Chapter 404 Lin Qianning Appears
When Xiao Zhian returned to the palace, the queen had just woken up.
"Mother, what's wrong with you?"
The queen was very weak and shook her head slightly.
Lady Xia knelt down and said, "Your Highness, the Queen has been poisoned. If it hadn't been discovered in time, the Queen would... at this moment..."
Lady Xia was crying and didn't say the rest of the words, but everyone knew what she meant.
As the crown prince, Shi Yu naturally had to go with him. There was also a group of ministers waiting outside the door. They heard clearly what Lady Xia said.
"Have you found out who poisoned him?" Shi Yu asked.
Lady Xia replied, "It was a eunuch from the imperial kitchen who committed suicide out of fear of punishment.
The poison was put in the water used to make tea for the empress. The empress has always been kind to others, and the servants in the palace are all grateful for her kindness and serve her loyally.
The eunuch had just arrived at the palace, and nothing like this had ever happened to him before, so no one had expected the water to be suddenly poisoned today."
These words made people think more. The difference between the past and the present was that there was an extra prince in the imperial city, a prince who had a conflict of interest with the queen.
Xiao Zhian frowned when he heard this, "Let's check again."
"alright."
The Queen waved her hand and spoke with difficulty, "I have nothing to do. You can go back first."
"Your son wants to stay in the palace tonight to take care of my mother." Shi Yu said.
The Queen looked at him lovingly and said, "The Crown Princess is pregnant. You need to be careful during the first three months. Go back and take good care of her.
Don't worry about the Queen Mother. She'll be fine after a few days of recuperation. Besides, Zhi'an is still here."
When Shi Yu heard what Lady Xia said, he knew that the Queen had poisoned herself.
The Queen originally wanted Zhi'an to be with him because she was worried that he would kill Zhi'an like he did in his previous two lives, but the Queen did not expect Zhi'an to be so close to him.
This was something the Queen did not want to see, so what she did today was probably intended to make Zhi'an wary of him.
Later, the mother and son will have to have a heart-to-heart talk, so it is naturally inconvenient to keep him in the palace.
Shi Yu was very glad that he and Qingyan chose to tell Zhian the truth. Otherwise, with Zhian's deep feelings for the queen, the queen's self-torture plan might not fail.
After putting in some superficial efforts to prevent anyone from getting any handle on the Prince's Mansion, Shi Yu readily followed the ministers out of the palace.
After Shi Yu and the others left, the queen looked at Xiao Zhian, tears rolling down her eyes. She held her son's hand tightly, looking very scared.
"Mother, are you feeling uncomfortable?" Xiao Zhian asked.
The queen closed her eyes and cried even harder.
She has always been strong-willed and rarely cries, so this cry seemed like she was feeling very aggrieved.
Lady Xia cried hurriedly, "Your Highness, you have to make the decision for the Queen.
Your Majesty has been preparing for the handover these days, waiting for the Crown Prince to ascend the throne to hand it over completely, but who knew the Crown Prince would be so impatient..."
"Shut up." The queen's voice was very low, but she seemed to be trying her best.
"Your Majesty, I just feel sorry for you and am even more worried about your safety."
Xiao Zhian was silent.
If he didn't know what his mother had done, he would certainly believe her words as he did before.
But now that I know what my mother did, and then look at what she and Lady Xia said and did today...it was clearly an act.
A play to frame the prince.
He would choose to believe the Crown Prince, not only because of the dream and his uncle, but also because today's play had too many flaws.
This palace, including his palace, is full of Queen Mother's people. How could the Crown Prince have such a powerful ability to poison Queen Mother?
Even if he really had this ability, based on his understanding of his brother and sister-in-law, they would not do that.
It's not that they disdain to use such means, but in their eyes, the Queen Mother's crimes are too numerous to list and cannot be resolved by quietly poisoning her.
Just look at how they treated Shi Dehou. It's clear that the Queen Mother committed a far greater mistake than Shi Dehou. They used the edict of repentance to expose Shi Dehou's crimes, so how could they conceal the Queen Mother's actions?
Besides, just now, the Queen Mother waited until Lady Xia finished speaking before she stopped him...
Those words were spoken to him by his mother through Lady Xia.
