The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

"Ancestor." Chunchao, who didn't know what was going on, walked forward and saluted Ruan Yuhu.

"Well, why are you back?" Ruan Yuhu spoke in a low voice, for fear of waking up the little one who had just fallen asleep in her arms.

"It was the master who asked me to come back. I have something important to tell you." Although she didn't know what had happened, Chunchao also lowered her voice.

Ruan Yuhu nodded at Chunchao, handed the child in her arms to Qiong Niang beside her, and then took small cautious steps, walked to Chunchao, waved to her, and signaled her to go out.

Chunchao was confused and didn't have time to think about it. He quickly followed and went out behind Ruan Yuhu.

"Ancestor, what's wrong with you?" Chunchao didn't dare to ask until he walked outside.

"Oh, you don't know how hard that little baby was crying just now. No one could comfort her. Even her own mother couldn't do anything to her."

Ruan Yuhu sighed and couldn't help but teasing, "How can I be called an ancestor now? This little ancestor is much more powerful than me."

Looking at Ruan Yuhu who was being held in check, Chunchao couldn't help laughing.

"What are you laughing at, little girl?" Ruan Yuhu raised her hand and slapped Chunchao. "You didn't see the scene. None of us in this room could appease her."

"Yes, yes, yes, thank you for your hard work, ancestor." Chunchao quickly flattered him at the right time, otherwise she was afraid that she would be flattered.

"Well, it's hard enough." Ruan Yuhu sighed. Taking care of children is really harder than handling government affairs.

"Jiaojiao asked you to come back, what do you want?"

When Ruan Yuhu asked this, Chunchao finally remembered why she came back. She quickly replied, "My master asked me to come back to tell you that Concubine Feng cannot be killed for the time being."

"Can't kill him? Why?" Ruan Yuhu looked at Chunchao with a puzzled look on his face.

Chunchao shook her head and said, "I don't know either. The master only told me to take some of Concubine Feng's blood and keep it safe if she dies. I guess it has something to do with the emperor."

Ruan Yuhu nodded and said, "Well, I understand. Let's make a decision after Jiaojiao comes back."

Ruan Yuhu, who had just been driven to despair by the crying of Li Muyan's little baby, was now glad that if the little baby had not been crying incessantly, Feng Yuanyuan would probably be dead by now.

Shen Tianjiao, who was stopped by the Marquis of Zhenbei, told him the whole story.

When the Marquis of Zhenbei heard that Li Rui had been poisoned by Feng Yuanyuan and was about to die, he sighed deeply.

"Although the late emperor was not a wise ruler, he did a good job as an emperor. Although he did not make any major decisions that benefited the country and the people, he ensured that Yunli had no internal strife and that the people could live and work in peace."

"How did it become like this when it came to him? He has no idea how to govern the country, and he can't even manage his family properly. He was actually manipulated by a woman to the point where he couldn't even save his life!"

Marquis Zhenbei sighed. Once upon a time, Li Rui was an ambitious person. How come he has become like this now?

"Could it be that the prophecy is true?"

"Prophecy? What prophecy?" Shen Tianjiao asked Zhenbei Hou curiously.

The Marquis of Zhenbei smiled and said, "That happened many years ago. When the late emperor was still the crown prince, I accompanied him to pray for the Empress Dowager, and I met a wandering sorcerer."

"The sorcerer once divined for the late emperor that Yunli's kingdom would decline from his time onwards, and that the kingdom would perish within three generations."

"The only solution is to find someone born with the destiny of a phoenix. Let her replace the descendants of the Li family, and only then can Yunli's kingdom continue to prosper."

"Did the late emperor believe it?" Loving gossip is human nature, and even Shen Tianjiao is no exception.

The Marquis of Zhenbei looked at his daughter and nodded, saying, "Of course he believed it. This kind of thing is the most taboo thing for a monarch. Regardless of whether it is true or not, it will become a thorn in his heart."

"Although the sorcerer said that the secrets of heaven must not be revealed, he refused to reveal the whereabouts of the person born with the Phoenix destiny or what signs this person had."

"But for a future emperor who already believed, this was a challenge to his authority. It was something he could not tolerate."

