Chapter 335: Sword Forge Villa

As a result, the other consorts in the harem were largely neglected.

Even now, his favor toward Imperial Consort Hua was only because she bore a faint resemblance to the charm and grace of Empress Suyin.

Thinking of Empress Suyin’s face, Yue Mingxuan could easily understand why Shang Qinghua had inherited such a striking and somewhat sinister appearance.

Empress Suyin had indeed been extraordinarily beautiful and Shang Qinghua’s looks seemed to follow his mother’s more than anyone else’s.

“So the Beirong royal family is actually so complicated,” Yue Mingxuan murmured while rubbing his eyes.

It was truly a web that was difficult to untangle. Yet now, everything had naturally fallen into place.

What Yue Mingxuan needed to do now was go to the Sword Forge Villa and find a man named Huang Yi, then ask him whether there was anything at the time that could prove Shang Qinghua’s identity when he was taken away.

When Empress Suyin died, she must have foreseen that something like this would happen.

Yue Mingxuan couldn’t explain why, but he just had that feeling.

The road from the Sword Forge Villa to the Ten Thousand Wisdom Hall was not far.

After revealing all the truths to Shang Qinghua, Yue Mingxuan set out alone for the Sword Forge Villa.

The news that Wang Jian and Gongsun Xing were already engaged spread through the Sword Forge Villa like wildfire.

After all, just in terms of appearance, Wang Jian was remarkably beautiful and captivating.

Within the Sword Forge Villa, there were quite a few people who admired Wang Jian.

Because Yue Mingxuan had a fairly good relationship with Wang Jian, entering the Sword Forge Villa went very smoothly.

Wang Jian held a certain status there and with his assistance, Yue Mingxuan quickly found Huang Yi.

It turned out that Huang Yi was the master of the Sword Forge Villa.

Back then, he had discovered Keshun Sanfeng’s secret but did not want Keshun Sanfeng to simply kill Shang Qinghua.

So, he secretly smuggled Shang Qinghua out of the palace and sent him to Xieshang Kingdom.

As for proof of identity, he had stolen a jade pendant at the time.

That pendant was the one Shang Qinghua had carried with him ever since he was a child.

It was different from those of the Beirong royal family, but bore a striking resemblance.

“Jade pendant?” Yue Mingxuan’s memory was usually poor, but at that moment, he still recalled the pendant he had once snatched from Shang Qinghua.

Without that pendant, their relationship would never have turned out the way it did.

He hadn’t expected that the very same jade pendant was meant to prove Shang Qinghua’s identity.

“Does the pendant hold any special meaning?”

“That was the token of love the emperor had given to Empress Suyin, and it also served as the young master’s identification within the organization. That organization was founded entirely by Empress Suyin herself.”

“Empress Suyin?” Yue Mingxuan truly hadn’t expected her to be a woman of both talent and beauty.

He had always assumed she was admired by so many merely for her looks.

Now, he realized that Empress Suyin had possessed an incredibly powerful backing.

Indeed, in the harem, if one lacked a strong foundation, how could they have survived safely?

“It was also because of this organization that the empress ultimately met her tragic end. Aside from Empress Suyin, there was also one of her subordinates, who later became Consort Wan.”

When it came to Consort Wan, Yue Mingxuan’s curiosity only grew.

He could not understand why, upon seeing her face, he always felt a sense of familiarity.

Moreover, although Consort Wan was already exceptionally beautiful, she still practiced the Ninefold Celestial Mystery.

This was truly a mystery.

Why, with such beauty, did she need to cultivate martial skills to protect herself?

And moreover, what had caused her eventual death?

“Consort Wan was pretending to be insane at first, but after one instance of falling into demonic deviation, she truly went mad,” Huang Yi said, his voice tinged with regret.

Consort Wan had been nothing more than a person originally sent to keep an eye on Empress Suyin.

Back then, Empress Suyin could not be with the emperor of Beirong, yet she had braved countless dangers, insisting on being with him, and as a result, she became the target of assassination attempts.

Consort Wan had been one of the people assigned to monitor Empress Suyin, but her more important duty had been to protect Empress Suyin from being killed.

Without Consort Wan, perhaps Empress Suyin would not even have survived long enough to give birth to Shang Qinghua.

Shortly after Shang Qinghua’s birth, Empress Suyin passed away.

“So that’s how things really were back then—” Yue Mingxuan couldn’t help but sigh.

Most of these matters had been the royal family’s deepest secrets, but after hearing them, he finally understood that the waters of the royal court ran far deeper than he had imagined.

He told all of this to Shang Qinghua and decided to stay here for the time being.

At present, Beirong had no place for him; Prince Yue had already died, and in this current form, he was just Yue Mingxuan.

He was no longer burdened by those messy rumors and reputations, and for now, life was unexpectedly free and unencumbered.

“You’re Yue Mingxuan, then?” During Yue Mingxuan’s stay at the Sword Forge Villa, he had met quite a few people.

The one standing before him now was Fu Yunzi.

He was the son of Huang Yi and the young master of the Sword Forge Villa.

“That’s right, I am.”

“You are not as ugly as the rumors about you suggested!” Yue Mingxuan had thought that no one would recognize him as Prince Yue anymore, yet Fu Yunzi had immediately exposed his identity.

“Prince Yue is dead. I am Yue Mingxuan,” he retorted.

The original Prince Yue had faked his death and he no longer needed to hide anything about himself.

“Alright, alright, dead is dead. But about Wang Jian’s matter—I heard you helped quite a lot? Can’t believe that even though you’re supposedly ugly and with a bad reputation, you’re actually capable,” Fu Yunzi said.

Yue Mingxuan ignored him.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep