Chapter 631 So infuriating!
After regaining consciousness, Granny Li told everyone what had happened: "It was the Empress Dowager who put the medicine she gave me into Consort Zhu's tea to worsen her condition, and she also deliberately arranged for two pregnant concubines to be near Consort Zhu, using their children to provoke her."
"I've told you everything. The grievances have their source, and the debts have their debtors. Please don't come looking for me, and please don't kill me."
Li Mama didn't know that she had also been given hallucinogenic drugs by Aoxue; she was a timid person to begin with.
Jiang Fenghua wondered, "How could the Empress Dowager, who hasn't returned to the palace for decades, know so much about Zhu Zhenzhen's illness?"
Looking at the dispirited Empress Dowager, Granny Li knew she was going to die anyway, and it seemed the Empress Dowager couldn't save her.
Ao Xue tightened the dagger in her hand, "The Empress is asking you a question."
Li Mama continued, "After Her Majesty the Empress left the Hengyang Palace, a group of people came. Among them was a woman wearing a veiled hat who was extremely beautiful. The Empress Dowager met with that woman alone. I heard her subordinates call her Madam. Later, that woman was sent to the Northwest to meet with the Empress Dowager. Later still, I accompanied the Empress Dowager and that woman back to Shengjing."
Jiang Fenghua asked, "Is she the Consort Su that the Emperor mentioned?"
Xie Shang said, "Su Qingqing has returned to Shengjing. No wonder Prince Kang has never seen her."
He added, "Her purpose in returning is to seek revenge on you. I suspect that the epidemic at Jishantang was caused by her."
Jiang Fenghua remained silent. Xie Shang said that she was the one who orchestrated the destruction of the Su family, so Su Qingqing blamed all the mistakes on her.
He then addressed the Empress Dowager, saying, “Your Majesty keeps saying you are thinking of the Xie family’s throne, but you have conspired with outsiders to harm the Xie family’s throne. No wonder my grandfather would rather make Qin Yinshuang the Empress than you. I suspect that my grandfather saw your ambition and that’s why he was unwilling to make you the Empress.”
You schemed your whole life, thinking your efforts would finally pay off, but another woman stole your thunder halfway through. That's why you're resentful; you want to put Prince Kang on the throne. These are all your selfish motives, not for the sake of the Xie family's dynasty.
Xie Shang also learned about these things from the Cheng family, but he relied on guessing and deduction. He had the Thousand-Faced Gentleman imitate a woman's voice, and unexpectedly, he actually succeeded in fooling her.
Jiang Fenghua added insult to injury, "The late emperor was raised under Empress Yang's name and became the crown prince as the legitimate son. Ha, it's fortunate that he wasn't raised under Consort Sun's name, otherwise the Xie family's empire would have been ruined by Consort Sun. Calling others vixens, don't you even know what kind of person you are?"
Jiang Fenghua has no sense of decency when it comes to her speech.
The Empress Dowager stared at Jiang Fenghua, her chest heaving with anger, and roared, "She bewitched the emperor, she's a vixen! The emperor was bewitched by you, and you're no better! Su Qingqing is right, you're a monster! It's all because of you disreputable women..."
The Empress Dowager longed to stand up, but for some reason, she couldn't move. She wanted to return to her dignified self as the Empress Dowager, instead of being ridiculed by so many people.
Jiang Fenghua wasn't angry. She immediately retorted, "The fact that the Holy Ancestor Emperor didn't make you his Empress means that the Empress Dowager wasn't destined to be one. When you pass away and meet the Holy Ancestor Emperor, you might see him and Qin Yingshuang living happily ever after. The Empress Dowager should really learn the meaning of 'the victor is king, the loser is villain.' You lost to the Holy Ancestor Emperor, you lost to Qin Yingshuang, you lost to Empress Yang, haha, and in the end, you still lost to Emperor Huijing."
