The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

"The Empress Dowager personally came to Jinyang Palace to accompany Feng Yuanyuan in giving birth? And Feng Yuanyuan will never give birth again in the future?" Shen Tianjiao quickly grasped the key point. Based on these two points, she was basically certain that her guess was correct.

"What's wrong?" Ruan Yuhu asked in confusion when he saw Shen Tianjiao's face changed. This happened six years ago, so it shouldn't have much to do with the present, right?

"Aunt, when did the Queen Mother and Li Hong get involved?" To be on the safe side, Shen Tianjiao felt it was better to be cautious and ask clearly.

"As for those two, it's been a long time. When the late emperor was still alive, they were already having an affair." Ruan Yuhu felt sick when she thought of this. She had witnessed it with her own eyes, but for some reason she could only endure it and not say it out loud.

Now Shen Tianjiao could really be sure that her guess was correct. These people were really too bold. For their own selfish desires, they dared to confuse the royal bloodline.

Li Rui must have found out later that Li Minghua was not his biological son, so he ignored Feng Yuanyuan and killed Li Minghua.

This is also why there are only a few words about Li Minghua, the second prince, in history books. In the end, Li Rui had no children, so he had to choose a child from the clan to inherit his throne.

"Jiaojiao, what's wrong? Is there any problem?" Ruan Yuhu asked worriedly when she saw Shen Tianjiao didn't speak for a long time.

"This is a big problem." Since Shen Tianjiao already regarded Ruan Yuhu as her own, she naturally would not hide anything.

"Aunt, you should have seen the Second Prince. Do you think he and our Emperor look like father and son?"

"Ah?" Ruan Yuhu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly looked up at Shen Tianjiao, "No way, how is this possible? How dare she do that?"

"What is there for her to be afraid of in order to maintain her status and respect?" Shen Tianjiao is now certain that Feng Yuanyuan was either faking her pregnancy or the child was indeed born but was stillborn.

Feng Yuanyuan should have known long ago that the child would not be born safely, so she arranged a child in advance to replace the one who died at birth.

What she didn't expect was that the Queen Mother might have started plotting against her since she became pregnant.

On the day of her delivery, the empress dowager personally came to Jinyang Palace to accompany her. It was not because the empress dowager cared about Li Rui's offspring, but because the empress dowager and Li Hong had already made up their minds to use the child of their choice to replace the child born by Feng Yuanyuan.

"No wonder Feng Yuanyuan has never allowed her son to get close to the Emperor. I couldn't understand it before. She was vying for favor just to get her son named Crown Prince and ascend the throne. But she doesn't allow the child to get close to his father. It turns out she's a fake, not the Emperor's bloodline."

Ruan Yuhu's legs softened and she almost fell. Fortunately, Shen Tianjiao was quick-witted and supported her in time to prevent her from falling.

"Jiaojiao, that means that the emperor's bloodline now only has the eldest prince." Ruan Yuhu held Shen Tianjiao's hand tightly, staring into her eyes, and was shaking with nervousness.

"Yes, Mu'er is not only the emperor's bloodline, but also his only bloodline in this life." Shen Tianjiao looked at Ruan Yuhu and said calmly.

"The only bloodline, what does this mean?" Ruan Yuhu felt that the amount of information tonight was really too much. She was confident that she had been in the harem for decades and nothing in the harem could escape her eyes and ears, but how could she become a fool who knew nothing now?

Shen Tianjiao looked at Ruan Yuhu and knew that Ruan Yuhu's feelings for Li Rui were actually very complicated. Although she had been in the palace for many years and was deeply favored by the late emperor, she had no children.

Although people outside said that she was just a female official serving the late emperor, everyone knew that she was actually no different from the concubines in the late emperor's harem.

The late emperor's empress died very early, and he never appointed another empress since then. Empress Dowager Liu was just a concubine who was demoted when the late emperor died.

When the previous emperor was alive, Ruan Yuhu had always exercised the authority of the queen in the harem.

Although Li Rui's adoptive mother was the Queen Mother, he could actually be considered to have grown up with Ruan Yuhu and could be considered Ruan Yuhu's half-son.

However, in the palace, power and desire are always more important than family ties. Keeping Ruan Yuhu by his side was not only the will of the late emperor to protect Ruan Yuhu, but it was also Li Rui's defense and selfishness.

