As expected, the emperor’s eyes also fell on Long Tianyu.
Immediately, the entire Winter Warm Room quieted down.
Long Tianyu lowered his head and tried his best to understand the situation. However, he was caught unprepared and could not figure out what was going on.
“Yu’er, what do you think of it?”
In the quiet warm room, the emperor said calmly and clearly.
Although Long Tianyu couldn’t understand what was going on, he knew that if he said something wrong, he would definitely get into trouble.
He lowered his head respectfully and said cautiously.
“I, I have little talent and less learning, so I’m afraid that I’m unable to shoulder such a heavy responsibility. Besides, father, you’re strong and healthy. You don’t have to decide who the Crown Prince is.”
Anyway, no one could find anything wrong with such an answer.
Noticing that there was no change in his father’s eyes, Long Tianyu breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
“We’ll talk about this later. You’ve just returned from Yun State. Go back and rest first.”
Hearing his father’s words, Long Tianyu didn’t say anything else. After bowing, he calmly left the Winter Warm Room.
The abolition of the Crown Prince seemed to have been settled. However, the uneasy look in Lin Nansheng’s eyes just now made Long Tianyu confused.
His father was inclined to dismiss the Crown Prince. However, these military officers usually remained neutral and kept their mouths shut.
Why did they recommend Long Tianyu to be the Crown Prince today?
And no matter what others did, Lin Nansheng was his brother-in-law, and the whole Lin family was on the same boat as him.
But why did Lin Nansheng say that he would protect the Crown Prince?
“Go and find out what had happened in the morning court today.”
As he turned to a quiet corner, Long Tianyu summoned a spy that he had planted in the palace and asked him to find out what had happened.
The spy as a little eunuch who served in front of the emperor. He came and left quietly. But every time, he could bring the most accurate news.
Accidentally, he came upon a quiet path. Long Tianyu raised his head and saw the familiar words—Splendid Palace.
He felt a little depressed in his heart. Other people all thought that his mother had enjoyed the happiness in his mansion.
What they didn’t know was that his biological mother was suffering in the hands of the wicked woman, the empress.
He clenched his hands and then opened them again. It was a pity that he had too many concerns. Otherwise, he would rush to the empress’s palace and pick up his mother in person.
Unfortunately, for the sake of the world, the stability of the Jin State, and the temporary peace of the royal family, he had to be an unfilial son.
He was a little depressed. The deserted Splendid Palace had long become an empty palace.
People in the palace only cared about those in power. It was said that in just a month, Concubine Xian had become a popular figure in the palace.
Who would remember Concubine De, who used to be on the same level as the empress?
Although it was in the depths of the palace, weeds had gradually appeared in the courtyard of the Splendid Palace.
Perhaps only when his mother returned to the Splendid Palace could the palace be restored to its former glory.
Worried about his mother, Long Tianyu spontaneously walked into the Splendid Palace.
But as soon as he pushed the door open, he saw a figure flash across the palace.
How could anyone be here now? Was she his mother’s former maid?
Long Tianyu frowned slightly. He thought that it was a thief, so he appeared silently in the doorway of the side chamber, where the figure had just appeared.
As soon as he approached the side chamber, he noticed that there was something different about this place.
Because no one had come in or out for a long time, there were already shoots in the doorway of other houses.
But the doorway here was bare.
Were there still people living here?
Then Long Tianyu tiptoed into the side chamber. The dim light and the unpleasant smell made his heart skip a beat.
Was there really someone here?
He was more careful not to make any noise that might alarm the people inside. However, after he had searched the whole side chamber, he still did not find any clues.
Was he wrong?
But soon, Long Tianyu thought of something—there was a small house outside the side chamber. Some palace maids who used to do rough work lived there. Later, in order to avoid arousing suspicion, his mother dismissed them.
Therefore, the house became empty.
Could it be that someone was there?
Long Tianyu turned around and went behind a screen in the deepest part of the side chamber. He listened carefully and heard a whisper of conversation coming from within.
However, as soon as he had just heard the voices clearly, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
That was—
Long Tianyu quietly walked around the screen and opened the small wooden door.
Immediately, the stench made him a little uncomfortable.
But he could not care so much, and walked into the room mechanically.