Oh, right, the Empress Dowager gave birth to Emperor Huijing, but she did not raise him. When he was alive, she quarreled with you and demoted Prince Kang to the Northwest because she knew that Prince Kang was your flesh and blood and you would feel pain. She poked at your most painful spot.
"Alas, I had no feelings for you or Prince Kang to begin with. The only reason I posthumously honored you as the Empress of the Holy Ancestor Emperor and bestowed upon you the title of Empress Dowager was because you gave birth to him, and because of ancestral rules and regulations. Don't ever think of yourself as his mother. The reason he hasn't seen you for thirty years is because he doesn't want to see you. His true mother is Empress Yang."
Jiang Fenghua has a sharp tongue; her words can kill a mother's heart.
The Empress Dowager was so angry that her eyebrows were crooked. At her advanced age, she was still thinking about seizing the throne for her youngest son, and even listened to Su Qingqing's words to slander Jiang Fenghua. It was a sin of God that she was not dead.
After Jiang Fenghua finished speaking, everyone actually felt that what she said made sense. It was true that the late emperor longed for his mother's love, and it was also true that he hated her. His inability to obtain his mother's love was just an obsession in his heart, because what cannot be obtained is what makes people most obsessive.
Now that he's dead, his obsession has vanished. Jiang Fenghua, who hadn't lost her memory, had turned the tables on Emperor Huijing. Now that she's lost her memory, she's turned the tables on him again.
Seeing that his mother seemed to have lost all her strength, Xie Kang took out two identical tiger-head dolls and handed them to the Empress Dowager: "You made one for your son back then. Jing saw it and wanted it, so you made another one for him. He has always treasured it. Mother, have you forgotten how you looked when you took it to the Northwest and gave it to your son? You were also heartbroken that a white-haired person would bury a black-haired person, but why did you get involved with Su Qingqing?"
"His abilities are not as good as Kang'er's. If Kang'er were to govern the Great Zhou Kingdom, he would surely create a different kind of golden age. I want to show your father that the vixen he likes is ruining the country!" The Empress Dowager still favored her youngest son.
“Mother, I have no complaints about handing the throne to Brother Jing. But I may not be able to manage the Xie family’s empire as well as Brother Jing. Xie Jing has worked hard for the Xie family’s empire his whole life. If you really care about the Xie family, you should let go of your obsessions. He’s gone and can no longer upset you. The empire now belongs to his son. You should stop obsessing over whether his son will become emperor.”
Immediately afterwards, Xie Kang suddenly knelt before Xie Shang, saying, "Everything the Empress Dowager has done is due to me. I am willing to repay all her debts. I have long since withdrawn from the court and have no further ambitions. Please grant Your Majesty mercy for the mistakes Minmin and Yun'er have made. It is the father's fault if the son is not properly taught."
Emperor Jing did not strip me of my princely title back then, knowing that he showed leniency out of brotherly affection. Now, I beg Your Majesty to demote Xie Kang to a commoner, and Minmin and Yun'er to illegitimate sons. I will take them back to the Northwest and never return to Shengjing in this lifetime.”
Xie Kang's return was only possible because Xie Shang had given him permission; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to leave the Northwest so easily, otherwise he would have been suspected of rebellion.
"Xie Yun embezzled 500,000 taels of disaster relief funds from the imperial court, exacerbating the disaster in Qingzhou. He also colluded with vassal states. These debts have not yet been settled. We cannot let him leave." Jiang Fenghua said coldly, unconvinced. "The Empress Dowager wants to cause trouble in the Great Zhou Dynasty and disrupt the inner palace. Three lives have been lost. How can we let her return to the Northwest to live out her days in peace just because she is related to the Emperor?"
She then said to Prince Kang, "Prince Kang's mother is just a mother. One word, 'mother,' and one identity can redeem all her sins. She is the noble Empress Dowager, and you are the noble Prince Kang. Your daughter is a princess, and your son is a prince. Ha! It's truly ridiculous."
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