Chapter 279 A Good Show
Queen Mother?
Shen Fu was knocked to the spot by these four words. I didn't have time to move for a long while.
When did the Queen Mother return to the palace? She bravely looked towards the main seat, and saw a woman with an extraordinary temperament sitting next to His Majesty.
She was so inconspicuous in her light-colored plain dress that Chen Fu didn't notice it for a moment.
But she had just raised her eyes and looked forward, so she hadn't seen the face clearly.
The majesty of his body is enough to make one's heart tremble.
Shen Fu didn't have time to think about it, and hurried forward, respectfully bowing in the direction of the main seat: "Noble Concubine Shen, kowtow to the Empress Dowager."
The woman's voice was as soft as water, gentle and respectful but not coquettish. She was like a solitary orchid in a valley, which made people feel happy when she spoke.
On the main seat, the Queen Mother had her eyes slightly closed. However, the plain-looking nanny standing beside her was looking at Chen Fu with inquiring eyes.
The woman stood in the center of the hall, wearing a gorgeous palace dress with magpie patterns. Her long black hair was lightly tied up with a few jade hairpins. Her dress was simple and elegant.
But that face is not simple at all. Her whole body is as white as jade and porcelain, and her black eyes are so watery that people seem to see a layer of mist in them.
The lips are as red as honey, without any stain. The only thing she had on her body was a little lip balm at the corners of her mouth, yet she was still so attractive that one could not take their eyes off her.
Matron Hu has been in the harem for many years, following the Empress Dowager's side, and has seen countless beauties in the world.
But the moment he saw Chen Fu, he was still in a trance.
He took a breath of cold air.
The breathing sound was quiet enough that only people next to him could hear it.
The Queen Mother stopped stroking the Buddhist beads.
Madam Hu realized what she had done and quickly lowered her head.
She glanced at the Queen Mother's expression, and then said to Shen Fu calmly: "The Queen Mother, please give the concubine a seat."
Shen Fu straightened up when she heard the voice.
When she came, she looked around. Apart from His Majesty and the Empress Dowager, even Concubine Rong was standing.
When the Empress Dowager gave her a seat, Chen Fu felt a little nervous.
She stood there feeling uneasy, but at this moment the palace servant had already brought a chair forward. Shen Fu didn't dare to think too much and had to follow.
Just as she sat down, she noticed a pair of eyes in front of her falling on her. Chen Fu pretended not to care, and after she sat down, she mustered up the courage to look forward.
The Empress Dowager sat beside His Majesty, her eyes slightly narrowed, but her majesty could not be concealed.
She stroked the Buddhist beads with her fingers and wore a string of relics on her chest.
Before lowering his eyes, he could see clearly that the plain, plain robe was embroidered with scriptures.
Shen Fu was afraid of being discovered, so she didn't dare to look anymore and quickly lowered her head.
But he ran into Concubine Xiang kneeling on the ground.
Concubine Xiang was kneeling on the ground, her thin face looking extremely haggard. She looked like she had just cried, her eyes were red, and she saw Shen Fu looking at her.
Concubine Xiang raised her head and glared at Chen Fu fiercely.
Shen Fu turned her eyes away calmly. She had just arrived and didn't know what had happened. But looking at Concubine Xiang kneeling on the ground and crying, she knew it must be because of the third prince.
She glanced at him and then looked away, sitting in the chair without saying a word.
But she couldn't help wondering in her heart, the Third Prince was sick and Concubine Xiang was making a big fuss here, so what was she called here for?
Shen Fu lowered her eyes slightly and tightened her hands in her sleeves.
Sure enough, not long after, Xiang Guipin lay on the ground and shouted again: "Your Highness, Empress Dowager, you two must make the decision for me and the Third Prince."
"The Third Prince was framed at such a young age. He was in a coma for several days and almost couldn't wake up."
"I beg Your Majesty to find the murderer and avenge the Third Prince."
Concubine Xiang was really furious.
Her feelings towards the Third Prince were complicated and unavoidable.
The purpose of taking care of the third prince during this period of time is to win him back. But seeing him lying on the bed with a weak face, I couldn't help but feel heartbroken.
"Noble Concubine Xiang!" Xiao Yu's voice fell from the high seat. The pair of narrow eyes fell on the person below: "You keep saying that someone is trying to frame the Third Prince."
