Chapter 1032 Reunited (2)
The imperial guards stopped.
Zongzheng Wei also got the Saintess to stop.
The Empress Dowager looked at her son, who was fine on the dragon throne, and quickly walked over. "I heard that an assassin came to the throne room. You're injured! Let Mother take a look!"
Yin Chongshan lowered his eyes.
The Empress Dowager was led over by her sister, Consort Yin.
Of course, the civil and military officials could not suppress the person on the dragon throne. Everything they had done just now was just stalling for time.
The real person they wanted to invite was the Empress Dowager.
"Mother"
Zongzheng Wei looked at the white-haired Empress Dowager and spoke with difficulty.
The Empress Dowager was focused on her son and did not notice the others in the hall.
As soon as she heard someone call her mother from behind, she subconsciously turned around.
Zongzheng Wei's eyes began to turn red.
The Empress Dowager froze.
She looked at the man in front of her in disbelief.
After so many years, he was no longer the young man he used to be, but this face that had been corroded by time could clearly overlap with her memories.
The Empress Dowager trembled slightly, and tears welled up in her eyes. "You... you are...
Zongzheng Wei came to the Empress Dowager and knelt down with a plop. He grabbed the Empress Dowager's clothes. "Mother... I'm Wei'er... I'm your Wei'er..."
The Empress Dowager could no longer hold back her tears. "You're not... you're not..."
The mother and son were connected. Zongzheng Wei understood what his mother was asking.
He choked and said, "I'm not dead... I didn't die in the stomach of a beast... All these years, I've been thinking of ways to return to Mother..."
The Empress Dowager knelt down too.
She couldn't be so calm in the face of her son, who had been lost more than 30 years.
She held his face with both hands and was about to ask him where he had been all these years when the King of the Southern Wilderness suddenly stood up. "Mother!"
The Empress Dowager was stunned.
The King of the Southern Wilderness looked at the Saintess coldly. "What Gu did you cast on my mother? Why can't my mother even recognize her own son?"
It was common knowledge that the Saintess was good at voodoo.
It was not impossible for her to control someone.
"The Saintess didn't cast a Gu." Zongzheng Wei looked at the King of the Southern Wilderness and said angrily.
The Saintess said expressionlessly, "I didn't cast a Gu."
The Yin family head looked at the Empress Dowager and said, "Empress Dowager, did you give birth to two children back then?"
The Empress Dowager opened her mouth. "I..."
The King of the Southern Wilderness stopped her. "Mother!"
The Empress Dowager looked at Zongzheng Wei and then at the King of the Southern Wilderness on the dragon throne.
Zongzheng Wei said with heartache, "Mother, do you know where I've been all these years? I've been locked up by him and tortured under the dark abandoned mine. I wanted to end myself a few times, but when I
thought of Mother, I gritted my teeth and survived. It's been 30 years. I've finally seen Mother..."
The King of the Southern Wilderness slapped his armrest. "Nonsense!"
Zongzheng Wei did not confront him and only looked at the Empress Dowager without blinking. "Mother, I have evidence!"
The King of the Southern Wilderness said sternly, "Guards, Mother is poisoned. Drag the two of them away!"
"I'm not poisoned!"
The Empress Dowager stood up and wiped the tears off her face, restoring her high and mighty Empress Dowager aura. "Back then, I did give birth to two children. The eldest son is Zongzheng Wei. The current emperor, the second son, Zongzheng Ming, wandered among the commoners."
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire court erupted.
Lord Yin had really guessed correctly. The Empress Dowager had given birth to two children back then!
One was Yang, and the other was Yin. In the royal family, having two children was inauspicious. They had to give up a son.
But why did His Majesty deny it?
Did he not know?
Or was he hiding something?
The way the civil and military officials looked at the King of the Southern Wilderness changed.
The King of the Southern Border clenched his fists.
The Empress Dowager looked at the King of the Southern Wilderness. "Back then, you told me that your brother was dead. Why is he still alive?"
The King of the Southern Wilderness stood up and said with a sincere expression, "Mother, my brother did die back then. It was my fault for not protecting him well. I've always felt guilty all these years. I'd rather be the one who was taken away by a ferocious beast back then. However, the deceased is already gone. Even if I compensate my brother with my life, I can't let him come back to life. Look carefully, this person is not my brother. He's just a hostage found by the Saintess from elsewhere to rebel. Mother, don't fall for it!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a guard hurriedly entered the hall and reported with a troubled expression, "Your Majesty, the young master of the Cheng family requests an audience. He said that she... has evidence that Your Majesty was framed."
"I'm not seeing her!"
"Let her in!"
The King of the Southern Wilderness and the Empress Dowager spoke at the same time.
The King of the Southern Wilderness frowned and looked at the Empress Dowager. "Mother, you're tired. It's time to return to the bedroom and settle down. I'll make my own decisions in the royal court."
The Empress Dowager's aura was fully released. "Do you want to put me under house arrest?"
The King of the Southern Wilderness said perfunctorily. "I don't dare to."
The Empress Dowager said coldly, "Then let the young master of the Cheng family in! I want to hear what has happened all these years and if this person is pretending to be your brother."
The King of the Southern Border clenched his fists.
As Xie Jinnian calmly glanced at the man and the Saintess in the hall, his gaze stopped on the Saintess' face for a moment.
Soon, Su Xiaoxiao was brought over by the guard.
The Empress Dowager asked sternly, "Are you the young master of the Cheng family? The little girl who just returned to the Cheng family to acknowledge her family?"
Su Xiaoxiao replied neither servile nor overbearing, "Yes."
The Empress Dowager asked, "You said you have evidence. What evidence is it?"
Su Xiaoxiao looked at Zongzheng Wei and then at the King of the Southern Wilderness. "It's evidence that His Majesty has been imprisoned by the person on the dragon throne for many years."
Xie Jinnian said calmly, "Cheng Su, do you know the consequences of slandering the head of a country?"
Su Xiaoxiao said, "I know, so I won't slander anyone! The three of you, come in!"
Everyone looked out of the hall.
Steward Xue, Old Master Feng, and Mu Tan walked in trembling.
Su Xiaoxiao pointed at the Zongzheng Wei. "Do you know this person?"
The three of them nodded slowly.
Su Xiaoxiao said again, "Who is he?"
The three of them said nothing.
Su Xiaoxiao was not in a hurry. "Alright, let me ask another question. How do you know him?"
Seeing that the two elders were silent, Mu Tan could only brace himself and say, "He... was locked under the Cheng family's abandoned mine. We've been guarding him all these years."
"Who instructed you to do this?"
Mu Tan did not dare to continue.
The Empress Dowager said angrily, "Speak!"
The three of them felt their hearts skip a beat.
Mu Tan trembled and whispered shakily, "Yes... His Majesty, the one on the dragon throne... His Majesty."
The King of the Southern Wilderness flew into a rage out of humiliation. "Nonsense! It's all nonsense! The mine belongs to your Cheng family! In my opinion, you were clearly the ones who imprisoned this person! Was it you who did the hunting accident back then?"
Su Xiaoxiao took out a thick stack of account books from her bag. "Your Majesty, since many years ago, the mine no longer belongs to the Cheng family. Old Master used the mine to exchange for my grandmother's life. It's written in black and white. Over the years, the mine has continuously transported a lot of iron ore to the Imperial Court for free and sent you a lot of silver. Every sum is recorded here. On the other hand, my Cheng family doesn't even have 10% of yours. Do you still dare to say that the mine belongs to the Cheng family!"