“You aren’t Helian Zheng’s son, but from now on, you are his only bloodline.”
The child sat down silently on the cold stool. He was holding a chicken leg in one hand and a white bun in the other. As he took a bite, the woman in front of him said so. Her voice is so soft and gentle, and her tone is majestic. He couldn’t even think of resisting.
“Yes.”
Ning Zhiqing was a little curious, this child is only five years old. Why is he not surprised that he isn’t Helian Zheng’s son?
Instead, he was looking at Noble Lady Lin with a very sincere look, as if to say that he’ll listen to her from now on. She remembered the scene when they met this child, its really hard to survive in the cold palace. Maybe this is his last hope. Smart people will seize any opportunity. This child is indeed, a smart child.
“What is your name?”
The child became ashamed. “Everyone call me Puppy.”
Ning Zhiqing nearly spat out, but due to Noble Lady Lin’s glance at her, she managed to hold it in.
“From now on, you’ll be called Helian Fu.”
“Helian Fu, Helian Fu…” He muttered a few times in a low voice. A smile bloomed in his thin and pale face, “Yes, Noble Lady, from now on I will be called Helian Fu.”
“Eat first, eat your fill and we’ll talk about the rest.”
Helian Fu wasn’t pretentious at all. He was obedient, perhaps because Ah Xin gave him a better name than Puppy, and every time he looked up at Ah Xin, his eyes were full of admiration. Ning Zhiqing held her forehead in her hands, completely in disbelief, she knew that it wasn’t easy to get close to this cautious child, Noble Lady Lin is really amazing, with just a steamed bun, a chicken leg, and a name, she was able to gain Helian Fu’s trust.
Helian Fu didn’t gobble up his food. He ate it in a small intake each bite, the action could be said to be elegant, which makes Ning Zhiqing is very surprised, this child… If he really wasn’t Helian Zheng’s own son, then he was the embodiment of Helian Zheng’s sin in his last life. He had calm temperament at this young age, and she knew this child’s future achievements are boundless.
She was a little worried about him, Ah Xin was obviously raising a wolf cub, is she not afraid of being bitten back in the future?
Ah Xin noticed Ning Zhiqing’s concern and smiled at her, “He is a smart child, a smart child will know what to do and what not to do.”
Helian Fu heard this, raised his head and looked up at Ah Xin, his eyes became more sincere, “Noble Lady Lin and Noble Consort Ning will be Fu-er’s maternal mothers from now on.”
After Helian Fu had finished eating, he stood up in a proper manner and bowed to Ah Xin and Ning Zhiqing.
“You are the Empress’ son.”
Helian Fu’s eyes were a little surprised, and he suddenly thought why he wasn’t Helian Zheng’s son.
“Empress Meng hasn’t wronged Helian Zheng, it’s was Helian Zheng who has wronged her.”
Helian Fu was slightly relieved, he was still the Empress’ child after all.
“Empress Meng was originally the daughter of the Prime Minister, and Helian Zheng married her because he wanted the Prime Minister’s support, but he never wanted the Empress to have his child from the beginning and he secretly drugged Empress Meng. If it wasn’t discovered it in time, she would never have had a child in her life. The person Helian Zheng really cared about is Bai Xi, Consort Xi, you should have heard of her.”
“I’ve heard of her.”
“The Meng family was later executed, which was the work of the Bai family, and Helian Zheng also helped them.”
After she finished her sentence, she saw Helian Zheng’s reddened eyes and gave him a small smile, “The Empress couldn’t protect the Meng family and couldn’t clear their name, so she finally chose a very special way to take revenge. Before she left the palace, there was a man who was infatuated with her and even gave up the chance to go to war for her, choosing to serve as a guard in the palace. That bodyguard is your biological father. After being with your father, she used her remaining influence to let Helian Zheng thought he has spent a night with her.
