Chapter 360: The True and False Li Jingshu
"Does Father Emperor wish to meet the person who wrote these letters?"
Yun Chu spoke softly.
After returning from the Li family banquet, she had known this Consort Jin was the false Li Jingshu.
But she couldn't deduce the specifics, so she invited the madwoman into the prince's residence. Personally accompanying her, Yun Chu finally extracted crucial information from the mad ramblings.
It turned out that when Li Jingshu was thirteen, she and the Emperor had fallen in love at first sight during a palace banquet. From that meeting onward, they began corresponding.
They exchanged letters until Li Jingshu turned sixteen. Everything was perfect.
Until Li Jingshu's mother died suddenly, and she discovered her father had long kept a mistress who bore him a daughter only two months younger than her.
The mistress brought her daughter into the household, while Li Jingshu suddenly fell gravely ill and was confined to the Li family's dilapidated temple.
From then on, she lost all freedom.
Every few days, her half-sister would force her to write letters.
This continued until she went completely mad, ending the correspondence...
The madwoman's insanity was severe. Wu Yun followed the divine physician's prescription for a year, managing only to eliminate her violent tendencies.
Through coaxing and deception, Yun Chu finally persuaded the madwoman to write a few letters.
Originally planning to explain this matter to the Emperor with Chu Yi after the palace banquet concluded,
Since Li Jingshu was causing trouble, they would expose her publicly and ruin her reputation!
"Father Emperor, the letter writer says she wishes to see her Erlang."
As soon as Yun Chu finished speaking, Li Jingshu immediately declared: "How dare someone impersonate me! Your Majesty, you must apprehend this person and interrogate them thoroughly!"
The Emperor examined the letters, his gaze growing heavy. After a pause, he said slowly: "Summon this person to the hall."
Li Jingshu's heart suddenly panicked.
Setting aside propriety, she quickly stepped forward, meeting the Emperor's gaze directly, but it was useless.
She remembered the Western Region witch saying that only genuine emotion could activate the gu worm's effects—whether familial love, romantic love, or friendship... The slightest emotional bond would suffice, but if even a trace of doubt emerged, the gu would lose control over the target.
Before she could devise a countermeasure,
Two Imperial Guards escorted a plainly dressed woman into the hall.
Li Jingshu barely recognized her as her half-sister.
Because every previous encounter showed this wretched woman disheveled, insane, and filthy...
While she was observing the newcomer, the woman also saw her.
The madwoman, who had been relatively normal, suddenly erupted upon seeing Li Jingshu's face. Emitting beast-like roars, she charged recklessly toward Li Jingshu.
The two Imperial Guards quickly restrained her.
"This is clearly a madwoman!" Li Jingshu exclaimed, patting her chest in fright. "Your Majesty, when Consort Fang miscarried the year before last, I came forward as a witness. This must have angered the Princess Consort of the Pacifying West, making her bear such grudges! She actually found a madwoman to impersonate me and attempt to take my life! I beg Your Majesty to uphold justice!"
Perhaps hearing the words "Your Majesty," the madwoman quieted down and looked up at the highest seat.
Her lips trembled, face full of disbelief: "Erlang... Is that you? You've aged, you've grown old. But your eyes... they're still those clear, pure eyes from before. You're still the youth in my heart. It can't be wrong, it definitely can't be wrong..."The Emperor was utterly stunned.
He struggled to control his emotions and said slowly, "Someone, bring writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Let... this madwoman write the three characters 'Li Jingshu'."
When he was in his teens, at a palace banquet, he had fallen in love at first sight with the eldest daughter of the Li family, Li Jingshu. After that meeting, he took the initiative to write letters and had them delivered to the Li family. From then on, the two frequently corresponded. He signed his letters as "Second Son," while she signed as "Li Jingshu." He was more familiar with these three characters than with his own name.
However, later, Li Jingshu injured her right hand and could no longer write. He had not seen her handwriting for a long time.
And the handwriting on this letter was exactly the same as the one from their correspondence back then.
If it was truly written by this madwoman before him, then...
The Emperor looked at Li Jingshu and asked, "Do you still remember what poem we recited to each other when we first met?"
Li Jingshu froze.
Because the first meeting was not with her; she had no idea.
She had asked that wretched woman for details, but the wretched woman had never mentioned reciting poetry with the Emperor.
She stammered, "It was thirty or forty years ago. I... I don’t remember."
At that moment, Yun Chu’s voice rang out coldly, "Who knows who is the one who understands the heart? Let it be viewed as the snowy scene by the rocky stream."
The Emperor was taken aback. "How do you know that?"
"Father, your daughter-in-law is merely reciting the words written by the madwoman," Yun Chu said, pointing to the side.
The Emperor looked over and indeed saw the madwoman writing a line of poetry. She was not writing the three characters "Li Jingshu," but a line of verse:
"Who knows who is the one who understands the heart? Let it be viewed as the snowy scene by the rocky stream."
Back then, he and she had met at a winter palace banquet amidst the snowy scenery. It was through this poem that they became acquainted and confirmed their feelings for each other.
The Emperor quickly descended the steps. "It’s you! You are Jingshu!"
"Second Son!"
Tears streamed down the madwoman’s face.
The Emperor embraced her tightly in his arms.
After their first meeting in their teens, they had only communicated through letters until she came of age. By then, four years had passed.
He had fallen in love with the scholarly woman in the letters, the one whose thoughts resonated with his, but he had forgotten her face.
He was despicable, truly despicable!
"Your Majesty, I am Jingshu!" Li Jingshu cried out frantically. "She is a madwoman! A madwoman of unknown origins! How can Your Majesty believe her?"
Chu Yi stepped forward, his voice icy. "Consort Jin’s real name should be Li Jinghua, shouldn’t it?"
"I... I..."
Li Jingshu—no, she should now be called Li Jinghua—never expected that her real name had also been uncovered.
After returning to the Li family, she had directly replaced Li Jingshu as the eldest daughter of the Li family. She then went to a temple to worship Buddha before marrying into the Duke’s residence... Apart from her parents and the Old Dowager, no one in the entire Li family knew about this. How could it...
"For the sake of achieving your own goals, you forced the real Li Jingshu to live in darkness for over thirty years, driving a normal person to madness!" Yun Chu’s voice was sharp and cold. "You stole her identity as the eldest daughter of the Li family! You stole the man she deeply loved! You stole her life! You stole her freedom! Yet you live so gloriously—this is the greatest injustice to her!""Nonsense! You're spouting nonsense!" Li Jingshu was caught completely off guard, her mind in utter disarray. "I am Li Jingshu, I am! Your Majesty, you said you loved me most, you promised to protect me for life. You cannot deny my very existence based on mere words!"
The Emperor closed his eyes.
He had often wondered why the gentle, kind-hearted woman from the letters had gradually lost her humanity.
She claimed the Duke's children showed her disrespect and begged him to deal with them - so he complied.
She complained of noble ladies looking down on her - so he punished them.
Looking back now, he should have realized earlier. The real Jingshu could never have committed such cruel acts. So many clues had been there - why hadn't he noticed sooner, allowing Jingshu to suffer all these years...
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