She heard matters regarding her mother before her marriage. She was anxious and frightened, with no idea how to handle the issue by herself. Furthermore, Mother had made a vicious vow on her life to Nanny Ming to prevent her from exposing this secret and to only answer when asked. She felt shamed by that her mother was so harsh and cruel to her.
Mo Xuetong didn’t want to admit it but she had to admit that she did not know how to deal with it when she first obtained the knowledge.
She merely wanted to suppress all the information in her heart and drown everything with her, as ignorant as she was like in her previous life. Since Mother hoped that for her, there was no need for her to search for the truth. Even if she did find it, the so-called magnificent scene of King Jin’s Manor was history too long ago for her.
It was so long ago that she completely could not remember the blood kinship and the vendetta she had with them!
Fighting for the throne was a game of battling royal. Without the initial defeat which turned into an underground movement with lesser forces and an unsuitable leadership, the chances of success became almost nonexistent!
Since Mother made a vicious vow with her daughter’s life, she did not want her to be involved at all!
As a weak woman, she had no power to usurp the throne, and it would be pointless to overthrow the rule of Emperor Zongwen.
She was merely a little girl who died so miserably in her previous life, where no one lent a helping hand to save her from the abyss of suffering…
Thinking about this, sadness rose in her heart as her nose turned sore. Speechless, she felt that tears filled her eyes as she bit her lips to suppress the pain in her heart.
Feeling that the woman in his arms was stiff and quiet, Feng Yuran thought that there was something wrong with her and hence dropped his pretense of anger. He rushed to lift up her lower jaw and see her teary eyes, comforting her. “Tong’er was referring to the secret guards. OK, I know about it now and I’ll forgive you for now. But this is the only exception.”Read more at L isnovel
Forgiving her now meant that he would still want to settle accounts with her!
Mo Xuetong pursed her lips and thought about it depressingly. However, she did not argue further, choosing to lean further in his arms, asking depressingly, “How did you know?”
She wasn’t suspecting the power of Feng Yuran as she had long known that Feng Yuran was not the useless king in the eyes of others who only knew how to find prostitutes. If there was a ranking for disguise, no one in the imperial city could match up to him. To complete his provocative image, he housed a large number of concubines in his manor.
She had only confirmed the existence of the secret guards today.
Before that, even though she had many guesses, she could not confirm her suspicions. How could he be so accurate to scare them in the bodyguard agency and to wait for her in Xiuning Workshop? This was obviously deliberately planned, and not a temporary measure.
Of course, she did not fully believe in what Shopkeeper Xing said. Out of the 100 secret guards, there was only one Shopkeeper Xing in Xiuning Workshop, with the rest all being women. Even though there could be women in secret guards, they should not form the majority. There were at most 30 to 40 individuals in the bodyguard agencies, which was not a sizable number in the imperial city. Where was the rest of them?
Mo Xuetong would not forget the unrestrained habit of Shopkeeper Xing, which showed that he did not tell her the complete truth of the matter. Perhaps he was waiting for the jade token from her mother, but anyway, none of that led Mo Xuetong to believe in the loyalty of these men. Loyalty was dependent on power, and her position as King Xuan’s Consort meant that she did not have the power that they respected, and hence they were still waiting.
“I had a few suspicions before, but I did not know where. At first, I thought they were in Cloud City… before I realized that it’s not the case. I then turned around and suspected this bodyguard agency. A bodyguard agency works in Jianghu and it was of no surprise that the people there would know martial arts. The strange thing was the reason why they had this agency at such a prosperous location. Unlike other businesses, a bodyguard agency needs not to have a shop in the busy streets.” Feng Yuran hugged her and pulled her dropping sleeves up, explaining causally.
As if he did not see her conflicted eyes, he patted her back.
“You suspected it long ago? Not just today?” Mo Xuetong laid in his arms, feeling his gentle touch and closed her eyes comfortably before asking coyly.
“A little bit today as well. Mo Lan was worried about you. She heard that those abducting you ran in this direction and remembered your matters, hence she ran and told me everything. Having all the lines connected made me understand the whole process. Tong’er, do you need these men?” Feng Yuran explained. Even though the last sentence seemed casual, Mo Xuetong could still see the nervousness and anger hidden in his eyes.
“I don’t want their protection. When I was in Cloud city, not a single one came to help me. They didn’t even come around when Mother was poisoned.” Mo Xuetong knew what he was worried about and bit her lips to give a response. Not only did those things happen, in her previous life, they never helped her even till her death, making it difficult for her to feel close to them.
For the last order of their master, they waited for thirty years, showing their loyalty. However, this loyalty was for King Jin or their little master who could realize the last wish of King Jin. A useless woman like her or her mother was long abandoned in their mindset. The legacies in their hearts were completely unaligned with the women in boudoirs.
