Chapter 345: Background

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Ji Zhao hesitated for a moment before shaking her head.

“I don’t know if I should open it or not.” Ji Zhao looked at him and forced a smile. “Perhaps it’s because I’m pregnant, but I seem to have become a little sentimental.”

“Official Ji said that he was very surprised when he first saw you.” Shen Yao gently held her hand and comforted her gently. “He said that your appearance is very similar to his aunt when she was young. More importantly, his aunt gave birth to a stillbirth seventeen years ago.”

Ji Zhao’s heart trembled uncontrollably. She suddenly felt a little sad.

Perhaps the truth was not cruel. Instead, it was a little bleak?

“Shen Yao, can you open it for me?” Ji Zhao mustered her courage and handed the letter to him. Then, she looked into his eyes and smiled gently. “Open it and read it to me.”

“Okay.”

Shen Yao carefully tore open the letter, only to discover that other than a letter, there was a simple portrait inside.

The person was as beautiful as flowers and as bright as the moon; more importantly, the person in the painting was 80% similar to Ji Zhao.

The only difference was that the Madam in the painting had a gentler expression.

“This is Princess Kang Le?” Looking at the painting, Ji Zhao was a little surprised, but she also felt that it was reasonable.

Her appearance could be said to be identical to Princess Kang Le.

“Yes.” Shen Yao handed the painting to her, then unfolded the letter and spoke slowly.

Eighteen years ago, Princess Kang Le, the young daughter of the Grand Princess Imperial of Chang’an, fell in love with Ji Wenbo at first sight at a banquet. The two of them got to know each other and fell in love with each other. However, less than half a year after Princess Kang Le married into the Earl’s Mansion, the Earl of Yong’an had already gotten an outer wife. What made Princess Kang Le even more sad was that Ji Wenbo’s outer wife had already given birth to an eldest daughter.

Princess Kang Le was devastated. In the end, she made up her mind to divorce the Earl of Yong’an.

“Does the Earl of Yong’an really love her?” Ji Zhao could not help but interrupt Shen Yao’s voice. Her eyes were dark. “If he really loved Princess Kang Le so much, why would he have arranged for a mistress beforehand? How culd he tolerate his eldest daughter being born from a concubine?”

The Great Jing Dynasty valued the distinction between the legitimate wife and the concubine. The main wife was the main wife. How could a concubine give birth to a child before the main wife?

Princess Kang Le loved the Earl of Yong’an, but she had never thought that she would fall into a huge lie, right?

That was why she was so sad after knowing the truth.

“Deep love, deep hatred.” Ji Zhao chuckled and nodded at Shen Yao. “Continue reading the letter. I’m listening.”

Shen Yao leaned close to her forehead affectionately. His eyes were firm, and his smile was faint. “Zhaozhao, not all men are heartless. There are also people in the world who are loyal.”

Ji Zhao smiled at him.

“When she found out that the Earl of Yong’an had a mistress, Princess Kang Le was extremely heartbroken. Then, she proposed a divorce. The Earl of Yong’an begged bitterly, but Princess Kang Le insisted on a divorce. In the end, Princess Kang Le was extremely angry and sad. She actually fainted. When the imperial physicians treated her, they found that Princess Kang Le was actually pregnant.”

“The child in her womb came too unexpectedly. Princess Kang Le no longer insisted on a divorce. She just decided to move back to the Grand Princess Imperial’s residence. The Earl of Yong’an wanted to please her, so he often came to coax and persuade the princess. In addition, the two of them had a deep relationship before, so the princess’s attitude gradually softened. When the child in her womb was eight months old, the princess finally decided to move back to the Earl of Yong’an’s residence.

Princess Kang Le originally thought that the Earl of Yong’an, Ji Wenbo, truly loved her. The mistress was just a mistake. Coupled with the fact that she was looking forward to the birth of her child, she actually felt some compassion and made the decision to let the Earl of Yong’an bring the mistress and the child back to the residence.

The mistress was a descendent of an official that had been convicted. She was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. More importantly, after she entered the Earl’s residence, she had always respected Princess Kang Le. Even the Grand Princess Imperial praised her for being reliable.

In the end, half a month before Princess Kang Le gave birth, the mistress actually maliciously framed Princess Kang Le for having an affair with another man. She even placed the so-called evidence in front of the Earl of Yong’an. The Earl of Yong’an was furious and actually hit the princess.

Right on the heels of that, the princess gave birth prematurely and gave birth to a stillbirth.

Shen Yao did not dare to continue reading. He looked at Ji Zhao, who was silent, and his heart ached.

“Zhaozhao?”

“I’m fine.” Ji Zhao looked up at him with tears in her eyes and her voice was trembling. “She must be very sad, right?”

“If it was in the past, 1 might not have been able to empathize with her.” Ji Zhao smiled with reddened eyes and choked. “Now that I’m pregnant, 1 can imagine how she felt at that time… There’s no woman in this world who doesn’t love her child. Once a woman is pregnant and has the identity of a mother, she will become invincible… She… must have be so sad!”

Framed by a trusted person; despised by a loved one;

Even the child she had been waiting for turned into a pool of blood. How sad must she have been?

“Shen Yao, continue reading…” After a moment of silence, Ji Zhao picked up a handkerchief and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. She smiled through his tears. “I want to hear it.”

She was a little curious.

What kind of person was Princess Kang Le?

What would she do in the face of such a situation?

“…Okay.” Shen Yao smiled and pinched her face. His tone became even gentler.

Princess Kang Le never expected that she would give birth to a stillborn child. She refused to believe such an outcome. On the surface, she looked disheartened, but she had been investigating in private.

After spending half a year, she finally cleared her name.

She did not torture the Earl of Yong’an’s mistress. Instead, she took great care of the concubine’s eldest daughter.

However, the concubine had several pregnancies afterwards, but miscarried all of them.

The mistress was terrified and begged Princess Kang Le. Princess Kang Le ignored her and continued to bring the eldest daughter of a concubine to various banquets of the aristocratic families. She even arranged a good marriage for the concubine-born eldest daughter.

Two years ago, on the day of the marriage of the eldest daughter of the concubine, Princess Kang Le had torn apart the true colors of the mistress and ruthlessly trampled on the face of the Earl of Yong’an!

It turned out that the mistress that the Earl of Yong’an favored was no longer pure.

What was even more infuriating was that after the blood test, the concubine’s eldest daughter was actually not the Earl of Yong’an’s blood.

The Earl of Yong’an was so angry that he has been paralyzed in bed to this day.

The mistress was sent to the nunnery in the suburbs to spend the rest of her life with the ancient Buddha.

As for the eldest daughter of the concubine, after she got married, she was also humiliated by her husband’s family and died of illness early.

As for Princess Kang Le, she had been secretly investigating the truth all these years. Later on, she finally found some clues.

It turned out that on the night of her delivery, the trusted nanny beside the mistress carried a swaddling cloth from outside.

“Everyone in the capital knows that Princess Kang Le misses her child too much. She has even stubbornly believed that the child she gave birth to back then was definitely not stillborn..”