"After he came back, he sought out more and more sorcerers and monks to divine and predict the matter, but none of them could explain it."

The Marquis of Zhenbei sighed and continued, "Once the seeds of suspicion are planted in the emperor's heart, it will be uncontrollable."

"In order to prevent this unfounded rumor, the late emperor, based on his own speculation, believed that those born with the Phoenix Fate must be born into a royal family."

"So, in the year he ascended the throne, all daughters born to members of the royal family and aristocratic families were secretly executed before the age of three."

"He did this simply because someone told him that when he ascended the throne, his dragon-controlling aura would be at its peak, and that doing so would suppress the person with the Phoenix destiny and ensure the continuation of the Li dynasty."

This secret event from many years ago has long been forgotten by people as time goes by. If it were not mentioned by the Marquis of Zhenbei today, it would probably have been lost in the long river of history.

"As expected, the emperor's heart is cold." Thinking of so many children who died when they were still ignorant just because of a sorcerer's nonsense, Shen Tianjiao couldn't help but sigh.

"Father, there are so many children, and none of them are from the royal family or aristocratic families. The late emperor killed them all. How can they just let it go?"

Although the emperor possesses supreme power, if he lacks virtue, the royal family members and aristocratic families will not be willing to obey him and allow him to control them.

"That's why they say it was a secret execution." Speaking of this, the Marquis of Zhenbei couldn't help but shake his head and sigh. "He naturally knew that if he ordered the execution of those children, it would inevitably cause riots. By then, there would be no need to wait for someone born with the destiny of a phoenix. Those royal relatives and aristocratic families would be able to overthrow the imperial power of his Li family."

"Since this kind of thing couldn't be done openly, it had to be done secretly. He asked Qiu Peng, the then chief eunuch, to investigate all daughters under the age of three among the royal family and aristocratic families."

"Then he started with his own daughter in the palace, Princess Huai'an, who was born to the imperial concubine, and began assassinating them one by one."

"That year was pure hell on earth. Every family with a girl under three years old was not spared."

Having said that, the Marquis of Zhenbei looked back at Shen Tianjiao, feeling fortunate that his daughter had been born two years later and thus escaped the disaster.

"At that time, both the capital and the various prefectures and counties were plunged into panic because of the deaths of these children."

"Later, he issued an edict, saying that these things were caused by the evil spirit, and asked people to pray for blessings, which is why Daughters' Day was established."

"After people prayed, because the children who should have been killed had been killed, there were no more frequent and strange deaths of children in the family, so people gradually accepted it and forgot about it."

The Daughter's Day in Yunli Country is actually a festival of blessing and celebration. On this day, no matter whether the daughter is raised in a wealthy family or a poor family, she can be free from any constraints and can go out freely to pray, celebrate and play.

It is the day that all the unmarried girls in Yunli Country love and look forward to the most.

"This move of his really kills two birds with one stone. He conceals his motives, and I convince the people to believe him. He's truly a master."

She shook her head after hearing what the Marquis of Zhenbei said. As a king, he should have protected the people of this country, but he killed so many innocent children just because of those unfounded and ridiculous words from others.

The glorious and amiable image of the late emperor that once existed in Shen Tianjiao's heart collapsed into nothingness in an instant.

"This is the heart of an emperor. He can be gentle to his people, or he can be extremely cruel."

The Marquis of Zhenbei and the late emperor were both close friends and childhood friends. They had been with each other for a long time and knew each other best.

"But he didn't have a good end. This can be considered as retribution from God."

"It wasn't a happy end?" Shen Tianjiao grasped a very important piece of information. She looked up at the Marquis of Zhenbei and asked, "Father, what does this mean? Didn't the late emperor die of a sudden illness?"

As the daughter-in-law of the late emperor, Shen Tianjiao had always been as quiet and gentle as a chrysanthemum. She had no desire for power and naturally would not think of showing up in front of the late emperor. So when the late emperor fell ill, Shen Tianjiao did not rush to attend to him like others did.

So she only knew what disease the late emperor had and how he died from what others said.

Now, when she suddenly heard her father say that the late emperor did not die a good death, she felt a chill in her heart.

