Chapter 183 Intentionally Seducing a Man Together?
At the same time, Lianye and Hongxiu knelt down before the emperor and said in unison before Jiang Fenghua could speak, "Yes, we are your servants."
Everyone was stunned, and the atmosphere seemed to drop below freezing.
The Emperor glanced at the three of them and said coldly, "Did you all sell handkerchiefs outside the palace together? Or did you all deliberately seduce men outside the palace?"
Hearing these words, Jiang Fenghua felt as if her heart was being torn apart. In his heart, she was so unchaste.
Lianye pinched Hongxiu and kowtowed repeatedly, "It was this servant, this servant knows her crime. The love poem on the handkerchief was written by this servant. Consort Xian usually takes care of the little prince and the little princess. In her spare time, she embroidered some handkerchiefs. This servant was greedy and secretly took the handkerchiefs out of the palace to resell for money. In order to make the handkerchiefs easier to sell, this servant took the liberty of adding poems on them. Consort Xian did not know about this. This servant did not do this to seduce anyone."
Both she and Hongxiu shared the same idea: these obscene poems absolutely could not have come from the young lady's hand. She was the daughter of Jiang Shaofu, and the Jiang family was a scholarly family; they absolutely could not allow the young lady's reputation to be tarnished.
They also noticed something amiss with the handkerchief; the handwriting was exactly the same as the young lady's. In this world, apart from Lianye's handwriting, there shouldn't be anyone else whose handwriting was exactly the same as the young lady's.
"Your Highness, it really was this servant. I'm sorry, Lianye was wrong. I've tarnished Miss's reputation. Lianye shouldn't have stolen Miss's handkerchief to sell outside the palace." Lianye almost begged her not to admit it. She still had the little prince and princess to take care of, and the Jiang family.
Jiang Fenghua stared at Lianye, tears streaming down her face. She knew these words weren't written by Lianye. Although Lianye was carefree, she would never do something so inappropriate.
It is a fact that they embroidered handkerchiefs and sold them.
"Your Majesty, it really is your servant. If you don't believe me, I can recite some poems for you." And she really did start reciting.
"The long night stretches deep within the palace walls, a lonely woman sings in her empty room."
"The years in the palace seem endless, and the complaints of women echo in my heart."
"The palace is as deep and bustling as the sea, and the women's complaints go unheeded."
"How many know the grievances of the women in the palace? Tears wet her silk handkerchief as she grieves alone."
"..."
Upon hearing this, the emperor said sternly, "Alright, stop reciting." These were not love poems expressing longing for one's beloved, but rather verses lamenting the loneliness of the deep palace.
The Emperor stared at Jiang Fenghua, his eyes cold as ice, and said sarcastically, "Are all the palace maids around you so learned?"
Jiang Fenghua was speechless. Did he mean that she also often read these poems and that she resented him?
That's fine too, at least he knows there's a woman in the harem who resents him, otherwise he would really treat her like she doesn't exist.
She wallows in self-pity; isn't she just air?
How could she not resent it? She finally understood the ruthlessness of the imperial family since ancient times. The emperor, the supreme ruler, the true dragon son of heaven, how could he possibly pity a mere concubine in the harem?
It was a stroke of luck for the Jiang family that they were favored by the Empress Dowager and received an imperial decree from the late Emperor to arrange the marriage.
So what if she was his first wife? They had been married for over a year, and he had never stepped into her courtyard. Even consummating their marriage was only because he was forced by the circumstances at the time. As the crown prince, he had no choice but to consummate their marriage to silence the gossip of scholars and to save face for his favoritism towards his concubine over his wife.
He thought she had made their unmarried relationship public, but she hadn't. Why would she do that?
He loathed her and the Jiang family. Because of this, he even implicated his elder brother and father. In order to protect the Jiang family, she even severed all ties with them.
He must loathe and hate her even more now!
Her lips were trembling, and tears streamed down her face like broken pearls. Faced with the emperor's oppressive power, her body was shaking. She wanted to say no.
"Your Majesty, I know I was wrong." In the end, she managed to utter a few words, enduring the pain.
