Chapter 178 Escape
The emperor paused and turned around.
"Queen, I have given you many chances."
He said in a deep voice.
"The Crown Prince has committed immorality and tortured and killed young children. I have not deposed you."
"The Ruifeng Society caused chaos, the Crown Prince fled, and I did not depose you."
"Yongning treated human life as worthless, crushed civilians, and domestically abused his son-in-law, yet I still didn't depose you."
"I have shown mercy to you time and again, considering the bond between husband and wife is like a hundred days of grace. But how have you treated me?"
"From the moment that embroidered screen was carried out of Fengyi Palace to the moment it was presented to me, only people from Fengyi Palace handled it. And now you want to tell me that you have nothing to do with that skull?"
"You've been in charge of the harem for many years, but you can't even control your own palace maids, allowing someone to take advantage of the opportunity and tamper with the birthday gift you presented to me?"
"In your eyes, I am not even as good as a three-year-old child?"
"Queen, you really disappoint me."
He lowered his head and looked at the queen, his face full of the alienation of looking at a stranger.
The Queen burst into tears, "Your Majesty, you treat me with all your heart, and I treat you with the same sincerity. The love we've shared as husband and wife for so many years is engraved in my heart day and night. How could I possibly tamper with a birthday gift?"
"I am wronged!"
A hint of sarcasm flashed across the emperor's eyes.
"Unjust? When the 'Children's Lantern' was found in the Crown Prince's bedroom, you also cried out for justice. You and your son love such a sinister object so deeply, how can I trust you?"
He glanced coldly at the queen, turned around and strode away.
The queen stood there, her heart growing colder and colder.
The summer cicadas were chirping on the branches, but she could not feel any warmth. She only felt bleak, as if she was in a world of ice and snow.
But the chill only lasted for a moment before she woke up.
Walk quickly towards Fengyi Palace.
There were too many things that needed to be dealt with in Fengyi Palace, and she had to arrange them before the decree to depose the queen came down.
However, it was still too late.
As soon as she arrived at the gate of Fengyi Palace, she saw the eunuch Zheng Gonggong, who was in charge of writing, standing at the door holding the imperial edict.
"...Queen Han, instead of being gentle and respectful, has resorted to cunning schemes, concealing a curse on the embroidered screen. Under the guise of celebrating a birthday, she is actually performing a curse."
"The Way of Heaven is clear and unmistakable; how can it tolerate demons and monsters?"
"I hereby decide: The Empress's seal and seal will be stripped from her, and she will be demoted to a commoner; she will be exiled to the Fanghua Palace and cannot leave unless she is dead; her mother's family will not be allowed to take the imperial examinations for three generations..."
After announcing the decree, Eunuch Zheng put away the imperial edict.
"Come here, send Han Shuren to Fanghua Palace."
Han Fuxue gritted her teeth and said, "Eunuch, please allow me a moment... I will return to the palace to pack some clothes before heading to Fanghua Palace."
Eunuch Zheng had a blank expression on his face.
"The clothes in Fengyi Palace are all of the empress's rank. Commoners are not allowed to usurp the right to wear them. Fanghua Palace has already provided clothes and bedding for Commoner Han, so there is no need to worry."
Han Fuxue could only wink at the palace maid who was standing panicked not far away.
—Hide the carrier pigeon.
The palace maid looked at her in amazement, not knowing whether she understood or not.
The eunuchs brought by Eunuch Zheng had already stepped forward and tried to forcibly take her away.
"Ben…I can walk on my own."
Han Fuxue turned indifferently and walked towards the Fanghua Palace, also known as the cold palace, located in the most remote corner of the imperial palace.
After the crown prince was deposed, she came to Fanghua Palace to see him.
I never thought that it would be my turn to move in.
The layout here is as simple as a monk's dormitory. Apart from tables, chairs, beds, bedding, pillows and a few sets of plain clothes, there is not even an extra teacup.
If it weren't for the jewelry on her body, she wouldn't even have the money to bribe the palace servants and inquire about Fengyi Palace.
But what we heard was also bad news.
