing were Fu Ling and Zi Su.
Fu Ling looked at the children while Zi Su went to unpack their luggage.
Zi Su was originally a first-class maidservant, so it was not her turn to do such trivial matters. However, ever since she went out with the couple, she had done everything on the way. Now, she has become a little expert at work.
Of course, she could swap places with Fu Ling and let her see the children. However, when she thought about how the little masters were making a fuss, Zi Su’s little body trembled and she felt that she should do things obediently.
“Girl! The medicine is ready!” Old Cui’s shouting came from the small kitchen.
“Coming!” Yu Wan went to the small kitchen and brought the cold medicine to the Prince Consort’s room.
Yan Jiuchao was also there. He sat on a stool by the bed and looked at the Prince Consort with wide eyes. “You can wake up now.”
The Prince Consort really “woke up”. In fact, he had been awake the entire time. The so-called vomiting blood and fainting were all fake.
However, he hid it from everyone but his son.
His son.
A son as smart as him.
The Prince Consort looked at Yan Jiuchao with uncontrollable love and pride.
Yan Jiuchao was expressionless. He had always been like this. It was the same when the sky collapsed, and it was the same when he gave out red eggs. No one knew what he was thinking.
Yu Wan walked into the room and saw the father and son staring at each other. She smiled in surprise and said, “Father, you’re awake?”
The word father stunned the Prince Consort on the spot. He had not been Prince Yan for many years and had long forgotten how to address him. He looked at Yu Wan in a daze for a long time.
Yu Wan suddenly realized that something was wrong with him. She bent down and blinked. “You can’t remember the past?”
The father and son looked at each other. She thought that his memories had been revived.
The Prince Consort shook his head. “I just remembered what happened after I met Cong’er.”
Yan Jiuchao rushed into his carriage. This was the first time he had seen Yan Jiuchao. He had drawn Yan Jiuchao’s portrait, but the Queen had mistaken him for his younger self. After that, he picked up Xiaobao and met Yan Jiuchao again.
He couldn’t remember who he was, but he couldn’t help but want to sneak a look at him where he often appeared. This matter was finally discovered by the Queen. He had been drugged by the Queen.
The Queen changed the portrait he had hidden in the secret compartment. He had forgotten about Yan Jiuchao. However, thanks to the old man, he came to the Helian Manor. Something seemed to be tugging at his emotions. He entered the Helian Manor and saw Yan Jiuchao again.
After learning that he had been poisoned by the Soul Devouring Grass, he began to probe the Queen.
She was indeed the one who had drugged him, but Zijun, who liked snake meat, was not her. He knew that he was going to be exposed. Before she did anything, he had tampered with Nangong Li’s portrait and left a secret code for himself.
As expected, he was drugged again. However, when he saw the portrait after the ink faded, he remembered everything.
Yet this was all he could remember. He had no impression of anything further. Those memories that had nothing to do with Cong’er were fine.
However, he really wanted to remember how Cong’er looked like when he was young.
Yu Wan paused. “Wait, I didn’t tell you who you are. How did you know that you’re Prince Yan and even spread the news of Yan Jiuchao and your own identity?”
“You told me that his name was Yan Jiuchao, so I investigated this person,” the Prince Consort said self-deprecatingly. “Sometimes, the evidence is more reliable than memories.”
He remembered Cong’er and Zijun, but someone used his memories. Although the evidence could also be faked, it was much more reliable when no one discovered it.
Yu Wan thought to herself, This is also a ruthless person. He didn’t even let himself off.
“I can understand you spreading the news, but why didn’t you tell the Emperor the truth? Are you worried that he won’t believe you?”
“That’s one reason. On the other hand, I still have some things to investigate. If I confess too early, I won’t be able to stay in Nanzhao no matter what the outcome is.”
“Are you referring to the truth back then?”
“Do you know something?”
Yu Wan looked at her husband and confirmed that he was not uncomfortable with the following conversation. She nodded and said, “Actually, not long before you passed away… Uh… before the incident, Mrs. Yao saw a woman and a four-year-old child in Yan City. You were also there at that time. That child called you father.”
