Chapter 72

Chapter 72

Imperial Physician Chu looked up and saw the emperor glancing over at Empress Xu's rash-covered hand.

As he spoke, he suddenly realized something.

In the third month of the sixth year of the Taiyuan reign, Empress Xu and Consort Ning gave birth on the same day. The Deposed Crown Prince was born with difficulty, while the Sixth Prince was born prematurely.

Both princes were unwell at birth. The Deposed Crown Prince had been frail from the womb, and his health was poor until he was three years old. The Empress had painstakingly nursed him back to health, even making annual pilgrimages to the Huguo Temple to pray for his well-being. The Sixth Prince, born premature and weak, was poisoned by his mother, Consort Ning, who suffered from a hysterical disorder. As a child, he rarely left his sickbed and spent years accompanied by medicine. His frail and sickly constitution was well known throughout the palace.

Their shared sickliness as children sufficed to mask most obvious signs.

Chen Xuqiu's expression shifted. She walked over directly. "Your Majesty, forgive my impertinence."

She used a needle to draw blood. A single drop fell into the bowl, and when it came into contact with the inducing agent, it showed a faint reaction.

But it was only faint, quickly returning to calm.

At this change, the attending physicians dared not speak.

The rash. The fetal toxin.

The fetal toxin in the Sixth Prince could only have been passed down from the womb. Now, simply taking this inducing agent to test Consort Ning... no, perhaps testing was unnecessary.

Everyone in the tent looked at Chen Xuqiu, but there was no need to wait for her diagnosis. All the bizarre clues pointed to one absurd and audacious fact: the two princes born that day had been swapped. This was the imperial palace. When Empress Xu gave birth, there were so many attendants and physicians around. Who could have carried out such a deed under everyone's nose?

Everyone around fell silent. Qi Hanzhou ordered his men to surround the tent, preventing news from leaking.

No matter how shocking this matter was, it was a secret of the imperial family and could not be disclosed.

The moment Qi Hanzhou realized this, he knew that Ying Fusheng's true identity was difficult to bring to light. Appearance alone could not prove anything, and bloodletting tests were nonsense... He never expected that the very fetal toxin meant to kill him would become the key to revealing his identity. Had he ever considered this?

The youth lay quietly in a coma, unaware of the turmoil this spring hunt was about to cause.

The emperor was silent. The atmosphere in the tent was almost suffocating.

"What do you mean?" Empress Xu suddenly asked.

Her voice trembled slightly, and she involuntarily looked at the others. "What do you mean?"

The Empress Dowager looked at the dazed Empress Xu, then at the child on the couch.

How could the Ning family or the Xu family have been so bold as to do such a thing? Swapping children within the imperial palace, and yet no one in the palace was aware of it. If not for Ying Fusheng being chased and triggering the fetal toxin today, who would have discovered this?

Empress Xu stared blankly at the bowl, where the reaction had subsided. Only when a voice sounded beside her did she snap out of her daze. Countless thoughts raced through her mind: first the fetal toxin mentioned by that wandering girl, then the sudden rash on her hand... Suddenly, her hands and feet turned cold, and a belated terror surged within her.

"No, impossible, it can't be. Is this my child?" Empress Xu murmured. An immense sense of panic enveloped her. She abruptly looked up at the bedside. The boy, hovering between life and death, lay silently, his breath barely audible, his chest showing no obvious rise and fall, as if he might pass at any moment.

She staggered over. The physicians dared not stop her, and she stumbled to a halt before Ying Fusheng's couch.

In Empress Xu's memory, her impression of this child was pitifully scant. As a child, he had been bedridden for so long that he rarely left Weiyang Palace. In her limited recollection, he was a weak, almost invisible presence. The faint memories she had were of him pleading for his mother at Cining Palace during the Wangyue Ting incident, and later at palace banquets...

So few memories. She had even allowed Shuang Yue to frame him with witchcraft, aiming to drag both him and the Great Prince down. She recalled that day at Cining Palace—without the Empress Dowager, the boy would never have escaped the witchcraft accusation.

The burning pain on the back of her hand jolted her back to reality.

Empress Xu panicked and looked sharply at the couch.

Could this be her child...?

Swapping children? Was heaven playing a joke on her?

