Part 3
Gu Zhen blinked a few times, lowering his eyes slightly. “Yiyi.”
A few leaves were blown down by the wind, falling between them.
Staring at the rose leaves, Zhao Yiyi’s nose suddenly soured. “Why does Your Majesty always ask why I didn’t tell you sooner? After Mother and Grandparents passed away one after another, this consort felt only torment at home. Later, Aunt told me I was to enter the Eastern Palace to be the Crown Princess…”
“To be Your Majesty’s Crown Princess…” She repeated, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes with the back of her hand, choking with sobs. “Your Majesty doesn’t know. From the first time I saw Your Majesty, I liked you. When I found out Your Majesty was my future husband, I don’t know how happy I was. I counted the days, just waiting for the time I could marry Your Majesty. Entering the palace meant not only leaving that home but also marrying the person I liked.”
Ignoring everything, her tears flowed even more violently. Because her heart hurt, her body felt uncomfortable too, curling up slightly.
Gu Zhen’s heart twisted in pain. His phoenix eyes half-closed, he begged her in a low voice, “Yiyi, don’t say it. Don’t say anymore, alright?”
“But when this consort…” Zhao Yiyi refused to listen. Even if she had to force herself, she wanted to finish. Frowning and clutching her chest in pain, she said, “But when this consort became the Crown Princess, I realized… my husband didn’t like me at all.”
“This consort always lied to myself, telling myself that my husband was too busy. He was the Crown Prince, the Emperor; how could he have so much free time to talk of love with me?” She covered her face and whimpered, her voice rasping. “But later, I finally couldn’t lie to myself anymore.”
“There weren’t so many reasons. It was simply that you didn’t like me. Your Majesty, isn’t that so?”
Gu Zhen’s heart felt dead, his blood freezing for an instant, his limbs turning cold.
He took one of her hands and whispered, “Yiyi, in the past, it was Zhen’s fault. It won’t be like that anymore. In the future, what you like and what you hate, Zhen will take to heart.”
“In the future, will you tell Zhen everything?”
Zhao Yiyi leaned her elbow on the stone table, turning her face away, unwilling to look at him. She whispered, “But Your Majesty used to bully me all the time.”
“Mm. Before, it was all Zhen’s fault,” Gu Zhen continued softly, stroking the ends of her soft hair, a gentle look crossing his brow.
She had suffered so many grievances at home and married him full of hope, yet the grievances she suffered in the palace were no less.
But he had been completely unaware of it.
Perhaps if he had paid just a little attention, he would have known. But he hadn’t.
There was only one Empress in the palace, and no other concubines, yet no one took the Empress seriously. Because everyone knew his eyes were only on government affairs; nothing else entered his vision.
Relying on her love for him, Yiyi endured for so many years. But when all that love received no response and met only blades, that love would eventually be worn away.
“Your Majesty never cared before,” she choked out another sentence.
He hadn’t cared before, but he wanted to care now.
They were husband and wife; he should have cared.
It is only right for a husband to take his wife’s matters to heart.
“It is all Zhen’s fault. Don’t be angry,” Gu Zhen said with a bitter smile on his lips. ” Zhen will care about everything from now on, hm?”
Zhao Yiyi accused again, “Your Majesty never put this consort in your eyes before. Can you do it now?”
Gu Zhen nodded, then suddenly laughed. “When did Zhen not put you in my eyes?” He held that slender wrist and suddenly pressed it against his heart, whispering, ” Zhen has put you right here.”
Feeling the scalding heat from his palm, Zhao Yiyi stood up abruptly, looking at him with a flushed face.
She couldn’t imagine such words coming from his mouth.
It was uncomfortable staying there, and the night wind was getting stronger. She got up to head toward the bedchamber. After two steps, feeling unsatisfied, she turned back, stepped on his foot, and then turned away again.
For the Emperor to find someone, as long as that person was alive, it was naturally not difficult.
Within a few days, the person was found by the Imperial Guards in the outskirts of Luoyang. After reporting up layer by layer and receiving the Emperor’s permission, the person was brought into the palace.
Gu Zhen sent a few palace servants to question him. After seeing the results, he summoned the person and asked personally, “When did your parents find your adopted sister?”
The man replied, “This commoner… this commoner really can’t remember clearly. I only remember it was the winter of the fifth year of Cheng’an. It seemed to snow in Luoyang that day. The snow was heavy and crushed many thatched cottages in the suburbs.”
Gu Zhen glanced at Wu Mao. Wu Mao personally looked up the records for the fifth year of Cheng’an. After scanning them, he reported, “Your Majesty, the snow in the first ten days of the twelfth month of the fifth year of Cheng’an was exceptionally heavy. It did destroy many cottages.”
Twelfth month.
Gu Zhen’s eyes half-closed. It was around the time Linchuan was born.
“And then?” he asked.
The plain-clothed man replied, “Later, I went to Chang’an to sell goods but couldn’t sell them. I couldn’t scrape together the travel fare back, so I gave my sister to…”
“Did she have any marks on her body?” Gu Zhen asked again.
The man said, “I remember there was a crescent-shaped birthmark on her arm, and a small red mole next to the birthmark.”
Gu Zhen waved his hand, ordering him to be taken away.
Wu Mao stood beside him, almost stunned, unable to recover for a long time.
This was practically confirmed.
“Do not publicize this matter yet,” Gu Zhen ordered in a deep voice. “Wait until we confirm it in a few days before making plans.” There was still one step missing—the person who made the switch.
When the Prince of Yan entered, he happened to see the Emperor sitting by the window playing pitch-pot. He smiled, “Imperial Brother is in good spirits today.”
Gu Zhen twitched the corner of his lips, glanced at him sideways, and said indifferently, “The first time Zhen met the Empress was during the pitch-pot game at the Winter Solstice Banquet.”
The Prince of Yan froze, his expression changing several times.
Gu Zhen glanced at him and asked deeply, “What?”
Looking at the withered yellow leaves outside the window, the Prince of Yan whispered, “Does Imperial Brother truly remember that the first meeting with the Imperial Sister-in-law was at the Winter Solstice Banquet?”
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