Yuwen Ran stepped forward, blocking Gu Yanyue behind him. He turned his sword-like eyes to the Queen Mother and asked calmly, "Excuse me, Queen Mother, after all you've said, did you actually see with your own eyes that it was the Queen who pushed Concubine Liu down?"
When the Queen Mother arrived, Liu Yanyan had already been rescued from the lake by Zhou Xuan, so she naturally didn't see Gu Yanyue push Liu Yanyan into the water. However, she didn't see it, but the palace maids who served Liu Yanyan saw it clearly.
And from their angle, they couldn't see clearly that after Liu Yanyan was supported by Gu Yanyue for the first time, she had the intention of pushing Gu Yanyue into the water. However, her strength was not as great as Gu Yanyue's, so after being supported by Gu Yanyue, she kicked her down.
The Queen Mother waved to Xiao Kui, who was serving beside Liu Yanyan, and asked her to come up and talk to Yu Wenran about how Gu Yanyue pushed Liu Yanyan into this matter.
When Xiao Kui was called up by the Empress Dowager, she first gave Yuwen Ran a pat on the back and then said, "Your Majesty, my queen almost slipped into the lake because of the snow and lost her footing. Fortunately, the Empress pulled her out. But who would have thought that after the Empress helped her steady herself, she kicked her back into the water."
Yuwen Ran snorted coldly, completely disbelieving what the maid said. "Ayue would never have pushed Concubine Liu into the water for no reason! If she really did, then I believe it must have been Concubine Liu who provoked her first. That's why she pushed Concubine Liu in! Who knows, maybe Concubine Liu wanted to frame her, which is why the maids saw that scene."
What Yuwen Ran said at the end was probably almost the same as the truth of the matter, but there were still some deviations.
"Although it's almost the end of the Lunar New Year, the weather is still bitterly cold. My queen wouldn't joke about her own life, would she?"
Xiao Kui looked at Yu Wenran in disbelief, then at Liu Yanyan, who was still unconscious on the bed, and her voice couldn't help but become tearful. "And your majesty, when the Empress pushed my wife down, she didn't hesitate at all. It's clear that she wanted her dead!"
The Queen Mother adjusted the hairpin on her temples and watched the conversation between Yuwen Ran and Xiao Kui with cold eyes. She knew that Yuwen Ran was protecting Gu Yanyue, but she didn't expect Yuwen Ran to protect Gu Yanyue to such an extent, and even defend Gu Yanyue with irrefutable evidence.
She snorted coldly, carrying her sarcasm to its fullest. "Your Majesty, sometimes you still have to be impartial. After all, there are more concubines in the harem than just the Queen. If Your Majesty is partial, how can the concubines in the harem obey you in the future?"
"Oh, then I don't want them anymore. I will send them all out of the palace and only leave the queen to grow old with me." Yuwen Ran sneered and admitted in front of the empress dowager without any concealment that he no longer wanted these concubines in the harem.
Yuwen Ran had long ago considered dispersing the concubines from the harem. He only wanted to spend the rest of his life with Gu Yanyue, and he loved only her. The other concubines were dispensable to him.
Of course, being able to have no concubines was the best option. After all, it wasn't just her who was unhappy with the concubines. Gu Yanyue also disliked their existence. Although she didn't say it, Yuwen Ran could still feel it.
If he had not been so weak before that he could not touch the concubines in the harem, now that he has grown stronger and the ministers in the court all obey his orders, then it would not be difficult to disperse the concubines in the harem.
Taking advantage of Liu Yanyan's fall into the water today, Yuwen Ran had given the Queen Mother a heads-up in advance. He also told her very clearly that he loved Gu Yanyue very much and would only love Gu Yanyue.
As for her little tricks, he had already seen through them. He didn't expose them because he took into account her status as the Queen Mother, but that didn't mean she could repeatedly find people to hurt Gu Yanyue or insult her and make her unhappy.
The Queen Mother was stunned at first when she heard Yuwen Ran's words. She hadn't expected Yuwen Ran to say such words. She pointed at Yuwen Ran and stammered for a long time before finally uttering a few complete sentences. "How dare you! You are the ruler of a country. If the Queen is the only one in the harem, how can you be so shameless?"
"Besides, the Queen hasn't given you a legitimate son yet. Do you intend to let that little girl, Little Yuntun, inherit the throne?"
"Your Majesty, mother, is worried about the issue of a legitimate son. The Queen and I are still young and have so much time left. Is your Majesty worried that the Queen and I will never be able to give birth to a legitimate son?"
Yuwen Ran said coldly, "Even if the Queen and I don't have a legitimate child, I can always go to the royal family and bring a child over to raise under my and the Queen's wing. As long as he has the surname Yuwen, he's eligible to inherit this position."
Seeing that the topic was slowly drifting off, Gu Yanyue coughed lightly, then walked in front of Xiaokui and brought the topic back. "I know that you are the maid Liu Yanyan brought in from outside the palace to serve. The other maids kept silent after Liu Yanyan fell into the water, unlike you who have been accusing me all the time. Tell me, what is the plan between you and your servant?"
Xiao Kui was frightened by Gu Yanyue's aura and took two steps back. She swallowed a few times subconsciously and retorted, "If the Queen hadn't done this, I wouldn't have accused you for no reason. And the reason I've been accusing the Queen is because I want to seek justice for my Queen. After all, I can't let my Queen be pushed into this water by you in vain!"
"Well, I will seek justice for myself too." After hearing what Xiao Kui said, Gu Yanyue didn't get angry. Instead, she chuckled softly and looked up at Xiao Kui with disdain in her eyes. "After I saved her the first time, your queen was not only not grateful to me, but she also tried to push me into the water. I kicked her in by mistake because she wanted to push me in."
"Nonsense! Your Majesty, none of us here are blind, how could we possibly have been blinded?" Xiao Kui, Liu Yanyan's personal maid, had been serving her since childhood. Liu Yanyan naturally trusted her very much, just like the suggestion that she push Gu Yanyue into the water this time was first made by Xiao Kui.
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