Later, she claimed that she was sick, but with no one around, she gave birth to you. She was planning to sterilize Bai Xi and Helian Zheng, since in the future Helian Zheng would find out that he only had one ‘son’. She was also going to put a green hat on Helian Zheng’s head that he would never be able to take off, and was going to wait until Helian Zheng’s death to tell him the truth.”
Nin Zhiqing who heard this, felt chill. She had thought that the Empress was a gentle and generous woman, but she had never thought that her mindset was really scary, and her revenge was so ruthless. She criticized her, although she didn’t think she was wrong, after all, Empress Meng hated Helian Zheng for what he has done. If the Ning family had suffered, would she also have chosen a more extreme way to take revenge?
“But she didn’t think that her drugging was exposed, and Bai Xi was the one who found out about it.” Bai Xi has a pamoered consort system, which is the most powerful tools to identify secret palace medicines, “Bai Xi played a trick and revealed the matter, and Helian Zheng was furious and directly gave your mother a death sentence. Before she died, she had her henchmen put you in the cold palace.”
“I named you Helian Fu, if you pronounced it in reverse, Fu Helian, it means revenge for Helian.”
Helian Fu’s small face tensed, “Fu-er understand.” Revenge, it was definitely revenge, no matter what purpose his mother had for giving birth to him, this full of hatred and his encounter in the cold palace was ultimately caused by Helian Zheng. He isn’t his biological father, so he wasn’t pressured not to do it. He didn’t ask who his real father was, and since he felt that wasn’t supposed to be revealed to him, at least before Helian Zheng’s fall.
“Helian Zheng wants to take over power, and he will find an excuse to get rid of anyone who gets in his way if he was unhappy with them. There are many people who have a grudge against him, and we will have many supporters. Of course, if you want to be a young emperor, you must first vindicate the Prime Minister’s family.”
“I will listen to the Noble Lady.”
Ah Xin rightfully said, “Of course, you will listen to me, you have swore it. After all, what can you, a child, do?”
Helian Fu was a bit shy, but yes, he was a child who almost starved to death, what can he do? The drumstick and white bun he has eaten were all given by Noble Lady Lin.
“The next step is for you to learn to read and write with me. You aren’t old enough to be a great leader, but as an emperor, you still have to learn what you need to learn,” Ah Xin said, “My purpose is to let you be the head of the government in the future, not to be a puppet emperor. When everything is settled, if you have the ability to sit in this position securely, you will be the emperor.”
Who doesn’t like sitting in a high position? He also has this ambition, even if he is small child. In the beginning, he only wanted to eat, but when he heard about the blood feud, he wanted to take revenge, and after that? He also wanted to be able to stand on a high place and lead the way.
He looked at Ning Zhiqing and Ah Xin with some uncertainty, and wondered if they would be willing to let go of such great power. After listening to Ah Xin say so much, he understood that this mysterious Noble Lady Lin was implying that he’d better not betray her, or he would end up in a terrible situation.
“Let’s read.”
Ah Xin stopped her explanations, turned around and brought a stack of books to the table. He told Ning Zhiqing to teach Helian Fu literacg. Ning Zhiqing was happy to do so, and then she found out that Helian Fu was quite smart, he could read and write right away.
It was noon, Helian Fu was still a bit unsettled and he didn’t see Ah Xin, so he asked Ning Zhiqing in a low voice, “Noble Consort, where is the Noble Lady?”
“She left to get the food.” Ning Zhiqing whispered, “Where do you think the white steamed bun, fruits and drum stick come from?”
He suddenly understood that this was something that couldn’t be exposed and whispered, “Where can she get it?”
“I don’t know, she forbade me to ask about it. Judging from the quality of those things, it’s probably the Imperial Dining Room.”
Helian Fu’s small eyes glanced, “Isn’t the Water Hall’s gate closed?” How did the Noble Lady able to get out without being discovered?
“She was so mysterious that she asked me if I wanted to be a Female Emperor, and I immediately told her that Female Emperor had too much work. And then she asked me if I wanted to rule behind the curtain, I said I didn’t have a son, and she ended up bringing you in, don’t you think her ability was very remarkable?”
