Chapter 271 No Mercy
If Li Cairen's face was pale just now, now it was as pale as paper, as if he had lost all life.
She was horrified and her eyes widened.
But my throat was hoarse and I couldn't say anything.
She couldn't understand how Concubine Chen knew the secret she had hidden so deeply.
If she knew about this and told the emperor, wouldn't she be doomed?
Li Cairen felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar and was trembling all over.
“You…you…”
Pei Tingyue curled her lips slightly and said sarcastically, "How did I know this? Don't worry, you will know soon."
Li Cairen's eyes were bloodshot, and she knelt down in front of her and begged for mercy, "My Lady!"
Pei Tingyue lowered his eyes and looked at her.
Li Cairen burst into tears, the sarcasm just now disappeared, and only humble pleading remained.
She grabbed Pei Tingyue's robe and cried, "I was wrong, I was really wrong! From now on, I will only
"Your Highness, please forgive me this time!"
Pei Tingyue pulled out her clothes and looked down at her. "If you had stayed in the palace honestly, perhaps I would have forgiven you. But the things you did really disgusted me. Keeping you here will only cause more trouble in this harem."
Seeing that she was unmoved, Li Cairen knocked her head again. Her strength was very strong, and after a few hits, red marks appeared on her white forehead. "My Lady, please, for Yu Shi's sake, please have mercy on me... You are also a mother... The child cannot be without a mother..."
Pei Tingyue sneered: "The person least worthy of mentioning Yu Shi is you, his mother. You know clearly what you have done to your son over the years."
After saying this, she stopped looking at the kneeling person and was the first to leave the side hall.
Then he ordered his men to escort Li Cairen and march towards Chengming Palace.
.
Arrived at Chengming Palace.
As soon as he got off the sedan chair and before Pei Tingyue lifted the curtain, he saw a pair of bony hands reaching in.
She smiled, took the hand and walked out of the sedan chair, "Why did the emperor come out?"
Xie Chen smiled and said, "I have just finished handling state affairs and was about to go to your palace, but before I even got out of the sedan chair, I saw you coming."
Pei Tingyue came up to him, stayed close to him for a while, and then said, "I have something to discuss with the emperor."
Xie Chen touched her hot earlobe, took her hand and walked into the hall, and sat down with her in the warm room.
Pei Tingyue looked at him and sighed: "Your Majesty, don't you want to know what I am investigating? Now, I have found it."
She ordered the evidence to be presented.
Xie Chen's expression had been relaxed, but after reading the first page, his brows were filled with solemnity. By the end, veins bulged on his forehead, and his eyes were as dark and thick as ink, filled with astonishing anger.
The evidence from these investigations clearly records what the Duke of Li’s Mansion did.
Because the new emperor ascended the throne, the daughters of the main branch and concubines of the Duke of Li's mansion had all been married, so the mansion turned its attention to the girls from the side branches.
However, these girls have mediocre talents and none of them have outstanding looks. They are not even as pretty as ordinary palace maids. If they enter the palace, Duke Li's Mansion is afraid that they may not win the emperor's favor.
It just so happened that there was an orphan girl and a widowed mother in a side branch who lived on a farm outside the capital. Others had rarely seen this girl, so the Duke of Li's Mansion had some evil intentions.
The mansion secretly went out to find a girl of humble origin and stunning beauty. They used threats and inducements to make this girl take on the identity of a girl from a branch family and raised her on the farm for two years.
After two years of peace and tranquility, the Duke of Li's Mansion took the girl into the mansion to educate her and taught her according to the rules of a palace concubine.
This beautiful girl had quietly transformed herself into a member of the family of Duke Li.
When the time is right, Duke Li's Mansion will send her to the palace to compete for favor, hoping that she will ascend to a high position.
The evidence is so clear that the identity of the beautiful girl is clear. She is the "Li Jieyu", "Li Xiuyuan" and "Li Cairen" who replaced Li Yang and entered the palace.
She was not a girl from the Duke of Li's mansion at all, but the daughter of a dancer, whose real name was Xia.
