Long Yi ordered: "Search the Empress Dowager's bedroom. Search all the rooms of the master and servants, especially for any poisons."
Pang Gaozhuo took the lead and bowed, "Yes, Your Majesty."
After saying that, he raised his hand and led the team to each room.
While waiting for the results of the search, the Empress Dowager spoke up, "Concubine Ling's ability to feign madness and stupidity is truly exceptional. She even managed to trick me."
Concubine Ling stood up and bowed her head, saying, "I beg the Empress Dowager to forgive me. If I hadn't pretended to be crazy, I would not be alive today."
"You always say that you love the late emperor. When the late emperor passed away, why didn't you follow him?" the empress dowager asked again.
"Loving him is one thing, but whether to go with him is another." Concubine Ling said neither humbly nor arrogantly.
The Empress Dowager smiled and said, "The late Emperor once said he liked you. If he liked you, why didn't he rescue you from the cold palace? Does Concubine Ling know why?"
"Did he really tell you that he liked me?" Concubine Ling asked excitedly.
The Empress Dowager nodded. "Yes, I have said it more than once. Once after the selection had begun, and once after the late Emperor ascended the throne. Unfortunately, it was too late the first time. By then, you had already been favored by the old Emperor."
As a mother, she knew it was not easy for her son to fall in love with a woman.
Even if he wanted to help her at that time, it would be useless because the old emperor had taken a fancy to Concubine Ling, who was still a concubine at that time.
What's more, the late emperor, who was the eldest son at that time, had to do everything well if he wanted to obtain the throne.
How dare I let others catch me in my children’s love affairs?
Concubine Ling then replied, "The late emperor didn't come to the cold palace to save me. Even after I was in the cold palace for many years, he never came to see me once. That's because I know that as an emperor, he has heavy responsibilities and how can he be swayed by his children's personal feelings? Moreover, our status means that we can't be together no matter what."
The Empress Dowager sighed, "What a twist of fate."
Seeing this, Concubine Ling was puzzled: "Empress Dowager, what do you mean by this?"
"The late emperor ascended the throne thanks to the contributions of the royal family. The one who wanted you dead back then was not me, nor could it have been the late emperor."
"So it's the royal family, because I brought disgrace to the royal family?"
The Empress Dowager nodded. "At that time, there were two ways to save you. One was to order you out of the palace to become a nun and pray for Dajing. The other was to banish you to the cold palace. If you leave the palace to become a nun, you will be far away from him. The late emperor once told me that as long as you are in the palace, as long as you are close to him, he will be at peace. So I banished you to the cold palace. The late emperor never visited you, but you are indeed in his heart."
Upon hearing this, Concubine Ling burst into tears, sat down again, and leaned her head on Concubine Yun's shoulder: "Sister Yun, the late emperor had me in his heart."
"He has you. He has you in his heart." Concubine Yun patted her shoulder. "It would have been great if you two had met earlier."
"Life is full of twists and turns, fate is full of twists and turns." Concubine Ling stood up and bowed to the Empress Dowager. "Thank you for your care over the years. I thought it was you..."
"It's all in the past." The Empress Dowager smiled and sighed again. "The late Emperor was not a happy emperor, and many things were restricted by others. As an emperor, he had his own priorities and the country to consider. He should always take the welfare of the people as his guiding principle."
As she spoke, the Empress Dowager turned her gaze towards Long Yi.
"Now that you are the new emperor, the heavy responsibility of the country falls on your shoulders."
"I know you want to get to the bottom of what happened back then, so let's get to the bottom of it."
"No matter how small your own affairs are, as a member of the royal family, they are also a big deal for the people. Once you have clarified the royal affairs, you can focus on fulfilling your duties as the emperor."
Long Yi stood up and bowed: "I will follow my mother's instructions!"
The Empress Dowager hummed, then spoke frankly, "The late emperor had no children. I, being petty, had once thought that the late emperor and Shu Yun were both my children, born of the same mother. Therefore, Shu Yun's child would be the closest bloodline to the late emperor. Chi An's child has the imperial surname, making him a descendant of the royal family. Now, I've thought it through. The kingdom of Dajing belongs to the Long family, so naturally, a descendant of the Long family must inherit it. Whoever inherits our lineage's kingdom cannot allow it to be snatched away by a branch of the royal family."
"The Emperor."
The Queen Mother raised her hand.
Long Yi went over and held her hand tightly: "Mother."
"I trust you."
"It is my honor to have the trust of my mother."
"Yes." The Empress Dowager nodded. "You also know that I was poisoned earlier. Since we are searching for poison today, let the Imperial Guards search as well."
"yes."
Long Yi then ordered Pang Gaozhuo to search more carefully.
When the Empress Dowager saw this, she cursed the Empress Dowager in her heart.
The old woman said so much just to bring up this point. She was being frank.
It's because Long Yi has ascended the throne as emperor, and the old woman can't change the situation, so she only says nice things at this moment.
I only dared to say these words in my heart and never out loud.
Once it is exported, the crime is confirmed.
Thinking of this, he looked at Gu Zhong with a threatening look.
Gu Zhong understood, knelt down and kowtowed, gritting his teeth and admitting, "Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, it was this old slave who pretended to be a eunuch and came to the Empress Dowager's side. During the time we spent together day and night, this old slave fell deeply in love with her. All of this was done by this old slave alone, and has nothing to do with the Empress Dowager."
"Did you do all this by yourself?" Yan Funing shook her head.
"Yes, it was done by this old servant alone." Gu Zhong kowtowed and continued, "To win the favor of the Empress Dowager, I thought that she loved her niece, so I came up with a plan to get rid of the Empress, who was then the Princess of Jin, to make room for Empress Ling. Since the Emperor, then the Princess of Jin, was very fond of the Empress, who was then the Princess of Jin, I devised a plan to poison her."
"It is indeed as the princess said. The poison did not take effect immediately, so I chose to set fire."
"Actually, I originally wanted to stab you."
"When I entered the courtyard with a knife, I unexpectedly saw the Emperor and the Empress arguing. The Emperor then flicked out a lamp and started a fire. Although the fire was put out, it gave me an idea: arson is less silent than stabbing, and there will be no trace of it afterwards."
"No!" Yan Funing shouted sharply, "Stabbing is not what you originally thought."
Gu Zhong's eyes narrowed, and he lowered his eyes to hide his panic: "I dare not lie again."
"What you're saying right now is a mixture of truth and lies," Yan Funing said word by word. "The Empress Dowager ordered you to poison and set the fire. Before setting the fire, you had already drugged my father and mother."
"After arguing with my father, my mother became so angry that her blood flowed too quickly and she passed out prematurely."
"The emperor went out to drink to soothe himself. Because you drugged him, he woke up in a daze in the middle of the night."
"This is why the Emperor's father looked so cold when my husband saw him back then."
"Gu Zhong, you're on the verge of death, yet you're still trying to protect this vicious woman." Yan Funing pointed at the Empress Dowager. "Do you know that she's treating you like a discarded child?"
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