Chapter 935: Identity Mystery

In the archive room, guards verified his identity. However, upon seeing the golden medallion in his hand, they all showed solemn respect and dared not trouble him. A golden-medallion Brocade-clad Emissary was second only to the Grand Commander in the Embroidered Mansion.

Some even offered to curry favor by helping him search for documents, but Zu'an politely declined all their offers.

Alone in the archive room, he deliberately browsed through various categories of archives, interspersing them with the specific documents he was looking for, to avoid leaving any obvious traces that could be discovered later.

He stayed inside for two hours and finally found some information.

Naturally, he was looking for information about the previous dynasty, and even details about the change of dynasties.

After his thorough search, he discovered that the previous dynasty was named Meng. Its founding emperor had been a powerful and capable ruler, and his sons were all excellent.

Unfortunately, for an emperor, overly excellent princes are not always a good thing. Their excellence often made them unwilling to yield to others, and each desired to contend for the position of Crown Prince.

Eventually, the Crown Prince emerged victorious, but the struggle for succession left him psychologically scarred. He constantly guarded against his brothers, stripping them of power and keeping them under surveillance, which led to several of them dying of depression.

Regrettably, something went wrong with his lineage, perhaps genetically. His descendants were all short-lived, and none reigned as emperor for long. This gradually concentrated power into the hands of a powerful minister, who later became the founding emperor of the current dynasty.

The eventual outcome was predictable. The last emperor of the Meng Dynasty, knowing the situation was irreversible, wisely abdicated the throne to the founding emperor.

"Abdication..." Zu'an sneered inwardly. Such a scenario had appeared far too many times in history, and hardly any of them were truly voluntary.

He really wanted to find specific information about that abdication, but there were no records whatsoever. Even the abdication itself was only briefly mentioned in a few archives.

However, he did find one related entry: after abdicating, the last Meng emperor was enfeoffed as the Prince of Linzhang, with a territory of ten thousand households. His princely palace was arranged in Gaoyang City, Linzhang Commandery. He was granted the right to use the Emperor's banners, have five ceremonial carriages, continue the Meng calendar, and his suburban sacrifices to heaven and earth, along with ritual music, were to follow the system of the early Meng Dynasty. He was also granted the privilege of not declaring himself a subject in memorials and not bowing when receiving imperial edicts.

These were clearly methods used by Emperor Taizu of Zhou to win popular support after usurping the throne. And it must be said, they were very effective. Although there was criticism within the court and among the public regarding their usurpation, their benevolent treatment of the former imperial family was highly praised.

Therefore, this record was not suppressed, as it served to praise the current dynasty's benevolence.

Zu'an also noted that the last emperor of Meng, who later became the Prince of Linzhang, had few offspring; his children seemed to have died young.

He wanted to find more information, but unfortunately, after searching the entire archive room, he found nothing else useful.

As for the most confidential room, Zu'an could not enter it. For now, he didn't want to alert Zhu Xie Chixin, who was the emperor's loyal retainer. If he were to investigate that room without reason, it would certainly arouse the emperor's suspicion, which would lead to trouble.

Returning all the archives, his mind raced. When he first transmigrated, he discovered his body had a hidden ailment. Old Man Mi had told him that he was sealed at a very young age by an extremely sinister method.

At the time, Old Man Mi found it somewhat strange that such malicious techniques were typically found within the palace, as concubines in the imperial harem would stop at nothing to gain favor.

The common truth in the harem was that a mother's status was elevated by her child. Everyone desired to bear a prince, while simultaneously wishing to prevent other concubines from doing so and creating rivals.

This led to a proliferation of various schemes: poisoning, deliberately causing miscarriages through fright, and countless other tactics. Tragedies involving harm to imperial heirs occurred frequently in imperial courts throughout history.

The imperial family naturally prohibited such acts, and if discovered, the punishment was extremely severe.

However, these were human nature, and for every policy, there was a countermeasure. Later, new methods gradually emerged in the harem: techniques that showed no immediate harm but would manifest their ill effects later.

The restriction placed on the original owner of this body was one such method.

Zu'an finally realized something. He had always wondered why, if someone could place such a restriction, they didn't simply incapacitate him directly, which would have been simpler and more convenient.

Now, he understood it wasn't that they didn't want to, but that they couldn't. Direct incapacitation would have produced symptoms too obvious to conceal from others. Thus, they had to resort to insidious sealing methods.

Another question that had puzzled him was why the Libationer had helped him. At the time, he was deeply embroiled in a scandal with the Crown Princess. The matter had even prompted the reclusive Libationer to personally ascertain whether Zu'an was lying.

He had been very apprehensive then, knowing the Libationer's formidable reputation, and worried his own skills might not be able to deceive him.

To his surprise, before he could even use his skills, the Libationer directly declared his words to be true.

Others naturally believed it without question, but Zu'an knew very well that the Libationer had intentionally helped him.

