Painting Doctor Jinhua

Chapter 112 Mother's Past

Did she sacrifice herself to protect you?

Xiao Yuanshi's words made Xiao Jinyu reflect: Could it be that the original owner's mother, Xiao Luan, really died to protect her daughter?

The death was strange but there was no sign of struggle.

Seeing Xiao Jinyu looking so sad, Xiao Xian couldn't help feeling sad.

"Mother, stop talking. Yu doesn't know why my sister died..."

Xiao Yuan looked at Xiao Jinyu, her expression sad and a little confused, as if she wanted to see another person through her.

Suddenly she held her face in her hands and murmured to herself:

"It is a crime to possess a treasure. My A-luan has been extremely intelligent since she was young. She showed signs of precocity when she was three years old. Her grandfather, the Crown Prince Zhaoming, liked her very much. He not only taught her to read and write, but also gave her a purple jade ring that symbolized her status as the eldest daughter of the Xiao family..."

Purple Jue?

Xiao Jinyu was shocked when she heard this and couldn't help interrupting, "Prince Zhaoming? Grandfather?"

Xiao Yuan raised her head and nodded.

"Yes, our branch is indeed the direct descendant of Prince Zhaoming. My husband is the prince's eldest son Xiao Huan, and A Luan is our eldest daughter, and also the prince's eldest granddaughter. At that time, Xianlang and your other uncles were not yet born, but the prince still loved your mother A Luan and even treated her as the eldest grandson. It was he who made an exception and included your mother's name in the family tree and signed a document to allow your mother the right to marry freely in the future.

But when your mother was five years old, the prince was framed by the villains around him and was almost killed by the then emperor Wu because of the wax moth incident. Fortunately, the prime minister Xu Mian tried his best to persuade him, and the emperor did not investigate the matter. However, he had a grudge against the prince from then on.

No matter what the prince did or how he did it, His Majesty was not satisfied. The prince also gradually lost confidence due to His Majesty's distrust and was often depressed. Until one day, he unfortunately fell into a pond and contracted a serious disease, eventually dying.

Before he died, A-luan stayed by his bed. He said that the biggest regret was that he didn’t see A-luan grow up, and he was worried about A-luan, so he handed over six parts of the Xiao family’s direct lineage’s property to A-luan, and asked me to keep it temporarily. This included the literary work "Zhaoming Wenxuan" left by the prince, and a personal guard team..."

Listening to Xiao Yuan's story, Xiao Jinyu also thought of some past events in the previous dynasty, Xiao Liang: Prince Zhaoming was knowledgeable, talented, kind, and very popular among the people. Perhaps because he was too perfect, even his father Xiao Yan was jealous and did not like this eldest son with a spotless character.

Even the charge that his adopted eldest son, Xiao Zhengde, defected to Wei was made light of by Xiao Yan as if it had never happened.

But just because a wax moth carrying a curse was dug out from the prince's mother's tomb, the emperor wanted to severely punish the prince. Even though he was not held accountable for his crime after being strongly advised by his ministers, he still distanced himself from the prince from then on.

It is really extremely biased!

After the death of Crown Prince Zhaoming, there was another dispute over the succession in the court. In the end, Xiao Yan, who disliked the crown prince and claimed that a young prince would not be able to succeed to the throne, deposed the legitimate son and appointed a illegitimate son as the crown prince. He appointed the third son Xiao Gang as the crown prince. As if to compensate Crown Prince Zhaoming, he made his sons kings. His eldest son Xiao Huan was named King of Yuzhang and appointed as the Governor of Jiangzhou.

But strangely, Xiao Huan also died suddenly on his way to Jiangzhou to take up his post.

As for how he died, there is no detailed record in history books, only four words left:

Sudden death at office!

It turned out that her previous guesses were all correct. Now this branch of the Xiao family did have a direct descendant of the prince, but it was not from Xiao Jian's lineage. It was actually the original owner's mother, Xiao Luan. Then Xiao Xian...

"Xiao Huan is your maternal grandfather. He was originally the eldest grandson of the emperor and should have been the heir to the throne. However, he was disliked by His Majesty because of the Crown Prince's misconduct. He was made a king and went to Jiangzhou to take up a post. Unfortunately, he fell seriously ill and died on the way. His illness was not much different from that of the Crown Prince..."

