Yin Zhili had no choice but to follow.
Yin Zhan led Yin Zhili into his private courtyard, and they proceeded into the study. He even ordered all the young servants at the entrance of the study to stand guard at the courtyard gate, leaving the entire vast courtyard occupied by only Yin Zhili and himself.
The servants, accustod to Yin Zhan’s decisive nature, didn’t even entertain curiosity and dutifully took up their posts at the gate. Yin Zhili, on the other hand, was puzzled, wondering just how crucial the upcoming conversation had to be for Yin Zhan to make such comprehensive arrangents.
Upon entering, Yin Zhili asked, "Father, what has happened?"
Yin Zhan just looked at him, saying nothing. Yin Zhili had never seen such a complex expression in Yin Zhan’s eyes before. Usually, Yin Zhan was forthright—if he wished to speak, he would be explicit; if not, he would remain silent, never beating around the bush. But today, his gaze upon Yin Zhili resembled that of a man desperately struggling in water, which was terrifying to behold.
Feeling inexplicably uneasy, Yin Zhili asked again, "Father?"
After what seed like an eternity, Yin Zhan finally said, "Zhili, there is sothing I must tell you. Your birth mother is still alive."
Yin Zhili’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he stamred, "How, how can that be? Mother isn’t she..." She had died giving birth to him, or so everyone had told him.
"She is not your birth mother," Yin Zhan said gravely, "Your birth mother is the current Empress Dowager."
Yin Zhili took a step back, his face instantly turning pale as he said, "Father... you..."
"You are my son with the Empress Dowager, Zhili," Yin Zhan said.
With just one sentence, all the cause and effect beca clear. There was no need to ask further questions or harbor any doubts; Yin Zhan’s expression said it all. Having spent so many years with Yin Zhan, Yin Zhili knew exactly what his father’s face looked like when he spoke the truth.
It was the expression he wore now.
"No, it can’t be..." His mind knew it to be true, but emotionally, Yin Zhili couldn’t accept it. One thought dominated his mind: he was a product of an illicit affair! This vile stigma would follow him his entire life!
But Yin Zhan just looked at him, as if he were imparting one of his countless lessons from the past, and said, "You know I wouldn’t lie to you."
Yin Zhili suddenly had a realization.
All those things he had never understood before suddenly made sense. For instance, his birth mother was hardly ever ntioned in the house. When he asked Yin Zhan about her, Yin Zhan seed indifferent. He never brought up Yin Zhili’s birth mother voluntarily, and he didn’t seem particularly fond of the current Madam Yin either. Sotis Yin Zhili felt that there might be soone cherished in his father’s heart, but there had never been any clue. Now he understood that person was the current Empress Dowager.
From Yunzhong to Yanjing, from Prince Cheng to the Jiang Family, he didn’t understand why Yin Zhan did this or that, and Yin Zhan never provided a reason. Now the reason had surfaced, so righteous yet so unbearable for Yin Zhili.
"What do you want to do?" Yin Zhili asked with a cold sneer, "Marry into the Jiang Family out of your own ambition, right? So what if I am the Empress Dowager’s son? Because the current emperor is not the Empress Dowager’s biological son, does she still hope that I will inherit the throne? Do you all plan to conspire to seize power and usurp the throne? How dare you! I do not have such a mother!"
With a "smack," Yin Zhan’s hand heavily landed on Yin Zhili’s face.
He said sternly, "I will not allow you to insult her!"
Yin Zhili retorted with red eyes, "If it’s done, don’t be afraid of being spoken about!"
"When I first knew her, she was still Miss Lin of the Lin Family. We were genuinely in love, and I was ready to formally ask for her hand in marriage! The Lin Family, greedy for glory, received the imperial marriage decree, and she was married to my imperial brother. He had her but didn’t cherish her; she lived a life worse than death in the palace. If I hadn’t shown up later, she might have died there. Yin Zhili," his voice seething with fury as he called Yin Zhili by his full na, "I forced her, your mother is innocent! She could have chosen not to give birth to you, at least that way she would not have had any leverage or danger, but she still gave birth to you because she couldn’t bear not to! You can hate , but you must not hate your mother, she did nothing to wrong you! Do you understand?"
Tears suddenly began to flow uncontrollably from Yin Zhili’s eyes. A man is seldom moved to tears, but at this mont, he really didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t bla the Empress Dowager, for she had risked her life to give birth to him; he couldn’t bla Yin Zhan, for he had raised and carefully taught him all these years. So whom could he bla? Whom could he bla?
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