Ming Dynasty: I am truly not the Emperor of Longevity

Chengtian Prefecture, on the east bank of the Gongtang River.

"My lord, this is the tomb of Wang, the birth mother of Lu Chen."

A middle-aged constable pointed to a small, newly built stone grave and said to Sun Dexiu,

"Speaking of which, this Wang woman was also a woman with a tragic fate."

"What do you mean?"

Sun Dexiu carefully examined the tomb in front of her. It was only the size of a middle-class family in the countryside, not even a wealthy family.

Upon arriving in Chengtian Prefecture, Sun Dexiu presented the Eastern Depot warrant to the prefectural government office and received their full cooperation.

Strangely, almost no one in the government office had any impression of Lu Chen.

In other words, Lu Chen grew up in Chengtian Prefecture from childhood to adulthood and should never have had any contact with anyone in the prefectural government.

Even according to the information on the travel permit, Lu Chen's father, Lu Kun, was a seventh-rank officer in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Even if he was an illegitimate son, he was still a son of an official.

Logically speaking, in the place where he grew up and lived for eighteen years, Lu Chen's social circle should also consist of the sons of local officials and gentry.

This matter seems to have a strange quality to it.

The address of Lu Chen and his birth mother, Wang, was quickly found in the household register of Zhongxiang County.

Their residence was not located within the city, but rather on the east bank of the South Lake of Chengtian Prefecture, which was then called Gongtang and later Jingyue Lake.

That was an estate belonging to the Lu Song family. Lu Chen's father, Lu Kun, was the manager of this estate before he accompanied Lu Song to the capital.

According to the Yellow Register, Lu Chen's birth mother, Lady Wang, passed away in the sixteenth year of the Jiajing reign, which was last year, leaving Lu Chen to live alone.

At the Zhongxiang County government office, Sun Dexiu finally found a middle-aged yamen runner who knew Lu Chen and his mother, as well as Lu Kun.

"My lord, that Wang was a great beauty in her younger days."

The middle-aged yamen runner sighed,

"But that Steward Lu Kun is really not good-looking. Wang Shi ended up with him... it's all fate."

"Oh, how did this Steward Lu manage to marry Wang back then?"

Sun Dexiu had already sensed that something was wrong.

"And she's not even his legal wife. What makes him worthy of marrying such a beautiful concubine?"

"That's why they say fate plays tricks on people."

The middle-aged constable shook his head.

"There was only one reason why Steward Lu was able to take Wang as a concubine back then."

He was the ugliest of all the stewards in the Lu family!

Wang was originally a maidservant of "Lady Yousheng". For some unknown reason, she offended "Lady Yousheng" and was given to the ugly steward Lu Kun by "Lady Yousheng".

I remember it very clearly. Because of his ugly appearance, Steward Lu was still single and unmarried at the time.

However, "Lady Yousheng" still ordered Steward Lu that he could only take Wang as a concubine.

This was a deliberate attempt to humiliate Lady Wang. Although I don't know exactly what happened, "Lady Yousheng" must have hated this maidservant of hers intensely at that time.

It turns out there was a story behind Lu Kun taking Wang as a concubine!

"Do you remember exactly when Lady Wang was given to Lu Kun by 'Lady Yousheng'?"

Having grown up in the palace, Sun Dexiu felt that she had roughly guessed the truth of what happened back then.

The most likely reason why Lu Song's wife, Madam Fan, the wet nurse of the former Prince Xing, was so angry was that the maid had seduced her husband, or that Lu Song had taken a fancy to the beautiful maid beside him.

Although Lu Song's power was not as great as it would be later, he was still a high-ranking official in the Prince of Xing's mansion, in charge of the guards.

It's perfectly normal for him to take a liking to a beautiful maidservant who serves his wife.

It is even quite possible that Lu Song has already favored this maid.

If Sun Dexiu hadn't seen Lu Chen's face, which was almost identical to that of the emperor ten years ago, he believed he would have been able to reconstruct the truth of what happened back then.

Wang's affair with Lu Song was discovered by his wife, Fan.

In a fit of anger, Madam Fan gave this beautiful maid to Lu Kun, the ugliest steward in the household, as a concubine.

But at this time, Wang was already pregnant with Lu Song's child.

The child was later born as Lu Kun's illegitimate son and named Lu Chen.

In other words, Lu Chen should be Lu Song's illegitimate son, that is, Lu Bing's half-brother.

Judging from Lu Bing's reaction, it is very likely that Lu Song told him this secret before his death and instructed him to take care of this half-brother.

This explains Lu Bing's attitude towards Lu Chen.

Giving his younger brother a position as a captain in the Imperial Guard was nothing special.

Lu Chen was nominally the illegitimate son of Lu Kun, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. It was quite common for him to fill a vacancy in the Embroidered Uniform Guard as a low-level officer or similar position after reaching adulthood.

Lu Bing, as the third-rank commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, could easily decide to promote a Jinyiwei soldier to the rank of captain with a single word.

Afterwards, you just need to file a record with the Ministry of War, and the procedures will be complete.

Although Lu Bing considers Lu Chen his younger brother, it's a different story for "Madam Yousheng".

If "Madam Yousheng" knew that Lu Song had an illegitimate child with her former maid, who knows what she would do to Lu Chen!

For Lu Bing, preventing Lu Chen from going to the capital was the best way to avoid his mother harming Lu Chen.

His hasty dispatch of that captain surnamed Yuan out of the capital to intercept Lu Chen was therefore perfectly reasonable.

However, all these seemingly reasonable speculations are based on the premise that Lu Chen is indeed Lu Song's illegitimate son.

Sun Dexiu was very clear that Lu Chen, whom she had met in Wadian Town, could not possibly be Lu Song's illegitimate son!

That face looks so much like the Emperor's!

Lu Song could never have given birth to such a son!

"My lord, I remember now. Wang was given to Lu Kun as a concubine at the end of the thirteenth year of Zhengde."

After a long while, the middle-aged constable finally answered.

"I really can't remember whether it was the eleventh or twelfth lunar month."

Yes, that's right!

Lu Chen was born in August of the fourteenth year of the Zhengde reign.

If it weren't for the premature birth, Wang would have already been pregnant by October or at most November of the thirteenth year of Zhengde!

But how old was the emperor back then?!

He just turned eleven!

No, that's not right, Lu Chen couldn't possibly be the Emperor's child!

But if he wasn't the emperor's son, how do you explain that face?

Wait, besides father and son, there's actually another possibility for their similar appearances!

When did Emperor Xian die?

Sun Dexiu carefully recalled the records he had seen in the palace.

June of the fourteenth year of Zhengde!

Moreover, he was only forty-four years old when he passed away, which can be described as the prime of his life.

In the thirteenth year of the Zhengde reign, Emperor Xian personally oversaw a large-scale renovation project of the Anlu Prefecture Confucian Temple, indicating that he was in good health at the time.

According to palace records, Emperor Xian fell ill and became bedridden in April of the fourteenth year of Zhengde's reign, gradually weakening over time.

In other words, in October and November of the thirteenth year of Zhengde's reign, Emperor Xian, who was then still the Prince of Xing, was fully capable of having sexual relations with women!

That's right, back then, the only member of the royal family who could freely visit the Lu family was not just the eleven-year-old Prince Xing!

His Highness Prince Xing himself may also visit the Lu family!