"Yue'er, what happened? Why did you let those two go?" Empress Dowager Xin seemed confused.
Guan Zhiyue comforted her, "Mother, please sit here and wait. I will answer all your questions one by one."
Empress Dowager Xin sat down again, looking at the two women in front of her with a displeased expression.
"Alright, Nie Baolin, I'm asking you, who gave you the things you fished out of the pond in the Cold Palace?"
"Or who told you that this thing exists? And who brought this fleshy ball here?" Guan Zhiyue pointed to the fake Taoist priest on the other side and said.
The Taoist priest was trembling with fear. He had come to risk his life because he had heard there was money to be made, and he had also heard that the Grand Preceptor was still in seclusion and would not come out for a while. He believed that as long as he found the item, the Emperor would wake up and he would be rewarded.
But I didn't expect the Imperial Advisor to have already emerged from seclusion. What happened to the promised wealth and honor? This shouldn't be happening!
Nie Baolin never expected Guan Zhiyue to ask such a direct question, which left her completely exposed and utterly ashamed.
"Your Majesty, what are you saying? I don't understand. You're asking me about the pond outside the Cold Palace. Are you asking the wrong person?" Nie Baolin said stubbornly.
Anyway, she's determined to deny it to the death, let's see what she does!
Guan Zhiyue nodded upon hearing this, "Okay, very good. You won't tell me, right? I won't ask you anymore."
"Consort Zhuang, tell me, how did you come to find Consort Nie? Oh, no! It should be, how did Consort Nie come to find you?" Guan Zhiyue turned to ask Zhuang Jie, who was standing next to her.
Zhuang Jie is a bit clever, but not the kind of clever that comes from a sharp mind. She is easily lured into traps.
A mere Baolin has no say in anything, no matter who she's in front of. But if it were a fourth wife of a first-rank official, that would be a different story.
Of the four consorts, the highest-ranking Consort Gui is now imprisoned in her own palace and not allowed to contact outsiders. As for Consort De and Consort Xian, one has high ambitions but no real interest in the matter, while the other is a lazy bum who only wants to eat. Neither of them can be used as pawns.
The only one who can be used as a pawn is Consort Shu. Consort Shu is eager to gain favor, so naturally she would want to be like her.
"Your Majesty, please don't wrong me. My heart for the Emperor is as clear as the sun and moon, as clear as heaven and earth. I will not take the blame for this."
Before Guan Zhiyue could speak, a powerful voice boomed from inside the room, "Will you confess voluntarily, or shall I subject you to severe torture?"
Goodness, this really scared Zhuang Jie, and she clearly lost her stubborn attitude from before.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, what are you saying? I, I don't know." Zhuang Jie stammered as she knelt on the ground.
"Is that so? Then let me ask you, why didn't so many concubines in the harem cause trouble, but you and Consort Nie did? And how did you manage to find that harmful doll so precisely?"
Zhuang Jie stammered, "This, this, this is all thanks to the master. The master is really amazing. He found the puppet in no time!"
"Really? Master!" Li Qiji turned his head to look at the fleshy ball beside him.
Master Meatball, seeing the Emperor standing in front of him, was so frightened that he kowtowed repeatedly, begging for mercy!
"Your Majesty, spare my life! I know I was wrong. I have confessed everything."
“Then tell me!” Guan Zhiyue said.
"I am a disciple of the Seven Luminaries Temple, a rogue cultivator named Lan Zhuxiu, with the Daoist name Mingzhen."
"I came to the capital a while ago, but on the third day after I arrived, a man in black asked me to perform a ritual at the palace. He said that if I did it well, the emperor would reward me. We Taoists all know that our ancestor is in the palace."
"But the man in black told me not to worry, that the Imperial Preceptor was in seclusion and wouldn't come out, so that's why I mustered up the courage to enter the palace."
Guan Zhiyue nodded, then asked, "And how did you get into the palace?"
"It was her; she sent someone to pick me up." Lan Zhuxiu pointed at Zhuang Jie.
