After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 389 Possible
Haijiao was startled: "What? Impossible!"

He had never heard of such a prince in his previous life. The eighth prince will inherit the throne. Except for the eighth prince, Emperor Deguang had no other sons - Prince Ji had already left the clan and had not been able to obtain permission to recognize his ancestors and return to the clan, so he was not counted. Everyone knows that Queen Wu died together with the third prince. She was pregnant with Liujia when she died. She was about to give birth but had not yet given birth. Where could there be another prince?

If Emperor Deguang really had such a son, then after the death of the sixth prince, he would not fall ill because he had no children to inherit the throne. Sun Gelao took advantage of his serious illness to win over the clan and support Prince Ji's return to the clan and establish a heir apparent, almost as if the emperor was dead. As long as the emperor still has a son in his hands, it is impossible for Mr. Sun Ge and the clan to force him into that position. This dilemma was not relieved until Concubine Xu Xian gave birth to the eighth prince.

If Empress Wu really left behind a living prince, he would be the direct descendant of the middle palace. And Concubine Xu Xian was not only born in the palace, but also married for the second time. How could the eighth prince she gave birth to compare with the legitimate son of the middle palace? Why did Emperor Deguang abandon his legitimate son and insist on establishing his younger son as the heir apparent?
Hai Jiao put forward various reasons and believed that the younger sister's statement was unreasonable. But Haitang was not without any basis. She told Hai Jiao about Mrs. Gui’s strange remarks that Wu Qiong had previously revealed: “It sounds like Mrs. Gui believes that the one who will inherit the throne in the future is the legitimate prince born by Empress Wu! "

Hai Jiao frowned: "Was Mrs. Gui sober when she said this? She is very unreliable in her words and deeds. Could she be lying to others?"

"She revealed this to her biological daughter in private, is it necessary to lie?" Haitang disagreed, "I think she is unreasonably proud and seems to have a lot of reliance in her heart. Based on her own remarks, she probably really thinks so. After all, she has lived in the Cining Palace for several years. How big is the Cining Palace in total? She has learned that uncanny ability, and even if she discovers the secrets hidden by the Queen Mother, it is not impossible. "

If Empress Wu's biological prince had not succeeded to the throne, why would Mrs. Gui think that the Wu family would be prosperous in the future? She doesn't even pay attention to Concubine Xu Xian and her son, nor does she take the Zhou family's protection and kindness into consideration. Is this what a normal person would think?

Haijiao's brows furrowed even more. He began to consider the possibility of the existence of this "legitimate prince": "What if Empress Wu gave birth to a little prince early during the fire? She was too weak to escape after childbirth, so she entrusted the child to her confidants Liuhua and wet nurse Xu. It is possible that he himself died in the fire. What about the third prince? Empress Wu was reluctant to watch her youngest son die, so could she be willing to see her eldest son die tragically in the fire? "

Haitang thought for a while: "If the fire in Kunning Palace did not spread quickly and allowed Queen Wu to give birth to a child, then why didn't the other palace servants escape? There should be no way to escape, right? Did someone control them in advance? Was it the case? Was the person stunned, or was he killed directly? Was there someone outside Kunning Palace, preventing anyone from leaving? If so... Empress Wu knew that she and the third prince could not escape, so she entrusted her youngest son to Liuhua, Let her try her luck. If it was just two women with a child, there would still be a chance to escape through small paths, secret passages, etc. After the fire, Concubine Sun knew that Queen Wu and the Third Prince were among the ruins. I guess there won’t be any further investigation into whether there are any fish that slipped through the net.”

That sounds reasonable.

