How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

After drinking the medicine, Xie Chengze was taken back to the county government office and forced to rest.

One always feels sleepy after drinking the herbal medicine prescribed by the old doctor, and the warm kang makes people drowsy, so Xie Chengze soon fell into a light sleep.

But he slept uneasily.

Ever since the last time his taut nerves suddenly loosened, causing him to faint, he always dreamed of certain memories. In addition to the memories of the innocent Second Prince when he was young, there were also memories of the Second Prince after he was nine years old.

He inherited the memory of the Second Prince again, but this time the memory was clearer and more comprehensive. When he first came, most of his memories were about the Second Prince in the court, but now, many unknown daily memories are unfolding little by little, solving many doubts in his mind.

This time was no exception, he once again fell into this dream woven by memories.

"Doctor Wang, what's wrong with him?"

Xie Chengze sensed that he was closing his eyes in the dream, and a woman's anxious voice sounded in his ears. He had never heard it before, but it sounded familiar.

"Your Highness, the Second Prince is truly not ill." This should be the voice of Doctor Wang, who said slowly, "The Second Prince is in good health, and his pulse is consistent with before. Even if you ask me a hundred times, it is still the same."

Xie Chengze opened his eyes and saw a woman of extraordinary beauty standing in front of his bed. Even though he only saw her profile, he recognized her at once.

Concubine Hua, Hua Ning, the biological mother of this body.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Hua Ning clenched her hands together, biting her lip, her tone becoming more and more anxious, "There must be something wrong, take another look, take a closer look, I suspect he is not my son at all! He was swapped!"

Doctor Wang sighed, "Your Highness, I did not lie to you. Besides, didn't you ask the Second Prince about his memory? He clearly answered correctly."

"That's why they think he's real! But I don't believe it. How could I not feel it about my son? Even if he knows Ze'er's memories, feelings won't lie! Ze'er's youth and innocence can't be faked! He's clearly a young man in his body!"

Doctor Wang shook his head helplessly. "Alas, Madam, I have said all I can. In addition, knockout drugs should not be used too often. Do not let the Second Prince drink them next time."

"He doesn't want to see the imperial physician, and I can't do anything about it..." Hua Ning covered her face helplessly, looking sad, "I just want Ze'er back, what's wrong with that? He's my only child..."

Xie Chengze opened his mouth and wanted to speak, but for some reason, his mouth remained unable to move.

He felt his hands grasping the silk quilt tightly, and his mouth was uncontrollably speaking to Concubine Hua, trembling, "Mother..."

Hua Ning's body suddenly stiffened, and Xie Chengze could clearly sense Hua Ning's strong rejection of the word "mother".

She turned around and looked at the person on the bed with complicated eyes, "Who are you?"

Xie Chengze was shocked, thinking to himself, could it be that she discovered that he was not the second prince? No, wasn't Concubine Hua already dead...

As soon as the thought came to his mind, his consciousness sank again, and the next moment, the scene in front of him changed again.

He saw the young Second Prince, who was following Hua Ning closely. He stretched out his hand several times to chase the figure, but in the end he just spoke tentatively, "Mother..."

"Don't call me mother!" Hua Ning looked very irritable and uneasy. The beautiful and generous woman in the past now exuded a sharp sense of rejection like a frightened hedgehog. "You are not my son! No matter how much you pretend to be one, you are not one!"

Xie Chengze wanted to tell the truth. He thought that perhaps someone as kind as Hua Ning would work with him to find a way to return home and find a way to bring the Second Prince back.

But his mouth said the exact opposite. His voice sounded extremely cold, but it also contained a hint of sadness and mockery. "So what do you want from me? Die?"

He saw Hua Ning's back suddenly stiffen, and her face turned back with an almost sad and desperate look.

"I knew you were not Ze'er..."

"Yes." The young man's tone was cold and sarcastic, "But they don't believe you. So what? Do you dare to bet? Bet that I dare to admit to everyone that I am a lonely ghost, bet that there is really a way to replace souls in this world, bet that there is another world in this world, and bet that the soul of the real second prince is hidden in that dead body."

She didn't dare to gamble.

This was beyond her imagination as an ancient person.

Hua Ning cried so hard that she almost fainted, but the young man still did not let her go and walked closer to her step by step, "Do you think I care about this body? A body of beauty will only cause chaos in the world. This world is no different from that world, both are filthy and disgusting."

The young man laughed at himself, "Since you don't protect me, there's no need for you to live."

That day, he saw the Second Prince go to the Ministry of Works and force Gu Lao to make the Qian Kun Yin Yang Pot, a wine pot that could hold two portions of wine at the same time. By turning the mechanism, one of the portions of wine mixed with poison could be poured to the enemy without any fuss, causing the enemy to die suddenly from poisoning.

"He" wants to kill someone.

But Xie Chengze didn't know whether he wanted to kill Hua Ning or himself.

He could only sense the boy's eyes, which were so sad and resentful, filled with tears that were about to burst out.

Xie Chengze was like a bystander and also an eyewitness, watching the Second Prince go from the careful disguise when he first arrived to his gradual transition back to his true self. He also watched Hua Ning go from madness to depression step by step. She testified countless times that the Second Prince was not "Xie Chengze", but everyone thought she was crazy.

Jiandi didn't believe in the ghost theory, "Are you too sensitive? Ze'er's memory and birthmark have not changed, he just grew up gradually."

The imperial physician shook his head again and again, "The Second Prince is not ill, it is you, Your Majesty, who is overthinking. You need to take medicine to recuperate."

The concubines all came to comfort and persuade her, "Even if it is as you said, so what? Your health is the most important thing."

But for Hua Ning, Xie Chengze is the most important.

She loved Ze'er more than herself, so she couldn't let herself go. The thought that Ze'er might be in another world, trapped in a rotting dead body, made her feel unbearable.

Every word these people said became the straw that broke the camel's back for Hua Ning, and year after year, it made her feel suffocated.

She finally died on her sickbed with her eyes wide open unwillingly, and before she died she was still muttering, "That child is most afraid of loneliness... How scared he must be to be alone, I should have spent more time with him before..."

On the day Hua Ning died, it was snowing heavily. The Second Prince stepped onto the Heavenly Stairs alone, smashed the Heavenly Supervisory Office to pieces, and angrily called them a group of liars.

He saw that the Second Prince was instigated by others and was afraid that he would have no power to protect himself in the palace, so he went to Gu Lao to make a hidden arrow for protection; he saw that after the Second Prince learned of his true identity, he was afraid that he would become a victim in the power struggle, so he wanted to take away the power of the Crown Prince; he saw that when the Second Prince met Wuhen and Wuji and found that they already knew that he was not his original self, he was worried and frightened, and used corporal punishment again and again to test their loyalty, and the more afraid they were, the more severe the punishment.

He also saw...

Ok?