Concubine Shu stared at Peirong, unable to recover for a long time. "What? What did you say?"
The Queen Mother's scrutinizing gaze passed back and forth between the two of them, finally stopping at Concubine Shu: "Concubine Shu, what did she mean by that?"
Concubine Shu swallowed, her red lips slightly parted, and she said uncomfortably: "Empress Dowager, I, your concubine, I don't know what she is talking about."
"I don't know?" The Queen Mother snorted coldly, staring at Concubine Shu, but her tone was asking Peirong, "Concubine Shu said she doesn't know, so you tell me, what exactly is going on?"
Peirong kowtowed respectfully to the Empress Dowager, then slowly spoke, "A month ago, I was punished by the Empress Dowager for saying something wrong. Not long after, Concubine Shu came to me and said that if I helped her ascend the throne, she would allow me to serve the Emperor. I refused, and she used my family to threaten me. I had no choice but to do as she told me. A month ago, Concubine Shu suddenly summoned me to Changsheng Palace and gave me something, telling me to hide it in a secret place in Fengyi Palace. On the Empress Dowager's birthday, if Concubine Xian had a miscarriage, someone would dig up the item."
As she spoke, Peirong took out a doll from her sleeve and handed it to Zhu Yu, who then handed it to the Queen Mother and Zhao Yuancheng.
The Empress Dowager was immediately furious, and she looked at Concubine Shu with her eyes wide open: "How dare you curse the Emperor! Concubine Shu, you are so bold!"
Hearing these words, Concubine Shu's ears were like thunder rolling through her, and she scolded Peirong harshly: "This is nonsense, my lady, when did I ever tell you this?"
As she spoke, she looked nervously at the Queen Mother and Zhao Yuancheng: "Your Majesty, Queen Mother, I have never said these words. This lowly maid deliberately framed me!"
Peirong was not afraid, and smiled coldly: "Whether it is a false accusation or not, you can ask Taohong. Aren't she and the little noble boy of Fengyi Palace the spies you planted around the Empress?"
Zhao Yuancheng was intimidating without being angry, and snorted coldly: "Is what she said true?"
Concubine Shu's whole body was stiff, the color had long gone from her charming face, and the tassels on her temples trembled slightly just like her trembling heart.
Tao Hong lay on the ground, her body shaking like a sieve, but she didn't say a word. Zhao Yuancheng lost his patience immediately and ordered Zhu Yu in a deep voice: "Drag her to the torture chamber..."
Before he finished speaking, Tao Hong looked at Zhao Yuancheng with horror in her eyes: "Your Majesty, please spare my life, Your Majesty, please spare my life. It was the Concubine Shu who ordered this servant to keep an eye on everything that Fengyi Palace said and did. It was indeed the Concubine Shu who ordered Peirong to do these things."
Peirong's voice choked with sobs, but her face remained resolute. "I am of humble origin. If Your Majesty had not been kind enough to buy me when I was young, I would not be where I am today. Therefore, no matter what, I will never betray the Queen, and I will not allow anyone to maliciously slander Your Majesty!"
Concubine Shu's face was ashen, and she sat slumped beside Peirong as if exhausted. It was not until this moment that she realized that she had fallen into a trap.
Zhao Yuancheng sat in a chair, slowly stroking the ring on his thumb. His dark eyes looked particularly deep in the sunlight. "I told you before that as long as you behaved with the dignity that a concubine should have, I would not treat you unfairly. But it seems you didn't listen to a word I said to you that day?"
Concubine Shu opened her mouth and wanted to argue again, but when she raised her eyes, she met Zhao Yuancheng's gaze, which was obviously calm, but terribly cold.
In more than ten years, she had never seen Zhao Yuancheng look at her like this.
The Concubine took a deep breath, then suddenly straightened her back. She spoke calmly and calmly, "You warned me to be your Concubine, but I just can't swallow this. In terms of kinship, I'm your cousin. In terms of birth, my mother is a princess, and my father is Marquis Jingxiang. In any way, I can't compare to Fu Qianyu. Why can she become the Empress, but I can only be a Concubine, a pawn in your hands to suppress the Empress?"
"Is it because she gave birth to the prince?" Concubine Shu sneered: "Anyone can give birth. If the prince had come out of my belly, his birthright would be many times higher than it is now!"
The Queen Mother twirled the Buddhist beads on her wrist and said solemnly, "It was my fault that I asked you to enter the palace."
Concubine Shu raised her eyebrows: "The Queen Mother was not wrong in letting me enter the palace, but was wrong in just treating me as a pawn, and was even more wrong in underestimating people's ambitions!"
The hall suddenly became quiet.
Zhao Yuancheng looked at Concubine Shu quietly, saying word by word, "Yes, in terms of birth, the Queen is indeed inferior to you. But in terms of intimacy, although you are my cousin, you can do such a thing as cursing me, while the Queen has been by my side for so many years, whether in adversity or prosperity, her feelings towards me have never changed. In this respect alone, you are far inferior to her!"
Upon hearing this, Concubine Shu threw her head back and laughed heartily, shaking her head repeatedly, her eyes filled with sarcasm: "It's ridiculous, really ridiculous. Where is the love in this imperial family?"
As she spoke, she pointed at Concubine Xian on the sickbed and said sarcastically, "You dote on her because she looks like the former Concubine Rou. Oh, yes, even Concubine Rou, you only regarded her as a substitute. Now you tell me that the Queen's feelings for you have not changed over the years. Do you believe this?"
Zhao Yuancheng clenched his hands tightly, but relaxed them in an instant. He said calmly, "Yes, you are right. Even if it is as you said, the Queen has never taken the initiative to harm others, right? For this reason alone, you will never be able to become the Queen!"
Concubine Shu said nothing, with a dead despair in her eyes. Soon someone took her back. As for what her fate would be, everyone knew it.
As for Concubine Xian, she was sent back to her own palace not long after Concubine Shu was taken away.
The Empress Dowager's birthday banquet was really disturbing. No one expected that Concubine Shu would be so bold as to openly practice witchcraft in the palace, and the target of her curse was the current emperor.
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