Chapter 49: Banished to the Cold Palace
When the Imperial Concubine heard the Emperor's question, she suddenly realized something and turned to look at the Virtuous Concubine and said, "Virgin Concubine, it must be her.
Your Majesty, she has been jealous of your favor towards me in the early years. The first thing she did after coming out this time was to target me.
Your Majesty, she must have colluded with Princess Jinyang to harm me.
I am wronged, Your Majesty, please make the decision..."
When the emperor heard her talking about the virtuous concubine and even bringing up Li Yueyao, he became even angrier. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the queen say.
"You idiot! You're so bold to even bring up my aunt."
The imperial concubine had only been in the palace for five years and knew very little about Li Yueyao.
Except for her three remaining concubines and the queen, everyone knew how important Li Yueyao was in the emperor's heart.
In the emperor's heart, besides his father and mother, there is his aunt Li Yueyao.
Hearing her bringing up Li Yueyao now, everyone felt that this imperial concubine was seeking her own death.
As expected, the emperor was furious, his face turned ashen, and he kicked the concubine away.
"Come here, the imperial concubine is suspected to be a spy from another country. She will be sent to the cold palace first and Fanghua Garden will be searched.
All the people from Fanghuayuan will be taken to the imperial court for trial and the final verdict will be made."
"Yes."
Sun Fu responded from the side.
The imperial concubine saw that the situation was hopeless and ignored her own embarrassment. She kept crying out, "Your Majesty, I am innocent, Your Majesty..."
The Queen was delighted to see the Concubine in such a state of disgrace, and said, "Shut her mouth and do not disturb Your Majesty's peace."
Seeing the imperial concubine being gagged and dragged out, Li Yueyao said:
"It's getting late. Your Majesty must be tired after all this time. Let's all go back and rest."
The queen stood up, saluted the emperor, and turned to leave.
Defei and Shufei followed closely behind.
Li Yueyao stopped Concubine Xian and said, "Your Majesty, in this condition, cannot be without someone by his side. You stay and look after His Majesty. If you need anything, come find me in the side hall."
After hearing this, Concubine Xian could only sigh and stay.
The queen returned to the palace and looked out the window at the white snow, lost in thought for a long time.
Qingning came up from behind, put a cloak on the queen and said, "It's getting late, your majesty should go to bed early."
The Queen said, "I have been fighting with the Imperial Concubine for five years, with no clear winner, and I've even been slightly outmatched by her.
Only five days after the virtuous concubine came out, she overthrew the noble concubine...
It seems that this harem will become the world of the virtuous concubine again in the future."
Qingning listened and comforted him: "Your Majesty, you are the queen, and there is the prince, the Xie family, no matter how powerful the virtuous concubine is, she is just a concubine.
In the common people's eyes, she is just a concubine, and she can never surpass the Empress."
The Queen sighed and said, "That being said, fortunately this virtuous concubine is not as domineering as the noble concubine.
In her early years in the Eastern Palace, although she was favored by His Majesty, she was very polite and never took advantage of the favor to become arrogant.
Therefore, both the emperor and the queen liked her more.
Besides, the position of queen originally belonged to her.
My position as Crown Princess was meaningless from the beginning..."
The queen sighed when she said this.
Qingning stood behind the queen and said nothing.
She was the queen's maid-in-law who came with her as a dowry. She had followed the queen all the way to the present, and she knew everything about the queen's difficult situation.
At this moment, I don’t know how to comfort my master.
Defei returned to Xianfu Palace but did not go to bed immediately.
Instead, he asked someone to heat a pot of wine for him, and drank it by himself while looking at the snow scene outside the window.
After drinking half a pot of wine, he said with a slightly tipsy face: "This palace must be much cleaner after the baptism of snow."
The personal maid Liu Xin said, "My Lady, it's getting late, please get some rest."
Defei held Liu Xin's hand, stood up, and walked towards the bedroom.
Only Concubine Shu returned to the palace and fell asleep directly. She slept very soundly and sweetly.
At Taiji Palace, Li Yueyao also slept well.
In the main hall, the emperor and the virtuous concubine were lying side by side on the imperial couch.
The emperor said with a weary look on his face, "Weiyang, I'm so tired."
After hearing this, the virtuous concubine said, "Your Majesty, if you are tired, go to sleep. You will feel better when you wake up."
"This palace, this world, this court, all make me feel tired..."
The virtuous concubine listened for a while before she said quietly, "If you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight. Every emperor is tired.
