While thanking the Dowager Consort, Hai Ling carefully examined her and discovered that Ye did indeed resemble Dowager Consort Jinlan somewhat. Although not exactly alike, there were still similarities in their features. This further solidified her belief that Dowager Consort Jinlan was Ye's mother, and the Empress Dowager was likely the mother of Prince Zhaoyang. However, although Ye and Prince Zhaoyang were the same age, Ye was more than a month older than him. Why hadn't Dowager Consort Jinlan noticed the difference in their ages?
Hai Ling thought suspiciously, then reached out and pulled Consort Jinlan to sit down together.
Consort Jinlan smiled at Hailing and said softly, "Ling'er, don't you think it's strange how people are? I took a liking to you the moment I saw you, as if I had liked you for a long time."
This is similar to the night; could it be said that the mother and son are of one mind?
Hai Ling smiled gently as she looked at Consort Jinlan: "Ling'er also likes Your Highness, Consort Jinlan."
"From then on, we treated each other like mother and daughter."
The Dowager Consort laughed. In fact, Dowager Consort Jinlan was a very elegant person. She looked down on ordinary women. Although there were many women in the Zhaoyang Prince's residence, almost none of them could catch her eye. She mostly stayed at the Zhaoyang Prince's residence and paid no attention to the women in the Zhaoyang Prince's courtyard. She did not require them to pay their respects. Therefore, very few women could catch the Dowager Consort's eye. So, it was rare for the Dowager Consort to like someone, and she was especially happy.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Hai Ling agreed to everything, then remembered the purpose of bringing the Dowager Consort to the palace. The Dowager Consort could not stay away from Prince Zhaoyang's residence for too long. If she was away for too long, it would be troublesome if Prince Zhaoyang found out. With this in mind, she spoke up.
"Today, Ling'er brought the Dowager Consort to the palace because she has something she wants to ask her."
“Ling’er, go ahead and tell me. I know you are a sensible person and wouldn’t bring me into the palace rashly. There must be a reason for you to bring me into the palace.”
"Ling'er wants to ask about the matter of the Dowager Consort giving birth to Prince Zhaoyang back then. Was there anything wrong with the Dowager Consort giving birth to Prince Zhaoyang back then?"
The Empress Dowager thought Hailing wanted to ask about the Empress Dowager, but unexpectedly she asked about her son, Prince Zhaoyang. She raised her eyebrows in surprise: "Why is the Empress asking about Yi'er? Did Yi'er do something?"
The Dowager Princess grabbed Hailin's hand, looking very nervous.
Hai Ling watched all this and sighed inwardly. It seemed the Dowager Consort didn't know that Prince Zhaoyang wasn't her biological son. If she knew that her son had been switched at birth, how much pain would she feel? Seeing the Dowager Consort's anxiety for Prince Zhaoyang, she realized that if Ye had lived by her side all this time, he would surely be very happy. Instead, he had become the Empress Dowager's tool. Thinking of this, Hai Ling hated the Empress Dowager even more. She never expected her to be so vicious and hateful.
"It's alright, Your Highness. I have some strange questions, so I would like to ask Your Highness for clarification. It has nothing to do with Prince Zhaoyang, so Your Highness need not worry."
Instead of immediately telling the Dowager Consort Ye Cai that he might be her son, Hai Ling pressed her for details about what happened back then.
The Dowager Princess finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Hai Ling's words. She was still a little puzzled by Hai Ling's question about giving birth to her son back then, but she trusted Hai Ling's character, which was why she said that she wouldn't have paid attention to anyone else. With these thoughts in mind, the Dowager Princess slowly fell into her memories.
"Actually, when Yi was born, he was very much loved by the late emperor. For a time, the late emperor even wanted to make him the crown prince. But later he saw that he was really mediocre and had no achievements, so he did not make him the crown prince. However, as a mother, I only care about his safety. I don't care whether he becomes the emperor or not."
After the Dowager Consort finished speaking, she smiled. Hailing seized on the Dowager Consort's words and asked seriously, "Why did the late Emperor like him?"
Upon hearing this, the Dowager Princess became interested and spoke with great pleasure.
"Do you know? When Yi was born, he was fair-skinned and chubby, and his hair was already quite long. You know, he didn't look like a wrinkled newborn baby at all. I've seen other babies, and they were all wrinkled and red, but Yi wasn't like that. He was fair-skinned and very cute from birth, so when the late emperor saw him, he said he had a blessed appearance and liked him very much."