All the palace maids in Fengyi Palace were taken into the Ye Ting, and all the items in the palace were put into the inner treasury.
The cage of carrier pigeons that she had carefully cared for had been sent to the imperial kitchen and became a meal for some greedy eunuchs.
Although she had planted many snares in other palaces, the servants in the harem were used to changing their attitudes according to the situation. Now that they saw her in trouble, it was a good thing that they did not betray their master and go to another place.
Don't expect them to work hard.
She can only rely on herself.
After thinking all night in bed, she fell into a deep sleep and woke up in the afternoon.
Her throat was very dry, so she licked her lips and did not drink the tea brought by the palace servants, nor did she eat the food they brought her.
Instead, she exchanged the rubies on her ears for a few raw eggs from the palace maids.
He suppressed his nausea and swallowed the egg liquid.
Then he took down the gray-yellow linen bed curtains and took them outside to scrape off the mud and wall plaster until they were pitch black.
During this time, the palace servant guarding the palace gate came in and took a look at her, looking at her as if she were a madman.
She ignored it.
I went back to my room and slept for another two hours. I estimated that it was already midnight.
Walking to the temple door, he called softly, "I'm a little hungry. Can you give me something to eat?"
The palace maid was sleeping soundly when she interrupted her. She was about to curse when she heard her say, "I'll exchange the jade bracelet on my hand."
The anger disappeared immediately.
He stretched his hand through the crack of the door and tried to take the jade bracelet.
She whispered, "The jade bracelet is a little tight, I can't take it off, please help me take it off."
The palace maid did not suspect anything, opened the door and walked into the hall, but did not see Han Fuxue.
Just as he was about to look for someone, he suddenly felt a sharp pain at the back of his head and immediately lost consciousness.
She took off the palace maid's clothes, shoes and accessories, dragged her to the inner hall, and stuffed a ball of rags into her mouth.
He pulled out the golden hairpin on his head and killed the palace maid.
Then she changed into palace maid's clothes, dressed up as a palace maid, and quietly left Fanghua Palace with the pitch-black bed curtains.
Having lived in the harem for more than 20 years, she was familiar with every corner here and easily found the Jingjun's manure cart.
The Jingjun was responsible for cleaning the palace toilets and collecting night incense.
The collected night-blooming incense is put into wooden barrels, covered with firewood and straw, and then covered with a wooden lid. It will be transported to the outskirts of Beijing by a dung cart and sold to dung collectors.
When passing through the palace gate, the guards would lift the lid to check, but the night incense was so smelly that they would not check carefully and would only take a quick glance.
As long as she can endure the filthiness, she will be able to hide the truth.
She seized the opportunity and took advantage of the time when Jingjun entered the yard to fill the night incense, and moved an empty bucket next to the wooden barrel that was already filled with night incense.
Then, enduring the stench, he took the straw and bed curtains, crawled into the dung bucket, and closed the lid.
The dung bucket is more than half a person's height, so to hide in it, you have to curl up into a ball.
She struggled to cover the bed curtain with straw, then covered the bed curtain over her head, gritted her teeth, and waited quietly.
After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, the cleaning army finished loading the feces, carried it out, put all the feces buckets onto the cart, and drove to the palace gate.
When the guards checked her, she held her breath and didn't dare to breathe at all.
Afraid of being noticed.
Fortunately, she was lucky. The guard only lifted the lid of the bucket slightly, took a look, and then put it down immediately.
Her heart fell back to where it was.
The manure cart took nearly an hour to travel from the palace gate to the suburbs.
Every moment was like torture to her.
But thinking of the upcoming victory, she gritted her teeth and endured it again and again.
Finally, the manure cart stopped.
She was moved to the ground.
The manure cart left.
She clenched her fists and heard the dung man pour two buckets of dung into the cesspool, and then left with his family who were looking for him.
Only then did he move his stiff hands and feet, push open the lid of the barrel, and raise his head.
Just as I took a breath of fresh air, I heard a voice from above: "Your Majesty is truly able to endure what ordinary people cannot endure, and to suffer what ordinary people cannot endure. It is truly admirable."
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