The figure on the couch showed no response. Empress Xu seemed to look at the child for the first time. Although he was nearly fourteen, his stature was no larger than that of the much younger Eighth Prince. His face was pallid and sickly, unchanged for years... The youth's complexion was ashen. His body had been nearly consumed by toxins over the years, and the bit of color the physicians had painstakingly restored over years of care was now completely gone.

He might be dying.

When this thought surfaced in Empress Xu's mind, she lost control of her emotions. "Save him! Save him! Do something to save him!"

Her frantic, disheveled demeanor was nothing like her usual serene composure. She grabbed Chen Xuqiu like a lifeline, hysterically.

Chen Xuqiu looked away. "Your Majesty, please stand up."

"The Sixth Prince's condition has temporarily stabilized. Whether he can survive this crisis depends on his fate."

Empress Xu was stunned.

Chen Xuqiu said no more. Such poison could be difficult even for an adult to endure, let alone a frail and sickly child.

Chen Xuqiu had done her best to sustain his vital signs, but the next few days would be perilous. Only if he could survive them would he pull through.

The Empress Dowager looked at the emperor, her heart clenched tightly. Since the child came to her at age ten, he had been sensible and obedient, with a subtle hint of ingratiation. He was dutiful to his toxic mother and attentive to her in every way. A normal prince would not instinctively try to please or obey others; this docility had developed unconsciously over time.

Had it not been for the swap, he would have been appointed Crown Prince in his infancy, the heir to the Dayuan Dynasty.

He would not have had to humble himself in the palace, nor suffer poisoning from his biological mother. He would have grown up healthy, carefree, and without worry.

Inside the tent, the emperor looked at Ying Fusheng for a long time. When he finally turned to Qi Hanzhou, Qi knew that the matter could no longer be contained. To swap a child in broad daylight within the palace, and now to be so eager to kill and silence others—whether it was the assassins in the northern woods or the Xu family official who had previously attempted murder—all pointed to one purpose: they wanted to kill the Sixth Prince.

Now that the swap had been exposed, the conspiracy to murder a prince during the northern mountain hunt made perfect sense. Why else would they have deliberately lured the Sixth Prince into the mountains by using the Eighth Prince, and gone to such lengths to trigger the toxin? The schemer knew all about the Sixth Prince's fetal toxin and used it to plot murder. They could only be the true culprits behind the swapping of the royal bloodline... and now they were desperate to kill Empress Xu's biological child.

"An assassination case. A murder case," the emperor said coldly. "Did you know about these two matters?"

Empress Xu's face turned pale. Her attendant's words from earlier rang in her ears like tinnitus: the Deposed Crown Prince's guards, the Eighth Prince in danger... and now Ying Fusheng hanging by a thread.

At that moment, a sound came from outside the tent. The order for a thorough investigation had been given, and the imperial guards sent to the Deposed Crown Prince's confinement villa had returned.

The northern mountain was not far from the villa. When the Deposed Crown Prince was dragged over, his face was full of terror.

The imperial guards pulled him to a side tent. He knelt on the ground still wearing his nightclothes. When he met the emperor's gaze, fear rose in his heart. He averted his eyes and looked around, his anxiety gradually manifesting. "Father, what has happened...?"

"Where are your guards?" the emperor asked.

The Deposed Crown Prince then said, "At the villa..."

Before he could finish, a token retrieved from a corpse was hurled into his face by the emperor. Finally, a terror-stricken expression appeared on his face. He looked up sharply at his surroundings, but where were the Xu family officials? Only the emperor and the imperial guards were in the tent.

He flatly denied any involvement. "I don't know, Father. I know nothing."

The emperor said solemnly, "The evidence is laid before you, and you say you know nothing?"

The Deposed Crown Prince wondered where things had gone wrong. That person had clearly arranged everything; he had only inserted one of his own men. Now he had no idea what was happening with the Xu family and that person. In desperation, he looked for help. Through the side tent, he saw, through the gap in the unfastened tent flap, Empress Xu standing there.

"Mother! Mother, save me!" the Deposed Crown Prince turned to call to her. But when he looked, he saw the physicians gathered inside, with Empress Xu standing beside a sickbed. And the Empress Dowager was there too... A bad feeling suddenly arose. Through the gap, he saw the person lying on the bed—it was Ying Fusheng.

