Chapter 12 Palace Verification
I rested at home for a few days and heard that Zhao Zhen had been reinstated as Crown Prince.
While drawing my eyebrows, Ling Anping said, "This is only right. Among the princes, not just Zhao Yuan had ambitions, but this time Zhao Zhen removed too many useless and bloodsucking people. This Crown Prince position is not suitable for him."
I glanced sideways at him. His features were bold and his spirit bright, truly a young man full of vigor.
"Do you understand court affairs?"
"You look down on your husband too much," he snorted lightly and reached out to touch my cheek, rubbing repeatedly at the scar on the side of my face.
"Does it still hurt?"
I shook my head. The scar had been a light color for so long. How could it hurt?
He was stunned and took out a handkerchief from his arms to carefully check if it was made by my hand.
It was the handkerchief I had embroidered for Xu Fengwan back then. The needlework still looked a bit childish, and there were faint traces of blood besides. It was clearly something he carried on the battlefield too.
Seeing me dazed, Ling Anping happily tucked the handkerchief into his clothes and muttered that Zhao Zhen had not deceived him.
I smiled brightly. Some things did not need to be pointed out.
Half a month later, the Empress invited me to the palace to sit and discuss something.
I calculated the days. It was not far from the Xu family to the city. Xu Fengwan could not wait any longer.
Ling Anping carefully helped me onto the carriage. His face was full of worry. I smiled at him and began counting on my fingers what I wanted to eat: Longxu Crispy Pastry, Xue Meiniang, Date Cake, and the roast suckling pig newly from Juxiang Pavilion. I wanted them all.
Only then did he show a smile and instructed me to be sure to come home to eat on time.
I patted his hand, indicating he should not worry too much.
Compared to Ling Anping, I was even calmer and there was a trace of excitement.
He perhaps did not know how a noble lady in the capital should act, but I did.
I not only knew the actions of noble ladies in the capital but also how the royal family needed a general lady and a Xu family miss.
Wanjin Garden in the palace was now a place of great activity. The Empress sat on the same side as the Xu Fengwan who had no covering at all.
I first bowed formally and then sat down steadily.
I could ensure that every movement of mine was proper and natural. Even the strictest teaching nanny could not find any flaw.
The Empress looked at me and then at Xu Fengwan sitting beside her. Her eyes passed over them repeatedly in exploration before placing her hand on the bouquet in front of her.
"These peonies and roses are similar. Sometimes this concubine cannot tell them apart either."
Xu Fengwan clearly did not understand what the Empress was saying.
"Your Highness, the flowers can be admired another day, but this cheap maid replaced my identity at the grand wedding and locked me up.
My father and mother can bear witness. She committed the crime of deceiving the ruler and cannot be let go like this! "
I covered my upward-curving mouth with a handkerchief. "The difference between roses and peonies is clear to anyone with eyes. The most important thing is that neither rose nor peony should have foolishly wished to become a peony."
The Empress raised her eyes, her eyes seeming to show surprise, and then retracted her gaze.
"What the young lady said, do you have anything to defend?" The Empress looked at me as if probing.
I continued unhurriedly and said lightly, "Just because one has a face similar to mine and thinks one is the general lady? What a ignorant and disrespectful slave who dares to speak such words to dirty your ears."
Xu Fengwan was very dissatisfied. With her jade hand, she slapped the table and summoned a servant to bring Madam over.
The Empress asked Madam gently in a gentle tone, letting her choose in front of me and Xu Fengwan who was the real Xu family miss.
Madam knelt on the ground and pointed her hand at me.
Before I could speak, Xu Fengwan said urgently, "Do not forget the one at the Western Suburb Manor!"
I raised my eyes and stared straight at Xu Fengwan.
She had always thought I was just accidentally similar to her in appearance, not knowing that my mother was the first wife of the Xu family lord.
As Madam, the eldest sister, she had acted against my mother on the day she was born.
She had falsely accused my mother of having an affair with an outsider, and the child in her belly was also a bastard.
Fortunately, I was the lucky one. Madam, my mothers personal maid, had exchanged me with the stillborn child of the manor women right after I was born. This saved my life. On the day she found me in the servants quarters, she had people pull out Madams tongue on the spot.
But Madam had always had no sons or grandsons. The only one she could be attached to was my mother.
Madam frowned, pausing as if wanting to say more, when someone entered Wanjin Garden again.
It was Crown Prince Zhao Zhen.
"What Western Suburb Manor? What interesting things are you talking about?"
Seeing the Crown Prince arrive, the Empress told him everything that had happened.
He listened and burst into laughter. "What is there to be difficult about? Ling Anping told me that when he first got engaged, he secretly saw the Xu family miss and brought Malt Candy and a branch of plum blossom. Unfortunately, he accidentally broke her face."
The moment Zhao Zhen finished speaking, Xu Fengwans expression changed repeatedly, as if she had suddenly thought of something. She pointed at me and said, "How is that possible? The scar on her face was clearly scratched by me. So from that time on, you started colluding!"
"Words cannot be said like that," Zhao Zhen smiled. "That is called mutual affection. Do you think Ling Anping fought so hard on the battlefield for what? Was it not to earn a military merit to marry a wife?"
The Empress sat in the middle and looked left and right, with a trace of thought in her eyes.
Zhao Zhen took a sip of the tea in front of him. "Furthermore, the Xu family miss was also a person who saved my life. The day she sent me back to the camp, she did have a scar on the left side of her cheek."
The Empress looked at me. I gently wiped off the powder on my face with a handkerchief, revealing the faint scar.
The result was clear.
Xu Fengwan finally realized what she would face and immediately knelt down to kowtow to the Empress, to the Crown Prince, and to me.
The Empress and the Crown Prince remained unmoved. She could only crawl to my feet. "I will not beat you anymore. I will not scold you anymore. Let us switch our identities back. Whatever you want, I will give it to you."
I smiled gently and used my fingertip to lift her chin. "Where did this cheap maid come from, rushing so desperately to die? Drag her away and give her fifty strokes of the cane."
Xu Fengwans eyes widened instantly, as if she could not believe this was what I had said.
I leaned close to her ear and asked, "Do you know if the bastard of the Prince of Qing is still in your belly?"
Her screams gradually faded amid the repeated strokes.
The Empress, citing a headache, dismissed us to go back.
I stood up and arranged my clothes. My expression was gentle, almost the same as when I came.
I knew that whether the Empress or the Crown Prince or anyone in the royal family, what they wanted was not the Xu family miss but a general lady who was proper, polite, steady, and always loyal to them.
If this general lady had even a little handle in their hands, that would be even better.
As for true or false, did it matter?
Unfortunately, Xu Fengwan did not understand this principle. She thought that the blood flowing in her body could save her life.