CHAPTER 199: CHAPTER 197: ALL ARE TRUE

Old Mrs. Chen took a sip of water and slowly took out a pouch from her waist.

The pouch had been used for a long time, and the fabric had faded. No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like there was anything valuable inside, but Old Mrs. Chen’s expression was very solemn. She carefully extended her fingers into the pouch, fearing that any force might damage what was inside.

Seeing this, Xu Tingzhen couldn’t help but become serious too.

Finally, Old Mrs. Chen took out a piece of folded cloth from the pouch. She unfolded it to reveal a yellowed paper with deep creases, clearly quite old.

Xu Tingzhen’s heart skipped a beat, her gaze followed Old Mrs. Chen’s hand and fell onto that piece of paper.

Then, Xu Tingzhen suddenly froze, everything in the room seemed to disappear, leaving only the elegant handwriting before her.

The writing on that paper, she recognized it.

It was the handwriting of Princess Guangyang.

Like seeing someone long lost suddenly standing before her.

Her entire body, including every hair, trembled. She wanted to speak but couldn’t control herself, only hearing the rapid breaths from her nostrils.

Princess Guangyang had copied a medicinal recipe.

The Commandery Princess had a weak spleen since childhood, and Princess Guangyang used many methods to warm her spleen and stomach. These radish cakes and pear porridge were the Little Princess’s favorites.

Behind the medicinal recipe, there was a slightly immature handwriting, copying Princess Guangyang’s recipe anew, which should be the Little Princess’s handwriting.

Seeing the things reminded her of the people, Xu Tingzhen’s nose tingled, and hot tears were about to burst forth. She looked at Old Mrs. Chen with red eyes.

Compared to Xu Tingzhen, Old Mrs. Chen appeared much calmer.

Xu Tingzhen finally said, "Where did you get this? Why are you showing me this?"

Old Mrs. Chen then took out something from the pouch and handed it to Xu Tingzhen.

It was a personal seal.

Xu Tingzhen tightly grasped the small jade seal. Upon opening it, she saw two words engraved: Fu E.

Princess Guangyang liked seal carving and had carved many small seals herself, jokingly using the name Fu E when organizing medical books and prescriptions.

Not many people knew this nickname.

Xu Tingzhen was one of them.

Holding that jade seal, Xu Tingzhen became calm instead because her body instinctively focused all her energy on the words she was about to say next.

"Where is she? Is she still alive?"

At such a moment, she still couldn’t directly call the princess, fearing that such a secret would be detected.

Old Mrs. Chen’s eyes began to blur as well, she shook her head: "They wanted to inspect her body, she couldn’t escape."

Xu Tingzhen’s teeth chattered, as if she couldn’t breathe: "Who... who escaped?"

Old Mrs. Chen said: "The Little Princess."

Nineteen years ago, the Little Princess was fourteen years old, now she should be thirty-three, at such an age...

Xu Tingzhen’s mind stirred, thinking of something.

Old Mrs. Chen sighed: "But seven or eight years ago, the Commandery Princess also disappeared, leaving me to guard the Chen Family Village. Thankfully... Liangchen returned to Zhenzhou."

Some things didn’t need to be stated too clearly.

Xu Tingzhen murmured: "No wonder, no wonder... I always felt Liangchen’s eyebrows and eyes were very familiar, Liangchen also understood pharmacology and medicinal materials."

Those were all taught to Liangchen by the Little Princess. Liangchen’s father even bought mountainous land to plant medicinal herbs, thinking this way, everything made logical sense.

Old Mrs. Chen nodded, just about to speak, but her wrist was suddenly grasped tightly by Xu Tingzhen.

Old Mrs. Chen met Xu Tingzhen’s gaze.

Xu Tingzhen’s face was full of tears, but her eyes were brighter than ever, seemingly burning with two flames inside: "Really? Truly?"

If Old Mrs. Chen dared to lie, Xu Tingzhen felt she could almost devour the toothless old lady before her.

Old Mrs. Chen nodded.

