The news of Yunyi's pregnancy spread throughout the entire harem, and even the entire court knew about it.
His Majesty currently has only one son, the First Prince. Now that the Empress is pregnant, if she can give birth to a legitimate son, it would be a great event that the whole country would rejoice over.
Therefore, both the imperial court and the harem paid close attention to Yunyi's pregnancy.
When Niohuru learned that Nara was pregnant, she was extremely angry and smashed many things to calm her anger.
"You vile woman, that vile woman Nara, why have you risen step by step to become Empress and pregnant, while I can only be an unfavored concubine? Why!"
Even though there was something inside the bracelet that I gave to Nara, she wore it for more than ten years and it still didn't harm her health. Now, she's gotten pregnant smoothly after only a few years. She's really lucky.
As the saying goes, jealousy drives people crazy. Niohuru no longer cared about anything else and directly summoned Wei to frame the Empress.
Wei was a palace maid in Yunyi Palace, so after becoming a concubine, she also lived in Chengqian Palace.
Outsiders all thought that the Empress wanted to keep Consort Wei around to torment her, but in fact, Yunyi thought that keeping Wei Shuyan in her palace would make it easier for Niohuru to make her move.
"Your Majesty, rest assured, I understand. I will handle this matter perfectly and will absolutely not implicate you."
With Wei's guarantee, Niohuru was very satisfied and gave Wei some of her treasured jewelry as a reward.
"This hairpin was bestowed upon you by the Empress Dowager years ago. It is extremely precious and is now being given to you. If you handle this matter well, there will be further rewards later. You will not be treated unfairly."
She knew this matter would be difficult, since too many people were paying attention to Nara's pregnancy, making it hard to take action. That's why she went to great lengths to get Wei to do everything she could for her.
The next day, during the greeting, Wei Shuyan told Yunyi everything that had happened the night before.
At this moment, only Yun Yi and Wei Shuyan were in the hall; Lian Rongxin was not there either, so the words just now could not be transmitted.
Leaning back in her chair, Yun Yi lowered her head and pondered what to do. After a long while, she finally came up with an idea and gave instructions to Wei Shuyan below her.
"You should first pretend to agree to Niohuru's words, and when you get the evidence, go and report Niohuru to Emperor Qianlong, and treat this matter as a pledge of loyalty."
"That weakness of yours is a ticking time bomb. Rather than living in constant fear, it's better to expose it directly so you won't have any worries later."
Having been branded with loyalty, Wei Shuyan naturally agreed to whatever Yun Yi said, so she didn't refuse now. "Master is right, I understand."
The reason why Wei Shuyan was controlled by Niohuru was because when she first entered the palace, she used a scheme to successfully send her to the Empress's palace.
Because of this incident, her situation in Changchun Palace was not good, and she was often ostracized by the other palace maids.
Once, Wei Shuyan was falsely accused by the palace maids of doing a poor job and was punished by the matron, almost being expelled from Changchun Palace. She then had bad intentions.
She eventually devised a plan to get rid of these palace maids, but Niohuru saw it and left evidence.
As a lowly palace maid, she caused the deaths of several other palace maids. If this were to come to light, she would certainly not have a good ending.
That's why she has been controlled by Niohuru all these years, and has been completely obedient to her.
However, Yunyi already knew about Wei Shuyan's affairs after she put on the loyalty talisman.
So she switched the evidence beforehand, so even if Niohuru wanted to continue threatening Wei Shuyan later, it wouldn't work.
A month later, seeing that Nara's pregnancy was getting better and better, Wei still couldn't find an opportunity to make a move, so Niohuru summoned Wei Shuyan over again.
This time she was really anxious, so she took a bottle of poison and gave it to Wei, telling her to put it into Nara's mouth when the time was right.
What she didn't know was that Wei Shuyan had already betrayed her and was now working for her mortal enemy, the Nara clan.
The night before, Wei Shuyan obtained the poison from Niohuru, and the next day, when Emperor Qianlong came over, she told him everything.
This included the fact that she had ulterior motives for entering the palace back then, and that she was able to enter Empress Xiaoxian's Changchun Palace because of the arrangements she made in advance.
Upon hearing Consort Wei's words, Emperor Qianlong was first shocked, then enraged.
He hadn't expected that Niohuru would still be so persistent and even dare to attack Nara. It seemed that Niohuru could not be allowed to live.
Last time they let her go only because of the Empress Dowager and the Niohuru family; this time, there's no room for leniency.
While thinking of Niohuru, Qianlong felt much more gratified when facing Consort Wei, and he gently helped her up.
For him, Wei's purposeful reason for entering the palace did not anger or disgust him; on the contrary, it greatly satisfied his chauvinistic ego.
Moreover, Lady Wei was gentle and considerate, and her appearance was extremely beautiful and graceful. Because she had served in Xiaoxian Palace, her behavior and mannerisms resembled those of Empress Xiaoxian, which made Emperor Qianlong extremely fond of her.
Following Wei Shuyan's accusation, Emperor Qianlong sent Li Yu to investigate, and they indeed discovered that Wei Guiren had submitted the same poison in her palace.
With the evidence now conclusive, Emperor Qianlong went directly to Yanxi Palace to see what else Empress Niohuru had to say.
Faced with Qianlong's questioning, Niohuru refused to believe that Wei dared to betray her. She stubbornly defended herself, saying, "Your Majesty, I am innocent. It was Consort Wei who slandered me."
"Hmph! Even now, you still dare to argue? The evidence is irrefutable. Do you think I can't tell the difference?"
Emperor Qianlong shook off Niohuru's hand, which was about to grab the hem of his clothes, and sternly reprimanded her a few times. Then he threw the evidence in front of Niohuru.
He looked at the evidence in disbelief. It did indeed contain the poison he had given to Wei, and the entire process of how he obtained the poison was clearly written down.
She slumped to the ground, speechless for a long time; her usually quick-witted mouth seemed to have run out of things to say.
Now that things had come to this, Niohuru knew very well that she could not escape.
Hmph, Wei, if you dare betray me, don't blame me for dragging you down with me. I can only be happy with you by my side.
With these thoughts in mind, Lady Niohuru, her face streaked with tears, said to Emperor Qianlong, "Your Majesty, I have something else to say. Consort Wei is not what you imagine her to be. She entered the palace with ulterior motives."
"If she hadn't bribed the palace matron who assigned personnel, how could she have been assigned to Empress Xiaoxian's Changchun Palace?"
As she spoke, Niohuru observed Qianlong's expression. Seeing that he showed no unusual reaction, she spoke her last sentence quite loudly.
"Consort Wei is a ruthless person. She was only fifteen or sixteen years old when she plotted to kill several palace maids because they were ostracized by her. Your Majesty, you must keep your eyes open and not be deceived by her."
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