Chapter 557 This Time You Choose

(I had a fever yesterday and felt dizzy. I accidentally skipped a chapter when uploading orz..

Yesterday I posted chapters 555 and 557, and today I posted chapters 556 and 558. You can read them one by one according to the chapter numbers, otherwise the plot will be incoherent. I apologize to you guys!!)

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Li Yao's expression changed instantly, with shock and confusion flashing in his eyes.

"Turtle? What are you talking about...?" She asked, staring at Ju Yuanqing.

Ju Yuanqing kowtowed and said:

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine once asked me about the pulse history of the Empress when she was pregnant, so I had no choice but to tell her everything.

The Empress had a cold body and it was not easy for her to conceive. In order to have children for the royal family as soon as possible, the Empress asked the common people for a secret recipe.

It just so happened that during those years, I developed a prescription in the Imperial Hospital that could regulate women's physique that made it difficult for them to conceive.

That prescription is harmless to the fetus, but if taken for a long time it will affect the mother, accumulating a slow poison in the body. If eaten with turtle, the toxin will be immediately stimulated and no medicine can cure it. "

Yan Xiuyun nodded and said in a deep voice:

"The Queen doesn't eat fish or shrimp on weekdays, but why didn't the Imperial Hospital tell me that she took such medicine?"

Ju Yuanqing explained that, firstly, the recipe was developed by herself privately and no one else in the Imperial Hospital knew about it. Secondly, the Queen had told her not to report it, fearing that the Emperor would worry. As long as she paid attention to her diet and avoided foods like turtles, she would be fine.

Li Yao panicked:

"Your Majesty, I did add turtle soup to the salmon soup, but that was a method I learned before, and I didn't even know that the Queen couldn't touch turtles!"

She pointed at Ju Yuanqing again and gnashed her teeth:

"Tell me, did you make up this excuse that the Queen can't eat turtles to deliberately frame me!?"

Ju Yuanqing looked at Yan Xiuyun:

"Your Majesty, I left many things behind before I left the Imperial Hospital. If my medical books from that time are still there, the prescription should be sandwiched in the Treatise on Febrile Diseases. Your Majesty can send someone to search for it now!"

Yan Xiuyun immediately sent people to the Imperial Hospital to look for Ju Yuanqing's old belongings. Fortunately, those medical books were piled in a corner and were already covered with dust.

Sure enough, I found a yellowed prescription in "Treatise on Febrile Diseases", which looked to be quite old.

Other imperial doctors from the Imperial Medical Bureau studied the prescription and came to the conclusion that confirmed what Ju Yuanqing said.

The Queen really can't eat turtle.

The symptoms on the Queen's body were consistent with the collision between the turtle and the prescription, which led to poisoning in her body.

"Your Majesty, I really did not harm the Queen! They were the ones who spread rumors and slandered me!" Li Yao cried and begged Yan Xiuyun to redress her grievances.

Qin Yuwei finally spoke, and said sternly:

"Noble Concubine Rong, if you didn't intend to poison the Queen at the palace banquet, how could Imperial Doctor Ju, who had been away from the palace for many years, appear in your hands?"

Li Yao's eyes widened, and her whole body suddenly turned cold.

She seemed to finally realize something.

I was set up.

The queen's personal maid Dong Zhu also walked up to Yan Xiuyun and knelt down with tears streaming down her face.

“Your Majesty, Imperial Concubine Rong has always been at odds with the Empress. In order to bring down the Empress at the palace banquet, she even went so far as to seek out Imperial Physician Ju, who had long since left the capital.

Not only did Concubine Rong extract the secret from him about the Empress' taboo on eating soft-shelled turtles, she also forced him to fabricate old stories and slander the Empress for having an affair with Commander Xiao in order to overthrow the Crown Prince.

If Imperial Physician Ju had not revealed the truth, I'm afraid Concubine Rong would have succeeded in her evil plan and put the Empress and the Crown Prince in an irreparable situation...

I beg Your Majesty to make the decision for the Queen!"

Qin Yuwei also stood up and knelt, "Your Majesty, please make the decision for the Queen."

Seeing Qin Yuwei like this, the other concubines did not dare to stand idly by and knelt down together.

Li Yao stared at everyone blankly, opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.

He had never asked Ju Yuanqing about the Queen's dietary taboos, and he had no idea that the Queen avoided eating soft-shelled turtles.

He found Ju Yuanqing and just wanted him to admit that the Queen was pregnant with the child while His Majesty was away from Beijing.

