CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 50 I DON’T WANT SUCH GOOD FORTUNE 8

Because of Qian Du’s connection, Anning learned some of the history of the dynasty she was currently in and some things happening in the Capital now.

It is now the 23rd year of Shengping. Emperor Shengping has been on the throne for over twenty years without significant achievement or fault, and peace prevails throughout all the world.

To be fair, Emperor Shengping can’t be considered an incompetent ruler, but his involvement in romantic affairs is somewhat questionable.

Emperor Shengping favored Imperial Concubine Tian, it is said, because they met before he ascended the throne, and Imperial Concubine Tian once saved his life. However, since Imperial Concubine Tian was a concubine of her family, she could not become Empress. After Emperor Shengping took the throne, she was brought into the palace and granted the title of a concubine.

The current Empress is the legitimate daughter of the noble Chu Family.

Empress Chu does not enjoy favor, and Imperial Concubine Tian dominates the harem, to the extent that even Empress Chu has to act according to her wishes.

Also because Imperial Concubine Tian holds sway over the harem, Emperor Shengping has only one son, that is, the Crown Prince born by Empress Chu.

It seems that Empress Chu was able to give birth to the Crown Prince without letting Imperial Concubine Tian know. After the Crown Prince was born, Imperial Concubine Tian was furious, and attempted to harm him several times. Each time, the Chu Family found ways to protect him, and later sent the Crown Prince out of the palace to live with the Chu Family until he was a teenager before returning to the palace.

Imperial Concubine Tian is jealous; since the Crown Prince’s birth, neither the Empress nor any other concubines have conceived again.

And Emperor Shengping is very indulgent towards Imperial Concubine Tian, even though he knows that she has killed more than one of his children, he has never blamed her.

Thinking of these messages, Anning had a sense of what was going on.

Perhaps Bai Anning is the current Princess.

Maybe she was born to Empress Chu, or perhaps another concubine of decent background, sent out of the palace for fear of Imperial Concubine Tian’s harm.

However...

Anning really didn’t understand why Bai Anning couldn’t acknowledge her ancestry and return to her clan in her previous life.

Anning had her doubts but did not ask Bai Desheng.

After living in the small town for a few days, Bai Desheng settled their household registration and found an official to buy fields and shops.

Because it was close to the Capital, it was not easy to buy farmland. Bai Desheng asked people to look around for several days and eventually bought a manor of a hundred or so acres and also several shops in the town.

Once the manor was bought, Bai Desheng took Zhang Yue Mei and Anning to see it.

Anning carefully examined the environment of the manor, tested the soil and water conditions, and felt that it would be suitable for experimental fields. Seeing some hills nearby, she asked Bai Desheng to buy those hills as well.

Their family did not settle in the town for long but instead repaired a few rooms above the manor and moved in to live there.

Anning was busy settling down the family business, and it wasn’t until more than half a month later that she started working in the fields.

She started by opening up an acre for herself and managed to prepare some fertilizer. After fertilization, she began her rice breeding experiments.

Anning had spent half her previous life studying agricultural science; she was extremely skilled at breeding various crops, and now she started again without any unfamiliarity.

After planting the rice successfully, Anning began to work on breeding wheat.

She and Bai Desheng spent every day in the fields, and when they finished planting two acres of wheat, they both turned dark and thin.

Zhang Yue Mei felt so distressed seeing her husband and daughter working so hard. She wanted to persuade Anning, but seeing her so focused on the fields, she didn’t have the heart to say anything. Instead, she busied herself coming up with ways to make delicious food to nourish the father and daughter.

The fields were planted, but Anning’s work was far from being relaxed.

Every day, she had to go to the fields to observe and make records, carefully noting down the growth of the rice and wheat so she could have a reference for future comparison.

Because she spent her days out in the fields, Anning paid little attention to her appearance.

She wore a grey long-sleeved jacket and black trousers, with cloth shoes on her feet, and often went into the fields barefoot.

Anning’s body was already unattractive because of a birthmark, and now, with her disregard for appearance, she looked even more drab and ugly.

Bai Desheng, upon seeing Anning like this, sometimes couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh.

Anning didn’t care what others thought; her mind was fully set on improving crops. She wanted to quickly cultivate high-yield plants and, with this merit, secure recognition from the Emperor to ensure her own safety.

An Advanced Scholar from Qian Du had driven Anning’s family to flee far from home to avoid disaster. This made Anning feel utterly humiliated.

She didn’t want to experience something like that again.

Nor did she want any powerful figure to threaten her life and safety again.

The best way was to cultivate high-yield grains to prevent the people from going hungry.

If she could accomplish this, anyone who dared to target her would probably be attacked by an outraged public.

Bai Desheng must have understood Anning’s thoughts, which is why he went to great lengths to support her.

That night, after Anning went to sleep, Bai Desheng sought out Zhang Yue Mei.

The two of them left the house and sat in the courtyard, gazing at the gentle breeze and bright moon.

Zhang Yue Mei, tears falling, looked down and said, "Anning... she should have been a Princess, living a life of luxury. Now, she has to do such menial tasks. Watching her busy in the fields, my heart aches unbearably. I have failed our lady."

Bai Desheng sighed, "It can’t be helped. Who would have expected Imperial Concubine Tian to be so powerful? Our lady didn’t even dare to speak up when she was pregnant, and yet Imperial Concubine Tian still managed to poison her. If not for our lady and Anning’s strong will to live, they might have long since perished. Anning was born without anyone knowing for fear of Imperial Concubine Tian, so she had to be sent far away."

Zhang Yue Mei said softly, "I understand all of this. It’s just that I feel so sorry for our lady and for Anning. Who knows if mother and daughter will be able to meet in this lifetime."

Bai Desheng’s eyes also moistened, "Anning has grown up so much, and the Empress... she has not seen her once, nor does she know where we are."

Zhang Yue Mei, with seething hatred, clenched her teeth, "Ms. Tian is really too venomous. What harm could Anning, a Princess, do to her? Even then, she wouldn’t let her go. Back then, we were hiding well with Anning, but Ms. Tian’s men still found us. We barely escaped with our lives, bringing Anning with us. Since then, we’ve had to live in disguise and endure humiliation just to survive."

As she spoke, she became sadder, wiping her tears while saying, "I’m afraid the Empress thinks Anning died long ago. She doesn’t know that her daughter is still alive."

Anning, lying in bed, heard all of this clearly.

She finally understood why Bai Anning never knew her true identity until death.

Her biological mother didn’t know she was still alive, and Bai Desheng didn’t dare contact the palace. In their past lives, he and Zhang Yue Mei were killed by Qian Du. Before dying they didn’t see Bai Anning and didn’t have the chance to reveal her lineage, and so Bai Anning and her biological mother missed each other for an entire lifetime.

With a solemn gaze, Anning thought of Noble Consort Tian in the palace and Emperor Shengping’s unusual affection for her. The more she thought about it, the more she felt there was something suspicious.

Putting aside that Emperor Shengping was an authentic ancient Emperor, even a modern man would hardly stand by and watch a loved one kill his own children.

He could be indifferent to his children, could ignore them, but he shouldn’t be so heartless as to let someone harm his children.

Emperor Shengping himself was an Emperor; if he wanted to securely sit on the throne, he would surely need an heir. If for nothing else, to maintain peace in the court, he would desire the blessing of many sons. So why would he let Noble Consort Tian harm one son after another, not even sparing his daughters?

There must be something peculiar about this Noble Consort Tian; she must have done something to manipulate Emperor Shengping.