"Bang!"
The tall palace maid was thrown out like a rag doll and crashed into a table.
"Splash..."
The table was smashed, and broken porcelain and dishes were scattered all over the floor.
The emperor said menacingly, "Guards, bring me my sword!"
sword?
The emperor wants to kill someone?
The Empress Dowager clutched her handkerchief, shocked and frightened.
Today is her birthday banquet...
At this moment, the Empress, who had already returned to the palace to rest but came upon hearing the commotion, entered and said, "Your Majesty, please do not be angry."
Even Consort Lin turned back.
She glanced at the scene in the hall, her expression indifferent, and did not speak.
He was slightly surprised only when his gaze fell on Yuan Yao's face.
Upon seeing her, Huaiyao immediately said, "Mother..."
"Shut up," Consort Lin said coldly.
Huaiyao was so angry that she pulled her hand back to her wrist and began to stroke the whip.
The Empress walked up to Yuan Yao, looked down at her, and asked in surprise, "What's this, Princess?"
Yuan Yao looked up, her face swollen, her eyes already brimming with tears: "Yao'er... greets Your Majesty the Empress..."
As she spoke, she actually tried to kneel down.
"Get up quickly." The Empress hurriedly reached out to help her up and looked at the Empress Dowager: "Mother, your daughter-in-law is late."
The Empress Dowager's face darkened.
The Empress frowned slightly before walking to Jiang Lanyue's side and asking the imperial physician, "How is the princess?"
The imperial physician said, "Your Majesty, the princess has been poisoned after consuming this bowl of poisoned milk and egg custard."
"Poisoned?" The Empress frowned even more deeply. "Is there any way to cure him?"
The imperial physician said, "Your Majesty, there is no need to worry. It is only a small amount of aconite. I have already given the princess the antidote."
Aconite?
Yuan Yao had never even heard of this poison before.
Consort Lin, however, coldly remarked, "This aconite is mostly used in the military. How did it come to be in the palace?"
After speaking, she glanced at Yuan Yao.
The emperor frowned, bent down, and picked up Yuan Yao: "Is she dead? Imperial Physician! Quickly examine Yuan Yao's face!"
The little one in my arms, with her fair and tender face, was now red and swollen, her entire face covered with a large handprint.
The more you look at it, the more tyrannical the emperor seems.
His gaze fell on Tan Xin, who had already fainted from the fall: "Guards, seize this palace maid!"
"Emperor," the Empress Dowager spoke, "your own daughter is poisoned and unconscious, and as her father, you show her not the slightest concern!"
If Lan Yue were to wake up, she would surely be deeply disappointed in you, her father.
The Empress Dowager had long noticed that whether it was the Emperor or the Empress, the first thing they would do upon entering the palace was to focus on Yuan Yao.
And even though Lan Yue was poisoned, they showed almost no concern...
The emperor looked at the empress dowager, his voice hoarse: "Empress dowager, you must have drunk too much wine today."
"Am I the imperial physician? If I show concern for Lan Yue, will her poison disappear and she get better?"
The Empress Dowager pursed her red lips tightly.
Today, she has already been rebuked by the emperor several times.
In the morning, it was in front of many princes and nobles.
But this time, it was in front of the housekeeper's female relatives...
No, she cannot lose her dignity as Empress Dowager!
The Empress Dowager held her hands down, clenching the handkerchief in her hands so tightly that she almost crushed it.
She said with restraint, "The Emperor is right. I was too anxious and lost my composure."
At this moment, a young eunuch came with a bag of ice: "Your Majesty."
The emperor took the bag and said to Yuan Yao, "Bear with it, it hurts a little."
“Mmm,” Yuan Yao replied obediently.
Although she was mentally prepared, she still gasped in pain when the ice pack was applied to her face.
She had planned that slap just now.
As Tan Xin said, that slap was not delivered by Tan Xin herself, but rather by her using a little trick.
