Seeing the doubt in the emperor's eyes, Song Qu did not delay any longer and told the results of the investigation: "Your Majesty, I have used all kinds of torture, but Fang Cui's words remain unchanged.
As for the poison found in her room, she said that because she shared a bunk bed with several other palace maids, she had never found a chance to dispose of it.
Hearing this, Gu Qilan thought for a moment and said, "Is there anything unusual in Fang Cui's home?"
Song Qu knew that the emperor meant to ask whether her family had been coerced, so she insisted on saying this.
"Your Majesty, I sent someone to investigate Fang Cui's family outside the palace. She only has two younger brothers and elderly parents at home. They are all honest and decent people. There has been no unusual behavior recently, so she is not under any coercion."
Gu Qilan nodded lightly and said nothing more. After a while, he signaled Song Qu to deal with the man. He could go through all the tortures in the torture chamber and still not change his words. Since he was not coerced or held captive,
Then the truth can only be what she said, and no matter how much you ask, you won't get anything out of it, so there's no point in keeping it.
The death of Concubine Xin was thus decided, the culprit was executed, and the matter gradually subsided.
Half a month later, the harem returned to its previous state, and Concubine Xin's death did not cause any ripples.
She came from an ordinary family and was not favored. She had been demoted to a noble lady because of her mistakes before. The death of a small noble lady would not have a big impact.
If she hadn't given birth to the second prince, no one would have remembered her.
But now the second prince who people remember her is the child of Queen Chu, not the child of Concubine Xin Zhao. Oh no, now she has been posthumously named Concubine Xin, but what is the use of posthumous honors?
Perhaps considering the Queen's successive loss of children, the Emperor had issued an edict five days ago to register the Second Prince under the Queen's name and to have him engraved with the Royal Jade Butterfly. The Second Prince was now the Queen Chu's child.
In Fengluan Palace, the Queen was enjoying an elegant lunch. Looking at the exquisite and delicious dishes on the table, she said to Rong Xin, "Send this fragrant duck and that drunken crab to the Second Prince. I remember he loves them the most."
Rong Xin smiled and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty truly loves the Second Prince."
The Queen said as a matter of course: "I am his biological mother, it is not natural for me to love him."
Rong Xin hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, this is how it should be between mother and son."
"Okay, go quickly. You still have to do your homework after eating breakfast. Remember to tell him when you go there to study hard and do your homework well." The queen advised.
Although she had to raise the second prince out of helplessness, his talent was really mediocre. This could only urge him to be more diligent. Diligence can make up for lack of talent. As long as he is diligent and motivated, it doesn't matter if he lacks talent.
As long as the eldest son does not make any serious mistakes, all the ministers in the court will support him.
Thinking of this, she thought of her own intelligent, obedient, sensible, steady and motivated Cheng Xuanlai, her biological eldest son, who was killed by someone!
She could not let go of this grudge even if she died, even though the imperial physician said that Chengxuan died due to his weak body and long-term cold.
But she has always been carefully taken care of, with someone watching over her every day. Yet she still caught a cold and remained ill for a long time. She strongly suspected that someone had done something to her, but it had not been discovered yet.
As for her Chengxuan's weak body, it was because of the previous poisoning incident. The person who did it has not been found out yet. How could she accept this?
Thinking of the Xiao family who killed the dragon fetus in her womb, could it be that she was also the one who killed her eldest prince? Could it be that she knew that her previous miscarriage was caused by her, the queen?
Thinking about the palace maid who entered the Ruiguo Mansion, the Empress Dowager's family, and the little eunuch who was backed by the palace maids around the Empress Dowager, all this couldn't be a coincidence!
Did Xiao discover all this and therefore kill her unborn child? Then, could it be that she was also responsible for the death of her eldest prince?
When the Emperor punished Xiao, he only discovered that she had harmed the Empress's unborn child. (He never revealed why Xiao had harmed the Empress's unborn child, so the Empress was unaware that Xiao had told the Emperor that her miscarriage was not caused by the Princess accidentally hitting her, but rather by the Empress herself.)
Regardless of whether it is true or not, Xiao is dead. Anyone who dares to harm her child and go against her does not deserve to live!
Now that everything is over, it’s time for Xiao in the cold palace to go to hell!
Thinking of this, the queen whispered some instructions to Rong Xin.
Rong Xin remained calm after hearing this. Xiao from the cold palace dared to harm her master, so she deserved to be put to death.
The queen and her servants planned to kill Xiao in the cold palace, but the seemingly simple task ended in failure for the queen's people.
On the morning of the second day, when the Queen was preparing to have breakfast, Rong Xin suddenly rushed into the bedroom. As soon as she entered, she signaled the palace servants to go down first.
After everyone left, Rong Xin said to the Queen who was sitting in front of the mirror, "Queen, this is bad. The people we sent to the cold palace didn't succeed."
When the Queen saw Rong Xin's actions after she came in, she knew what had happened, but she didn't expect it to be this. In her opinion, it would be easy for her, a Queen, to kill a guilty concubine in the cold palace, but she didn't expect that she would fail?
The queen became serious and looked straight at Rong Xin.
Rong Xin did not delay and said hurriedly: "I will follow your instructions, Madam, and have Guard Chu dress up as a eunuch and go to the cold palace at night when no one is paying attention to hang Xiao to death, making it look like she hanged herself.
But Guard Chu had just reached the cold palace, and before he could even climb inside, he was discovered. Afraid of exposing the Empress's plan, he didn't dare to argue with the man and quickly ran away.
After Xiao was banished to the cold palace, the emperor ordered trusted palace maids to take care of her food, so it was impossible to tamper with her food.
The Queen wanted to have Guard Chu go to the cold palace and hang someone, and then make it look like she committed suicide. She was just a guilty concubine in the cold palace, and no one would investigate it deeply. This way, it would be perfect.
But who knew that they would be discovered? The Queen frowned slightly and asked in surprise, "Someone is secretly protecting the cold palace?"
Guard Chu is a distant nephew from her mother's side. After entering the palace as a guard, he was promoted by her all the way and is her man. The kid is very skilled and has been in the palace for several years. He is very familiar with the patrol deployments in various parts of the palace.
Besides, there were no guards guarding the cold palace, and even the patrollers stayed away from it. However, Guard Chu was discovered near the cold palace by someone, and that person must be protecting the cold palace in secret.
Thinking of this, the queen's face became serious. No one would care about the affairs of the cold palace, and the emperor would never ask about it. You could tell from the fact that she had killed Liu without anyone noticing.
But this time, someone is protecting her. Who is this person? Could it be the emperor? Does the emperor want to protect the Xiao family?
But the emperor obviously doesn't like Xiao, and Xiao is the murderer who killed her unborn child and is a criminal. Why does the emperor still protect her?
The Queen pondered, because she was the Princess of Western Chu, if she died, the two countries would inevitably conflict, and it was not convenient for the Great Jin to start a war again...
But how could the emperor know that someone would want to kill Xiao? Was it not enough that she was demoted to a commoner, but he also wanted to kill Xiao?
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