Jiang Nuan's Birth Mother Was Actually...

[Host, it looks like that scumbag dad of yours wants to stand up for you. He called Eunuch Wang outside just now to investigate what you've been through all these years, and the trail led him to these people.]

［Who would've thought my scumbag dad would suddenly grow a conscience? That's kind of unbelievable. No, wait, it's not a conscience. He probably realized his daughter was living miserably in the palace and felt that people were challenging his authority. That must be it.］

As for how he had realized it, Jiang Nuan looked down at her obviously malnourished body and shabby clothes. Anyone who wasn't blind should have been able to tell.

Soon, a whole string of people was summoned inside. To Jiang Nuan's surprise, Empress Xiao Xiao came as well.

With Xiao Xiao's capabilities, she naturally knew why Jiang Yunsheng had specifically summoned her this time. As soon as she entered the hall, her gaze settled on the little girl eating pastries to one side.

For some reason, the sight of the girl's frail figure and shabby, patched clothes sent a sharp pang through her heart.

"Your consort greets Your Majesty."

Xiao Xiao suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and bowed to Jiang Yunsheng.

"Your daughter greets Mother."

Jiang Nuan set down her pastry and bowed to Xiao Xiao. She looked composed on the outside, but inside, her thoughts had already boiled over.

［Ahhh! Is this the empress? She has such presence! Regal splendor, a mother's grace over all beneath heaven—those phrases were practically made for her! She seems gentle as water, yet there's steel beneath that softness... ten thousand more words of praise omitted.］

Strangely, however, Guagua did not immediately chime in to agree with Jiang Nuan this time, though Jiang Nuan did not think much of it.

Xiao Xiao had heard countless flattering words in her life, but no one had ever expressed their fondness so extravagantly in front of her. Once again, she turned her gaze to Jiang Nuan.

Yet Jiang Nuan's lips were firmly closed, and she had not uttered a word, while the praise in Xiao Xiao's ears continued unabated. A trace of astonishment appeared on Xiao Xiao's face.

One look at Xiao Xiao's expression told Jiang Yunsheng that she could hear Jiang Nuan's thoughts too.

Jiang Yunsheng gave Wang Dehai a look, and he immediately approached Xiao Xiao and whispered a few words in her ear.

I thought only Wang Dehai and I could hear her. How come Xiao Xiao can hear her now too? Will even more people be able to hear her in the future?

And why am I a scumbag dad, while Xiao Xiao gets nothing but praise? Does she even know whose daughter she is?

Jiang Yunsheng's temper flared.

"Empress, is this how you manage the inner palace? I had no idea that my own daughter's life here was worse than a palace maid's."

With that, Jiang Yunsheng flung the findings of the investigation down in front of Xiao Xiao.

Xiao Xiao picked them up and read them, shock appearing on her face. She had indeed paid little attention to the ninth princess; in fact, she had not looked at her even once since her birth. But she truly had never imagined that the servants would be bold enough to bully a princess!

"I have failed in my duties. I submit to whatever punishment Your Majesty sees fit!"

Xiao Xiao did not shirk responsibility. After learning what Jiang Nuan had endured, a bitter ache rose in her heart. She attributed it to Jiang Nuan being the same age as her own daughter, who had died at birth, and thus reminding her of that child.

［Ah! Don't punish the empress! She didn't do it on purpose. My birth mother was her personal palace maid, but after the empress became pregnant, my birth mother seized the chance to climb into the imperial bed. She disliked my birth mother, so it's only natural that she disliked me too.

Besides, the empress never deliberately harmed me. Otherwise, I couldn't have survived this long! It was the servants below her who obeyed to her face and defied her behind her back. They're the ones at fault!］

Jiang Nuan grew anxious. She did not want the empress to be punished because of her.

Back then, her birth mother had betrayed the empress and had even tried to harm her while she was pregnant. Fortunately, she had failed. Instead, her birth mother had reaped the bitter fruit of her own actions, suffered a difficult labor, and finally died, leaving only Jiang Nuan behind.