"But as far as I know, the third prince's health has gradually improved." Although Xiao Yu had not been to the harem for such a long time, he still knew about the affairs of Changchun Palace.
"What do you mean by someone trying to frame the Third Prince?"
Concubine Xiang had taken care of the Third Prince for such a long time that she looked visibly haggard.
She raised her head and looked in the direction of His Majesty.
There was some trepidation in his eyes.
She knew that His Majesty would not help her, so Concubine Xiang looked at the Empress Dowager next to His Majesty.
Before the Empress Dowager entered the palace, Concubine Xiang had also met her. I know that what the Queen Mother cares most about is offspring.
The third prince is seriously ill, the Empress Dowager will definitely not sit idly by.
Xiang Guipin thought of the people here, and crawled forward on her knees:
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Queen Mother, you must help me, help the Third Prince."
Before Xiang Guipin could get close, the maid beside the Empress Dowager stepped forward and blocked her halfway.
"My Lady, if you have anything to say, just say it right there."
Concubine Xiang knew this person and had always been by the Empress Dowager's side. Before the Empress Dowager left the palace, the concubines who wanted to see her had to go through Madam Hu first.
Hearing this familiar voice, Concubine Xiang was not bothered.
She raised her head, cried out in a hoarse voice, and shouted, "Empress Dowager, there is something wrong with the Third Prince's illness! The Third Prince was not frightened, but someone poisoned his food!"
One word can cause a thousand ripples.
The Queen Mother stopped fiddling with her Buddhist beads and then lowered her eyes to look at Concubine Xiang.
This was the first time that the Queen Mother looked at Concubine Xiang with her eyes straight in the eye. There was majesty in her eyes, which were full of frost. Even though he was wearing Buddhist robes, it couldn't conceal the fierceness in his eyes.
"Who poisoned the Third Prince?"
At the command of the Empress Dowager, Concubine Xiang couldn't help shaking.
Her face was pale, she half stood up, looked through the hall one by one, and her eyes fell on Shen Fu.
Chen Fu was met with Xiang Guipin's gaze and felt completely baffled.
But she saw that the other person's eyes fell on her face, and then fell on her bulging belly with great complexity.
After turning back and forth for a while, Concubine Xiang finally turned her head. He raised his head and looked at Concubine Rong in the crowd: "It's the Concubine!"
"It was her. She put drugs in the Third Prince's food, which caused him to fall into a coma and he almost died."
"It was the Imperial Concubine who drugged me. Please investigate thoroughly, Empress Dowager!"
Concubine Rong, who was named, was immediately noticed by everyone.
Concubine Rong stood beside the Empress Dowager and saw that everyone's eyes were on her. She was not in a hurry and walked forward in time:
"I am innocent." Concubine Rong knelt down and stepped forward, bowing gently.
"Although the Third Prince is not my biological child, Your Majesty asked me to take care of him, and I have always done my best and never been perfunctory."
"The Third Prince has been sick more often recently, but I have been by his side taking good care of him. How can there be any talk of poisoning the Third Prince?"
Concubine Rong's face turned pale. After she finished speaking, she turned weakly to look at Concubine Xiang who was kneeling on the ground:
"Besides, words are not enough. Since Xiang Guipin said that I framed the Third Prince, why did I frame him? How did I frame him? Do you have any evidence?"
Concubine Rong asked three questions in a row, which made Concubine Xiang unable to raise her head.
But she knew that success or failure depended on this one move.
The Third Prince’s health is already in this state. If she can’t take the Third Prince back and raise him under her wing.
If such things happen a few more times in the future, the Third Prince’s body will definitely not be able to withstand it.
Only by getting the third prince back will she have hope for the future. However, getting the third prince back from Concubine Rong is not an easy task.
Thinking of this, Xiang Guipin finally became more determined: "I have evidence that the Third Prince's illness is not accidental."
"Yesterday at midnight, I saw with my own eyes someone poisoning the Third Prince's medicine."
Only then did Xiang Guipin tell everything that happened last night.
It turned out that it was because Concubine Xiang had been taking care of the three emperors too diligently in the past few days.
He would return home after dark every day and arrive at Changchun Palace before dawn in the morning. If this goes on, my body will not be able to bear it anymore.
Concubine Xiang then stayed directly in Changchun Palace. She stood by the Third Prince's bed and served him without taking off her clothes. She was so tired that she accidentally dozed off.
When she woke up, she remembered that the Third Prince's medicine was still being boiled in the medicine pot, so Xiang Guipin hurried over.
