The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

More than a month after Xiao Yuan replaced Emperor Kang He, Anning suddenly felt unwell one day and vomited during a meal. Xiao Yuan hurriedly summoned an Imperial Physician to take her pulse, and was told that Anning was pregnant.

This instantly shook the entire harem and the previous dynasty alike.

At a time when everyone believed that Your Majesty had no hope of siring a Prince, the Empress, who had not conceived for many years, was actually pregnant.

The Empress Dowager was so happy she almost lost her head; all the good things from her palace were sent to Changle Palace like running water.

The concubines in the harem all quieted down as well.

Now, not a single one of them dared to jump out and make trouble, afraid that if anything went wrong and the Dragon Son in the Empress’s belly suffered the slightest mishap, it would be blamed on them.

Everyone thought Anning’s fate was good, that it was her and no one else who had ended up pregnant.

Only Consort Rou was filled with fear and helpless panic.

She knew the inside story.

She knew Emperor Kang He had found a stand‑in to consummate the marriage with the Empress.

She understood Emperor Kang He’s temper; Emperor Kang He would absolutely never sleep with the Empress. After all, the Empress was a woman another man had slept with—no matter what, he would not so much as touch a single hair of the Empress.

But how did the Empress get pregnant?

Emperor Kang He had never once performed the rites of husband and wife with the Empress, so where did the child in the Empress’s belly come from?

What frightened Consort Rou the most was His Majesty’s attitude toward the Empress. His Majesty suddenly became extraordinarily good to the Empress, spending all his nights at Changle Palace, eating and sleeping with the Empress, looking for all the world like an ordinary couple in their own home.

This left Consort Rou completely at a loss.

Just as Consort Rou was about to find a way to figure out what was going on, she fell ill, then took to her bed and never got up again; two months later, she was gone.

On the surface, Consort Rou was dead, but the real Consort Rou had been sent to the little black room.

There she saw Emperor Kang He.

After Consort Rou learned that Anning and Xiao Yuan had colluded to lock up Emperor Kang He and that Xiao Yuan had taken his place, she was scared out of her wits, followed by a surge of fierce unwillingness.

But the two of them, locked in the little black room, had absolutely no way out.

Because inside the Imperial Palace, no one at all suspected Xiao Yuan’s identity; even the Empress Dowager believed Xiao Yuan was Emperor Kang He.

The Ministers at court praised Xiao Yuan all the more; some senior officials privately said that His Majesty had grown up, that in this period his handling of state affairs was increasingly adept, and that his views on many matters were unique. If he continued like this, the Dayong Dynasty would surely become more stable and prosperous under His Majesty’s rule.

It was likely that even if Emperor Kang He were to walk out of the little black room now and stand side by side with Xiao Yuan, many people would still take Xiao Yuan for the Emperor.

Emperor Kang He regretted it.

If he had known things would come to this, why do what he did in the first place?

If he had known he would end up like this today, replaced by a counterfeit, he would never have been so brain‑dead as to find someone to put a green hat on himself. Now look: not only was his wife someone else’s, even the throne had become someone else’s.

After Anning had been pregnant for ten full months and gave birth in one day to the Eldest Imperial Prince, Xiao Yuan went to the little black room to see Emperor Kang He and Consort Rou.

By then, the two of them no longer had the deep, honeyed affection of before; all tenderness had vanished, and the two were already thoroughly sick of the sight of each other.

When she saw Xiao Yuan, Consort Rou dropped to her knees with a thud. ”Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I know my crime, I know my crime. I beg Your Majesty to spare me. I don’t want to stay here any longer, I want to go out. Anyway, on the surface I’m already a dead person now. I beg Your Majesty to release me. I’ll go far, far away and definitely will not be an eyesore to Your Majesty.”

Emperor Kang He was furious. ”Consort Rou, what are you doing? Get up at once.”

Consort Rou no longer cared about Emperor Kang He at all. She kept knocking her head on the floor toward Xiao Yuan. ”Your Majesty, I beg Your Majesty for forgiveness.”