“Liang’er, thank you for coming these days. Otherwise, I’m afraid I’d starve to death here.”
The weak voice was just as gentle and sweet as before. Upon hearing the voice, Long Tianyu felt that his eyes were about to turn red-rimmed.
He clenched his fists and stood motionless, staring at the figure lying on the bed in the only light.
“Who is it?”
The woman on the bed was still alert. In an instant, the woman standing by the bed hid in the curtain.
However, when Long Tianyu’s figure appeared in the woman’s sight, the woman on the bed, who still remained noble and elegant even though she was in an awkward position, her eyes turned red in an instant.
“Yu’er… Yu’er, go! It’s very dangerous here. That woman will send someone over any minute! Hurry up and leave. Don’t worry about me. I’m all right! Hurry up and leave!”
This was mother. The first thing she thought of when she saw her son was his safety.
Even though she was trapped here; even though she was tortured.
Long Tianyu, however, stood in front of his mother in a daze. All of a sudden, he fell to his knees and tears came to his eyes.
“Mother, I… it’s all my fault. I’ll get you out of here right now!”
Long Tianyu had never expected that his mother would be trapped here.
Looking at the emaciated woman, Long Tianyu felt a mixture of anger and heartache.
He stretched out his arms to pick up his emaciated mother, but Concubine De, just as excited, stopped him.
“No, my child. You can’t take me away now. Besides, even if I’m willing to go out with you, I’m afraid that we won’t be able to leave the palace. I heard that your father has recovered. Remember, listen to your father. Now, he is our only hope.”
Concubine De looked pale, but her tearful and smiling eyes were filled with hope.
These two men were what kept her going through the daily grind.
As long as they were there, there would be a day when she could see the light again.
“Mother, I must take you away!”
Long Tianyu could no longer bear the pain of seeing his mother trapped here in torture.
However, Concubine De gave a wry smile and lifted up her dress, which was so dirty that the color was indiscernible.
Around her slender ankles was a bracelet made of fine iron, and on the other side of the bracelet was a black iron chain about the size of an arm.
“How dare they! Mother, wait a moment. I’ll go out and find someone to save you!”
Long Tianyu was furious. His once noble and gentle mother was subjected to such inhuman torture. That wicked woman deserved to die!
However, Concubine De was calmer than her son. Perhaps, the ordeal of the past few days had made this smart and strong woman much wiser and calmer.
She held her son’s warm and thick hands. Even the smudge on her face could not hide the relief in her smile.
“It’s not the right time yet. Your father must know that I was locked up here, but he can’t come to save me. I think it must be because the empress used me as a bargaining chip to threaten him. Besides, the real Concubine De is still in your mansion. She knows almost everything about me. If we go out like this, we have no chance to win.”
Concubine De’s words were like a basin of cold water, and it instantly calmed Long Tianyu down.
After hearing about the mask made of human skin and the impostor, the empress would be able to find out in her own way what had happened.
In that way, his mother might be in danger again.
What a sinister move! Even if his father or Long Tianyu found his mother in the palace, they could not take her way. Moreover, they could not hide her in the palace, for the empress’ spies were everywhere.
In the palace, it was too easy for the empress to kill someone.
Moreover, no one would believe that this woman, who looked like a female ghost, turned out to be Concubine De, who used to be vibrant, before her identity was confirmed.
This would only alarm the enemy and upset all the arrangements of the emperor.
However, Long Tianyu could not bear to let his mother suffer here.
For a while, Prince Yu, who had always been decisive, fell into a dilemma.
“Don’t worry about me. She doesn’t dare to kill me yet. How have you been recently? Mengya must have taken good care of you. She is a good girl. I knew it the first time I saw her. I’m relieved to see you safe and sound. Go, my boy. Only when you are safe can I have a chance to see the light of day again.”
Concubine De looked at her son, unwilling to part with him. She gently stroked her son’s eyebrows with her skinny fingers.
There was a special tenderness and love that flowed between mother and son in the dark little room.
In the past, the woman had only focused on being a qualified mother. As a matter of fact, she had even been a little strict with her only son.
But after seeing her son today, she only had a mother’s love in her heart. Even the sharpest steel knife in the world could not cut a mother’s softness.
