The stewardess who had been holding her cloak was gone.
Consort Ju, as expected of someone who had managed the harem for twenty years, realized that the entire Qianqing Palace was on high alert. She turned back and knelt before the dragon bed, saying, "Your Majesty, it was the head maid who was plotting against me."
"If I truly wanted to harm you, why would I have knocked over the bowl and spoon? I was also framed by someone. I beg Your Majesty to see the truth." She wept again.
Last time it was out of friendship, now it's to clear my name.
The emperor raised the corners of his mouth, a smile that was hard to tell if it was a sneer or a mockery, before finally saying, "Steward Wu has taken some men to find the stewardess of Chengqian Palace."
"What about His Majesty here..." Chief Steward Wu was still a little scared.
The more at ease I was before, the more worried I am now.
The Imperial Concubine actually plotted to poison the Emperor! This is something that sends chills down my spine every night I think about it!
"It's alright." The emperor waved his hand, threw back the covers, and stood up. "She can't harm me."
Only then did Steward Wu feel relieved and leave with his men.
Silence returned to the main hall. Consort Ju slumped to the ground, wishing she could immediately summon the head maid to clear her name.
"Your Majesty..." She wanted to say something more, but seeing the man's expression, she wisely shut her mouth.
Time passed by bit by bit, and every breath was torture.
Just as Consort Ju was about to collapse, Chief Eunuch Wu returned with guards, "Your Majesty, the head steward has committed suicide..."
It's a conspiracy, a conspiracy.
Consort Ju felt dizzy and realized that she had been tricked.
She almost immediately crawled on her knees to Heaven, hoping he would save her and that he wouldn't misunderstand.
From the poisoning to the cat, and then to the steward aunt's suicide, this series of coincidences is so numerous that it must have been a deliberate scheme.
"Your Majesty!" Consort Ju wailed, "Your Majesty, you must believe me! I absolutely have no intention of harming you, absolutely not!"
Normally, this man would have already knelt down, wiped away her tears, and then pulled her into his arms.
But now they just look over coldly, unmoved.
"Your Majesty," Consort Ju's heart sank further, "You don't trust me?"
The emperor raised the corners of his mouth and said, "I believe you, but I cannot believe the Ju family."
All the palace maids in Chengqian Palace were carefully selected, except for the head maid who came from the Ju family and whose husband was a servant in the Ju family.
Consort Ju may not have wanted to poison her husband, but what about the Ju family?
Do the Ju family want to support the new emperor, become maternal relatives, or return to their status as a top-tier aristocratic family?
"No, it can't be the Ju family either." Consort Ju denied it outright, then stepped forward and crawled two steps. "Your Majesty, it really can't be the Ju family, it's impossible."
This time, the imperial family chose to avoid the situation.
An atmosphere of despair permeated the hall, and a cold sensation spread from the legs and feet.
The fact that the stewardess committed suicide proves that this conspiracy was very meticulous, but Consort Ju really couldn't figure out whether the Ju family actually had this idea.
Or rather, whether it exists or not is no longer important.
If the imperial family punishes the Ju family, the Ju family will face annihilation.
That was my maternal family, with parents, brothers, nephews and nieces, and countless relatives and servants.
Consort Ju was heartbroken, knowing that there was no way to reverse the situation.
She stood up unsteadily, tears welling in her eyes, and said, "It's me."
Tianjia suddenly turned around.
“It was me who poisoned you, it was all my doing.” Consort Ju choked up. “We loved each other so much, I was the one who met you first, but because of my status and family background, because I am a daughter of the Ju family, I was forced to become your concubine.”
"The Ju family has been noble for generations, but in all these years, only one concubine has emerged, and that is me, this unfilial daughter!"
“My father scolded me, my mother advised me, and everyone hoped that I could change my husband, but I insisted on staying with you, even if it meant being a concubine.”
"Twenty years! I've been your concubine for twenty years! Now you want me to be made empress, not for myself, but for my child!" Consort Ju wept, tears streaming down her face. "You've betrayed us, mother and child, yet you want my child to bear the burden of being born of a concubine. Why? Why?"
She once had the opportunity to become someone else's legal wife and to give birth to a legitimate child.
She sacrificed and endured for the sake of her childhood sweetheart, but in the end, she lost her most important inheritance.
“I know you love and pamper me, and you let me give birth to the eldest son first, but isn’t he still a son born out of wedlock?” Consort Ju smiled bitterly. “He should have been the legitimate eldest son, he should have had everything.”
The imperial court remained silent.
I once thought that pampering could overcome everything, but it still wasn't enough in the face of self-interest.
But he has no right to say that Consort Ju was wrong; it is every mother's instinct to fight for her child.
"Aruo," the man said hoarsely, trying to give his lover one last chance, "this matter involves the Ju family, but it will never harm you and Hong'er."
"No, it was me, it has nothing to do with the Ju family." Consort Ju cried hysterically, "If Your Majesty still remembers any affection from back then, please don't implicate the innocent. Punish me for my crimes. I deserve to die. I was plotting something wicked."
Don't hurt...her maternal family.
The heavenly family was teetering on the brink of collapse. His emaciated body coughed a few times, the vibrations causing pain in his chest.
He waved his hand and weakly collapsed onto the dragon bed. "Guards, take Consort Ju back to Chengqian Palace, strip her of her title of Consort, and forbid her from leaving her side."
It was not said that he was demoted to a commoner, nor was it said that he was imprisoned for life.
But if he didn't speak up, Consort Ju could only grow old and die in Chengqian Palace.
Is it worth it for the sake of the family?
The man could no longer hold back; his cough was so violent it sounded like he was about to cough up his lungs.
"Is it worth it for the sake of the family?" Chief Steward Wu couldn't help but ask this question when he escorted Lady Ju back to the palace. "You share the glory and favor of the Ju family. Even if you offend the Ju family, you will hardly get any good results. Moreover, you still have the eldest prince."
One move affects the whole situation.
Rather than letting the Ju family be punished because of Consort Ju, it would be better to sacrifice the Ju family to protect Consort Ju and her son.
This was also the most common way for women in the imperial harem to cut off their own arms to protect themselves.
"Don't worry, I have a way to make sure the Tian family won't hold the Ju family accountable." Ju said calmly. "I will never sacrifice my maternal family. Compared to fighting for honor and favor for my maternal family, it is my maternal family that supports me more."
"Empress Yan had no maternal family to support her, which is why she and her children ended up in that situation. As long as the Ju family exists, my Hong'er will not be bullied."
She walked calmly, step by step.
Living in the imperial harem, I witnessed all sorts of framing and slander, and I also persecuted countless lives. Whether I liked it or not, I had to do it if I wanted to survive.
Now, it's finally her turn.
Upon returning to the desolate Chengqian Palace, the head maid and personal maid had vanished without a trace, leaving no one to serve them inside or out.
Is this the difference between a favored concubine and a disgraced concubine?
As Steward Wu sighed, before he could even turn around, Madam Ju mustered all her strength and rammed into the wooden pillar.
At the same time, the emperor in the Qianqing Palace finally stopped coughing, opened his palm, and revealed a touch of red in his handkerchief.
Note: The crime of empresses committing suicide was only a Qing Dynasty law and had no relation to other dynasties.
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