Empress Dowager Cheng was still chanting Buddhist prayers in the Buddhist hall of Yongshou Palace, waiting for news of Consort Cheng.
For most of the day, she had been reciting Buddhist scriptures intermittently and absentmindedly. Finally, just as Empress Dowager Cheng gave up reciting the scriptures and asked someone to help her up, she suddenly heard a commotion outside.
She was about to go out and see what was going on when the eunuchs who usually guarded Yongshou Palace rushed in and knelt down in a panic.
"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! The Imperial Concubine has been dragged here by His Majesty."
Empress Dowager Cheng was shocked, her face turning pale as she pressed, "What did you say? How did the Imperial Concubine get here?"
"Aunt, Aunt..."
Before the eunuch could explain in detail, the sound of Consort Cheng weeping reached Empress Dowager Cheng's ears, and she looked over.
Jing Huaixu and Empress Ye led the way, with Jing Yi following beside them.
Consort Cheng was dragged into the palace by two eunuchs who were by Jing Huaixu's side, with their hands on her shoulders.
Jing Huaixu entered without paying attention to Empress Dowager Cheng's astonishment. He showed her the sachet for blessings, his expression a sarcastic laugh tinged with anger.
"Empress Cheng, your painstaking efforts have truly been kind to Jingyi!"
The moment Empress Dowager Cheng saw the sachet for blessings, her pupils dilated, realizing something serious had happened. She then glanced at Consort Cheng.
She suppressed the trembling that was rising throughout her body and asked in a steadied voice, puzzled.
"Your Majesty is in a terrible temper. I have no idea what I have done wrong, or what the Consort has done wrong."
Empress Dowager Cheng looked at Jingyi with tender eyes, her voice full of sorrow: "I have always regarded Jingyi with the heart of an elder, but His Majesty casually brought over a sachet, is this how he intends to condemn him?"
Jingyi felt distressed, thinking of how Empress Dowager Zheng had gone so far as to send Jingning to the Jade Kingdom for Jinglu's sake.
Grandmother Cheng, who said she loved and cherished her and had protected her since childhood, wanted to send her to the Jade Kingdom as a hostage for the sake of the Imperial Concubine's son.
Jingyi was filled with bitterness and setbacks. She rushed out, tears blurring her vision, and sobbed.
"Grandmother, do you really love me? If you love me, why did you harm me with the sachet? Do you want me to end up like... like Jingning?"
"Jingyi, how could your grandmother harm you? Haven't you been cherished and pampered by your grandmother since you were a child?" Empress Dowager Cheng argued, trying to evoke Jingyi's reluctance by recalling their past interactions.
When Empress Ye saw the hesitation on her daughter's face, she knew that Empress Dowager Cheng's efforts to win over Jingyi over the years could not be easily forgiven.
Silently, she pulled her daughter into her arms and gently stroked her, not giving Empress Dowager Cheng any further opportunity to disturb her.
Jing Huaixu sighed, pointed at Consort Cheng, and coldly asked Empress Dowager Cheng: "Empress Dowager Cheng, I heard Consort Cheng's words clearly in the Hundred Beasts Garden just now. The name Jing Yi is clearly embroidered on this sachet."
"The eunuchs from the Hundred Beasts Garden said they were acting on the orders of the Yongshou Palace. Your personal eunuchs were also present. The evidence and witnesses are all there."
"Could it be that what I saw and heard with my own eyes is false? As an elder, you are willing to sacrifice the reputation of your juniors to achieve your own goals."
"How can I believe your words of affection? How can Jingyi believe them?"
"Your Majesty, you must give me an explanation for what happened today."
Behind Jing Huaixu knelt a large number of eunuchs, and Consort Cheng was forced to kneel on the ground. These were all irrefutable incriminating evidence. Empress Dowager Cheng staggered and almost fell to the ground.
She opened her lips several times, unable to contain her anger: "Your Majesty, Shuo'er has broken a leg. Have you felt any heartache? Have you ever investigated the truth?"
