SFL Chapter 54

Yun Jingli, as Emperor, still made a grand entrance, but what made the courtiers dizzy was what was in His Majesty’s arms?

As they got closer, the courtiers saw that it was an exquisite and soft swaddle. Inside the swaddle, a tender baby was blinking its big black eyes, looking around obediently.

However, with limited visibility in the swaddle, the baby mostly saw Yun Jingli.

Compared to the young prince, Yun Jingli would rather hold his daughter. However, considering the prince’s status, Yun Jingli could only watch as the Empress dowager carried away his obedient and lovely little princess.

After all, it was not a big deal for an emperor to hold one child, but it was inappropriate to hold both.

Once in position, Yun Jingli deliberately adjusted his posture to avoid making the child in his arms uncomfortable.

Although these two children were mostly obedient, it was a different story if they were provoked.

Neither of the little ones could speak, so if they were uncomfortable, they would naturally express it with crying.

Seeing the Emperor’s favor towards the prince, the courtiers exchanged glances, feeling that the queen’s family truly deserved their renowned favoritism.

During the Empress’ pregnancy, they had thought about sending a new person into the palace to plan, but the Emperor had never had such intentions.

Before, they could say that the Emperor didn’t accept newcomers because the Empress blocked them. During the Empress’ pregnancy, there were plenty of opportunities, but the Emperor remained the same. Even though they thought the Emperor was cold, they couldn’t help but envy the Empress and her family’s good fortune.

Now that the Empress was about to give birth, they naturally had even less opportunity.

In front of the court, the courtiers were celebrating for the Emperor. In the shadow of the palace lanterns, Sun Yanrou, dressed plainly, looked at the little prince in Yun Jingli’s arms, her eyes burning with intense anger.

As soon as she saw this child, she thought of her own child who had been completely ruined by the royal family.

She would not look for reasons within herself, nor admit that she was the one who had led her child to such a fate. Instead, she vented all her hatred towards the royal family.

Looking at the Emperor, who was holding the prince in his arms with a soft expression, Sun Yanrou felt that the man was so strange to her.

His Majesty, who loved her so deeply, is now deceived by another woman. She wants to reclaim everything that was taken from her.

With this in mind, Sun Yanrou’s heart tightened, and she stood up at the perfect moment, just as the courtiers were finishing presenting gifts to the little prince and princess.

Her arrival was so sudden yet perfectly timed, right at the end of the current ceremony.

“Your Majesty, this humble woman has an important matter to report.” Sun Yanrou first stepped forward to bow, then spoke loudly and clearly.

This sentence caused a hush among the courtiers. Some of the women from the harem recognized her and were curious about her, while others gritted their teeth in hatred towards Sun Yanrou.

Today, more than one ‘former’ concubine entered the palace. Unfortunately, they all came in using their new husbands’ status after remarriage, not as so-called ‘humble women’ like Sun Yanrou.

“That despicable woman ruined our path to success, yet she managed to stay in the family and even entered the palace today.” Seeing Sun Yanrou’s actions, those ‘former’ concubines understood everything. They had all fallen into Sun Yanrou’s trap.

Unfortunately, they were all remarried now. Even if they were unwilling, they couldn’t confront Sun Yanrou face to face. They could only watch helplessly as the woman who had schemed against them entered the palace in front of their eyes.

“What’s the matter? Miss Sun, please be cautious with your words,” Yun Jingli reminded Sun Yanrou.

What kind of occasion was this? There was no room for unrepentant words. Didn’t she see that her parents were already furious?

At this moment, Sun Yanrou’s parents regretted deeply. They never expected their daughter to be so bold.

What important matter could a woman like her have?

Seeing the handsome face of the emperor, Sun Yanrou’s father’s heart jumped suddenly, as if he had caught a trace of something.

Ignoring the gazes of the outsiders, Sun Yanrou knew that if she succeeded, all these people would grovel at her feet today, so there was no need to pay them any attention.

“Your Majesty, what I want to say is that the Empress’ maternal family, the Wang family, has disloyal intentions,” Sun Yanrou said loudly, dispelling all the previous speculations.

Before other officials could react, Wang Huijun’s father, Yun Jingli’s father-in-law, and the current head of the Wang family stepped forward from among the courtiers, trembling almost imperceptibly as he bowed to Yun Jingli. “Your Majesty, the Wang family I belong to is absolutely loyal to you and has no other intentions.”

“You’re talking nonsense. It’s your Wang family that clearly has disloyal intentions,” Sun Yanrou rebuked coldly, and for a moment, her presence seemed to match that of the head of the Wang family.

With eyes blazing, Sun Yanrou looked at the head of the Wang family as if she had returned to her previous life, witnessing the Wang family’s control over the court. In that life, her son was manipulated by the powerful officials of the Wang family because of his young age. To prevent her son from seeking revenge for her, the Wang family directly cut off his descendants. Even though he survived, he lived a life worse than death.

Subconsciously, the crowd was silenced by her, beginning to doubt.

If she wasn’t absolutely sure, why would this daughter of the Sun family be so calm?

Some looked at Sun Yanrou’s father, wearing an expression of ‘I didn’t expect this from you, old Sun,’ leaving him utterly confused.

