Chapter 13 Hanging
Emperor Xuanwu did not turn over the cards this night, but slept in the Queen's Yikun Palace. Today is the fifteenth day.
According to the rules, the emperor must sleep in the Queen's bedroom on the first and fifteenth days of the month. Although Emperor Xuanwu and the Queen have no feelings, he will not break the rules. He is willing to give this respect to his main queen.
"I heard that the emperor punished Concubine Chu today?"
"Yes!"
The emperor turned over in bed, with his back to Queen Zhu, and did not intend to explain.
Queen Zhu's eyes were red, and tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes, disappearing into her hair.
She wiped away her tears quickly: "Chu Jieyu has always been on good terms with Li Guifei. The emperor punished Chu Jieyu for fear that Li Guifei would be hurt."
"I will talk to Li Guifei tomorrow, Queen, I am tired, let's go to sleep!"
The lights in Yikun Palace were turned off, but Changchun Palace had no intention of sleeping.
Li Guifei sat in the main seat with an angry look on her face: "You idiot, don't you understand why the emperor punished you?"
Chu Jieyu said unconvinced: "It's because of that vixen Zhen Ronghua, who relied on her similarity to you, the emperor just wanted to see her freshness, so she whispered in his ear."
Otherwise, how could the emperor get so angry?
"Bang!"
A teacup exploded at her kneeling feet. Concubine Li pointed at her head and said, "No matter how much trouble the concubines in the harem make, it's just a minor one. The emperor will never favor anyone. You idiot, you bring up your family background to pressure others. Do you know that the emperor hates the relationship between the former dynasty and the harem the most?"
Just like the collusion between the empress dowager and the Wu family, which led to the rampant buying of official positions and titles, which made the emperor deeply hate and distressed, and finally dealt with his mother and uncle's family with his own hands.
Concubine Chu only realized how serious it was and begged Concubine Li for help in panic.
"I will help you one last time. If you are still such a hopeless case, I will not care about you anymore."
The next day, the temperature should have reached 36 or 37 degrees, because Jiang Xinyue almost fainted from the heat on the way back to the palace after paying respects to the empress.
There was not even a trace of wind in the air, and it was so stuffy that it was difficult to breathe.
Why pay respects in this weather?
She should just lie down in the Xihe Hall filled with ice basins and take a beauty sleep, and take some beauty recipes to protect her skin.
A beauty will never dislike becoming more beautiful, and the emperor will not dislike it even more.
Anyway, they are all women he doesn't love. It doesn't matter if he sleeps with an ugly one or a beautiful one. Why not sleep with one that pleases his eyes? At least after sleeping with such a beautiful face, he will feel better.
Just like Jiang Xinyue, if Emperor Xuanwu was an ugly, smelly old man in his fifties or sixties who didn't like to take a bath, she would rather live a stable life in the cold palace and never be a favorite concubine. She
is so ugly that she loses her appetite. Where does she get... what kind of desire?
The sun was scorching. At two or three o'clock in the afternoon, there was no one outside any of the palaces.
The gates of each palace were closed. They were all hiding to avoid the heat!
"Ah——"
In the middle of the day, Jiang Xinyue was still sleeping when she heard a high-pitched cry, which seemed to come from the Xihe Hall.
"Master!"
Then, Shuangjiang pushed open the door and woke up Xijue who was dozing off on the bed: "What's wrong? What happened?"
Behind Shuangjiang, two palace maids with weak legs knelt on the ground, trembling all over: "Rong...Empress Ronghua...side hall...someone hanged himself in the side hall."
Jiang Xinyue stood up with a "whoosh", and Xijue hurriedly put on her coat. The master and servant, plus Jiangchuan, the chief eunuch of Xihe Hall, all went to the side hall.
Several young eunuchs and palace maids surrounded the door of the side hall. Jiangchuan scolded them and they all knelt down.
Jiang Xinyue waved her hand: "Do what you need to do, don't gather here."
Jiang Chuan walked in front and chose two eunuchs to follow: "Master, you step aside first, don't bump into you, the servants will put the person down first."
Without Jiang Xinyue's order, no one dared to touch the hanging body.
She had a little fear on her face, and her face was pale. She covered her eyes and walked to the door, then trembled and said: "Go quickly..."
The red dress swayed, and the figure hanging on the beam was put down. Only to hear Xi Que shouted: "Master, it's the eldest lady!"
"What?"
Jiang Xinyue, who was peeking through the gaps between her fingers, didn't care about being afraid now, and ran forward in three or two steps. After seeing the dark blue and pale face clearly, she screamed and fainted.
Wang Dequan hurried to the study room. On the way, he met several ministers from the court. He pushed the door and went in in a hurry without exchanging a few words.
"Your Majesty, something happened in Xihe Hall."
After saying this, Wang Dequan found that Jiang Zhaoyi was standing behind the emperor's desk grinding for him.
Although Jiang Zhaoyi was not a very beautiful woman, her grandfather was a scholar in the inner cabinet, and her father had just been promoted to the Minister of Personnel.
The Jiang family was a family of scholars, and they had a scholarly air.
The emperor sometimes had sex with Jiang Zhaoyi.
Emperor Xuanwu paused with his wolf-hair brush, and the ink dripped onto the rice paper. The word "Yuan" that had just been written was smeared, and a good piece of calligraphy was ruined.
Jiang Zhaoyi's real name was Jiang Yuan, and Emperor Xuanwu was writing her name.
But when he heard that something happened in Xihe Hall, the emperor threw down his pen, left the study with Wang Dequan without a word of concern.
Jiang Zhaoyi had to chase after him: "I will go with the emperor."
She wanted to see what happened in Xihe Hall. If Zhen Ronghua had the guts to snatch her away, she would not be as easy to deal with as Concubine Chu.
"Imperial Physician, how is my mistress?"
"Empress Ronghua's pulse is slow and stringy, and it is deep and vague. She must have been frightened too much, and the circulation of qi and blood is impaired, and her heart and courage are weak. I will write a prescription for the empress, and one of you can go to the Imperial Hospital to get the medicine!"
Emperor Xuanwu strode into the Xihe Hall and asked seriously, "What's the matter? Why is Zhen Ronghua so frightened?"
The lively beauty on the bed, who usually laughs and scolds, is full of energy, but now her face is pale, her brows are wrinkled, and she seems to be sleeping very uneasily. She looks
sick and distressing.
Jiang Chuan had already told Wang Dequan everything. When the emperor asked, he told the emperor about Jiang Cainv, who was in the cold palace, hanging herself in the side hall of Xihe Hall.
"What are the guards in the cold palace doing? How did they let people run to Xihe Hall?"
The cold palace is located in a remote place and has no one there all year round. It is common for the guards to be lazy.
Jiang Zhaoyi seemed to say unintentionally: "Jiang Cainv seems to be Zhen Ronghua's sister? What kind of hatred do they have between the sisters? Is it worth her to escape from the cold palace so far away and run to Xihe Hall to commit suicide in red clothes?"
There is a rumor among the people that people who commit suicide in red clothes can become evil ghosts and come back for revenge on the seventh day.
She was just reminding Emperor Xuanwu that Zhen Ronghua was not as kind as she seemed.
Otherwise, how could her own sister have such great hatred towards her and not let her go even if she died?