Chapter 16 Father’s Confession
I turned around, ready to find Father Emperor.
But I saw Zhao Yan standing blankly at the door, not knowing how long he had been there or how much he had heard.
He looked at me with a complicated expression: "Tangyue..."
I didn't respond to him and brushed past him.
Tai Ming Hall.
I knelt before Father Emperor, asking him about Lin Rouyu, if it was true.
He was silent for a moment, looking at me with eyes that seemed nostalgic, and nodded gently:
"It's true."
"Tangyue, your birth mother is actually Rouyu."
Father Emperor took out a portrait from a hidden compartment.
On the yellowed scroll, the woman with a gentle smile looked almost exactly like me.
Father Emperor fell into memories, his eyes seeming filled with deep affection:
"That year, when I went to the south, the ship encountered a storm and sank into the river.
I was saved by her, lived anonymously with her, shared meals and lodging, and we fell in love.
Later, officials found me, and she learned that I was the emperor."
"Rouyu didn't like the palace. She was so free-spirited and just wanted to live happily. When she knew my identity, she regretted it."
"But I had already married her and we had a child."
"I promised her the position of empress. But she didn't want to be empress; she only asked me to arrange for her to live in the southern palace. After giving birth to you, she left."
I couldn't help but ask: "Where did she go?"
Father Emperor shook his head: "I don't know. I always restrained myself from searching for her, letting her be free. Perhaps she went to the grasslands, the desert, to see... the crabapple flowers she loved."
From his few words, I could feel Father Emperor's longing.
No wonder he never appointed an empress and loved me so much. It was because I was the child born to the woman he loved most.