"How dare you..." Emperor Yongning stood up, pointing at Marquis Zhongyong’s nose and angrily scolded, "The princess is not my biological child, is she yours?"
If the princess were Marquis Zhongyong’s biological child, it would indeed be a crime punishable by death of the entire clan!
Marquis Zhongyong was terrified and drenched in sweat, "I don’t dare, I don’t dare." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝙣𝙚𝙩
He explained, "Your Majesty, that’s not what I meant. What I mean is that when the princess was born, no one knew, and everyone even thought she was dead. How can someone supposedly dead suddenly come back to life? Could it be that people with malicious intent are impersonating her?"
This possibility indeed exists.
Otherwise, how could a child have lived so well for so long, from the time Qiong Hua was sent to the Cold Palace until now, without anyone discovering it?
The ministers whispered amongst themselves.
"Marquis Zhongyong makes a valid point. How can we prove the princess is indeed the child that was mistakenly thought to be dead, and not someone else impersonating her?"
"Who exactly, and what evidence can prove it?"
"If there’s no one and no evidence to prove it, then the princess’s identity remains questionable!"
Ultimately, it still looks like an unknown impostor princess.
This is what the ministers believed.
Emperor Yongning glanced at Jun Ning in his arms. The little girl didn’t say a word but was tightly holding his arm. She must be frightened by these malicious ministers, scared!
He patted Jun Ning’s back, "My dear, no need to worry. No matter what happens, Father is here with you."
Jun Ning: I’m not worried, though.
The reason Jun Ning kept holding Emperor Yongning’s arm was because she was small and couldn’t sit steadily on his lap, swaying. She had to hold his arm to avoid falling.
Emperor Yongning misunderstood her and wanted to quickly help clear up the matter for her.
The method of clearing up was simple, summon those who participated in the twin birth and those involved when Qiong Hua was initially sent to the Cold Palace for confrontation.
Emperor Yongning called on Qiong Hua, and the midwife who delivered for Qiong Hua, along with the Cold Palace steward and one or two still sane deposed imperial concubines who oversaw Qiong Hua during her over two years in the Cold Palace.
Among those summoned, the midwife’s apprentice arrived first.
Because the midwife who delivered Qiong Hua had already passed away, but her apprentice was still alive, and the apprentice also participated in Qiong Hua’s childbirth.
Xiao Lizi brought in the midwife’s apprentice.
After meeting Emperor Yongning and the ministers, the apprentice explained the situation during Qiong Hua’s labor.
The first twin, the Prince, was rather healthy. But the second twin was different; when the child’s head emerged first at birth, the midwife saw the child’s entire face was bluish and had no breath.
The midwife had concerns and didn’t want to continue with the delivery.
Furthermore, Qiong Hua was facing the risk of being sent to the Cold Palace at that time, so she posed no threat. The midwife didn’t wait for the second twin to completely deliver and directly announced it as a stillbirth.
That night, Qiong Hua took this supposedly dead infant, which everyone believed to be a stillborn, and moved into the Cold Palace.
The apprentice always felt guilty about this.
While her mentor was alive, she feared implicating her mentor, so she never told anyone. Now that her mentor is dead and has no children left in the world, she seized the chance to speak the truth.
After hearing this, Emperor Yongning and the ministers were silent, inwardly pondering.
Next, the Cold Palace steward and the former emperor’s deposed concubine Granny Liu, along with Cai Wei, arrived.
Granny Liu always had a stern face, and upon seeing Emperor Yongning, her expression didn’t change. She saluted the emperor and respectfully stood, waiting for the emperor to speak.
But the Cold Palace steward and Cai Wei were different, suddenly summoned to the Imperial Study Room, a place they viewed as mysterious and solemn, made their breathing irregular, their calves shaking, unable to stand steadily, let alone speak a coherent sentence.
The two knelt there, trembling in fear.
Emperor Yongning asked them, "Princess Anle, Jun Ning, also known as Yi Yi, did she grow up under your watch?"
Granny Liu and Cai Wei both nodded, saying in unison, "Yi Yi did grow up under our watch."
Although they spoke the same sentence, compared to Cai Wei’s stuttering response, Granny Liu spoke much more smoothly and forcefully.
Indeed, worthy of being the former emperor’s concubine, even in such a downtrodden state, she was still different from others.
"Do you remember when you first saw Yi Yi?" Emperor Yongning asked again.
Qiong Hua was sent to the Cold Palace the same day after giving birth.
If the time when these people saw Yi Yi matches the time Qiong Hua went to the Cold Palace with Yi Yi, then it proves Yi Yi is indeed Qiong Hua’s biological child and also Emperor Yongning’s.
"Remember," Granny Liu said, "Two and a half years ago, on New Year’s Eve, it was very cold, and there was a light snow..."
Granny Liu recalled the scene when she saw Qiong Hua.
Qiong Hua, carrying a supposedly dead infant with no visible sign of life, entered the Cold Palace. Those who brought her there were extremely rude, jostling and pushing her, nearly causing Qiong Hua to drop the child in her arms.
Qiong Hua couldn’t bear it and had a big argument with those people, which many in the Cold Palace heard and remembered vividly.
However, there’s something even more memorable.
After those who took Qiong Hua to the Cold Palace left, the supposedly dead infant in Qiong Hua’s arms suddenly started crying. Qiong Hua belatedly realized something and rushed to the Cold Palace’s gate, trying to report to Emperor Yongning that the other twin was not dead.
Emperor Yongning wanted to send her to the Cold Palace, and she couldn’t argue. But the child was innocent!
No matter how much Qiong Hua knocked on the door, no matter how loudly the baby cried, the Cold Palace gates remained shut.
The Cold Palace guards acted as if they were deaf, not hearing any sound inside, and didn’t deliver any food to Qiong Hua for days.
Qiong Hua gradually understood that these people wanted to kill her and the child, hence they ignored her knocking and the child’s faint signs of life.
Whether eating grass or humbly begging for scraps from others in the Cold Palace, she endured endless hardship just to raise the child.
Those who were not maddened and still somewhat sane in the Cold Palace remembered Qiong Hua’s arrival and her struggle to raise the child very clearly.
They had never seen a mother so humble or one so resolute.
Even Granny Liu, who always leaned against the southern wall sunbathing daily and disliked meddling, remembered this event very clearly.
This time, she mentioned exactly when Jun Ning appeared in the Cold Palace, without needing to think.
"Your Majesty, there’s no doubt Yi Yi is your daughter. Everyone in the Cold Palace who’s clear-headed can attest to this." Granny Liu gave a meaningful glance at the Cold Palace steward who had been trembling while kneeling, "What you should investigate is..."