It’s not that the Queen Mother doesn’t understand the Crown Prince and his brothers, but that she underestimated his intelligence, or perhaps she said that he was too gullible in the past.
So much so that the Queen Mother resorted to such a self-harming and clumsy method.
"You said that it was done by the Crown Prince, do you have any evidence?" Xiao Zhian asked in a deep voice.
Lady Xia hurriedly asked, "Besides him, who else would want something bad to happen to the Empress?"
"How dare you, a mere female official like you, slander the Crown Prince so recklessly?"
Xiao Zhian shouted, "Come here, drag this unknown thing out and give him thirty strokes of the cane."
Lady Xia follows the Queen Mother around every day, and I'm afraid she has done a lot of bad things. If she is beaten severely and cannot serve for the time being, it will be considered as a loss of some help to the Queen Mother.
But what should he do with his mother?
Xiao Zhian's heavy heart became even heavier, so heavy that he could hardly breathe.
"Your Highness, spare my life."
Seeing the eunuchs hesitate and not step forward, Xiao Zhian angrily asked, "Are you waiting for me to take action?"
Seeing that he was angry and the queen did not stop him, the eunuch hurried forward and pulled Lady Xia out.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Zhian would react like this. Lady Xia struggled and said, "Your Majesty, help me, Your Majesty, help me... Mmm..."
Lady Xia had her mouth covered and was dragged out.
The Queen was stunned. "Zhi'an, do you think that Mother is wrongly accusing your brother, the Crown Prince?"
Lady Xia is her person, so is Zhian blaming her by punishing her?
"Mother."
Xiao Zhian's eyes were red. "Brother Crown Prince is your son. Zhian doesn't want our family of three to be provoked by outsiders."
His heart was weeping!
Mother, is power really that important? How can you disregard the lives of others for the sake of power?
How could you not even let go of your closest relatives? You kept saying that it was all for your son, but you hurt the people your son cared about.
Mother, do you love your son or yourself? Have you ever thought about what choice your son will make when something happens in the future?
How can I stand between heaven and earth? How can I face my father after death? I, as a son, should avenge those who were killed by you, but how can I bear to kill you?
Xiao Zhian did not respond directly to the Queen's words, which made the Queen a little worried. Shi Yu meant more to Xiao Zhian than her. Or, did Zhian dream about something again, or did Shi Yu say something to him?
She asked tentatively, "What if it was really your brother, the Crown Prince, who poisoned Mother?"
The Queen choked up, "Zhi'an, that was a deadly poison. Your Majesty almost couldn't bear to see you again.
The Queen Mother is even more unwilling to believe that it was the Crown Prince who did it. Just thinking about it makes the Queen Mother's heart ache like flesh being cut."
"No."
Xiao Zhian's lips trembled and tears fell, "Prince brother won't do that."
He was angry that the queen was still trying to sow discord between them brothers.
He also felt bad for the Crown Prince. How painful it must be for him to be schemed against by his own mother.
Perhaps he shouldn't have brought the Crown Prince back. He could have been happily serving as Prince Rong and his son-in-law in Wei.
In the eyes of the Queen, his reaction showed that Xiao Zhian had actually believed that Shi Yu had poisoned him, but he was trying hard to protect his brother.
"Zhi'an, do you have a place in mind? Mother wants to grant you a fiefdom before your brother, the Crown Prince, ascends the throne."
The Queen continued to test him, "When the new emperor ascends the throne, I will accompany you to your fiefdom, okay?"
Xiao Zhian was not good at acting after all. He was worried that his emotions would be revealed and the Queen would notice something.
If the Queen Mother finds out that the Crown Prince and the others already know what she has done, the Queen Mother will definitely take action against the Crown Prince.
He couldn't sacrifice his own family for the sake of justice, but he also couldn't implicate his brother, the Crown Prince, so he agreed and ended the conversation on the grounds that the Queen was poisoned and needed to rest.
Seeing how sad he looked, the queen thought her plan had barely succeeded.
On the other side, Shi Yu had just left the palace when he was hit by shocking news that left his mind blank.
Lin Qianning is not dead.
He has been sent back to the Lin family by people from Princess Qingyin's mansion!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