However, he unexpectedly discovered that the maidservant beside Concubine Rong poisoned the Third Prince's medicine.
Thinking of what happened last night, Concubine Xiang couldn't help but tremble all over.
"I saw it with my own eyes. The one who poisoned her was Xi Que, the maidservant beside Concubine Rong."
Xiang Guipin stretched out her hand and pointed at the crowd: "Afterwards, I overheard Xi Que and Nanny Qin talking, saying that too much was added to Rui'er's medicine, and if it continued for a long time, her body would not be able to bear it sooner or later."
"I also ask His Majesty to severely punish the two palace servants, torture them to extract the results, and give justice to the Third Prince."
"Where is the magpie?" Xiao Yu's eyes swept across Concubine Xiang's face.
He looked at the people below and said, "Come forward and answer the question."
Xi Que, whose name was called, turned pale with fright. She walked forward tremblingly, her expression visibly panicked.
"Your humble servant Xi Que pays respect to His Majesty."
Xiao Yu looked down and spoke in a calm tone, unable to tell whether he was happy or angry: "Tell me, did your master ask you to put something in the Third Prince's medicine?"
"Your servant, your servant..." The magpie stammered and only uttered these two words.
The expression on her face was visibly panicked. She was facing the Emperor, and cold sweat was running down her forehead.
Her lips trembled, and she quickly glanced in the direction of Concubine Rong, her panic visible: "Your Majesty, I dare to say it."
When Chen Fu saw this scene, her brows twisted slightly.
For some reason, she always felt that today's matter was not that simple.
She had seen magpies before. She followed Concubine Rong and didn't seem to be so timid.
Moreover, Shen Fu looked at Concubine Rong who was always standing straight.
Concubine Xiang is so stupid, how could she overthrow Concubine Rong so easily?
Shen Fu didn't believe it.
She shook her head, suppressing the emotion in her eyes.
Xiao Yu frowned: "Noble Concubine Rong?"
When Concubine Rong was called out like this, her knees went weak and she knelt down.
She straightened her back and said, "I don't have any."
Upon seeing this, Nanny Qin immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please do not wrongly accuse the Imperial Concubine."
"Your Highness has been taking good care of the Third Prince these days, and His Majesty has seen it all. How could Your Highness poison the Third Prince?"
"I am an old servant who has been with the Imperial Concubine. How could I have done something like poisoning the Third Prince?"
"It's Concubine Xiang. When the Third Prince was being raised in Changqiu Palace, he suffered from many illnesses, so he was sent to Changchun Palace for recuperation." Nanny Qin was really powerful. She revealed Concubine Xiang's scars with just one sentence.
His Majesty knew very well how she treated the Third Prince before.
Now that Nanny Qin mentioned it, everyone knew it clearly.
Nanny Qin paused, then continued, "I don't know why Concubine Xiang slandered the Imperial Concubine for poisoning the Third Prince. I beg Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager to conduct a thorough investigation and clear the Imperial Concubine's name."
Nanny Qin is an old veteran in the palace and has been with Concubine Rong for many years, so her words are more or less credible.
Concubine Rong just closed her eyes and said, "I didn't do it, so I won't admit it."
When Concubine Xiang saw the looks between the Empress Dowager and His Majesty, she felt a panic in her heart.
She hurriedly said, "I saw it with my own eyes, and I am not lying. If Your Majesty doesn't believe me, just take the Third Prince's medicine and check it out."
"Lin An!" His Majesty did not express his opinion, but just called out lightly.
Lin An understood instantly.
He bowed in the direction of His Majesty and then immediately went to the inner hall.
Lin An was very quick, and soon he came forward with the medicine jar: "Your Majesty, it's all here."
His Majesty glanced at him, and the imperial physician in the corner immediately stepped forward.
The two imperial doctors who were looking after the third prince were both there. They took the medicine jars and examined them for a while.
The two looked at each other and then shook their heads: "Your Majesty, there is no poison added to this medicine."
As soon as the words fell, the atmosphere in the room relaxed a little.
Before anyone could say anything, Xiang Guipin sneered, "Rong Guipin is so smart, she must have changed the medicine a long time ago."
After Xiang Guipin finished speaking, she turned to Lin An and said, "Please ask Eunuch Lin to go to the low cabinet beside the Third Prince's bed and get the medicine jar from it."