Su Tingwan thought that if she just admitted her mistake, the Emperor would let her off easily. She said, "Does Consort Xian really believe that a palace maid can write such good characters?"
“It really was written by this servant. If Your Majesty doesn’t believe me, this servant can write it down for you right now,” Lianye said.
Ji Chen also didn't believe that a palace maid could write such good characters. Su Tingwan's ability to use these handkerchiefs to frame Jiang Fenghua meant that she had already found someone to imitate Jiang Fenghua's handwriting. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so confident as to frame Jiang Fenghua in front of the Emperor.
The Emperor suddenly became interested as well, "Fu Lu, bring me paper and pen."
Lianye began to write down the words on the handkerchief stroke by stroke. After everyone saw it, they were all surprised that it was exactly the same as the words on the handkerchief. It really was written by Lianye.
Very few palace maids were literate. Even those who were literate could only recognize their own names or some common characters. Jiang Fenghua's maids, however, could not only write, but they wrote very well.
Jiang Fenghua didn't know when Lianye learned her handwriting; perhaps it was because she taught them so much that Lianye could imitate it and write it herself.
Ji Chen said, "So you're saying you want to invite me to the palace?"
Lianye was also very clever. "This servant did not invite the Queen, nor did I invite anyone. This servant did this only to make the handkerchief sell for a good price. It's a gimmick."
"If I had known these handkerchiefs would end up in Prince Ji's hands, I would rather not earn this money than sell them to you." Her meaning was clear: she wasn't having a secret rendezvous with her lover, nor was she having an affair; she was simply doing business to at least preserve her reputation.
“The Consort Xian can also write, let her write,” Yunfang added. “If the Consort Xian’s writing is the same as the one on the handkerchief, wouldn’t that prove that she was also involved?”
"Why don't we ask Consort Xian to write one too?" the Empress said. If she dared to write something carelessly, it would only prove that she was guilty, and Jiang Fenghua would not be able to escape today.
"I will write it," Jiang Fenghua said without flinching.
Yunfang also said, "Who knows if Consort Xian might deliberately write something wrong."
"Then please ask Lady Yun to go to my palace and retrieve some of my usual handwritten manuscripts for comparison," Jiang Fenghua said.
"How could I trouble Consort Yun with this? This servant will go to Consort Xian's palace to fetch some manuscripts right away," the nanny beside the Empress said hastily.
The Empress said, "Go, but don't wrong Consort Xian. Also, bring the handkerchiefs that Consort Xian embroidered so that the Emperor can see if they are the same as these handkerchiefs. I'm afraid I might wrong Consort Xian."
Jiang Fenghua had nothing to say, and the Emperor acquiesced.
Suddenly, she stood up, walked to the table, and began to write: "I live at the head of the Yangtze River, you live at the tail. I think of you every day but cannot see you, though we both drink from the Yangtze River. When will this water cease flowing? When will this sorrow end? I only wish your heart were like mine, then you would not betray my longing."
After finishing writing, she personally presented it to the Emperor, saying, "Please, Your Majesty, judge this carefully."
Her handwriting was more grand and magnificent than Lianye's, with a bold and unrestrained feel. Xie Shang's gaze was drawn to her handwriting, not the content.
Jiang Fenghua's handwriting is largely the same as the handwriting on the handkerchief, but upon closer inspection, the handwriting on the handkerchief and Jiang Fenghua's handwriting are not exactly the same.
The Empress noticed that the two characters were written by the same person. She said, "Consort Xian usually writes these love-themed things. You were born as a concubine in the harem. Where do you place the Emperor? Who are you thinking about? Who is waiting for you on the other side of the Yangtze River? Even the high walls of the palace cannot stop your longing. You are still thinking about a man who is tens of thousands of miles away."
"I think that even if I wrote something else, Your Majesty the Empress wouldn't understand it. This poem is easy to understand and the content and handwriting are roughly the same as those on the handkerchief, making it easier for everyone to find out the truth. As for the Empress saying that I was thinking about other men, the innocent will clear themselves." Jiang Fenghua rarely retorted.
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