Helian Fu even nodded, “Noble Lady is really amazing, no one knows my background, yet she knows all about it.”
“Yes, she’s so powerful, you don’t want to offend her, you know Hong Yan, right?”
Helian Fu nodded, “Yes, the palace maid who was ordered to be beaten to death with sticks, I secretly hid in the corner and took a look that day.”
“If it wasn’t for Noble Lady Lin, the person who might have been beaten to death with a stick would have been me,” Ning Zhiqing said, “That night, I thought I couldn’t escape, but she pushed the door calmly, grabbed Hong Yan’s wrist, poured in all the medicated wine at Hong Yan ‘s throat, and finally pushed her to those two men and took me away.” Recalling the thing Ah Xin has done, making Ning Zhiqing felt warm.
Ning Zhiqing remembered when she was a child, she dreamed of a great hero to save her, but she never thought that her great hero turned out to be a woman.
“She was able to fetch food for us, go to the ice cellar to get ice, and go to the Imperial Hospital to get medicine, how powerful do you think she was?”
Helan Fu eyes glowed with admiration, yes, Noble Lady is so great, at most he could kill the rats that entered the water hall, to add a meal for himself, but he also has to be stealthy, or else he would be robbed by those crazy concubines.
Soon, it was Chengtian Festival, Helian Zheng’s birthday, a very important day, his 30th birthday.
Ministers and his concubines at the harem were required to enter the palace to attend the banquet to celebrate the Helian Zheng’s birthday.
He also granted a great pardon to many sinners, releasing them from prison.
Even the Water Hall’s gate at the cold palace was allowed to open for one day, and was given edible food, not spoiled food. On this day, Ah Xin didn’t go out to find food, nor did she stay in the cold palace. She simply instructed Helian Fu and Ning Zhiqing not to go out.
“Where is the Noble Lady going?” Helian Fu was confused.
Ning Zhiqing said, “She said she was going to give a big gift to Helian Zheng.”
“It mustn’t be a good gift.” Helian Fu said subconsciously, and finally they smiled at each other, because they knew that the only one who mustn’t be provoked in the palace is Noble Lady Lin, she was so mysterious and scary.
The palace was lit up and bustling with activity, with maids and eunuchs busily preparing for the banquet of the Chengtian Festival in the evening, and not a single mistake could be made.
But in one corner, there was a group of people, hiding in the rockery, and the busy palace guards didn’t notice anything strange at all.
“After doing that tonight, it’s very likely that I won’t be able live, so I’ll just go alone.”
“He Qing, do you think you are the only one who has a grudge against Helian Zheng?”
“My teacher was kind yet he was wrongly executed by Helian Zheng, he also killed his entire family. If I don’t take revenge, I felt like I have let him down.”
“I gave up the Imperial court and became a small guard, isn’t it all for today? It doesn’t matter, I can’t wait for another chance.”
“I’m fighting for Imperial Teacher Lin’s unjust, back then Imperial Teacher Lin saved me, I can’t do anything to save him, I can’t help him clearing his name, I can only fight to the death.”
He Qing looked at the sincere people in front of him, and finally nodded, “Good, since everyone isn’t afraid, then tonight we will see what we can do, and if we don’t succeed, we either succeed or die trying.”
“Heh!”
A laughing sound drew their attention, “Who?”
Ah Xin came out from behind the rockery, everyone was stunned, and one of them quickly recognized her and said in shock, “Isn’t she Noble Lady Lin?”
“It’s me,” Ah Xin said, “I came out because the Cold Palace’s gate was open today and I just happened to hear your plan about assassinating the emperor tonight.”
They all looked at each other, “Can you not be so blunt in broad daylight?” He Qing had readied his sword, if she dared to run out and report the news, he would kill her with one stroke.
“He Qing, she is the daughter of Lin Tai Fu.”
