Forcing me to become a concubine? Remarrying the Ninth Prince, she'll be pregnant all over the

Lin Wantang paused, then gave a helpless, wistful smile.

She added, "To be honest, I don't believe it. My mother is kind and loving towards me and my brother. Even when she is harsh, it is always for my sake."

Unable to recount her past life experiences, she could only try her best to be tactful and diplomatic.

Lin Rucong held her hand tightly with heartache. "Tang'er, you are the most sensible, but... the rumors are true, Chen is indeed not your and Xiao'er's biological mother."

Lin Wantang was suddenly stunned. Although she had her suspicions, hearing Lin Rucong confirm it with her own ears still shocked her.

Lin Rucong released her hand, stood up and paced around. He took a deep breath and slowly said, "I heard from the servants that you know Lin Yasong's name and are curious about who she is. If it weren't for what happened tonight, I would have kept this a secret from you and Xiao'er for a few more years... no, maybe decades. I intend to take this secret to my grave."

"But things have turned out this way, it is also fate... Well, I will tell you everything, but this matter is of great importance, you and Lord Wei must keep your mouths shut and do not let more people know about this."

Lin Wantang's face went blank with shock. Before she could recover, Wei Wujiu had already clasped his hands slightly and solemnly said, "Master, rest assured, I will keep my mouth shut and will not say a word to anyone else."

Lin Rucong nodded, then sighed deeply, "How should I put this? Lin Yasong, she is my wife, while Chen Huaiyu was just her dowry maid..."

There was never any talk of switching children in the household, and Lin Qinglian's biological mother was not the early-deceased Li Fuquan, but Chen Shi.

Although Lin Yasong also shares the surname Lin, she is not actually related to the Lin family and is beyond the fifth degree of kinship. Her family is well-off, but not an official family; rather, they are wealthy merchants from Huaizhou.

However, given the traditional social hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, the Lin family was slightly inferior in social standing.

However, Lin Yasong and Lin Rucong met by chance in their childhood and fell in love when they met again as adults. Their families did not want to disappoint the two children, so they arranged their engagement. At that time, Lin Rucong was focused on taking the imperial examination and did not want to rely on his family to find an official position. He only wanted to pass the exam and ask the emperor to grant him a marriage, so that he could have a grand wedding and give Lin Yasong a respectable and glorious life.

As expected, Lin Rucong achieved the third-highest rank in the imperial examination and entered the court as a Hanlin scholar and secretary to the emperor. He requested an imperial decree to grant them a marriage, and the two naturally became husband and wife. The following year, they had their eldest son, Lin Xiao. They lived in harmony and happiness. However, their good fortune did not last long. When Lin Xiao was four years old, Lin Yasong became pregnant again, but the court was in turmoil.

The King of Minyue rebelled, relying on his unauthorized amass of a million soldiers, and stormed into the capital. He burned, killed, looted, and massacred the people, causing immense suffering and forcing the emperor to abdicate.

Lin Rucong was initially busy with court affairs and dealing with war, and later he was busy leading troops to protect the capital. However, after repeated defeats and the outcome of the war, he had no choice but to try to protect himself, his family, and the lives of many officials in the court. He had no choice but to submit to the emperor and was cursed by countless people as a coward, a lackey, and a traitor.

Among them was Lin Yasong.

Lin Yasong did understand her husband's forbearance, but her parents and her entire maternal family had all perished under the swords of the chaotic army, hundreds of lives lost, leaving her with unresolved grievances. How could she possibly endure and submit like Lin Rucong?

She suffered several miscarriages and barely managed to give birth to Lin Wantang. After that, she disappeared with a few loyal retainers, leaving Lin Rucong nowhere to be found. It was difficult to find him again until the following year when the new emperor ascended the throne and a group of people took the opportunity to assassinate the emperor at the Huguo Temple.

Lin Rucong was present at the time. While protecting the emperor, he also directed the Imperial Guards to capture the rebel assassins. But he never dreamed that when they chased someone into a back alley, the person took off his mask and headscarf, and it turned out to be... Lin Yasong.

She was already severely injured and had taken poison beforehand, determined to succeed or die trying. On her deathbed, she collapsed into Lin Rucong's arms, feeling no remorse, only a deep and reluctant attachment: "I'm sorry, Brother Wushuang..."

Wushuang was Lin Rucong's courtesy name.

This title of "Brother Wushuang" was used by no one else in the world but Lin Yasong.

"I'm sorry... I know what you're planning, but I... my parents are dead, so many people in my family are dead. I can't endure hardship like you. I just want to avenge them..."

"The emperor is wrong, the world is wrong... it's me... not my two children... husband... you've ruined my face, please... please don't acknowledge me... please don't implicate Xiao'er and Tang'er..."

"Brother Wushuang, I have let you down... Protect our child... in the next life..."

What about the next life? Would I still want to marry him, or... would I never want to know him again?

It was like a needle poisoned with pain, deeply embedded in Lin Rucong's heart. For many years, he had been heartbroken and unable to ask her anything, only holding her and weeping uncontrollably.

Lin Yasong breathed her last before she could finish speaking. With her last bit of strength, she channeled her inner energy into her face, trying to disfigure herself so as not to harm Lin Rucong and the two children.

Lin Rucong could not refuse this grief-stricken sentiment. He devised a plan to hide Lin Yasong's body and found the remains of someone who had died of illness in prison to replace it. However, he could not hold a funeral afterward and could not properly erect a memorial tablet. So he could only vaguely write "Lin Shi" (Lin Family) on the tablet and enshrine it in the ancestral hall.

In order to cover his tracks, he had no choice but to find a woman as soon as possible who could keep the secret and not be noticed by others. At that time, his every move was being watched by the emperor. Helpless, he had to choose Lin Yasong's dowry maid to change Chen Huaiyu's identity and give her a maternal family that was difficult to investigate.

Coincidentally, at that time, Chen had already been having an affair with another man and had a daughter named Qinglian. In order to better keep Chen's secret, Lin Rucong simply adopted that daughter, who was Lin Qinglian.

After recounting all the secrets that had been sealed away for many years, Lin Rucong's face showed hidden frustration. He silently closed his eyes, but still could not suppress the deep pain and moisture in his eyes.

In his entire life, he loved only one person, and that was Lin Yasong.

However, the world was in chaos, and fate played a cruel trick on him. He had no choice but to confuse the public and acknowledge Chen as his wife. In order to protect himself and his many colleagues and clansmen, he had to compromise again and again, which led to the acquisition of two other concubines.

Because Zhixia and the other woman were both given to him by the emperor. They were originally spies planted by his side, but as time went by, the two of them did not discover anything and had children, so the emperor abandoned them and they lived peacefully.

Lin Rucong sighed for a long time, then looked at Lin Wantang with worry and heartache: "Tang'er, that's how things were. You can blame your father for keeping it from you and your brother for so long, but don't blame your mother. She... she didn't do anything wrong."

Lin Wantang was stunned and shocked. Her lowered eyes concealed everything, and her pale face had long since lost its luster. After a long while, she finally uttered the two obscure words: "Is that so?"