Chapter 54: Beautiful Daughter vs. Heirless Emperor
After taking the medicine, the queen slept very soundly that night and did not wake up until noon.
The Jingren Palace was in chaos, with guards everywhere. The palace servants were gathered together and questioned one by one, and the courtyard was filled with helpless cries.
Gu Yu stood guard at the door and shouted angrily, "Are you crazy? This is the Queen's bedroom. The Queen is still resting. How dare you go in and check?"
The guards were wearing armor and said coldly, "I am following orders. Your Majesty has been murdered and is in poor health. If we cannot find out the cause, how can we report to you?"
"Brothers, we don't want to break in. Can you please tell her to go in and tell her that we will go in and check and come out soon. We will not disturb the Queen."
Guyu was so angry that she burst into tears. She was not as smart as Chunfen, and she was not as favored as Chunfen in recent years. She didn't know what to do when things happened.
"No means no! You can't go in unless I die!"
The queen in the room felt a black screen before her eyes and she almost fell down. She pinched her arm hard and finally calmed herself down.
"Guyu, get out of the way and let them search!"
The door opened from the inside, and Guyu knelt down with a thud, crying even harder, "My queen! You are the mother of a country. If the guards turn your house upside down, how will you cope with it in the future? I will go find the queen mother, and she will never watch you get humiliated!"
The queen sighed and helped Guyu up, "Silly girl, I'm afraid I won't have a future, just let them be."
The guards saluted the queen, then rushed in and began searching everywhere.
"Where is the Spring Equinox? Let her come to see me." The queen had already guessed about 70% of the answer, but she still had a glimmer of hope.
"Chunfen... Sister Chunfen has been locked up. They said that Sister Chunfen plotted to murder Your Majesty and has confessed. Your Majesty, how could this happen? Why did Sister Chunfen do this?"
The queen slowly closed her eyes and tears flowed silently.
After all, it has come to this. If she could be cruel and send Chunfen out of the palace earlier, nothing would have happened today.
The emperor did not punish Chunfen on the spot. This was the face the emperor gave her. How could she save Chunfen's life?
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The matter was soon clarified, and the commander of the Royal Guard went to report to His Majesty.
"Chunfen put medicine in your majesty's tea. This medicine is not poisonous, but when it comes into contact with Zhou Ling'er's fragrance, it will stimulate the medicinal properties and make people indulge in desire and unable to extricate themselves."
"What about the queen?" asked the emperor.
"The Empress should have nothing to do with this matter, but Chunfen is her personal maid after all, so I can't make a definitive statement."
The emperor paced back and forth in the imperial study for a long time before he said, "The imperial guards should withdraw from Jingren Palace and just watch in secret. Execute Chunfen and don't make it public."
"I obey your orders."
Commander Liu went to Jingren Palace immediately. In his opinion, His Majesty had done his utmost to the Queen. If he were a suspicious person, he would have banished the Queen to the cold palace long ago.
Chunfen knelt on the ground, her face ashen. She kowtowed to the queen, "This was done by me alone. I have implicated Your Majesty. It is my fault. Fortunately, Your Majesty is wise. I hope Your Majesty will take care of herself in the future and not be sad for me."
How could the queen not be sad? This was the person who grew up with her. She was even closer to the Spring Equinox than to her parents and brothers.
"Stop! Commander Liu, I want to see the Queen Mother!" The Queen pulled out a knife from somewhere and put it against her neck.
"If I commit suicide here, you will also be responsible. If you force the Empress to death, do you think you can still survive?"
"I won't make it difficult for you. I just want to see the Queen Mother once. No matter what the result is, I will accept it!"
Commander Zhou was shocked. None of the women in the harem were easy to deal with.
He did not dare to make a decision on his own, so he went to ask His Majesty for instructions, and soon the Queen Mother arrived at Jingren Palace.
The Queen Mother waved everyone away, leaving only her and the Queen in the room.
