Chapter 50.1

If asked who left the deepest impression on Xu Yuan in her past life, aside from her family, it would have to be the Emperor and the new emperor.

There was no need to say much about the Emperor; her feelings for him were profound since he had truly treated her well. However, the Emperor likely never expected to pass away so early.

The Emperor didn’t have many offspring, which was understandable, as he was still under forty at the time of his death. He had only three sons and two daughters—not a lot, but not too few either.

The new emperor was the second son among the Emperor’s children. Logically, the throne should have been inherited by the eldest son. Xu Yuan had thought so at first, which is why she had been somewhat attentive to the eldest son. Who would have thought that he would fall ill and die a year before the Emperor’s passing?

Xu Yuan had indeed suspected the cause of the eldest prince’s death; it was too suspicious and coincidental. But even when the Emperor personally investigated, they couldn’t find anything, and ultimately, they had to let it go.

Actually, according to Xu Yuan’s nature, she didn’t want to offend anyone. She maintained good relationships with the other princes and princesses and had never made enemies, except for the second prince, who would later become the new emperor.

The new emperor was reclusive, and his mother died during childbirth, leading him to be raised by another concubine who was not particularly favored, as she was older than the Emperor and thus not the object of his affection.

At first, Xu Yuan wanted to get close to this second prince. Even if they couldn’t become good friends, she didn’t want others to have a bad impression of her. She never expected that this second prince would be so unyielding; she saw his chances of becoming emperor as slim, so she eventually stopped trying to get close to him.

Who could have imagined that he would be the one to laugh last?

When she learned that the second prince had ascended to the throne, she knew her fate was bleak. It was not surprising; throughout history, how many people in her position had good endings?

She maintained good relationships with each prince and princess, all within the limits that the Emperor could tolerate. But she couldn’t befriend the officials, especially those with real power, or else the Emperor wouldn’t have allowed her to stay.

The image of eunuchs was never good. As the officials saw her gaining the Emperor’s trust more and more each day, they wouldn’t hesitate to insult her behind her back. She could only endure. She had power, but it was only in the palace; the day a new ruler took the throne, those who adapted to the winds of change would curry favor with the new emperor rather than remember her past kindness.

The Emperor wasn’t incompetent, so her power was limited. Once he passed away, if the new emperor intended to kill her, no one would dare speak out.

Now that she thought about it, the Emperor had considered her before he died, though at the time she hadn’t realized it. By the time she came to that realization, she had already become Xu Yuan.

The Emperor had once told her to arrange for the palace maids to go to the temple to practice asceticism after his death. When she heard that, she had been terrified and didn’t realize it was a way out for her.

Generally, palace maids who went to the temple were female relatives. At that time, she hadn’t thought deeply about it. For people of that era, the Emperor was like heaven; who wouldn’t be afraid when he spoke of his impending death?

Looking back now, was the Emperor hinting at her?

He wouldn’t issue an edict for the new emperor to treat her well just because of a eunuch, as that would be unreasonable and would only lead to countless speculations in the future.

Did the Emperor know she was a woman? Perhaps that would remain an unsolved mystery.

Meng Zhengrong saw Xu Yuan lost in thought and nudged her, “What are you thinking about?”

Xu Yuan snapped back to reality, looked at Meng Zhengrong’s face, then at the photo of little Zhengrong, who looked exactly like the new emperor. She felt like she was going to faint.

“You were really ugly as a child,” Xu Yuan remarked without mercy.

She wasn’t one to be overly dramatic. Earlier, she had already overcome the barrier of seeing him with a face identical to the Emperor’s, so there was no reason she couldn’t deal with it now.

Meng Zhengrong was just himself; he wasn’t anyone else. So what if he had been reincarnated? Ultimately, he had no memories of his past and was a completely new person now.

However, seeing the photo of little Zhengrong in the album, Xu Yuan couldn’t help but want to scold Meng Zhengrong a bit.

