Chapter 222 The Queen's Death

She only needs to hand over the evidence to the emperor. As for the rest, she, a dead

person, can't control it. The Zhu family sent her to the palace and ignored her, as if they had only sent a hostage to the palace.

Her father and mother said they loved her, but when the emperor asked her father to come to Beijing to be an official, they refused without hesitation.

She lived in fear, caught in the middle.

Not long ago, her father wrote a letter asking her to work with the Zhu family to get rid of the emperor and change the surname of the country to Zhu.

Although she is a daughter of the Zhu family, she is also a daughter -in-

law of the Shen family. Emperor Xuanwu was not a qualified husband, but he was definitely a good emperor who loved his country and his people.

The Great Yan Dynasty became more and more prosperous, the four directions submitted, and the people lived and worked in peace and prosperity.

Why would such an emperor rebel? What can you rely on to rebel?

The queen agreed on the surface, but she was collecting evidence behind the scenes. She was the legitimate daughter of the Zhu family, and the officials of the Zhu faction were never on guard against her.

She originally thought that she would keep this as her bargaining chip. If someone threatened her position in the future, she would take it out to negotiate with the emperor.

Now, she can't use it herself.

But Jiang Xinyue can still use it.

After getting the emperor's affirmative answer, the queen told him where the evidence was.

The light in her eyes extinguished little by little, and through the figure of the emperor, it seemed as if she had returned to the day of her wedding with the emperor.

All the twelve floors were dressed up at dawn, and the king was seen from the Wangxian Tower. The golden beasts chained together were cold, and the water drops on the copper dragons leaked for a long time. She took off her cloud bun and combed it, and looked in the mirror. She wanted to change her silk clothes to add more fragrance. Looking from afar at the open curtain of the main hall, the palace maids in robes and trousers were sweeping the bed.

"The Empress is dead!"

A fire took the life of the Empress who had been strong all her life.

She had not seen the fifth prince grow up, married him and had children. She had not become the virtuous empress she had imagined, but died in this treacherous harem, in the midst of conspiracy and the emperor's cruelty.

Yanqing Palace——

"Is your Majesty unhappy?"

Lu Yin looked at the unhappy De Fei sitting by the window in confusion and fanned her: "The only high-ranking concubines in this palace are you and Xian Fei now. Xian Fei has only been in the palace for a short time and is not very stable. She has no capital to compete with you. The position of Empress is already in our pockets." However,

De Fei was not as optimistic as she was: "Do you really think that it was Rong Fei who set the fire and burned the Empress to death?"

"Isn't it?"

Lu Yin recalled what she saw yesterday: "The fire stick fell out of Concubine Rong's hand, the hairpin that pierced Fenyun also belonged to Concubine Rong, and the jade buckle in Concubine Xian's hand, and the palace maids from Jingren Palace all the way to Yikun Palace also said they saw Concubine Rong go to Yikun Palace."

No one put a knife on Concubine Rong's neck to force her to go, so could this be faked?

"If the Empress can summon Concubine Xian, she can summon Concubine Rong at the same time."

As long as the time is staggered, let Concubine Xian enter the Empress's bedroom first, and then all the palace maids and eunuchs near the bedroom are moved away, then when Concubine Rong arrives, she will subconsciously eavesdrop on the secret conversation between the Empress and Concubine Xian.

The door of the bedroom was far from where they were talking. If one wanted to hear everything clearly, one had to go around to the back of the bedroom.

Concubine Rong might have gone to the back to eavesdrop on their conversation, but she played into the hands of the Empress and Concubine Xian.

Who knows what happened in that invisible place?

Since she didn't see Concubine Rong setting the fire herself, nor did she see her stabbing the wounds herself, Concubine De didn't believe anything she said.

Lu Yin couldn't understand at all: "Could it be that Concubine Xian set the fire? That's not right! Then why did the Empress say it was Concubine Rong?"

"Yes!"

Concubine De turned the Buddhist beads in her hand frantically: "Empress, why do you say it was Concubine Rong?"

It was obviously her who set the fire, right?

If she hadn't set the fire herself, how could the maids in Yikun Palace cooperate so well and disappear at the same time, making it easier for Concubine Rong to eavesdrop?

Fenyun also cooperated so well, her face was scratched so badly, but she could still run after Concubine Rong?

"Why should your Majesty think too much?"

Lu Yin replied, "Whether the fire was set by Concubine Rong or Concubine Xian, the final beneficiary will only be you, the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Cheng, and the heir to the emperor, you are more than qualified to be the emperor's successor."

Concubine De also felt that she had been too nervous recently, but what could she do?

The third prince lost his voice and became mute. All her efforts over the years were in vain. The second princess was still young. If she didn't have a useful brother to rely on, she would not be able to escape the tragic fate of marrying a foreign prince in the future.

But Lu Yin was right. The only high-ranking concubines in the palace were Concubine Xian and her.

In terms of seniority, family background, character and reputation, and even the length of time in the palace, Concubine De believed that she was much better than Jiang Xinyue.

As soon as the news of the empress's death came out, the whole country mourned.

The emperor ordered people to set up a mourning hall in the Hall of Supreme Harmony for the inner court officials and the inner court ladies to pay their respects. The mourning hall usually has various tablets and titles, and the utensils used by the empress during her lifetime are also placed.

Empress Zhu was posthumously named Empress Xiaoxian Xuanwen by Emperor Xuanwu, and was scheduled to be buried in the Dongshan Imperial Mausoleum in early June.

The emperor stayed in the Hall of Supreme Harmony for three days and three nights. In the following days, he ordered people to restore the burned palace of Yikun Palace to its original state.

Pei Wu went to Chengqian Palace for three consecutive days, which made the empress dowager believe that she could rescue Concubine Rong from the Suspended Mirror Division.

The harem was as quiet as a dead city in the past few days, and no one dared to do anything unnecessary to touch the emperor's reverse scale.

Suspended Mirror——

Concubine Rong, with messy hair, pulled the clothes of the woman wearing a cloak outside the cell and said urgently: "Pei Wu, did the Queen Mother ask you to save me? Please let me out, please let me out quickly. I don't want to stay in this damn place for a moment."

Under the cloak was a charming face. She smiled with the corners of her mouth pulled: "The Queen Mother asked me to tell Concubine Rong that it is best to take all the sins on yourself, otherwise... she will make you unable to speak forever."

"What... what?"

Concubine Rong loosened her fingers and took two steps back: "Aunt... want to kill me?"

Pei Wu smiled: "How can Concubine Rong say that? The Empress Dowager is kindhearted. If she hadn't felt sorry for you and Concubine Shu and brought you into the palace, you should have been exiled to Ninggu Pagoda."

What is Ninggu Pagoda?

Even Concubine Rong's father couldn't stand the torture and died there. It's easy to imagine what the two cute girls would end up like.

The two sisters should have died in Ninggu Pagoda a long time ago. How could they have the chance to enter the palace and become the harem queens with no worries about food and clothing?

Concubine Rong's eyes flashed with countless complex emotions, and she shook her head: "If I confess, the emperor will kill me."

The emperor didn't know about the fake pregnancy to frame Concubine Shu. If she told everything, the emperor would definitely kill her.

After all, this incident played an important role in Concubine Shu's fall from a bright moon to a leftover.