Zhuang Jie was speechless. She had already covered it up when she sent someone over, so how did this fatso still manage to recognize it?
"You damned Taoist priest, what nonsense are you spouting? When did I ever send anyone to pick you up?" Zhuang Jie said.
Lan Zhuxiu said, "You definitely didn't go to pick me up yourself. You sent your head maid, the one at the very back."
"Although it was dark last night, my nose is quite sensitive. The scent on her body is exactly the same as yours."
"If she hadn't served you for so long and picked up your scent, how would I have known that it was you who sent someone to fetch me that night?"
Zhuang Jie was speechless. Guan Zhiyue also let Bilian approach the two of them and gently smelled their clothes. Seeing that Bilian nodded in agreement, she was speechless.
Guan Zhiyue nodded to Li Qiji, indicating that what the meatball said was correct.
Li Qiji then looked at the group and said, "Since that's the case, then I'll ask you two again: will you speak or not?"
Nie Baolin glanced at Li Qiji, then suddenly burst into a cold laugh, just like a madman.
Having broken free from the eunuch's restraints, he got up from the ground, and that mad state returned to him.
"Hahahaha~~ Hahahaha~~ Your Majesty, Your Majesty, hahahaha~~" Nie Baolin laughed loudly, her eyes bloodshot, her hair disheveled from the struggle, and her clothes wrinkled.
"Is this how you act as a husband? Is this how you treat us?"
"How many women in this palace abandoned their freedom to marry you out of love and joy, yet you ignored us, leaving us stranded in the harem, to fend for ourselves, to drive us mad and torment us."
"You want the truth, don't you? I'll tell you, this is the thing that the Taoist priest talked about. A man in black gave me this doll so that I could frame the Empress. Only then will the Empress be removed, and only then will the women of our harem have a chance to rise up."
"I've been married to you for three years, do you even know who I am? Have you ever come to see me? Have you ever cared about me?"
"And you, why did you show up? Don't you dislike the Emperor? Why did you do these things to attract his attention?" Nie Baolin roared at Guan Zhiyue again, his voice filled with anguish.
"She is nothing more than a fool I tricked and coaxed. I am of lowly status and cannot see the Empress Dowager. My words carry little weight. But she is different. She is Consort Shu, one of the four consorts. Her words are still heard."
“I once had a maid and I behind the artificial rocks in the Imperial Garden, and we deliberately put on a show for her to believe that she had something on me, so that we induced her to conspire with us. She was extremely stupid, and she believed it.”
"We took this opportunity to visit the Empress Dowager today and asked her to come with us, all in order to drag you down with us."
"But I never expected the Grand Preceptor to emerge from seclusion today. If it weren't for the Grand Preceptor, you would all be dead, all of you would be dead!"
"Hahahaha~~" Nie Ying laughed loudly, looking up at the sky, when suddenly she spat out a pool of black blood and fell straight down.
"ah!!!!"
"Someone's dead! This... Ahhh!!!"
Chaos erupted, filled with screams of terror. Li Qiji roared, "Don't move!"
The shouts ceased, and everyone huddled together in terror, staring at the suddenly deceased Nie Baolin. Ji Wu stepped forward to examine him, then shook his head at the Emperor.
Finally, Li Qiji shook his head and said to everyone present, "Everyone, disperse. No one should discuss what happened today."
"Guards! Seize this Taoist priest and throw him into prison. He will be executed in the autumn. Consort Zhuang is of questionable character, lacking all virtue and gentleness. From this day forward, she is stripped of her title of Consort and demoted to the rank of Talented Lady, as a warning to others!"
As soon as Li Qiji finished speaking, Zhuang Jie cried her heart out. She crawled to Li Qiji's feet on her knees and kowtowed repeatedly, saying that she was wrong. But can a simple "I was wrong" change the facts?
Impossible. In the end, Guan Zhiyue said nothing. She had suffered another undeserved misfortune. She shook her head and left with Bilian.
The two walked through the deep courtyards of the palace, their thoughts swirling with unheard listeners.
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