Chapter 46 No Trust
Cuiwei Palace.
The Queen Mother and the other concubines were waiting in the outer hall. From the inner room came Concubine Yi's screams, which became louder and louder, making people panic.
Concubine Yi is almost six months pregnant. If something happens now, there is a high possibility that both the child and the mother will die.
Palace servants came in and out carrying basins of water. A strong smell of blood spread in the hall. The empress dowager looked haggard, and her fingers unconsciously fiddled with the Buddhist beads on her wrist.
When the imperial physician came out of the palace, the empress dowager immediately asked, "How is it?"
The imperial physician shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, when Concubine Yi fell into the water, she hit a rock in the water and suffered a severe blow to her abdomen. The child cannot be saved."
The Queen asked, "Is there anything wrong with Concubine Yi?"
The imperial physician said, "The fetus is already advanced in age. Aborting the fetus would be extremely harmful to Madam Yipin. It depends on whether she can survive these few days..."
There was silence in the hall for a moment.
When He Yanchen and Yue Li arrived, the atmosphere was a little solemn.
"Your Majesty, Concubine Yi's child could not be saved..." The Queen said with a tone of sorrow, "It was my incompetence that caused such a misunderstanding at today's banquet."
Lian Qiao helped Yue Li sit down. The woman was wearing an ordinary palace dress, and her black hair was tied up with a hairpin. The few strands of black hair that hung down were still damp. She leaned against the back of the chair with drooping eyelids, looking very weak.
The man sat at the head of the table, his voice devoid of emotion: "Is Concubine Yi still awake?"
The Queen shook her head: "The Imperial Physician said that Concubine Yi's miscarriage would cause great harm to her body. I'm afraid..."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone came out from the inner hall. It was Concubine Yi's maid Qiulin.
Qiulin walked to the center of the hall and knelt. "Your Majesty, before the master passed out, she told me that there were many people near the lake. She wanted to go somewhere less crowded, but the lakeside was very slippery. She was caught off guard and fell towards Yu Ronghua, which is how she got herself into trouble."
"The lakeside is slippery?" the Queen was surprised. "But it hasn't rained in the past few days, and because of today's birthday banquet, I sent people to clear the moss around the lake. How could it be slippery?"
Qiulin shook her head: "I don't know, but the master did say so..."
The Queen Mother twisted her Buddhist beads and frowned, saying, "Madam Yang, take people to investigate the area around the lotus pond immediately."
She pointed at Qiulin and said, "You go too and see what's where Concubine Yi was standing today."
The empress dowager held her forehead in pain. He Yanchen had been childless for many years. It was not until Concubine Yi became pregnant that she silenced the ministers. But she had a miscarriage in front of so many people today.
She glanced at He Yanchen. The man's profile was against the light, so she couldn't see his expression or guess his thoughts.
Half an hour later, Nanny Yang came back with her people.
Qiulin knelt down on the ground as soon as he entered the hall: "Your Majesty, please make a decision for my master!"
Nanny Yang presented a tray and said, "Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen Mother, this was found where Concubine Yi was standing. There was a clump of short grass, and in the grass were pebbles that had been polished to an exceptionally smooth surface."
There was a moment of surprise in the palace. Someone actually wanted to murder the royal heir.
"How outrageous!" The Queen Mother slammed the table. "I want to see who is so audacious!"
He Yanchen raised his eyebrows in a somewhat impatient manner. He glanced coldly at everyone in the hall and asked, "Who has been to the lotus pond in the past few days?"
The man's deep voice sounded very majestic in the empty palace, and many people shuddered.
The lotus pond was a place often visited by concubines in the palace. Even if one did not go there on purpose, one would inevitably pass by it.
He Yanchen twirled his ring lightly: "No one has been there?"
"I've been there..." Rong Jieyu was the first to speak up. "I went to the lotus pond to feed the fish at noon the day before yesterday."
With Rong Jieyu speaking up, Jiang Ronghua, Huang Baolin and Sun Baolin also admitted that they had been there.
Jiang Ronghua said, "I went to visit Sister Shen and passed by the lotus pond these days."
"I just went to appreciate the flowers..." Sun Baolin was very timid and her voice was almost inaudible.
Huang Baolin echoed: "I am also going to appreciate the flowers..."
Chu Yi took note of a few people and sent the imperial guards to search their palaces.
At this moment, Huang Baolin suddenly glanced at the Queen Mother and opened her mouth, hesitant to speak: "Your Majesty, I... when I went to appreciate the flowers that day, I ran into Qingya, a maid from Yanfu Palace. I saw her looking for something in the bushes..."
Everyone's eyes froze, and they looked at the Queen Mother in disbelief.
Nanny Yang frowned: "Qingya?"
Qingya was a third-class maid in Yanfu Palace. Nanny Yang didn't have much impression of her, she only remembered that there was such a person.
The Queen Mother's heart skipped a beat. She asked, "Did you send Qingya to the lotus pond?"
Nanny Yang shook her head: "Qingya is only a third-class palace maid. Usually, I send Chunhua and the others to handle matters."
He Yanchen didn't look at the Queen Mother. His voice was very calm: "Bring the person here."
After receiving the order, Chu Yi went to Yanfu Palace in person.
The Queen Mother felt a little uneasy, as the action of searching for something in the bushes was indeed very suspicious.
The concubines who had just stood up didn't know whether they should breathe a sigh of relief, as the matter was actually related to the empress dowager.
An hour later, Chu Yi did not bring anyone, only a letter.
"Your Majesty, I have discovered Qingya's body in the well in the backyard of Yeonbok Palace."
There was an uproar in the hall, but it was only for a moment, and then it became even quieter than before, so quiet that only Chu Yi's voice could be heard: "And the letter was found in her room."
He Yanchen took it, read ten lines at a glance, and suddenly laughed.
"I have to thank my mother for helping me solve a problem."
After many years, he called his mother again, but it was in such a situation.
Sensing that the atmosphere was not right, the Queen hurriedly signaled the other concubines to get up and leave, leaving only the Emperor and the Queen Mother.
Yue Li looked back when the palace door closed, but could not see the man's expression clearly.
Inside the hall.
The Queen Mother snatched the letter and saw that it said that she had asked Qingya to kill Yipin's child because she had been brooding over the tea set Yipin had used at the New Year's Eve banquet and wanted revenge.
"Ridiculous! This is sheer nonsense!"
Compared to the Queen Mother's anger, He Yanchen was exceptionally calm:
"It doesn't seem surprising that the Queen Mother would harm her own children and grandchildren."
His half-smile in his eyes made the Queen Mother completely collapse.
The Queen Mother was speechless. She wanted to refute, but how could she refute what had really happened and the mistakes she had made when she was young?
"I am your mother and will never harm your child." She closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears that were about to burst out.
He Yanchen smiled and slowly poured himself a cup of tea: "If it were something else, I might believe it."
"But it happened to be Concubine Yi, the Concubine Yi who sent the Queen Mother the tea set."
"After seeing that tea set, did your mother think about my eighth brother's death day and night? Did you think about how you slandered and tortured me after my eighth brother's death? Did you think about grinding Concubine Yi into ashes day and night?"
The Queen Mother shook her head stiffly: "Chen'er, do you believe in me..."
"Mother." He Yanchen interrupted her.
He didn't drink the tea, but stood up and brushed off his clothes. "You should know that you have no trust in me."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com