When Concubine Xiao heard that the emperor still asked about this matter, a meaningful smile appeared on her lips. She did not answer but asked: "If the emperor catches the murderer behind this, what will he do with him?"
Gu Qilan said in a cold tone: "Those who plotted to murder the heir to the throne should be punished!"
Concubine Xiao's smile deepened: "Really? Your Majesty, please don't break your promise."
Gu Qilan frowned slightly: "My words are as good as gold, so they are naturally true."
"That's good." After saying this, Concubine Xiao stood up, put on her clothes and got out of bed. She took out a small box from the corner of the bedroom. She opened the box, took out a stack of papers and handed it to the emperor on the bed.
Gu Qilan took the stack of papers and opened it, and found that it was a confession.
Looking at the unfamiliar name on it, Gu Qilan frowned and read the content, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
He suddenly looked up at Concubine Xiao, who calmly poured him a cup of tea. He took a sip and said, "That's right, my miscarriage that day was not an accident, but man-made!"
After a pause, Concubine Xiao continued, "This confession was from Ying'er, the maidservant who served the Grand Princess that day. Ying'er was bribed. When she saw me leaving the palace banquet, she persuaded the Grand Princess to leave as well.
It was all done to make the Grand Princess and me meet, and then after we met, I pretended to be unsteady and pushed the Grand Princess onto the water that had been poured on the road, causing her to lose her balance and crash into me!"
As she spoke, Concubine Xiao took out another confession: "This is the confession of Xiao Fuzi, a young eunuch who was in charge of cleaning the Qingzheng Hall that day. He was also bribed.
I poured water on that necessary road, and then cleaned up the water stains after something happened!"
And all this was done by the Queen!
All the confessions pointed to the Queen. Of course, the Queen would not leave any evidence against these bribed people.
Ying'er, the maidservant beside the eldest princess, was sent back to the Imperial Household Department after the eldest princess was sent out of the palace. The queen decided to expel her from the palace on the grounds that she had not served the princess well enough.
The queen originally wanted to send someone to kill her to prevent future troubles, but she didn't know that Ying'er was a smart person and she was bribed by the queen out of helplessness.
She and her brother lived in her uncle's house. Her uncle's family was not kind to her and her sister. After being sent to the palace, the only person she was concerned about was her brother. The queen used her brother as a threat to bribe her.
But she had been in the palace since she was a child, and was well aware of the secret methods used in the palace. When the Queen sent someone to find her, although she had no choice but to agree, she still kept her guard up just in case and kept all the evidence that the Queen's people were contacting her.
After leaving the palace, she immediately sent her younger brother to work as a servant at the Ruiguo Mansion, where her cousin, with whom she was engaged, worked.
She also quickly contacted her cousin who worked in the Ruiguo Mansion. The two had been engaged since childhood and agreed to get married after she was released from the palace at the age of 25.
When she was sent out of the palace this time, her cousin did not despise her, and the two got married immediately. Ying'er immediately went to work at the Ruiguo Mansion, the Empress Dowager's family, with her newly married cousin and brother.
She was sent out of the palace for her fault, and most people would not want her to work there, but she followed her husband, and she was willing to lower herself to be a servant.
In addition, her cousin was doing a good job in the Duke of Rui's Mansion, so he told the steward above him to find a job as a servant for his wife, and the steward would naturally not object.
The Queen's people didn't expect Ying'er to act so quickly. It only took three days from leaving the palace to entering the Duke of Rui's Mansion, and it was all done in secret.
Even when getting married, the two families would privately exchange engagement letters and hold a banquet at home, and that would be considered the wedding, without inviting anyone.
The Queen was afraid of attracting attention so she decided to wait a while before getting rid of Ying'er. This made Ying'er's plan go smoothly. By the time the Queen's people reacted, Ying'er and the others had already entered the Duke of Rui's Mansion.
Although the Duke of Rui's Mansion had no real power, it was the Empress Dowager's family after all. The Queen naturally did not dare to act rashly. Although she was extremely angry, she could only send people to keep an eye on Ying'er and prevent her from contacting others, but she could not get rid of her directly.
It was not until Concubine Xiao came to her senses after her miscarriage and sent people to investigate the matter that she noticed Ying'er and contacted her secretly. Ying'er later accidentally found out who had been watching her and was worried all day long. Now that someone was willing to help her, she was naturally overjoyed.
And there was the little eunuch Xiao Fuzi. Ever since the incident at the banquet in the Qingzheng Hall that day, all the palace servants who were responsible for cleaning the main hall that day were punished and eventually thrown into the Xinzheku to do hard labor.
Chang Pei, the former maidservant of the Queen, was sent to the Xinzheku for making a mistake. The Queen then asked Chang Pei to keep an eye on the little Fuzi and get rid of him after the incident had passed.
Unexpectedly, Concubine Xiao found out about the palace maid Ying'er. After knowing this matter, she designed a plan to let Xiao Fuzi accidentally help a eunuch with some reputation around the empress dowager, and thus became friends with the eunuch around the empress dowager.
In this way, the little Fuzi would catch the eunuch's eye and he would take better care of her. In this way, it would not be easy for Chang Pei to get rid of the little Fuzi quietly without any trouble.
It is easy to solve the problem, but if the eunuch in the Empress Dowager's palace finds out, there is no guarantee that he will not ask about it. He may find out something, and then Xiao Fuzi cannot be eliminated at will.
At that time, Concubine Xiao could have directly transferred Xiao Fuzi to her side or to another safe place, but doing so would be very obvious and might alert the enemy.
Concubine Xiao didn't want to let the Queen know so quickly that she already knew the truth, so she used this roundabout method.
She found out that it was the Queen's doing a few months after she had the miscarriage, but the Queen was pregnant at the time and her position was stable. If she had said it directly and brought out the confessions of Ying'er and Xiao Fuzi, it would not have caused much harm to the Queen.
Dare to kill her child, and make her unable to get pregnant again, she will definitely make the queen suffer ten or a hundred times more than herself to relieve her hatred!
After hearing what Concubine Xiao said, Gu Qilan glanced at the confession in his hand again. Thoughts were surging in his mind, but the most overwhelming thing was the endless anger.
He had never expected that the empress would actually harm the royal heirs. He had been married to the empress for more than ten years, and she had always been dignified and virtuous. The empress was also the biological mother of all the royal heirs.
All the children have been born safely over the years. Why would he suddenly want to harm the royal heir in Concubine Xiao's belly?
He couldn’t understand... Queen, your virtue is really lacking!
But looking at Concubine Xiao's calm face, and thinking of what she said when she invited him here today, Gu Qilan's mind gradually became clear.
"So, the clue you're talking about is you yourself?" Although Gu Qilan asked a question, his tone was full of certainty.
It was Concubine Xiao who knew that her miscarriage was not accidental but man-made, and that it was the Queen who did it. So, the Queen's premature birth and difficult labor that caused the dragon fetus in her belly to suffocate and die was caused by Concubine Xiao?!
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