The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

"You know I'm not like your mother, who is soft and easy to talk to."

"I'm a man of my words. If I say I'll break your legs, I'll break them. No one can persuade me."

Unlike Liu, who came from a humble background, although Hui was just a concubine of Gong Chenghai, she was not from a poor family either.

Although her parents' family was not in the capital, they were a powerful family in Yangzhou.

It was just because she was an unfavored concubine in the family that she was given to Gong Chenghai as a concubine as a gift by her family to bring benefits to her family.

Having suffered the same hardships and injuries as herself, Huishi was unwilling to let her two daughters follow her old path and suffer the same hardships and injuries as her.

Because she grew up in a family of officials and power, Hui's temperament was naturally different from Liu's.

"Yes, Sanniang, don't worry. I said it's just this once, just this once. I promise there won't be a second time."

After hearing what Huishi said, Sister Rong finally had a smile on her face. As long as Huishi agreed this time, they could talk about the future later.

In Yuxiu Palace, Shen Tianjiao was listening to the palace servants' report about what the real Chunniang said after she learned of Li Chaohui's death.

"Master, according to Chunniang's account, she was originally Li Zhao's childhood sweetheart, his fiancée."

"She and Li Zhao were in love with each other, but just as they were about to get married, Li Zhaohui ran into Li Zhao at a flower viewing party and fell in love with her at first sight."

"Li Zhao's intense pursuit of Li Zhaohui made his stance clear from the outset, telling Li Zhaohui that he came from a humble background and that his family had already arranged a marriage for him."

"But in the face of Li Zhao's rejection, Li Zhaohui did not restrain his behavior."

"As the eldest princess, Li Zhaohui has always been able to call the shots and get whatever she wants. Naturally, she wouldn't take Li Zhao's words to heart."

"In the end, Li Zhaohui used his power to take Li Zhao for himself and forcibly separated the two of them."

"Later, Li Chaohui, dissatisfied with Li Zhao's continued affection for Chunniang, used his power to imprison Chunniang's father, Zeng Lin, the then-Secretary of the Dali Temple, for corruption. However, Zeng Lin died suddenly of a serious illness before he could even be tried."

"Immediately afterwards, Li Zhaohui sent someone to the Zeng family and had Chunniang, also known as Zeng Yunke, the young lady of the Zeng family, given poison."

"But it wasn't Zeng Yunke who drank the poison. It was the maidservant who drank it."

"Zeng Yunke was pregnant at the time, so she was arranged to stay at a farm in the suburbs of Beijing to take care of her baby. She was not at the Zeng family."

"In order to prevent Li Zhaohui from harming Zeng Yunke again, the maidservant who served her drank the poison for her."

"But Li Zhaohui didn't do that, because that would mean she would let the Zeng family off. She exiled all the Zeng family members to Lingnan. But before they could even reach Lingnan, Li Zhaohui sent people to kill them all along the way."

"After Li Zhao learned that his beloved and her entire family had been murdered, and unable to bear the humiliation inflicted by Li Zhaohui, he sought a way to report Li Zhaohui's evil deeds to Emperor Gaozu through his father, Li Yong, the Prince of Li."

"How could Emperor Gaozu not know about the scandals Li Zhaohui had committed?"

"But in line with the principle that family disgrace should not be made public, Emperor Gaozu chose to turn a blind eye."

"But Li Yong was very clever. He used others to bring the matter to light, forcing Emperor Gaozu to order the matter to be dealt with."

"But Li Yong never expected that Emperor Gaozu's solution would be to kill his son Li Zhao."

"Emperor Gaozu gave Li Zhaohui two choices: either kill Li Zhao himself and put an end to the matter once and for all, or leave Li Zhao alone and have Emperor Gaozu deprive Li Zhaohui of her title of Grand Princess."

"Li Zhaohui valued power more than her own life, so naturally she would not allow Emperor Gaozu to strip her of her title of Grand Princess."

"So Li Zhaohui chose to personally stab Li Zhao to death in front of Emperor Gaozu."

