Volume One, Chapter 17: What? Empress Ma Also Passed Away Due to Illness?

"Of course, you did not intend for the Crown Prince to die; there were reasons for all of this."

"Empress Ma passed away due to illness in the eighth month of the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign, at the age of fifty-two. Her posthumous title was Empress Xiaoci!"

"After that, there was no one left in this world who could curb the Emperor’s murderous impulses."

"You did indeed execute many who deserved to die, but you also understood the Crown Prince's character..."

"He held vastly different views from you on these matters. Father and son quarreled many times, and their relationship became very strained."

"The Crown Prince could not restrain you as Empress Ma had; he could not persuade you at all. He felt growing self-reproach, which caused his mental stress to tighten until eventually..."

Before Jiang Lin could finish his sentence, Zhu Yuanzhang’s pupils dilated, and a look of incredulous panic surfaced in his eyes.

What had he just heard?
He must have misheard!
It was absolutely impossible!
How could his beloved wife die before him?

"Jiang Lin! You... what did you just say?"

Zhu Yuanzhang lunged at Jiang Lin, grabbing him by the collar. His emotions were even more frantic and wild than before.

"My... what happened to my wife?"

Jiang Lin remained unstartled and unusually calm. Instead, he looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a hint of pity. For a man over fifty, learning of the deaths of both his son and his wife—the two most precious people in his life—within such a short span was devastating.

"Your Majesty, I have said it before: every word I speak is merely recorded in the history books," Jiang Lin said softly.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang’s burly frame seemed to age instantly. He lost his footing and stumbled back two steps.

"Chongba, be careful..."

Empress Ma reached out to steady him, preventing him from falling. Zhu Yuanzhang regained his balance and looked at the wife who had accompanied him through the wars and struggles of founding the empire. Her once beautiful face now appeared much older.

Suddenly, the Emperor burst into tears and gripped Empress Ma’s hands, his eyes filled with agony.

"My dear, promise me you won't leave me. Stay with me, please!"

"Chongba, I..."

Facing the Emperor’s desperate plea, Empress Ma felt equally heartbroken, yet she could make no such promise. Especially upon hearing that she would be the one to leave him first, she felt a sharp, unbearable pain in her chest, as if she had been stabbed.

Zhu Yuanzhang: "My dear, how... how can this be? You promised me we would grow old together!"

Empress Ma: "Chongba, we still have four years. That is a blessing. Spend the remaining time with me."

"Also, after I am gone, you must remember Jiang Lin’s words. Control your temper, and avoid violence whenever possible."

"Do not make things difficult for Biao, and do not let it affect the bond between father and son."

Leaning into Zhu Yuanzhang’s embrace, Empress Ma began to voice her final wishes in advance.

"Chongba, say something!"

"Can you promise me this?"

"I... I promise you!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in a panic. Seeing him nod, Empress Ma turned to Zhu Biao.

"Biao’er, you must understand your father. Everything he does is for the sake of the Great Ming, and for you!"

"I understand, Mother..." Zhu Biao nodded repeatedly, his voice choked with sobs.

At this moment, Zhu Yourong wiped the tears from her face, rushed to Jiang Lin, and grabbed his arm, pleading bitterly:

"Young Master Jiang, you just said that Mother passed away due to illness. You must have a way to cure her, right?"

"Yes, that's right, Brother Jiang! Tell us you can heal our mother!" Zhu Biao urged anxiously.

Zhu Yuanzhang also looked at Jiang Lin with eyes full of hope and said slowly:

"Jiang Lin, I promise you, as long as you can save my wife, I will grant you anything you desire. Just speak—whether it be power or wealth..."

He had pinned all his hopes on Jiang Lin. However, Jiang Lin’s response acted like a bucket of cold water on the family of three. He wore a troubled expression.

"I wish to save the Empress as well, but the history books do not record what illness she succumbed to."

Hearing this, Zhu Biao rushed forward and clutched Jiang Lin’s arm, bordering on hysteria.

"Jiang Lin, don't you have that, that instrument? Last time, you used it to detect that my wife had been poisoned. Surely it can detect my mother’s illness, too!"

"Yes, yes! Take out the device and examine her!" Zhu Yuanzhang urged.

Jiang Lin shook his head and denied it: "The device can indeed detect existing illnesses, but the Empress is not destined to pass away for another four years. She has no symptoms now, so it cannot detect anything."

"As for what illness she will contract in four years, the history books do not say."

The Zhu family’s spirits plummeted, and the atmosphere in the room turned icy. Just as everyone was falling into despair, a sudden spark of inspiration struck Jiang Lin.

"Your Majesty, do not despair. I only said that the Empress's illness is not recorded in history and cannot be detected by the device, but I never said it could not be treated."

"Truly? You... you know a way to treat it?"

Upon hearing this, the family’s spirits revived instantly, and they gazed at him with eager eyes. Zhu Yourong, disregarding all else, spoke up anxiously:

"Young Master Jiang, if you can save my mother, I am willing to marry you."

After saying this, she blushed, her small hands clenched tighter, feeling incredibly nervous about his response.