Chapter 57: Eastern Palace Concubine
Yu Fei knew that truth would come out sooner or later, but he never expected that this day would come so soon.
On second thought, with the Queen's wisdom and prudence, if Jing Cang had not covered up for her everywhere before, the Queen would have known the truth about her entering the palace long ago.
But she was not afraid of meeting the emperor alone. Jing Cang had just been injured while blocking a knife for her. Unless the empress wanted to alienate the mother and son, she would not harm her at this critical moment.
Yu Fei arrived at Kunyi Palace and found Yu Shuang was also there.
When Yu Shuang saw her, she kowtowed to the queen and cried, "I colluded with Prince Ning and used a snake to hold the prince hostage. Prince Ning's army was defeated, and I assassinated my elder sister but accidentally injured the prince. All of this was instructed by Yu Fei. She threatened my aunt's life, and I was forced to do what she ordered."
Yu Fei: “…”
There is a huge pot in front of her. Could it be that she is imprisoning and assassinating herself?
Yu Shuang was wearing prison clothes, with dishevelled hair, and her fair face was covered with tears, and she cried as if she felt more wronged than Dou E.
"Since my elder sister learned that the same-rooted snake was ineffective, she has been worried day and night that the crown prince would be furious with her after knowing the truth. That's why she instigated a commoner girl to approach King Ning and tell others about the snake, so that King Ning, who already had ulterior motives, captured her and used her to force the crown prince to lose his power on his own initiative."
"Fortunately, the Crown Prince was wise and did not fall for the tricks of Ning Wang. He found out the truth about the tricks and led the army to restrain Ning Wang. Seeing the situation, my elder sister ordered me to pretend to assassinate Ning Wang if he failed. I didn't know why, so I had to do it. I didn't expect that my elder sister used love as a trap to lure the Crown Prince to protect her so that he would not want to attack her in the future."
She pounded her knees on the ground and could not get up. "My elder sister is evil-minded and is plotting to kill the prince. I do not want to be an accomplice to the evil anymore. I will expose her hypocritical face even if I die. Please understand, Your Majesty. Do not let such a witch bring disaster to the Eastern Palace and destroy the backbone of our dynasty."
Yu Fei finally opened his eyes to Yu Shuang, the scheming bitch.
She knew that if she stabbed the prince, she would be doomed, so she turned right into wrong and tried to drag her into the water as well.
She pondered for a moment and asked, "Yu Shuang, you said I asked you to approach Prince Ning and tell him that the Crown Prince and I were in collusion with the snake, then why did you go to the trouble of giving Dad a drug to ask about the snake?"
Yu Shuang responded very quickly, saying, "Prince Ning is suspicious and does not believe your one-sided statement, so he sent me to verify it with my father."
Yu Fei said, "If what you said is true, I am in league with you and Prince Ning, then why don't I follow Prince Ning's previous plan - stab the prince to death when he asks me to meet him outside the palace to prevent future troubles? After all, Prince Ning promised to save me and the prince is willing to sacrifice his life for me, so I don't think he will be on guard against me."
"With this shortcut in front of me, I must be stupid to choose your plan of 'waiting for Prince Ning's army to be defeated, I will use love as a trap and let you pretend to stab me, hoping that the prince will block the knife and kill him', which is a complicated and hopeless plan?"
Thinking of the hardship and pain of escaping from Jing Yi's clutches, she angrily said, "Because I disobeyed Prince Ning's orders, I was almost shot to death by him during my escape. If it weren't for the Crown Prince's foresight to threaten Prince Ning's entire palace and invite the Royal Concubine to persuade Prince Ning to surrender, I'm afraid I would be a corpse now."
She kowtowed to the queen and said, "Every word Yu Fei said is true. Prince Ning's subordinates knew about it, and the three armies saw it with their own eyes. Please investigate carefully, Your Majesty."
She glanced at Yu Shuang again and stroked her belly, "Sister, you may not know that the Crown Prince personally led the army to redress the injustice. Firstly, he killed his own relatives to uphold the law, and secondly, it was for the sake of the heir in my belly."
"No matter how many faults I have committed in the past, I gave birth to a royal grandson. I have no merits but I have worked hard. The Crown Prince is wise and magnanimous. How could he hold a grudge against me? Unless he wants his future children to hate him for killing their mother, causing unrest in the whole family."
Yu Shuang was shocked by Yu Fei's series of questions and rebuttals.
She was desperate and wanted to accuse Yu Fei of participating in treason and plotting to kill the prince. However, she did not expect that Yu Fei and Jing Yi had a previous relationship and she was pregnant with the royal child.