Everyone knows that Ruan Yuhu has an imperial edict from the previous emperor in his hand, but as to what the content of the edict is, no one knows except Ruan Yuhu.

Many rumors say that the imperial edict was the imperial sword left by the late emperor to Ruan Yuhu specifically for the emperor. If the emperor is a wise ruler, he can sit on the throne for a long time and enjoy the honor of being worshipped by all the people.

But if Li Rui is not a wise and benevolent ruler, but a foolish and incompetent one, then Ruan Yuhu can take out the late emperor's will, depose Li Rui and establish another wise ruler.

The reason for such rumors is that the late emperor himself admitted that Li Rui was not his ideal successor. It was simply because his sons died or were injured in the fight for the throne, and the remaining two were both ignorant children.

In the end, he had no choice but to choose Li Rui, whom he didn't like very much and didn't value, as his successor.

So Li Rui has been on guard against Ruan Yuhu all these years, saying that he wanted Ruan Yuhu to stay with him in his old age, but in fact it was a disguised form of imprisonment.

Li Rui was an unqualified king, but he had been with Ruan Yuhu for many years after all. Although there was not much affection between them, there was still some affection.

Li Rui has not allowed anyone to get close to Ruan Yuhu over the years, for fear that Ruan Yuhu would take advantage of his unpreparedness and transfer the imperial edict in his hand.

In addition to the imperial edict, the late emperor also left Ruan Yuhu with some of the power he had cultivated himself.

Once the imperial edict is transferred to someone else's hands, coupled with the power in Ruan Yuhu's hands, Li Rui's throne will be difficult to maintain.

Li Rui agreed to let Ruan Yuhu move into Yuxiu Palace, but he was just worried that Empress Dowager Liu and Ruan Yuhu were not on good terms and that she would do something bad to Ruan Yuhu, so he took the opportunity to let Shen Tianjiao act as Ruan Yuhu's umbrella.

After all, in the entire imperial palace, Shen Tianjiao's Yuxiu Palace is now the most heavily guarded and safest.

"It was Feng Yuanyuan. In order to ensure that the Emperor would be with her forever, she invited the Holy Maiden of the Witch Clan from Southern Xinjiang to personally plant the Love Gu in her and the Emperor."

"The longer this love poison remains in the body, the more dangerous it becomes. Not only will it cause a person to lose their fertility, but it will also eventually devour their internal organs and flesh, leaving only an empty shell."

Thinking of that scene, Shen Tianjiao couldn't help but want to vomit. She really didn't know how Feng Yuanyuan would react if she knew the truth?

"Retribution, this really is karma." Ruan Yuhu smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Back then, in order to successfully seize the throne, he killed all his brothers one by one. He never thought that in the end, he would be killed by his own bedmate. Alas, karma is indeed inevitable and no one can escape it!"

"Aunt, don't be sad. It's not worth it for a man like him." Shen Tianjiao helped Ruan Yuhu sit down on the stone bench beside her.

Ruan Yuhu shook his head and said, "I'm not sad for him. He's such a cold and heartless person. I know better than anyone else."

"I'm worried. What if he dies young and the eldest prince is still young? What will you and your widowed mother do then?"

"Although he's useless while he's alive, he can at least provide some protection for you and your son. When the eldest prince grows up and builds up his own power to protect you, he'll have done a good deed for his wife and children."

Shen Tianjiao's heart warmed, and she said, "If he could be relied upon, even a sow could climb a tree. It makes no difference whether he's alive or dead."

"It's not necessarily a good thing for him to be alive. He's fickle-minded and suspicious all the time. Even if Mu'er is his only child, he might not be willing to hand over the throne to her smoothly."

Shen Tianjiao looked at Ruan Yuhu and hesitated for a moment before saying, "He's wary of me, so he won't truly love Mu'er."

"I'm sure Auntie has heard about this a while ago. A big incident happened in Yuxiu Palace. He gave me poisoned wine and forced me to drink it."

"Fortunately, the senior palace maid beside me risked her life to save me and called my brother, who was handling military affairs at the camp outside the capital, to come and save me."

"From that moment on, I completely saw through him and lost my heart for him. He's a selfish person who only loves himself. No matter how good you are to him, even if you give him your heart, he won't be grateful. So it's better for us to rely on ourselves than on him."