Xie Chen was furious, his expression frighteningly cold. "Excellent! How dare the Duke of Li's Mansion be so audacious as to send a woman who isn't of the Li family's bloodline into the palace!"
Pei Tingyue pursed her lips and said nothing.
I couldn't help sighing in my heart.
The Duke of Li's family was simply greedy. Clearly, the emperor, mindful of their past relationship, had made the Li family's daughter a Consort upon entering the palace. So what if she wasn't beautiful? The relationship was there. With time and experience, she would surely rise to a high position in the future. At least during the emperor's reign, the Duke of Li's family enjoyed untold wealth and honor.
But the Duke of Li's Mansion wanted more. They wanted the women in the family to quickly ascend to a high position with their looks. Perhaps, more than just a high-ranking concubine position. They wanted to reach that position and wanted the Duke of Li's Mansion to produce another queen.
The Duke of Li's Mansion is so ambitious that after having a prince, they may want Yu Shi to take that position, but it is not certain.
Pei Tingyue lowered his eyes, pulled himself away from his thoughts, stood next to Xie Chen, and silently helped him calm down.
Xie Chen's eyes were really red with anger.
He had originally thought of letting Yu Shi, who had some imperial and Li blood, marry into the lineage of Prince Gong, thus continuing the lineage of Prince Gong. This way, he would also fulfill his adoptive mother's kindness.
Who would have thought that the Duke of Li's Mansion would dare to deceive the emperor and send a dancer into the palace.
It’s really great.
Not only did she betray his sincerity, but she also exhausted the remaining favor of Queen Li.
Xie Chen's face was filled with anger, looking gloomy and intimidating. "Liang Yao, bring the Third Prince's biological mother here!"
He didn't even want to call her "Li Cairen".
Pei Tingyue said at the right moment: "I had already brought her here before I came. She is now outside the palace. Chief Steward Liang, please have someone bring her in."
Liang Yao responded and walked out of the palace.
He came in quickly, followed by Li Cairen.
Li Cairen had a dazed look on her face. She had obviously not recovered from the shock yet. She didn't even greet him and just stood there without moving.
Liang Yao noticed that the emperor and his wife looked unhappy, so he forced Li Cairen to kneel down.
Xie Chen's dark eyes scrutinized her, giving her a sense of oppression. "Do you know that deceiving the emperor is a grave crime punishable by the death of nine generations of one's clan?"
Ever since what happened just now, Li Cairen knew that everything was over. So, since the evidence was conclusive, there was no need for her to pretend or hide it anymore.
At this moment, she lost all her strength, knelt on the ground, and smiled sadly, "I have no choice."
Xie Chen asked coldly, "No choice? Even if you were forced to become a daughter of the Duke of Li's Mansion by the power of the Duke's Mansion, you should have confessed everything to me on the day you entered the palace. It's not too late to turn back from your mistakes. I won't blame you! But for this glory and wealth, you and the Duke of Li's Mansion deceived the emperor and your superiors."
Li Cairen's pale lips trembled, and she shed tears as she said, "Your Majesty, it's easy for you to say. Do you know how tempting a life of luxury is? Between the desire to be an imperial consort and the desire to be a dancing girl, I'm afraid most people in this world would make the same choice as this concubine."
Xie Chen didn't want to listen to her stubborn talk anymore, and sneered, "Okay, since this is your choice and you don't regret it, then you should bear the price. I won't take your life for Yu Shi's sake. From now on, you don't have to stay in Bixiao Palace. Go to the cold palace."
Cold Palace...
This is to demote her to a commoner...
Although it was spring, Li Cairen felt a biting chill running through the soles of her feet and into her limbs, making her shiver involuntarily.
She is now extremely panicked.
She wondered how things could have turned out like this.
Just a few days ago, she was the queen who was high and mighty, with a child. How could she have fallen into obscurity in one day?
Pei Tingyue’s words suddenly appeared in her mind.
If she hadn't had any bad intentions and raised Yu Shi well... would the ending be different...
At this moment, Li Cairen regretted it to the extreme.
She didn't want to be sent to the cold palace, didn't want to be demoted to a commoner, she wanted to beg.
But Xie Chen didn't want to look at her again. He let her cry and had her taken away.
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