bookcurios Chapter 167 You call her Miss Wei, so who are you?
Chapter 167 You call her Miss Wei, so who are you?
Royal Palace, Jinluan Hall.
All the officials were there, but Wei Mingcheng was the only one feeling uneasy. Chu Xingyue had not shown up yet, and he didn't know how his Ying'er was doing.
Emperor Ying flipped through a few memorials and found nothing important. He was about to adjourn the court when he saw Chu Xingyue coming in from outside the palace, followed by a woman holding a child. When he saw the woman's appearance, he thought it was the third prince's wife "Wei Zhiying", so he said, "Princess Jing, if you have anything to say, wait until I adjourn the court." He was frightened by Ye Linglong and thought it was another jealousy between the two.
Wei Mingcheng finally saw his precious daughter and little grandson whom he hadn't seen for more than a year. He was very excited, but he couldn't go forward to recognize them at the moment. Wei Jinghe went back in the middle of the night and told him that Prince Jing would keep the Prime Minister's Mansion. He was afraid that it would disrupt Prince Jing's plan, so he just waited for Prince Jing to show up.
"Father, I have something important to tell you." Chu Xingyue pulled Wei Zhiying and walked forward a few steps.
When the officials saw this scene, they were all secretly wondering, why did Prince Xuan bring Princess Jing with him? Mu Huairen couldn't help but mutter: How should this kid get along with Wei Zhiying? What's going on with that child?
Emperor Ying's face darkened when he saw this, and he said unhappily, "Fourth Brother, why are you pulling your third sister-in-law? Where did this child come from?"
Chu Xingyue let go of Wei Zhiying, turned around to look at the ministers, and when she saw Wei Mingcheng, she walked up to him and said with a smile: "Prime Minister Wei, why don't you come and tell my father what's going on?"
Wei Mingcheng raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his face and looked at Wei Zhiying. When Wei Zhiying saw her father, tears welled up in her eyes. That was the father she missed day and night, but she couldn't recognize him at the moment. She wanted to insist that she was not Wei Zhiying.
"What's going on?" Emperor Ying looked at Chu Xingyue inquiringly.
"Since Prime Minister Wei doesn't dare to say it, then I'll say it." Chu Xingyue returned to Wei Zhiying's side and pinched Xiaobao's face again, almost putting her face close to Wei Zhiying's face, and asked provocatively: "How about it, Miss Wei, are you and your son ready?"
Upon hearing this, all the ministers looked at Chu Xingyue in confusion, wondering: When did Princess Jing give birth to a child?
Emperor Ying also asked, "Whose child do you think this is?"
"Father, this child is born to Miss Wei Zhiying, and the one in front of us is Prime Minister Wei's biological daughter! The so-called Princess Jing is a fake, she just looks like Wei Zhiying, and Prime Minister Wei knew all this from beginning to end. Wei Mingcheng and the entire prime minister's mansion have committed the crime of deceiving the emperor! And there is also the Princess Jing who pretended to be Wei Zhiying!" After saying that, Chu Xingyue looked at Wei Mingcheng with some pride.
When these words came out, it was like a bolt of thunder out of the blue. All the ministers were shocked, and Emperor Ying was even more incredulous.
"Fourth brother, stop talking nonsense!" Emperor Ying stood up.
"Father, if you don't believe me, you can ask Miss Wei!"
"Who are you?" Emperor Ying walked down and stood in front of Wei Zhiying. Wei Mingcheng's heart was in his throat.
"Father!" At this time, Chu Xingluo's voice sounded from outside the hall.
Emperor Ying looked up and saw Chu Xingluo and "Wei Zhiying" coming in together. He thought he was seeing things, so he looked at Wei Zhiying in front of him again and again, and then he was sure that he was not mistaken.
The ministers were also stunned. What was going on? How could there be two identical people? Could it be that what King Xuan said was true?
Xia Taoyuan walked quickly to Wei Zhiying, and was relieved to see that both mother and son were safe and sound. When everyone compared them, they realized that there were still differences between the two. Princess Jing was taller and stronger, with thicker eyebrows and a flatter nose, but it was really hard to tell them apart if they were not compared together.
Emperor Ying looked at a few people, and finally his eyes fell on Chu Xingluo, and asked: "What's going on?"
Before Chu Xingluo could say anything, Xia Taoyuan suddenly knelt on the ground, grabbed Wei Zhiying's clothes and cried, "I'm sorry, Miss Wei, I made you like this. Your Majesty, it's my fault. This matter has nothing to do with Miss Wei and Prime Minister Wei."
"Taotao!" Chu Xingluo called softly, and he wanted to pull her.
Xia Taoyuan cried again, "Your Majesty, it's my fault. I deceived everyone!" At this time she could no longer call him father.