Ruan Yuhu was shocked again. Everyone in the palace knew about the commotion in Yuxiu Palace that day. They all said that the Queen had been possessed by some evil spirit and had suddenly become a different person.

She changed from her former gentleness and virtue, not only did she use thundering methods to govern the harem, but she was even no longer as considerate to the emperor as before.

When she found out, she couldn't understand why this girl had changed so suddenly. It turned out that she was betrayed by the person she loved the most and her heart was broken.

Ruan Yuhu looked at Shen Tianjiao and felt sorry for her. It was not easy for women to live in this world. She had also experienced the pain and despair of being betrayed and hurt by the people she loved the most, and knew what it felt like.

"Yes, Jiaojiao said it well. It is better to rely on yourself than on others. If he is ruthless, don't blame us for being ungrateful." Ruan Yuhu only felt sorry for Shen Tianjiao at this time, and the little feelings he had left for Li Rui disappeared completely.

"Don't worry, no matter what you do in the future, I will support you with all my strength. In this world today, women are born lowly and have to rely on men for everything."

"Jiao Jiao, you must be strong and fearless and create a different world for all the women in Yunli. Let those men see that although we are women, we are no less capable than those men."

"Yes, aunt, I know." Shen Tianjiao felt warm in her heart. Ruan Yuhu was the first person to tell her that women can also live a life no worse than men.

Ruan Yuhu nodded and said, "Jiaojiao'er, we still need to plan carefully and act cautiously regarding what happened just now."

"Now, whether it's the one in Kangning Palace, Li Hong, or Feng Yuanyuan, they all have their own forces. If we can't hit them directly and hit their vital points."

"They will definitely counterattack, and we will have to spend more energy and suffer more losses to deal with them. This is not worth it."

"I know this is an unusual matter and needs careful planning. There's no rush anyway, there'll be plenty of time to plan later."

"Aunt, since you already know about this, then I have an unwelcome request. I would like to trouble you to come out and solve this matter personally."

"I don't have many people around me who can help me, and none of them have the ability or capital to fight the Queen Mother and Li Hong. Looking around Yunli Country, the only one who is qualified to fight these two old foxes is my aunt. I wonder if she is willing to do so."

Shen Tianjiao's words were not an exaggeration or a compliment. There was probably no one in the world who knew Empress Dowager Liu better than Ruan Yuhu. If she took action, it would surely be twice the result with half the effort. Empress Dowager Liu would definitely not be able to defeat Ruan Yuhu.

"Silly girl, didn't I just tell you that I will do my best to help you no matter what you do?" Ruan Yuhu patted Shen Tianjiao's hand, "Don't worry, leave this matter to me."

"Then I would like to congratulate my aunt on her victory and immediate success, and hope that she can beat those two old foxes so hard that they will have to peel off their skins." Shen Tianjiao smiled like a little fox.

"Okay, just wait and see. I'll peel off their fox furs and make you a fox fur cloak when the weather gets cold. It'll be very warm."

Ruan Yuhu was not interested in other things, but when it came to dealing with Empress Dowager Liu, she was very motivated. After so many years, it was time for the two of them to resolve the many personal grudges they had accumulated.

"Okay, then I'll wait and see the show, wearing a fox fur coat. It just so happens that I'm afraid of the cold in winter, and I'll be warm when I put on this fox fur coat." Shen Tianjiao was also interested in watching the fun and cheering from the side.

"Don't worry, I won't let you down." Ruan Yuhu suddenly felt that this long night didn't seem so unbearable.

Shen Tianjiao leaned close to Ruan Yuhu and whispered, "Then I'll give you a piece of news for free. Li Minghua might be Li Hong's grandson."

Ruan Yuhu was stunned for a moment, then he understood what Shen Tianjiao meant. Li Hong had gone to so much trouble and risked confusing the royal bloodline and exiling his entire family, so he would never casually send an outsider's child into the palace.

Li Minghua only has close relatives who are connected to him by blood. In this way, even if his dream of becoming emperor cannot be realized in the future, at least his grandson can become emperor, which can still satisfy his wish.

"Then I thank you, Jiaojiao'er. I'll have someone investigate thoroughly tomorrow. If it's true, I'll send the family back to reunite."