She didn’t understand why the new emperor wanted to kill her. Could a eunuch like her really provoke the future emperor’s jealousy? How ridiculous.

She had no military power, hadn’t befriended any powerful officials, and had never taken sides. The most she had done was show a little favor to the eldest prince, but that was hardly noticeable.

While she did have some power in the palace, it was still too soon for her influence to be firmly established after spending only a short time beside the Emperor. It was only a matter of time before she would lose it; why would he need to kill her?

Damn it!

The only regret was that she couldn’t find any historical records about her previous dynasty. This was somewhat understandable, considering how vast the world is; not every dynasty would have thorough documentation.

Hearing Xu Yuan say this, Meng Zhengrong rolled his eyes at her. “At this point, I’m still just a school geek, thanks.”

“Are there school geeks and school beauties in elementary school?” Xu Yuan scoffed.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Meng Zhengrong ruffled his hair. “Regardless of whether it was elementary, middle, high school, or university, your man has always been a school geek.”

Xu Yuan: “Can I say I’m the city flower?”

Meng Zhengrong: “…”

To make Xu Yuan happy, Meng Zhengrong gave her a thumbs-up. “My wife is not only the city flower but also the most beautiful woman in the country.”

This time it was Xu Yuan’s turn to be speechless.

“You really look quite different from when you were a child.” When Xu Yuan first entered the palace, the Emperor wasn’t the Emperor yet. She naturally hadn’t seen the Emperor as a child, but that didn’t mean she lacked judgment. It made sense that the Emperor and the new emperor looked alike since they were father and son. However, why did Meng Zhengrong look exactly like the new emperor when he was little and then grow up to look just like the Emperor?

Was that even possible?

Did that mean the little brat new emperor would grow up to look just like the Emperor?

No wonder there were rumors in the palace that the Empress Dowager favored the second prince the most before her death, saying the second prince looked most like the Emperor.

Logically speaking, if the Empress Dowager hadn’t died so early, the second prince should have been quite favored; at least he wouldn’t have turned into such a reclusive person. Maybe she wouldn’t have died so early, but unfortunately, whether it was her bad luck or the second prince’s bad luck, the Empress Dowager passed away young.

The Emperor also didn’t seem to have a strong liking for the second prince. To be precise, the Emperor didn’t seem to have a particular fondness for any of his children.

So, the fact that the second prince and the Emperor looked almost identical as children was of no use; it wouldn’t earn him any points.

Meng Zhengrong pondered for a moment and said, “I think there is some truth to that. A few years ago, I ran into a classmate from elementary school, and he didn’t recognize me, saying I had completely changed.”

This kind of situation wasn’t common; typically, there weren’t many people whose appearances changed dramatically from childhood to adulthood.

Of course, it wasn’t that Meng Zhengrong had changed entirely; there were still some similarities.

Xu Yuan put down the album and cupped Meng Zhengrong’s face, examining it closely. “Thank goodness.”

Thank goodness he had changed; if he still looked like that little brat, then between them, forget about love; no feelings would ever develop!

Meng Zhengrong’s mouth twitched. “What do you mean by that?”

Xu Yuan kissed his cheek. “If you still looked like that when you were little, I definitely wouldn’t like you.”

Meng Zhengrong: “…”

He had been quite handsome as a child, okay? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Liking someone who looked exactly like the person trying to kill her, Xu Yuan claimed she wasn’t that twisted.

In the end, she preferred his current face, which was much more pleasing to the eye.

“When I was little, many people wrote love letters to me.” Meng Zhengrong wanted to prove that he had charm at any age. He took Xu Yuan’s hand and led her to his old room. “Let me show you.”

Once in Meng Zhengrong’s room, it was clear that since he had gone abroad to study, no one had lived there for a while, but it was still kept very clean.

It was evident this was a boy’s room; the desk and bookshelf were filled with car and robot models, and even the sofa was shaped like a car.