Not only did the Noble Consort regret it, Tong Aning complained too: [Xixi, why didn't you tell me sooner?]
[I didn't know why she wasn't playing by the usual rules either.]
[This was the imperial harem. Who could she be having a secret rendezvous with...?]
A secret rendezvous?
In his own harem, no less?
The emperor, who had been heading their way, stopped in his tracks. The smile vanished completely from his face.
Eunuch Wang had heard Tong Aning's thoughts too. He broke into an anxious sweat before finally managing to find an excuse to reassure the emperor. "Your Majesty, she certainly couldn't have meant any of the consorts."
The emperor glanced at him and snorted. "As if I needed you to tell me that."
Anyone who dared behave so recklessly in his harem must have wanted to lose their head.
[Could it be some prince or imperial son?]
Eunuch Wang sucked in a cold breath. So it wasn't merely a green hat, but that sort of green hat?
When Eunuch Wang recovered his senses, he saw that the emperor ahead of him had quickened his pace. His Majesty intended to see just who possessed such heaven-defying audacity.
"Your Majesty."
Consort Lin stood, but the emperor helped her up before she could finish her greeting.
"You're with child," the emperor said. "There's no need for such formalities."
The Noble Consort had been deliberately keeping an eye on everything in the pavilion. When she saw the emperor arrive, the group headed toward it.
After they paid their respects, the emperor granted them seats.
The moment Tong Aning sat down, she began complaining: [Xixi, I really have to take you to task. Does meeting His Majesty count as a secret rendezvous?]
She now deeply doubted Xixi's authority as a Gossip System.
To salvage its reputation, Xixi hurriedly said, [What I said wasn't wrong. After all, the Consort Lin before you isn't the Consort Lin from before.]
This Consort Lin was not that Consort Lin, so wasn't her meeting with the emperor a secret rendezvous?
Tong Aning: "!"
The Noble Consort studied her closely, then whispered to Su Zhouyue, "I don't see any difference."
Su Zhouyue had only met this Consort Lin a few times, but since her daughter's system had said so, there had to be something fishy going on.
Su Zhouyue told the Noble Consort to keep listening without worrying.
[If she isn't Consort Lin, who is she?]
[She's Consort Lin's elder twin sister.]
Tong Aning was utterly shocked. [I thought I could escape substitute fiction.]
When Tong Aning looked at the emperor again, her gaze had become rather peculiar.
The emperor: "???"
What did this have to do with him? He hadn't known someone had swapped Consort Lin out either.
Strangely enough, he had visited Consort Lin frequently since she became pregnant, and he hadn't noticed any major differences between this Consort Lin and the previous one.
Even their behavior and mannerisms were the same.
[This isn't substitute fiction. Consort Lin was frail from birth, and a Daoist priest said Heaven would not tolerate her existence, so she had to be raised elsewhere until she turned eighteen before being brought back to the family residence.]
[Don't tell me the Lin family forgot?]
[More or less. On the very day Consort Lin was brought home, her elder twin sister happened to catch the emperor's eye and was about to enter the palace as a consort, but her sister already had someone she loved.]
[The Lin family made Consort Lin play the plum tree sacrificed for the peach?]
[Exactly.]
[Consort Lin had it so rough! Neither parent loved her, and her sister even made her serve as a substitute!]
The emperor slammed the table. They had dared play this plum-for-peach substitution game right under his nose. Did they take him, the supreme sovereign, for a dead man?
Consort Lin jumped in fright. Shielding her belly, she asked pitifully, "What's wrong, Your Majesty?"
Still pretending! The emperor was almost beside himself with anger.
With a nonchalant air, the emperor said, "I heard you have an elder sister, my consort."
Consort Lin's expression shifted. "How did Your Majesty know?"
The Noble Consort coughed lightly. "Naturally, I told His Majesty."
The Noble Consort's family had some private dealings with the Lin family, so it was hardly surprising that she knew such a secret.
Consort Lin lowered her eyes. "My sister married and moved to Qingzhou long ago. Why does Your Majesty ask?"
The emperor remembered that the real Consort Lin had a scar on her wrist. Consort Lin had said she had been playing and climbed a tree, then fallen onto a rock.
