Chapter 6 — Phoenix Returns From The Border

“Khuong Lenh Nghi has had a good fate all her life, so what if she dies!” I stepped in front of her. “She died.” “So you have to pay for your life.” Lieu Thanh La was about to scold her, but was pulled down by the forbidden army covering her mouth. Khuong Minh Chau was finally scared. She crawled under my feet, grabbed the hem of my dress. "The Queen, I was wrong." "I didn't know you were Khuong Duong." "I really don't know..." I looked at her with lowered eyes. "When you were thirteen, you knew." She cried so much that her face was extremely disheveled. "At that time I was still young, I was just afraid..." "Afraid that you could harm someone?" I squatted down and looked at her. "Khuong Minh Chau, you were raised like gold." like jade, so I thought that other people's lives were humble." "From today onwards, you too go live a humble life." She shook her head frantically. "No! Don't!" "I don't want to go to Dich Dinh!" I stood up. "Pull me out." "Strike thirty feet first." Khuong Minh Chau shouted. "Father, save me!" Tham Hoai An knelt on the ground, not daring to move. She shouted again: "Mother, save me!" Lieu Thanh La was pulled out of the palace. No one saved her. When the first staff fell, Khuong Minh Chau cried until his voice was hoarse. The second time, she cried out in pain. The third step, she complained. At the tenth step, she started calling my name. By the twentieth step, she was unable to make a sound. I stood outside the palace gate, listening to all thirty words. The first day I was sent to the border barracks, I also suffered thirty strokes. At that time, I lay face down in the mud, with clothes of the dead lying next to me. No one shouted stop. Today, no one shouted stop for her. Khuong Minh Chau was pulled down to change into slave clothes. I turned my head to look at the civil and military mandarins in the palace. "Just now you said that this palace humiliated the descendants of the royal servants." "Do you see clearly now?" "The real descendants of the royal servants were sold by them to a cheap camp on the border." "The impostor was dressed in gold and silver, almost entering the Eastern Palace to become the crown prince." Several royal palace officials turned pale and immediately bowed their heads. "We are irresponsible!" "We deserve death!" I looked at the old royal historian. just now screamed the loudest. "Just now you said that a person born as a slave is not worthy to be a queen." His whole body trembled. I asked: "Is this palace still not worthy right now?" His forehead hit the ground hard. "Your highness has a phoenix matriarch to worship the world, I have eyes without eyes!" I did not let him stand up. "If you already have eyes without eyes, then take off your hat." "Go back home to take care of your eyes." The old prince's face turned gray and he immediately took off his mandarin hat. I looked at the border general again. "You prayed for Khuong Minh Chau because you missed the old love of the first national duke." That general bowed his head vigorously. "I'm stupid." "I was blinded by the fake bloodline, I almost assisted Tru's abuse, please punish me." I looked at him for a moment. "If you still remember my grandfather, then go to Nhan Hoi Quan to guard for three years." "If you can keep it, then go back." "If you can't keep it, then go underground and apologize." with you.” The general's eyes turned red and he bowed his head to receive orders. No one in the palace dared to raise their head. Tieu Chieu Da held my hand. He did not say "it stops here" for me. He knew it wasn't over yet. Three days later, the Ministry of Justice sent Tham Hoai An's deposition. He confessed. In the past, after he became a son-in-law of the Khuong family, my maternal grandfather died, leaving only my mother's legitimate bloodline in the palace. As long as my mother gives birth, everything in the Tran Quoc Cong palace will fall into that child's hands. But Lieu Thanh La also gave birth to a daughter. Tham Hoai An was not satisfied. He wanted his daughter to become the daughter of the Khuong family. Therefore, he and Lieu Thanh La

bribe the midwife. In the delivery room, my mother was bleeding, the midwife deliberately delayed the time and did not cure her. Before she died, she still thought the child in her arms was her daughter. After reading the deposition, my fingers pressed on the paper for a long time. Tieu Chieu Da sat next to me and took the deposition from my hand. "Don't look at it anymore." I raised my head. "Before you died, did you know?" Tieu Chieu Da closed the deposition. I immediately understood. People don't know. At the time of his death, he still believed that his child was safe and remained in Tran Quoc Cong palace. That's good too. At least before I close my eyes, the person who can't see me is hugged by someone else. The palace man brought a wooden chest. In the chest is a small unfinished shirt. The inside of the shirt's hem is embroidered with two words. Khuong Duong. The needle lines are very small and delicate. I caressed those two words and suddenly remembered the snow on the border. That year, I washed blood-stained clothes and my hands were so cold that they cracked. I used to think that I was born without anyone needing me. It turns out that I was also expected by people. Hope I grow up. May I be at peace. I folded the small set of clothes and placed them in the chest. "I want to return the mother's tablet to the Khuong clan." Tieu Chieu Da looked at me. "You are the daughter of the Khuong family." "On the tablet, only Khuong Lenh Nghi can be written."