The lingering wind sent her a secret message.
Canfeng's original intention was to knock Tanxin's hand away.
But she didn't want to give up.
So, taking advantage of the moment when the lingering wind struck Tan Xin's hand, she grabbed Tan Xin's hand and slapped her across the face.
The self-inflicted injury tactic has never failed.
Even if Tan Xin tried to explain, no one would believe her.
"Does it hurt?" The emperor's fingers lightly touched Yuan Yao's face.
Yuan Yao answered truthfully, "It hurts."
Her voice sounded aggrieved.
The emperor, upon hearing this, became even more determined to kill the palace maid on the spot.
After embracing Yuan Yao, the emperor turned and ordered, "Guards, drag this disrespectful palace maid away and give her one hundred strokes of the cane."
One hundred strokes of the cane?
The Empress Dowager's face changed: "Emperor."
"What, is the Empress Dowager going to protect her?" The Emperor lifted his eyelids, his voice hoarse and cold, with a hint of sinister intent.
The Empress Dowager suppressed her anger: "Emperor, just now, Tan Xin also said that she did not hit Yuan Yao."
Tanxin has been by my side for many years and is a kind-hearted child.
There must be some misunderstanding about this.
Misunderstand?
Yuan Yao lowered her eyelids and sobbed softly, concealing the coldness in her eyes.
Empress Dowager, you really have double standards!
Previously, when Jiang Lanyue was poisoned, there was no evidence whatsoever. Without saying a word, the Empress Dowager immediately ordered her to be arrested.
Huairou and Huaiyao pleaded for leniency, but their requests were rejected.
And now, with such a big handprint on her face, she's saying it was a misunderstanding?
What a misunderstanding!
The emperor held Yuan Yao in his arms and spun her around, making sure everyone could see the handprint on Yuan Yao's face: "The Empress Dowager says it's a misunderstanding."
"Take a good look for yourself, see if this handprint was made by Yuan Yao himself?"
As soon as he finished speaking, many of the women knelt down again.
Who would dare to answer the emperor's question?
They all saw it just now.
The palace maid named Tanxin slapped Princess Yuanyao hard across the face, and she hadn't even pulled her hand back yet...
However, if they spoke up, they would offend the Empress Dowager.
After weighing the options, the women simply chose to kneel and kowtow.
The emperor could only sneer at the sight.
He underestimated the Empress Dowager.
Over the years, he turned a blind eye to her behavior, and she really started to act like an empress dowager and someone important.
They kept provoking him and A Yuan, it was completely incomprehensible!
The emperor said coldly, "Guards, summon the Minister of Justice!"
The Minister of Justice was talking to his colleagues when he was suddenly summoned into the main hall where the women were staying.
His already dark face darkened further as he stepped into the hall with a steady gait: "Your subject greets the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and the Empress..."
The emperor impatiently interrupted him: "Come and see, look at the slap mark on Yuan Yao's face."
The Minister of Justice raised his head.
Upon seeing this, he exclaimed in surprise, "Who hit the princess?"
The emperor said coldly, "When I entered the room, I happened to see the palace maid slap Yuan Yao across the face."
The Empress Dowager, however, felt that there was a misunderstanding and that the slap was not delivered by the palace maid.
"Come and see, this handprint, isn't it that palace maid's?"
"Your Majesty," the Empress Dowager said, her voice trembling with suppressed emotion.
He really didn't give her any face at all.
Just for Yuan Yao?
Yuan Yao, Yuan Yao...
The Empress Dowager's gaze fell on Yuan Yao's small face.
The side of his face that wasn't hit was fair and tender, looking soft and bouncy, and his eyes were bright and expressive, with clear black and white.
Yuan Yao...doesn't he look somewhat like the emperor?
The Empress Dowager was immediately alarmed.
Could it be that Yuan Yao is actually the emperor's illegitimate daughter?
In this way, everything that happened before seems to make sense!
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