Published at 24th of May 2022 6:16 am

Chapter 842 A Confusing Thing

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

“In fact, you don’t have to care for your old companions so much and had better think about how to treat those people around you nowadays properly,” Lin Mengya said.

Although she thought it an advantage of Madame Jingrou to care for her old companions, those who had betrayed her were meaningless to her.

It was true that Baisu once had no choice but to hide something from her.

However, Baisu did not mean to hurt her, nor did Baisu really hurt her.

Therefore, she could accept Baisu again and bear no grudges against her.

However, that was not the case for Madame Hui who deliberately managed to seduce the Emperor for a selfish reason: her pursuit of wealth.

Back then, Madame Jingrou treated Madame Hui like her sister, but Madame Hui not only coveted Madame Jingrou’s husband, but also used her delusions to stir up enmity.

It was a shameful conduct, but if Madame Hui was frank with Madame Jingrou, given Madame Jingrou’s character, she might accept Madame Hui to be an imperial concubine.

In that case, although the Emperor did not love Madame Hui, he would be nice to her considering her relationship with Madame Jingrou.

Now Madame Hui, in a predicament, could only blame herself for being too greedy.

“Alas, I care for her not just because she used to be my maid. Hui’er has been Yao Lu’s follower over the years, so she knows something better than I do. I spared her life so as to use her in the future. His Majesty told me what happened back then. You all made a mistake about one thing. Hui’er really used to be pregnant and somehow had a miscarriage later. I thought she was pregnant with His Majesty’s baby, but later I learned that His Majesty was probably unaware of her pregnancy,” Madame Jingrou said.

Uh…

Seeing Madame Jingrou’s serious look, Lin Mengya could not help but feel suspicious.

If what Madame Jingrou said was true, it would mean that Madame Hui had cheated on the Emperor?

Lin Mengya had to say the news was explosive!

“Madame, did you find out the adulterer?” After thinking for a while, Lin Mengya fetched a cup of hot tea for Madame Jingrou and asked.

“I sent some people to make an investigation, but they found no clue from the attendants, who had served Hui’er, or the others. So I’m wondering if we missed anything,” Madame Jingrou answered.

Her words were like a tossed stone that raised a thousand ripples.

Lin Mengya only felt that plenty of possibilities came into her mind, but she couldn’t figure out the truth in a short time.

Given Madame Hui’s infatuation for the Emperor, it didn’t make sense if she cheated on the Emperor and spread the news of her pregnancy after getting pregnant with the adulterer’s baby.

Unless…

“Madame, did you hear any strange rumors or see any signs before Madame Hui had the miscarriage? What made Madame Hui believe you caused her miscarriage?” Lin Mengya asked.

What had happened required a reasonable explanation. Since Madame Hui was not quite clever, why did Xin Yu say that Wanyan Jing only had expectations for her?

Besides, Madame Jingrou was definitely not a jealous and ignorant woman. Why did Madame Hui harbor a hatred for her?

Madame Jingrou thought for a moment. It had been a long time, so it would probably take her some time to recall the whole thing.

“I’ve never heard of any strange rumors. Hui’er’s pregnancy was strange. I was unaware of it at that time and just gave her some food and daily necessities considering that she used to be my maid. I have no idea what she ate so that she had a miscarriage and blamed it on me. Regarding strange things, it might be an unlucky year, during which all the pregnant imperial concubines came upon a series of misfortunes and eventually had miscarriages except for only one of them who gave birth to a baby,” Madame Jingrou said.

Hearing her words, Lin Mengya froze slightly.

Calculating the time, she found Madame Jingrou had just married into the imperial palace that year and had not gained a firm foothold.

In addition, the Empress deliberately made difficulties for Madame Jingrou, so Madame Jingrou was not the only imperial concubine favored by the Emperor at that time.

In this case, why was it so abnormal that almost all the pregnant imperial concubines lost their babies that year?

“Madame, can you tell me which imperial concubines lost their babies that year?” Lin Mengya asked.

Madame Jingrou thought for a moment and said, “Hui’er is one of them, and so is Madame Xian. I don’t remember the other two. What’s wrong?”

Lin Mengya frowned. Four premature babies! Four victims again!

In recent days, she had been troubled by the accidental deaths of the palace maids of the Linqiu Pavilion.

Now she found another four victims, the babies who had been dead for more than ten years.

Could there be any connection between the two batches of victims?

“Madame, how are the premature babies dealt with generally?” Lin Mengya asked.

Although they were unborn babies, they were still the descendants of the royal family.

Generally speaking, their bodies would be collected and buried in a special cemetery, and then their souls would be released from purgatory by someone.

“Oh, the children who die young, mainly the children of the royal family, generally will be taken to the mountain behind the imperial palace and buried there. These children had tough lives. I hope they could be born into decent families in the next life,” Madame Jingrou said.

The mountain behind the imperial palace? Wasn’t it the place where she and Long Tianyu enjoyed the night view?

As Lin Mengya thought about it, she found it increasingly strange and felt as if there were a little buffalo in her heart that kept pushing her.