The Deposed Crown Prince froze. His former look of supplication turned into shock and uncertainty. He stared fixedly, confirming that Empress Xu was indeed standing by Ying Fusheng's bed.

No... Why was she next to him!?

The Deposed Crown Prince's face twisted for a moment, but was quickly overtaken by panic. In that instant, his mind raced through recent events, and he stood frozen, staring straight ahead.

What does she know? Did she know that Ying Fusheng was her biological son? Impossible—that person would never let this be exposed. That person had told him he was the one destined to ascend the throne.

Why isn't Ying Fusheng dead? That person had already set a trap to kill him—why is he still alive?

What were those Xu family officials doing? Can't they handle even this one simple thing? How could Ying Fusheng still be alive?

The silence within the tent snapped him back to reality. As if struck by a sudden revelation, he dropped all pretense and rushed toward Empress Xu: "Empress Mother! Empress Mother!"

Empress Xu was supported by a palace maid as she stepped forward. She looked at the Deposed Crown Prince, now crying uncontrollably, and recalled the fleeting look of malevolence she had caught on his face earlier.

She thought: this was the child she had nurtured for over a decade. Was he truly her son? Her gaze grew distant—one child she had painstakingly raised for years; the other had been swapped at birth and struggled to survive in the palace. Her hands trembled involuntarily as she looked at this child, now so unfamiliar she could hardly recognize him.

The Deposed Crown Prince paused before his excuses came spilling out: "I only sent someone to protect Eighth Brother! I never imagined that person would be so audacious as to harm him! He must have been hiding among my men for a long time. This has to be investigated, thoroughly investigated…"

As his words fell, everyone around turned to look at him.

The Deposed Crown Prince’s excuses came to a halt, his face stiffening as he realized what he had blurted out in panic. "I—I heard about it on the way here…"

The Imperial Guard stayed silent—without the Emperor's say-so, they wouldn't breathe a word.

The Deposed Crown Prince struggled to defend himself, even babbling incoherently to change the subject. Empress Xu, having raised him for so many years, could easily see through his act. Before her eyes, his face seemed to contort, shattering whatever was left of her defenses.

He knew about it. And he had been involved.

The Emperor, seated nearby, had lost all patience. The child kneeling before him had once been the Crown Prince on whom he had placed such high hopes. Now, reduced to this state, he hardly resembled a prince, let alone an heir to the throne. The Emperor stared coldly at him and said, "Did you also 'hear about' the previous dynasty on your way here?"

At the mention of the previous dynasty's spy, the Deposed Crown Prince's face turned ashen.

How does Father know about those people from the previous dynasty? What does he know?

Empress Xu swayed, steadying herself only with the aid of the palace maid.

She looked at the Emperor. What previous dynasty?

Seeing the Deposed Crown Prince's reaction, the Emperor understood it all: "Conspiring with traitors, plotting against your own brothers. Take him away."

"Father, I am unjustly accused—"

The Deposed Crown Prince's cries faded as he was dragged away.

…

That night stretched until dawn, and the entire tent fell into a deathly silence.

The Deposed Crown Prince was taken away by the Imperial Guard, and the secret about the swapped princes was kept tightly under wraps—none of the imperial physicians dared utter a word. Everyone’s attention was fixed on the Sixth Prince.

Given the tent's limited resources, the physicians could only arrange to have the Sixth Prince sent back to the palace.

As they were leaving, Qi Hanzhou exchanged a glance with Chen Xuqiu.

Chen Xuqiu knew what he wanted to ask, but for now, they had to wait for Ying Fusheng to make it through the next two days.

Ye Xuanjiu led the escort as the physicians and the Sixth Prince returned to the palace. Qi Hanzhou watched them go, then lowered his gaze to his own hands. The faint, barely there breath he had felt earlier left him momentarily lost in thought. He collected himself and looked beyond the tent. The Spring Hunt had gathered all the civil and military officials here, and hidden among them were the secret operatives. The most important task now was to net them all in one sweep.

Outside the tent, the other officials on the Spring Hunt grounds still didn’t know what had happened.

The Emperor’s investigation into the Xu family and the former Eastern Palace had begun without warning. Without explanation, all officials connected to the Xu family, the former Eastern Palace, and even the former Ministry of Works were taken away by the Imperial Guard for questioning.

