Chang'an is good

Chapter 593: The Ninth Lady of the Zhong Family
Regardless of whether the people in the hall saluted or not, they all looked at the figure that walked in.

Most of the court officials who looked at him were seeing Chang Suining for the first time.

Perhaps they had met at a festival in the capital before, but at that time they did not think they needed to keep their eyes and attention on a little girl.

Even at the Hibiscus Flower Banquet, when Prince Rong and Cui Jing of Xuan Ce Mansion were competing for her hand in marriage, they still disdained to look at an adopted daughter of a general who was only beautiful.

They could never have imagined at that time that after several years, the little girl would become the most powerful governor of Dasheng... Her appearance became the least important thing about her, and their life and death depended entirely on her decision.

The empress also slowly turned her gaze over.

The young woman who walked in was tall and slender, and her demeanor was as calm as before.

In the past, Ah Shang often appeared in front of officials like this, but at that time Ah Shang was always wearing men's robes. The robe that covered his female body had been worn by Ah Shang since he was eight years old and had never taken it off.

Today, the A Shang who appeared in front of everyone was wearing a skirt, a very common women's skirt.

It was a green silk skirt with a white crane embroidered on it. The green was as blue as the water, and the crane was whiter than snow.

Her thick black hair was tied into a high bun. As she walked, her red-gold hairpins swayed slightly. Her blue-white shawl was light and flowing, as if it was still stained with the misty rain outside the palace.

There were no sacrificial robes for the princess in Taiyuan City, and ordinary craftsmen were unable to make them in a short period of time. Chang Suining was also more willing to complete today's ceremony with this ordinary female attire.

She was born a girl, so she didn't need to hide under men's clothes, nor did she have to wear solemn official uniforms to show her majesty. She was originally an ordinary woman, but when she stood here, no one could question her ability.

Cui Jing, dressed in a black robe, followed her two steps behind and entered the hall with her.

Chang Suining didn't care that the court officials didn't bow to her.

When a sad and angry shout sounded from behind, Chang Suining didn't even look back and just kept moving forward.

"...Shameless traitors, openly stealing the Li family's kingdom! Today, the ancestors of the Li family are here before you...I, Tu Dexian, would rather die than associate with such traitors!"

Censor Tu shouted in grief and anger, and was about to crash into the dragon pillar in the hall.

However, before he could rush forward, he was firmly controlled by two Xuan Ce soldiers who rushed out from nowhere.

Several other officials also wanted to die to show their dissatisfaction, but they were also quickly subdued. One of them didn't even have time to speak, let alone move, before he was subdued.

They were filled with grief and anger, but they quickly realized that Chang Suining had been prepared, and his preparations were so precise. It was obvious that someone had leaked their plan! How sad and hateful that such a spineless spy had appeared among them!

In front of them, where they could not see, Crown Prince Li Zhi looked a little guilty.

The commotion, which was quickly brought under control, did not stop Chang Suining.

She walked straight up the white jade steps and came to the altar. She took the three green incense sticks handed to her by Wei Shuyi and held them in both hands. She faced the outside of the hall and bowed three times. Then she faced the tablet of Li's ancestors behind the altar and bowed three more times. Then she raised her head and spoke:
"Your Majesty, the ancestors of the Li family. My unworthy daughter, Ah Li, has been wandering outside for many years and has only just returned home today. I have specially set up this grand ceremony in Taiyuan, firstly to apologize to your ancestors, and secondly to ask our emperor, the crown prince, and the court officials to be witnesses—"

After Chang Suining finished speaking, he slowly inserted the incense into the incense burner, folded his hands in front of his forehead, knelt down and kowtowed to the ancestral tablet.

"... Chang Suining, you are pretending here, telling lies, and defiling the Jin Temple. Aren't you afraid of being punished by God?" The restrained Tu Yushi asked angrily.

Chang Suining stood up from the cushion, faced the crowd, first bowed in the direction of the emperor and the eldest princess, then looked at the officials headed by Censor Tu, who were extremely angry.

"Loyalty and treachery, truth and falsehood, it is not up to one who dares to die to decide." The woman's calm and clear voice spread in the hall: "If I am a fake, you can still leave a clear reputation if you die today. But I am real, and your death will only become a laughing stock in history books."

"I respect your loyalty to the Lee family, and I cannot bear to see you become a laughing stock."

"You may wish to allow yourself to live a little longer and listen to my origins. If you still feel that I am a fake after listening to it, and if someone still wants to die, I will not only not stop you, but I will also lend a helping hand."

Chang Suining finished speaking, and without paying attention to the reactions of Tu Yushi and others, he bowed to everyone and said, "Please witness and judge together--"

At this time, Wei Shuyi invited the chief priest of the ceremony.