However, he couldn't understand why the Libationer would help him, as they were complete strangers.

At first, he thought the Libationer was deliberately trying to cause trouble for the emperor, but that conjecture wasn't very convincing. Then, today, he heard Xie Daoyun mention in the academy that the Libationer had some connection to the former imperial family.

Few in the capital knew about this. For some unknown reason, people seemed to have forgotten this part of history. Xie Daoyun had only stumbled upon this information because her teacher was the Libationer's senior disciple, but even she wasn't clear about the exact nature of the Libationer's relationship with the former imperial family.

Zu'an's mind raced, and suddenly a thought flashed through him: Could I be a prince of the former dynasty?

Having watched so many TV dramas in his previous life, similar plotlines were commonplace. He even imagined many details: for example, after the former emperor abdicated, Emperor Taizu of Zhou, while appearing generous, was actually uneasy. He secretly arranged for the former emperor's descendants to be sabotaged, ultimately ensuring their line would die out.

Or perhaps it happened even earlier: the Meng imperial family, aware they were being hollowed out by powerful ministers and that their dynasty was in peril, made dual preparations. They sent trusted confidantes to hide royal bloodlines among the populace, waiting for a change in the world to rise up again, and reclaim the empire under the banner of the legitimate Meng Dynasty. Unfortunately, the powerful minister's influence was overwhelming, and he saw through the plan beforehand, sending experts to hunt them down. Though his people escaped, he himself was secretly harmed...

The Libationer, being closely connected to the former imperial family, naturally knew all of this. It was even possible that with his help, Zu'an had managed to escape back then.

Now that Zu'an was back in the capital, the Libationer recognized him, which explained his previous deliberate assistance.

The reason they hadn't openly acknowledged each other was likely because the time wasn't right, or perhaps the Libationer had a larger scheme to unfold.

At this thought, Zu'an's hair stood on end. He had unknowingly become a pawn in someone else's game.

"I just want to be a rich old man or a gigolo living off a woman," Zu'an wailed inwardly. "I don't want to bear the burden of national hatred and family vengeance." His usually optimistic self felt an unprecedented heaviness in his heart.

Once his identity was exposed, it wouldn't matter that the emperor wouldn't let him off, as they were already fated to be enemies.

The crucial point was that all the remaining imperial family, noble clans, and even the literati faction would never let him go. After all, the Meng Dynasty had been defunct for so many years, and Zhao Hao's prestige was at its zenith after his great victory against the demon race. Who would still long for the former dynasty now?

After leaving the Embroidered Mansion, even though Zu'an constantly reminded himself not to care about his identity, or about being a prince or imperial grandson, claiming he didn't care at all.

However, his mood grew heavier and heavier. Even if he wanted to abandon his past, others wouldn't let him, such as the Libationer, and even a faction that remained loyal to the Meng Dynasty and had gone underground...

He then couldn't help but imagine certain events from the dynastic change. The thought of orphans and widows being oppressed by powerful ministers and having their power usurped unwittingly ignited a surge of anger within him.

Thinking of Zhao Hao, both old and new resentments surged within him.

Suddenly, he stopped, realizing he had unknowingly passed an old well, which was the secret passage connecting to the Eastern Palace.

After confirming no one was around, he jumped directly in. Following the method he had observed before, he opened the mechanism. Once inside the secret passage, he changed out of his Brocade-clad Emissary attire and proceeded deeper.

He walked for an unknown duration until a beautiful figure suddenly came into view not far ahead.

Perhaps because it was night and she was in her sleeping quarters, Bi Linglong was wearing a loose, casual dress. However, the details of the dress were still luxurious and exquisite. Illuminated by the glowing stones on the secret passage walls, her figure appeared even more graceful and curvaceous.

She had been pacing back and forth near the exit, her expression seemingly troubled.

Suddenly hearing a sound, she looked up. Upon seeing Zu'an, a flicker of joy first appeared in her eyes, then she suddenly realized something, her face flushed, and she quickly said, "Don't misunderstand, I'm just here to check if the secret passage is in good condition. I wasn't waiting for you..."

Her response was a fervent embrace. She tried to say something more, but her lips were roughly sealed, and at the same time, the sound of tearing silk echoed in her ears.

Last night, the school teacher called to inform us about class suspension. Having the child at home, not attending school, has been incredibly difficult to manage. His grandmother already misses the days when he normally attended school, after just half a day.

During the day, several streets were required to undergo mass nucleic acid testing. The main issue was the extremely long queues. Perhaps due to a lack of experience, various problems led to the testing starting several hours later than announced, followed by several more hours of queuing.

However, I heard from friends that this is normal; initial attempts are always chaotic due to inexperience, but it will become much faster once they gain proficiency.

In the evening, a nearby residential area was designated as a medium-risk zone. The frustrating part is that just a few days ago, I ate at a restaurant across the street from that very complex. Damn!