Chapter 47

Chapter 47 – Doubts (1)

The extravagant imperial palace was made grander by the addition of heavy, red draperies that fell to the floor like supple ripples. People carrying varied colors of peonies and decorative lanterns scurried to and fro, while shadow guards stood guard, tall and imposing, in every corner.

A tense Mo Rongzhan was staying in the imperial study. His hands gripped the wooden box he had found in the dry well as he grimly stared at the pieces of cloth inside-torn no doubt. His face was dark and indifferent. Even he himself couldn’t decide what he should feel about this.

Should he rejoice?

Or, should he be livid?

To find the wooden box with the cloth bearing the word Yao could only mean one thing-Lu Wushuang could be an impostor. His hands tightened more around the box at the thought of this deception.

“Your Majesty, Shen Yi asked for an audience,” Eunuch Fu said with his head bowed.

The anger in Mo Rongzhan’s eyes slightly dwindled. “Let him in.” He commanded.

Taking determined steps, Shen Yi’s brooding presence cloaked in a black robe came from the outside. He was the shadow guard under Mo Rongzhan’s command who remained in secret until the emperor’s reign.

Tasks that should be done in secrecy were handed to exclusive shadow guards like him.

“Your Majesty.”

Shen Yi knelt on one knee in front of Mo Rongzhan’s firm, icy face, devoid of any superfluous emotion.

Mo Rongzhan looked down at him and with a snap of his finger, the guard stood up.

“Did you find anything of substance?” He demanded.

Shen Yi handed the piece of cloth to Mo Rongzhan and answered. “The emperor’s subordinates have found out that this is the brocade the previous emperor had given as tribute in Jiangnan during his twenty-five years of reign. Except for several palace concubines, only few aristocratic families have been given the same brocade as a reward for allegiance.”

“Which families of nobility received the brocade?”

Despite the information, Mo Rongzhan’s voice didn’t change one bit. It was still heavily cold and insipid.

“Aside from Princess Royal who is too old to be the person His Majesty is seeking…” Shen Yi swallowed a lump in his throat before saying, “The Ye Family was also given one as a token of their loyalty…”

The Ye Family?

Mo Rongzhan’s eyes flashed with a different light. He looked at the piece of rag with his brows crossed.

The little girl said she’s nicknamed Yaoyao. This rag also has Yao embroidered on it. Just where could I find this girl?

Lu Wushuang is unlikely to own this brocade. Is she really the little girl who saved me?

Once again, Mo Rongzhan’s heart was filled with doubts.

“Has anyone been to that forest apart from me?” Mo Rongzhan asked in a low voice.

“I’ve seen another path in the woods aside from the main road the emperor has walked on… onlookers did say that someone passed through that road at that time, but I still haven’t found out who it was.” Shen Yi answered.

Mo Rongzhan nodded, satisfied that this investigation was getting somewhere.

“In any case, we have to find out who has been to the woods.” Mo Rongzhan’s voice suddenly stopped.

If his suspicion proved right that Lu Wushuang was not the person she was pretending to be, then perhaps the person who dug up the box was Yaoyao herself!

But why? Why didn’t she come to him?

If Ye Zhen was the little girl who saved him, how could Lu Wushuang have the jade pendant? How did she know of it?

It never crossed his mind that the person who saved him in those days could be related to the Ye Family, the family who’d wished his immediate death before.

When he came to know that the Ye Family also had the same brocade, he had automatically excluded the possibility of his savior coming from them.

For all he knew, it might have been them who’d dug the dry well he fell into to be his early grave!

Therefore, how could he possibly think that someone from this family could save him?

Shen Yi left the imperial study leaving Mo Rongzhan sitting alone behind his writing desk, meditating in solemn silence.

But soon after, the voice of  Wang Fei Lu requesting an audience from outside his study was heard.

Mo Rongzhan collected the pieces of cloth, stuffed them back into the wooden box, and stowed the item into an inconspicuous area. Lu Wushuang then came strutting in, with a bright smile like the sun.

This kind of smile gave him peace of mind before. Surprisingly, he didn’t feel the same this time.