She said, “Madame, I’m leaving now. Oh, yes, I want to visit the library. Please give me a pass.”

The four palace maids cut off their left wrists in a way of offering sacrifices before they got killed.

Now Lin Mengya found four babies who almost died in the same year. In particular, Madame Hui firmly believed she was pregnant with the Emperor’s baby although she was obviously not.

It seemed that someone deliberately managed to mislead Madame Hui. The person not only got her pregnant, but also made her firmly believe that she lost her baby because of Madame Jingrou.

But from another perspective, what if the person just wanted to make sure Madame Hui got pregnant that year?

In this case, the person probably did not care about who was the father of the baby.

Lin Mengya frowned tightly and had an intuition that she might have taken a step closer to the truth, but with numerous obstacles ahead, she couldn’t figure out the truth no matter how hard she tried.

At the sight of her anxious look she rarely showed, Madame Jingrou nodded with a serious look.

Without demur, Madame Jingrou took off the jade token on her waist and gave it to Lin Mengya.

She said, “Feel free to check it out. No matter what result you get, His Majesty and I will believe you. Keep this jade token properly. With it, nobody in the imperial palace will dare to stop you.”

Madame Jingrou certainly knew the gravity of the situation. Since Helan showed such a solemn expression, there must be something serious.

Lin Mengya immediately said goodbye to Madame Jingrou and went to the library in the imperial palace with the jade token.

The eunuch on duty knew Lin Mengya was sent by Madame Jingrou after taking a look at the jade token.

He immediately pushed the heavy wooden door open and invited Lin Mengya in.

Lin Mengya said, “Thank you. In fact, I’m here to borrow some books that record all kinds of affairs in the imperial palace in detail. You know, now Madame Jingrou has to handle various affairs in the imperial palace at all times. With some former practices, Madame Jingrou will be able to handle affairs with higher proficiency.”

She certainly couldn’t show even the slightest emotion in front of outsiders.

The imperial palace was different from other places. All things that happened in the imperial palace must be recorded in detail.

In addition to the affairs concerning the Emperor and the imperial concubines with titles, if someone was missing, it would be recorded in brief. Nevertheless, it was insignificant, so it would at best be recorded as someone’s disappearance.

Basically, these records would be destroyed once every few decades.

In fact, Lin Mengya wanted to borrow some other books.

“You’re right, Miss. These books are all stored in the stack room inside. They record all kinds of affairs in the entire Lieyun Empire, not to mention the affairs in the imperial palace,” the eunuch mentioned this on purpose in order to curry favor with her.

However, hearing his words, Lin Mengya felt a surge of joy.

Lin Mengya tried hard to suppress her excitement, and she did not walk to the back of the bookshelf and begin to search the book she wanted according to the information on the bookshelf until the eunuch got out.

She supposed Madame Hui had a miscarriage 18 years ago.

She took out the books that recorded the affairs in the imperial palace and flipped through them in chronological order. Finally, she found the book that recorded the affairs concerning the imperial concubines 18 years ago.

As she expected, Madame Hui, Madame Xian, a Beauty and a Lady-in-waiting had miscarriages that year.

Although they were fine, it was true that they lost their babies.

Four babies… Lin Mengya was about to put down the book in her hand, but found there were following records.

Apart from the four unborn babies, four children under the age of 6 died in succession during the next year.

Lin Mengya got gooseflesh all over. The Emperor was not the father of all the four children, but they were all related to the royal family.

That was to say, they would also be taken to the mountain behind the imperial palace!

Four babies died in the first year, followed by four children who died in the second year. What happened in the third and fourth years?

She flipped through the following records, but found many things were recorded sporadically, so she found no clue.

Lin Mengya put the book back on the bookshelf, while her brain was working at a rapid rate.

What was the connection among them?

“You noticed it too?” All of a sudden, there came a deep voice she was familiar with but exceptionally afraid of from behind her.

Lin Mengya immediately leaned against the wall and looked warily at the man in blue who suddenly appeared in her sight.

The man gave a faint smile, looking like a gentleman.

There seemed to be a trace of tenderness in his eyes, but it sent a chill down Lin Mengya’s spine.

“Mr. Zhu, why are you here?” Lin Mengya asked.

The man in front of her was exactly the elusive Mr. Zhu who included everyone in his schemes.

Now he suddenly appeared in front of Lin Mengya and said that. How could Lin Mengya not be panic-stricken?

“Don’t panic. I mean no harm to you. I come here to help you. But now, I should make something clear to you. In fact, it’s better to call me uncle than Mr. Zhu,” he said.

Lin Mengya stared at Mr. Zhu, while her brain was working at a rapid rate.

Un… uncle?

Her mother was the eldest princess of the Nation of Lintian. Since Mr. Zhu asked her to call him uncle, could it be that he was also a royal of the Nation of Lintian?

“You’re right. I used to be a royal of the Nation of Lintian, the incompetent emperor who died of illness before fulfilling his ambition,” he said.

Share