Chapter 584: Two Letters (2)

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The first letter was not very long.

In the letter, Li Niang said—

“When my brother sees my letter, I would have died long ago.”

“After so many years, you haven’t forgotten me. I’m very happy that you can still remember our agreement.”

“The reason I hadn’t contacted my brother over the years was because I knew a secret.”

“I can’t let anyone know my whereabouts. I don’t want to implicate my brother.

I can’t let you and the rest of the Deng family be involved in danger.”

“I originally wanted to bring that secret to the grave to end all my grudges. I was prepared to die. Before I died, I went back to Bashu to see my child. But when I got there, I found out that my child was dead.”

“I know they did it. They had killed the entire Feng family!”

“I also knew that there was a survivor from the Feng family. That child had gone to the Imperial Capital.”

“She was a smart and filial child. I left the bracelet to her.”

“I believe that she would definitely find out the truth and give the Feng family justice.”

“Brother, when she finds you, please help her.”

Li Niang was superb.

Yu Niaoniao eagerly unfolded the second piece of paper.

The paper was covered in words. In this letter, Li Niang revealed the secret—

It turned out that the talent show back then was not just to choose a concubine, but also to choose an empress.

The late emperor’s first wife, the empress, had passed away from illness and there was a need for the emperor to marry another empress. As the most experienced person in the palace, Imperial Concubine Meng had a good character and morals, so the late emperor entrusted this matter to her.

The matter of establishing an empress was no small matter. In order to avoid causing unnecessary disputes, Imperial Concubine Meng did not make it public and kept an extremely low profile.

Therefore, very few people knew about this.

Imperial Concubine Meng took a fancy to Li Niang at a glance. She felt that be it her looks, background, or moral talent, she was the best choice to inherit the Empress.

However, the day before the talent show began, Li Niang suddenly fell down the stairs. Although the rescue was not life-threatening in time, there would definitely be scars on her face and body.

In this way, she could no longer participate in the talent show, so the position of the empress was naturally out of her reach.

Then, her sister, Deng Yuluo, replaced Li Niang and was brought into the palace by Imperial Concubine Meng, becoming the candidate for the empress.

Everyone thought that Li Niang had accidentally fallen and injured herself. Only Li Niang knew very well that she had been pushed down the stairs.

The person who had harmed her was her half-sister.

Li Niang could not take this lying down. She was determined to take revenge.

She knew that Deng Yuluo had interacted with a young and handsome scholar in private. Deng Yuluo had a good impression of that scholar. Originally, she had planned to let that scholar propose at her house after she failed.

However, when she found out that this talent show was not only about choosing a concubine, but also about choosing an empress, Deng Yuluo immediately cut ties with that scholar and focused on the talent show.

Being thrown out for no reason, the scholar felt resentful.

When Li Niang looked for him, he agreed to help her almost without thinking.

Li Niang entered the palace under the pretense of visiting her sister. She had two maidservants with her. One of the maidservants was a scholar in disguise.

She took advantage of the situation and drugged Deng Yuluo’s food.

When the drug took effect and Deng Yuluo was infatuated, Li Niang called the scholar over.

Then, Li Niang walked out of the room. At the end, she did not forget to close the door and hand Deng Yuluo to the scholar.

Li Niang thought that as long as Deng Yuluo’s body was broken, it was impossible for her to be conferred the title of empress.

What she could not obtain, Deng Yuluo could forget about it!

Coincidentally, the emperor suddenly visited that night.

He wanted to see with his own eyes what the talented and beautiful eldest daughter of the Deng family looked like.

Li Niang did not want the emperor to see her ugly appearance, so she deliberately extinguished all the candles in the room.

When the emperor came in, he could only vaguely see Li Niang’s slender figure under the hazy moonlight coming in through the window.

The emperor wanted someone to light the candle and take a closer look at Li Niang’s face.

Li Niang was desperate. Such times call for desperate measures and a drowning man will clutch at a straw. Using the excuse of toasting, she secretly poured the last of the unused knockout powder into a wine glass.

After a glass of wine, the emperor began to feel groggy and hot.

Li Niang wanted to take the opportunity to leave, but she was stopped by the drugged emperor and pressed to the cold ground.

Li Niang did not dare to make a sound. If she attracted the attention of the palace maids and eunuchs outside, her plan would be exposed. At that time, not only her, but the entire Deng family would suffer.

She could only grit her teeth and endure it. It was not easy for her to make it to the end.

The emperor was so tired that he fell asleep. Li Niang endured the pain and humiliation and got up. She dressed and quietly left.

At dawn the next day, Li Niang hurriedly left the palace with two maidservants.

When they returned to the Deng residence, Li Niang gave the scholar a sum of silver and asked him to leave the Imperial Capital as far as possible.

It was also then that she found out that the scholar had taken the jade bracelet on Deng Yuluo’s wrist. He said that he would never see Deng Yuluo again and wanted to keep it as a souvenir.

At that time, Li Niang did not think too much about it and quickly sent him

away.

She originally thought that Deng Yuluo would definitely fail after her body was broken.

In the end, it proved that she had underestimated Deng Yuluo.

Deng Yuluo used some methods to hide from the physical examination in the palace and was successfully chosen as the empress.

Li Niang watched helplessly as Deng Yuluo ascended to a high position and took the phoenix seal that represented her status as the empress from the emperor.

In that moment, Li Niang knew that she had lost.

Deng Yuluo, who had become an empress, would definitely not let her off.

She could only disguise herself and leave the Imperial Capital quietly.

Initially, she wanted to return to the Deng family, but on the way, she accidentally realized that she was pregnant.

This time, she could not even return to the Deng family.

She could not explain the origin of the child in her stomach. She could only hide and drift.

After a few turns, she finally arrived at Jinguan City and gave birth to a son with Grandma Sun’s help.

She knew that she was powerless to raise her son, and she was even more afraid that her existence would implicate him. Hence, she could only trouble Grandma Sun to find a good family for her son.

Coincidentally, the Feng couple wanted a child very much at that time, so Grandma Sun sent the child to their house.

After confirming that the Feng couple could take good care of the child, Li Niang quietly left Jinguan City and continued her wandering journey.

That was the end of the letter.

There was no need for Li Niang to say anything else. Yu Niaoniao knew everything.

Li Niang could not accept her son’s tragic death. She did not hesitate to take the risk to return to the Imperial Capital and use herself as bait to lure the real culprit out.

She had deliberately jumped into the Imperial River on New Year’s Eve to attract the attention of the authorities.

She knew that Yu Niaoniao would definitely pursue the truth.

So she left the jade bracelet as a clue.

She also knew that her brother would come all the way to the Imperial Capital for her.

So she buried two letters under the pear tree.

Even if she had to give up everything, she wanted the truth to be revealed and the real culprit executed!

Yu Niaoniao held the light rice paper, but she felt that it weighed a thousand pounds.

Some of these truths were what she had expected.

But there were some things she hadn’t expected..