Concubine Shu looked at the genuine nine-tailed phoenix hairpin in her hand. She looked in the mirror before going out today and saw that there were still only five tails.
Now at the palace banquet, it has turned into a nine-tailed beast.
She knew that she must have been tricked. Over the past decade or so, the concubines in the harem had been completely submissive under her control, and those old men didn't dare to harm her at all.
It must have been Su Zhaoyi who did this to me. She was the one who exposed me just now.
Gu Chengzuo snorted coldly, and Concubine Shu stopped thinking about it. She quickly knelt down and cried out that she was wronged.
But she didn't know when Su Zhaoyi harmed her. If she accused Su Zhaoyi without any evidence, given how favored Su Zhaoyi was, the emperor would probably only get angrier and punish her more severely.
She glanced at her trusted maid Xiuyu, and Xiuyu understood what she meant.
Xiuyu looked at Concubine Shu crazily:
"I have been with you in the palace for more than ten years. I love the emperor and want to serve him, but you have blocked my way. I am taking action today to make the emperor dislike you."
Shufei widened her eyes and looked at Xiuyu in disbelief, and then Xiuyu suddenly exploded and committed suicide by hitting her head against the pillar.
Shufei felt both grief-stricken and secretly relieved.
Xiuyu has done a lot of shameful things for me, and now she has died for me. I will treat her family well.
After Xiuyu confessed her guilt and committed suicide, Gu Chengzuo still punished Shufei for failing to supervise the servants and demoted her to Zhaoyuan.
Then Prime Minister Dai came out to plead for his daughter, saying frankly that it was not easy for Concubine Shu to assist the Empress Dowager in managing the harem, and even if she had no merits, she had worked hard.
Prime Minister Dai's disciples then made a petition, stating that the position of head of the harem had been vacant for many years, and now that the Empress Dowager was old, a queen was needed to manage harem affairs and raise the Emperor's children. As Concubine Shu had been in the palace for many years and had extensive experience, they requested that the Emperor make her the Empress.
Gu Chengzuo said in a deep voice, "As all the nobles have said, having children is important. Now among all the people in the harem, whoever gets pregnant first will be made queen."
When Prime Minister Dai saw that Gu Chengzuo spoke of the issue of offspring, he felt hesitant to continue writing the letter. However, they achieved their goal. At least the emperor did not want to give Concubine Shu the title of empress, so he felt embarrassed to demote Concubine Shu.
As long as Concubine Shu is still the highest-ranking person in Gu Chengzuo's harem, there is still hope.
Concubines, Your Majesty might as well just say that Su Zhaoyi should be made the empress.
If they want to conceive a royal heir, they need the emperor to favor them. The emperor only favors Su Zhaoyi, so how can they have a chance?
After seeing that the matter of appointing a queen was decided, the ministers of Prince Jing's faction wanted Prince Jing to perform well in front of the emperor and the queen mother, so that they could bring up the matter of appointing Prince Jing's unborn child as the heir. However, Prince Jing seemed to be absent-minded, staring in one direction from time to time.
They looked in that direction and found the emperor's new favorite concubine, Su Zhaoyi, sitting there.
They were curious and wanted to remind King Jing, but King Jing had already stood up.
He wanted to expose the true face of Su Zhaoyi and bring disgrace to the Su family. The Su Zhaoyi sitting there now was not the Su family's youngest daughter, Sudan Ying, but the Su family's eldest daughter, Sudan Ruo. The Su family had committed the crime of deceiving the emperor.
Because of her illness, Sudan Ying has never appeared in front of outsiders, so other people have never seen Sudan Ying and don’t know what she looks like.
Seeing that Su Zhaoyi and Sultan are about 50% similar, I think it is normal, after all, they are sisters.
However, because King Jing had been engaged to Sultan Ruo since childhood, he went to the Su family more often. Although he did not spend a long time with Sultan Ying, he had seen her from afar several times.
Although the Sudan Ying in his impression looked like a child, she did not look much like Sudan Ruo. Sudan Ying looked more like Madam Su, while Sudan Ruo looked like the elder sister of Minister Su.
So he stared at this so-called Su Zhaoyi for a long time, turning it over in his mind several times before he was sure that Su Zhaoyi was Su Danruo.
No wonder the Sultan turned against me, it turned out that I had climbed up a higher branch.
But she was afraid that she would not be able to get what she wanted if she met herself.
King Jing stood up, glanced in the direction of Dan Ruo and Minister Su, and said seriously:
"Brother Emperor, I have something important to report to you, Consort Su~~~"
Before King Jing finished speaking, he heard a scream from Danruo. It turned out that the palace maid accidentally spilled the wine all over Danruo's dress when pouring it.
Gu Chengzuo hurriedly stood up and covered Danruo with his cloak to prevent outsiders from seeing Danruo's disheveled appearance due to her wet dress.
The maid who made the mistake knelt on the ground without trembling, but instead gave people the feeling of calmly going to death. Gu Chengzuo hated these tricks in the harem and spoke directly:
"Shufei organized the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet, but she was so lax in her management of her subordinates that there were countless loopholes. Prime Minister Dai said the first mistake was excusable, but the second was incompetence. Effective immediately, she will be demoted to Zhaoyuan."
Concubine Shu clasped her hands together and clasped them tightly in her palms, as if she felt nothing and mechanically thanked him.
Prime Minister Dai had already pleaded for mercy once, but the emperor still insisted on doing so. He knew that it was useless to speak again. He could only blame his daughter for being useless and unable to keep the emperor's heart.
He was also powerless and could only let Concubine Shu fend for herself.
When Concubine Shu saw that her father had given up on her, she knew that her rank had been demoted this time.
Although a Zhaoyuan is among the nine concubines, Zhaoyi is the head of the nine concubines. From now on, when she meets Su Zhaoyi, she will have to pay her respects.
She stared angrily at the place where Su Zhaoyi left.
That bitch went downstairs wrapped in a cloak to change clothes. The outdated clothes must have been changed. She shot herself in the foot.
What King Jing was about to say was interrupted by this farce, so he waited for Danruo to change her clothes and come back. During this period, the Queen Mother had a headache, and Gu Chengzuo helped the Queen Mother back to the inner hall to wait for the arrival of the imperial physician.
Gu Chengzuo just ordered everyone to move around freely for a while.
When King Jing saw that the real boss was not around, he had an idea. He could do Prime Minister Dai a favor. After all, he had helped his daughter defeat a powerful enemy. In exchange, shouldn't he give him some benefits?
He was about to go find Prime Minister Dai when he saw a handsome young eunuch coming up to him, who slipped a note into his hand and left.
He walked to a secluded place and saw that it was Sultan who asked him to come and discuss something. After thinking for a moment, he decided to go.
Sultanruo must have been frightened, knowing that he had recognized her and was planning to beg for mercy.
If she could kill Gu Chengzuo quietly for him, he would not expose her, and he could even consider giving her a concubine position when he ascended the throne.
He arrived at the agreed location with excitement.
In a hidden pavilion in the imperial garden, a figure stood with his back to her, and it seemed that he had been waiting for a long time.
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