It was no exaggeration to say that she was the daughter of the empress's enemy. Under those circumstances, Jiang Nuan thought it was already quite decent of the empress to have merely ignored her.

[Um... Host, I have a juicy secret about you. Want to hear it?]

At that moment, Guagua spoke up hesitantly.

Jiang Nuan was utterly baffled. Was there some juicy secret about herself that even she didn't know?

［Guagua, don't keep me hanging. Tell me already!］

[Host, your birth mother actually isn't Concubine Liu. It's the empress!]

Guagua carefully watched the host's expression, afraid she might break down.

［What!］ Jiang Nuan exclaimed in shock.

"What!" Xiao Xiao could not help crying out.

At this interruption, Jiang Nuan immediately turned her gaze to Xiao Xiao.

Xiao Xiao's expression stiffened. Not wanting to reveal yet that she could hear Jiang Nuan's thoughts, she shifted her eyes and immediately snapped at the palace maids and eunuchs kneeling on the floor, awaiting their punishment:

"You wretched servants dared obey to my face and defy me behind my back! I will punish you severely, without mercy!"

Jiang Nuan looked away and continued talking to Guagua in her mind.

［Guagua, hurry up and tell me what happened!］

Seeing that she had managed to cover it up for now, Xiao Xiao breathed a sigh of relief and waited for that thing called Guagua to continue.

[Wasn't Concubine Liu the empress's personal palace maid back then? Not long after the empress became pregnant, she climbed into the imperial bed and successfully conceived. But she had no family standing or backing, and she wanted to secure a bright future for her child. Since their pregnancies weren't far apart, she came up with the idea of switching the babies.

She had worked in the empress's palace before, so she already had people there. On top of that, she had leverage over the imperial physician attending the birth. So on the day the empress went into labor, she took medicine to induce premature labor and gave birth at the same time. But because the birth was premature and forcibly induced, her baby was stillborn, and she herself died from severe bleeding.

But her baby-switching plan still succeeded. They successfully replaced you with the stillborn baby she had delivered.

Host, if you want to reunite with the empress as her daughter, it would be pretty simple. Since Concubine Liu died so suddenly, a lot of loose ends were never tidied up. It wouldn't be hard to uncover the truth.]

After hearing Guagua's words, Xiao Xiao staggered and nearly fell to the floor. Jiang Yunsheng caught her just in time.

Jiang Nuan thought it over and decided to find an opportunity later. After all, she was still a helpless little thing with no one to investigate for her. Even if she said it outright, probably no one would believe her.

［Wait, my scumbag dad didn't summon all these people just to have them kneel here, did he?］

Jiang Nuan glanced at the people kneeling on the floor and wondered when her scumbag dad would finish dealing with them.

"Guards! These people mistreated a princess and showed contempt for the imperial family. Drag them away and exterminate their three degrees of kin!"

Previously, Xiao Xiao had not known Jiang Nuan was her daughter, so she had been indifferent. But now that she knew, she hated these people to the marrow of her bones. Reading the findings about the life Jiang Nuan had led before made her eyes brim with tears.

At the same time, she felt deeply guilty. If she had not ignored Jiang Nuan, might they have reunited as mother and daughter long ago? Would her Nuan Nuan have been spared so much suffering?

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress, please spare our lives!"

Upon hearing that their three degrees of kin would be exterminated, they were frightened out of their wits. They repeatedly knocked their heads against the floor and begged for mercy.

［Exterminating three degrees of kin... isn't that a bit excessive?］

Having been steeped in the core socialist values, Jiang Nuan found it rather difficult to adjust to the way things worked in the Great Xia Dynasty.

"Wait. We shall leave you to the princess to deal with instead."

Seeing Jiang Nuan's reluctance to be cruel, Jiang Yunsheng and Xiao Xiao handed the decision over to her.