Time Travel: Pampered by the Aloof Prince-Chapter 348 What Evidence Do You Have?

Xue Hongwen’s deeds, though extremely secretive, were not difficult to investigate.

When Shi Zhou first entered the Imperial Palace, she acutely sensed that everyone in the palace who had seen her face was afraid of her.

The nanny Gui beside the Noble Consort was, as was the Empress.

There were also those who weren’t afraid of her, such as the Noble Consort herself, who would remind her not to appear before His Majesty.

With so many clues laid out before her, it was hard for Shi Zhou not to suspect her own identity.

Or perhaps, the seed of doubt was planted on her very first day in the capital city because on that day, at the city gate, she had seen Li Tianze once.

This encounter didn’t signify much, yet it shocked her to realize that she could see the shadow of her mother in Li Tianze’s face.

Piecing together the various unusual encounters in the Imperial Palace, she had roughly guessed her mother’s identity, including her own.

Thus, she went to ask Qi Yu and laid out all her conjectures to him.

Qi Yu knew she would eventually become suspicious, and seeing that she had finally come to a realization, he no longer kept her in the dark.

He told Shi Zhou all the secrets that Shi Fuyou had once confided to her in Tuyun Village.

Shi Fuyou first met Li Hanyan on a boat.

That boat was bound for Jiangnan, and on it were people from all over the world.

It was Shi Fuyou’s first trip to the capital city, and it would also be his last.

Because on that boat he met the woman he would love for a lifetime, and through her, he heard her tragic story, losing all fondness for the capital city.

Afterward, the two of them returned to Tuyun Village together, where they lived in each other’s company for over a decade, until Li Hanyan passed away due to illness.

When Shi Zhou was born, Li Hanyan’s health had already begun to fail.

Before leaving the capital city, she was not only drugged with sedatives but also fed a massive poison by the Empress that would damage her body.

If not for the various herbs available in Tuyun Village for her to recuperate, she would have died long ago.

Li Hanyan never revealed her past or her true identity to Shi Zhou.

The memories of the past were not pleasant for her, so there was no need to pass on these troubles to the next generation.

Moreover, she wanted Shi Zhou to grow up free and unburdened, to live a safe and healthy life.

She didn’t need Shi Zhou to seek vengeance for her; life is too short to waste on such unworthy matters.

And in her life, she was already fortunate enough.

As Shi Fuyou spoke of Li Hanyan’s words before her death, his voice was sorrowful yet tinged with a hint of hatred.

Hatred was justified, for even with a heart as broad as his, he could not let go of the fact that his beloved had been murdered.

But what good would hatred do?

Could he really abandon his daughter and set out alone to seek revenge in the capital city?

He couldn’t even enter the Imperial Palace, let alone kill the Empress who sat high above.

Giving up one’s life for such a person wasn’t worth it, which was what Li Hanyan kept repeating to him before she passed away.

Shi Fuyou had no choice but to accept this truth; all these years, he had never mentioned it to Shi Zhou for fear that his hot-tempered daughter would actually go to the capital city to kill.

Yet his endurance had been met with the Empress’s relentless extermination of everyone in Tuyun Village.

This time, Shi Fuyou could no longer swallow his anger.

But he had promised his wife that in his lifetime, he would never set foot in the capital city again.

After thorough talks with Qi Yu and Li Mingjue, he at last made up his mind to send Shi Zhou to the capital city.

He believed that with these two people there, Shi Zhou would definitely not run into any trouble.

Indeed, his intuition proved correct.

Qi Yu did not choose to tell Shi Zhou the whole truth from the beginning. Instead, after Shi Zhou began to sense something was wrong and explored to reach a conclusion, Qi Yu then shared the past events.

Naturally, one could imagine that if a person knew their mother had been harmed by someone, and that someone still lived unscathed after so many years, enjoying wealth and honor, their eyes would undoubtedly be blinded by hatred, and they would stop at nothing to kill that person.

When Shi Zhou learned of this matter, indeed, she immediately drew her sword, intending to confront the issue head-on.

But she was stopped by Qi Yu, who argued that the Empress was the one at fault, and there was no need to sacrifice oneself in the process.

They aimed not only to bring the Empress down but also to do so in a dignified, legitimate manner.

And what they lacked the most was evidence. freēwēbnovel.com

In the days that followed, they had not ceased to secretly investigate the people and events related to this matter.

But nearly twenty years had passed, and the Palace Attendants had been changed several times. As a cautious person, the Empress definitely would not allow those who knew the inside story and could pose a threat to her to remain.

Therefore, at the beginning, besides Xue Hongwen, a current scholar of the Hanlin Academy, they had no other witnesses.

But this was a grave crime that warranted the execution of the entire family. How could Xue Hongwen admit to it, even if they beat him to death, his mouth would probably remain shut.

Fortunately, Heaven favors the diligent, and ultimately Qi Yu found a clue, that was nanny Gui.

That day, nanny Gui’s reaction when she first saw Shi Zhou indicated that she not only had seen Li Hanyan but also heard about the old affairs of the past.

Otherwise, she had no reason to show a look of horror.

Even more coincidentally, nanny Gui initially served the Empress in Jingyang Palace and was sent to serve the Noble Consort only because she failed to please the Empress.

The Noble Consort, kindhearted as she was, did not misuse her because she was sent by the Empress. Instead, she favored nanny Gui for her meticulous thoughts and serious attitude towards work, and with her skilled hands, she styled hair and makeup slightly better than others, also thoughtfully designed different makeups and hairstyles for the Noble Consort.

After standing out a few times, nanny Gui became a person in demand within the palace, with many princesses wanting to have her in their service. However, she had always been grateful for the Noble Consort’s kindness and remained unmoved, regardless of the generous offers made by those princesses.

When the Empress realized she had lost a valuable aide, it was already too late for regrets.

She also thought about getting rid of nanny Gui, but by then, nanny Gui had become the person in charge in the Noble Consort’s palace, who had also given birth to a prince and enjoyed the Emperor’s favor. Even if the Empress wanted to make a move, she dared not.

Twenty years passed in a blink of an eye, and had Qi Yu not brought Shi Zhou into the palace, nanny Gui would have long forgotten that past incident.

Today, when Qi Yu entered the palace, knowing that the Empress had set herself up for her own doom and the time had come for a fatal blow, she immediately sent someone to notify nanny Gui.

By now, that person should be arriving soon.

She turned around and just happened to see nanny Gui’s figure standing outside the hall.

Qi Yu exchanged a glance with her and nodded slightly, and then nanny Gui slowly made her way into the hall.

Nanny Gui knelt in the great hall and bowed her head in a ceremonial salute.

Li Tianze, unaware of why she had suddenly appeared, frowned and asked, "You should be serving the Noble Consort. What brings you here?"

Kneeling on the ground, nanny Gui sat upright. Although her face had aged, her eyes were still as bright as ever.

In a deep voice, she said, "Your Majesty, this old servant comes forth today because of a matter concerning the Empress and Minister Xue’s plot against Princess Zhaoyang."

Li Tianze looked straight at her, his tone growing heavier, and with a note of urgency, he asked, "What evidence do you have?"

New novel chapters are published on fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com