"After Li Zhao died, Emperor Gaozu ordered him to be wrapped in a straw mat and thrown directly into a mass grave. He also sent people to guard and prevent anyone from collecting Li Zhao's body, intending to let wild dogs eat it."

"Later, Li Yong spent a lot of money and asked someone to bring Li Zhao's body back and bury it."

"Not long after Li Zhao's death, Zeng Yunke gave birth to a son, who is now Li Zhao's brother's youngest son, Li Jun."

"After giving birth to her son, Zeng Yunke was arranged by Li Yong to live with Li Zhaohui in order to avenge her family and Li Zhao."

"It was from that time that Zeng Yunke became Chunniang and began to stay by Li Zhaohui's side, carrying out her revenge plan step by step."

"Zeng Yunke is an extremely cautious person. She poisons Li Zhaohui's food every now and then, but the amount she poisons each time is very small."

"The poison won't kill Li Zhaohui immediately, but it will slowly seep into his bone marrow. By the time it takes effect, there will be no cure."

"Zeng Yunke was extremely cautious in what he did, so not only Li Zhaohui, but even the doctors assigned to treat him didn't realize that Li Zhaohui's health was deteriorating because he had been poisoned."

Only then did Shen Tianjiao finally understand why Li Chaohui asked her to build a cenotaph for Li Zhao instead of asking her to bury them together.

It’s not that Li Chaohui doesn’t want to, but she feels guilty and dares not to.

He kept saying that he loved Li Zhao, and was even willing to kill Zeng Yunke's family for Li Zhao, but in the end, Li Chaohui's love for Li Zhao was worthless in the face of power.

Faced with the threat from Emperor Gaozu, Li Chaohui sacrificed Li Zhao without hesitation in order to save himself, but he still pretended to be a king in front of the world.

Not only did she try her best to give birth to her posthumous child, she also refused to marry again. She showed the world an image of deep love, which won her sympathy and praise in exchange for people's support.

This woman's desire for power is really strong. She is so crazy about it that she can give up everything.

Thinking of this, Shen Tianjiao couldn't help but frowned, which reminded her of Anping.

Since Li Chaohui was able to save the unborn baby in her belly and let Anping be born safely, how could she not be able to save Anping and let Anping stay with her, his biological mother.

Instead, he allowed Emperor Gaozu to take Anping away and his whereabouts remain unknown?

What does Li Chaohui want to do with this child?

Or to be more precise, Li Chaohui wanted to use his own child to do something shameful, but was discovered in advance by Emperor Gaozu, so she had to give up Anping and was separated from her daughter for many years.

After all, Li Chaohui had the support of Ye Xingchen, and her strength was on par with that of Emperor Gaozu.

Otherwise, how could Li Chaohui have Emperor Gaozu confer upon her the title of Grand Princess, whose status was almost equal to that of the late emperor who was the crown prince at the time?

The more Shen Tianjiao thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt. Power is certainly a good thing, but it can never be more important than family ties.

The most ruthless are the royal families. This statement is absolutely correct. Born in an imperial family, facing the temptation and struggle for power, people will become cold-blooded and heartless, turning into monsters without even a heart.

Now I think Anping was really the most pitiful and innocent victim in that power struggle.

Her biological mother was using her to plot something shameful, and her maternal grandmother was also using her to hide her in order to control her biological mother.

And the only person in this world who truly loves Anping and hopes that Anping can survive is probably the Empress Dowager.

So this is also the reason why Li Chaohui felt guilty towards the Empress Dowager.

A mother who treats her as her own daughter, after enduring all her unreasonable behavior, is still able to help her and save her daughter. This is not something that every mother can do.

Li Chaohui was indeed sorry to the Empress Dowager for what he had done for her and Anping.

Shen Tianjiao sighed and asked, "How's that Chunniang, no, Zeng Yunke?"

"My Lord, after Zeng Yunke finished explaining everything, he died of the poison."

"That poison was the same one she gave Li Zhaohui. She had already taken it beforehand."

What the visitor did not report was how tragic Zeng Yunke's death was, for fear that Shen Tianjiao would be in a bad mood after hearing it.

