When Zhao Hua heard Consort Hui's verbal abuse calling her out by name, she loosened her grip on Xiao Jingheng's sleeve slightly, and her eyes and brows were even more filled with astonishment.
"Your Majesty?"
Xiao Jingheng held her hand in return, just about to comfort her, when he saw Jiang Deshun rush in in a hurry, wiping sweat and saying:
"Your Majesty, Consort Hui is making a big fuss outside, you see..."
Xiao Jingheng's expression instantly turned as cold as ice in the depth of winter, and he said: "Let her in."
As soon as Consort Hui entered, she wanted to pounce at Zhao Hua.
Fortunately, Xiao Fuzi, Jiang Deshun and the others worked together to stop her, so she couldn't get close.
Even so, in front of Xiao Jingheng, she still clamored:
"Song Zhao! You slut! It was you who caused me to miscarry, it was you who killed the Emperor's son with your own hands!"
She hated through gritted teeth, every word seemed to pop out from between her teeth, soaked in creepy hatred.
Xiao Fuzi heard her unreasonable words and quickly admonished solemnly:
"Consort Hui, watch your words! That day, how you miscarried your own child, how you went mad with fear and caused the premature labor of the Empress, we all witnessed it."
Facing Consort Hui's accusations, Zhao Hua was even more shocked and puzzled. She shook her head incomprehensibly:
"Why does my sister say such things?"
"Bitch!" Consort Hui lost her mind. Even though she was stopped by others, she still tried hard to crane her neck covered in wrinkles towards Zhao Hua. The green veins on her neck throbbed and bulged, pounding and jumping.
"I miscarried my own child? Zhao Song, can you really tell lies with your eyes wide open! Why would I miscarry my own child? Not to mention it was a healthy prince!"
"What if you thought it was a princess?"
Xiao Jingheng's icy cold sentence was like pouring a basin of cold water over Consort Hui's head.
Consort Hui was taken aback, "What does Your Majesty mean?"
Xiao Jingheng didn't even look at her. His tone was extremely cold:
"The Imperial Physician Guo added an ingredient to your sitz bath medicine to change your pulse condition and make it look like a female fetus pulse. That's why all the imperial doctors who took your pulse, including Imperial Physician Zhang, said this pregnancy of yours was a girl. "
It was like deafening rolling thunder roaring in her ears, making Consort Hui's scalp tingle.
"So it was Your Majesty's doing?"
Consort Hui muttered while swaying her frail body, "You actually did this? Why?"
"You should ask yourself why," Xiao Jingheng countered evasively with a light tone.
Consort Hui was stunned for a moment, then quickly regained her composure and had another outburst. She didn't stop until Zhao Hua said:
"No matter whether this child was a boy or a girl, I would never hurt my own child! Did Zhao Song beat and caused Consort Hui to miscarry her child right in front of His Majesty just because she has the merit of giving birth to the heir?"
The more she spoke, the uglier Xiao Jingheng's face became.
Seeing that things were about to get out of control, Jiang Deshun hurriedly advised Consort Hui from the side:
"Consort Hui, you are unwell after your miscarriage. Please go back."
After speaking, he pulled Consort Hui's arm, trying to drag her out.
But Consort Hui struggled desperately like a dying trapped beast, suddenly exerting considerable strength to push Jiang Deshun away.
"Don't touch me!"
Jiang Deshun had no choice but to say helplessly: "Consort Hui...His Majesty has already investigated this matter clearly. The one who beat and caused you to miscarry was a curtain rod. That thing is long and thin. If you use force to whip with it, it will definitely leave bruises on the tiger's mouth. The Empress's tiger mouth has no bruises, but your right tiger mouth has a ..."
Consort Hui looked down at her palm.
When she saw a long, thin bruise on her right tiger mouth, she couldn't help but stare with widened eyes, mumbling "impossible" repeatedly.
At almost the same time, Zhao Hua also spread open her palm.
There was no anomaly detected on her left hand, but there were some healed abrasions on her right hand.
Consort Hui also saw it and immediately yelled loudly:
"How do you explain the wound on your right hand!?"
Zhao Hua looked at Consort Hui puzzledly: "Don't you know in your heart where my wound came from?"
She was extremely disappointed, holding back tears and turning her face away, unwilling to say another word to Consort Hui.
Yun Shan couldn't bear to see his mistress wronged, and was not polite to question Consort Hui either:
"If you hadn't suddenly had an episode, grabbed the curtain rod and whacked your own abdomen, how could the Empress have rushed over to stop you? How could she have been accidentally injured by the curtain rod? How could she have gone into premature labor and almost died..."
Consort Hui yelled hoarsely: "You distort the truth! It was obviously..."
"Consort Hui!" Jiang Deshun interrupted loudly, cutting off Consort Hui's words, "The doctors also saw your abdominal injuries. The wound goes from upper left to lower right. If someone else had hit you, they must have stood in front of you with the rod in their left hand. Even if the Empress has wounds on her hands, it is on her right hand. How could she have..."
"Impossible! It was her! She planned it from the very beginning! Your Majesty! All this is..."
"Planned?" Xiao Jingheng could not conceal his anger. He stared at Consort Hui with extreme disgust:
"Did We ask the consorts from the six palaces who came to greet the Empress that day? They all said that after the Empress let them leave, it was you who insisted on staying behind, saying that you had something to tell the Empress. You say the Empress planned it, could she have foreseen that you would voluntarily stay behind and take the opportunity to arrange all this?"
Consort Hui paled with fright.
Looking at the now tearful Zhao Hua, it took her a moment to react.
In a moment of carelessness, she had completely fallen into the trap set by Zhao Hua.
After Consort Hui regained her senses, she suddenly knelt down and crawled to Xiao Jingheng's feet, clung to his clothes tightly, and pleaded desperately:
"Your Majesty, you can't just believe the bitch! Song Zhao never lost her memory at all, she's just pretending! She's full of schemes, definitely not as simple as Your Majesty thinks..."
"Watch your mouth!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Xiao Jingheng gave Consort Hui a harsh slap in the face.
It made Consort Hui collapse limply on the ground, half of her face numb.
"You say Zhao Song wanted to harm your child. Let me ask you, what was her purpose in doing so? Even if you gave birth to a boy, could he be more valuable than the heir borne by the Empress?"
Zhao Hua was protected behind Xiao Jingheng. She didn't speak at all throughout the whole time, only crying grievously.
At this point, Consort Hui was also dumbstruck for a moment, unable to utter a word.
On the surface, Zhao Hua had no motive at all to harm her.
She could only ask in return: "Then I dare to ask Your Majesty why I would beat and miscarry my own child!?"
Hearing this, Xiao Jingheng's already gloomy face turned livid instantly.
He angrily pointed at Consort Hui and shouted furiously:
"Right after Prince Qi discovered that We were investigating her, you miscarried immediately. And you still dare to ask why!?"
His words seemed to imply that he knew about some shady connection between Consort Hui and Prince Qi.
This made Consort Hui's heart skip a beat instantly, and her eyes also flickered obviously.
These unusual reactions did not escape Xiao Jingheng's eyes. It was clearly Consort Hui behaving guiltily.
Thus, his speculation was even more confirmed.
Hearing him cursing loudly:
"Bitch! You did such a shameless thing yourself yet still clamored and falsely accused the Empress's reputation here! Jiang Deshun, send Consort Hui to solitary confinement and pass on my order to immediately arrest Prince Qi's entire household and throw them into the heavenly prison to await sentencing!"