Setting aside the fact that he had no enmity with the Wang family and no evidence, even if he wanted to bring this matter up, he wouldn’t let his daughter do it directly.

They were all old foxes in the political arena. Some officials speculated from Sun Yanrou’s father’s face. Could it be that Sun Yanrou’s father was completely unaware, and the family had not discussed it at all?

“Since Miss Sun insists that my Wang family has such intentions, please present evidence,” the head of the Wang family said, his eyes gleaming coldly. He knew Sun Yanrou’s previous identity and highly suspected that her attack was aimed at the Empress’ family in the harem.

With only one Empress in the imperial harem, if the Empress were gone, how could the prince and princess have a good ending?

“Do we still need evidence? I saw it with my own eyes,” Sun Yanrou said hatefully, then looked at Yun Jingli, tears welling up in her eyes. “Your Majesty, can you trust me?”

Yun Jingli remained silent, and the courtiers followed suit.

They were all shocked. How can you just open your mouth and said a big lie, without any evidence. You expect His Majesty to believe you just like that? How shameless can you be?

Yun Jingli looked at Sun Yanrou, somewhat doubting whether the memories from two lifetimes had damaged her mind. How could she think that he would convict the Wang family, including his in-laws, and the Empress based solely on her word?

Sun Yanrou was not a foolish person. Her confidence came from the genuine feelings the emperor had shown her in her previous life.

The emperor killed his wife for her, ended his lineage for her, and died with her for love. He even gave up the kingdom and the people for her. How could Sun Yanrou, who had witnessed all this with her own eyes, not feel inflated inside?

Even though Yun Jingli treated her coldly in this life, and even allowed her to leave the palace and remarry, in Sun Yanrou’s mind, as long as she could say it to Yun Jingli in person, he would unconditionally support and agree to her request.

Sun Yanrou wanted Yun Jingli to avenge her past, to help her ascend to the throne. This time, she wanted to see her son become emperor with her own eyes, not the son born to Wang Huijun who would become crown prince.

The head of the Wang family exercised the utmost restraint in suppressing the impulse to kill someone in the hall. He coldly questioned Sun Yanrou again, “Miss Sun, when, where, and from whom did you see that my Wang family has disloyal intentions?”

Sun Yanrou was about to blurt out “in her past life” subconsciously, but she realized in an instant that she couldn’t reveal her rebirth, or else others would think she was an anomaly. But if she couldn’t say the real reason, how could she prove herself?

With this thought, Sun Yanrou’s rationality returned slightly. She respectfully said to Yun Jingli, “I am just a simple woman. It is fortunate enough for me to receive this information. What I hold in my hands is just a tiny fraction of the Wang family’s secrets. I ask Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate the Wang family. When the time comes, the evidence will naturally surface.”

Sun Yanrou was confident. After all, the Wang family had truly rebelled in her past life, so they must have had disloyal intentions for a long time and must have been accumulating for years. Everything would be clear once investigated.

“Enough! Just a mere woman wants to search the home of the emperor’s father-in-law based on empty words. Is there still any law in this world?” Some officials who could no longer bear it rebuked Sun Yanrou.

If Sun Yanrou had presented evidence, they would have taken it seriously.

But just a few words? How could the emperor issue such an order based on that? Whether they searched or not, the damage to the Wang family’s reputation would be irreparable.

The head of the Wang family looked coldly at Sun Yanrou’s father, quickly thinking about who might be behind Sun Yanrou’s father. Who wanted to destroy their Wang family?

With just one thought, several candidates came to the head of the Wang family’s mind. However, after some consideration, he dismissed them one by one.

After all, this was clearly not the work of those political enemies they had been facing for years.

Just then, the child in Yun Jingli’s arms seemed to feel uncomfortable. His little mouth pouted, as if he was about to cry. Not far away, the little princess in the empress dowager’s arms seemed to empathize and was also about to cry.

Seeing this, Yun Jingli hurriedly tried to pacify the little prince, telling him not to cry, and then looked at the noisy hall, signaling for everyone to quiet down.

Sun Yanrou looked at Yun Jingli expectantly, but what she saw was Yun Jingli’s affection for the child in his arms, which pierced her heart, making her feel unbearably uncomfortable.

“Miss Sun, how is it possible for Us to investigate the Wang family based on just your words without any evidence?” Yun Jingli said coldly, his eyes icy, as he saw that Sun Yanrou still hadn’t grasped the crux of the issue.

She didn’t even consider why the Wang family rebelled in her past life. Wasn’t it all because of the karma she and that deranged emperor planted?

Yet, Sun Yanrou had the audacity to shift all the blame onto others.

The head of the Wang family felt a slight relief upon hearing Yun Jingli’s words.

However, upon hearing Cloudscapes defend the Wang family so strongly and without any suspicion, Sun Yanrou was even more emotionally charged than the Wang family’s head beside her. Unable to hold back any longer, she said, “Your Majesty, it was the Wang family, the Wang family who took away our son’s kingdom. They also caused my death, and even led Your Majesty to die with me.”

Sun Yanrou wanted to stir up Yun Jingli’s feelings for her, but she failed to notice the shocked expressions of the courtiers. Their gazes toward her had become increasingly strange.

Yun Jingli did not stop Sun Yanrou from speaking, because even if what she said was the truth, no one would believe it.