Chapter 295 Audience with His Majesty
When Yan Shishu heard the noise outside, her face suddenly changed and her heart sank to the bottom.
"No! Let's go!" She growled, pulling Xie Zhenrong and striding towards the window.
However, before the two of them took two steps, the already shaky palace door was kicked open by a huge force.
"Bang—Crack—Crack!"
The biting cold wind carried icy snow foam and rushed in like a flood breaking through a dam.
The remaining lamp in the hall was suddenly shrunken by the strong wind, and the flame was almost extinguished.
The burly figure of Zhang Sicheng, commander of the Imperial Guard, was blocking the door.
He was wearing black armor, and his shoulders were covered with unmelted snow. Behind him were several fully armed guards with cold and hard faces. The murderous atmosphere instantly filled the small space.
Zhang Sicheng's eyes swept across the hall and instantly locked onto Yan Shishu.
There was no surprise in his eyes, only the coldness of business as usual.
"Your humble servant greets Her Royal Highness Princess Taiping. His Majesty has decreed that Her Royal Highness and...Mrs. Xie, please proceed to the Imperial Study for an audience immediately."
Yan Shishu was extremely angry.
If I miss today, it will be harder than climbing to the sky to take Zhen Rong out of this cold palace!
Xie Zhenrong, who had been in low spirits, suddenly had a startling light in his eyes when he heard the words "The Emperor's Study is here to see His Majesty", as if a dying man had grasped the last straw.
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty is finally willing to see me!"
She murmured, her voice shrill and trembling with emotion.
She suddenly broke free from Yan Shishu's hand and looked around anxiously, her eyes finally falling on the bronze mirror covered with dust and with a blurred figure.
The disheveled and ragged figure reflected in the mirror struck her like a bolt of lightning.
"Change clothes! Quick! Change clothes and dress me up!"
She screamed uncontrollably, scratching her dirty, smelly clothes with her skinny fingers.
"I can't... I can't go see His Majesty like this! Bai Tong! Where's Bai Tong?!"
Bai Tong, who was huddled in the side room and shivering, was frightened when he heard the shout, but he didn't dare to not come.
She ran over in a hurry and saw Zhang Sicheng and the imperial guards standing solemnly at the door. She was so frightened that her legs went weak and she knelt down in salute.
"Mother...Mother...Her Royal Highness...Commander Zhang..."
Yan Shishu shouted angrily, "Hurry up and serve... Her Majesty, tidy up your appearance!"
Bai Tong finally reacted and crawled to his feet, trying to help Xie Zhenrong.
Zhang Sicheng looked at this scene with a frown on his face.
He urged in a deep voice, "Your Highness, His Majesty has been waiting for a long time, please do not delay any longer!"
Several guards behind him took a step forward silently, their hands pressing on the hilts of their swords. The friction sound of their cold armor was particularly harsh in the silence, and their intentions were self-evident.
"How dare you!" Yan Shishu was furious and shouted at him.
"You appear before the Emperor in such a state, are you trying to make the Empress lose her composure in front of the Emperor, and add another serious offense, 'disrespect before the Emperor'?! If this angers the Emperor, and His Majesty blames you, Zhang Sicheng, how will you handle this?"
Zhang Sicheng's throat rolled over, and he really wanted to say that Xie was no longer the queen, but when he saw Xie Zhenrong's disgusting appearance, he swallowed it back.
It is indeed inappropriate to let the emperor see such a "deposed queen".
His lips moved, and he finally gave in, but his tone remained firm.
"Please hurry and prepare. Half an incense stick is the limit. If you delay any further, don't blame me for offending you!"
Yan Shishu snorted coldly: "I know."
…
In the side hall of the imperial study, the charcoal fire burned silently, but the air was as stagnant as a frozen lake, so heavy that it made it hard to breathe.
Yan Shixu sat high on the dragon throne, his face as cold and gloomy as the weather outside the palace, which was covered with leaden clouds and about to snow.
His eyes slowly swept over the people who were being escorted by the Royal Guards and kneeling on the ground below:
On the left were the anxious and pale-faced Duke of Rong, Xie Heqi, his ex-wife Chen, and several illegitimate sons.
They all knelt straight, not daring to look up.
On the right was Duke Wen Liu Bingwen, who had also been urgently summoned and was forcing himself to remain calm, as well as more than twenty of his children and grandchildren.
Liu Bingwen glanced at his eldest daughter-in-law Zhang, who was so frightened that she almost collapsed on the ground.
Then he looked at the Xie family and saw his granddaughter Liu Ziling, who was holding her husband Xie Zhenbao's sleeve tightly.
The ominous premonition in his heart grew wildly like poison ivy, almost bursting through his chest and making him unstable.
In the corner, there were kneeling Doctor Luo, with a pale face and shaking like a leaf in the autumn wind, and the Queen's personal maid Luoxia.
Xie Zhenrong knelt alone at the front of the two groups, facing the throne.
She lowered her head deeply, her scattered hair covering most of her face, and her eyes were fixed on the shiny gold brick floor below her knees, as if she wanted to burn through it.
No one knew what she was thinking at the moment, but they could see that her body was shaking uncontrollably, slightly but continuously.
Xie Zhenrong was indeed seized by great fear at this moment.
On the way from the cold palace, the biting cold wind and the cold eyes of the guards made her confused mind clearer.
She thought about it over and over again and finally made up her mind.
When she saw the emperor, she immediately knelt at his feet and cried and admitted her mistake.
She admitted that she had not been strict with her subordinates and begged him to forgive her this time for the sake of their seven years of marriage.
Now that her wet nurse has taken the blame for her, she can't get herself involved.
As long as she doesn't admit that she was the one who poisoned him, and gets her father to plead for her, she'll have a chance of regaining her position...
After all, as long as she is still the queen, her father is still the father-in-law of the emperor, and the Xie family is still a foreign relative! The benefits that the entire Xie family can gain are immeasurable.
Although my father was loyal to the emperor and patriotic, he was also well versed in political strategies and knew what to do.
What's more, the emperor has to rely on his father to lead the troops, and there are not many capable and battle-hardened generals in the court.
Although my father wasn't as powerful as King Wu, he was still on par with General Luo and was highly regarded by the Emperor...
This is her last bargaining chip!
However, when she was escorted into the main hall, she saw everyone from the Rongguo Mansion and the Wenguo Mansion kneeling on the ground, including Liu Ziling and Xie Zhenbao.
Her fragile hope, which had just been built up, collapsed in an instant.
A chill rushed from the soles of her feet straight to her head, making her feel like she was falling into an icy cave.
The child’s matter has been exposed?
Yan Shishu stood aside, watching Xie Zhenrong kneeling silently, like a clay statue that had lost its soul, not knowing how to defend himself at all.
She was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
But the suffocating atmosphere in the hall and the cold and gloomy expression on the emperor's face made her keenly aware that the seriousness of the situation was far beyond her imagination.
She could only suppress her anxiety, hold her breath, and not dare to act rashly.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Yan Shixu turned his gaze to Wen Wanqin who was sitting beside the imperial desk and nodded slightly.
Wen Wanqin received the emperor's signal and calmly took a step forward, standing in front of the imperial desk, facing the people kneeling below.
She has a slender and upright figure, and in this solemn and depressing atmosphere, she carries a heart-pounding calm power that is like the coming storm.
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