The concubines in the harem and the officials of the previous dynasty were meant to relieve your majesty's worries, not to cause trouble for you.
Now that you are feeling tired, it means that both the former dynasty and the harem should be punished."
After hearing what the virtuous concubine said, the emperor suddenly laughed.
"Why is your majesty laughing?" asked the virtuous concubine.
"I remember when we first got married, you managed the East Palace backyard very peacefully and relieved my worries.
Since you haven't been out these years, the harem has gradually become unfamiliar to me."
Upon hearing this, Concubine Xian snorted coldly and said, "It's strange to me that you would be attracted to someone like Concubine Gui."
The emperor was embarrassed for a moment after hearing what Concubine Xian said.
"I, am I not bewitched by her?" the emperor explained awkwardly.
"Humph! She always goes along with you, never contradicts you, and is so gentle, well-behaved, and pitiful. Aren't you willing to be deceived by her?"
The virtuous concubine grew angrier and angrier as she spoke, so the emperor quickly grabbed her hand and said, "Forget it, let's not talk about her anymore. She makes me feel so uncomfortable."
The virtuous concubine struggled for a while, but failed to pull her hand away, so she let him hold it like this.
"As for this harem, you will help me look after it from now on. Make sure they behave themselves and don't cause any more trouble."
The virtuous concubine continued, "Shall I look after the harem? And help you select a group of beautiful young ladies to come in?"
The emperor glared at her and said, "You haven't even looked at my body, how can you choose someone? Why are you still choosing someone?"
After hearing this, Concubine Xian curled her lips and said, "I'm afraid the Xie family won't agree if I take over the harem again."
"The Xie family... humph! Let them jump around for a while."
"The Xie family is too ambitious." The emperor said quietly after a while.
The virtuous concubine murmured in agreement: "Who said it wasn't?"
The two chatted, and the emperor fell asleep while talking. The virtuous concubine also turned over and fell asleep.
The next morning, after the morning court session, the Earl of Anping asked to see His Majesty.
The emperor is not seen.
On the second day, the Earl of Anping asked to see Your Majesty again.
This time he waited in the cold wind at the gate of Taiji Palace for two hours. Court officials came in and out, but the emperor still did not see him.
That afternoon, Chen Yue came back and reported the latest news.
"Your Highness, Nanny Zhou's sister is indeed from Nanli, but after careful investigation, I found that the woman's husband is from Xirong.
Following this line of thought, it was discovered that he also went in and out of Wanhua Tower on a daily basis to look for Bi Yue.
I arrested the man and learned from him that their young master was about to evacuate from Ganxi and return home.
I have already given the people and the news to General Gan."
Li Yueyao nodded and said, "Yes, I understand."
An hour later, the virtuous concubine and the virtuous concubine appeared in the cold palace in sedan chairs.
At the end of the long line, there was a man tied up.
The walls on both sides of the cold palace were mottled, the ground was covered with dust, and it was so desolate that it was beyond Concubine Xian's imagination.
"Now we might as well just change the name of this cold palace to Desolate Garden," said the virtuous concubine.
Concubine Shu, sitting on the sedan chair next to her, smiled and said, "Your Majesty is kind and benevolent. No one has lived in this cold palace for many years, so it has naturally become even more dilapidated."
The two men arrived at the place where the imperial concubine was imprisoned, and the person in charge of guarding appeared at the door early to greet them.
The two entered the yard and saw dead branches and leaves all over the ground, and the whole garden was desolate and lonely.
The imperial concubine in the main hall heard a noise at the door and ran out in panic.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, are you here to see me? Your Majesty, I am wronged..."
The imperial concubine shouted, and only stopped when she saw clearly that it was the virtuous concubine and the virtuous concubine in the courtyard.
"Your Majesty, why didn't you come?"
The virtuous concubine looked at the imperial concubine in front of her, who was wearing no makeup, a gray-white dress, and her hair was draped behind her back.
Suddenly I felt that this outfit seemed to suit her better.
She has an oval face, like a pitiful little white rabbit, and this outfit suits her style even better.
It's not unreasonable for the Dog Emperor to like her. At least her appearance looks good, but she's a little too pretentious.
So he cleared his throat and said, "Don't look for him anymore. His Majesty won't be coming."
When the imperial concubine heard this, her expression suddenly changed, and she looked fierce.
"Why didn't His Majesty come? Was it you who prevented His Majesty from coming to see me?"
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