"He's dead." After Shen Tianjiao said this, she waved her hand and asked the person to leave.

Originally, Shen Tianjiao thought that Zeng Yunke had a rough life and suffered a lot of pain and torture, so she wanted to let her go and let her go home to spend her old age in peace, but she didn't expect Zeng Yunke to choose to commit suicide by taking poison.

However, Shen Tianjiao could understand the reason why Zeng Yunke did this.

Her current identity is just a maid following Li Chaohui. When Li Chaohui dies, she, as someone close to Li Chaohui, will also be sentenced to death.

If he wants to survive, he can only prove his identity and his original intention of staying with Li Chaohui.

But if she did so, Prince Li Yong of Li would be charged with conspiracy.

This will not only affect Prince Li's Mansion, but will also implicate Zeng Yunke's son Li Jun.

So whether as Li Zhao's lover or Li Jun's mother, Zeng Yunke had no other choice but to die.

If she didn't die, she wouldn't be able to protect the people she wanted to protect.

Zeng Yunke is also a loyal and righteous woman who is worthy of admiration.

The truth has come to light, but Shen Tianjiao feels really uncomfortable.

This discomfort is because of Anping's pity, Zeng Yunke's experience, and Li Zhaohui's tragedy.

When Anping was born, he left his mother and family because of a power struggle and calculation. He wandered alone and grew up alone and miserable.

Now, because of the sins committed by his biological mother, he is so frightened that he has not woken up yet.

Even if I wake up, I don’t know what the future will be like.

Zeng Yunke's life should have been smooth and happy, but because of Li Chaohui's intervention, her life was completely changed.

From a daughter of an official, she not only became an orphan with her family broken up, but was also forced to live with her enemy out of revenge, spending more than ten years with him.

Even though his heart is filled with hatred, he still has to pretend nothing has happened in front of his enemies every day to serve them.

She had lived in such desperate days for more than ten years, which was really hard for her.

Now that she knew Li Chaohui was dead, she did not feel the joy of having avenged her great hatred. Instead, she once again chose to commit suicide by taking poison in order to protect her child from any influence.

Such a woman not only makes people admire her, but also makes people feel distressed.

I hope that in the next life she won’t have to suffer anymore and can live a carefree life with the person she loves until old age.

The most pathetic of these people is Li Zhaohui.

She was instigated and exploited by others, and her desire for power was blinding her. Her life was extremely ridiculous and pitiful.

As the eldest princess of Yunli, if she had used a little more brains and controlled her greed, her ending would have been different.

But until the moment of her death, her heart was occupied by power.

Because of power, she lost her best life, her family, and her daughter. It seemed that because of the power in her hands, she was praised and supported by many people, but in fact she was just a tool used by others.

Behind the seemingly endless glory is a network of mutually beneficial relationships supported by rights and interests. Once the value of providing benefits to others is lost, it will be immediately abandoned by others.

Life is unpredictable. Even if you are the eldest princess of Yunli, you cannot get whatever you want. You will also have your regrets and helplessness.

"Has there been any news from the Changyuan Marquis's Mansion? How is Anping?"

Shen Tianjiao now only hopes that Anping can wake up soon, and when he wakes up, it would be best if he can forget everything in the past.

Just like Ruan Yuhu said, forget all the bad things in the past and create new beautiful memories.

"News came from the Changyuan Marquis's Mansion, saying that the person hasn't woken up yet."

"However, the current head of the Changyuan Marquis's residence, Madam Liu, has already moved into the Changyuan Marquis's courtyard and is personally taking care of him."

Xia He noticed that something was wrong with Shen Tianjiao's mood at the moment, and she became cautious in her words.

After hearing what Xia He said, Shen Tianjiao remembered that Gong Jianzhou was granted the title of Earl of Changyuan in a hurry, so the mansion given to him was also very small.

It's just a private residence of the Marquis of Zhenbei. I heard that the place is pitifully small.

If he went to Anqing, Gong Jianzhou would probably have no place to live.