Hai Jiao pondered: "In order to avenge her old master, Liuhuahui took the risk to kill the Sixth Prince, and it was not a pity to lose her life. This shows her loyalty to Queen Wu. Such a loyal palace maid, when the fire broke out, she only carried It is unreasonable for a strange wet nurse to run away and not come forward to defend her late master and tell the truth about the fire afterwards. But if she also took the young master away at that time and hid in Cining Palace in order to raise him, , lived in anonymity for several years, and refused to let anyone find out his identity when he died. It is understandable that the Queen Mother and the little prince under the protection of the Queen Mother were implicated. But...calculating the time, the little prince was about the same age as Wu Qiong. He was not that old when the sixth prince died. How dare Liuhua leave him and take the risk to assassinate the sixth prince?" Haitang guessed that it was probably because the little prince was protected by the queen mother and looked after by many palace people. It doesn’t matter if you have Lihua, only the latter will take the risk, right? Maybe there were other reasons at that time that made Liuhua kill the sixth prince even at the cost of her own life. Is it because of Mrs. Gui's instigation, or because the sixth prince is about to be established as crown prince?

Only those who were aware of it at the time knew this.

Hai Jiao lowered his head and thought for a moment, and felt that his younger sister's guess was reasonable, but he still couldn't believe that there really was such a legitimate prince: "The queen mother would not have protected this grandson just to keep him anonymous and live in Cixi." In Ning Palace, right? When Sun Guifei became powerful, she sealed the palace and could not leave. In the past, we thought she was to protect the Wu family. Now that we think about it, it may be more to prevent the outside world from knowing the existence of the little prince, especially not to let the outside world know. Concubine Sun and the Sun family knew. But after the death of the sixth prince, the emperor's knees were empty. It was a good time to reveal the identity of the legitimate prince. Why did the Queen Mother Zhou still refuse to reveal the news, preferring to let the palace people around her become concubines for the emperor? Where is the eighth prince?"

After the emperor recovered from his illness, he regained power. Because he was afraid of Sun Ge Lao, he not only pursued Wu Wen'an, who died unjustly, but also recalled Wu clan's former members to serve as officials in the court, allowing them to check and balance Sun Ge Lao. Even though the former members of the Wu clan were suppressed by the Sun family, they seemed to be in a weak position in the court, but they were still a force no matter how weak they were. They had a lot of weight among the scholars, and they were no better than Concubine Xu Xian, who had no one in her natal family. However, the emperor would rather support the eighth prince, who had no roots and no support from outsiders, rather than push out Empress Wu's youngest son. What's the reason? As long as the legitimate son of the middle palace is here, how can Prince Ji talk about recognizing his ancestors and returning to the clan? The emperor's troubles were easily solved.

Haitang tilted her head and thought for a while, then raised a possibility: "What if... the emperor actually knew that it was Liuhua who killed the sixth prince? Although she was instigated by Mrs. Gui, she also wanted to remove obstacles for the young master's succession in her heart. What do you think? As long as the Sixth Prince is alive, Concubine Sun will be arrogant. Even if the emperor knows that he has a legitimate son, he will not make him the crown prince. He may even sit back and watch Concubine Sun kill the legitimate prince. Just like when she burned Empress Wu and the third prince to death in Kunning Palace, the emperor did not punish her in any way. Only when the sixth prince died and the emperor's knees were empty, could the legitimate prince have hope to succeed..."

Lihuahua may have killed the Sixth Prince out of this thought. If the emperor knew her intentions, would he be happy to see another son left by Empress Wu? He has endured the pain of losing his son. How can he feel a sense of father-son affection when he looks at a son who is a person with vested interests, or a strange son who suddenly appears who has never developed any feelings since he was a child?

If he had valued the direct heir from the middle palace, he would not have been indifferent to the death of the third prince back then. In addition to Concubine Sun's son, there is also the current Eighth Prince Du Miao. When has he ever cared about the lives of his other sons? If he cared, it would have been impossible for Concubine Sun to have never been punished when she eliminated her son's competitors. Instead, the victims had suffered repeatedly.

If the emperor was angry with his legitimate prince because of the death of the sixth prince, and refused to disclose his existence or support his rise to the throne, and would rather have a new son give birth to a completely innocent son to inherit the throne, that would seem to be understandable. But the new person he accepted was Mrs. Xu, the wet nurse who had taken care of the legitimate prince for many years. Perhaps he also considered the future of the legitimate prince, so he was not completely ruthless.

But... why did Madam Gui believe that this prince, unknown to the world, would eventually inherit the throne?
(End of this chapter)