Chapter 117 The Truth is Clear
The palace was extremely quiet, with only the sound of Shen Baolin's heavy breathing. She stared at Queen Cui for a long time before asking, "What do you mean?"
Empress Cui sat in the armchair with dignity, clapping her hands leisurely. "You will understand what I mean little by little."
Hearing the clapping, two eunuchs escorted a woman with ragged clothes and messy hair into the hall.
Shen Baolin looked up. The woman's face was so dirty that he could hardly see her features. However, her eyebrows and eyes looked quite familiar...
The moment she realized who it was, Shen Baolin threw herself on the bed like crazy, but she hadn't eaten or drunk anything in the past few days, and she had very little strength left, so she fell twice in a row.
Even so, Shen Baolin ignored the pain in her body and got up and continued to rush towards the woman. She was excited and her fists rained down one after another.
"You slut, you still have the nerve to live like this! If it weren't for the abortion potion you brought me back then, I wouldn't have had a miscarriage! I'm going to kill you, kill you!"
The ragged woman was Zhibi, a former maid in Fenghe Palace. At this moment, she was tied up by a young eunuch and kept begging for mercy.
How could Shen Baolin listen to her? He used more and more force, and finally, he pulled Zhibi's hair and knocked her to the ground.
After a while, Zhibi's forehead was broken and blood flowed down her forehead. She looked horrible and was dying.
The two young eunuchs were afraid that Shen Baolin would really torture people to death, so they hurriedly dragged Zhibi back.
Shen Baolin's hatred was still there, and he pounced on him again with his fangs and claws bared.
Seeing this, Empress Cui said calmly, "Have you not noticed anything wrong even now?"
Shen Baolin stopped moving and came out belatedly.
Why would the Queen bring Zhibi here?
It was clearly her who instructed Zhibi to bring that bowl of pregnancy-preserving medicine. What is her intention now?
Shen Baolin was slightly shaken in his heart, could it be...
No.
Won't.
Shen Baolin quickly rejected this idea.
Perhaps it was because Zhibi was a servant of the Cui family, a servant who had served for generations and was unlikely to betray. Or perhaps it was because she was afraid of the consequences, so she didn't dare to think about what she had done all these years if she was really wrong.
Queen Cui naturally saw the panic in her eyes and said calmly, "Why don't you ask Zhibi yourself about the truth of the matter?"
Shen Baolin sneered: "What are you asking? I have already made up my mind about this matter."
Empress Cui said slowly, "Or, what if you are a fool?"
Shen Baolin choked and said hatefully: “You!”
Queen Cui opened her eyelids coldly and looked at Zhibi, “Since Shen Baolin doesn’t ask, then you can take the initiative to tell me.”
Shen Baolin froze and looked over in astonishment.
Zhibi was knocked so hard that she saw stars and whimpered several times, "It's my fault, it's all my fault."
Under the gazes of everyone in the hall, Zhibi cried out, "It was the Concubine Shu, and it was the servant she ordered!"
At this moment, all the strength in Shen Baolin's body was drained away, and she slumped weakly on the cold floor tiles, "Shu Fei... How is this possible... How is this possible..."
She murmured for a while, then turned to Queen Cui, "You must have asked this slave to say that... You just want to see me regret..."
Empress Cui propped up her head and looked at her with disdain. "You have fallen to this point now. I want to make you regret it. There are a thousand ways, ten thousand ways. Why use this method?"
She came here today not to make Shen regret, but to destroy Shen.
Shen Baolin burst into tears unconsciously and kept shaking his head: “I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it!”
Queen Cui sighed.
"I aborted Concubine Shu's child myself."
Shen Baolin was speechless for a moment: "You...you..."
Empress Cui smiled softly: "She caused me to lose my child, how can I allow her to give birth to a child? I will return the same punishment she caused me. Tan Wu has betrayed her master, just like Zhibi did back then."
Shen Baolin was so stimulated by these words that she trembled continuously. She believed it 80% in her heart, but she still said stubbornly, "You are such a vicious person! You are so cruel and ruthless. You killed someone else's child, but you called it revenge. How hypocritical! Others were deceived by your hypocritical appearance. Even I was deceived by you at the beginning!"
"When I first entered the palace, you were jealous of the relationship between me and the emperor, so you used the rules to pressure me not to call him Ah Chen."
"I'm becoming more and more favored, and you see, I'm getting more and more upset. I'm often asked to copy the palace rules and admonish me not to monopolize the favor."
"When I was three months pregnant, you kept delaying my mother's entry into the palace, pretending to care for me so that I would let down my guard and abort my child."
"Everything of this was done by you, a vicious woman."
Speaking of the latter part, Shen Baolin was already sobbing.
"So, in your eyes, these are considered to be harming you." Queen Cui, sitting upright in the armchair, still had a calm expression, but her eyes were red. "The thing I regret most in my life is helping you with these things."
"The Emperor had already ascended the throne and was the ruler of all his subjects. How dare you, a concubine, address the Emperor by his name?!"
"Besides, you know that the Emperor doesn't like being called that. When he was born, the late Emperor's Consort Li was the most favored concubine in the harem and was extremely displeased with him. The late Emperor, bewitched by the concubine, named the Emperor Chen and Consort Li's son Sheng. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell the difference between the two names."
"Even the late Empress Li, the Emperor's adoptive mother, always called him Crown Prince. It wasn't out of place, it was intentional to avoid that word! But you, on the other hand, keep calling him Ah Chen, as if you're afraid the Emperor won't remember and that the late Emperor doesn't like him!"
"Also, do you think that the most favored concubine in the harem will have a good ending? I've asked you to copy the palace rules time and time again, but I'm just trying to remind you to regain some sanity and not indulge in that false love!"
At this point, Empress Cui smiled softly. "Speaking of false favor, you haven't seen through it yet, have you? Have you always believed that the Emperor once truly loved you?"
"Shen, don't be naive. The emperor has never had any feelings for you at all!"
Shen Baolin listened, bloodshot eyes filled with scarlet blood, looking extremely scary, "You are not allowed to insult the past between me and the emperor."
Even though the emperor has changed his mind now, they were indeed happy in the past. This is the only pure land in her heart, and no one is allowed to destroy it.
Empress Cui looked down at her and said cruelly, "If I really liked you, would you allow the six concubines to be jealous of you? If I really liked you, would you not believe you when Concubine Li had a miscarriage? If I really liked you, would you exile Prime Minister Shen to avenge my child?"
Shen Baolin shed two lines of blood and tears, muttering in confusion: "What did you say? Revenge?"
Empress Cui's voice dropped. "That's right. Originally, the Emperor had turned a blind eye to what your father had done. Considering our old friendship, at most he would have allowed your father to retire and return home. But you harmed my child. If I don't completely eradicate your father and prevent him from raising a new one, how can I do whatever I want with you in the harem? Do you think the Emperor doesn't know that I framed you when Concubine Li saw blood?"
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