Lin An glanced at the Emperor sitting in the main seat, and after getting permission, he hurried over.
The medicine jar was brought back, and after the two imperial doctors examined it, their faces suddenly changed: "Your Majesty, this medicine is not right."
When Xiang Guipin heard this, she stood up straight from her kneeling position: "Your Majesty, look, what did I say?"
"Noble Concubine Rong planted something in it." Noble Concubine Xiang said, "Last night, after I saw Xi Que put the medicine in, I immediately hid the medicine jar."
"Rui'er just didn't drink for a day, and he woke up." Xiang Guipin thought of the third prince Xiao Rui, and became more certain: "If it wasn't the imperial concubine who ordered the palace maids around her to poison, what else could it be?"
The magpie was frightened by this pointing.
She raised her eyes and looked forward to His Majesty, then she knelt down on her knees with a pale face and said, "I didn't do that."
Xi Que knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "This servant did not poison me. Please investigate thoroughly, Your Majesty."
"You are still quibbling when you are about to die." Xiang Guipin could no longer bear it, raised her arm and slapped Xi Que hard on the face:
"You still refuse to admit it in front of His Majesty and the Queen Mother!
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I don't have any, Your Majesty."
Xi Que cried miserably. Madam Hu beside the Queen Mother spoke up, "The Queen Mother asked, Concubine Xiang saw you in the kitchen last night. Did you add anything to the Third Prince's medicinal food?"
Xi Que's face was swollen from the slap, and he raised his head when he heard the Queen Mother's words.
Blood was oozing from the corners of her lips, and she cried with tears streaming down her face: "Your Highness, I...I went to the small kitchen last night."
"But on the orders of the master?"
Xi Que glanced at Concubine Rong in the crowd and nodded:
"I was ordered to add something to the Third Prince's medicine, but it was not poison..."
"Listen, Your Majesty! This dog slave admitted that he poisoned the room on the orders of Concubine Rong!" Concubine Xiang became anxious after hearing this.
On the main seat, the Queen Mother opened her eyes.
She glanced at Xiang Guipin, who immediately seemed to have her throat blocked, her face flushed and she couldn't say a word.
The Queen Mother gently fiddled with the Buddhist beads on her wrist: "Since it's not poison, what did your master ask you to add to the medicine?"
When Xi Que heard what the Queen Mother said, he mustered up the courage to crawl to Concubine Rong's side.
"Empress Dowager, please look at our master's hands." Xi Que lifted up Concubine Rong's sleeves.
As soon as the sleeves were lifted, there was a sound of inhalation all around.
I saw a deep knife wound on the fair arm.
The cut was very deep, as if it was made by a sharp weapon, flesh and blood were exposed, and drops of blood were flowing down the arm.
When Shen Fu saw the wound, her eyes darkened. It was almost instantaneous that one knew that Concubine Xiang Gui had been defeated, completely defeated.
Today was indeed a good show.
Chen Fu lowered her eyes and chuckled. The moment she raised her head, she saw that His Majesty was staring at Concubine Rong's arm in a daze.
She sneered and was about to look away when His Majesty noticed something.
His eyes fell on Shen Fu, and Xiao Yu said to Shen Fu silently, “Wait a little longer.”
When Chen Fu met His Majesty's eyes, she felt that she must have seen it wrong.
She lowered her head quickly.
But the hand that had been fiddling with the handkerchief gradually stopped.
"This..." The Queen Mother believed in Buddhism and could not bear to see such things.
He glanced away and asked, "Why is there a wound on Concubine Rong's wrist?"
The magpie kowtowed to the ground, held up Concubine Rong's hand, and spoke with tears in every word:
"Your Majesty, it's all because of the Third Prince."
"Ever since the Third Prince was sent to Changchun Palace, Your Majesty has been doing her best to take care of him, fearing that if she didn't take good care of him, she would betray His Majesty's trust."
"This time when the Third Prince fell ill, Your Majesty took care of him day and night. But the Third Prince was weak, and his health was getting worse day by day. Your Majesty was worried and anxious about his illness all day long."
"Later, I heard that cutting flesh to save the son, saying that using blood as a medicine and letting the sick drink it would make the patient recover." Xi Que cried, "For the sake of the Third Prince, the Queen insisted on cutting flesh as a medicine for the Third Prince."
"What Xiang Guipin saw last night was nothing but drops of blood from the Imperial Concubine!"
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