The next day, there was a commotion of carriages and horses in front of the Su Mansion.
"Look! Concubine Jia has returned home to visit her parents!"
Neighbors crowded at the entrance of the alley, looking at the magnificent procession - eight eunuchs in brocade robes led the way, sixteen palace maids followed with incense burners and fans, and the carriage with red wheels and a canopy had golden bells hanging on the four corners, jingling.
The curtain of the carriage was lifted, and a pair of embroidered shoes studded with pearls slowly stepped out.
Concubine Jia was wearing a pure purple court gown embroidered with a gold phoenix, and the oriental pearls on her golden hairpin sparkled in the sunlight.
"Father, Mother." She sat on the shaft of the carriage, looking down at the Su family members kneeling to greet her. "Aren't you going to pay your respects to me?"
Lord Su's face froze, and he pulled his wife and daughter to kneel down: "Your servant (the minister's wife/daughter) pays homage to Her Majesty Jia, may Your Majesty be blessed with good health!"
Concubine Jia stroked the golden hairpin on her temples and said after a while, "Get up."
——She didn’t even glance at Su Yunfu.
Su Yunfu got up by herself, patted the hem of her skirt, and cursed in her heart: Fake, what are you so proud of!
In the crowd, Sheng Xitang lowered his bamboo hat and said, "Auntie Wang, did you recognize me?"
Aunt Wang clutched the edge of her clothes tightly: "Yes...it's Madam Su from Jiangnan!"
The two of them quickly hid in the crowd, remembering what Sheng Jingheng said that they must not be discovered by the Su family, so as to avoid being killed and silenced.
In the Su Mansion.
Concubine Jia acted like a queen in the palace, sat in the seat of honor in the main hall, and slowly fiddled with the tea lid.
Lord Su and Madam Su forced smiles on their faces and were about to sit down.
Concubine Jia sneered: "Father and mother should know that I am the master and you are the servants. If the master doesn't let the servant sit, how can the servant sit?"
Su Yunfu said angrily: "Sister, please don't go too far!"
Madam Su pulled her, "Stop talking! Your Majesty is right. There are so many palace servants watching us. We can't let anyone accuse us of not understanding the rules."
The three of them stood while Concubine Jia sat and drank her tea leisurely. "Pah, what kind of tree leaf is this? It's called tea?"
Lord Su said sarcastically, "The economy in the mansion is tight right now, it's not like the palace, so naturally the tea industry is also in a tight spot."
Madam Su wiped her tears and cried, "I don't know where Yu'er is suffering now. He loves big sister the most. If he were here, we could be reunited as a family."
If it were in the past, Concubine Jia would definitely be touched, as she did like Su Yu more than Su Yunfu, but now she felt disgusted by Madam Su's words.
"Don't be sad, mother. Everyone has his own destiny."
"Father and Mother, are you going to sit down?" She suddenly sneered, "I didn't ask you to sit down, and you dared to do that?"
Su Yunfu took the opportunity to move closer: "Sister, Yuan Ming's official position..."
Concubine Jia grabbed her collar and curled her red lips into a venomous smile: "Why are you in such a hurry? Auntie loves me the most... She will do it naturally."
Su Yunfu took it to be true and smiled happily.
At lunch time.
"Let's all sit down and have our meal." Concubine Jia suddenly became friendly and took out a gilded food box. "Yun Fu is getting married, so this bird's nest cake is a gift for you."
There was only one snack in the food box, and Su Yunfu bit it without any preparation.
"ah--!"
Blood suddenly spurted out of her mouth!
"Fu'er!" Madam Su screamed and caught her limp daughter. "What's wrong with you?!"
Su Yunfu stared at Concubine Jia, her fingertips trembling: "You...you poisoned me..."
Concubine Jia laughed out loud: "So what? You brought this upon yourself! This is Crane's Beak Red. How do you feel about it now? Hahaha!"
Another mouthful of blood gushed out, and Su Yunfu died with her eyes wide open.
