Chapter 1127: The Princess Consort Whose Memories Were Altered (2)

Both men intended to make Tang Jiao their woman before the other could act.

In the end, Emperor Shangguan Yi held the advantage. With a single imperial decree, Tang Jiao became his Consort Jiao, while the eldest daughter of the Tang family—the original Tang Guo—became Prince Jing's consort.

No matter how furious Shangguan Jing was, what could he do?

Shangguan Yi was the Emperor, while he was merely Prince Jing. The imperial decree had already been issued. He couldn't openly defy it, could he? He had certainly wanted to, but he was no match for Shangguan Yi. Besides, they were brothers born of the same parents, and he didn't want their relationship to shatter over a woman and leave room for schemers to take advantage.

Thus, with a heart full of unwillingness, Shangguan Jing went through the marriage ceremony with the original Tang Guo.

Their wedding night was exactly as Tang Guo had just experienced. Under the pretext of having matters to attend to, he refused to consummate the marriage, and from then on they lived as husband and wife in name only.

Shangguan Yi believed that Shangguan Jing was merely dissatisfied and thought the matter would gradually settle.

Furthermore, Shangguan Jing continued as before, frequently entering the palace to play chess with him or accompanying him on outings beyond the palace.

The only difference was that every time, Shangguan Yi brought Tang Jiao along.

At first, Tang Jiao had found it difficult to accept that her companions in poetry had suddenly become the Emperor and a Prince—and that she herself had become an imperial consort.

But things had already reached this point, and resistance was useless. She could only accept her new identity.

Since the Emperor treated her well, she accepted it. Besides, she could still frequently go out and enjoy herself, so there wasn't much difference from before.

Neither Tang Jiao nor Shangguan Yi knew that ever since his marriage, Shangguan Jing had secretly searched the world for extraordinary individuals. He had never given up on taking Tang Jiao back.

After nearly a year of searching, he finally found a strange man capable of exchanging two people's memories.

He paid a tremendous sum to bring the man back and deliberately poisoned the original Tang Guo, then spread news that his princess consort had fallen gravely ill to Tang Jiao.

Worried about her elder sister, Tang Jiao hurried out of the palace.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Shangguan Jing ordered the strange man to exchange the sisters' memories.

After the poison was cured, the original Tang Guo possessed Tang Jiao's memories, while Tang Jiao possessed Tang Guo's.

To prevent anyone from discovering the truth, Shangguan Jing made one special request when the strange man altered Tang Guo's memories—they had to be irreversible.

Once changed, the original Tang Guo would never recover her original memories. She would forever believe herself to be Tang Jiao. In this way, his imperial brother Shangguan Yi would never suspect anything.

As for Tang Jiao, Shangguan Jing naturally couldn't bear to treat her so cruelly. He only had the memories that did not belong to Tang Jiao preserved for ten years.

He believed ten years would be enough.

What he had never expected was that Shangguan Yi truly loved Tang Jiao.

The moment Tang Guo was returned to the palace, Shangguan Yi recognized at first glance that the person before him was not Tang Jiao.

But no matter how much he questioned or threatened her, the original Tang Guo insisted that she was Tang Jiao. When he secretly investigated Prince Jing's Manor, he found that Tang Jiao only acknowledged herself as Tang Guo.

Shangguan Yi immediately guessed that Shangguan Jing had tampered with something.

At long last, Shangguan Jing had obtained the woman he loved. How could he possibly surrender her?

He openly declared that if Shangguan Yi could make his princess consort personally admit that she was Tang Jiao, then he would no longer stand in his way.

In the end, Shangguan Yi left in anger. A rift formed between the brothers, and they frequently opposed each other in court.

Shangguan Yi disliked Tang Guo. Seeing that identical face, he felt she was the reason he had lost the woman he loved, and resentment grew within him.

Then, during a visit by foreign envoys to the Southern Shu Kingdom, the king of one of the nations spoke to him with a smile.

“I have long heard that Southern Shu possesses the most beautiful woman under heaven. Might the Emperor of Southern Shu be willing to allow this king a glimpse of such a beauty?”