Having said this, Xiao Yuan looked at Xiao Jinyu deeply again and continued,

"Because your grandfather and father both died of serious illnesses, your mother began to study medical books. At that time, she was only nine years old. She was very smart and was able to use medical skills to treat people in just one year. It was at that time that Hou Jing led his troops into Jiankang and hunted down the children of the Wang and Xie families. Your Majesty was besieged in Taicheng, and the princes of the Xiao family were fighting for the throne and killing each other.

It was your mother who led our tribe to escape from Hou Jing's rebellious soldiers and left Jiankang to go to Jingkang. There, Aluan ordered the guards to disguise themselves as civilians and build a fort in Jingkang to protect the tribe.

It was not until Chen Baxian replaced Liang and proclaimed himself emperor, and the empire was initially settled, that he returned to Jiankang with his clansmen and this personal guard…"

After hearing this, Xiao Xian felt so overwhelmed that he could not even describe it.

"Mother, if, as you said, Ah Yu's grandfather, that is, your husband, is Xiao Huan, then who is the current head of the Xiao family, my father?"

"He is not your father either. I found out about your birth after your father died. That's why I, a pregnant woman, had to flee with several children under the age of twelve, and protect the inheritance of the Xiao family. How difficult it was!"

"It was your elder sister who, despite the opposition of the clan members, abandoned some of her belongings and fled to Jingkang with those who were willing to follow her. Among this group of people was your fifth uncle, your current father Xiao Jian!"

Having said this, Xiao Yuanshi started crying again with great sorrow.

"Speaking of which, this is all my fault. Originally, A-Luan didn't want to go back to Jiankang. She said that for the safety of her people, she stayed in Jingkang and became an ordinary civilian.

But I didn't want that. I didn't want the prince's direct line to hide their identities. It was said that the new ruler of Chen was a wise ruler who did not kill all the descendants of Xiao, and that talented people could hold high positions. I was also bewildered for a moment and forced Aluan to take the people back to Jiankang.

But when registering, A-luan was a woman and too young to be the head of the clan. So your fifth uncle came up with this plan to pass off a concubine as the legitimate heir, and asked me to be a witness, so that he could be recorded as the legitimate heir of Prince Zhaoming's branch, and let me remarry him so that we could be husband and wife in a legitimate way. I was also deceived by his sweet words and thought that he would really treat you as his own children, but who knew...

He actually wanted to marry the princess of the Chen family, and he had already secretly conceived a child with that princess. Originally, I had no objection to his taking a wife and concubines. Before Princess Yunyin married into the mansion, I also gave him several concubines as he wished. I just hope that he can keep his promise and pass on this branch of the Xiao family to Aluan and your brothers.

But he actually used Chen as his backer, in order to gradually devour the Xiao assets controlled by Aluan, as well as the private soldiers trained by her personally!

What I didn't expect was that Chen was even more vicious. Not only did she destroy my reputation, she also forced me to hand over the Xiao family's assets and the seal of control of the private soldiers, forcing me to flee to the north...

What I didn’t expect was that… after Ah Luan left, she got everything from the Xiao family but was still not satisfied, and even… even harmed my son…”

Having said this, my voice became hoarse and I could hardly continue.

That's it!

Prince Zhaoming fell seriously ill, and his eldest son Xiao Huan fell ill on his way to Jiangzhou to take office. After that, all the descendants of the Xiao family fell ill...

How could it be such a coincidence?

Someone wants to wipe out the direct lineage of Prince Zhaoming!

Hearing this, Xiao Xian felt extremely uncomfortable. When he was young, he also had a feeling of admiration for Xiao Jian, longing to be loved. At that time, he only felt that his father was hot and cold towards him and was not happy. It was not until Xiao Yun was born that he saw on his face the joy his father had for his son.

He was so biased, but it turned out that he was not really his son.

"Grandmother, there is one thing I don't understand. Since they are the prince's personal guards and mother has always been in control of them, why did they betray my mother, the prince's eldest granddaughter, and serve Princess Yunyin just to accept a seal of the commander of the troops?"