He Qing’s grip on the hilt of the sword loosened, “Noble Lady Lin, please pretend that you didn’t see us.”
“I already see you.”
“You…” He Qing frowned and Ah Xin said, “Let’s talk about something privately. I have to tell you something to you alone.”
Seeing He Qing’s hesitation, she continued, “It’s about Empress Meng.”
This time, He Qing’s complexion changed, so he nodded and asked others to leave, and when they were alone, he asked, “What do you know?”
“Nothing, I just knew that Empress Meng had given you a son.”
“Wh- what?” He Qing couldn’t hold his sword any longer and stared at Ah Xin, and he heard Ah Xin said, “Don’t you want your son to have a bright future and the Empress Meng to be avenged?”
“Of course, I want to.” After Empress Meng’s death, he thought about it every day.
Ah Xin whispered, “Listen to me, I’ll make sure your son has a bright future and you will be able to personally witness Helian Zheng’s miserable old age. It is impossible for you to assassinate Helian Zheng tonight. Not only was he protected by experts, but also by shadow guards.
He Qing was dissuaded from the assassination tonight by the knowledge that he and the Empress had a son, and the fact that the Empress had given birth to a child for him in the cold palace, and the child’s situation would be very difficult. If he dies, who will protect the child?
“You’re shaken, aren’t you?”
He Qing looked at Ah Xin with a complex face, “You are a cold palace concubine, how can I believe that you are capable to do this?”
“After tonight, you’ll have to believe me.”
Her simple words really convince He Qing a bit, and he hesitantly said, “Can I see him?”
“You can meet him, but you can’t recognize each other as family for the time being, he needs the identity as Helian Zheng’s son.”
He Qing was a little annoyed, why should his son take on the identity as Helian Zheng’s son? He was just about to get angry when he heard Ah Xin say, “How can he be an Emperor without him being Helian Zheng’s son? What do you think, Guard He?”
Clang–
He Qing dropped his sword and stared at the calm woman in front of him. She wanted to make his son to be an emperor?
“This was originally Empress Meng’s plan, Guard He, now what do you think?”
He Qing took a deep breath, “Then I’ll see what surprises Noble Lady Lin will bring us tonight.”
“Fine. If Guard He is surprised, he will have to listen to me in the future.”
“If there is a surprise like what you said, which can avenge the Empress, I will always listen to you.” Even if he couldn’t recognize his son yet, if his son could inherit the throne from Helian Zheng, he was happy inwadly, because Helian Zheng had gone too far. After his son becomes emperor, the Empress will be happy.
The Chengtian Festival banquet finally started and all the ministers and concubines were gathered. All of them knelt down and bowed with words of congratulations. This was followed by the dedication, which was followed by music and dance, along with the feast, and everything looked happy and peaceful.
He Qing was standing in the corner, doing his duty as a guard, guarding the security of the palace, and he looked at the smiling and happy Helian Zheng and almost couldn’t help but pull out his blade to cut him. But he still wanted to see the surprise Noble Lady Lin has promised will happen.
[“It’s a pity that the chaos on the border side hasn’t subsided yet, not being able to recall General Ning, if he was recalled, Helian Zheng would be able to kill him.” Bai Xi regretfully communicated with the system inwardly, “Once General Ning dies, Helian Zheng will definitely demote the Noble Consort Ning, afterwards I’ll say a few more good words and the Noble Consort title will be mine.”]
[“Host, so you have to work hard, in fact, you need to use more care, you don’t have to wait for General Ning’s death before Helian Zheng will demote the Noble Consort, Helian Zheng is very fond of you, for you, he didn’t pamper other concubines, you can see his sincerity to you.”]
“He likes me, but only treats me as an obedient plaything, I still want to be a noble consort, and after I become a noble consort, I’ll have a big gift package, I want that childbirth pills, and when I have a son, I’ll have something to look up to. I’m also quite fond of power. Power is so good that I’m never afraid of anyone who will try to frame me.”
