Miss Truth

Xiao Song wouldn’t let her visit that woman without reason. Ran Yan guessed that the woman was the mastermind behind the poisoning of Xiao Song’s two previous wives.

Being able to bury traces so well that even Xiao Song could not detect them, Ran Yan couldn’t help but be curious about this woman, but for fear of drawing her attention, Ran Yan had to restrain her gaze.

After the decree was dispersed, Xiao Song and Ran Yan went to the study to rest, and then he revealed the woman’s identity, "My eldest uncle was the last monarch of Xiliang. She is the wife of the last emperor, a first-class State Lady by the end of the Sui Dynasty, but my uncle passed away when the Sui Dynasty fell. During the Tang Dynasty, she was the second-class Lady of the County Duke of Dongyang."

Xiao Cong, the last Emperor Xiao Kui of Xiliang, was designated as the Crown Prince during his reign. After the fall of the Xiliang Kingdom at the hands of Emperor Wen of Sui, Xiao Cong was demoted to the Duke of Ju. Due to his talent and easygoing nature, Xiao Cong was still heavily relied upon in the Sui Dynasty, holding high office throughout, but when Emperor Yang ascended, due to a folk rhyme saying "Xiao will rise again," he was removed from office under the Emperor’s suspicion.

During the Tang Dynasty, probably to win over the Xiao family, perhaps because Xiao Cong was well-regarded by the Tang Imperial Family, he was posthumously honoured with a title. Since Xiao Cong’s first title in Xiliang was Prince of Dongyang, he was posthumously given the title of County Duke of Dongyang, and his wife received the rank of a second-class Duchess of Dongyang in accordance with her husband’s rank.

"So it turns out this lady is indeed a legitimate senior daughter-in-law of the Xiao family, she seems much younger than A’jia...not his first wife?" Ran Yan whispered.

Xiao Song nodded, "However, because my uncle had few sons, and most of them died young, only one son remains, making his branch of the family sparse, whereas the sixth uncle’s branch and ours are still flourishing with descendants."

This means that the Lady of the County Duke of Dongyang never served as Empress of Xiliang, but married Xiao Cong towards the end of the Sui Dynasty.