Traveling back to ancient times to get rich

Chapter 242 Not the Empress's Biological Son

The Emperor gazed at Gu Mochen before him, a complex mix of emotions welling up within him. The boy's face was an uncanny resemblance to his long-deceased mother, a truly astonishing sight. However, this secret lay hidden deep within the palace, known only to the Empress's deceased wet nurse and the Emperor himself—Gu Mochen was not the Empress's biological son.

Long ago, when the Emperor was out for a stroll, he was unfortunately bitten by a venomous snake and poisoned with a rare and strange toxin. On the verge of death, he was fortunately saved by the Master of Medicine King Valley. The Master of Medicine King Valley was a close friend of the late Emperor and Elder Lu, the leader of the Beggars' Sect. Therefore, after the Master of Medicine King Valley had cured the Emperor and brought him back from the brink of death, he did not simply leave him at an inn, but personally took him to Medicine King Valley to continue his recuperation.

Although the emperor was middle-aged at the time, as the ruler of a nation, he exuded an innate imperial aura, his every gesture displaying a dignified and otherworldly air. This unique charm deeply attracted the only beloved daughter of the Medicine King Valley Master in Yuncheng. As they spent more time together, feelings gradually developed between them. The emperor intended to bring this beauty back to the palace to live with her forever, but the Medicine King Valley Master strongly opposed this. The Valley Master earnestly warned the emperor that the palace was a den of dragons and tigers, far from a safe haven, and certainly not a place where his beloved daughter could find peace. However, fate played a cruel trick; at this very moment, the Medicine King Valley Master's daughter was already six months pregnant.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the Valley Master of Medicine King Valley finally chose to compromise. Although filled with helplessness, he knew he could no longer stop the person before him from taking his beloved daughter to the unfathomable palace. However, at this crucial moment, an unexpected situation occurred—his precious daughter contracted an extremely rare and bizarre illness!

It turned out that this illness was a hidden ailment she had carried since childhood, usually without any symptoms. If it weren't for the changes in her body caused by her pregnancy, she probably would never have known it existed. Worse still, after treatment, she learned that due to the nature of her condition, she was completely unable to give birth. If she insisted on giving birth, there were only two possible outcomes: either the mother would survive, but the child would die; or the child would be born safely, but she, as the mother, would perish. Even if he were the Valley Master of Medicine King Valley, he couldn't achieve both.

As he joyfully led his grand wedding procession, a magnificent spectacle of ten miles of red bridal bridal decorations, to fetch his beloved, he was unaware of the cruel reality that awaited him. Meanwhile, the woman silently began taking a mysterious drug. It was said that this drug could save the life of her unborn child, but at the cost of sacrificing herself as a mother.

Faced with such a difficult choice, the woman bit her lip tightly, her eyes filled with tears, but she resolutely shook her head, indicating that she would never return to the palace with the man. Her heart ached as if it were being gnawed by a million ants, but she still suppressed the overwhelming grief in her heart, slowly raised her head, and looked directly at the expectant man in front of her.

The woman took a deep breath, her voice trembling slightly, and said, "I can't go back with you. Some things are simply unavoidable." Then, with trembling hands, she gently grasped the man's arm, as if using all her strength, and told the man she had once loved with all the truth she had kept hidden for so long. After speaking, she gently released his hand, took a step back, her eyes filled with reluctance and helplessness, and softly advised, "Go back to the palace alone. That's where you truly belong."

At that very moment, the once spirited and brilliant man was struck dumb, as if by a bolt from the blue. He stared wide-eyed at the woman before him, as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard was real. Then, his body began to tremble uncontrollably, and his face turned ashen, as if he had lost his soul.

As time went by, the man gradually fell into a state of incompetence and senility. He was no longer as ambitious as before, often absent-minded when handling state affairs, and even making some wrong decisions. The ministers in the court were worried and confused about this, but they did not know how to comfort this once-admired monarch.

Meanwhile, several women in the palace became pregnant with the emperor's children. This should have been a joyous occasion, but for the man at that moment, the arrival of these new lives brought him no happiness whatsoever. His heart was still preoccupied with the woman who had left him, and the heartbreaking truths that followed.

The man remained expressionless, especially upon learning of the Empress's second pregnancy. Although the Empress's eldest son had already been named Crown Prince, the child had been remarkably mediocre from a young age. Now over ten years old, he hadn't even mastered basic book knowledge, let alone understood any principles of governance. Even so, the Empress, leveraging her family's power, ruthlessly paved the way for the Crown Prince, single-mindedly aiming to help her son seize the throne. Inviting the man here was merely a ploy to bear him a child, further solidifying the Crown Prince's position.

On that very day, the seventh child was born, but fate had already revealed its cruel face to this innocent newborn. Before the newborn could even feel the warmth of his mother's embrace and the beauty of the world, the ruthless empress forcibly administered a deadly poison.

It turned out that the Empress had a scheme in mind. She hoped to gain more of the Emperor's pity and attention by poisoning the seventh prince, thus shifting his focus to her sickly youngest son. But who would have thought that the Empress was so wicked, using a dosage of poison far exceeding the normal range?

When the emperor learned of this, he was frantic and carried his severely poisoned seventh son to Medicine King Valley, hoping that the valley master, a highly skilled physician, could miraculously save his beloved child's life. Unfortunately, fate was unkind. When they finally arrived at Medicine King Valley after overcoming countless hardships and met the valley master, the poor seventh son had already stopped breathing, his small body cold and stiff.

In his despair and grief, the emperor unexpectedly discovered the son born to the valley lord's daughter. The child was equally frail, like a candle flickering in the wind. Nevertheless, the emperor decided to bring the child back to the palace and raise him as the empress's biological son.

After returning to the palace, the Empress showed little affection for this newly arrived "youngest son," barely even glancing at him properly. In her eyes, only her sickly infant son deserved her full attention. This strange child, who had suddenly appeared, was merely a tool for her to vie for favor and power.

However, to the Empress's surprise, despite her repeated attempts to instruct the Emperor to visit the child under the pretext of illness, the so-called poisons had no effect on him. The poison the Empress had given the seventh prince was so potent that its toxicity had become deeply ingrained in his body, rendering other ordinary poisons utterly ineffective. The Valley Master instructed him to raise the child himself for several years before returning him, while he traveled to various countries to find an antidote.