Chapter 92: Rebuke
Sun Wei had been waiting for a long time, but she wasn't in a hurry. It would be best if they could just keep reminiscing about the past and forget about her.
When she entered, she found the place quite empty. The ladies of state and family that the princess had mentioned were nowhere to be seen. Clearly, the empress dowager only wanted to see Princess Wanshou and Sun Wei.
After hearing the eldest princess' words, the empress dowager finally turned her gaze to Sun Wei who had been standing behind her.
She didn't speak to Sun Wei immediately, but only looked at Princess Wanshou and said gently, "I'm relieved to see you. You must be tired from the journey, so go back and rest. I still have housework to take care of."
Princess Wanshou glanced at Sun Wei and said with a smile, "I am tired, but I am also happy to watch the fun. The Queen Mother can take care of her own things. I will sit nearby and it won't be a problem."
The Empress Dowager didn't want to avoid Princess Wanshou and let her go.
She turned to Sun Wei and said sternly, "Lu, do you admit your guilt?"
Sun Wei prostrated himself and bowed to the Queen Mother.
"I don't know, please tell me clearly, Your Majesty."
The Queen Mother gave a look, and a eunuch handed a note to Sun Wei.
"Did you write this note?"
Sun Wei looked carefully and saw the word "danger" written on the note. It was the one she had sent through Qu in order to meet the prince.
She couldn't help but be stunned.
She thought the note had been destroyed long ago, but for some reason it was in the Queen Mother's hands.
"Don't speak?" the Queen Mother asked. "Can you hide the truth by not speaking?"
After the Queen Mother finished speaking, a eunuch was brought in.
Sun Wei took a look at the eunuch and had some impression of him. He seemed to be Guo Shun's subordinate. He had indeed seen him in Jingyuan that day.
Although she appeared calm on the surface, she knew deep down that something was wrong.
"Tell me," the Queen Mother said to the eunuch, "what happened in the quiet courtyard?"
"Yes, yes!" the eunuch replied, "The princess passed this note to the crown prince through some means. The crown prince had great faith in the princess's divination skills due to the fire in the Eastern Palace earlier. When he saw the note, he was terrified and asked the princess to meet him in the quiet courtyard."
The eunuch glanced at Sun Wei and continued, "When the princess met the prince, she said that she had divined that the prince's journey to the East China Sea would be full of dangers. The prince was concerned and asked the princess if it was not advisable for her to go. The princess still advised the prince to go east, saying that as long as he took her with him, he would be safe. Then..."
"And then what?" the Queen Mother asked coldly.
"Then the Crown Prince praised the Princess for her resourcefulness and asked her if she would like to become a counselor to the Crown Prince and even entrusted her with his life."
With a "bang", the Queen Mother smashed the teacup in her hand.
"The Eastern Palace's counselor...you're still going to entrust your life to him?" The Queen Mother trembled with anger. "What kind of spell have you cast on the Crown Prince to make him say such ignorant words?"
The Queen Mother was furious and everyone in the palace was kneeling on the ground.
Princess Wanshou took a sip of tea and lowered her gaze to gaze at Madam Lu, who was not far away. She remained as composed as ever, as if she had seen a lot. But even with her composure, she still felt an ominous feeling when she heard this. She was interested to see how Madam Lu would respond.
Sun Wei replied calmly, "I don't remember the prince saying that."
"You don't remember?" The Queen Mother sneered. "Are you saying that this eunuch made up these words out of thin air?"
"My words are but one-sided to the Empress Dowager. Why doesn't the Empress Dowager summon the Crown Prince? Together with me, the Crown Prince should be able to clarify the misunderstanding."
