Chapter 0160: The Coldly Self-Mocking Second Prince, The Heartbroken Consort Hua
After finishing the medicine, Xie Chengze was taken back to the county office and forced to rest.
The herbal medicine prescribed by the old physician always made him drowsy after drinking it, and the heated kang bed made him even more lethargic, so Xie Chengze quickly fell into a light sleep.
However, his sleep was not peaceful.
Ever since the tightly wound string in his mind suddenly snapped last time, causing him to faint, he had been frequently dreaming of memories—not only those of the Second Prince’s innocent and carefree childhood but also memories from after the prince turned nine.
He had once again inherited the Second Prince’s memories, but this time they were clearer and more comprehensive. When he first arrived, most of the memories in his mind were related to the Second Prince’s experiences in the imperial court. Now, however, many hidden daily memories were gradually unfolding, unraveling numerous doubts in his heart.
This time was no exception. He once again sank into this dream woven from memories.
“Physician Wang, what illness does he truly have?”
Xie Chengze sensed that his dream self had his eyes closed, while a woman’s anxious voice echoed in his ears. Though he had never heard it before, it felt strangely familiar.
“Consort, the Second Prince truly has no illness.” This should be Physician Wang’s voice, speaking slowly. “His Highness’s body is in good health, and his pulse is consistent with before. Even if you ask this humble official a hundred times, the answer remains the same.”
Xie Chengze opened his eyes and saw a woman of unparalleled beauty standing by his bed. Even from her profile, he recognized her instantly.
Consort Hua, Hua Ning—the birth mother of this body he inhabited.
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” Hua Ning clenched her hands tightly, biting her lip as her tone grew increasingly frantic. “There must be something wrong. Look again, examine him more carefully. I suspect he isn’t my son at all! He must have been swapped!”
Physician Wang sighed. “Consort, this humble official is not deceiving you. Moreover, didn’t you test the Second Prince’s memories? He answered everything correctly.”
“That’s why everyone believes he is real! But I don’t believe it. How could I not sense my own son? Even if he knows Chengze’s memories, feelings cannot lie! Chengze’s youthful innocence cannot be faked! The person inside his body is clearly a grown man!”
Physician Wang shook his head helplessly. “Ah, Consort, I have said all I can. Additionally, the knockout drug should not be used excessively. Please do not make the Second Prince drink it again.”
“He refused to see the physician. What else could I do…” Hua Ning covered her face helplessly, her expression filled with sorrow. “I only want my Chengze back. What is so wrong about that? He is my only child…”
Xie Chengze opened his mouth, wanting to speak, but for some reason, his lips remained immobile.
He felt his hands gripping the silk quilt in restrained tension, and his mouth moved uncontrollably, trembling as he addressed Consort Hua, “Mother…”
Hua Ning’s body stiffened abruptly. Xie Chengze could clearly sense her intense aversion to that word, “Mother.”
She turned around, her gaze complex as she looked at the person on the bed. “You… who are you, really?”
Xie Chengze’s heart jolted. Could she have discovered he wasn’t the Second Prince? But wait, hadn’t Consort Hua already died…?
The moment this thought crossed his mind, his consciousness sank once more. In the next moment, the scene before him shifted again.
He saw the young Second Prince, closely following behind Hua Ning, several times reaching out as if to chase after that figure, but ultimately only tentatively speaking, “Mother Consort…”
“Don’t call me Mother Consort!” Hua Ning appeared extremely agitated and restless. The once beautiful and graceful woman now radiated a sharp, defensive rejection, like a startled hedgehog. “You are not my son! No matter how well you pretend, you are not!”
Xie Chengze wanted to tell the truth. He thought that perhaps someone as kind-hearted as Hua Ning would join him in finding a way home, a way to bring the Second Prince back.
Yet his mouth uttered a completely opposite approach. The voice sounded utterly cold, yet concealed a trace of sorrow and mockery. “Then what do you want me to do? Die?”
He saw Hua Ning’s back suddenly stiffen and her face, as she turned around, filled with near-tragic despair.
“I knew it… you are not Ze’er…”
“Indeed.” The youth’s tone was icy and sarcastic. “But none of them believe you. So what? Do you dare to gamble? Gamble that I would admit to everyone I’m a wandering ghost, gamble that this world truly has soul-exchange methods, gamble that another world exists, gamble that the truly deceased corpse holds the soul of the real Second Prince.”
She did not dare to gamble.
This surpassed her imagination as an ancient person.
Hua Ning wept as if her heart were breaking, nearly fainting from grief. Yet the youth still did not relent, stepping closer to her step by step. “Do you think I care for this body? A body that brings calamity, destined to cause chaos in the world. This world and that one are no different—both equally filthy and nauseating.”
The youth laughed self-mockingly. “Since you won’t protect me, then there’s no need for you to live either.”
That day, he saw the Second Prince go to the Ministry of Works and force the old craftsman to create the Qiankun Yin-Yang Pot—a wine pot capable of holding two different liquids simultaneously. With a flick of a mechanism, one could discreetly pour the poisoned wine to an enemy, causing them to die from poisoning.
“He” wanted to kill someone.
But Xie Chengze did not know whether he wanted to kill Hua Ning or himself.
He could only perceive the youth’s gaze—so sorrowful and resentful, brimming with tears on the verge of falling.
Xie Chengze, like an observer yet also a participant, watched as the Second Prince transitioned from cautious pretense upon arrival to gradually reverting to his true self. He also watched as Hua Ning descended step by step from madness to depression. Countless times, she accused the Second Prince of not being “Xie Chengze,” but everyone thought she had gone mad.
Emperor Jian did not believe in tales of ghosts. “Aren’t you being too sensitive? Ze’er’s memories and birthmarks haven’t changed. He’s just growing up.”
The imperial physician shook his head time and again. “The Second Prince is not ill. It is you, Your Highness, who is overthinking. You need medicinal tonics to regulate your condition.”
The other consorts came to comfort and persuade her. “Even if what you say is true, what can be done? Your health is what matters most.”
But to Hua Ning, Xie Chengze was what mattered most.
She loved Ze’er more than she loved herself, so she could not forgive herself. The thought of Ze’er possibly trapped in a decaying corpse in another world tormented her unbearably.
Every word from these people became straws piled upon Hua Ning’s back, accumulating over the years, pressing down on her until she could barely breathe.
In the end, she died on her sickbed with unwilling eyes wide open, murmuring until her last breath, “That child fears loneliness the most… How terrified he must be all alone… I should have spent more time with him earlier…”
On the day Hua Ning died, amid swirling snow, the Second Prince climbed the celestial steps alone and smashed the Directorate of Celestial Observation to pieces, furiously denouncing them as a pack of liars.
He saw how the Second Prince, later manipulated by others, grew fearful of having no means of self-protection in the palace and sought out ancient craftsmen to forge concealed wrist arrows; he saw how the Second Prince, upon learning his true identity, dreaded becoming a pawn in the power struggle and thus sought to seize the Crown Prince’s authority; he saw how the Second Prince, upon meeting Wuhen and Wuji and realizing they knew he wasn’t the original soul, tested their loyalty through repeated physical punishments in his paranoia—the more afraid he became, the harsher the penalties.
He also saw…
Hm?