The queen took the medicine and slept very soundly that night, not waking up until noon.
Jingren Palace was in chaos, with guards everywhere. The palace servants were gathered together and questioned one by one, and the courtyard was filled with helpless cries.
Guyu stood guard at the door and shouted angrily, "Are you crazy? This is the Queen's bedroom. She's still resting, and you dare to go in and check?"
The Imperial Guard, clad in armor, replied coldly, "I am following orders. Your Majesty has been murdered and is in poor health. How can I report this to you if I cannot find out?"
"Brothers, we don't intend to barge in. Miss, please go in and tell her that we will go in and check and come out soon. We will definitely not disturb the Queen."
Guyu was so angry that she burst into tears. She was not as smart as Chunfen, and she was not as favored as Chunfen in recent years. She didn't know what to do when encountering problems.
"No means no! You can't go in unless I die!"
The queen in the room felt dizzy and almost fell down. She pinched her arm hard and finally calmed down.
"Guyu, get out of the way and let them search!"
The door opened from the inside, and Guyu fell to her knees with a thud, crying even harder, "Your Majesty! You are the mother of a country. If the guards turn your room upside down, how will you cope in the future? I will go to the Queen Mother. She will never watch you being humiliated!"
The Queen sighed and helped Guyu up, "Silly girl, I'm afraid I won't have a future. Let them be."
The guards saluted the queen, then rushed in and began searching everywhere.
"Where is Chunfen? Let her come to see me." The queen had already guessed about 70% of the answer, but she still had a glimmer of hope.
"Chunfen...Sister Chunfen has been locked up. They say that Sister Chunfen plotted to murder His Majesty and has confessed. Your Majesty, how could this happen? Why did Sister Chunfen do this?"
The queen slowly closed her eyes and tears flowed silently.
It has come to this in the end. If she could be hard-hearted and send Chunfeng out of the palace earlier, nothing would have happened today.
The emperor did not punish Chunfeng on the spot. This was the face the emperor gave her. How could she save Chunfeng's life?
********
The matter was soon clarified, and the commander of the Imperial Guard went to report to His Majesty.
"Chunfen has put a drug in your majesty's tea. This drug is not poisonous, but when it comes into contact with Zhou Ling'er's fragrance, it will stimulate the medicinal properties and make people indulge in desire."
"What about the queen?" asked the emperor.
"The Empress should have nothing to do with this matter, but Chunfeng is her personal maid after all, so I can't make a definitive statement."
The Queen paced back and forth in the Imperial Study for a long time before she said, "The Imperial Guards should withdraw from Jingren Palace and just keep an eye on things from the dark. Execute Chunfeng and don't make this a public matter."
"I obey your orders."
Commander Liu immediately went to Jingren Palace. In his opinion, His Majesty had done his utmost to the Empress. If he were a suspicious person, he would have banished the Empress to the cold palace long ago.
Chunfen knelt on the ground, her face ashen. She kowtowed to the empress, "This matter was done by me alone. I have implicated Your Majesty. It is my fault. Fortunately, Your Majesty is wise. I hope Your Majesty will take care of herself in the future and not be sad for me."
How could the queen not be sad? This was the person who grew up with her. She was even closer to Chunfeng than to her parents and brothers.
"Stop! Commander Liu, I want to see the Queen Mother!" The Queen took out a knife from somewhere and put it against her neck.
"If I commit suicide here, you will also be held responsible. If you force the Empress to death, do you think you can still survive?"
"I won't make it difficult for you. I just want to see the Queen Mother once. No matter what the result is, I will accept it!"
Commander Zhou was shocked. None of the women in the harem were easy to deal with.
He did not dare to make a decision on his own, so he went to ask His Majesty for instructions. Soon the Empress Dowager arrived at Jingren Palace.
The Queen Mother waved everyone away, leaving only her and the Queen in the room.
The Queen finally put down the dagger, knelt down with a thud, and said in a sad tone, "I was momentarily bewildered and wanted Zhou Ling'er to be favored. Now that my crime has been exposed, I request to be sent to the cold palace. I hope the Queen Mother will grant this."
The Queen Mother did not sleep all night. She was worried about the Emperor and the Queen. Her heart was torn back and forth, as if it was being roasted in a frying pan.
"Ya'er, your aunt knows you well. This was definitely not your doing. You're not that stupid. His Majesty made this arrangement to protect you as the Queen, but you insisted on protecting that girl. Is it really worth it?"
The queen prostrated herself on the ground, tears streaming down her face. "Aunt, Ya'er thinks it's worth it. I'm just a concubine's daughter. My mother doesn't love me, my father doesn't love me, and my mother-in-law is unkind. Besides Chunfen, who else has been with me through all these years? I don't want her to die."
The Queen Mother sighed deeply. "Well, since you want to protect her, then give her thirty lashes and send her out of the palace. The farther away, the better."
The Queen dropped her head to the ground and cried out, "I thank the Queen Mother so much. May the Queen Mother live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years."
The Queen Mother helped the Queen to her feet, her face showing reluctance. "I chose you to enter the palace because I saw your intelligence. The Emperor is a filial son. He respects you, but he doesn't like you. You can't even compare to Liu Yan's favor, let alone the current Concubine Chun."
"Your father is a fool, always fooling around, not good at either literature or martial arts. If our Zhou family can produce a figure like Xu Junzheng, or even someone like Ji Gongming, at least he will have achieved great success and could support the Zhou family."
"But none of them could do it. The former dynasty couldn't hold on, so I could only rely on the harem, but in the end, it ruined your life. I shouldn't have taken you into the palace. If you had married an ordinary official family, with your skills, you would have had a good life."
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