Chu Xingyue sneered, "Don't pretend. You want to take all the blame on yourself, but you're wrong! I saw Wei Jinghe with Wei Zhiying in Yunzhou with my own eyes, and he even called her Zhiying! Who are you? Are you a spy sent by Nanzhu Kingdom?!"
This statement quickly aroused everyone's curiosity. If the Princess of Jing was really not Wei Zhiying, and considering that she and Qi Nanfeng had been out all night not long ago, some ministers began to believe that what the King of Xuan said was right.
"You're talking nonsense!" Chu Xingluo glared at Chu Xingyue angrily.
"Enough!" Emperor Ying said sternly. He was angry and had no peace of mind every day.
Emperor Ying walked up to Xia Taoyuan and said coldly, "You call her Miss Wei, so who are you?"
Xia Taoyuan wiped away her tears and said incoherently, "I am from Dongye Prefecture. My parents died when I was young, and I was left alone. Later, a flood hit my hometown and submerged the thatched houses at home. I had no place to live and couldn't even afford to eat. An aunt in the village took pity on me and took me away. But because I didn't know how to do anything, I could only beg for a living with the aunt. I also tried to find someone to be a maid, but seeing how dirty we were, they all rejected us."
Xia Taoyuan spoke slowly. She was not afraid of being investigated. When she first came to Beiyue, she heard from Yu'er that there was indeed a Dongyezhou, where Yu'er had a relative. More than ten years ago, there was indeed a flood that flooded the village, and people left there. Moreover, before she and Chu Xingluo came to the palace, she went to the prime minister's residence to find Wei Jinghe. She told Wei Jinghe a story she made up, just because she was afraid that Emperor Ying would send someone to test Wei Jinghe's opinion.
"Father, don't listen to her nonsense!" Chu Xingyue said.
"Listen to her!" Emperor Ying said in a deep voice.
"My aunt heard that the people of Yunjun City lived a prosperous life under the leadership of the emperor and that they were all very kind, so she wanted to come here to make a living and brought me to Yunjun City to beg. But after we arrived, my aunt suddenly fell ill and passed away not long after. I had no relatives here, only myself. I was young and didn't know anything, so I could only beg. I also wanted to work as a maid in a wealthy family, but I heard that the threshold for admission to a wealthy family was very high, and I didn't know anything, so I had no choice but to continue begging."
"Later, I went to Jinshi Street. Because there were a lot of people there, many rich ladies came out to buy things. Some were very generous. They would give food to beggars when they saw them, and if they were lucky, they would even give them some silver."
"A few years ago, I met a kind lady, but she didn't recognize me because I was always unkempt. She asked her maid to give me two steamed buns. I didn't dare to look up because I was afraid of scaring her. Later, I heard that this lady was Miss Wei Zhiying from the Xiangfu."
"Later, another time, when I was begging, a little beggar next to me said, 'Miss Wei is here again.' I wanted to see what my benefactor looked like, and when I saw her clearly, I was shocked. She looked exactly like me. That time, Miss Wei gave me some loose change."
"I know my conscience has been eaten by a dog. When I learned that Miss Wei and I looked alike, I actually had evil intentions. Why is she the daughter of a prime minister, and I am just a stinky beggar? I came up with a plan."
"Another beggar and I decided that if we see Miss Wei again, we will take her to a deserted place and switch with her. Then I will go to the prime minister's residence and promise to give the man five hundred taels of silver to ask him to take Miss Wei to a faraway place."
The hall was very quiet, everyone was listening to what Xia Taoyuan said. Wei Mingcheng was grateful, knowing that Miss Xia had decided to take on everything herself.
Chu Xingluo looked at Xia Taoyuan worriedly, and of course he understood what she was thinking.
Emperor Ying and all the ministers were listening carefully. Xia Taoyuan continued, "One day I saw Miss Wei bringing a little maid out to buy things. I took the initiative to step forward and said that I bought a handkerchief for her to thank her for her kindness. I tampered with the handkerchief and put a drug on it. I waved it in front of Miss Wei, and Miss Wei and the maid followed me uncontrollably. In this way, we arrived at a remote place where no one usually goes. I knocked Miss Wei unconscious, washed myself, changed Miss Wei's clothes, and led the maid to Jinshi Street. When she woke up, she didn't notice it. The beggar said that Miss Wei was taken to Yunzhou by him, and it seemed that she didn't remember anything because I hit her on the head."
"Later, after I had established myself in the Prime Minister's Mansion, I gave the promised five hundred taels of silver to the beggar. He said that Miss Wei was rescued by a man in Yunzhou, and later that man married Miss Wei. I felt relieved, after all, I felt sorry for her and didn't want anything to happen to her. In the Prime Minister's Mansion, I was very careful every day, and it was never discovered that I was not the real Miss Wei. Later, I got engaged to Prince Jing and got married. I thought it would be done secretly and no one would find out. Unexpectedly..." Xia Taoyuan didn't say anything else.