"He is still bedridden and unable to walk. You have visited him several times. Have I asked you for an explanation or for the Changshou Palace?"
"I know nothing about this matter. How can I explain something I don't know?"
Empress Dowager Cheng's brows were furrowed, and her eyes were filled with dignified fearlessness.
"Of course, you are not my biological son, so I have no right to demand that you treat me with the same respect you show to the Changshou Palace. If you want an explanation, then take my life. I was personally betrothed by Emperor Muzong to the late Emperor, and I am the late Emperor's first wife."
"In the past, I had the hardship of taking care of my parents-in-law and the suffering of the late emperor. I can also provide support for you."
"You can only take my life, not depose me. Even after my death, you must give me a grand funeral and place me in the late emperor's mausoleum. This is the bond between mother and son we have shared over the years."
Empress Dowager Cheng instructed the palace maid beside her, saying solemnly, "Help the Consort up. Her father accompanied the late Emperor to An and died in the disaster. She is the descendant of a meritorious official, and she cannot bear such humiliation even in death."
The palace maid, pale-faced and timid, stepped forward to help Consort Cheng, as Jing Huaixu had not spoken.
When the palace maid arrived, the two eunuchs were unsure whether to release her or not.
"How dare you threaten His Majesty!"
After a long stalemate, a voice suddenly rang out from outside the hall. Everyone turned around and saw Empress Dowager Zheng walking in with her entourage, as if to show off her grandeur.
Jing Huaixu's commotion just now was quite significant, and Empress Dowager Zheng already knew what good things Yongshou Palace had done.
Once inside the palace, she was arrogant and took the opportunity to urge Jing Huaixu: "Your Majesty, Empress Dowager Cheng murdered Princess Jingyi. How can she continue to hold the position of Empress Dowager and be supported by you? You should depose her first."
Empress Dowager Zheng arrived suddenly, catching Jing Huaixu off guard: "Mother, what trouble have you caused?"
He could never believe that Empress Dowager Zheng had come to stand up for Jingyi; she was clearly taking the opportunity to dampen the spirits of Yongshou Palace.
Empress Dowager Zheng: "How could I have come to cause trouble?" She turned and glanced at Jingyi with a hint of affection, but her words were sarcastic.
"Look at my good granddaughter, she's been so filial to Sister Cheng since she was little, I never expected..."
Empress Dowager Cheng didn't say the second half of her sentence, but that was enough to convey the whole meaning.
Even if Jingyi has trusted the wrong Empress Dowager Cheng all these years, she will not turn around and like Empress Dowager Zheng. She will only snort coldly at Empress Dowager Zheng's words.
Empress Dowager Cheng knew she was in trouble and that Empress Dowager Zheng would surely come to laugh at her. Before she could speak, Consort Cheng suddenly sneered.
"Empress Dowager Zheng, you are just as bad as I am. Compared to my aunt, you will soon have a grandson-in-law who is as old as His Majesty. Aren't you even more despicable?"
Consort Cheng went from being shocked to panicked, and from panicked to frightened, until she finally heard Empress Dowager Cheng mention Jingshuo.
When Consort Cheng thought of her son's broken leg, and how he was now half-dead and half-crippled in bed, her heart was filled with despair.
She was already under immense pressure from others, and Consort Cheng was already suffering from the humiliation. Then, Empress Dowager Zheng suddenly visited and took advantage of her misfortune.
Consort Cheng's pent-up grievances and anger burst forth. She raised her eyebrows and complained to Jing Huaixu about the injustice: "Your Majesty, you have always been biased. You either love the eldest son or the youngest son."
"What has Shuo'er meant to you all these years? My Cheng family was once so famous, but it was only because the late emperor was arrogant and ran away to another country that he died a violent death in a foreign land."
"It is certainly a great disgrace for the corpse of a king to be burned under the city walls of another country. But what about my father and the soldiers who followed the late emperor to his death? Their corpses have all been lost."
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