Looking at the old man coming out of the side hall, there was a commotion in the hall.

"Teacher!"

"Master, are you well?"

"The Grand Master is the chief priest. Has he been coerced by this traitor Chang Suining?"

Master Chu, dressed in his official uniform, walked to the top and looked at everyone. His old voice was sonorous and powerful: "In this world today, no one can force this old man—"

The old man looked at the restless and angry people and said solemnly: "With me here today, no one can stop you from speaking, but now is not the time for you to speak."

As he spoke, Master Chu raised three fingers to the sky and swore: "In the presence of the ancestors of the Li family and the ancestors of the Jin Temple, I, Chu Hui, Chu Shiqing, swear here that today I will never allow lies to be twisted into truth, nor will I allow the truth to be slandered by those with ulterior motives! If I break this oath, I am willing to be struck by lightning and have a bad end in this life!"

“Master…!”

There were waves of uneasy exclamations in the hall.

Many officials had tears in their eyes. Censor Tu closed his eyes and finally calmed down.

Chang Suining felt a little sad. She had no idea that her teacher would make such a solemn vow.

"Yao Tingwei..." When Master Chu put down his sworn hand, he first pointed out Yao Yi's name, then looked at Chang Suining beside him, his eyes suddenly became much kinder: "Let Yao Tingwei talk about the origin and life experience of this child first."

Yao Yi replied "yes", stepped out under the puzzled gaze of the crowd, came to the white marble steps, faced everyone, and saluted solemnly.

Facing every glance, Yao Yi began to tell an old story.

"Yao was born in a poor family. When he was young, he went to study at his aunt's house in Hongzhou. At that time, my uncle was the county magistrate of Hongzhou. He had a daughter named Zhong and Jiuniang——" "In the 21st year of the previous emperor, my uncle Zhong was implicated and imprisoned. The men in his family were exiled, and Jiuniang and the women in the family entered the palace as maids. My sister Jiuniang was originally a talented woman from Hongzhou. After entering the palace for several years, she was selected to be a female official in the library."

"In the 24th year of the late emperor, Jiu Niang was accidentally favored by the late emperor, but the matter was never made public."

"In the same year, the late emperor was seriously ill and unable to manage affairs. The palace maids reported Jiu Niang's pregnancy. Jiu Niang claimed that she was carrying the late emperor's child, but the concubines in the harem refused to acknowledge her and waited for an opportunity to force Jiu Niang to be killed according to the palace rules—"

"Nine Lady was kindhearted and had done many good deeds. Fortunately, she was helped by the palace maids and escaped from the palace and gave birth to a daughter."

"Not long after the previous emperor passed away, Jiu Niang did not dare to return to the palace. She wanted to spend the rest of her life outside the palace. However, her whereabouts were exposed and she was persecuted by the people in the harem again..."

"Jiuniang desperately fled the capital. On the way, she ran into the army of the late Crown Prince Li Xiao who was camping in the capital. She asked someone to go to the army and ask the late Crown Prince for help. When the late Crown Prince arrived, Jiuniang was already dead, leaving only her one-year-old daughter who was taken back by the late Crown Prince to be raised."

"This girl is Sui Ning of the Chang family, who was later raised by the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery. The latter part of Jiu Niang's escape from the capital was told to her by the general of Xuan Ce Mansion who brought Sui Ning back with the late Crown Prince."

While Yao Yi was speaking, there were occasional voices of doubt, but they did not interrupt Yao Yi's narration.

After he finished speaking, he took out a letter and said, "When my sister Jiu Niang risked her life to leave the capital, she knew that I was about to go to the capital, and she left a suicide letter at her residence, in which she explained to me all the causes and effects."

"A few years ago, Yao was secretly looking for someone in the capital. After his ex-wife Pei found out, she repeatedly tried to kill Sui Ning. You must all know about this—" Yao Yi said, "Yao did not dare to rashly announce Sui Ning's identity at that time, so he just thought he was looking for the wrong person. In fact, she is the youngest daughter born to the late emperor by Jiu Niang."

Yao Yi handed over the letter: "This is what Jiu Niang wrote in her last words. Please take a look."

Cui Lang stepped forward to take it and handed the letter to everyone to read.

The hall was noisy, and soon another questioning voice was raised: "What can a letter alone prove? Even if the letter is true, there is no guarantee that it is not just the woman's fantasy! Since the late emperor never acknowledged this matter during his lifetime, there is no way to prove its truth! This is about the royal bloodline, how can a letter from an unknown woman prove it?"

"My Lords, I also have a letter in my hand—"

The voice of Princess Xuan'an suddenly sounded.

