44: The Civet Cat Substitutes for the Prince (Please Collect and Read)

Chapter 44: Swapping the Crown Prince with a Wildcat (Please bookmark and follow!)

"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Felicitations, Your Majesty!"

"The Empress has given birth to a Dragon son—this is truly a blessing for Great Yu!"

"Your Majesty has an heir! Your Majesty has a legitimate son!"

"The future Crown Prince..."

The surrounding eunuchs, palace maids, and imperial physicians expressed their congratulations, while the Empress Dowager laughed with immense joy.

"Bestow rewards! This Dowager is happy today, everyone shall be rewarded!"

"Understood...!"

The female officer beside the Empress Dowager bowed gracefully. News of the Empress giving birth to a Dragon son quickly spread, and countless people offered their congratulations.

As for Zheng Yi himself, it felt like he had fallen into an ice cave, unable to believe his ears.

A prince?

How could it be a prince?

What he had transferred into Empress Lu Liner's body was Innate Pure Yin Qi, which could only give birth to princesses.

Just like Consort Shu and Consort Bi, she was incapable of giving birth to a prince!

How was this possible?

"Halt..."

"Your Majesty?"

"I said... halt!"

With a single command, everyone froze in place.

The wet nurse who was handing the prince to Zheng Yi froze mid-motion, terrified.

The eunuch who was running outside to deliver the good news also came to an abrupt stop instinctively.

Even the Empress Dowager looked over in confusion.

"Emperor, what is wrong?"

"Give me the child."

Zheng Yi took the child from the wet nurse's hands and looked down with a frown.

The baby was very small with a wrinkled face, looking like a little monkey.

Unwrapping the swaddling clothes to check, it was indeed a boy—a prince!

However, on his body, there was none of the Pure Yin Qi that lingered on Zheng Yuyao and Princess Yuxia when they were born.

This prince... was a fake!

Or rather, it wasn't his child.

Swapping... a wildcat for the prince!

"Emperor?"

The Empress Dowager asked in confusion, "Are you beside yourself with joy? After all, this is your first legitimate son, Great Yu's future Crown Prince..."

"Empress Mother?"

Zheng Yi turned around, his gaze turning slightly cold.

The Empress Dowager hailed from the Lu Clan, and Empress Lu Liner was also part of the Lu Clan.

If anyone in this vast imperial palace dared to deceive him, it would only be the Empress Dowager and the Empress.

He might not like children, but he certainly wouldn't raise someone else's child!

What's more...

This involved the Legacy of Great Yu and his own power to seek immortality in the future.

If imperial power fell into other hands, his greatest backing would be gone!

"My royal son?"

"Is this child... truly born of Liner?"

The Empress Dowager's heart tightened, and she instinctively said, "It—of course it's true! How could it be fake?"

"Liner worked so hard to bear you a Dragon son, and you..."

Zheng Yi interrupted her: "Before the new year, while sleeping, I dreamed of an immortal calling himself the 'Emperor Zhenwu'. He stated clearly that I would have countless children in this life, but the vast majority would be girls."

"Boys would be exceedingly rare, which is why I asked."

He closed his eyes and meditated carefully.

That Pure Yin Qi originated from himself; he could clearly feel that the Pure Yin Qi was still in Kun Ning Palace, slowly dissipating.

That was it.

Even if the Empress Dowager and the Empress wanted to swap the prince with a wildcat, they would have to bring other pregnant women into the palace.

Their due dates would have to be close, or nearly identical.

Once the Empress gave birth, they could just administer labor-inducing drugs to the pregnant woman.

Furthermore, to ensure nothing went wrong, they would need to bring at least three to five pregnant women into the palace.

Otherwise, what if they all gave birth to girls?

"Chengen."

"this servant is here."

"Order the lockdown of Kun Ning Palace. No one is permitted to leave, nor is anyone allowed to spread the news of the Empress giving birth to a prince."

"Understood!"

Liu Chengen took his orders and quickly ran out to arrange for the Jinyi Guard and Imperial Guards to seal off Kun Ning Palace.

Holding the child, Zheng Yi turned to the Empress Dowager and said, "Empress Mother, come with me to see Liner."

"Everyone else, stay here."

"This... Emperor, you..."

