Chapter 139: Evil Causes and Bitter Consequences

For a moment, all eyes in the hall fell on Liang Yao.

Empress Cui asked, "How is Pei Zhaoyi's maid, Yunshu?"

Liang Yao bowed and replied, "When he was found, he was unconscious in the nearby palace maid's room. The imperial physician gave him acupuncture, and he is now conscious. But..."

Empress Cui said, "Just tell me, Chief Steward Liang."

Liang Yao sighed, "As soon as he woke up, he went crazy and rushed to Pei Zhaoyi's bedside, staying by her side all the time, crying non-stop, and refusing to listen to anyone's advice."

Everyone was silent.

After a while, Empress Cui sighed, "This Yunshu is a loyal palace maid."

The concubines below echoed twice,

"Pei Zhaoyi's maid is pretty good."

"Yes, yes."

“…”

Xie Chen raised his gloomy brows and stopped the concubines from talking: "Ask her to come over and tell her that I want to question her so that I can make a decision for Pei Zhaoyi."

Liang Yao turned and left: "Yes."

After a while, he entered the hall again.

He was not the only one entering the hall. A thin figure followed behind him.

Looking closely, it was Yunshu.

Yun Shu's eyes were red and swollen, probably from crying. She didn't look around when she entered, but knelt directly in the center of the hall.

"This servant greets the Emperor, the Empress, and all the masters."

Xie Chen looked at her steadily and asked, "Do you still remember what happened in Linde Hall earlier?"

Yun Shu recalled the scene in his mind and told it in detail.

"At that time, a young palace maid named Fangfei wet the Empress's clothes, so Fangfei and I helped the Empress to Linde Hall to change clothes."

"When we arrived at the inner bedroom of Linde Palace, it was cold inside, so Fangfei suggested to me that we move the charcoal basket from the warm room to the inner bedroom. I was afraid that Your Majesty would catch a cold, so I agreed to this suggestion."

"When we arrived at the warm room, Fangfei first took the opportunity to exchange a few words with me. Then, when I was not prepared and my guard was down, she covered my mouth and nose with a handkerchief."

"I don't know what kind of filth was soaked into her handkerchief. When I smelled the fragrance, my whole body went limp, I couldn't utter a word, and my consciousness gradually faded."

After hearing this, Empress Cui looked quite serious: "So, you don't know what happened later?"

This at most completes the story.

As to who is responsible for this matter, we have to interrogate the guards guarding the palace gate.

Yun Shu straightened up and wiped her tears with her sleeve.

"I don't know what happened afterwards, but I do know something else."

"Perhaps it was the maid Fangfei's first time using the drug, and she wasn't very skilled. She didn't hold me captive for long, and when she saw me fall to the ground, she gave up. What she didn't expect was that I was still somewhat conscious at that time."

"Before I passed out, a guard entered the palace and conspired with Fangfei. Although I couldn't hear most of what they said, there was one sentence I heard clearly and remembered it by heart."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone immediately realized that these words might be the key!

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became extremely tense. Everyone was on high alert and almost dared not breathe.

Empress Cui hurriedly asked, "What do you remember?"

Yun Shu walked around the palace with tears in her eyes, and finally looked at a figure sitting in the front among the concubines.

She said word by word, "Please rest assured, Empress Zhaorong."

One word can cause a huge uproar.

The position of Zhaorong is one of the nine concubines, which is very special.

Unlike the lower-ranking concubines, beauties, and talented women, there are many of them.

There has always been only one concubine in the palace who was called Empress Zhaorong.

That is Lin Zhaorong.

After the uproar, the concubines all looked at Lin Zhaorong in disbelief.

Only the emperor and empress remained relatively calm, but their expressions did not look very good.

When Lin Zhaorong saw Yun Shu staring at her, she had a bad premonition, but she didn't expect that this premonition would come true.

She suddenly stood up, pointed at Yun Shu and shouted angrily, "How dare you, a mere palace maid, bring such nonsense upon me? You're truly fearless!"

The sense of oppression brought by the main concubine was so strong that Yun Shu's hands and feet trembled uncontrollably. She didn't want to show her weakness, so she half sat on the ground, gritting her teeth and confronting Lin Zhaorong, her words sonorous.

"What this slave said is the truth. As long as the emperor can give our queen justice, this slave is willing to die!"

A trace of distortion flashed across Lin Zhaorong's beautiful face, her chest heaving violently, and she pointed at Yun Shu and scolded,

"Just now, I was helping your master identify the palace maids. My kindness has been wasted!"

"Now that you're talking like this, how can I know that you and your servant are collaborating to frame me?"

After saying this, Lin Zhaorong knelt before the emperor and empress, crying bitterly.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, what this maid said cannot be verified, so it is simply unbelievable! I have been falsely accused, and it is truly unjust. Please, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please help me!"

The emperor and empress glanced at each other inadvertently.

There was a precedent for Lin Zhaorong framing Pei Tingyue, but the two of them just didn't make it public.

This time, it is possible that she is unwilling to give up and chooses to take action again.

Xie Chen lowered his eyes, pondering what Yun Shu and Lin Zhaorong said.

Empress Cui looked at Lin Zhaorong deeply and remained silent.

The Emperor and Empress remained silent. One of the concubines whispered, "When Pei Zhaoyi first gained favor and was still Baolin, Lin Zhaorong frequently quarreled with her. I heard that Lin Zhaorong once punished Pei Zhaoyi by making her copy a Buddhist scripture a hundred times within three days."

"I also remember that when Pei Zhaoyi was just beginning to gain favor, when she paid her respects to the Empress every day, Lin Zhaorong would always ridicule and mock Pei Zhaoyi, and she wouldn't stop until she made her cry."

As more and more people spoke, the voices gradually grew louder, with a strong sense of criticism.

"It seems that Lin Zhaorong has every motive to frame Pei Zhaoyi."

"Yes, Lin Zhaorong used her high position to bully Pei Zhaoyi before, and now she has to pay her respects to Pei Zhaoyi in return. How can she be willing to swallow this?"

"Pei Zhaoyi is pregnant now, and her belly is very precious. If she gives birth to a prince, won't he steal the spotlight from the eldest prince? How could Lin Zhaorong agree to that? She will definitely take the initiative."

On weekdays, in order to disguise her mean and brainless nature, Lin Zhaorong bullied many concubines of lower rank.

These concubines usually swallow their anger and dare not say anything, but now that they have the chance, how could they let her go?

The bullied concubines argued with each other, dragging Lin Zhaorong into a deeper quagmire.

The boomerang of the past finally fell on Lin Zhaorong.

The evil seeds she sowed reaped evil fruits.

Lin Zhaorong almost bit her teeth off as she watched the concubines taking advantage of her misfortune.

In the past, she was the most sharp-tongued, but today she couldn't refute it.

Because she knew very well that she could not refute these words.

Why can't you refute it?

Because refuting them is meaningless and will only lead to self-affirmation.

Since she didn't do it, she doesn't need to prove it.

She wants to break free.

After years of struggling in the palace, Lin Zhaorong was able to give birth to the emperor's eldest son and raise him up. Apart from pretending to be crazy and stupid, she also had some abilities.

At this moment, she took a deep breath and calmed down. "If there is evidence, I will plead guilty. If it is just this maid's words, I will deny it."

What this means is that I will only plead guilty if you can produce substantial evidence. If no one can prove it, I will not plead guilty.