Chun Yuqing never thought that Concubine Wu could enter the bedroom of her queen without asking for permission. All the conversations she had just had with Wuyan fell into Concubine Wu's ears, which made her heart pound and almost jump out of her throat.
But Concubine Wu continued to talk. She pointed at Chun Yuqing and said, "Not only are you a traitor, but you are also thinking about other men. Chun Yuqing, people like you should be put in a pig cage or burned alive. I will tell the emperor these words. I want to see if your Chunyu family can protect you after the dignified Empress Zong Sui committed such a crime!"
Concubine Wu was really excited when she heard such a secret. This excitement was due to Chun Yuqing's boldness, and also made her very excited. Because of such a thing, Chun Yuqing's mansion would definitely not be able to protect the queen. As for Emperor Li Jian, as a man, he could tolerate anything, but not such a thing. She believed that this time Li Jian would definitely punish the queen, and even implicate the Chun Yu family. As long as the Chun Yu family fell, as long as Chun Yuqing's suppression was gone, her days in the palace would really have hope.
Seeing that Concubine Wu turned around and was about to leave, Chun Yuqing became anxious, pointed at Concubine Wu and shouted sharply: "Don't let her go, stop her!"
Immediately, a female guard flashed out from the darkness, and the eunuch Wu Yan also stepped forward quickly. Several people worked together and immediately dragged Concubine Wu and her two close servants back to the bedroom.
Chun Yuqing personally stepped forward and closed the door of the hall with force, then turned around and stared at Concubine Wu with fierceness in her eyes. She said to Concubine Wu: "I can tolerate anything, and I can forgive you for anything you did. But Concubine Wu, Concubine Wu, this is not the case! Why did you have to hear this when you could have heard something else? Since you are not willing to give in, don't blame me for being cruel and ruthless. If you want to blame someone, you can only blame yourself for coming at the wrong time." After saying that, she gave a look to the female guard.
Without saying a word, the two female guards stretched out their five fingers into claws and reached for the throats of Concubine Wu and the maidservant. No matter how Concubine Wu and the maidservant struggled, it was useless. In the blink of an eye, two lives were strangled to death in the hall.
Chun Yuqing became annoyed as she watched Concubine Wu's body fall to the ground. Killing people in the palace was difficult to handle, let alone the one who killed a concubine. She couldn't keep these two bodies with her forever. What should she do?
She looked at Wuyan, who was more experienced than her, and said calmly, "Just throw her into the well. Concubine Wu is a palace concubine, and the emperor will definitely investigate, but you don't have to worry, the coroner in the palace is the old general's man, and when the time comes, just say that Concubine Wu slipped and fell. As for this palace maid, she died to save her master."
"Will this work?" Chun Yuqing still felt that it was not very reliable, but he couldn't think of a better idea for the time being, so he could only do as Wuyan said.
The body was taken away by the female guards, leaving Wuyan in the palace to remind her: "Concubine Wu was able to enter the queen's bedroom without being summoned. It seems that we should also replace the servants in our central palace."
"Yes." Chun Yuqing nodded. "Just now, so many eyes saw Concubine Wu coming to my place. You should find a way to shut up those servants. As for the suspicious ones, it is better to kill a thousand by mistake than to let one go. Killing a concubine is a big deal, but killing a few servants is not going to matter."
He nodded silently and walked out.
As expected, the disappearance of Concubine Wu caused a stir in the entire palace. Everyone was speculating on where Concubine Wu had gone until a new concubine accidentally found two bodies in a well, and Concubine Wu's whereabouts became public. But then the question of why Concubine Wu died came up. The new emperor, Li Jian, was furious and handed the case over to the Ministry of Justice for trial. From the empress to the palace maids and eunuchs, anyone who the Ministry of Justice considered suspicious could be summoned to the hall for interrogation.
Chunyu Qing was really troubled by this matter for several days, especially when the Minister of Justice pointed the finger at her after a few days of trial, she became even more panicked.
The people in the palace were sealed, but there were still many people outside who said that the last time they saw Concubine Wu was when she was taking servants to see the Empress, which made Chun Yuqing speechless. The Minister of Justice was in a dilemma. If the Empress really did it, what should he do? Should he punish the Empress? The Chun Yu family is not easy to mess with. But if he is not fair, what excuse should the Empress find to exonerate herself?
The Minister of Justice was hoping that Chun Yuqing could find a way to get away with it, and Chun Yuqing was indeed trying to find a way, but he hadn't come up with a suitable one. The two sides were in a stalemate, and suddenly someone took the initiative to stand up and said to the Minister of Justice: "After the Emperor left the Queen's bedroom that day, I went to pay my respects to her. She talked to me until dinner was almost served, but I didn't see Concubine Wu come during that time!"
The person who spoke was none other than Fang Jinse, the noble lady who was recently favored by Li Jian.
Chun Yuqing didn't expect Fang Jinse to stand up and speak for her at this time. She was surprised but she also knew that she had to cooperate and continue the play. So, in the end, the case turned out to be that Concubine Wu wanted to talk to the Queen Mother, but she accidentally fell into a well on the way. Her close maids wanted to go down to salvage her, but they all died.
