"Smack!"
Jiang Xinyue didn't care whether Consort Yu was weak or not; she directly slapped her across the face: "If Consort Yu's mind isn't clear, I can help you wake up. You don't need to thank me."
"You!"
Consort Yu reached out to pull the Xuanwu Emperor's hand: "Your Majesty! Look at her! She dares to lay hands on me right in front of you. If you weren't here, she..."
"You're right. If the Emperor weren't here, I would have Jiang Chuan slap your face hard. Now, I've only given you a slap. You should kneel down and thank me."
Her expression seemed to say: How can you be so ignorant?
The Emperor pulled his hand back from Consort Yu, coughed lightly, and indulged Jiang Xinyue's "arrogance."
He waved his hand, and a eunuch bound in ropes was pushed in, kneeling on the ground, looking up at the Empress Dowager in a disheveled manner.
"Isn't this Eunuch Quan from the Empress Dowager's palace?"
Pei Wu said this and then covered her mouth, looking like she had said something wrong, glancing guiltily at the Empress Dowager with her eyes.
Consort Yu was dumbfounded. So, the one who poisoned was the Empress Dowager?
"Empress Dowager! Empress Dowager, save me!"
Eunuch Quan struggled desperately, trying to get to the Empress Dowager: "Empress Dowager, I put two conflicting spices into Senior Concubine Xian's teacup and incense burner. I had just stepped out when Eunuch Tang caught me. Empress Dowager... they knew all along, you..."
"Shut your mouth!"
The Empress Dowager shouted harshly: "Who told you to slander me here with such lies? I never ordered anyone to do such a thing."
Eunuch Quan's face was filled with despair, he said urgently: "Empress Dowager, how can you say that? I've served you for fifteen years, I've done so many evil things for you. Now that I'm caught, you disown me, you don't save me. You can't do this! The spices you gave me, Granny Gui also has a copy. It was you who said... if one attempt doesn't succeed, we can try again. We must make Senior Concubine Xian go mad and lose her dignity at the Empress's funeral, so you can take back the Phoenix Seal, isn't that right?"
"Nonsense, all nonsense!"
The Empress Dowager glared at Eunuch Quan, then turned to the Xuanwu Emperor: "Are you just going to stand there and let a dog of a slave slander your own mother?"
The Emperor stood by Jiang Xinyue's side: "Whether it's slander or not, we'll find out after investigating."
Taihe Hall was full of ministers, and in no time, what happened inside spread out.
Even the Empress Dowager, when such a heartless act was brought to light, the ministers wouldn't pretend they didn't know.
Especially since this was the Empress's mourning hall.
The Empress Dowager causing trouble here meant she didn't respect the Empress, the mother of the nation, at all.
To disrespect the Empress in this way was to also disrespect the Emperor and the entire court.
"Wang Dequan, bring Consort Rong in."
Consort Rong?
Isn't Consort Rong in the Investigative Bureau?
The Empress Dowager suddenly turned to look at Pei Wu, who looked innocent, leaving the Empress Dowager confused.
Didn't Pei Wu say Consort Rong had a way to escape, and she didn't need to save her because she was plotting against Senior Concubine Xian?
Consort Rong's head was no longer adorned with luxurious hairpins, her clothes were simple and plain. As the mastermind behind the fire that "killed" the Empress, her appearance caused a stir.
"How dare she come? Didn't the Emperor execute her?"
"Is there more to this? Why does the atmosphere feel so strange?"
"Let's just watch. It doesn't concern us anyway."
"Why isn't my aunt happy to see me?"
Consort Rong sneered: "Are you afraid I'll reveal all the dirty things you've done and that you'll lose your position as Empress Dowager?"
"You... how can you also be talking nonsense?"
Consort Rong laughed loudly: "Crazy? Who in this world is crazier than my aunt? You kept telling my sister and me that everything we did was for the Wu Family, to save our brother and mother. But why didn't you tell us that our mother died of illness two years ago? You used us to eliminate all the concubines in the palace who stood in your way of power. You said you wanted to support my sister and me to become Empress, but in reality, you just wanted us to be your puppets, to be the real master of the harem."
Before the Empress Dowager had a chance to defend herself, Consort Rong continued: "Oh! No... my aunt's ambition isn't just to be the master of the harem. You also wanted my sister and me to give birth to imperial offspring, and then find a way to depose the Emperor, or... have me poison the Emperor, sending him to meet the Late Emperor, so you could support a young child to ascend the throne and become the empress dowager who rules from behind the curtain."
"You... you..."
The Empress Dowager clutched her chest, her finger trembling as she pointed at Consort Rong, so angry that she sat down on the chair, her breathing becoming rapid.
Consort Rong knew too many of her secrets: "When Senior Concubine Xian was pregnant, my aunt also arranged for someone to put a large amount of safflower in her soup, wanting her to miscarry. When Senior Concubine Xian discovered it, you used the dog in Hexi Palace, planting a dog flea with deadly poison on it. As soon as Senior Concubine Xian held the dog, she would miscarry and die."
Unfortunately, the Empress Dowager's wave after wave of attacks failed to break through the impregnable Hexi Palace, and Senior Concubine Xian escaped unscathed, giving birth to a healthy sixth prince.
"On the night of the sixth prince's full moon, several of the Empress Dowager's glass ornaments from overseas were smashed in Cining Palace. The Empress Dowager cursed in her bedroom that the sixth prince would die like Consort Shu's child, deformed and prematurely. I saw and heard all this with my own eyes and ears. Empress Dowager, do you dare to swear to heaven that you didn't do these things?"
She did!
All these were the Empress Dowager's deeds!
She not only cursed the child born to Jiang Xinyue, but any child born to concubines who were not her people, she wished they would die early. If it wasn't a concubine under her control who was pregnant, she would rather the Emperor had no descendants.
"You don't dare to swear?"
Consort Rong raised her hand: "You don't dare, but I do! You once wanted to kill the Empress's eldest and second princes, but you didn't get the chance, and they were killed by someone else. The reason you are so ruthless to the Emperor's princes, to your own grandsons, is because..."
"Enough!"
The Empress Dowager rushed to Consort Rong, gripping her neck tightly: "Are you crazy? Do you want to die and drag me down with you?"
The Xuanwu Emperor's face was cold: "Wang Dequan, pull the Empress Dowager away."
"Emperor, are you really going to believe her? She's talking nonsense, don't believe her."
With Wang Dequan's help, Consort Rong broke free from the Empress Dowager's chokehold, laughing maniacally: "The Empress Dowager is cold to the Emperor, ruthless to the princes, because... because she is not the Emperor's biological mother! When the Empress Dowager gave birth, it was a princess, whom she drowned in a bathtub. The Emperor is the son born to Noble Consort Jing, the Late Emperor's most beloved consort, whom the Empress Dowager swapped with the princess's body, leading to Noble Consort Jing's death from blood loss due to shock."
What?
Everyone widened their eyes in shock, looking at the Empress Dowager.