Before the Empress Dowager could say anything more, Zheng Yi was already walking into the Empress's bedchamber carrying the baby.

The Empress Dowager looked panicked, but gritting her teeth, she followed him inside.

The current Emperor Zhengyong had been emperor for over four years, having suppressed the treasons of the Tang King and Prime Minister Yang with bloody means.

His prestige throughout the imperial court was unmatched, and his personal aura was as deep and oppressive as hell.

What common parlance calls an overbearing sovereign aura.

No one dared disobey Zheng Yi's commands.

Inside the Empress's bedchamber, Lu Liner lay weakly on the bed, attended by her personal maid.

"Your Majesty~ Empress Mother~!"

Seeing Zheng Yi and the Empress Dowager enter with the child, she struggled to sit up.

"Liner, lie down quickly. You've just given birth and your body is weak, you must rest..."

The Empress Dowager hurried over, sat on the edge of the bed, and gently pressed her hands down.

"Aunt?"

Lu Liner asked in confusion, not knowing what had happened.

"Liner, let me ask you."

Zheng Yi stepped forward and asked, "Do you know whether you gave birth to a prince or a princess?"

Lu Liner blushed and said, "This... this concubine has not checked yet, but I heard the wet nurse say earlier that it was a boy."

"This concubine has not failed your royal command and has finally borne Your Majesty a prince!"

"My royal son, what kind of madness has come over you that you would actually believe an illusory dream?"

The Empress Dowager added from the side, "Look how hard Liner worked to give birth to your child. You must treat her well in the future."

Looking at the two women, Zheng Yi sighed softly.

The infant in his arms was definitely not his offspring.

He wasn't about to be a fool and raise someone else's child.

The Empress Dowager was undoubtedly one of the masterminds.

Whether it was for her status as Empress Dowager, to secure Liner's position as Empress, or for the power of the Lu Clan.

But to plot against him... was truly brazen in the extreme!

As for Lu Liner, she might know, or she might not.

After all, during childbirth, she couldn't get up to check if her child was male or female, relying solely on the midwives and wet nurses beside her.

But what did that matter?

"Phew..."

Exhaling deeply, he called out, "Cailin!"

The Empress Dowager and Empress were completely baffled. Who was His Majesty calling?

Who was Cailin?

Soon the two got their answer as a maid quietly walked in from outside, kneeling on one knee before Zheng Yi: "Shadow Guard Cailin pays respects to Your Majesty!"

"You are... Moyu! How... why are you here? Your Majesty?"

The Empress was utterly confused—Moyu was a maid in her palace.

Though not a personal maid, she was still someone close.

Normally she waited outside the hall, so why today...

Upon learning the girl's identity, the Empress Dowager panicked immediately.

Shadow Guard?

A death squad organization directly commanded by the emperor—how could they be here?

As the late emperor's empress, she naturally knew of the Shadow Guard's existence.

"Cailin, tell us about this child."

"Understood!"

Cailin said, "Your Majesty, starting a month ago, Aunt Fangcao, the head female officer of Kun Ning Palace, secretly brought three pregnant women into the palace, hiding them in an unknown location."

"Of these three, two are women from outside the palace, while the third is a pregnant woman from a branch of the Lu Clan."

"this servant investigated for over a month but was unable to find where those three pregnant women were hidden. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

Lu Liner said in surprise, "There are pregnant women in my palace? How is that possible? And Aunt Fangcao, how could she do such a thing?"

The Empress Dowager also panicked: "Emperor! Do not listen to this woman's nonsense... The reason Aunt Fangcao brought pregnant women into the palace was to learn how to take care of Liner!"

Fangcao, the female officer of Kun Ning Palace, had been personally arranged by the Empress Dowager to take care of the Empress.

"And where are those three?"

"This... this Dowager does not know..."

Lu Liner's face turned pale. Looking back and forth between the baby in Zheng Yi's arms and the Empress Dowager's face, she finally realized something.

"Aunt, you..."

The Empress Dowager quietly pinched her small hand and gritted her teeth, "Emperor, this Dowager is the Empress Dowager, and Liner is the Empress!"

"You..."

Zheng Yi shoved the child in his arms into the hands of the personal maid and said coldly, "I am the Emperor!"

"Summon Fangcao!"