Before the ladies could react, the Empress had already ordered her maids to carry the person aside and spoke again, her tone now somewhat unfriendly.
"Do you think this is a charity hall? One by one, you all want to squeeze into my Phoenix Palace."
The ladies fell silent, kneeling down to beg the Empress to calm her anger.
Before the imperial physician arrived, the Empress simply flicked her sleeves, her voice somewhat cold, "In my opinion, you are all too idle, believing everything you hear. If Wan'er had truly harmed the dignity of the nation, why didn't any ministers come to the palace to see me? Why do you all have to get involved? Do you think there aren't enough problems at home?"
The Empress glanced at them, slightly annoyed, and said, "By imperial decree, everyone who came to the Phoenix Palace today shall be punished by copying three hundred Buddhist scriptures. They shall not be allowed to leave the palace until they have finished copying them."
"Your Majesty, please understand. I was deceived into entering the palace. Please investigate thoroughly."
"Your Majesty, please investigate!"
The Empress squinted and saw that the first to beg for mercy was Wang Liandi, the wife of Hanlin Academy scholar Liu, who was the cousin of Imperial Censor Wang Ziwei and Zhou Xuemei's sister-in-law. She wondered how she had gotten involved with Xue Guilan.
The Empress sized her up for a while before speaking, "Wang, you've come to the palace too. Could it be that you're here to find your husband an easy job?"
Wang Liandi's collar was soaked with sweat. She quickly buried her head and said, "This humble woman is foolish. I only followed because of Xue's instigation and because I couldn't bear to see my cousin being used as a pawn. Please forgive me this time, Your Majesty, since this is my first offense. When I return, I will be careful with my words and deeds, spread the princess's virtues, and never dare to make any unfounded speculations again."
The Empress nodded silently; Wang Liandi was indeed a remarkable person.
The ladies all followed suit, pleading for forgiveness and no longer daring to speak ill of the princess.
Finally, when Lady Wang woke up, she took the jade ruyi with a bewildered expression and left the palace with the others. Only Lady Liu, Xue, was carried back to her residence and went to copy Buddhist scriptures, which is not mentioned here.
Cheng Yuqing, who was awake and whose veins were throbbing from being pricked, was finally knocked unconscious by a silver needle from Physician Zhao.
Holding the blood-stained silver needles, Physician Zhao knelt before Xiang Wan, lamenting with heartache, "Your subject is guilty!"
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