The cat leaps off the page, and Ji Ying, dressed in a pure white brocade robe, asks, "Take a look, how is my drawing?"
The chief eunuch Yang Ruo stepped forward, his old face beaming with joy: "Brilliant!"
"Send it to the Empress."
"Your Majesty," a palace maid bowed as she entered, "the princess has arrived."
...
The door to the secret room opened, and Yan Qing walked in expressionlessly: "What do you want with me now?"
The female Taoist priest huffed, "We've found that old woman's whereabouts. Whether you want to kill her or bury her, give us your answer."
"..."
It happened more than a decade ago, but the memory is still vivid.
After a brief silence, Yan Qing's expression turned cold: "Still alive."
"To survive by clinging to life."
"Then bring him here by kidnapping, and keep him alive under my nose."
"Not kill?"
"Killing her would be so boring. Tie her up, sever her Achilles tendons, and see where she can escape to then?"
Gu Chenzi sighed twice: "Meeting you has made your good daughter's life so miserable. Being loved by you, Ji Ying is too pitiful. He is pitiful, the Empress is pitiful, the whole family is pitiful. We all grew up eating the same rice, how come you turned out so badly?"
The Yan family is one of the most prestigious families in the Great Yan Dynasty. With such outstanding examples before them, it's impossible to say that the Yan family's upbringing is inadequate.
Madam Wei, twirling her prayer beads, said, "We worship the same master. Your junior brother saves people, while you kill for me. One is righteous, the other is evil. You and I are equally wicked."
The female Taoist was satisfied with her statement and said with a smile, "That's why we're a match made in heaven."
"Go do your thing."
...
A dark and windy night for murder.
Beijing, cramped alleyways of the lowest social class.
There was no need for the Old Ancestor of Suspended Yin to capture one person. The three men in black used their lightness skills to travel and happened to encounter the group that came to silence them.
The two sides fought fiercely, but neither gained an advantage and both returned empty-handed.
That night, the frightened midwife packed her bags and hid in a more secluded place, disappearing like a rat scurrying into a sewer.
"waste!"
The Empress Dowager slammed her hand on the table: "You can't even kill a dying old woman, what use are you?"
"Master, please calm down! It's not that we can't kill them, it's that someone is stopping us..."
Who is it?
"A person of the martial arts world".
"Not from the imperial palace?"
"Judging from that martial arts skill and movement, he's definitely not from the Imperial Guard!"
Yan Hui suppressed her anger and closed her eyes: "Find the person three feet into the ground and destroy the evidence. If that doesn't work, you can bring your heads to me."
...
"They didn't bring him here?"
Gu Chenzi tugged at the hair on his whisk: "The people we sent out encountered resistance, resulting in mutual destruction."
Why don't you go yourself?
"What a joke! I have three thousand disciples, why would I need to personally go and bind a lame old woman?" The female Taoist's white robes were dazzling in the candlelight.
Yan Qing scoffed: "Didn't you still lose?"
"You can't escape. You should think about who wanted to kill that old woman."
"I can tell with my eyes closed that it's that old hag from Fushou Palace who's trying to manipulate me."
"Do as you please. Come find me again when you want bloodshed at Fushou Palace." Gu Chenzi lightly waved his whisk: "It's too late, I'm going to sleep."
She walked away along the stone path, the other end of which led to the stronghold of the female Taoists in the capital.
The Old Ancestor of Suspended Yin roamed the martial world using unorthodox methods. Eighteen years ago, the chaos in the palace was largely her doing.
Unable to bring the midwife, Yan Qing chuckled: Oh well, does a barefoot person have to be afraid of someone wearing shoes?
Yan Hui should be the one who's worried.
She returned to her inner room and fell peacefully asleep.
That night, the first waves of change began.
Not to mention the several dangerous assassination attempts that the old woman went through afterward, a few days later, at midnight, at Gan Ning Palace.
Kneeling on the brightly lit ground was a shivering, emaciated old woman. Her long life on the run had made her like a rat born in a stinking ditch, timid and afraid to face anyone.
The Empress hesitated, "This is..."
The emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty, clad in a jade belt and long robe, with eyes like stars, spoke each word with an inexplicable heaviness: "This is Nian, a person who knows the truth of what happened back then. Raise your head."
Chapter 61 The Truth of That Year
"Is this the Nian family?"
Yan Xiu was secretly surprised to receive Ji Ying's confirmation again.
In her memory, Nian was an extremely respectable person. Nian's parents were servants of the Yan family. Nian was born and raised in the Yan family. Yan Xiu was more than twenty years older than her. Even though she was nominally a servant, Yan Xiu never treated her like a servant.
