Everyone's gaze fell on Nanny Li.
They listened as Nanny Li began her rambling account.
"After my family was destroyed and everyone died when I was ten, human traffickers abducted and sold me. Later, Madam's family bought me to keep her company.
Madam, haven't you always wondered why this old servant goes every year to burn incense and pay respects at a grave without a headstone?"
"That was my younger sister's grave. After I accompanied Madam to the Capital when she married, I was fortunate enough to catch sight of my sister on the street one day.
After many twists and turns, we finally reunited. She had wandered from place to place through countless hardships, and eventually, through a chance turn of fate, she entered the palace as a maid responsible for purchasing supplies."
"For those few years, we sisters supported each other, and our lives were fairly good... but then..."
Nanny Li wiped the tears from her eyes. She choked up several times before she could continue:
"Fourteen years ago, unrest broke out at the border. Though heavily pregnant, Madam went to the Temple to pray for the eldest young master.
But I never expected to see my sister that night, not long after Madam gave birth... she was drenched from head to toe and carried a basket.
She told me that the person who had sent her into the palace had placed a gu curse on her, forcing her to take away the child of the current Empress Dowager.
That person didn't know that the Empress Dowager had once saved her life. She couldn't bear to let her benefactor's child lose her life, so she begged me to find a way to protect the child..."
"But before we could work out a plan, my sister suddenly clutched her