Xu Tingzhen wanted to smile, but her face was clearly filled with sorrow. However, behind the sorrow lay a thread of hope, all her emotions merging together, resulting in a touch of madness.

"I told myself, the heavens wouldn’t be like this..."

"I never thought I’d see this day."

As Xu Tingzhen spoke, she stood up and was about to go outside: "I will go see Liangchen."

Afraid that Xu Tingzhen, in such a state, might scare people outside, Old Mrs. Chen stepped forward to stop her: "Don’t rush, don’t rush, don’t you see Miss Chen every day? What difference does a moment make?"

"How can it be the same?" Xu Tingzhen’s eyes widened, annoyed by Old Mrs. Chen’s obstruction, "Even though I considered Liangchen my only disciple before..."

But never imagined Liangchen was the bloodline of Prince and Princess Guangyang.

With this additional layer, everything was different again.

Her past, present, and future were all tied to Liangchen alone.

"There are many days ahead," Old Mrs. Chen said, "Calm yourself first, don’t frighten the people in the village."

After Old Mrs. Chen’s persuasion, Xu Tingzhen gradually calmed down.

Old Mrs. Chen said: "It wasn’t intentional to hide it from you, Liangchen also just found out, it was when I mentioned it to her during my last visit to the Official Medicine Bureau."

Xu Tingzhen looked at Old Mrs. Chen reproachfully: "I think you’re senile, you should have told Liangchen earlier."

"Yes," Old Mrs. Chen admitted her previous mistakes, daring not to argue, "After the epidemic and Gouzi’s incident, I’ve realized that hiding it only left Liangchen unprepared."

Only then did Xu Tingzhen remember to ask for details. She grabbed Old Mrs. Chen’s arm: "Come tell me carefully, what exactly happened, tell me everything from start to finish without missing a word."

These years of hardship couldn’t be explained in just a sentence or two.

By the time it was getting dark, Old Mrs. Chen had nearly finished recounting, Xu Tingzhen’s eyes were red from crying initially, but her emotions gradually stabilized, with the joy and hope of regaining a lost treasure never fading.

Xu Tingzhen said: "We should return to our domain and reclaim everything."

Old Mrs. Chen reached out and patted Xu Tingzhen’s shoulder: "No rush, look at how well Chen Family Village is doing now. The village chiefs from nearby villages are willing to seek advice from Liangchen, Miss Chen has her thoughts, let’s just follow her lead."

Xu Tingzhen nodded: "I know."

The two sat a little longer, but Xu Tingzhen still wanted to go see Xie Liangchen, so the two elderly ladies supported each other and returned to Old Mrs. Chen’s house.

Pushing the door open, lifting the curtain, Old Mrs. Chen lit the oil lamp, and they saw the two siblings sleeping soundly.

Xu Tingzhen sat down, staring blankly at the small shadows on the bed.

The shadow seemed small yet immense, as if towering like a mountain.

Xu Tingzhen took a few steps closer, seeing Xie Liangchen still counting tally sticks in her hand. It’s never easy to accomplish anything effortlessly.

Thinking of Xie Liangchen’s hard work these days, Xu Tingzhen felt both heartache and solace.

Xu Tingzhen softly said: "Let her rest, really rest well."

...

Yingzhou.

Song Xian came out of the government office and went to the small courtyard prepared by Qin Maoxing.

Song Xian sat down to read documents; he was waiting here for Cai Rong and officials from the Ministry of Personnel and the Imperial Hospital to verify the epidemic situation.

Under the lamplight, Song Xian’s features appeared even more stern. After arriving in Yingzhou, he executed a Deputy General, two military leaders, and a Du Yuhou, intimidating the officials and soldiers of Yingzhou. Now, even though Cai Rong had returned, with the merit of controlling the epidemic, Cai Rong dared not entangle with him.

Song Xian looked at Chang An: "Any news from Zhenzhou?" When busy, it was fine, but once resting, he began to think of her in Chen Family Village, wondering if she was like him.

Chang An smiled and said: "Just about to report to you, a fast horse brought back the news, Miss Xie is all well."

Chang An continued with a deeper smile: "Miss Xie is also defending you in front of others."