When everyone looked over, they saw the Grand Princess holding up a letter in her hand. She stood up, facing them, and said solemnly, "The letter in my hand was written by the late Crown Prince Xiao himself."

The four words "the former crown prince's example" made the hall quiet down instantly.

"Not only that, I can also prove that the daughter of the court lady Zhong Jiuniang was indeed the heir to the throne." Li Rong's voice was loud and firm: "This was what the late emperor told me personally before he died. It can't be false!"

"When my brother was seriously ill, I was summoned to the capital—" Li Rong said with force, "Although my brother was unable to take care of government affairs at that time, the concubines in the harem knew that a female official in the library was pregnant, and this also reached my brother's ears. My brother knew that he could not protect the mother and daughter, so he asked me to find Zhong Jiuniang and her daughter and save their lives."

This involves a special gray period. Many people present are well aware that during the period from the late emperor's serious illness to his death, all affairs were in the hands of the current saint, the then empress, and the late emperor's power had been hollowed out.

Therefore, in order to preserve his bloodline, the late emperor entrusted his younger sister Li Rong... In a sense, it makes sense.

Li Rong continued, "After that, I found out the whereabouts of the child and learned that she was brought back by the late Crown Prince Xiao. So I wrote to the Crown Prince Xiao to inquire about this matter. This letter is the reply from the late Crown Prince to me!"

"The late crown prince's letter clearly stated that he had verified that the youngest daughter was the late emperor's bloodline. However, the youngest daughter was too young to protect herself in the deep palace. Her mother, Jiu Niang, entrusted her with a wish before her death that she would live a safe life outside the palace. After reading this letter, I temporarily followed the late crown prince's arrangement and did not rush to announce Sui Ning's royal identity."

As for why they never thought of recognizing him afterwards, there is almost no need to explain. The previous emperor passed away, the previous crown prince died, the Ming empress took over the throne after serving as regent, and many royal bloodlines were killed "for their crimes"...

Under such circumstances, Li Rong, the aunt, acquiesced to the bloodline of the late emperor remaining outside the palace, which was undoubtedly a common sense response based on the circumstances.

No matter whether it is Yao Yi or Li Rong's story, the most "brilliant" part is that some seemingly unreasonable places can be found with reasonable explanations from the situation at that time upon careful consideration.

As a result, there was an uproar in the palace because it involved the late emperor's "last words of decree" and the late crown prince's letter.

Cui Lang's voice of sudden enlightenment was still particularly striking: "No wonder! It turns out that Her Royal Highness the Grand Princess has always known the identity of Envoy Chang. No wonder when Envoy Chang first entered Jiangdu, the Grand Princess Xuan'an's residence treated Envoy Chang and Jiangdu with great care!"

After these words were spoken, there were countless voices echoing them, and more and more words of "afterthought" were heard in the hall.

Li Rong tried his best to make his expression look firm enough.

Just as "Sui Ning" said, "telling facts with lies" - what she said today was all fabricated. Her royal brother, who suddenly decided to favor a female official, did not care so much about the life and death of his so-called youngest daughter.

At that time, her brother was already constrained by the Empress Ming in every way, and all the affairs of the harem were controlled by her. She even suspected that her brother favored female officials simply because he was venting his incompetence, or he did it deliberately to disgust the Empress Ming.

And the ones who wanted to get rid of Zhong Jiuniang and her daughter might not be ordinary concubines... But this matter can no longer be traced back, and it is not within the scope of today's discussion.

Now she needed to hand over this letter written by the former Crown Prince Xiao to these ministers to determine its authenticity.

Tutor Chu took out a sealed official document written by the former crown prince and asked everyone to compare it.

The ministers checked it in groups of two or three, but none of them could raise any doubts. Most of them were experts in calligraphy, but they could not find any discrepancy between the two handwritings...

At this time, Master Chu said, "I have checked it again and again beforehand - the letter held by Grand Princess Xuan'an is indeed written by the late Crown Prince."

The Grand Tutor was the former Crown Prince's teacher, and since he confirmed that the handwriting was correct, almost no one would dare to refute it.

According to this statement, Chang Suining's identity was verified and approved by the former crown prince...

The name Ah Li was also given by the former crown prince, and "Li" means "Li"...

The noise in the hall was different from before. Censor Tu and others also changed their expressions. At this time when the wind direction changed, a voice as majestic as before sounded: "Since it is written by my son himself, I also want to take a look."

Chang Suining, who was standing at the top, looked at the empress who finally spoke, and said in a normal tone: "Cui Liulang, please hand the letter over to the saint for review."

Cui Lang then stepped forward with the letter.

The hall suddenly became quiet, with undercurrents surging, and no one talked or whispered for a while.

Don’t worry, I will update it early tomorrow!