There is no mother who does not love her own child. In the years since the loss of Princess Jingming, Empress Dowager Tian has never had a single day of peace. After losing her child, she hated the deposed emperor and Empress Li to the core. It was precisely because of this that she finally stood up and supported Emperor Yuanfeng, allowing him to successfully become emperor.
If Empress Li and the deposed emperor had not caused chaos in the capital, her child would not have been lost.
Over the years, she has constantly wanted to support her family, simply because she feels uneasy.
She is old and will die sooner or later.
But as long as she supports the Tian family, there will always be people who remember her Jingming, her children, and perhaps they can find her back.
She has been waiting for this day for more than 20 years.
Empress Dowager Tian's eyes were red and bloodshot, veins on her forehead were bulging, and her hands and feet were shaking with excitement.
Xuan Shen bowed again and said, "Wulian Shou, in reply to the Queen Mother... Her Royal Highness the Princess has passed away. I just confirmed the news about Her Royal Highness, so I came to the palace to ask for an audience."
Dead?!
Mother Tian immediately looked at Empress Dowager Tian with concern. As expected, she saw Empress Dowager Tian took two steps back with a pale face and almost lost her balance. She hurried forward to support her: "Empress Dowager..."
After years of waiting, Empress Dowager Tian didn't even dare to dream about this incident at night. She felt heartbroken every time she thought about it. She never dared to think of the worst, just because she still hoped that one day she could be reunited with her daughter and share the joy of family life as mother and daughter.
But now, everything is in vain.
Years of waiting paid off at this moment. Empress Dowager Tian couldn't tell whether she felt more pain or hatred. She gritted her teeth and looked at Xuan Shen in front of her, and said coldly: "You are the next abbot of Baihe Temple? Then how do you know the news of Princess Jingming?! You said that was the princess, how can you be sure that it was the princess?! If you tell a lie today, I will make your entire Baihe Temple be buried with the princess!"
Xuan Shen slowly pulled out a purse from his sleeve pocket and held it respectfully in his hands.
Empress Dowager Tian opened her eyes wide when she saw it. This purse was made by her own hands. Princess Jingming had been wearing it with a pin since she was born. When she was older, Empress Dowager Tian had someone make a brooch for the princess to wear. Because the purse contained a lucky charm that Empress Dowager Tian personally obtained at Huangjue Temple, Princess Jingming never left the purse.
The doubts that had just arisen disappeared. At this moment, Queen Mother Tian finally couldn't hold it in anymore. She took the purse, clutched it tightly to her chest, and cried uncontrollably with sobs.
Mother Tian also choked up and said, "Empress Dowager, please accept my condolences... If His Highness knew about this, he would definitely not want you to be so sad..."
Queen Mother Tian whimpered like a beast trapped in a cage.
After a long while of calming down, she regained her usual composure and turned into the aloof queen mother again. She asked Xuan Shen expressionlessly, "Where is my Jingming? Tell me clearly."
Xuan Shen responded solemnly, lowered his head and said softly: "When you took His Highness out of the palace to pray for blessings, you happened to encounter a group of refugees who were incited to cause trouble. In the chaos, His Highness was separated from you. Later, you sent people back many times to look for him, but to no avail..."
Empress Dowager Tian naturally remembered these.
She felt pain in her abdomen, and with the support of Mother Tian, she sat on the Phoenix throne and asked coldly, "And then?"
"Then suddenly one day, a delicate little girl suddenly appeared in our temple, about three or four years old..." Xuan Shen calmly let out a long sigh: "My junior brother Xuan Yuan said that he picked her up from a village at the foot of the mountain. He saw that she was all alone in the wilderness and was afraid that she would be eaten by wild animals, so he brought her back to the temple. At that time, although everyone knew that Her Royal Highness the Princess was missing, no one had ever seen Her Royal Highness the Princess. We ordinary people would not associate a little girl with a princess... so we really thought she was just an ordinary girl..."
Xuan Shen recalled what happened back then, and he still felt guilty. "Until one day, the little girl fell down in the back hills, and I ran into her. When I went to help her up, she dropped this purse..." He frowned. "I recognized that this purse was unusual, because the talisman inside was handwritten by the abbot of Huangjue Temple. Only a handful of people can have it, so I became suspicious of the little girl's background, and I went to ask Junior Brother Xuanyuan about it."
Queen Mother Tian closed her eyes.
She didn't believe there were so many coincidences in this world.
Sure enough, Xuan Shen said softly, "After I asked, Junior Brother Xuanyuan denied it outright, and then the girl disappeared from the temple. I was worried and asked Junior Brother about it, but he just evaded me and said that the child's parents had been found, so he had returned the child to them."
Empress Dowager Tian was already gritting her teeth in hatred towards Xuan Yuan.
Return it to the parents?!
What kind of parents did he return? !
"I have no evidence to prove that it was the princess. Although I have doubts in my heart, I dare not make a rash decision because the matter is serious." Xuan Shen's lips were dry. "Later, the capital was in chaos again, and our Baihe Temple was also in turmoil, so I dared not get involved in such matters. It was not until two years ago, when I was traveling with my junior brother, that my junior brother fell seriously ill. In his dream, he called out the name of Princess Jingming, and said something like "I'm sorry, and I will live in the next life..." I was sure that it was the real Princess Jingming..."
Empress Dowager Tian's fingers were cold. She forced herself to remain calm and grasped the handrail beside her, impatiently urging: "And then?!"
"Then, Junior Brother woke up and naturally denied it, never admitting that he had said such a thing." Xuan Shen sighed: "But I did become suspicious, and that girl was so pretty and lovable. Whenever I thought of her disappearance, I felt guilty, so I kept looking for her whereabouts. A few days ago, I received a message that a believer had seen my Junior Brother in Shenjia Village and said that my Junior Brother had walked around the village with a child... I hurried to Shenjia Village and searched for a long time, but still found nothing. But perhaps the princess was still alive, a female corpse was found in Shenjia Village. The corpse was buried under a big tree at the entrance of the village, and my Junior Brother's peach wood sword was also found inside. These coincidences piled up together, and I couldn't sleep at night, so I simply asked people to dig a little deeper, and then we found the skeleton of a child..."
Queen Mother Tian finally couldn't bear it anymore and fainted.
Mother Tian screamed and hurriedly asked, "Quickly call the imperial physician! Quickly call the emperor!"