Li Jian did not say much about the outcome of the case, but his eyes looked at Chun Yuqing with a little more alienation. The noble lady explained her behavior to Chun Yuqing: "Since I have entered the palace, I am destined to be unable to leave in this life. I want to live my life in peace in the palace, so I must have someone to rely on. You are the queen, and I am willing to live under the wings of the queen, not asking for anything else, just to protect myself. Don't worry, your majesty, I am not a talkative person, and even the emperor has praised me for this. So, from now on, I will never say a word about this matter."
Fang Jinse returned to her own palace, sitting quietly on the couch embroidering an inner garment for the emperor. The maid Yue Xin who followed her into the palace asked, "Do you really want to help the queen? But we can all see that the emperor is on guard against the emperor. He is afraid that after this war, the military power of the Chunyu family will be largely taken back by the emperor. Once the Chunyu family has no value, the queen may not be able to continue to be her queen."
Fang Jinse smiled, "So what? At least she is the queen now, and that Concubine Wu is just a dead concubine. I am now a noble lady, and the emperor often favors me. I have made countless enemies in the palace without knowing it. If I don't find a backer for myself, I don't know how I will die one day in the future. Although the queen is not a stable backer, don't be afraid, we still have time. When the Chunyu family falls, we should also become strong."
Chun Yuqing didn't dare to send anyone to Jiancheng to look for Xuan Tianhua. Concubine Wu's incident taught her a lesson and made her more cautious. Although outsiders thought it was just the queen dealing with a concubine, this was a common tactic used by the harem to win favor, and it was not uncommon. But only she knew the cause and result of this incident, and she understood that what was kept in her heart could only be kept in her heart. Once it was brought out in the open, she would soon suffer retribution.
The gates of Tongcheng were still closed, and people lived in the city on their own. There was nothing wrong in the first few days, but as time went on, problems began to emerge. For example, some people began to worry about the supply of rice grains, and some wealthy families began to stock up on medicinal materials to prevent their patients from running out of medicine if the medicine stores ran out of stock.
Of course, these are not immediate effects. For the people, the biggest impact is that the vendors selling eggs, meat and vegetables have not set up their stalls for several days. Poultry is raised on farms outside the city. The city gates are closed and they can't go out. Once they sell all the stock, they have nothing else to sell, so the vendors can't set up stalls anymore. The vendors have no goods, and the people can't eat, so people started a new round of complaints and started beating drums at the gate of the government office, asking the prefect Tian Ping to negotiate with Duanmu Anguo again. ℃≡℃≡℃≡阁℃≡
Unfortunately, Duanmu Anguo would not open the city gates, and Tian Ping had no choice but to negotiate with the wealthy households and ask them to share some of the meat and eggs they had stored at home to temporarily meet the needs of other people.
Feng Zhaolian still lived in the inn. The situation in Tongcheng had caused him to miss the delicious dim sum at the street corner for two days. Due to the lack of eggs, the dim sum shop could not open and had put up a sign saying it was closed, which made him very depressed.
Yun Duo, on the other hand, came back with a bag of herbs in her hand. She said to Feng Zhaolian, "I noticed that the master has had a dry cough recently, so I went to get some herbs. I told you that you can drink them as tea to moisten your throat." As she spoke, she made him a pot of tea and said, "Nowadays, people buy whatever they see on the street. The herbal medicine shops are almost being emptied. I finally prepared this medicine with great difficulty."
Yun Xiao's eyes were fixed on the pot of tea brewed by Yun Duo. Seeing Yun Duo holding the bowl and handing it to Feng Zhaolian, he couldn't help but stand up and take the bowl of tea: "Put it aside for now, it's too hot. Remember, don't use overheated water in the future, or the tea will lose its flavor." After saying that, he winked at Feng Zhaolian, then put the bowl of tea heavily on the table, and then returned to his original position.
Yun Duo glanced at Yun Xiao and said nothing. She stood behind Feng Zhaolian with her hands hanging down at her sides. She only glanced at the bowl of tea from time to time. After seeing it for the fifth time, she couldn't help but said, "Master, why don't you drink it? I really had a hard time squeezing into the crowd to get the medicine. It would be a pity if you don't drink it. You coughed six times the night before yesterday and fifteen times yesterday. If you don't take the medicine, it will get worse."
Feng Zhaolian has been feeling really uncomfortable lately, with a dry and itchy throat. This is not a new problem, it started when she was soaked in the medicine jar in Qianzhou, and it always comes back every winter. In the past two years, Feng Yuheng gave her a kind of medicine that can be held in the mouth to relieve the pain, and she feels much better, but now she is in Tongcheng, where can she find such a thing?
Yun Duo saw Feng Zhaolian was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Master, are you afraid that there is something wrong with this tea? Then I will drink it first, and you can drink it when you think it's okay!" After that, she picked up the bowl of tea and drank it all. When she put the bowl down again, she raised her arm and wiped the tea stains on the corners of her mouth with her sleeve. The stubborn look appeared again, "You don't have to be on guard against me. This tea is not poisonous. I have brought you to Tongcheng. The mission has been completed. Poisoning is not within my scope of responsibility..."
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