"The Empress actually knows it's getting late?" Emperor Yuanwu said sullenly.
The Empress laughed awkwardly, "It was my oversight."
"Speak." Emperor Yuanwu turned his gaze to Consort Zhen.
"Yes..." Consort Zhen looked embarrassed: "Yes...it was my fault for accidentally offending Her Majesty the Empress. Your Majesty, please don't ask any further questions."
Consort Zhen reluctantly kowtowed.
Emperor Yuanwu seemed determined not to let her off the hook: "Speak!"
Consort Zhen trembled with fright. She looked up at the Empress and said, "It's...it's Her Majesty the Empress who said...that Consort Shu uses the Seventh Princess to curry favor with you every day, and pesters you to go to Qiluan Garden every day...no...you can't have your favor spread evenly."
Emperor Yuanwu cleared his throat coldly, startling everyone in the room into kneeling on the ground.
"Is this true?" Emperor Yuanwu turned to look at the empress kneeling beside him.
"Your Majesty..." The Empress's lips trembled slightly, "This concubine...this concubine..."
Even though the empress did not admit it.
Emperor Yuanwu already had the answer in his heart.
He turned his gaze back to Consort Shu: "Which palace maid delivered the clothes to Consort Zhen that day?"
"It's Ling'er. This servant has already had someone take her outside the palace," Bin'er replied.
"Summon them!" Emperor Yuanwu sat up straight.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!" Ling'er was so frightened that she knelt down on the ground with a thud. "Your Majesty, please forgive this servant! This servant knows she was wrong! This servant is innocent!"
"Then what wrong have you done? And why are you being wronged?" Emperor Yuanwu asked coldly.
"That day, Consort Shu asked me to deliver an umbrella and a cloak to Consort Zhen. Consort Shu was worried that Consort Zhen would catch a cold, so she specially asked me to choose one made of the best and thickest material," Ling'er said in detail.
Consort Zhen's eyes flickered as she listened to Ling'er's words.
"This servant had just stepped out of Qiluan Garden with the clothes when I bumped into Aunt Wenhui." Ling'er's voice trailed off, barely audible to herself, as she dared not continue: "Aunt Wenhui..."
"Just speak your mind. As long as you tell the truth, let's see who dares to blame you!" Emperor Yuanwu said sternly.
“Aunt Wenhui said…” Ling’er’s voice trembled with fear: “Aunt Wenhui said that Consort Zhen was punished by the Empress. Going to deliver things to her at this time would be… deliberately going against the Empress. So… those things… were all taken away by Aunt Wenhui. This servant really doesn’t know anything else.”
The Empress's face turned pale and then red, and she collapsed to her knees: "Your Majesty, I really don't know anything!"
Wen Hui knelt on the ground, crying, "Your Majesty, this was all my idea. The Empress really didn't know anything. If anyone should be punished, punish me alone."
"Take Wenhui away and give her fifty strokes of the cane, then send her to the laundry department." Emperor Yuanwu said sternly, "Ling'er, give her thirty strokes of the cane."
"Your Majesty," the Empress said, her heart pounding, "Wenhui has been with me since she was a child. Even if she has done something wrong, please forgive her, Your Majesty, for she has at least worked hard, if not done anything meritorious. Fifty strokes of the cane will kill her. Even if she survives, she will be crippled. Your Majesty, please have mercy."
The empress knelt on the ground and kowtowed one after another.
"So you can feel sorry for someone after all." Emperor Yuanwu said leisurely, "When you punished Consort Hui, did you ever think that kneeling on the pebbly path in the Imperial Garden for an entire afternoon would rot your knees?"
Listen to what Emperor Yuanwu said.
Consort Zhen's eyes welled up with tears.
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