The Prince Consort automatically skipped over who Mrs. Yao was. For now, this was not important. What was important was the news Mrs. Yao brought. He hesitated. “That child is…”
Yu Wan handed the medicine bowl to the Prince Consort. “From the age, it looks like Nangong Li.”
Nangong Li was three years younger than Yan Jiuchao. Yan Jiuchao was seven or eight years old that year, so their ages matched.
“However.” Yu Wan thought of something and said strangely, “Mrs. Yao said that the child looks like Yan Jiuchao, but when I saw Nangong Li today, I felt that he looks more like the Queen. Did he change after he grew up?”
They could not rule out the possibility that he looked like his father when he was young and looked like his mother when he grew up.
However, the Prince Consort shook his head. “There are many portraits of Li’er in the study. The youngest painting is four years old. He’s been like this since he was young.”
Yu Wan was puzzled. “That’s strange. Could Mrs. Yao have seen it wrongly? Or… this Nangong Li isn’t the child from back then?”
The Prince Consort did not know either. He drank the medicine in his bowl with a complicated expression. “It seems that there’s another truth to investigate.”
Initially, he only wanted to understand what was going on with the Queen back then, but now, he had to figure out if Nangong Li was his child.
… .
“Mother! Quickly chase those flies out! Take Father back! I don’t want them to live in the manor! I don’t want to give them the courtyard!”
In the main courtyard, the Little Commandery Princess was throwing a tantrum in the Queen’s room.
She was a child she had raised. Although her parents doted on her, she was not their biological daughter after all. She was not as confident as her brother, so she was only rude and willful outside. In front of the Queen, she was always obedient and likable.
She was forced into a corner today, that’s why she said such things.
The Queen had recuperated for several days, but she still had to wear a veil to see people. She sat on a chair and watched the Little Commandery Princess complain. When she was done, she said earnestly, “Didn’t I tell you? The eldest young master of the Helian family is Yan Jiuchao. He’s your father’s child. You have to call him brother.”
The Little Commandery Princess stomped her feet. “I don’t have a brother like him! I only have one brother, Nangong Li!”
The Queen was also angry in her heart. She had been beaten up by that slut sister for no reason, and later on, the Prince Consort’s identity was exposed. Although the Prince Consort had come out of prison, he had been moved to someone else’s courtyard.
The person who ordered all of this was actually her biological father.
The Queen suppressed her anger and said to the Little Commandery Princess, “This is your grandfather’s decree. Don’t make things too ugly.”
“Did Grandpa say that I should give them the newly built courtyard? Did Grandpa say that I should be bullied by their maidservant? That girl is so strong! My arm is swollen from her pinch! Mother, look!” The Little Commandery Princess rolled up her sleeves, revealing a fair wrist with five finger marks clearly imprinted on it.
The Queen’s heart ached too, but they were in the wrong. It was the Little Commandery Princess who pulled the Princely Heir Consort’s hair first, and the maidservant loyally protected her before throwing her out.
In the past, the Queen naturally did not have to care about being reasonable. She was the justice. Now that she had lost favor one after another, she had no choice but to tuck her tail between her legs and wait for the right time.
The Little Commandery Princess complained for a while more, but there was no result. She returned to the courtyard angrily.
Nangong Li entered the house. “Mother.”
The Queen said tiredly, “Have a seat.”
Nangong Li sat down. The mother and son were each thinking about something and did not say anything. The candlelight in the room was faint, and the atmosphere was a little heavy.
Suddenly, Nangong Li said in a low voice, “Father is awake.”
“He’s awake?” The Queen was surprised.
This was the benefit of living in the same manor. As long as there was any commotion, they could not hide it.
“Not good, your father is awake. When he sees that child, he will…” The Queen suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Nangong Li said self-deprecatingly, “Will be agitated again and think of the past? I thought for a long time in the room just now. We’re both Father’s sons, so why didn’t Father think of me? Mother, am I Father’s child?”
The Queen clenched her fists.
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