Chapter 67 Being Pushed into the Water
It was early morning, and the palace servants were busy in their masters' palaces, and few people came here.
"Empress Zhen Zhaoyi!"
A little palace maid appeared under the willow tree and saluted Jiang Xinyue respectfully: "I am from the palace of Concubine Shu. Our queen wants to invite Empress Zhen Zhaoyi to Jingren Palace for a talk. I wonder if it is convenient now?"
Jiang Xinyue looked at the face of the palace maid, and it seemed that she had indeed seen it with Concubine Shu.
Then she thought of the last time Concubine Shu asked her to go to Jingren Palace to chat when she was free, and she had not gone, but she came to her door.
Xi Que supported Shuangjiang and said to Jiang Xinyue: "Master, you go! I will take Shuangjiang back."
Shuangjiang also nodded, indicating that it was okay.
The breeze was rippling by the lake. After the sound of someone falling into the water, two figures walked out of the bushes not far away.
"My queen, they fell into the water, we..."
Zhang Wanyi glanced at Jiang Xinyue who was struggling in the water, and her eyes were so cold that they were almost cold. She just passed by and said, "We didn't see anything today. Do you understand?"
The maid lost her voice for a moment, and felt cold all over. She lowered her head and followed Zhang Wanyi, not daring to say a word.
Yikun Palace -
Empress Zhu was drinking Biluochun just brewed by the most skilled maid in the palace. The faint tea fragrance left between her lips and teeth made her squint comfortably.
The concubines came to pay their respects every day, and her life was hard. Facing a room full of beautiful women, she was obviously very reluctant in her heart, but she still had to cheer up and deal with it.
Those women, whether they were smart or not, were all staring at the throne under her butt, waiting for her to make a mistake, so that they could pull her down from the altar and step on her corpse to get to the top.
She worked hard and was shocked at every step over the years. Outsiders only saw her glory of being second to none, but did not see her sadness and pain. The more she
drank the tea, the more bitter it became, but the happier she became. Although
the bitter tea tasted astringent when it went down her throat, the more bitter it was, the more mellow it became afterwards, and the aftertaste was endless.
I hope that although her first half of life was bitter, the rest of her life will be like this good tea, full of fragrance.
"Your Majesty, I found out that the prayer lantern yesterday was floating out from the Hexi Palace."
The slightly narrowed eyes suddenly opened, and a smile gradually appeared in the eyes of Empress Zhu: "I heard that the emperor picked up the name of Concubine Shu yesterday?"
Fenyun nodded: "Although this Concubine Shu is not a favorite, she is also the emperor's cousin, and she is protected by the Empress Dowager. The emperor will not ignore her. This time, Zhen Zhao Yi cut off Concubine Shu's beard, no matter how good she is at talking, the Empress Dowager will not forgive Zhen Zhaoyi. "
Empress Zhu snorted and laughed: "That old woman thought that the emperor's heart and eyes were full of Concubine Shu! Little did she know that people's hearts are fickle, and now Zhen Zhaoyi is the person the emperor cares about the most. "
In this palace, the empress is the least favored by Emperor Xuanwu, but the one who knows Emperor Xuanwu the best is Empress Zhu.
She is the only princess who entered Emperor Xuanwu's backyard when the emperor was still a prince, and they have been together since their youth for thirteen years.
How could she not know that the emperor likes the look in a woman's eyes?
A long time ago, he looked at Concubine Shu with this look in his eyes. Later, when the Wu family fell, Concubine Shu hated him. Over time, their feelings faded.
Later, he looked at Concubine Li in the same way, but Concubine Li was arrogant and domineering, and she could not tolerate others. When she got jealous, she would be so reckless that even the emperor could not stand it.
Not to mention that the Pei and Song families were increasingly giving the emperor no face in the court, which caused the emperor to go to the Yikun Palace several times to express his dissatisfaction with the Pei and Song families.
I am afraid that no matter how much the emperor likes Concubine Li, her family has already worn him out.
Until recently, she discovered that the emperor looked at Zhen Zhaoyi with the same eyes as he used to look at Concubine Shu and Concubine Li. She
understood that Zhen Zhaoyi had already entered the emperor's heart.
But the emperor was passionate and fickle, and his feelings came quickly and went even faster. I wonder how long Zhen Zhaoyi can stay in the emperor's heart?
If they were like the Concubine Shu and Concubine Li Gui yesterday, it wouldn't be worth her much thought.
She had been living this way all these years. As long as she didn't make a big mistake, no one could shake her position.
Just as she was thinking, an eunuch ran in from outside: "Empress Dowager, it's bad! Zhen Zhaoyi was pushed into the lake. The imperial physician said that she might have been entangled by the water plants at the bottom of the lake, and a lot of water went in. She is still being rescued. The emperor got very angry, and all the palace maids in Hexi Palace were beaten with sticks."
Empress Zhu was calm in her heart and stood up calmly: "Let's go! Let's go to Hexi Palace to take a look."
Did the Empress Dowager take action so quickly?
"What do you all do? Zhen Zhaoyi can swim. Even if someone pushes her in, she can save herself. Why did you leave her alone by the lake? Is there someone holding her at the bottom of the lake? Now you know nothing. What use do I have for you? You should all be dragged down and beaten."
"Your Majesty, please calm down!"
As soon as Empress Zhu entered the room, she heard that the emperor was going to start a killing spree. As the empress, she should step forward and advise him: "Let's not talk about others, but Xi Que and Shuangjiang, Jiang Chuan and Xiao Xuanzi are Zhen Zhaoyi's trusted concubines. If she wakes up and finds that these four are gone, how sad will she be?"
Emperor Xuanwu snorted coldly, suppressed his anger, turned to look at Jiang Xinyue who was lying on the bed with silver needles stuck in her head, his heart filled with panic and fear.
He didn't know what happened to him, and he didn't want to find out. He just wanted to wake up the woman on the bed who was either dead or alive.
Xijue quietly raised her head and glanced at Queen Zhu, only to find that her beautiful face was abominable.
It seemed that she was pleading for the palace servants serving in Hexi Palace, but in fact, she was making hatred for the four of them, and even her master was included in the scheme.
What does "I won't talk about others" mean?
Isn't this telling that except for the four of them, the lives of other people in Hexi Palace are not important?
Even if they were beaten to death, Zhen Zhaoyi would not say a fair word for them?
Isn't this instigating discord?
Fortunately, she has learned a lot from her master during this time, otherwise she would be grateful to Dai Ze for the intimacy in the Queen's words!
Emperor Xuanwu knew that although Xi Que and the others were wrong, they were not guilty of death. They had already been beaten with 20 sticks each. If they were to be punished, there would be no one to serve Zhen Zhaoyi.
Shuang Jiang was lucky. She grew up in the palace and was an unknown maid before she came to serve Zhen Zhaoyi. It was common for her to be beaten.
After being beaten with twenty boards, except for the pain at that time, she is now completely fine.
Xi Que is different. She grew up with Jiang Xinyue. The most difficult thing she suffered when she was young was to accompany her young lady to suffer from hunger and cold. Zhou would not hit people, for fear of dirtying her hands and making the old man unhappy.
So when she was beaten, her movements became a little stiff, and her buttocks were burning with pain.