Eunuch Fu stepped forward, holding the bright yellow imperial edict. Xuan Ling continued, "In addition, he will be banished to the cold palace and will not be allowed to leave unless he dies."
"General Duan should have been convicted, but as a veteran of two dynasties, I have shown him mercy and allowed him to retire and return home—"
In Jingren Palace.
"Crash--" the jade screen shattered to the ground.
Queen Duan stood barefoot amidst the mess, her nine-phoenix golden crown askew, a strand of hair clinging to the corner of her mouth. "How could that bitch give birth to two princes? I clearly..."
She suddenly grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed at the brocade quilt embroidered with dragons and phoenixes, "Die! Die!"
"Your Majesty, please accept the order!" Eunuch Fu's shrill voice sounded outside the hall.
Empress Duan's pupils suddenly shrank, and she dug her nails, stained with red nails, into the pillar: "I won't listen!"
She suddenly burst into laughter, "I am the Emperor's first wife, married with the three letters and six ceremonies!"
When the imperial edict was unfolded, the word "dethroned" embroidered in gold thread stung her eyes:
"The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, decrees: Empress Duan is not a docile person and harbors evil intentions. She is guilty of plotting to murder the heir to the throne, and the evidence is irrefutable. She is hereby demoted to a commoner and exiled to the Cold Palace, where she may not leave unless she is dead. This is my decree."
"Mother!" Le Wen rushed in, holding up her skirt.
Empress Duan grabbed her daughter like a lifeline: "Wen'er! Go and ask your father for help! He loves you the most..."
Before Le Wen could answer, he heard a cry at the door.
Two-year-old Le Yun was clinging to the door frame, her big grape-like eyes full of fear.
"Yun'er..." Empress Duan stretched out her trembling hand, which was rare, "Come here, mother..."
Le Yun turned around and ran away, and one of her embroidered shoes fell off - this mother who always pinched her arm was more terrifying than the old nanny in the Ministry of Punishment.
"I will not go to the cold palace!" As Empress Duan was dragged along by the guards, her phoenix robe ripped against the white marble steps. "Your Majesty! I am your first wife! I gave birth to two daughters for you! How can you be so heartless?"
The shrill cry startled the roosting birds.
Several concubines leaned against the corridor and ate melon seeds: "Oh, it's really useless?"
"The harem is about to change. The imperial concubine is already the most favored among the six palaces, and she has given birth to two sons and a daughter. She will definitely be crowned as the queen..."
As the night deepened, only the sound of the night watchman could be heard in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Xuan Ling put down the red pen and saw Sheng Xiyan turning over on the dragon bed.
He tucked the quilt in for her gently, his fingertips brushing across her eyebrows.
"Yanyan, you've worked hard..." He placed a kiss between her slightly furrowed brows, and the candlelight stretched the emperor's gentle figure very long.
From the cold palace, the sound of nails scratching the wooden door could be heard, mixed with a hoarse curse: "Sheng Xiyan...you will not die well..."
In the Cining Palace, candlelight flickered.
The empress dowager took out an imperial edict wrapped in yellow brocade with dragon and phoenix patterns.
This was the secret decree left to her by the late emperor before his death.
"Jing Lang, your love for me is as deep as the sea. Even though I didn't give birth to an heir, you chose an outstanding prince like the Emperor to raise by my side, and you also left me this imperial edict.
Now I want to use this imperial edict to ask the emperor for a grandson to raise by my side. I will definitely take good care of that child.
When the late emperor was dying, the empress dowager wept and said, "Although Xuan Ling is a man of noble character, he is not my biological son after all. I am afraid that I will have no hope when I am old..."
The late emperor drafted this secret decree, asking Xuan Ling to select a prince in the future and raise him by the Empress Dowager's side so that she could spend her old age in peace.
What the late emperor didn't know was that this was the Queen Mother's plan for her own daughter.
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