After the third daughter I bore the prince was stolen again, I completely broke down. He held me tightly in his arms, his eyes glistening with tears.
"Wanqing, we won't have any more children. I'd rather have no heirs than let you suffer the pain of losing a child again."
But the empress dowager issued an edict demanding that he either divorce me and marry another woman, or adopt a boy from among the nobility and raise him as his legitimate eldest son.
With no choice, he had to obey. A few days later, he returned to the prince's residence with a boy of about four or five.
The boy's mother, Liu Mengli, came back with him.
That night, I dreamed of my daughter's cries, and my heart...
