PFC Chapter 240: Substitution
Chapter 240: Substitution
Chapter 240 Substitution
early morning.
The sun was shining brightly outside.
It was dark inside.
The woodshed in the princess's residence has no windows.
The door creaked open.
Granny Yan weakly lifted her eyelids and saw a beam of white light shining in.
Somewhat glaring.
She didn't know how long she had been imprisoned, nor what year or month it was.
There is no time, no sun or moon in the darkness.
It seems like it's been closed for a very long time, but it also feels like several years have passed.
The only feeling I have right now is pain. My whole body aches, and any movement causes excruciating pain.
So she wouldn't even move an inch.
The scorching hot iron was branded onto her body, and she was in so much pain that she wanted to die several times. But the princess wouldn't let her die, but she wouldn't let her live well either.
She has already confessed.
The story was exactly the same as it had been in Jiangzhou: the princess's own child had died young, so Cao, the son-in-law, adopted a child from his clan.
As for the princess's child who died young, it was naturally disposed of by the servants.
She stubbornly refused to give in.
She dared not say that she had abandoned the child, leaving him alive in the wilderness.
If the eldest princess finds out, she will skin her alive, and the Cao family will not let her parents and brothers off the hook either.
Their whole family will die a terrible death.
But the eldest princess didn't seem to believe her and kept her locked up like that.
The light at the entrance is getting brighter and brighter.
She felt someone being pushed in and fall beside her, making a soft whimpering sound.
It doesn't take a while.
Then someone carried in a torch, and the firelight illuminated the entire room.
Through the flickering firelight, she could make out the two people beside her.
Gagged, face covered, hands and feet bound, familiar hairstyle, familiar clothes, familiar scent...
“Mother…Sister-in-law…” Granny Yan cried out in a broken voice.
The two people on the ground heard her cries and struggled violently, making muffled noises.
"Granny Yan, I said I would let your family come to reunite with you. How about it? I keep my word, don't I?" Princess Yuqing's voice came from the doorway.
"Not only your mother and sister-in-law, but also your father, your brother, your husband, your son, and your nephew are here. They're right next door. Now you're all mine..."
Granny Yan trembled violently, "I confess, I confess... I confess everything..."
In fact, when they were in Jiangzhou, Prince Jing had already interrogated her once, and the old woman's account sounded very convincing.
He didn't know whether he should believe it or not.
So they handed the person back to the older sister. After all, women understand women better. This old woman was indeed not telling the truth.
King Jing ordered his men to take away Granny Yan's family members before speaking, "Tell the truth, and I guarantee that your family will not be harmed."
"Your Highness's words are law, so please keep your word!" Compared to the Eldest Princess, Granny Yan trusted Prince Jing more.
Women who lose their children can sometimes be more terrifying than ghosts when they go mad.
“Princess Jiayue is the Prince Consort’s biological daughter, born to him and his mistress, who is from Madam Cao’s family…”
As she spoke, Granny Yan reminisced about the past.
Princess Yuqing chose Cao Chong as her husband, and Lady Cao and her son were originally very happy, feeling that heaven had finally opened their eyes and their suffering had come to an end.
Unexpectedly, before the engagement, Princess Yuqing and Consort Cao's conversation was overheard by Madam Cao. She learned that the princess had treated her son like a fool, and she was so angry that she found a mistress for the consort, which led to the birth of Jiayue.
To conceal her true intentions and create the illusion that her child was born prematurely, Princess Yuqing went to a villa thirty miles outside the capital to give birth.
Unexpectedly, they were ambushed by villains on the way. They were so frightened that they had a miscarriage. Many of their followers were killed or injured, especially the midwife and the imperial physician, who were seriously injured. They had to find someone from a nearby village to deliver the baby.
What the princess didn't know was that the villa had long been under surveillance by Cao, the prince consort.
The midwife was also bribed by Prince Consort Cao.
Even the concubines were taken by Madam Cao and raised in a farmhouse near the villa, just waiting for the birth of the eldest princess's child...
graft.
Seeing the princess's terrifyingly dark face, Granny Yan feared that if she continued speaking, the princess would strangle her.
She pursed her lips, lowered her head, and tightly gripped the hem of her clothes.
The angry voice of Prince Jing came from above, "How did Jia Yue give birth at such a precise time? Did the prince consort have an affair with his mistress before the princess was married?"
"No, no... It was Madam Cao who gave that concubine labor-inducing medicine... The little princess was born prematurely." Granny Yan said, trembling.
Every time I think back on these things, I realize how much I know, and I break out in a cold sweat.
I feel like my head is always hanging off my belt.
King Jing then asked, "Were those assassins also recruited by Cao and her son?"
"Yes...it was arranged by them long ago."
"And what about you? You weren't your great-grandmother's person, so how did you also get bought off by them?"
Speaking of this, she felt like dying, because she had accidentally discovered Madam Cao's secret: "Madam Cao... she was having an affair... and I caught her. She used my son to blackmail me and gave me a lot of gold and silver."
King Jing's eyes widened, and he asked, "So, Cao Chong might not even be a member of the Cao family?"
It was assumed that their life as an orphan and widow was difficult, and Cao Chong was considered honest and kind.
Such despicable scoundrels!
Yuqing also believed that she had not wronged Cao Chong. She had given Cao Chong a chance to change his mind, promised him that he could take a concubine, and supported Cao Chong and his mother in the Cao family.
Even if it's a mutually beneficial arrangement where each party gets what they need and uses the other's resources.
I never expected that he would outsmart me.
Granny Yan shook her head and said, "This...this servant does not know."
How could Lady Cao possibly tell her such a thing? Even Prince Consort Cao probably doesn't know.
Princess Yuqing had no time for this troubling matter; all she wanted to know was about her daughter. She glared at the person kneeling on the ground and demanded, "Speak! How did you switch my daughter? Where did you take her? Is she still alive?"
At this point, Granny Yan became nervous, her back soaked with sweat, and she bit her lip tightly, wondering how to say it so that Princess Yuqing wouldn't torture her to death.
The eldest princess grabbed her collar and said in a low voice, "What... won't you tell me?"
“Speak, I will tell you… I switched the young princess with Jia Yue while you were unconscious, and took the young princess to the pine and cypress forest ten miles south of the villa… and hung her on a tree…”
"Your Highness, all of this was instructed by Madam Cao. This servant was forced into it..." Granny Yan closed her eyes after saying this.
She knew that the princess's sword would pierce her chest in the next moment.
……
In the woods.
Hanging on the tree.
A newborn baby on a freezing cold day.
Those damned bitches, how dare they...
Princess Yuqing felt dizzy and her legs went weak, causing her to fall straight backward.
Prince Jing supported her and roared at the guards, "Did you hear me? Find her...find her for me! I want to see her alive or dead..."
"Wait... I will go myself."
……