Xiao Yuan glanced at Emperor Kang He, then pulled over a chair and sat down.

By this time, a lamp had been lit in the room, and only then did Emperor Kang He carefully size up Xiao Yuan.

He realized that in less than a year of not seeing him, Xiao Yuan had actually gained a very imperial bearing. Sitting there, his presence surpassed that of him, the true Emperor. If the two of them stood side by side, everyone would recognize Xiao Yuan as the master.

”You...”

Emperor Kang He ground his teeth. ”You are committing monstrous treason. You and Mrs. Gao have muddled the royal family’s bloodline. You will die a wretched death.”

Xiao Yuan laughed. ”You’re wrong. We have not muddled the royal family’s bloodline.”

He pointed at Emperor Kang He. ”Look, you and I look almost exactly the same—doesn’t that make you the least bit curious? I’m just a mountain hunter, so why do I look the same as you? I had the Gao family investigate this. As it turns out, I am actually your own elder brother. Back then, when the Empress Dowager was pregnant and gave birth, she had twins. In the royal family of Dayong, twins are taboo, considered inauspicious. To save at least one child, the Empress Dowager had the weaker‑looking me taken out to be thrown away.”

”No, no.”

When Emperor Kang He heard there was such a story behind it, he immediately shook his head in denial. ”You’re just a commoner. You are not...”

”Whether you admit it or not, I am still your elder brother. By rights, this throne was mine to begin with. Just like you, I am Emperor Wenzong’s son, with the Grand Ancestor’s blood flowing in my veins. My child is likewise a legitimate Dragon Son and Phoenix Grandson.”

Xiao Yuan slowly spoke these words one by one with a smile. After a pause, he added, ”Even if I went to the Empress Dowager right now and told her all of this, told her I am not you but the child she threw away back then, the Empress Dowager would still recognize me and not you.”

”Impossible. The Queen Mother would never.”

Emperor Kang He began shouting.

He was overly agitated.

If Xiao Yuan were just a commoner, he could still stand upon righteous principle to condemn Xiao Yuan, could still think that Xiao Yuan and Anning’s actions amounted to a usurpation of the throne.

But Xiao Yuan turned out to be his full‑blooded elder brother; in that case, he no longer had any grounds to accuse him.

”Why wouldn’t she? Why on earth wouldn’t she? I have sired a Prince, whereas you... after all these years, you haven’t had a single child. In matters of governance, I’m better than you. In filial piety, I’m no worse than you. In bloodline, I am just as much the Empress Dowager’s own son. Most importantly, I have an heir, and you don’t. Tell me, whom will the Empress Dowager choose? Oh right, I forgot to tell you: you will never have children again in this life. As a useless cripple, who’s going to acknowledge you?”

A smile rested on Xiao Yuan’s lips, but what he said was cruel to the extreme. ”This is the outcome of your own self‑importance and so‑called cleverness.”

Finishing these words, Xiao Yuan turned and left.

Emperor Kang He, on the other hand, felt as if all the bones had been pulled from his body and collapsed limply to the floor.

He muttered under his breath, ”It’s not like this, it’s not. I am the Emperor. This realm is mine, mine...”

Consort Rou, however, chased after Xiao Yuan. ”Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please spare me. Let me go out. Once I leave, I will definitely behave myself.”

Xiao Yuan turned back and gave Consort Rou a meaningful smile.

More than half a month later, Anning had Consort Rou brought out and met with her once.

After that, Consort Rou’s identity was altered. She became a Commandery Prince’s concubine daughter and was sent off to an alien tribe in a political marriage.

Anning simply wanted to test whether, if Consort Rou were placed somewhere else, the people there would also be forcibly lowered in intelligence.

In the end, things went exactly as Anning had imagined.

Ever since Consort Rou arrived on the Northern Border’s territory, the local Royal Family and the rest successively made a string of blunders, throwing the entire grassland into turmoil. Afterwards, they fell into many years of chaotic warfare, which in turn bought the Dayong Dynasty a great deal of precious time for development.