The queen finally put down the dagger, knelt down with a thud, and said in a sad tone: "I was bewitched for a while and wanted Zhou Ling'er to be favored. Now that the truth has been revealed, I ask to be sent to the cold palace. I hope the queen mother will grant my wish."
The Queen Mother did not sleep all night. She was worried about the Emperor and the Queen. Her heart was torn back and forth, as if it was being fried in a frying pan.
"Ya'er, your aunt knows you. This is definitely not your doing. You are not that stupid. His Majesty made this arrangement just to protect you as the queen, but you insist on protecting that girl. Is it really worth it?"
The queen prostrated herself on the ground, tears streaming down her face like an endless stream. "Aunt, Yaer thinks it's worth it. I'm just a concubine's daughter, my mother doesn't love me, my father doesn't love me, my mother-in-law is unkind. Apart from Chunfen, who else has been with me for so many years? I don't want her to die."
The Queen Mother sighed deeply, "Forget it, since you want to protect her, then give her thirty strokes of the cane and send her out of the palace. The farther away the better."
The queen kowtowed to the ground and said loudly, "I thank the Queen Mother very much. May the Queen Mother live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years."
The Queen Mother helped the Queen up, her face showing reluctance, "I chose you to enter the palace because I saw that you were smart. The Emperor is a filial son. He respects you, but he doesn't like you. You can't even compare to Liu Yan's favor, let alone the current Concubine Chun."
"Your father is a fool who spends his days fooling around. He is neither good at literature nor martial arts. If our Zhou family can produce a figure like Xu Junzheng, even if he is like Ji Gongming, at least he will have a great reputation and can support the Zhou family."
"But none of them could do it. The former dynasty couldn't hold up, so I could only work from the harem, but in the end it ruined your life. I shouldn't have taken you into the palace. If you had married an ordinary official family, with your skills, you would have lived a good life."
The Queen cried and shook her head, "Aunt, please don't say that. If she had stayed in the Zhou family, Ya'er might have been killed long ago. Aunt, you are good to Ya'er and have given her the honor that all women in the world desire. Ya'er is grateful. It's all because I am useless and have not been able to bring honor to you."
"You have done very well, but you must know that the Zhou family cannot have a deposed queen. You should leave the palace to recuperate, so that your father will give up that idea."
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The Queen wanted to leave the palace to recuperate, and His Majesty agreed, granting her a hot spring villa and many precious medicinal herbs.
This could not stop the rumors in the palace. People in the palace were saying that Concubine Chun was so skilled that she could force the Queen to ask to leave the palace. This was simply unheard of, which showed how much honor and favor Concubine Chun was.
Ji Yunhuan didn't take it seriously and went to Jingren Palace to visit the queen as usual.
Guyu was waiting for Concubine Chun at the door. He welcomed her in respectfully, and after taking care of all the trivial matters, he served her tea and then stood aside, not saying a word, appearing a little dull.
Ji Yunhuan took a sip of tea and chuckled, "I really like Guyu's quiet personality. It's much better than Taohong's chattering all day long."
The Queen also laughed and said, "I like the hustle and bustle, but you are not grateful for what you have."
"Since Your Majesty likes to be busy, you should not leave the palace. Besides, there are many imperial doctors and a full range of medicinal materials in the palace. Why do you have to go far away? Your Majesty is sincere. Your Majesty has never harmed me. I also like to exchange poems with Your Majesty. I really can't bear to see Your Majesty fall into this situation."
"Noble Concubine Chun, you are wrong. Everyone has their own aspirations. I have long been tired of these high palace walls. Now that I can finally leave, you should be happy for me."
Three days later, Ji Yunhuan personally escorted the queen out of the palace, as a final farewell.
The queen selected several pots of gorgeously blooming chrysanthemums and gave them to Ji Yunhuan.
The sun was shining brightly that day, and the chrysanthemums were in full bloom. The empress wore a thorny hairpin and a cloth skirt, and felt more relaxed and comfortable than ever before. Ji Yunhuan stroked the chrysanthemums one by one and said solemnly, "The empress is so thoughtful, and I will take good care of her."
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