She could not think of any words to refute for a moment. She saw Yu Fei with his back straight and his chin raised high, as if he was about to transform from a pheasant into a phoenix and fly onto the phoenix tree to become a concubine in the East Palace and the emperor's favorite. But she herself died young and her grave was overgrown with weeds, which was so sad.
However, she had clearly saved the prince, but Yu Fei took credit for saving her life and also robbed her of the prosperous, happy life that originally belonged to her.
Yu Shuang glanced at Yu Fei's slender neck and thought to herself: It would be great if she could die with her. Then she would be able to rest in peace in the underworld.
She turned around and grabbed Yu Fei's neck!
“Cough… cough cough…”
Yu Fei had never seen such a madman who wanted to strangle her to death without saying anything. She tried desperately to pull at Yu Shuang's arms, but although this woman looked frail, her determination to die together with her made her strength not to be underestimated. Her arms were like iron clamps, and she could hardly move.
Fortunately, the Dali Temple Minister and his guards who were standing nearby stepped forward in time to restrain Yu Shuang. The Queen waved her hand and told them to drag the man away.
Yu Shuang's actions clearly proved her innocence, so the empress did not pursue the matter any further and asked the imperial physician to examine her.
Yu Fei said bitterly: "Your Majesty... Yu Fei is not pregnant."
She said that just now, using Jing Cang's excuse to scare Yu Shuang away.
The Queen turned a deaf ear to it and ordered the Imperial Physician to feel her pulse. The Imperial Physician's report was consistent with her own words, so the Queen asked, "Yu Fei, are you deceiving the Prince and lying about being pregnant?"
Yu Fei felt wronged in her heart. She had clearly told Jing Cang that she did not want to have a child for the time being, and he was just making up stories to save her personally.
Anyway, she was here to take the blame today. She whispered, "A few days ago, when I was in the East Palace, my period was late. I accidentally said that I would not have it. The prince might have heard it and believed it. Please punish me, Your Majesty."
He added, "I just made this up to expose Yu Shuang's lies."
The Queen didn't seem to want to make a big deal about this matter, so she changed the subject: "I already know about the various things you did to the Crown Prince in Shu County, but last time Yang Zhi brought people to expose you, I questioned you, but you just flattered your words and refused to admit it. Can you take responsibility for this crime of deceiving the emperor?"
Yu Fei thought anxiously. If the Queen really wanted to investigate this matter, she could just order someone to drag her away and punish her, without wasting time on confirming with her. The Queen did this because she was forgiving her for Jing Cang's sake.
She suddenly had an idea and said hesitantly, "It was the prince who ordered me to do this. He was afraid that you and His Majesty would worry, so he told me not to tell anyone that he had a parasite at any time or in any place. I resorted to this desperate measure that day to conceal the truth. I was hesitant. If you and His Majesty asked him about it, he would tell me to keep it a secret and he would be responsible for any consequences."
The queen glanced at her and said sarcastically, "You are very quick-witted and eloquent. No wonder you have tricked the prince into a state of confusion and sacrificed yourself for others."
Seeing the queen's reaction, Yu Fei should have guessed that she was talking nonsense, but Jing Cang would cover for her, and the queen could do nothing about it.
When a person is angry, flattery never wears out. She flattered: "It is because of the beautiful and graceful palace that Yu Fei's spirit has been cultivated. With the guidance of the prince and the queen, I am not so unpresentable."
"The Crown Prince is very busy with his official duties, and Yu Fei is powerless. He can only tell him some strange stories when he is tired to cheer him up. Moreover, the Crown Prince has the whole world in his heart and loves the people like his own children. If it was any woman or child in danger today, I think the Crown Prince would stand up for them. Your Majesty is so kind-hearted, and it is a credit to you and a blessing to the people."
The queen looked down at her in silence for a long while before she said, "I say you have some ability, but you're still selling it out."
Yu Fei was embarrassed.
The Queen said sternly: "Let's put aside the crime of deceiving the emperor, but you should be punished according to the law for your past acts of harming and plotting against the Crown Prince."
Yu Fei knew that it would be difficult to turn the page on this matter in front of the Emperor and Empress, so she stammered, "The Crown Prince said that he would not pursue the past with me."
The queen's eyes immediately became as sharp as a blade, as if she wanted to cut off her neck.
She fell to the ground and said, "Please punish me, Your Majesty. But the Crown Prince was injured by Yu Fei, and I feel guilty. I also hope to serve him until he is healthy. Please spare my life, Your Majesty."
The queen thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "I will punish you by making you his concubine in the Eastern Palace."