The emperor seized Consort Lin's wrist. His eyes widened slightly. This impostor actually had a scar on her wrist too.
[Sigh, the one with the scar was Consort Lin's sister all along. To pass the false off as the true, they personally burned a scar onto Consort Lin. She was frail to begin with, and after that ordeal, she barely escaped death.]
The emperor's hand trembled.
Consort Lin asked in a shaking voice, "Your Majesty, what are you doing?"
Without a change of expression, the emperor said, "I've been studying medicine lately. I wanted to see whether your pregnancy was stable."
Consort Lin leaned into the emperor's arms and even shot the Noble Consort a provocative glance. "Oh, I see. Your Majesty gave me such a fright."
The Noble Consort: "???"
[Xixi, didn't Consort Lin's sister have someone she loved? Why did she come back?]
[The man she loved spent all day fooling around with people from brothels and even beat her over other women. She couldn't stand it anymore and went home overnight, only to learn that her younger sister had won the emperor's favor and been made a consort. Their whole family now had to bow their heads before her younger sister. She couldn't accept it. All of that should have been hers, so she brazenly exchanged identities with her younger sister.]
[Then where is the real Consort Lin?]
[She locked her up in the palace.]
The emperor gave Eunuch Wang a look. Understanding, Eunuch Wang led some people off to search Rosy Clouds Palace, where Consort Lin lived.
"Your Majesty, the Noble Consort and I share an affinity. Why not grant her a bolt of the Suzhou brocade you bestowed on me a few days ago?"
The Noble Consort wanted to roll her eyes.
Why did Consort Lin enjoy making things unpleasant for her so much?
Besides, the emperor ought to count as her brother-in-law. What was she doing flaunting her brother-in-law's things here?
This world had truly gone mad.
The emperor gave a hum of assent.
Consort Lin: "?"
The emperor had actually agreed?
She bit her lip and said reluctantly, "But Your Majesty bestowed that on me and even said it was one of a kind..."
The Noble Consort frowned. "I don't want it."
Consort Lin was about to meet with disaster. Even accepting it would feel unlucky.
"Sister Noble Consort, it isn't that I'm unwilling to part with it..."
The Noble Consort couldn't be bothered with her.
The Noble Consort craned her neck in anticipation until Eunuch Wang finally returned.
Behind Eunuch Wang was a woman supported by two matrons.
After bowing before the emperor, Eunuch Wang began his performance. "Your Majesty, while passing Rosy Clouds Palace, I heard some unusual noises inside. This woman actually claimed to be Consort Lin."
Eunuch Wang stepped aside, revealing the woman behind him.
"Consort Lin" instantly clenched her hands. She looked at the maid beside her, who lowered her head in bewilderment. She had clearly locked the woman up properly, just as her young mistress had instructed.
"Raise your head," the emperor said gravely.
Consort Lin slowly raised her head. The emperor was shaken. Suppressing his anger, he turned to the "Consort Lin" beside him. "Don't you owe me an explanation, my consort?"
"Consort Lin" said, "This is my elder sister..."
"Your Majesty, I am Consort Lin. She is my elder sister."
Though the woman was still somewhat weak, her words rang out with the force of stones striking the ground.
"Consort Lin" looked incredulous. Heartbroken, she said, "Sister, why are you impersonating me? Is it because your husband abandoned you? I know you're unhappy, but impersonating an imperial consort is a crime punishable by beheading!"
"Consort Lin" walked up to Consort Lin and lowered her voice. "My dear little sister, His Majesty will believe me for the child's sake alone. You'd be better off changing your testimony now. Then I could still keep you alive."
Consort Lin's eyes brimmed with towering hatred. "In your dreams. Even if I die, I'll drag you down to hell with me."
She couldn't understand. Her sister already had everything, so why did she still have to steal what was hers? Whatever her sister didn't want, she had to bear, and whenever her sister wanted it again, she could snatch it back at any time. How could she have a family like this?
She was better off without such a family. What was there to fear in having their property confiscated and their entire clan exterminated?
