The princess was ordained by Heaven.

In the spring of the twentieth year of Zhaoyuan, to celebrate the return of the legitimate princess who had been living among the common people, the palace held a family reunion banquet, and the imperial family members gathered together.

On either side of the Emperor and Empress sat two elegant young women.

With the real princess returning, Zheng Jiao's position as the fake princess is now awkward.

The girl's innocent voice seemed to be ringing in my ears, so clear that it was hard to ignore.

"Who?" The emperor stood up sternly and shouted.

What's wrong with you? You scared me!

The people in the hall looked at each other, some bewildered, others terrified.

The emperor, driven mad by the insults, furrowed his brow deeply.

The voice was very familiar.

His gaze shifted slightly, finally settling on the Third Princess Zheng Xun in the distance.

"Xun'er".

Zheng Xun blinked, stood up and bowed: "Your subject is here."

"Don't talk nonsense."

Zheng Xun looked bewildered: "Father, I did not speak."

As an unfavored princess, she rarely interacted with people in the palace, so why would she speak casually at a palace banquet?

The emperor was utterly bewildered. She felt something was off, but this strange feeling vanished in an instant.

Others wanted to ask, but once they tried to talk about their innermost thoughts, they couldn't bring themselves to speak.

The emperor rubbed his temples: "It's alright, please sit down."

Oh, are you making fun of me?

The emperor instinctively wanted to reprimand, but couldn't bring himself to say what was on his mind. He wanted to punish, but the moment he had that thought, his head throbbed as if being hammered.

He paused for a moment, then had to give up.

This daughter has a supernatural quality...

He suppressed his emotions and decided to wait and see.

"The banquet continues."

The Empress exchanged glances with her two daughters; clearly, they could also hear Zheng Xun's thoughts.

Zheng Xun continued to be invisible, attracting countless scrutinizing gazes, but she failed to notice anything unusual.

Zheng Jiao appears arrogant, beautiful, and unapproachable, but compared to her achievements, her appearance is actually the least noteworthy.

Who could have imagined that the spirited Mingzhu would lead three thousand personal guards on the day of the kingdom's fall, annihilating tens of thousands of enemy soldiers amidst heavy encirclement, ultimately dying with dozens of arrows in his body, taking the Brown Kingdom's general Mo Sheng with him. Truly remarkable.

Zheng Jiao's expression changed drastically.

Did she die such a tragic death? What do you mean by "the fall of a country"? What country was she talking about? This younger sister seems to have gone mad, otherwise why would she be imagining such nonsensical things?

The others who heard the whispers paled and almost cried out in surprise.

The soul had just flown away; the scream is now being swallowed back.

Princess Zheng Jin, who has just returned to the royal family: ? ? ?

Damn it, she just got to know her family, and now the country is about to fall and her family is about to perish?

[Hmm? Why is it so quiet?]

Hearing the whispers, everyone felt a pang of anxiety and subconsciously began to chat, and the banquet returned to its lively state. Although this liveliness was somewhat of a cover-up, it didn't matter, as Zheng Xun's gossip-eating system would make the host ignore these anomalies.

The royal family members didn't start fighting today.

[But it doesn't matter, let them fight it out. Anyway, the country will be destroyed in ten years. All the good-looking men and women will become playthings, wishing for death but unable to live. The ugly ones will suffer torture and die, their flesh and blood eaten raw by the enemy.]

what? ?

Not only did their country perish, but they also suffered humiliation and lost their lives.

The atmosphere could no longer be lively; some people turned pale, and others thought Zheng Xun had gone mad.

The crown prince was startled: Could this country have perished in my hands?

The oldest prince swayed, and if it weren't for the thick carpet, his old bones would have been smashed into pieces.

The third prince, a crybaby, wept uncontrollably: "The Great Yong Dynasty is gone, waaaaah..."

"Nonsense!" The drowsy Princess Jianyang slammed her hand on the table, leaving a deep handprint.

The prince consort tenderly took the princess's hand and gently blew on it.

The emperor was furious.

No! Impossible. Although the Yong Kingdom is plagued by factional strife, it is far from being destroyed.

But Zheng Xun only thought about it casually in his mind, and the thought changed the next moment.

Why hasn't the Empress brought out the gifts yet? Let me see. My eldest and second eldest sisters brought the same boxes, but the jade hairpin inside the eldest sister's box was replaced with a defective one. She felt humiliated and will present the princess's golden seal tomorrow and request to leave the palace.

In the palace, someone raised their teacup to conceal their inadvertently revealed emotions.

Suppressing the itch in her throat, the Empress forced herself to remain calm and ordered the maid behind her to bring out the gifts that had been prepared beforehand: "Quickly! Quickly bring out the things I prepared for the children!"

The old woman looked puzzled, feeling that the atmosphere at the palace banquet was a bit strange, but as a servant, she didn't dare to ask, so she quickly presented two exquisite jade boxes.

Upon opening the two boxes, sure enough, the hairpin in one of the boxes had been replaced with a defective one.

One is a fine piece of warm jade, which can nourish the body and soothe the mind when worn regularly. The other is dull in color and crudely made, probably not even worth ten taels of silver.

Zheng Jiao is proud by nature. If she really received such a jade hairpin, she would naturally not want to stay in the palace. The fact that she could refrain from making a scene was already a sign that she was considering the bigger picture.

Oh no, something's happened.

[These misunderstandings increased, and the conflict between the real and fake princesses deepened to the point of near-impossible conflict. These past few days have probably been the most harmonious they've ever had.]

Zheng Jiao looked at Zheng Jin: "It was my fault for taking up fifteen years of your life. I apologize. If you have any dislikes about me, just say so. I, Zheng Jiao, am not so shameless as to insist on being this princess."

The Empress held the two little girls' hands, her heart filled with a mixture of fear and anger: "Jiaojiao, our royal family is not so poor that we cannot afford to raise a princess. Your mother will not send you away. You will always be the pearl of our Great Yong."

"Ah Jin, for the past fifteen years, your mother has not fulfilled her responsibilities as a mother. From now on, your mother will make it up to you many times over. You are all your mother's daughters. If there is any misunderstanding, please don't keep it to yourself. We are each other's closest relatives!"

The emperor's usually stern expression softened: "What the empress said is exactly what I think."

Zheng Jin said solemnly, "My adoptive parents have been very good to me. Over the past few years, I have traveled all over the world. Although my life was not wealthy, I was very happy. I have no complaints about my father, mother, or sister."

Zheng Jiao raised her chin and said decisively, "I have not yet repaid the kindness of my father and mother in raising me. As long as my father and mother do not send me away, I will never leave on my own initiative."

The emperor was overjoyed and clapped his hands, saying, "Truly worthy of being my daughter, upright and magnanimous!"

He hardened his heart and patted the Empress's hand: "Zitong, the person behind this has overreached. We must find the culprit. Anyone who disagrees will be punished, life or death."

The Empress solemnly agreed.

After hesitating for a moment, she spoke in a low voice: "However, Your Majesty, Xun'er's wish has come true."

"Don't rush, let's observe further." As the ruler of a nation, carrying the weight of an entire dynasty, an emperor never acts rashly. How did Zheng Xun know what would happen later, and what were his true thoughts? All of this needs to be investigated.