“Host, host, something went wrong.” The system’s voice rang out weakly, and without its explanation, Bai Xi also found that something went wrong, there was no music, and the palace dancers Stopped dancing, everyone was looking at her with horrified faces.
The ministers and women below also looked at her with horrified faces, and her scalp went numb, and the coldness rose from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, and her whole body went cold.
When she turned around stiffly, she saw Helian Zheng horrible expression, and subconsciously communicated with the system, “System, system, did they hear what we’re saying?”
“Consort Xi!!!” Helian Zheng finally decided that it was the Bai Xi that were talking, “What is the system? Is it true what you just said? Childbirth pills, give birth to a son to take the throne, drug me and kill me afterwards?”
Seeing Helian Zheng’s anger, everyone kneeled down and buried their heads in their hearts, wishing they couldn’t hear anything. They can’t help but speculate, who was the one Consort Xi was talking to just now, is Consort Xi a demon? Isn’t it too scary to be able to speak without opening her mouth?
“System, system he seems to have heard us, what should I do? Helian Zheng will definitely kill me, I don’t want to die, system, system you talk.”
At this time, the system had no energy to communicate with Bai Xi, he was bound by a powerful soul force and was shivering in the corner, “I wonder which God are you?”
“God, please forgive this small system, this small system just want to absorb some of the emperor’s luck, I have no intention of doing evil.”
Ah Xin asked out, “Are you the pampered consort system?”
“Yes, and no, the system is only called the pampered consort system because the host is Bai Xi who is a consort, if the host is a General, I will be called the general system, if the bound one is an Empress, I will be the Empress system, Bai Xi can’t be the Empress at all, she’s the most suitable to be a pampered consort, this is after my analysis, so this little system called this little one as the pampered consort system, If the host is the Emperor, then this system becomes the Emperor system.”
“Oh…” Ah Xin kinda understood his meaning, “Can you unbind from Bai Xi at any time?”
“Of course, yes, if the God are willing, the little one will follow you from now on.”
Ah Xin couldn’t help but smile, “You have an impossible dream.”
The system was a bit disappointed. ‘Yes, he has an impossible dream, but if he followed a God, would he still need to suffer and absorb luck to be able to survive?’
“I don’t want you, but you have to do something for me, Helian Zheng will definitely ask Bai Xi for her history and where you came from, Bai Xi will give you up, I want you to go along and bind with Helian Zheng.”
The system breathed a sigh of relief, binding with people, he was the best at it, it was no problem.
“Is it the Emperor system?”
Ah Xin smiled lowly, “Heh, do you think I’ll give him freebies?”
The system trembled, “This small system is waiting for the God’s instruction.” It wasn’t that he was unwilling to resist, but the soul force that bound him was simply too powerful, and his consciousness could be instantly erased as long as the other party wanted to.
“Bind him to an Immortality system and tell him that he will be able to live forever.”
The system didn’t understand and Ah Xin continued, “Give him some fake medicine from time to time, the kind that will paralyze his body and damage his vitality and blood, just make him unable to have a son, understand?”
The system was trembling all over, this small system was scared of the Evil God, yet Her idea was even more cruel than Him.
“You also have the advantage and can absorb Helian Zheng’s luck, when he is paralyzed, your mission will be completed, and you can leave this world.”
Hearing that he could leave, the system agreed, “Yes, I will definitely complete the God’s mission.”
“Ning Zhiqing is the one I protect, you should understand what to do and what to say to Helian Zheng.”
After the powerful soul force left, the system gasped greatly, he heard Bai Xi was calling him, he asked, “Host, how are you feeling?”
“That’s the voice, Consort Xi, I’d like to know what is it.” Helian Zheng’s eyes narrowed, he grabbed Bai Xi, Bai Xi was talking to the system, “System, give me something to save my life, he will kill me, is there any medicine to make him unconscious, can you give me some?”