Eternal Life as False Emperor-Chapter 44: The Crown Prince Swap

"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Best wishes, Your Majesty!"

"The Empress has given birth to a Dragon Child. It truly is a blessing for Great Yu!"

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

"The future Crown Prince..."

The surrounding eunuchs, palace maids, and Imperial Physicians all offered their congratulations, and the Empress Dowager was extremely pleased.

"Reward them, I am happy today. See to it all are rewarded!"

"Yes...!"

The female official beside the Empress Dowager respectfully bowed, and news of the Empress giving birth to a Dragon Child soon spread, with countless people offering their congratulations.

However, Zheng Yi himself felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss, unable to believe his own ears.

A prince?

How could it be a prince?

What he had infused into Empress Lu Lin’er was Innate Pure Yin Qi, which could only give birth to princesses.

Like Consort Shuu and Consort Bi, they could not give birth to princes!

How could this be?

"Stop..."

"Your Majesty?"

"I said... stop!"

At his command, everyone stopped what they were doing.

The nurse who was about to hand the prince to Zheng Yi froze, her hands suspended in mid-air.

The eunuch who was running out to inform others also subconsciously halted.

Even the Empress Dowager looked over with curiosity.

"Emperor, what’s the matter?"

"Give me the child."

Zheng Yi took the child from the nurse’s hands, frowning as he looked.

The child was very small, his face wrinkled, resembling a tiny monkey.

Upon undoing the swaddling clothes, it was indeed a boy, a prince!

However, he lacked the Pure Yin Qi that surrounded Zheng Yuyao and Zheng Yuxia at their birth.

This prince... is fake!

Or rather, not his own child.

A swapped prince – a trick!

"Emperor?"

The Empress Dowager said curiously: "Are you so overjoyed? Indeed, this is your first legitimate son, the future Crown Prince of Great Yu..."

"Mother?"

Zheng Yi turned around, his gaze slightly cold.

The Empress Dowager was from the Lu Clan, and so was Empress Lu Lin’er.

If anyone dared to deceive him in this vast Imperial Palace, it would only be the Empress Dowager and Empress!

He did not like children, but he would not raise a child for someone else!

Moreover...

This involved the succession of Great Yu and the future power he would seek through the Immortals.

If the royal power were to fall into others’ hands, he would lose his greatest support!

"Son?"

"Did Lin’er actually give birth to this child?"

The Empress Dowager felt her heart tighten and replied instinctively: "Of-of course it’s true, how could it be false?"

"Lin’er worked so hard to give you a Dragon Child, and you..."

Zheng Yi interrupted her: "Last year, while I lay in slumber, I dreamt of an Immortal who called himself ’Emperor Zhenwu.’ He told me that in this life, I would have countless children, but the vast majority would be daughters."

"Sons would be rare, which is why I ask."

He closed his eyes and began to meditate.

The Pure Yin Qi stemmed from himself, and he could clearly sense it lingering in the Kunning Palace, gradually dissipating. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Indeed.

Even if the Empress Dowager and Empress planned to swap the child, they would need to bring other pregnant women into the palace.

The due dates had to be close, or nearly identical.

Once the Empress gave birth, they would administer medicine to induce labor in those women.

To be foolproof, at least three to five pregnant women had to be brought into the palace.

Otherwise, what if they all gave birth to girls?

"Cheng’en."

"At your service, Your Majesty."

"Order the sealing of Kunning Palace. No one is to leave, and no information about the Empress giving birth to a prince is to spread."

"Yes!"

Liu Cheng’en took the orders, quickly moving to arrange for the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Imperial Army to seal Kunning Palace.

He himself, holding the child, addressed the Empress Dowager: "Mother, come with me to see Lin’er."

"Everyone else, stay here."

"Wh-what, Emperor, you..."

The Empress Dowager wanted to say more, but Zheng Yi already walked into the Empress’s bedchamber with the child.

The Empress Dowager, in a state of panic, gritted her teeth and followed him in.

