Fu Zhen frowned. If what Xie Lingyun said was true, given that she looked so much like Xie Qi'an, why hadn't anyone recognized her as Xie Qi'an's daughter? The queen and Concubine Rou had seen her more than once. Could it be that they didn't recognize her?
Thinking this, she voiced her question.
Madam Bai's tightly - knit brows gradually relaxed. She said in a low voice, "Because the former Crown Prince never showed his true face."
What?
Fu Zhen looked at her.
When the former emperor was still on the throne, although Madam Bai was young, she had seen the world. Back then, Xie Qi'an was in favor. How could the emperor hide him and prevent him from showing his face in public? But no matter when and where Xie Qi'an appeared, he always wore a black carved mask, only showing his mouth and lower jaw, making it impossible for people to tell his true appearance.
"This is a secret," Madam Bai sighed. "My father once told me that the reason the Crown Prince wore a mask all year round was that when he was a child, someone had slashed his face severely. The cut ran from the eyebrow bone of his right eye to the lower eyelid of his left eye, almost across half of his face."
Fu Zhen's eyelashes fluttered, and she was in a daze for a long time.
"It was the Third Prince who did it," Xie Lingyun's face darkened. "Relying on being the legitimate son of the middle palace, the Third Prince was domineering since childhood. Seeing that the former emperor doted on the Crown Prince, out of jealousy, he disfigured his face. At that time, the Third Prince was only five years old."
Xie Qi'an was only eight.
The former emperor once wanted to depose the queen, but at that time, the queen had not committed any major crimes. And as for the Third Prince slashing the Crown Prince's face, if they wanted to quibble, they could say it was just a child's ignorance. Moreover, the Third Prince cried pitifully afterwards, saying that he didn't do it on purpose.
In this way, no matter how reluctant the emperor was, he could only swallow his anger and make Xie Qi'an endure it for the sake of the court officials who had remonstrated to the death.
From then on, there was an extra mask on Xie Qi'an's face, and he never took it off even when he came of age.
Even though Fu Zhen had no feelings for this father, she still felt a lump in her throat when hearing such a thing.
The power in this world could really crush people.
Fu Zhen looked at Xie Lingyun. "Since no one knew his true face, how did the Eldest Princess know?"
Xie Lingyun's features softened. Looking at her, she seemed to see that gentle man from that year. "Because I met your father."
After the current emperor seized the throne.
Except for Xie Zhao, who was mediocre, the other sons of the former emperor were all ruthless and scheming. Back then, they had fought fiercely. Even when they just glanced at each other, they would sneer at each other, and it was not uncommon for them to fight on the spot.
"The struggle for the throne was too chaotic back then. By the end, they were already red - eyed with killing. I even think that they were no longer fighting for the throne, but for their own desires - they just wanted to kill each other."
The former emperor was much more intelligent than Xie Zhao. But precisely because he was so intelligent, his sons were all extremely smart and ruthless. The struggle for the throne in the end was like raising poisonous insects. The victorious insect killed all the others.
Oh no, almost all of them, because there was still Xie Zhao left.
"In the end, the Second Prince won narrowly. Except for Xie Zhao, who was inconspicuous and did not participate, all the other princes were dead," Xie Lingyun took a sip of tea and directly called her father by name without any trace of guilt on her face. "But no one expected that just as the Second Prince was overjoyed and about to sit on the dragon throne, Xie Zhao led the troops of the Song family and directly broke into the palace, stabbing the Second Prince through the heart with a sword."
Only then did people know that Xie Zhao was not without ambition for the throne. It was just that he was so mediocre that everyone didn't take him seriously. But precisely because of his mediocrity, he got many opportunities.
"What about Xie Qi'an?" Fu Zhen didn't care about these secrets at all. In her eyes, Xie Zhao was already a dead man. "You said the Second Prince killed all the other princes. Why could you still meet Xie Qi'an?"
And why had he deceived her mother into eloping and living a miserable life?
Chen Tingfeng held her hand, like a kite string, holding back her rationality.
Xie Lingyun lowered her eyes. "Because Xie Qi'an didn't die."
He was rescued by someone.
A favored prince never lacked supporters. Moreover, he was kind - hearted by nature and extremely intelligent, so there was no shortage of people who were loyal to him.
But after such a great disaster, Xie Qi'an's health was already poor.
He actually understood that it was impossible for him to kill Xie Zhao, who was supported by the Song family and had firmly seated on the throne. But all the people following him were persuading him.
He carried the hopes of many people on his shoulders.
Although such hopes often came with personal ambitions.
He could only be forced to move forward step by step.
"I met him when I was a child."
Xie Lingyun had a miserable childhood. At that time, she lived in a remote palace. Without favor, she would be bullied by the servants.
There was no charcoal fire in winter, and she shivered with cold. When her clothes got dirty, she had to wash them with cold water by herself. But the winter in the capital was so cold that her hands were full of chilblains.
But she had to fend for herself. She even had to fetch cold water from the well by herself, although she could only get a little water each time.
On a cold winter day, she broke out in a thin sweat while fetching water. Then, because of the cold wind, she soon had a high fever.
She was so dizzy from the fever that she fell headfirst into the well.
It was Xie Qi'an who grabbed her and pulled her up.
"I don't know how a man who was supposed to be dead on the surface managed to sneak into the palace," Xie Lingyun smiled self - deprecatingly. "But because of him, I had a very... very good winter."
He was行踪不定, but he always appeared when she was in trouble. After helping her, he would disappear again.
She couldn't get a hot meal, but Xie Qi'an always found a way to steal one for her from the imperial kitchen. The dirty clothes she changed one day would be washed and hung in the yard the next day.
"Your father was a very, very good man. If he had been the emperor..." Xie Lingyun didn't finish the second half of the sentence. Her expression inevitably became a bit melancholy, but it only lasted for a moment and then disappeared.
"Then, when spring came, he left," Xie Lingyun's expression suddenly became a bit sad. "Even though I was still young, I could tell that his health was very, very poor at that time. He must have been ill, and his body was emaciated. He told me that he was leaving."
"I asked him where he was going, but he didn't tell me. He just squatted down and took off his mask for the first time." Xie Lingyun's eyes turned red, but she never shed a tear. "He had a pair of very beautiful eyes, just like yours. If it weren't for that scar, he should have been very good - looking, very handsome, the most handsome man in the world."
"He just told me to live well."
No matter what adversity one was in, even if one was stepped into the mud, one should live well.
To live was to have hope.
To live was to have a future.
She listened, but at that time, she didn't know that this meeting would actually be their last.