The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 869 - 869 The Truth Revealed (Part 2)_2

Chapter 869: The Truth Revealed (Part 2)_2 Chapter 869: The Truth Revealed (Part 2)_2 Empress Dowager Zhuang was irritated, “Speak quickly if you have something to say, and fart if you need to.”

Consort Jing’s mood, however, was quite good, for she knew that what she was about to reveal would torment this woman for a lifetime!

She chuckled, “Did the late Emperor know about sister’s true character? If he had known, wouldn’t sister have fallen out of favor long ago? Sister has always played the part very well.”

Empress Dowager Zhuang stood up to leave.

She truly had no patience for listening to this green tea session.

Consort Jing spoke up, “About sister’s child!”

Empress Dowager Zhuang halted in her steps.

Consort Jing looked at Empress Dowager Zhuang with satisfaction, “Does sister want to know where that child went?”

Empress Dowager Zhuang turned her head and frowned, “What child?”

Consort Jing’s laughter shook like flower stalks in the breeze, “I’m talking about sister’s own flesh and blood. Surely, sister didn’t think she actually gave birth to a stillborn, did she?”

Empress Dowager Zhuang’s face was a picture of confusion as she stared at her.

Consort Jing laughed maniacally, her shoulders trembling, “I knew sister would be shocked! Has sister always thought herself so clever… Yet sister never knew she was always kept in the dark by the late Emperor. Does sister want to know where her own flesh and blood went?”

“Is this the trash the late Emperor told you?”

“How so? Sister can’t believe it? It’s true, after being deceived for so many years, anyone would resist accepting the truth. I intended to tell sister this on the carriage ride, but sister wouldn’t let me speak. Tonight, I shall show great mercy and tell sister once more. Sister’s child… didn’t die.”

Empress Dowager Zhuang opened her mouth to speak, then hesitated, ultimately letting out a sigh.

“Sister isn’t curious about who the child is and where they are?”

Empress Dowager Zhuang hesitated for the second time.

Consort Jing saw no sorrow on her face, but that was not surprising. This woman always maintained such a strong front in public, never showing weakness.

Gazing intently at her, Consort Jing cheerfully said, “It’s His Majesty! That child is His Majesty! His Majesty is sister’s own flesh and blood! The late Emperor had long seen through sister’s ambitions and was ever-vigilant to prevent sister from conceiving. But sister’s capability was great, and she conceived nonetheless. In desperation, His Majesty took drastic measures and took sister’s child away. Coincidentally, a palace maid was pregnant around the same time as sister. His Majesty thought of a plan to swap the dragons. However, sister was stricken three days too early, and the child didn’t arrive, so His Majesty declared that sister had given birth to a stillborn.”

Empress Dowager Zhuang sneered, “Consort Jing, don’t you see how full of holes your story is? If I had given birth to a living child, who was then given to that palace maid, where was the palace maid’s child placed?”

Consort Jing chuckled, “The Emperor raised the child among the common folk.”

“Tsk,” Empress Dowager Zhuang uttered a laugh, “Consort Jing, Consort Jing, how pitiful you are. You believe such ghost stories. I suppose if that man said he was a woman, you’d believe that too!”

Consort Jing became furiously angry, “Zhuang Jinse!”

Empress Dowager Zhuang shook her head with amusement, “You truly did love the late Emperor deeply. No matter how much I insult you, you don’t react. But as soon as I mock the late Emperor, you fly into a rage. Let me guess, after you entered the palace, did you consider giving up your family’s mission to restore their power for the late Emperor? It’s a pity that the late Emperor’s heart was never truly with you, and even on his deathbed, he wanted to take you down with him. Oh, I forgot to mention, even as a sacrificial escort in death, you could only be buried in the concubine’s mausoleum. On the road to Huangquan, the late Emperor only wanted to hold my hand as we crossed the Naihe Bridge. You must be seething with jealousy.”

Consort Jing’s gaze started to grow manic, her body began to quiver slightly.

“Let me tell you what all of this is really about. The late Emperor left an imperial edict, but he wasn’t even sure if it could be proclaimed successfully since, after all, I had great ambition and gradually became uncontrollable after overseeing the state. He feared I would find the edict and destroy it. If that day ever came, the Qin Family’s empire would have fallen into my hands long ago. The late Emperor told you this only hoping to use you to constrain me in the future. Did the late Emperor also say to you, ‘Don’t tell Honghong about his origins’…”

“I trust no one but you, because you raised Honghong with your own hands. The only person in the world who could never harm Honghong is you.”

“I trust no one but you, because you raised Honghong with your own hands. The only person in the world who could never harm Honghong is you.”

The words of Empress Dowager Zhuang perfectly overlapped with the voice in Consort Jing’s mind.

Consort Jing’s body jerked violently!

Empress Dowager Zhuang continued, mimicking the late Emperor’s tone, “But Honghong is too close to his mother. I worry he might give away the empire. When the time comes, you must persuade Honghong!”

Consort Jing’s face drained of color!

How could this be?

How could this be?

Consort Jing panicked, “You, you eavesdropped on the late Emperor and me talking!”

Empress Dowager Zhuang chuckled, “Do I need to eavesdrop? The second year I entered the palace, I stopped seeing that man as my husband.”

She only saw him as an emperor — an emperor whose every characteristic she needed to analyze so as to avoid all the risks of the Imperial Harem!

“Only the late Emperor didn’t expect that you were no easy foe either. I didn’t steal the edict—it was you who stole it. The late Emperor was smart all his life, but foolish for a moment. You believed the late Emperor’s words and thought we were mother and son, which is why you were so scared that you drugged the Emperor. White drugs weren’t enough, you also used the black ones.”

Empress Dowager Zhuang said, looking at Consort Jing with pity, “Really, you’re so pitiful.”

Consort Jing trembled, “No, it’s not possible… It can’t be…”

Empress Dowager Zhuang stood up and walked towards the exit, pausing at the door, she looked out into the boundless night and said, “Also, the late Emperor didn’t grow angry and estrange me because I gave birth to a stillborn; it was me who told the late Emperor, ‘You can go, I never want to see you again in this lifetime.’ Consort Jing, I rejected him.”

The last bastion in Consort Jing’s heart… collapsed completely!