"What other misunderstandings are there?" the eldest princess asked from the side. "The Eastern Palace caught fire, and you luckily predicted it, so you claimed to be a hero and gained the Crown Prince's trust. The Crown Prince fell into your trap, believing your words and risking his life to travel to Jingkou, where he was subsequently confronted by the mutiny. Mother, there's probably more to this than just a single connection. Why did the Imperial Observatory invite the Crown Prince to Jingkou during the mutiny? And why did Consort Lu insist on accompanying him, even using the pretext of praying for the Empress Dowager? There's probably a lot more to this. At best, it's a coincidence, at worst, Consort Lu is probably an accomplice to the mutiny."
Sun Wei thought to himself, what a distorted and slanderous person.
In her previous life, she had a very good relationship with the eldest princess, but she had never seen such skills.
However, looking at the Empress Dowager's expression, Sun Wei knew that she had heard all these words.
Sun Wei said, "If the princess suspects me of complicity, why not hand me over to the court for questioning?"
The Empress Dowager heard no word for the Chief Justice, only the word "accomplice".
A thousand sorrows flashed through her heart, and she angrily said, "You've already killed my son, and now you're trying to harm the Crown Prince. How can I tolerate you? Come, give me twenty blows to kill you!"
Seeing the eunuchs coming in full force, Sun Wei shouted, "Doesn't the Queen Mother want to know the truth? Who ordered the Imperial Observatory? Who planned the mutiny?"
The Queen Mother's expression changed. Sun Wei was about to continue speaking when he heard a voice say, "That's enough."
Looking over, it turned out to be Princess Wanshou.
She knew that Sun Wei was about to identify the mastermind behind the Northern Palace mutiny, and she also knew that the Queen Mother probably wouldn't believe it immediately, but she still couldn't let Sun Wei say it out loud.
The eldest princess was in the middle of it and couldn't see the reality clearly, but the queen mother was smarter than she thought.
If the Queen Mother becomes suspicious, Wang Han will be in big trouble.
Princess Wanshou walked up to the Empress Dowager and advised, "Your Majesty, please calm down and listen to what I have to say."
The Queen Mother angrily asked, "What are you going to say? We have all the evidence. Are you going to speak up for this vicious woman? Have you also been bewitched by her?"
Princess Wanshou laughed and said, "Does the Empress Dowager look at me as if I've been bewitched? I'm asking, does the Empress Dowager arrest the Crown Prince's eunuch? Does the Crown Prince know?"
The Queen Mother fixed her gaze and looked at the eldest princess.
The eldest princess had a cold face and said nothing.
She didn't expect that Princess Wanshou would speak up for Lu.
But Mrs. Lu knelt there, but there was no fear on her face.
She hates people like this.
He boasts a certain pride, doesn't know how to bow down before her, and won't flatter her. Such a person will not live long.
Princess Wanshou continued, "If the Crown Prince still doesn't know, then this person isn't an important figure to the Crown Prince. If that's the case, can we trust what he says?"
The Queen Mother asked, "Are you saying that we have wronged her?"
"It's hard to say she's wronged. I'm afraid she'll confess under torture. If she dies, we'll be left with nowhere to go. After all, she's the princess consort of the Prince of Yuzhang's mansion. If she died in the palace under unclear circumstances, it would certainly be a disgrace to her. Even if the Crown Prince doesn't ask, it would damage the Queen Mother's reputation for kindness in the eyes of outsiders. So why bother? I think this matter is so complicated that the Crown Prince should be summoned for questioning. A confrontation between the two would reveal the truth. If the charges are proven, the Crown Prince would wake up on the spot, and the world would praise the Queen Mother for her wise judgment. Wouldn't that be beneficial in every way?"
"That's totally unnecessary," the princess said. "After the incident at the Northern Palace, the Crown Prince was so busy he was nowhere to be seen. This concubine is a lady of the inner court. If she made a mistake, the Queen Mother should have dealt with her. Just let the Crown Prince know afterward."
As he was speaking, another eunuch came in to report, "Reporting to the Queen Mother, the Crown Prince, the Prince of Yuzhang, and the Crown Prince's Tutor Zhou Chang are requesting an audience outside the palace!"
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