Lin Youyong stood at the door, caught between two evils, his eyes darting back and forth between the clouds and mist and the profound silence.
He finally steeled himself and walked up, whispering: "Cloud mist, what's going on?"
Cloud mist looked up, her eyes tearful and blurred as she looked at Lin Youwei. Her voice was choked with emotion: "Youwei, this is... this is the child of Princess Min, the one I brought out of the palace years ago."
Lin Youwei heard this and was shocked, but moreover terrified. His legs weakened, and he almost knelt to the ground.
But he managed to stand up straight, his voice trembling: "Princess Min's child? How did he find his way here?"
Xuan Ji's gaze turned to Lin Youwei, and seeing his tense and restless expression, he knew what he feared in his heart. "Lin benefactor, my journey is not for revenge, but rather to seek the truth about my own origins, and to fulfill Princess Min's last wish."
Lin Youwei heard this and breathed a sigh of relief, glad that it wasn't to seek revenge against himself. His heart was at ease and he could put the matter to rest.
"Cloud mist benefactor, you may also get up."
Xuan Ji saw that Cloud Mist was still kneeling on the ground, with a complex look in her eyes, so he reached out to lift her up.
Cloud Mist wiped away her tears and stood up, without kneeling for long. She looked at Xuan Ji and sighed deeply before recounting the events of that year:
"I was the chief maid of the concubine's heart. The concubine gave birth and was betrayed by an evil person. She entrusted you, just born, to me and begged me to take you out of the palace and raise you. I promised her that I would take you away from the palace, but due to various reasons, I had to send you to Wanfo Temple. These years, I have always been filled with guilt and unease."
Looking at Xuan Ji, her expression filled with sentimentality, she said, "Thankfully, you grew up safely, and now I can finally be at ease."
Lin Youwei listened to Cloud Mist's recounting of events with a mix of emotions in his heart.
He walked up to Cloud Mist, took her hand, and said with guilt: "Cloud Mist, I was wrong. I shouldn't have been so selfish that year, nor should I have let you bear so much."
Xuan Ji looked at the two of them, cupping his hands together once more: "Ladies and gentlemen, all past events have their causes and effects. The monk came today only to uncover the truth and to see if there is something I can do for Princess Min."
He fixed his gaze on Cloud Mist's face, asking once more: "Please, may I ask, how did Princess Min fall victim to an evil person?"
Cloud Mist seemed to be lost in thought, "As for the concubine's cause of death, although I do not know all the details, I remember that before giving birth, the concubine drank a bowl of ginseng soup and then felt weak. At that time, you were still in the concubine's womb and had not been born yet. The emperor was not present, and the empress was far away at Wutai Mountain. The empress followed palace etiquette and ensured that there was an heir to carry on the lineage. After giving birth to you, she passed away due to heavy bleeding."
The events from that year were too mysterious. The emperor was so in love with the concubine, he would have loved to spend twenty hours with her, yet he was mysteriously absent in the days leading up to the birth.
It seemed as if someone deliberately led the emperor away.
And the empress mother, not going to Wutai Mountain early, not going late, but when the concubine was about to give birth. She said she went there to pray for the emperor and for the prosperity of the country.
She always felt that this had something to do with the empress, but unfortunately, there was no evidence.
Everything was too coincidental.
Xuan Ji, upon hearing this, had a flash of sorrow in his eyes, but this emotion lasted only a moment before returning to normal.
"Thank you for the information, benefactor. May I ask, who brought the bowl of ginseng soup that year? Was there any thorough investigation afterward?"
Cloud Mist shook her head slightly, with a confused expression: "There were too many slaves involved in bringing that bowl of ginseng soup. I cannot determine who actually poisoned it."
She looked at Xuan Ji with her eyes, "I hurriedly left the palace with you that year, but what happened afterward I'm not quite sure. I only heard later that when the emperor returned to the palace, he was very sad and held a grand funeral for the concubine. He buried her as an empress in the Mausoleum of Yuanxia, and after death, he was to be buried alongside her. For this, it was said that Empress had caused a commotion."
"Buried as an empress in the posthumous mausoleum?"