The full name of Nian was Nian Jiaojiao. She loved to wear clean clothes. She was beautiful and skillful. She had worked as a hairdresser, a makeup artist, an embroiderer, and a wet nurse. She was highly regarded by everyone in the household.
Later, she couldn't remember which day it was, but Nian Shi became interested in childbirth. Her mother, wanting to promote her, allowed her to learn, intending to train her and place her by her side.
However, after many years in the empress's palace, her belly remained empty. After completing her studies, Lady Nian had no opportunity to use her talents, but thanks to her years of loyalty and honesty, she smoothly became a manager in the Gan Ning Palace.
Both Yan Xiu and Ji Ying believed they had treated her well.
However, after the palace turmoil ended, Lady Nian simply vanished without a trace.
If Ji Ying hadn't sent people to search for him in secret, persisting for over a decade to drag him out of the shadows, this person might have lived in anonymity for the rest of his life.
Let the truth sink into the abyss forever.
Yan Xiu understood the principle of self-preservation and did not criticize him harshly.
As a mother, all she wants to know is who her and Aying's biological child is, and what exactly happened after she fainted back then.
She looked at the ugly and horrifying Nian Jiaojiao and reached out to remove the bits of grass floating on her head.
Startled, Nian stumbled backward, crying out, "Don't kill me...don't kill me...I don't know anything, I don't know anything..."
The old man, now in his sixties, was unrecognizable. He was skin and bones, disfigured, and lame. His fair skin had been tanned dark by years of wind and sun, and he was a far cry from the former head steward of the Qianning Palace.
All the hard work and respectability he had built up was thrown into an abyss. Eighteen long years have passed, and everything has changed.
Yan Xiu felt a lump in her throat and withdrew her outstretched hand.
Knowing that the Nian family had had a difficult time living in anonymity all these years, and not wanting to frighten her, the dignified Empress took two steps back.
The old man kneeling on the ground was like a frightened bird, repeating the same words over and over, and he didn't seem to be in good spirits.
After eighteen years of searching, they finally found a person who was 'mentally unstable' and knew about the situation. Ji Ying's knuckles, hidden in her sleeve, slowly tightened.
Whether she was truly insane or faking it, once she was in front of her, Yan Xiu was determined to get to the bottom of it. She tried to stay calm.
The Empress, with her regal bearing, spoke with increasing gentleness, and as soon as she opened her mouth, Lady Nian, who was in a state of panic, gradually calmed down.
"Do you remember me? Nanny, I'm Ah Xiu."
“Ah Xiu…”
Mr. Nian looked up timidly, his aged and frightening face a shocking sight in the candlelight.
Yan Xiu wasn't frightened by her, nor did she seem disgusted by the old woman's strong, sour smell: "Grandma, don't you remember little A Xiu?"
"Little A-xiu? A-xiu...who is A-xiu? Hungry...so hungry..." She lay on the ground, her stomach growling.
"Take him away."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The chief eunuch Yang Ruo took Lady Nian away and arranged for reliable people to treat her, groom her, and take good care of her.
The Empress stared intently at the hunched back, her body swaying slightly. Ji Ying steadied her in time, saying, "Take it slow, let's take it slow."
Do you believe she's truly insane?
"From a moral standpoint, I hope she is sober."
After eighteen years of living with a heavy heart, Yan Xiu's brows betrayed a hint of weariness: "Why won't she acknowledge me? Why won't she tell me the truth? I just want to get my daughter back, I just want to know the truth..."
"I know, I know..." Ji Ying couldn't hide her heartache and hugged her tightly: "Wait a little longer, it will be soon."
In the dead of night, a lame and ugly old woman was secretly sent into the Gan Ning Palace. This matter was kept well hidden, and only the Emperor, Empress and His Majesty's confidants knew about it.
Lady Nian was settled in a side hall and guarded day and night by designated personnel.
The female physician, Song, was kind-hearted and went to great lengths to treat Nian's old ailment.
There's a saying that goes, "No matter how loud you shout, you can't wake someone who's pretending to be asleep." Lady Nian insisted on playing the fool, refusing to utter a word even when pried open with knives and axes, which eventually made the Empress calm down and deal with her.
The sudden emergence of Nian Jiaojiao tormented more than just Yan Xiu.
How long has it been and they still haven't found anyone? In the Bright Moon Palace, Princess Jiaorong paced back and forth, her heart filled with restlessness. Even chrysanthemum tea couldn't calm her agitation.
"That person must not be allowed to live!"
"But what about the Empress Dowager..."
Ji Qingyao said in a deep voice, "I'm going to see my grandmother."
Her identity could be known by the Marquis of Yiyang and his wife, and could be controlled by the Empress Dowager, but it could not be confirmed by the Emperor and Empress. She needed to rely on the power of three parties to succeed, and if any one of them went wrong, she would lose everything.