After the Dowager Consort finished speaking, Hai Ling's eyes suddenly darkened. As a doctor, she naturally knew that newborn babies are all wrinkled. The child that Dowager Consort Jinlan gave birth to was probably the Empress Dowager's son, who was born more than a month earlier. After more than a month of feeding, the child was naturally chubby and cute, unlike a newborn baby.
"How could the Empress Dowager have time to switch this child?" Hai Ling wondered to herself, asking the question without making a sound.
"Was the Dowager Consort's delivery of Prince Zhaoyang a natural birth?"
"It was a natural birth, but I was in so much pain that I fainted."
After the Dowager Consort finished speaking, Hailing had a general idea of what was going on. After giving birth, the Dowager Consort fainted, and the Empress Dowager happened to pass by the palace where the Dowager Consort lived. It is very likely that she drugged the other people in the palace and then tampered with the palace to put her own child next to the Dowager Consort, while taking the Dowager Consort's child away.
"So that's how it is," Hailin finally understood, and a smile slowly crept onto her lips.
"Your Highness, Ling'er is a doctor, is Your Highness aware of this?"
Upon hearing Hai Ling's words, Consort Jinlan nodded. She knew about this matter. The Empress had cured the daughter-in-law of the Prince of Ning's family, a disease that even the imperial physicians were helpless against. She had also heard that the renowned physician Shen was her apprentice, so her medical skills were naturally quite remarkable.
"It's no secret that the Empress is a physician."
"Then Ling'er has something to tell the Dowager Consort, I wonder if the Dowager Consort believes it."
Seeing Hai Ling's serious expression, Consort Jinlan unconsciously became nervous and looked at Hai Ling very intently.
"Newborn babies are all wrinkled. No baby is born fair and chubby because the limited space in the mother's body prevents them from growing freely. Only by taking good care of them after birth will they become fair and chubby."
Hai Ling's words puzzled the Empress Dowager. She wondered what the Empress meant by that. Then she thought of her son, Ye Ranyi, who was born healthy and chubby. What did the Empress mean by that?
"Didn't the Dowager Consort consider that the child might not be her newborn son?"
Upon hearing Hai Ling's words, the Empress Dowager was startled and hurriedly stood up, staring at Hai Ling with a look of fear on her face.
"How is this possible? Yi isn't my son, then where is my son?"
After the Dowager finished speaking, she shook her head repeatedly: "No, no, if Yi is not my son, then where is my son?"
She was terrified of hearing bad news and shook her head repeatedly. Her eyes were filled with anxiety and fear. Hai Ling could tell that the Dowager was frightened, so she quickly spoke softly, "Your Highness, please don't be anxious. It's alright. If Prince Zhaoyang wasn't your son, wouldn't you want to know where your son is?"
"Does that mean Ling'er knows where my son went?"
The Dowager Consort grabbed Hailing's hand anxiously. The Empress was still a highly skilled doctor. Now she said that a newborn baby wouldn't be chubby and fair-skinned. So, was Yi really not her son? If that were the case, whose child was he? And where was her own son?
While asking Hailing, the Dowager Princess anxiously called out to a nanny behind her.
"Qingzhu, tell me, what happened in the palace that day? Weren't you in the palace the whole time? If Yi isn't my son, then where is my son?"
As she asked, she couldn't help but tremble. If Yi wasn't her son, and her son had been murdered, she couldn't forgive herself. How could a mother have failed like this? She really should commit suicide to see her son.
Qingzhu was the nanny who had always served the Dowager Consort. In the past, when she was young, she was a trusted confidante of the Dowager Consort. Upon hearing the Dowager Consort's words, she knelt down with a thud and spoke in a panic.
"It is my fault that I deserve to die. I did conceal some things. Please punish me, Your Highness."
Qingzhu was shocked to find out about what happened back then after so many years. Her expression changed. The situation back then was that they were in the palace, taking care of the Dowager Consort who had just given birth. As for the little prince, the female imperial physicians who delivered him had taken care of him and placed him beside the Dowager Consort. At that time, the Dowager Consort fainted. The female imperial physicians prescribed a prescription for the Consort to take care of herself and then withdrew. Only a few of them, the close maids, were serving her in the palace. But who knew that they had fallen asleep in a daze.
Upon waking, they were all terrified. If the matter were discovered, they would surely be beheaded. So, the palace maids who served them closely agreed to conceal the accident together.
Unexpectedly, it has now been revealed that the prince may not be the son of the Dowager Consort. In that case, they were drugged back then, rather than falling asleep from exhaustion.