Looking at her younger sister's stubborn face, "Consort Lin" suddenly remembered how, when her sister had first been brought home, their parents had said she had a rotten temper, like a stone in a latrine.
She had wanted to elope and begged her sister so desperately, but her sister had refused to agree. In the end, their parents had simply stuffed her into the palace sedan, and only then had the matter been settled.
Fine. So she wanted to dig her heels in against her?
She had originally still spared some thought for their sisterly bond. Now she might as well let this younger sister die!
"Consort Lin" turned around and said tearfully, "Your Majesty, please spare my elder sister's crime for the sake of the child."
The emperor truly found himself in a difficult position.
He hadn't known the two had switched places and had unwittingly slept with her. Now there was a child. "Consort Lin" deserved death, but the child was, after all, of imperial blood...
Kneeling on the ground, "Consort Lin" slowly curled her lips. This moment of hesitation from the emperor was precisely what she wanted.
[I used to think His Majesty was a good person. He can't even tell people apart.]
The emperor glanced at Tong Aning.
Su Zhouyue tugged Tong Aning's sleeve.
Tong Aning puffed out her cheeks. "Mother, there's nothing I can do either."
Su Zhouyue: "..."
Who asked you to do anything? Stop talking already!
[Xixi, when did they switch places?]
[Host, I know what you want to ask. This child isn't the emperor's. The elder sister was already pregnant when she went home.]
Tong Aning's eyes widened. [So this child belongs to... that man?]
"That's right."
The veins bulged on the emperor's forehead with rage. He pointed at "Consort Lin" and roared, "You are utterly brazen!"
"Consort Lin" shuddered. "Your Majesty..."
"Guards, take this woman away."
"Consort Lin's" sobs faded into the distance.
[How did he suddenly get smarter?]
The emperor walked up to Consort Lin. "You've suffered, my consort."
Consort Lin's expression was indifferent. "Fortunately, Your Majesty saved me."
"My consort..."
The Noble Consort pulled Consort Lin to her side. "Your Majesty, Consort Lin has just suffered a fright and needs proper rest. Will Your Majesty continue viewing the flowers?"
The emperor: "...No."
The Noble Consort said briskly, "Farewell, Your Majesty."
The emperor: "..."
After the emperor left, the Noble Consort smoothed Consort Lin's disheveled hair at her temples and patted her back. "His Majesty has gone now. It's just us sisters. Come to my palace and get some proper rest."
Tears glistened in Consort Lin's eyes. "Thank you, Your Highness."
The Noble Consort had someone escort Consort Lin back to her palace. Watching her retreating figure, she sighed. "That's more like it. That 'Sister Noble Consort' business was sickeningly mushy to hear. Still..."
Tong Aning said, "Your Highness, do you think Consort Lin is a little pitiful too?"
The Noble Consort pinched Tong Aning's little cheek and said with a smile, "Aning, everyone has their own hardships. In the end, everyone is pitiful. Don't go around pitying people so readily. It isn't good for you or for them. Just take care of yourself, and if you have the will and strength to spare, lend a hand."
Tong Aning nodded, only half understanding.
Seeing that Tong Aning liked a pot of peonies, the Noble Consort gave it to her too.
In her family's carriage, Tong Aning gazed at the pot of peonies, her eyes curving into crescents. "Her Highness is so kind."
"She is."
Su Zhouyue took Tong Aning's hand and drew her a little closer.
"Our Aning is so popular now," she said. "You even seem a little more mature."
"No matter how mature I am, I'm still your daughter, Mother." Tong Aning nestled into Su Zhouyue's arms.
When they reached the residence gates, the two stepped out of the carriage.
Tong Aning saw people tugging at each other in the street. One figure seemed familiar, and she said in surprise, "Mother, isn't that Feng Ying?"
Su Zhouyue looked too and nodded. "It does look a little like him."
Tong Aning peered over curiously. "What's he doing?"
[Ahem, ahem, ahem. I know I'm the son of a marquis's household, but my feelings for you are sincere.]
[No, no, your mother definitely won't agree.]
[I insist on being with you.]
After hearing Xixi play both roles all by itself, Tong Aning was utterly stunned.
[Didn't he like Cui'er before? Isn't this quite a leap?]