After much effort, he finally got hold of evidence that the Queen had an affair with Xiao Yuan and gave birth to Yan Ning. He thought he could overthrow the Queen and the Crown Prince in one fell swoop.

Who knew that the queen actually died at the palace banquet, and then Ju Yuanqing turned against her...

Dong Zhu's words were a mixture of truth and falsehood, and were obviously carefully choreographed.

After she explained everything, the evidence that he had finally found seemed to be dirty water he had deliberately thrown on the Queen.

From the beginning to the end... I was tricked!

She slumped down on the ground, muttering to herself that the Queen and Xiao Yuan were having an affair, which was absolutely true.

However, Yan Xiuyun's eyes were full of disgust when he looked at her.

He coughed violently a few times, sat back in his chair, thought for a moment, and gave the order in a deep voice.

Li Yao plotted to murder the queen, and deserved death. However, considering her merit in giving birth to the royal heir, she was spared, demoted to a commoner, and banished from the palace, never to return to the capital.

As for the little prince who was just one month old, he was handed over to Concubine Qi to raise.

Zheng Changzai reminded softly: "Your Majesty, then the Crown Prince..."

The prince is still living in Li Yao's Fangmiaotai.

Yan Xiuyun looked at Qin Yuwei, and the suspicion in his eyes finally dissipated.

"The Queen instructed before her death that the Crown Prince be adopted by Concubine Qin, and I also think this is appropriate.

Concubine Qin, from now on, you are the mother of the prince. "

Qin Yuwei bowed gracefully.

"I obey your order. I will treat the Crown Prince as my own son and raise him carefully, and I will not let down your Majesty and the Queen."

The concubines behind her all showed expressions of relief to some extent, except Qi Yan'er, who looked a little ugly.

Now the throne of Queen is vacant, and the only Concubine Rong who could compete with Qin Yuwei has also fallen because of the Queen's death.

Qin Yuwei has become the mother of the prince, so the next step is...

Earlier at the palace banquet, she had thought that Imperial Concubine Rong was in favor and would soon surpass Imperial Concubine Qin, so she turned to show her favor to Li Yao. However, she was unexpectedly turned upside down in an instant and found herself in a difficult position.

What's more, he is now raising Li Yao's son. Wouldn't it be even more difficult for him to return to Qin Yuwei's camp?

Qi Yan'er felt that the future was bleak, and she even began to feel a little annoyed when looking at the little prince.

"Your Majesty! I beg you, please don't separate me from my child!"

When Li Yao saw her son being carried towards Qi Yaner, she finally broke down completely.

"Drag him away." Yan Xiuyun said in a cold voice.

Several eunuchs stepped forward and were about to drag Li Yao out, but just as they reached the door, Yan Xiuyun suddenly called them.

"Wait." Yan Xiuyun frowned, as if he was thinking about something.

After a while, he resumed:

"Don't convey my order yet. Send Concubine Rong to the Dali Temple in secret. Wait for the three courts to hold a joint trial before making a verdict."

"Your Majesty," Qin Yuwei said.

"Li Yao murdered the queen, the evidence is irrefutable, your majesty should just punish her. Family disgrace should not be made public, why do we need a joint trial by the three courts?"

Yan Xiuyun said that the Queen's death was a major event, and if it was handled privately, it would cause many rumors and speculations among the court and the people.

Only when the three courts hold a joint trial and make the results public can we demonstrate the strictness of the law and silence the public.

Qin Yuwei wanted to say something else, but Yan Xiuyun waved his hands tiredly, saying that he was tired.

Yan Xiuyun was carried back to the bedroom in a sedan chair to rest, and the concubines finally left.

Qin Yuwei stepped out of Fengyi Palace. The moon was bright and the stars were sparse, but she felt as if a huge stone weighing a thousand pounds was pressing on her heart.

Dong Lanxin set up a trap with her own body and brought down Li Yao at the cost of her life, thus saving Yan Ning.

At the same time, it also paved the way for herself in the harem.

However, there is a subtle but fatal loophole in the entire plan.

Yan Xiuyun temporarily suspended the punishment of Li Yao and sent her to the Dali Temple, which meant that Chang Yunxiao would continue the investigation.

That loophole could not have been hidden from his eyes.

If he told the truth, Li Yao would come back safe and sound, Dong Lanxin's plan would fail, and she would be in trouble.

But would Chang Yunxiao, a person who puts bottom line and principles above everything else, really help me hide all this?