The current Emperor Zhengyong had reigned for over four years, quelling King Tang’s rebellion and Prime Minister Yang’s betrayal with ruthless methods.

His authority within the Imperial Court was unrivaled, as oppressive as a prison.

It was what the common folk would call the aura of an overlord.

No one dared defy Zheng Yi’s orders.

Inside the Empress’s chamber, Lu Lin’er lay weakly on the bed, attended by a close palace maid.

"Your Majesty~Mother~!"

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

"Lin’er, lie down. Your body is still weak after childbirth; you must rest..."

The Empress Dowager hurried to her side, gently pressing her hands on hers.

"Aunt?"

Lu Lin’er spoke with some confusion, unsure of what had happened.

"Lin’er, I ask you this."

Zheng Yi stepped forward, saying: "Do you know if the child you birthed is a prince or a princess?"

Lu Lin’er blushed and said: "I-I have not yet seen, but I just heard the nurse say it’s a boy."

"I have fulfilled my duty by finally giving birth to a prince for Your Majesty!"

"Son, why are you so bewitched by an illusory dream?"

The Empress Dowager added, "Lin’er bore you a child; see how hard she’s worked. You must treat her well in the future."

Looking at the two women, Zheng Yi let out a slow sigh.

The infant in his arms was certainly not his own.

He could not be a fool, raising a child for someone else.

The Empress Dowager must have been one of the orchestrators.

Whether to maintain her rank, to preserve Lin’er’s status as Empress, or for the power of the Lu Clan.

But to dare such schemes against him, truly... audacious!

And as for Lu Lin’er, she might or might not know.

After all, during childbirth, she couldn’t get up to see if her child was male or female; she relied on the midwife and nurse beside her.

But so what?

"Hoo..."

He exhaled deeply and said, "Cai Ling!"

The Empress Dowager and Empress were bewildered, wondering whom the Emperor was calling.

Who was Cai Ling?

They quickly found out the answer, as a maid quietly entered from outside, half-kneeling before Zheng Yi and saying, "Shadow Guard Cai Ling, at your service, Your Majesty!"

"You are... Moyu! Why are you here? Your Majesty?"

The Empress was bewildered, knowing Moyu as a maid in her palace.

Though not a personal handmaid, she was someone close to her.

She was always waiting outside the hall, so why was she here today...

The Empress Dowager, upon learning the maid’s identity, became instantly flustered.

Shadow Guard?

An elite force directly under the Emperor’s command, what were they doing here?

As the former Emperor’s Empress, she was well aware of the Shadow Guard’s existence.

"Cai Ling, tell me about this child’s situation."

"Yes!"

Cai Ling replied: "Your Majesty, starting a month ago, Aunt Fangcao, the head maiden of Kunning Palace, secretly brought three pregnant women into the palace, hiding them somewhere unknown."

"Of these three, two were women from outside the palace, and the third was a pregnant woman from a branch of the Lu Clan."

"I have been investigating for over a month, but have yet to discover where those three women were hidden. I beg Your Majesty’s forgiveness!"

Lu Lin’er was surprised: "There were pregnant women in my palace? How is that possible? And Aunt Fangcao, how could she do such a thing?"

The Empress Dowager grew anxious: "Emperor! Do not listen to this maid’s nonsense... Aunt Fangcao brought pregnant women into the palace to learn how to better care for Lin’er."

Aunt Fangcao, the Kunning Palace maiden, was personally arranged by the Empress Dowager to look after the Empress.

"And those three?"

"I-I have no idea..."

Lu Lin’er, face pale, looked back and forth between the infant in Zheng Yi’s arms and the Empress Dowager, finally realizing something.

"Aunt, you..."

The Empress Dowager silently pinched her little hand, gritting her teeth: "Emperor, I am the Empress Dowager, and Lin’er is the Empress!"

"You..."

Zheng Yi handed the infant to a personal maid, coldly saying: "I am the Emperor!"

"Summon, Fangcao!"