Wei Dongling smiled and said, "Isn't the evidence for this princess none other than you, Granny Gao?"
Granny Gao sneered sinisterly. "How arrogant! What makes the Fifth Princess think that this old woman would be your witness?"
The matter of the great fire in Jingyang Palace back then had always been a taboo that the palace people kept secret. Among those who knew the inside story of this incident, only a very few were still alive.
Granny Gao, who served beside Empress Zhao, did know the truth, but would she confess?
Wei Dongling snorted. "I'm afraid this is not up to you, Granny Gao."
Granny Gao sneered. "So what? If this old woman refuses to yield even at the cost of her life, will you kill me? Don't forget that His Highness the Tenth Prince is the only almost - adult prince in the capital now. If he one day ascends to the throne, he will surely come to this prison himself to take me out!"
Wei Dongling snorted. "Now that my father is in good health, he can stay on the throne for twenty or thirty years without any problem. Do you think you can survive that long? Moreover, His Highness the Ninth Prince, Murong Yuchen, is loyal, filial, and benevolent. Once he returns triumphantly from the war in the northwest, what chance does your fool of a master have at the position of crown prince?"
"You!" Granny Gao was so angry that her whole body trembled.
Yu Zixi, wearing a ghost - face mask, coughed lightly, and Wei Dongling stopped talking. She waved to the jailer in the distance to bring her a chair. Then she slowly sat down on the chair with Cuihuan, covering her nose and mouth with a handkerchief. She crossed her legs and silently watched the show.
Yu Zixi said coldly, "I heard that when you were young, Granny Gao, you had an illegitimate daughter."
Hearing this, Granny Gao's face tightened as if facing a great enemy. She had never mentioned such a private matter to anyone! How did this person in front of her know about it? Granny Gao forcibly suppressed the panic in her heart and shouted, "It's a baseless rumor. You ignorant brat, don't talk nonsense! Who on earth are you? Why are you so timid and afraid to show your true face?"
Yu Zixi ignored her question and continued, "When Granny Gao was still the stewardess of the Zhao family, she got drunk one night and had an affair with a man. After ten months of pregnancy, she gave birth to a baby girl."
Granny Gao roared angrily, "You shut up!!!"
Yu Zixi said, "That man was a servant in the Zhao Mansion. Unfortunately, he already had a family and couldn't marry you as his main wife. So, after giving birth to the baby girl, you resolutely threw your own daughter into that man's house and then followed Empress Zhao into the palace!"
The events of the past were vivid in her mind. Granny Gao's eyes burned with rage. Even though her feet were chained, she still lunged forward angrily and slapped at Yu Zixi's chest.
"Be careful!" Wei Dongling was secretly startled and reminded Yu Zixi.
Granny Gao flew towards Yu Zixi, but Yu Zixi was not panicked at all. He took a half - step aside to avoid the fatal slap, then shook out the dagger in his sleeve and made a bloody cut on Granny Gao's chest.
The woman holding the baby outside the door let out a shrill scream. She rushed over with the baby in her arms and blocked in front of Yu Zixi, sobbing, "Please! Don't hurt my mother's life!"
Granny Gao looked at the thin - framed woman in front of her, and her whole body trembled involuntarily.
Yu Zixi looked coldly at the three generations of the family in front of him, and a bitter feeling welled up in his heart. Granny Gao's daughter had grown up and become a mother, but she still remembered her birth mother in her heart.
Wasn't he also always worried about his birth mother, Concubine He, in the palace?
What about Wei Dongling? While struggling in the dangerous palace, would she also feel happy because she had returned to her biological father? Was she living in pain and joy at the same time?
Wei Dongling: Thanks, I'm not! I'm a soul - traveler! Actually, there's no blood relation at all!
The baby in the woman's arms seemed to sense his mother's emotional ups and downs and began to cry loudly. His little arms and legs flailed about, looking very cute.
Seeing that Yu Zixi stopped moving, the woman turned around and held the baby in front of Granny Gao. With tears in her eyes, she said, "Mother, I'm Li Yue!"
Granny Gao looked at the woman in front of her and trembled all over. That man's surname was Li back then, and the character "Yue" was exactly her own nickname!
That man had raised the daughter all by himself and named her Li Yue! Time flew by so fast. Unexpectedly, now Li Yue was already married and had given birth to a child!
Seeing that Granny Gao didn't say a word, Li Yue choked with sobs, "Mother, this is my child. He's just over a hundred days old. Daughter thought to bring him to see you! Will you hold him?"
Granny Gao's face showed panic. She stepped back step by step and was hesitant to take the baby from her daughter's hands.
It wasn't that she didn't want to, but that she couldn't! Once she acknowledged her, she would have a weakness that could be exploited. By then, she was afraid that her children would suffer more! The innocent children, how could she implicate them?
Seeing that Granny Gao neither responded nor took the baby, Li Yue's tears fell even more fiercely. She choked with sobs, "Mother! Daughter has missed you every single day! Daughter misses you so much!"
Granny Gao gritted her teeth and remained unmoved. The face of this woman overlapped with that of the crying baby back then, evoking a thousand and ten thousand thoughts in her heart. But now she was a prisoner. Recognizing her daughter would bring no benefits to her at all!
Li Yue looked at Tian Qi outside the door in panic and helplessness, then covered her face and cried in disappointment. The sobbing of the mother and child was really heart - wrenching.
Seeing this, Wei Dongling sighed and reached out to take the baby from Li Yue's arms.
Granny Gao roared at Wei Dongling, "You're not allowed to touch him!"
Wei Dongling rolled her eyes at her, snatched the baby and sat back on the chair, gently patting and coaxing the baby. "Be good, baby! Don't listen to your grandmother! Babies that this princess holds will live a long and prosperous life!" After Wei Dongling's gentle coaxing, the little baby really stopped crying. His bright eyes stared at Wei Dongling's headdress without blinking, and he reached out his little hand to grab it.
Cuihuan leaned over and said happily, "He's so cute!"
"Indeed!"
Granny Gao watched as Wei Dongling happily held the baby in front of her, and envy filled her eyes. How she wished she could hold the baby, but she couldn't! She didn't dare!
Seeing that the wound on Granny Gao's chest was bleeding continuously, Li Yue quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood. But Granny Gao kept backing away, which made Li Yue's eyes look dim.
Yu Zixi coldly asked, "Do you know how much grievance and beating your daughter suffered growing up in the Li family without the protection of her birth mother?"
Hearing this, Granny Gao tightly clenched her fists, wishing she could kill someone.
Li Yue quickly shouted, "Please stop talking!" She didn't want her birth mother to feel sad.
Granny Gao was filled with nameless anger. She actually hoped that he would continue talking. She wanted to know how her daughter had survived all these years! What had she gone through! If someone really bullied her daughter, she would surely tear that person into pieces!
Yu Zixi sneered, "She was bullied by the legitimate daughter and beaten by the main wife of the Li family since childhood. At the age of thirteen, she was sold into a brothel. By the age of twenty - seven or twenty - eight, she was full of diseases and was driven out of the brothel. She had been wandering outside and finally had to marry a disabled old man out of desperation."
Hearing this, Granny Gao was burning with anger. The fingernails in her tightly - clenched fists had dug deeply into the flesh.