Mo Xuetong did care about her mother forcing Nanny Ming to swore using her life, but she now felt that her mother was both pitiful and cruel. To not continue the hatred, or to obtain a better life for herself, she would rather have Nanny Ming bury everything from then on.
She had no power to solve anything. Hence, she let herself go naturally when she became aware that she was poisoned by the concubines. She was powerless!
Mo Xuetong did not believe that these secret guards would be completely unaware of the powerless behavior of her mother. However, they merely looked at the struggle of this weak lady, who sacrificed her life for the peace in Mo Manor…
They said that they would only see her if she avenged her mother. When King Jin’s consort escaped with her mother, these secret guards must be by their side. She only left that order to prevent her mother from dying without justice. If not for her exposure of Auntie Fang, the secret guards would not recognize her as their master!
Mo Xuetong felt sad that they judged her role as a master based on her usefulness!
“So we just leave them here?” Feng Yuran questioned her but did not push further. He gently caressed her hair as a flash of hatred flashed across his eyes. If Tong’er explained that she did not want to leave them here, he would immediately take care of these people. Feng Yuran deemed this group of secret guards with shaky loyalty unnecessary.
“If we keep these people here, they will be a danger to Tong’er. They can betray her again given their history.”
“Leave them here!” Mo Xuetong closed her eyes in fatigue! She only wanted to sleep. She knew what Feng Yuran meant but she could not be so cruel at the thought of them waiting in this corner for 30 years.
“What if I touch them?” The corner of Feng Yuran’s eyes spelled indifference, with a bloodthirsty smell that Mo Xuetong could understand.
“Touch them. They are not loyal to me.” Mo Xuetong opened her eyes as she stared at Feng Yuran’s face and saw his explicit love for her. She sighed slowly, her words disappearing like fallen leaves on trees, with pain and hatred hidden within fatigue.
She did not know how to deal with these people!
These people were loyal towards the faith of restoring King Jin’s empire, they were loyal to King Jin’s agenda. She was nothing like their master. They purposely kidnapped her in front of everyone to prevent her from staying together with Feng Yuran.
How could she continue being Consort Xuan? A consort that lost her virtues could only be dead or divorced. Was what they did to her really loyalty?
They did something that they knew they should not do!
It meant that she was again an abandoned chess piece!
In her past life, and in her current life!
She was really tired…
Seeing and acknowledging her fatigue, Feng Yuran reached over to arrange her hair. He saw her eyelashes flicker as he tilted his head to hide the tears in his eyes. That made his eyes fill up with hatred before they got engulfed by a thick gentle love. He whispered into her ears and avoided this annoying question.
Tong’er was still too soft-hearted. Forget it, even though she allowed him to take care of these people, she was a little hurt at the thought of doing so. Forget it, I should keep them since she desired so. Anyway, their loyalty was wavering like a double-edged sword. They could be used by him just like how they were used by others.
Listening to Feng Yuran’s words, Mo Xuetong opened her eyes in shock, looking at Feng Yuran with an amazed look. Her watery eyes were wide open, and her lips trembled as she could not believe what she was hearing. She felt a drone in her brain as if it just turned into paste. She had never thought about the most obvious possibility, which was the only possibility to explain the whole matter.
If the two were really related this way, something would make sense now.
“Princess Royal Yunruo never saw Princess Shuanglan. Even though Princess Royal Yunruo was one year older than Princess Shuanglan, the princess had always been sick and weak, resting in King Jin’s Manor all the while. As King Jin’s second daughter died not long after birth, King Jin doted his sole daughter greatly. After the King Jin Manor incident, Consort Jin and Princess Shuanglan all disappeared. She was only seven to eight years old then.”
Feng Yuran explained. “Princess Royal Yunruo married to the Yan Kingdom when she was 16. Many servants accompanied her on her way there, including Shuanglan. I could not understand what happened after that, but I heard that she was doted by the Yan Emperor, giving birth to Bai Yihao, who somehow became the son of Princess Royal Yunruo.”
…
He utilized a lot of manpower and resources to investigate this matter, but the details were not precise. Some secrets became something where no one knew but could only be revealed by those people involved in it themselves. Even Empress Dowager would not know such palace secrets.
If not for the fact that he found Princess Royal Yunruo’s attitude suspicious, he would not have investigated the matter. She was so nonchalant towards her own birth son, but so close to the First Prince, asking for him the permission to marry the legal Fifth Princess, who had secret guards. That should not be something done by a normal mother.
Mo Xuetong was astonished…
No wonder in her previous life, Bai Yihao imprisoned the Empress in the palace. No wonder the Empress had an alliance with First Prince. Princess Shuanglan, or her aunt in public, had disappeared. That’s why in her previous life, after Bai Yihao became the Emperor, he never set an Empress Dowager, hiding all the secrets to his birth.
However, that had nothing to do with her!
