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

He Lancheng?

Lu Zhiyuan had heard of this name before; he was the king of the now-defunct Great Xia Kingdom.

The Great Xia Dynasty lasted only a little over a hundred years from its founding to its demise, ruled by three monarchs, with Helan Cheng being the last. Although small, the Great Xia was very prosperous and possessed formidable military strength.

The three rulers of the Great Xia Dynasty were all wise rulers, but the dynasty was destroyed by a plague.

"Plague? What kind of plague can wipe out a country overnight, leaving not even a single corpse?" Marquis Yongchang smiled at the Crown Prince without opening his eyes: "After the Crown Prince returns to the capital, he might as well investigate whether there were many more slaves in the surrounding prefectures and counties in the year that the Great Xia was destroyed."

Do you remember that slave market in the capital? Its owners, ostensibly, were the ones who started the slave trade back then.

“I understand.” Gu An nodded. “What the Marquis means is—”

A thought flashed through Gu An's mind, and he quickly covered his mouth.

Lu Zhiyuan continued, "What you mean is that the one who destroyed the Great Xia was the former emperor, and the one who sold the people of the Great Xia as slaves was also the former emperor."

"That's right, it was the late emperor. At that time, the surrounding countries were eyeing Northern Liang covetously. Great Xia was in a special position. As long as we took it, we could advance or retreat as needed."

So, the late emperor, disguised, left the palace for the Great Xia and met King Helan Cheng, also known as Helan Yan. Old friends meeting again always have much to say, and being a woman of many emotions, Helan Yan assumed the late emperor had gone there for her sake.

Lu Zhiyuan corrected: "The late emperor went for her, but not because he couldn't forget his old love, but to destroy her country and kill her people."

Marquis Yongchang paused for a moment, then smiled, without opening his eyes.

"The Crown Princess is right. The late Emperor went there for her, but not because he couldn't forget his old flame."

Helan Yan didn't understand men, much less how ruthless a king could be for the sake of his country. She personally cooked for him, preparing a table of dishes he used to love. After several rounds of drinks, assassins suddenly appeared, turning the entire palace red.

"Helan Yan ascended the throne under the identity of Helan Cheng. To conceal her identity, her father and mother chose an empress for her upon her ascension. The empress was her cousin from her maternal clan and knew her true identity. She also had her own lover, a guard in the palace. They had a child, nominally Helan Yan and the empress's, but in reality, it was the empress's and the guard's child."

Gu An clicked his tongue twice: "Didn't that guard ever think about usurping power?"

Marquis Yongchang glanced at him.

"Not everyone likes power. He became a guard because his beloved was in the palace. His beloved entered the palace willingly to protect Helan Yan and the interests of her family. Of course, this is someone else's royal secret and has nothing to do with us."

"Is that Grand Uncle Helan Yan's child in name only?"

"Of course not. That child died. He died in the Great Xia palace along with Helan Yan, her empress, and that guard, as the Crown Prince of the Great Xia."

"Then...who is that child?"

“He is the Crown Prince’s posthumous child.” Marquis Yongchang shifted his body and leaned against the wall. “When the Great Xia Dynasty fell, the Crown Prince was nineteen years old and already had his own Crown Princess. On the night of the incident, the Crown Princess left the palace to go home to care for the ailing prince and escaped the calamity. When the palace was attacked, the Crown Prince knew he could not escape the calamity, so he sent his guards to inform the Crown Princess and his parents-in-law, unaware that the late emperor had already allied with the rebels of the Great Xia Dynasty. In desperation, the Crown Princess’s maid exchanged clothes with her and died in her place, while the real Crown Princess was sold to the capital as a slave.”

"The Crown Princess gave birth to her child as a slave, and then married a scholar who was traveling to the capital for the imperial examination as a concubine. The scholar did well in the examination and ranked among the top ten, but died suddenly before the banquet to express his gratitude."

"Is the case you're referring to, Lord Marquis?"

"As expected of the Crown Prince, even he knows about this case. That's right, it's the case that the royal family tried so hard to cover up." Marquis Yongchang said, "That case is also very complicated. First, the scholar's wife named him, saying that the scholar was killed by his concubine. Then the concubine, who is also the Crown Princess of the Grand Mansion, was arrested and imprisoned. When she refused to confess, fearing that she would overturn the case, her tongue was cut out. Her child sought justice for his mother and went to the incorruptible judge at the time, namely Minister Wei Heng of the Court of Judicial Review. With Minister Wei's intervention, it was finally discovered that this case was related to the court's cheating case, and that the one who really killed the scholar was not the concubine, but his wife."

"There were three reasons why the scholar's wife killed him. First, her husband betrayed her by taking a concubine as soon as he arrived in the capital. Second, her husband treated her badly and wanted to divorce her and make the concubine, who had a child, his legal wife. Third, the person who approached her was too powerful and made too many promises. Even if not for herself, she had to think about her child. So, she hardened her heart and killed her unfaithful husband, then framed the concubine for it."

"After the case was closed, to silence public opinion, the late emperor summoned his concubine and her child, intending to make amends. When he saw the concubine, he was stunned, because her features bore a resemblance to Helan Yan's, and the child seemed even more like Helan Yan as a child. As if by some strange twist of fate, the late emperor raised the concubine and her child in the royal villa. The concubine, who was also the Crown Princess, was unaware of what had happened in the Dasha Palace, let alone that the late emperor was the culprit who destroyed their Dasha. She regarded the late emperor as her benefactor, while the late emperor saw her as a replacement for Helan Yan."

Lu Zhiyuan couldn't help but ask, "Could it be that the Crown Princess of this building has fallen in love with the late Emperor?"

"I don't know," said Marquis Yongchang. "She suffered greatly in prison and died after only a year and a half. As for her relationship with the late emperor, no one knows anything about it except her and the late emperor. Only she herself knows what her feelings for the late emperor were."

"Helan Yan's death had some impact on the late emperor, and the death of the Crown Princess amplified that impact. Perhaps it was that indescribable guilt that made him..."

Upon learning the Crown Princess's true identity, she resolutely brought the child into the palace to raise him. He wasn't a true descendant of the Xiao family; he was merely a child of guilt the late Emperor felt towards the Great Xia, towards Helan Yan, and towards the lingering affection he had for Helan Yan in his youth. How could he possibly be allowed to be included in the imperial genealogy and become a member of the royal family?

"You killed the Grand Prince's uncle because of this?"

"Of course not." Marquis Yongchang raised an eyebrow: "It's true that the Grand Uncle searched for the elixir of immortality for the Emperor, and his early achievements are also true. It wasn't until he went to the ruins of the Great Xia and met former Great Xia citizens who had become citizens of Beiliang that he learned the truth about the Great Xia's destruction. Otherwise, why do you think the Emperor's body is in this state today? It's because some of the medicines he had brought back were poisonous. He betrayed the Emperor's trust in him."

"And who are you?" Gu An asked. "The Grand Uncle is the late Emperor's younger brother, and now the Emperor's uncle. Even if he's a fake, his identity is still there, so at least we know who he is. And you? The late Emperor's illegitimate son, and the current Emperor's half-brother."

"I am not an illegitimate child, but an adopted son, the adopted son of the Emperor by the Empress Dowager." Marquis Yongchang straightened his clothes: "The meaning of my life is to protect the Emperor, to kill gods and demons alike."