Chapter 5:
Zhou Yijun was captured alive, and the entire family of Marquis Jingyuan was exterminated.
The ministers involved in this matter were executed or exiled.
The Xie family found their long-lost eldest son Xie Rongzheng.
That day, when I was giving A'Zheng his medicine, I unintentionally caught a glimpse of the red birthmark on his waist, shaped like an opened bow.
I remembered that Xie Rongting had mentioned that the missing eldest son of the Xie family had a birthmark like this.
I was puzzled, so I immediately wrote a letter and urgently sent it to the northern region, asking for details about the shape and location of the birthmark.
Finally, I confirmed that A'Zheng was indeed the Xie family's eldest son.
When Xie Rongzheng was kidnapped by human traffickers, the Xie family searched all over the capital for their missing child.
The human traffickers abandoned the child to save their own lives and fled to the northern region.
That day, when the Emperor went out of the palace to attend the minister's wedding, he accidentally saw the unconscious Xie Rongzheng and brought him back to the palace, handing him over to the leader of the secret guards.
He instructed the leader to help him find his family, but after searching for a long time, the leader of the secret guards found nothing.
At that time, the Xie family had already left the capital in pursuit of the human traffickers.
Seeing that there was no hope of finding his family, the leader of the secret guards quietly kept Xie Rongzheng by his side and raised him as a secret guard.
The two southern men were tied up and sent to the prison that night.
After a round of intimidation by Gao Zhen, they confessed everything without being physically harmed.
Once the documents were signed and sealed, a letter was directly sent to the Emperor of the southern country, asking him to think about how to compensate Da Liang for its losses.
During this period, Lin Rou specially came over to entrust me, telling me to ask for more money and tear off a piece of flesh from the old emperor.
As soon as the old emperor realized that the situation was exposed, he knew that a head-on confrontation with Da Liang would not end well.
Within half a month, he prepared the compensation money.
On the day when the ten thousand taels of gold arrived in Da Liang, the palace in the southern country suddenly caught fire, and when the empress was found, only her burned corpse remained.
The hidden guards rushed back to Da Liang, escorting Lin Rou's mother, and I fulfilled my promise to her.
In early spring, my father abdicated and passed the throne to me, and I took my mother out for a journey.
Due to the incident of the royal consort plotting treason, many unruly people in the court were removed, and although there were some dissatisfaction, they did not hinder the process.
The day of the coronation ceremony was set on the day of the beginning of spring, not only marking the arrival of spring in Da Liang but also signaling the arrival of spring for women throughout the world.
After the coronation ceremony, I wore ceremonial attire and took my personally appointed female general to the prison to bid farewell to Zhou Yi Jun for the last time.
Poison was poured into Zhou Yi Jun's mouth, and within a moment, he began to cough up large amounts of blood.
In the second before he took his last breath, I whispered to him, "Women throughout the world will become better.
They will enter schools, become doctors, generals, and even high-ranking officials of the court.
They will have their own lives." After speaking, I turned away with Xie Rong Ting.
The first thing I did after ascending the throne was to establish female schools in various places and invite teachers to give free lessons to girls.
While I was once again busy with the establishment of female schools, my personally appointed General Zhenbei, Xie Rong Zheng, climbed in through the window.
"An Ning, when will you marry me?" Xie Rong Zheng stared at me with his black eyes, full of grievances, as if accusing me of being someone who causes trouble and abandons it.
Helplessly, I rubbed my temples and said, "When you stop coming in through the window and start using the door, then I will marry you." Xie Rong Ting told me that Xie Rong Zheng doesn't like using the door and prefers climbing through the window, but I didn't believe it.
Later, when Xie Rong Zheng climbed into my sleeping chamber through the window, he was seen by patrolling Gao Zhen and was mistaken for a thief.
Gao Zhen gathered a group of imperial guards to arrest him.
Later, I realized that the previous head of the hidden guards also liked to climb through the window.
I called the retired head of the hidden guards into the palace.
The old head of the hidden guards told me firmly, "Your Majesty, this is a professional quality."