"Ah!" Zhenbei Hou shook his head and said, "It wasn't a sudden illness. In the last two years of his life, he took an overdose of medicinal pills, which caused his entire body to fester."

"Even the doctors at the Imperial Hospital were helpless. They tried everything, used the best medicine in the world, but they couldn't stop the festering on his body."

"Hu Zeming, the director of the Imperial Hospital at the time, was sentenced to death precisely because of this incident and was buried with the emperor in the mausoleum."

"Except for the people closest to the late emperor, not even that little bastard in the palace knew about this."

Shen Tianjiao nodded. If even Li Rui didn't know about this, then the emperor's situation at that time was indeed very bad, so bad that in order to maintain his own dignity, he couldn't even let his own son know.

Life is unpredictable and retribution is inevitable. Even if you are an emperor, you cannot escape justice if you do something wrong.

When Shen Tianjiao returned from the hot spring villa, it was already three o'clock in the night. This time, Qiu Tong insisted on going back to the palace with Shen Tianjiao, fearing that something unexpected would happen and Shen Tianjiao would have no one to help.

Ruan Yuhu had not slept all day, waiting for Shen Tianjiao to come back, so the first person Shen Tianjiao saw when she returned to Yuxiu Palace was Ruan Yuhu.

"Aunt, it's so late, why aren't you resting yet?" Shen Tianjiao felt a little guilty when she saw Ruan Yuhu hadn't slept yet and was still waiting for her.

Ruan Yuhu looks healthy and in good spirits on the surface, but in fact her body has long needed medication.

"As we get older, we sleep less. Instead of tossing and turning in bed, I might as well wait for you to come back and chat for a while."

Ruan Yuhu pushed the supplements that she had prepared for Shen Tianjiao in front of her and said, "Eat this, or you won't have the energy to deal with tomorrow's affairs."

"Okay." Shen Tianjiao obediently began to eat the supplements in front of her.

Ruan Yuhu didn't say anything, just sat opposite Shen Tianjiao, watching Shen Tianjiao eat quietly.

Only after Shen Tianjiao finished eating and signaled Chunchao to take the empty bowl away did Ruan Yuhu ask, "What happened?"

"Oh, nothing much. Chao Yun said that if we want the emperor to regain his normal mental state in a short period of time, we need to mix his blood with the blood of Feng Yuanyuan, who has a pact with him, and then add some special medicine she made."

At this moment, Shen Tianjiao only knew that Ruan Yuhu did not go to Jinyang Palace for some reason, but she didn't know what the reason was. But no matter what the reason was, she was very glad that Feng Yuanyuan was still alive.

Ruan Yuhu smiled and said, "In that case, it's really a blessing that Feng Yuanyuan didn't die today."

"You really have to thank your precious daughter for this. If she hadn't burst into tears, Feng Yuanyuan would have died by now."

"My daughter?" Shen Tianjiao's brain short-circuited for a moment, and she forgot that Lady Du had already given her her daughter.

"Muyan, Li Muyan, she is your daughter now." When Ruan Yuhu saw Shen Tianjiao's confused look, he knew that she had most likely forgotten that she had a daughter.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes." Shen Tianjiao smiled embarrassedly, lowering her head. She had just had a daughter and she hadn't adapted to it yet.

"Auntie, the child keeps crying. Is he feeling unwell? What did the imperial physician say after examining him?"

Thinking of that skinny little girl, Shen Tianjiao felt distressed.

"The child is fine, there's nothing wrong with him." Ruan Yuhu said this, then looked up at Shen Tianjiao and said, "Girl, do you believe in fate?"

"Ah!" Shen Tianjiao looked up at Ruan Yuhu in confusion when she was suddenly asked this question. It took her a while to react. "I believe it, of course I do. Isn't it fate that we can sit face to face like this now?"

"Yeah." Ruan Yuhu nodded. There was indeed a connection between her and Shen Tianjiao. Otherwise, she and Shen Tianjiao had been in the palace together for almost ten years. They knew each other but had never met each other.

But now we can sit together face to face and work towards the same goal. If this isn’t fate, what else could it be?