“How could he not betray our Yan? Didn’t you hear what the Empress Dowager said? That Murong Yan has children with the Great Zhou Emperor! As long as he hands Yan over to the Great Zhou, his son can easily become master of the realm!” Some clan relatives had already believed the Yan Empress Dowager’s words. “With such a great opportunity, how could he not want it?”

“But there’s still no concrete evidence proving the Regent is that Great Zhou imperial consort Xiao Rongyan!”

“Exactly!”

“Your Majesty, might this be a mistake?”

Most clan relatives, even though they were wary of Xiao Rongyan wielding heavy power in government and felt he showed signs of a minister deceiving his master, still didn’t believe Xiao Rongyan would want to betray the Murong imperial family.

“Fellow clan relatives and elders still don’t believe it?” The Yan Empress Dowager was like a cornered beast driven to desperation, her eyes bloodshot and crazed as she looked toward her maid. “Go fetch this Empress Dowager’s treasure box!”

The Yan Empress Dowager’s maid quickly responded, climbed into the Empress Dowager’s carriage, retrieved the treasure box, and presented it with both hands raised above her head to the Yan Empress Dowager.

She opened the box and pulled out a stack of parchment letters, calling out loudly: “These are the letters Xiao Rongyan wrote to His Majesty while traveling among the various nations over these years, written in your Murong clan’s ancient script. Even among Murong descendants, very few know the ancient script. Xiao Rongyan learned the ancient script from Clan Uncle when he was young. Since the Regent began governing, you’ve all seen the handwriting in his issued decrees. This Empress Dowager asks the clan elders to examine and compare!”

The eldest clan elder’s hands trembled as he received those parchment letters from the Yan Empress Dowager, beckoning the lantern-bearing servants to come closer.

The lanterns swayed left and right in the cold wind carrying snow pellets. Under the flickering lamplight, the Murong imperial clan relatives gathered together, carefully examining the contents of these letters and comparing whether the handwriting matched Xiao Rongyan’s.

These letters had once been Murong Yu’s most treasured possessions when he was alive, because these parchment letters carried his younger brother’s longing for home, and he could glimpse something of his brother’s life from them.

One could see that these parchment scrolls had been frequently read—the edges had changed color.

But Murong Yu had never imagined until his death that these letters… would one day become the key evidence confirming his brother’s identity as the world’s richest merchant, Xiao Rongyan.

Murong Yu had once instructed the Yan Empress Dowager that apart from the two of them, no one else could know of Xiao Rongyan’s identity.

Little A’Li knew only because of his intelligence.

When Murong Yu was teaching little A’Li the Murong clan’s ancient script, the precocious little A’Li happened to see one of Xiao Rongyan’s letters arrive. He secretly memorized those symbols, and after learning them, he discovered his Ninth Uncle’s identity. He also learned from his father what his Ninth Uncle had sacrificed for Yan, deeply admiring his Ninth Uncle and naturally keeping his Ninth Uncle’s identity strictly secret, never revealing even half a word to others.

Murong Li had never expected that the matter of Murong Yan being Xiao Rongyan would be revealed to the Yan imperial clan relatives in such a manner.

“This truly is our Murong imperial clan’s ancient script!”

“This… this is indeed the Regent’s handwriting!”

“What does this say?” asked a clan relative who hadn’t seriously studied the ancient script.

“This letter says all is well in Wei, Yan has befriended Prince Xi Huai, heard that Great Wei has a famous physician most skilled in treating difficult and complicated cases, Yan is searching everywhere, asking his elder brother to take care of his health, and he will find a renowned physician of the current age to save his brother!”

The second letter… the third letter…

Almost all contained requests for his elder brother to take care of his health and updates on where his search for renowned physicians had taken him.

This matched the circumstances of Great Yan’s Late Emperor Murong Yu and Xiao Rongyan.

If they remembered correctly, the Late Emperor had always doted on the Regent, and later when the Late Emperor’s health improved… it was also because the Regent had secretly brought a Great Zhou renowned physician to treat the Late Emperor.

“This… the Regent is Xiao Rongyan, married to the Great Zhou Emperor, had children, and became Great Zhou’s imperial consort? But this imperial consort has already died—how could he be the Regent?”

“This makes sense! If this imperial consort hadn’t died, then… whether for Great Zhou sacrificial ceremonies or grand banquets, the imperial consort would need to attend. With the Regent in Yan, he’d be unable to be in two places at once!”

The doubts that had previously existed in the hearts of the Yan imperial clan relatives suddenly became clear with the confirmation of Xiao Rongyan’s identity.

“This won’t do! How can we hand over the foundation our Murong ancestors built to the Great Zhou? This absolutely cannot happen! We must go… meet with His Majesty! Tell His Majesty about this!”

“Your Majesty!” The Yan imperial clan relatives knelt before the Yan Empress Dowager. “Your Majesty, His Majesty must know of this matter. Please come with us to see His Majesty!”

“Yes, please come with us to see His Majesty, Your Majesty!”

The Yan Empress Dowager looked at the imperial clan relatives kneeling before her, tears flowing like broken pearls: “It’s useless. This matter… this Empress Dowager and the Emperor have long known! But… but that Murong Yan said he had already severed all emotional ties with the Great Zhou Emperor! He was the Late Emperor’s most beloved younger brother. Before the Late Emperor’s death, he entrusted both His Majesty and Yan to Murong Yan! I am merely a woman of the inner quarters, inevitably soft-hearted… Even knowing this in my heart, I wasn’t decisive enough. I always feared that if this matter were revealed, Murong Yan would be unable to continue as a person in the future. But I never expected… I never expected that I had nurtured a wolf! A wolf that would turn around to bite our Yan to death! He wants to drive me from the imperial palace… to completely control our Yan’s court! I never imagined Murong Yan truly harbored such wolfish ambitions!”

“Foolish!” The eldest clan relative angrily struck the ground repeatedly with his walking stick. “His Majesty being young and bewitched is one thing, but how could you also be bewitched by Murong Yan, Your Majesty!”

“It’s all my fault! I always thought… that Murong Yan was at least a descendant of the Murong family, that he would consider the Late Emperor, consider the Murong clan, consider this Yan kingdom!” The Yan Empress Dowager wailed in grief, barely able to stand, nearly falling from the carriage mounting block. Fortunately, her maid was quick to catch and support her. “This Empress Dowager has harmed Yan! The Late Emperor’s and this Empress Dowager’s trust in Murong Yan influenced His Majesty, making him also trust Murong Yan completely. But… how can this Empress Dowager’s and the Late Emperor’s trust compare to Murong Yan’s flesh and blood? How can His Majesty, this nephew, compare in Murong Yan’s heart to the biological children born between the Great Zhou Emperor and Murong Yan?”

The Yan Empress Dowager beat her chest and stamped her feet, looking as if she regretted so deeply she wanted to dash her head against something and die on the spot, clearly regretting to the point of wishing for death.

“At this point, it’s too late for regrets. Your Majesty crying here in grief is useless—we still need to think of solutions!”

“Yes, Your Majesty, we still need to think of solutions first. Fortunately, that Murong Yan is not currently in the Yan capital—we still have a chance to turn the tables!”