"Fu'er! My Fu'er!" Madam Su shook her daughter's body in despair and suddenly pounced on Concubine Jia. "I'll strangle you to death, you bastard! You poisonous snake!"
Concubine Jia didn't dodge or evade, and sneered, "If I die, what will you offer the Empress Dowager in exchange for wealth and glory?"
Lord Su suddenly pulled his wife away and slapped her: "How foolish! Tell everyone that Fu'er accidentally ingested rat poison!"
Mrs. Su collapsed on the ground, holding her daughter's gradually cooling body, and let out a heart-wrenching wail.
Concubine Jia smoothed the wrinkles on her sleeves and walked out the door with her head held high.
The sunlight shone on her gorgeous court dress and also on the dark red pool of blood behind her.
Nothing could threaten her access to the Queen Mother's favor anymore.
She knew that the Su family was a profit-seeking couple and would not tell anyone about her being an imposter because they didn't dare. If the Queen Mother knew that they had lost her own daughter, she would definitely not forgive them.
"Don't worry, Dad and Mom." She turned around and smiled sweetly, "Your daughter will take care of you... until the end of your life."
"Retribution! Retribution!" Lord Su wailed to the sky.
Mrs. Su hugged Su Yunfu and cried.
"Fu'er, Fu'er, your wedding dress was already ready, how could it just disappear like this... What a sin..."
That night, at the Sheng Mansion, the door was closed.
Sheng Jingheng said, "Auntie Wang, the first day of the Lunar New Year is five days away. The Queen Mother will go to Baiyun Temple to worship Buddha. On that day, you can go and tell her the truth about what happened that year. But do you have a token of love?"
Aunt Wang nodded and said, "Yes, Miss Luan'er was wearing a jade pendant with her name engraved on it."
Ruan Niang said, "Don't worry, my husband. When the time comes, I will take Aunt Wang to Baiyun Temple to pay my respects to the Queen Mother."
Sheng Jingheng nodded and said, "Be careful."
The next morning, in the Yangxin Palace.
Sheng Xiyan has caught a cold these days and has a cough.
Before Xuan Ling went to the morning court, he held her in his arms, fed her some medicine, and put his thin lips on her forehead to test it, and found that her fever had subsided.
"Yanyan, get some sleep. I'll be back to accompany you after the morning court session."
"Okay." Sheng Xiyan had no strength left in her body, so she lay down obediently and fell into a deep sleep.
An hour later, in the west warm room, three wet nurses were holding Yu Chen, Yu Yan and Le Zhao and coaxing him.
The Queen Mother walked in holding the hand of the head nanny, and the three of them hurriedly held the child and went to greet her, "This servant greets the Queen Mother."
The Queen Mother looked at the three children one by one, the corners of her lips curled up, and she liked them more and more.
Finally, he stopped at Yu Chen and hugged him personally.
"The Queen has caught a cold and is unable to take care of the child. I will take Yuchen away to take care of him first."
Upon hearing this, several palace maids were nearly frightened to death and hurriedly knelt down, "Empress Dowager, the Emperor and the Empress have ordered that no one is allowed to take the three highnesses out of the West Warm Pavilion."
The Queen Mother said sternly, "I want to leave. Who dares to hold me back?"
This... indeed no one dared to stop it.
I watched as the Queen Mother carried Yu Chen onto the phoenix chariot and left.
The wet nurse and the palace maid stamped their feet and said, "No way! We have to tell the Empress immediately!"
In the back hall of the Yangxin Palace, Sheng Xiyan didn't know when she fell asleep when she heard someone talking in her ear.
Meixiang said, "What should we do? The queen is sleeping soundly after drinking the medicine."
Hua Xia understood Sheng Xiyan: "We have to tell the queen, otherwise she will be very worried when she wakes up."
Mingyue said, "But the queen had a fever last night and was so weak..."
Hua Xia knelt in front of the dragon bed and gently shook Sheng Xiyan, "Your Majesty? Your Majesty, wake up."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
