Chapter 96 Song Zhao personally whips his stepmother to death 2
Song Zhao knelt outside the door for about an incense stick of time before Aunt Qingzhu pushed the door open and walked out.
She walked quickly to Song Zhao's side, bent over and helped her up.
"Her Majesty, please come in and answer your question."
"Thank you, Auntie..."
Qingzhu noticed her absent-mindedness, and when he welcomed her in, he whispered a reminder,
"My lady, please don't blame me for being too talkative. The Queen Mother is furious about the matter of the Duke of Huguo's wife. When you see her later, you must be careful with your words and actions. Don't say anything you shouldn't say, even if it rots in your stomach."
She meant well, and Song Zhao agreed.
But as soon as she saw the empress dowager, she turned a deaf ear to Qingzhu's instructions and completely forgot about them.
"Empress Dowager, my concubine's mother..."
"Stop." The queen mother looked gloomy and waved her hand to interrupt Song Zhao's words. "If you come to me to plead for Jiang, you'd better not say anything. Jiang is the daughter of an important official in the court, and she is also a second-rank imperial lady appointed by the emperor. The crimes she has committed are too numerous to list. She must be severely punished to eradicate this unhealthy trend!"
Song Zhao stood in the hall with a bitter look on his face, his deer eyes filled with tears and his thin lips tightly pursed, which made people feel distressed.
The Queen Mother couldn't bear to speak too harshly to such a kind-hearted child.
She sighed helplessly, beckoned Song Zhao to her side, and wiped away the tears that were welling up in her eyes.
"I know you are a good child. I will not blame you for the crime committed by Jiang, and the emperor will not distance himself from you because of this. Don't cry."
However, Song Zhao, who had always been well-behaved, refused to listen to any advice today.
The Queen Mother had said so much, but she still wanted to plead for Jiang.
"I only ask the Queen Mother to leave my mother a chance to live... The Empress Chen has already told me the whole story. If I hadn't mentioned the matter of Jin Fogan in front of the Queen Mother, my mother wouldn't have been killed."
As she sobbed and expressed her grief, she kept observing the subtle changes in the empress dowager's expression with the corner of her eye.
When the Queen Mother heard the name of Concubine Chen, her eyebrows twitched uncontrollably.
The Tianji Office conducted a thorough investigation into the Jiang family, but did not explain the reason to the public.
If that is the case, then how did Concubine Chen know that Jiang’s misfortune was caused by Jin Fogan?
The Queen Mother was secretly thinking about this matter.
No wonder the people from Tianji Office said that all the evidence of Jiang’s crimes were listed out in the open, as if someone was deliberately leading them to discover them.
It seems that Concubine Chen was secretly planning to stir up trouble in Song Zhao's mother's family so that Song Zhao would lose favor in front of the emperor.
The Queen Mother has always disliked women with deep scheming. After hearing Song Zhao's casual remarks, her dissatisfaction with Concubine Chen deepened a little.
Song Zhao sobbed and said many words to plead for Jiang, but the empress dowager was thinking about something and didn't care what she said.
I only heard her say one last sentence:
"Although mother is not my biological mother, she has raised me. I have said something careless that has implicated my mother, and I feel really bad..."
The Queen Mother's face became even gloomier after hearing this.
"Whether you tell her or not, Jiang has to pay the price for her mistakes. Are you planning to cover up for her even though you know she has committed many evil deeds?"
Song Zhao was terrified, "I dare not..."
Song Zhao knew clearly that her words, which did not distinguish right from wrong, would make the Queen Mother unhappy, but she still insisted on saying it.
A truly panicked person, even if he or she normally follows the rules, will inevitably say something without thinking in such a situation.
She had to do this to make the Queen Mother believe that she really cared about Jiang.
Just when the atmosphere in the hall was about to reach a freezing point with these words,
Suddenly, a palace maid outside the door announced:
"The Emperor has arrived!"
Song Zhao immediately stumbled to the door, not caring about etiquette, and pulled Xiao Jingheng's arm, unable to help crying and saying:
"Please forgive my mother, Your Majesty, and give her a chance to reform!"
Song Zhao was crying with tears in her eyes, her voice was a little hoarse, and she leaned on Xiao Jingheng like a weak willow and duckweed.
Which man would not feel distressed when encountering such a delicate and pitiful beauty?
And the reason why Song Zhao had acted for so long in front of the Queen Mother and shed so many tears was just to welcome the main character Xiao Jingheng to enter.
She knew Xiao Jingheng would definitely come.
Just now she was running all the way in the farm crying, and so many palace people along the way saw it, how could the news not reach Xiao Jingheng's ears?
So as long as Xiao Jingheng likes her a little, he will definitely show up.
But Song Zhao himself did not expect that Xiao Jingheng would come so soon.
"Don't cry." Xiao Jingheng held her in his arms, and gently stroked away the pearl-like tears with his warm fingertips. He looked at her with eyes full of heartache, "I know you are anxious, but the crime committed by Jiang is a serious crime. The harem is not allowed to interfere in politics. You shouldn't come to my mother and say something rude."
"I know, but what can I do... As a child, how can I watch my mother suffer and do nothing? I can't do it..."
The more Song Zhao insisted on pleading for Jiang, the angrier the Queen Mother became.
"Jiang must be severely punished for doing such a thing in order to eradicate the unhealthy tendencies. It is also a warning to other officials in the court so that they can go back and take good care of their wives and concubines.
Therefore, I have decided to give Jiang a complete body for the sake of the Duke of the Protectorate. This matter is a foregone conclusion, you don’t need to say anything more. "
The Queen Mother had the right to directly deal with the ladies of high rank in the court, bypassing Xiao Jingheng.
Song Zhao was so grief-stricken after hearing these words that he fainted in Xiao Jingheng's arms due to excessive sadness.
"Zhao'er? Zhao'er! Jiang Deshun, go call the imperial physician!"
Xiao Jingheng still cared about Song Zhao very much. He picked her up and gently placed her on the warm seat.
Although the Queen Mother's words were harsh, she was only angry at Song Zhao for being so foolish as to plead for mercy for a woman who had beaten her own mother to death.
She still loves Song Zhao very much.
There was already an imperial physician on duty in Xiuzhu Hall, and he arrived almost immediately after Xiao Jingheng called him.
After examining Song Zhao's condition, the imperial physician said, "Your Majesty, rest assured. The young lady fainted because of excessive grief. I should be able to wake her up with some medicinal oil."
When the imperial physician took the medicinal oil to treat Song Zhao, the queen mother looked on and said helplessly:
"This girl is just like her biological mother, kindhearted to the core. She knew that coming forward to plead for Jiang Shi would make Ai Jia and the emperor unhappy, but she still insisted on doing it. Even though it was Jiang Shi who beat her biological mother to death that day, she still remembered Jiang Shi's kindness in raising her and insisted on pleading for her."
Then he looked up at Jamel Xiao and said, "It's hard to see such a pure and kind child nowadays."
Xiao Jingheng also nodded and said, "Zhao'er has always been like this, always considering others. It is precisely because of her character that I cherish her even more."
The conversation between the two was heard clearly by the unconscious Song Zhao.
But she continued to pretend to be dead without making any noise.
After all, the more realistic she pretends, the more people will feel sorry for her.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com