The Emperor's Secret Heirs

Emperor Xiao Ling has kept the anniversary of Jiang Ruoli's death for seven years. She had been a palace maid, and he had loved her, and he was told she died. On the anniversary he travels to Qingzhou in plain clothes and sees a blind woman in the street with two six year old twins. She is Jiang Ruoli. A keepsake the two of them once exchanged settles it for both of them. What she tells him is that the Empress Dowager gave her a choice that was not a choice: fake her own death and go, or stay and find out what happens to her. She left the palace pregnant and lost her sight afterward. He brings her and the children back to court and announces he will make her empress. The Empress Dowager's part in it is not yet public, and the court has people who would rather the whole matter stayed buried. At the investiture ceremony one of them swaps out an object with the intention of killing the Empress Dowager during the rites. The plot is caught, and what comes out of the investigation is the story of what was done to Jiang Ruoli seven years ago, which the court now has to hear in full.