After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

Outside the window, the rain poured down, and the wind whipped tree branches against the windowpane and roof ridge. Inside, the candlelight flickered in the drafty wind. Lu Zhiyuan took out paper and pen to piece together the clues.

The late emperor had few children; besides the emperor, he also had an illegitimate son.

The illegitimate child was born to the emperor and a government official's wife, whose husband was very likely a newly appointed top scholar in the imperial examinations.

The top scholar and his wife entered the palace to attend a banquet, but little did they know that the banquet would be fraught with danger.

The wine and food at the palace banquet were both of good quality; everything from the kitchen where the food was prepared to the banquet table in the main hall underwent rigorous inspection. After the banquet, someone suggested going to the back garden to admire the flowers—this person was no ordinary individual.

If an official has no connections and is out of favor, his suggestion will not be adopted. If an official has connections and is favored, his suggestion will be seen as having connections to the inner palace. Ordinary officials' wives would not make such a suggestion. The person making this suggestion must be someone in the palace, a concubine of the late emperor, and someone who was highly favored by him.

Lu Zhiyuan guessed that this person was the favored concubine at the time, and later the Empress Dowager.

The eunuch who served the late emperor later became the head eunuch in the Empress Dowager's palace, so his relationship with the Empress Dowager must have been extraordinary. Based on Gu An's description, Lu Zhiyuan believed that the late emperor's symptoms were not due to drunkenness but rather mild poisoning.

The problem lies with the palace lanterns.

Palace lanterns were not only more ornate in appearance, but the imperial concubines would also sprinkle gold powder or scented powder on them according to their personal preferences. Gold powder was reserved for concubines of the rank of Noble Consort or above, while scented powder was commonplace.

The medicinal powder was mixed with incense powder and then dispersed by heating it over a candle or blowing it away in the wind. Those affected were invariably people very close to the lantern. The palace maids who carried the lanterns were often chosen by the emperor's trusted eunuchs. The fact that the late emperor was affected suggests that the eunuchs and the Empress Dowager were working together for their own benefit.

The palace was chosen casually by the late emperor, but the path leading to it was led by eunuchs, and the emperor's entry into the palace was preordained. The unexpected factor was the wife of the top scholar.

The top scholar's wife was framed. The person who framed her certainly didn't know about what was happening on the late emperor's side. If they had known, they certainly wouldn't have dared to act rashly.

The late emperor, who had been implicated, and the wife of the top scholar, who had been framed, inadvertently did something they shouldn't have done. This scandal was suppressed by the palace.

The newlywed wife was humiliated by the emperor, and the newly appointed top scholar dared not speak out. The scholar's wife was in a dilemma, unable to express her suffering. Just when they were wondering how to deal with this sudden change, the scholar's wife discovered that she was pregnant.

The child wasn't the top scholar's, but the late emperor's. Since it concerned the imperial heir, neither the top scholar nor his wife's family dared to conceal it. Losing their innocence was a minor matter; harming the imperial heir was a far greater one. They informed the palace and left the matter to the late emperor for a decision.

They must have thought about it for a long time before coming up with a "perfect plan".

Ostensibly, the top scholar and his wife divorced over the issue of taking up their posts, but in reality, the wife was pregnant with the emperor's child and could no longer accompany him. Sending the top scholar to a remote border region was also a way for the royal family to cover up this scandal.

Ostensibly, the top scholar's wife was sent to a rural estate by her family, but in reality, she was sent to a royal villa to prepare for childbirth.

The wife of the top scholar must have been forced into this situation; no one wants to bear a child with someone they don't like, not even the emperor. She was originally the enviable wife of a top scholar, her husband had a promising future and they were deeply in love. She was the principal wife and could have given birth to a child with the one she loved, but she lost everything because of a palace banquet.

Her death was both due to the royal family's intolerance and her own desire to die.

After the death of the top scholar's wife, her child was brought into the palace and raised by people appointed by the late emperor. According to the common practice in the royal family, he would have registered the child under the name of a concubine, making him a legitimate prince. However, he was only registered under the name of a palace maid.

Who is it that can't tolerate him?

Of course, it's the Empress Dowager; she won't allow anyone to compete with her child for the throne.

The reason given to persuade the emperor was simple: the child's birth mother was dead, but the birth father was still alive.

Regardless of what the Empress Dowager did at the time, this child's situation in the royal family was the same as her situation in the marquis's household—he had no legitimate or legal status. He grew up alongside the emperor, but could only serve as a companion to him.

Fortunately, the emperor did not mind his background and had a very good relationship with him, and he treated the emperor like a brother.

Like his predecessor, the emperor was in poor health. The emperor's sudden death cast a long shadow over him, and he feared that he too would die suddenly. He confided his anxieties to the emperor he had grown up with, and perhaps even told him that he would entrust his empire to him after his death.

Marquis Yongchang was an exceptionally intelligent man. He must have investigated his own background and learned that he was the illegitimate son of the late emperor. He loathed the royal family and the palace, which was like a giant birdcage. Unlike those in the world who longed to be emperor, he had never wanted to be emperor, having been raised in the palace since childhood.

He requested permission to leave the palace to search for ways to prolong his life and achieve immortality.

His footsteps traversed the mountains and rivers of Northern Liang, searching for the elixir of immortality while helping the local people solve their problems. Having grown up in the palace, he studied alongside the emperor from a young age, learning strategies for governing the country diligently and for the benefit of the people.

The emperor also paid attention to his younger brother, knowing that the royal family had wronged him, so he bestowed upon him the title of Marquis of Yongchang when he first made meritorious contributions.

The phrase "May the prosperous era last forever" clearly shows the emperor's deep affection for him.

Emperors throughout history have all desired immortality, but achieving immortality is no easy feat. After searching for a long time, the Marquis of Yongchang overheard a legend about a long-lived old man. Disguised, he went to Xiawa Village.

According to the locals, Marquis Yongchang found the cave and learned through some means that there was a medicine in the cave that could prolong life, which was guarded by a giant snake.

They tried hunting it in groups, but that failed. They also tried trapping it, but that failed. During this process, they discovered some activity patterns associated with the giant snake. For example, it didn't eat in its own burrow.

They threw animal carcasses into the cave, then sneaked in while the giant snake came out to feast, retrieving what they wanted. They presented this to the emperor, but the outcome was different from what they had imagined.

The emperor's health did not improve as they had anticipated; instead, he developed even worse, unexplained symptoms. Lu Zhiyuan had examined the emperor's pulse while she was in the palace, and his pulse was extremely strange. She had initially thought it was due to the underhanded methods used in the harem that had damaged his health to this extent, but now she realized it wasn't the empress or the concubines' methods, but rather the elixir of immortality that the emperor so desperately craved.

"Isn't this elixir of immortality a divine medicine? If it is a divine medicine, why does it harm people? Does this divine medicine have to be taken by certain people and at certain times?" Lu Yun scratched his head: "If I find the divine medicine for Miss, can Miss's illness be cured without medicine?"

"Don't even think about that!" Lu Zhiyuan glanced at him: "What kind of magic medicine is there in this world? Even if there were, you'd still need a special connection to the gods."

Lu Yun asked urgently, "What is a predestined affinity with immortals?"

Lu Zhiyuan said calmly, "Like that old man in Xiawan Village, he did not seek immortality, but unexpectedly gained longevity. True longevity and immortality cannot be sought; they are determined by fate and chance."