Little did she know how that girl Yunfang had slandered her in front of the Emperor. An Mama was uneasy and walked slowly all the way to Yanbo Zhishuang Palace. An Mama bowed and greeted the Emperor.

Normally, Hongli wouldn't have bothered with it, but considering what Granny An had done in recent days, he reprimanded her sternly.

Kneel down!

The emperor's expression was solemn, and his voice was like thunder, making Granny An's heart tremble. Her legs went weak, and she knelt down.

"But I don't know what I did wrong to anger His Majesty so much?"

"As a senior member of the palace, you should know the palace rules better than anyone else, yet you dared to injure Consort Chun's maid! This is utterly lawless!" Hongli rebuked her sternly, enumerating her crimes. Granny An, of course, denied everything, arguing:

"That was Yunfang's own accidental fall, it has nothing to do with me, Your Majesty, you cannot believe Yunfang's one-sided story!"

Yunfang remained calm and said that there were several palace maids and eunuchs around at the time, who could all testify.

These people were all Consort Chun's people, so they naturally sided with Consort Chun and Yunfang. They all pointed the finger at Granny An, saying that she had pulled and tore at Yunfang.

With so many witnesses, no matter how much Granny An denied it, no one believed her. Hongli immediately ordered her to be slapped, and let Yunfang beat her to get revenge.

Yunfang was too lazy to do it herself, after all, hitting someone would hurt her hands. Li Yu guessed what his wife was thinking, so he offered to do it for her.

In the past, when the emperor ordered him to slap others, he would usually hold back. But this time was different. Li Yu would never let anyone who dared to bully his wife get away with it!

He mustered all his strength and slapped her hard across the face!

Granny An groaned in pain, her brows furrowed, looking as if she were in great agony.

Su Yushan generally didn't want to make things difficult for palace servants, after all, they were all following their masters' orders and it wasn't easy for them. But this Granny An was different. She was obviously bullying others by taking advantage of her age and repeatedly causing her trouble. Now that Granny An had been slapped, it could only be said that she had only herself to blame and no one else was to blame.

Granny An was used to being respected and had not been punished like this for many years. In her old age, she was punished by the emperor. She felt ashamed but dared not resist. She silently gritted her teeth and endured the pain and humiliation.

Even though it was only ten slaps, Li Yu hit hard, and blood was already flowing from the corner of her lips after she finished.

Taking advantage of the situation, Hongli ordered, "Granny An has committed insubordination and offended Consort Chun. She shall be expelled from the Summer Palace immediately and shall never be allowed to enter the palace again!"

These words struck Granny An like a bolt from the blue! All she did was push Yunfang! Was she really going to be kicked out? What kind of logic was that?

Startled, Granny An let out a wail and pleaded:

"Your Majesty, I know I was wrong. I will never do it again. I will be careful with my words and actions from now on. Please do not send me out of the palace. I have spent most of my life in the palace and have no family left outside. If I leave the palace, I don't know how I will survive!"

Based solely on her crimes today, it is indeed not enough to warrant expelling her from the palace. However, Granny An's mistake lies in repeatedly causing Yu Shan distress.

Hongli would not show mercy to anyone who offended Yushan, and with such an incident today, he would certainly make a big deal out of it and would not let her off easily!

When the guards entered and tried to take her away, Granny An, having nowhere else to turn, started throwing a tantrum, collapsing to the ground and refusing to get up.

"How dare you be so presumptuous before the Emperor?" Li Yu shouted, signaling two guards to grab her arms and drag her out.

Granny An was still pleading for mercy, which was very noisy. Hongli was extremely annoyed. "You don't want to leave? Fine, I'll execute you on the spot. Then you can have what you want: to be a person of the palace in life and a ghost of the palace in death."

The Emperor had already spoken, and the guards immediately drew their swords. Granny An was terrified; she never expected things to escalate to this point!

Is she really going to die here today?

Just as she was in despair, a loud shout rang out from outside the palace: "The Empress Dowager has arrived!"

The Empress Dowager? Su Yushan was suspicious. It was already late. What was the Empress Dowager doing here all of a sudden? Could it be because of Granny An?

Before Su Yushan could figure it out, the Empress Dowager had already entered the hall, her face solemn.

"What is the emperor doing? Slaughtering people here in the middle of the night?"

Su Yushan sighed inwardly, realizing she hadn't guessed wrong. The Empress Dowager was indeed after Granny An, but how did she know that Granny An was in trouble? Who had sent the message?

In reality, Granny An was worried that Consort Chun would use her position to settle personal scores and deal with her, so before leaving, she specifically instructed the cook to go to Songhezhai to inform the Empress Dowager. However, it was already night, and she was unsure whether the Empress Dowager had already retired for the night or would still care about her.

To her surprise, the Empress Dowager arrived just in time for the crisis!

Granny An, as if grasping at a straw, knelt before the Empress Dowager and pleaded tearfully:

"Your Majesty, please save me! I don't want to leave the palace! Please plead with the Emperor on my behalf!"

What good are the Empress Dowager's pleas? Does she really think Hongli would care?

"No one can plead for you. You are arrogant and have offended your master. You have no right to stay in the palace. You must either atone with your death or leave the palace. There is no third way!"

On the way here, the Empress Dowager had already learned the ins and outs of the matter.

“Your Majesty, in this matter, Granny An was indeed at fault, but Yunfang was not seriously injured. Besides, Granny An has already been slapped and received her due punishment. You don’t need to be so harsh on her. Hand her over to me to deal with, and I will teach her a lesson.”

Should he hand it over to the Empress Dowager? He feared she would only give him a token punishment and wouldn't actually do anything serious, which is why Hongli politely declined.

“She is the Empress Dowager’s person. She has committed a crime. The Empress Dowager should avoid suspicion and should not interfere.”

"Rewards and punishments are all governed by rules. She merely pushed a palace maid; is it really necessary for her to atone with her death? The Emperor's actions seem somewhat like using this as an excuse to escalate the situation." After saying this coldly, the Empress Dowager turned her gaze to Su Yushan, deliberately seeking her opinion.

"Consort Chun, what do you think should be done with Granny An?"

Su Yushan didn't want to get involved in these matters, so she kept quiet. But the Empress Dowager suddenly asked her, clearly setting a trap for her!

The Empress Dowager's intention was all too clear. If she said to punish her lightly, it would seem to be letting Granny An off easy. If she said to punish her severely, it would be openly defying the Empress Dowager.

How to answer that is the question.