Xuan Ji's face looked somewhat strange. Although he was an out-of-world monk, he had heard of such things happening in the palace. It was disrespectful to the empress to bury her as an empress in the posthumous mausoleum.
The empress was the original wife, yet the emperor allowed the concubine to be buried as an empress in the posthumous mausoleum. That made the empress become a secondary wife overnight, and after death, she couldn't be buried with the emperor because her position had been taken by the concubine.
He suddenly understood why the empress had caused a commotion.
Cloud Mist nodded slightly, her expression was full of pride as she spoke of this.
"The concubine was the emperor's beloved, the top pet of his heart, and no woman in the entire palace could compare to her. The emperor spent nearly every day in the concubine's quarters. Even when she was on her period and unable to serve him, he continued this practice."
Her eyes were lost in recollection as she continued:
"The emperor thought of the concubine for all kinds of good things first. Women in the harem couldn't even get a taste of it, let alone drink a bowl of soup. They were just decorations. Even the empress couldn't sit on the bench and was forced to sit in solitude, day after day, never mind offending the concubine."
Her eyes sparkled as if she had returned to the days in the palace when she was at her most glamorous.
It really was a glamorous time. Both in the outer and inner courts, so many people kowtowed to her, calling her Sister Yunyan this and Sister Yunyan that.
"Unfortunately, the concubine she was."
Cloud Mist's eyes dimmed, and she looked gloomy.
As Cloud Mist's expression shifted from pride to melancholy, Xuan Ji's face grew solemn.
The palace politics were merciless. It was not strange that someone would want to harm the concubine who was so favored by the emperor and did not know how to restrain herself.
But it's unclear who made the move.
Even, it's possible that many people were involved in the plot.
Xuan Ji did not linger here and asked some other questions before bidding farewell and leaving.
The cooking smoke was waving gently, and the last rays of the setting sun fell on the quiet village path, giving this ancient small village a golden robe.
As Xuan Ji's figure disappeared around the village mouth, a strange wind blew through, causing the old Chinese elm at the entrance of the village to sway gently, as if it were a kind of omen.
She had followed them all the way to Lin's village and had been secretly listening for a long time. The moon shadow, like a ghost, appeared suddenly at Yunyan's home.
Yunyan was about to go to the kitchen to prepare dinner when she turned around and saw the moon shadow suddenly appear.
She stepped back two steps in fear and asked in a trembling voice, "Who are you?"
This person was dressed in a black suit, their face was stern, and their aura was cold. Their demeanor was extraordinary, and they were clearly a big shot.
Lin Youwei approached, his gaze alert as he looked at him, "Who are you, and why did you suddenly barge in without any warning?"
The Moon Shadow ignored Lin Youwei and did not even glance at him. His gaze remained fixed on Yunyan's face, examining her intently.
After a moment, he whispered, "Are you Yunyan? The closest maid of the concubine Princess Min?"
He had just hidden himself farther away earlier, but his hearing was extremely sensitive, and he had heard most of the conversation in the room.
Yunyan's heart skipped a beat as she thought that the master had just left, and this person had appeared, so he must have followed the master and had probably overheard their conversation earlier.
Thinking that the inevitable had finally come.
She sighed deeply, frowning, "I am. May I ask what brings you here?"
The Moon Shadow's mouth curved into a mysterious smile, "You need not know who I am, just come with me."
"Where are we going?" Yunyan looked at the Moon Shadow with a vigilant expression.
The Moon Shadow did not answer and with a grand gesture, Yunyan blacked out on the ground.
"Yunyan?"
Lin Youwei was shocked. He raised his head angrily and swung a garden hoe at the Moon Shadow, asking, "What have you done to her?"
The Moon Shadow showed no respect and snapped his fingers, flinging Lin Youwei and his hoe to the ground.
He didn't even look at the disheveled Lin Youwei lying on the ground, cursing. He picked up Yunyan in his arms and, with a flash of his figure, vanished like a ghost.
"Don't leave, put her down."
Lin Youwei, ignoring his aching back from falling, quickly got up from the ground to chase after him, only to find that the person was gone.
Recalling Xuan Ji, he thought that the master might not have gone far and hurriedly chased after him.
