Consort De certainly never imagined that Ning Feixiu had a premonition she would be silenced, so after being poisoned and sent to Yikun Palace, she secretly wrote this blood letter.
By the time Luyin brought the Emperor, the Empress had already obtained the blood letter.
She didn't give it to the Emperor because she no longer trusted him, believing he would protect Consort De.
A dead prince ultimately couldn't compare to those still living.
The third prince had suddenly lost his voice due to a great misfortune, and the imperial physicians said that because he was already somewhat weak before, this poisoning had made his condition even worse, leaving him frail for the rest of his life.
The Emperor's sympathy for the third prince was at its peak. If the evidence were handed over to him now, the Empress's two sons would never be able to clear their names.
Seeing that Jiang Xinyue was hesitating to respond, the Empress played her trump card: "As long as you agree to help me seek revenge, after I die, my family will advise the Emperor to make you the new Empress. Our entire Zhu family will be at your disposal."
That won't be necessary, as the Zhu family won't last much longer anyway.
"Hah!" The previously concerned-looking Senior Concubine Xian withdrew her hand, gently resting the Empress's limp body against the small table on the couch. Her expression turned cold: "The Zhu family? Is Your Majesty referring to the Zhu family that had someone sprinkle white phosphorus powder on the sixth prince's wet nurse's clothes? Or the Zhu family that sent an insider guard to kill Clothing Steward Xie to silence him?"
The Empress's bloodshot eyes went from vacant to shocked. The immense impact made her vision go dark, and she coughed up another mouthful of blood.
Jiang Xinyue showed no sympathy, raising an eyebrow as she looked at her: "Oh! Right, I almost forgot. The Zhu family that tried to kill my child is Your Majesty's maternal family! If it weren't for the Zhu family, how could Your Majesty have admitted guilt so readily? Then I'd like to ask, two years ago after I was sent to the Palace of Exile, when I nearly died from arsenic-laced pastries, was it also the Zhu family who sent the arsenic into the palace at Your Majesty's request?"
"You... you..."
The Empress tried to grab her, but Jiang Xinyue shook off her hand, taking a step back: "Your Majesty, look at those who harmed me and my child. Are any of them still around?"
Indeed...
Those who had harmed her, those who harbored ill intentions towards her, except for Consort De, Consort Yu, and the Empress, had all disappeared in the tumultuous harem.
And of the three remaining, Consort Yu had been demoted from the ranks of the four consorts, Consort De's son was incapacitated, and she, the Empress, held the title in name only and was now about to die.
This...
Was everything within Jiang Xinyue's calculations?
A chill ran from the soles of her feet to the top of her head. The Empress pointed a trembling finger at Jiang Xinyue: "You... when did you find out?"
"The moment I saw Jiang Yuan bringing pastries into the Palace of Exile, I had already guessed that Your Majesty was using her to make me mistakenly believe it was Concubine Li who sent her to poison me. But I also knew that Your Majesty's intention in doing this was to make me stand up and fight against Concubine Li, so you wouldn't really take my life. Therefore, I went along with the plan, thereby gaining the Emperor's pity and... Your Majesty's guilt."
However, this cat-crying-over-a-dead-mouse false compassion, doing the deed and then trying to maintain a facade of benevolence, was something Jiang Xinyue found hard to agree with.
"Your Majesty, you didn't lose to Consort De; you lost to your own hypocrisy and greed. You wanted the Emperor's love, supreme power, and for the entire harem to serve you. You even hoped that your reputation as a virtuous and incomparable empress would spread throughout the court and beyond. Your Majesty... you're not a deity, you're just a mortal. Why did you delude yourself into thinking you could achieve the impossible?"
"If Your Majesty wanted to be a villain, you should have been more thorough. If I were in your position, I would have poisoned me to death in the Palace of Exile, rather than keeping me alive to deal with Concubine Li. Even without me, the Emperor would not have tolerated the Song family. Why did Your Majesty need to dirty your own hands by killing Concubine Li?"
The Empress's lips twitched: "You... who exactly are you? Why... even the Emperor doesn't know what I've done, how do you know so clearly?"
Is she a devil?
Jiang Xinyue laid her cards on the table: "Your Majesty, of all places to admire lotus flowers, why did you have to go to Xihuo Palace to 'accidentally' encounter Consort Jiang, provoke her relationship with Concubine Li through your words, and have her disguise herself as me to place arsenic, oleander, phosphorus powder, and cotton wool in Yanqing Palace, creating the illusion that Concubine Li was plotting against the imperial offspring? Sending Xia He away was to make it convenient for Consort Jiang to kill with incense, wasn't it?"
Jiang Yuan was the daughter of the Minister of Personnel. Among the six ministries, it was said since ancient times that Personnel was noble, Revenue was rich, Rites was poor, War was martial, Justice was strict, and Works was lowly.
This was because the Ministry of Personnel was in charge of appointing and dismissing all civil officials throughout the Great Yan Dynasty, and many sought to curry favor with the Jiang family.
Jiang Yuan's mother came from a scholarly family and was most skilled at making incense even before she was married. Naturally, Jiang Yuan inherited her mother's talent and was quite accomplished in incense making.
The Zhu family had given the Jiang family a sample of "Beauty's Incense" raw material, which contained the highly toxic poinsettia flower.
The Jiang family then used their connections to have it transported into the palace and given to Jiang Yuan to make the incense.
During the brief interval when Xia He was away, Jiang Yuan lit the Beauty's Incense. The special feature of this incense was that its evaporating fragrance could combine with a person's natural scent, becoming like a body fragrance, killing silently and imperceptibly.
Moreover, those killed by Beauty's Incense would appear extremely beautiful, at the peak of their beauty, leading people to believe that the person who inhaled the fragrance had committed suicide.
Dying in her most beautiful state, making the Emperor remember her for a lifetime – this was very much in line with Concubine Li's character.
But how did Jiang Xinyue know all this?
And in such detail.
It was as if she had witnessed it with her own eyes!
"Your Majesty seems very surprised?"
In the room, apart from the Empress's rapid, chaotic breathing, only Jiang Xinyue's voice could be heard: "What's there to be surprised about? When Consort Jiang brought the poisoned pastries to harm me, she used laxatives, but it was Your Majesty who had a palace maid replace it with arsenic. This led to Consort Jiang being demoted to a palace maid and suffering greatly in the Palace of Exile. In the past, I was just a lowly Noble Lady, always being mocked and bullied by Consort Jiang. Your Majesty... can you guess why I didn't take her life in the Palace of Exile?"
After a long silence, the Empress's calm voice carried a sense of defeat: "From the very beginning, you knew it was me. You told Consort Jiang that I had made her a scapegoat. On the surface, Consort Jiang acted against Concubine Li under my coercion, but in reality, she wouldn't have spared Concubine Li anyway, and I... I couldn't escape either."
Jiang Xinyue nodded: "When Noble Consort Ye used witchcraft to harm me, Your Majesty became irritable and quick to anger due to a change in your incense. Your Majesty... the one who switched your incense wasn't Noble Consort Ye, but Consort Jiang."
"How is that possible?"
The Empress shook her head: "Since Consort Jiang left the Palace of Exile, you two haven't even met alone. How could you possibly coordinate so perfectly?"