"What is happening here?" Lord Liu, the new Minister of Works, shouted in despair.

It wasn't just him—even the factions of the other princes had no idea what was going on.

The events inside the tent that night remained a closely guarded secret for the moment, but the Imperial Guard acted swiftly and decisively.

After a day and night of investigation, the Xu family—initially the victims—found themselves under full scrutiny. Grand Secretary Xu was forced to step forward to clean up the mess, but the matter had gone beyond what words could cover. Two Xu family officials involved in designing the Spring Hunt conspiracy—one of them implicated in an assassination attempt before the Emperor—were thrown into the Imperial Guard prison, never to be heard from again.

When Grand Secretary Xu realized that someone had used his name to commit murder, he knew everything was over. He had known there were hidden agents within the Xu family, but before he could root them all out, this person had acted in the Xu name, quietly dragging the whole family into the abyss.

Previously, the Emperor had been supporting the Eighth Prince, giving the Xu family a chance. But colluding with traitors to harm a prince was a capital offense.

"Grand Secretary," said his trusted aide urgently.

Grand Secretary Xu looked like he'd aged years in an instant, his face full of dejection. "It's over."

The Imperial Guard followed the leads from the Xu family officials and the Emperor's pre-arranged traps on the hunt grounds. Those who had been signaling from the search parties, the officials who had switched the guides—almost all of them were caught in one dragnet.

Among them, the Eastern Palace bore the greatest responsibility.

The captured Xu family members gave inconsistent testimonies, claiming complete ignorance of the Eastern Palace’s affairs. Only the Deposed Crown Prince could have mobilized the guards around him to venture deep into the hunt grounds to murder his brother. This incident, which targeted a prince during the hunt, pointed squarely at the Eastern Palace. Along with the earlier Ministry of Works case, the link between the Eastern Palace and the previous dynasty's spies was now an indisputable fact.

When the investigation results were announced, the entire court was shocked. To think that this plot to murder a prince was the work of the already-deposed Crown Prince!

In an instant, due to the Xu family’s complicity in the Deposed Crown Prince’s crimes, Grand Secretary Xu was thrown into prison. The related officials were detained pending verdict, and everyone felt their position was precarious.

The first thing the Emperor did upon returning to the palace was to visit the Wutong Hall. The bait had no effect on Consort Ning, but when she heard that the Deposed Crown Prince had plotted against his own brother, her expression drastically changed. She went nearly mad, trying to defend the Deposed Crown Prince, her beautiful dream of his ascending the throne and rescuing her shattered in an instant.

Consort Ning lost her mind entirely.

Her reaction to the Deposed Crown Prince was abnormal, as if she had long known his true identity.

Within three days of the two princes being sent back to the palace, the Eighth Prince woke up first, but Ying Fusheng remained unconscious.

After being sent back to the palace, he barely made it back from the brink of death. His high fever wouldn't break, and one night his breathing almost stopped. That night, Chu Taiyi and the other physicians worked through the night, barely yanking him back from the edge. What complicated his condition was the lingering toxins in his body.

The congenital poison and the Suihongzi had sapped all his vitality.

Winter turned to spring. But the Sixth Prince did not wake on his fourteenth birthday.

The lamps in Wanchun Hall stayed lit all night. The Empress Dowager came every day, and so did Empress Xu.

No one could read Empress Xu's thoughts, but since returning to the palace that night, her hair had gone white overnight.

The Xu family and the Deposed Crown Prince's downfall was no small matter. Those in the know didn't dare breathe a word. The Emperor did not issue a decree to depose the Empress, which was likely also related to this secret of the royal family.

The imperial physicians came daily, and Chen Xuqiu stayed by his side almost without leaving. On nights when Qi Hanzhou visited secretly, he could see the ever-burning lamp beside Chen Xuqiu, its flame flickering weakly and forlornly—even the chessboard, scattered with pieces, covered in a thin layer of dust.

One night, he perched on the eaves of Wanchun Hall, watching the person inside for the entire night.

On a certain day in April, a gentle breeze drifted in through the window.

The fingers of the person lying in bed twitched slightly. His body, stiff from long sleep, seemed to slowly come back to life.

Ying Fusheng slowly opened his eyes.

Blinding light poured in, and he felt the warmth of a new day's sun.