Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Palace Maid Twenty-One Day
The emperor tapped his finger on the table, making two crisp sounds: "Since you have learned so well, why did this happen?"
Du Baolin was so panicked that she almost cried. She looked straight at the emperor with sorrow in her eyes: "I know my crime."
Anyone would have felt soft-hearted for a moment in the face of her pitiful appearance, but their emperor's eyes seemed frozen. Not as cold as Concubine Gao's, but neither sad nor happy, which made people feel even more desolate, as if a basin of cold water was poured over their heads. They couldn't even question him angrily.
Du Baolin said sadly: "Your Majesty, I love you!"
Why was she so full of love, but couldn't win the emperor's true love? When she thought the emperor didn't love her, he favored her the most among all the concubines in the palace. When she thought the emperor loved her, he easily demoted her because of two palace maids she had accidentally killed. Finally, she walked in front of the emperor again, and the emperor handed her a cloak. But in a blink of an eye, he did not hold the culprit who destroyed her dance costume accountable for this small matter, but instead made the decision for the lowly palace maid.
Du Baolin really couldn't figure it out.
"Does this have anything to do with your twisted nature and your cruelty to the palace maids?" Ji Chen frowned impatiently, wondering why Wang Jigui hadn't come back yet.
Mrs. Du looked as if he had let her down a lot.
But compared with all the concubines in the palace, Mrs. Du is the luckiest. However, she is cruel and has no moral intention. One can't help but ask, how did Lord Du raise such a daughter?
Thinking that he was the one who had pampered this evil ghost in human skin for more than two years, he wanted to erase all traces of the other party in the past two years and let people never mention it again.
The emperor's mind is unpredictable. Inside the palace, some concubines were shocked by the emperor's coldness and secretly warned themselves not to be as sincere as Du Baolin. Others wanted to applaud the emperor for not being deceived by such a vicious woman.
Du Baolin just cried. In her opinion, not being liked by the emperor was like the end of the world.
Ji Chen became more and more irritated, but his demeanor became calmer. He just kept turning the ring on his hand, as if this was the only way to barely suppress his unhappiness.
At this time, Wang Jigui came to the palace with the palace servants who had served Du Baolin before.
"Your Majesty, these six palace maids are the ones who once served Du Baolin. Among them, Shanhu, the first on the right, was Du Baolin's maid, and the second one, Zhaolu..."
After Wang Jigui made his statement, the emperor watched quietly. Defei spoke first and briefly recounted the wrong things Du Baolin had done, and then encouraged Shanhu and Chaolu to expose what Du Baolin had done.
After saying that, Concubine De smiled and looked at the emperor: "Your Majesty, am I right?"
Ji Chen nodded slightly: "You did a good job."
Concubine De smiled and her eyes fell on the people in the hall, feeling full of oppression.
Chaolu seemed unable to bear it and spoke first: "When the master was a concubine, he often took out his anger on us close palace maids, either beating or pinching us. I couldn't stand it anymore and left Du Baolin for several months. The marks on my body have almost healed, leaving only some scars. But if you go to the Pharmacy Department to check, you can also find the records of my taking medicine."
After Chaolu left Du Baolin, she was apparently appreciated by a noble person.
Shen Qingqing looked up at her when she heard her talking, and found that Chaolu's attire was already that of an eighth-rank female official, which was completely different from the past.
Yes, Chaolu is an active person. When she was in Zhiyun Palace, she was very good friends with Daimao who was expelled from the palace. If she concentrates on her career as a female official, she will surely achieve something.
Then there is Dong'er next to her. Her face has healed completely without any scars. If someone who doesn't know the truth looks at her, they can't tell at all that she had any facial injuries.
Chaolu paused for a moment, then continued, "Except for Daimao, the other three people who served Du Baolin were all injured. However, Du Baolin was able to control himself at the time, and the servants took the medicine and received money to appease him, so they did not make a fuss."
After Chaolu finished speaking, Dong'er looked very confused. He just thought that he had never served the master personally and didn't know about this matter.
The other three eunuchs, the former head eunuch of Zhiyun Palace, Xiao Jiuer who served in the outer palace with Xiao Dingzi, and Xiao Dingzi, each told what they had discovered.
Without Shanhu saying anything, they, who had no loyalty to Du Baolin at all, had already found out everything.
The matter has become very clear. When Du Mingyi first entered the palace, she pretended to be considerate in front of the palace maids, but after she understood the temperament of the palace maids, her true nature was exposed. In addition, Du Mingyi was favored at that time, and her attack was not serious. Afterwards, she gave her sweet talk and expressed her sadness and self-blame. The injured palace maid could not alarm the emperor or the virtuous and virtuous concubines about this matter, and she even had to cover it up to maintain the dignity of the favorite concubine's personal maid.
Du Mingyi disliked eunuchs, and these three people discovered this from clues, but since it was none of their business, who would say anything?
But things are very different now. Du Baolin is about to fall. Xiao Jiuer rolled her eyes and thought, why not obey the wishes of the concubine above and confirm the evidence of Du Baolin's guilt? It won't be wronged for her anyway.
Coral still pursed her lips and said nothing, even facing the bullying of these people, anger was brewing in her eyes.
Chaolu couldn't stand her loyalty, so she took her hand and rolled up her sleeves. "Madam Defei, you see there is still a scar on Shanhu's arm. We are betraying our master no matter how much we say. It would be more refreshing to have some evidence. I have served Master Du wholeheartedly and I dare not complain at all. I have never told these things to anyone else. If it weren't for the emperor and the ladies today..., I would have kept these things to myself and would not have bothered Baolin."
Shanhu covered her arm and said palely, "My master made an unintentional mistake."
Du Baolin was quite moved by Shanhu, but he opened his mouth and said nothing.
De Fei took charge of the situation and said, "Okay, no need to say more. Your Majesty, everything is clear now. The matter of Du Baolin..."
Ji Chen said coldly: "Du Shi treated human life as nothing, killed two palace maids, and did not repent. She repeatedly injured palace maids. She will be punished for multiple crimes and moved to the cold palace and imprisoned for life."
Mrs. Du had already become disheartened. She closed her eyes, but did not go crazy. She accepted the result calmly.
[No, wasn't Du Mingyi already punished for killing a palace maid?] Concubine Xian was puzzled.
Concubine De reminded again: "But there is no conclusion yet on the matter of Lady Du's dancing clothes. Does the emperor want to investigate further?"
[Could it be that…]
"Why investigate further? She has enemies everywhere, so she should have expected the situation she's in today!" Ji Chen stood up and left.
[The Emperor did not think that Du had killed anyone before, but thought there was something else going on, so he only demoted her.]
Qian Quanzhong followed behind him, while Wang Jigui was still in the hall handling the subsequent matters.
[In terms of understanding Du Shi, the Emperor should be pretty good. He thought Du Shi was not stupid enough to kill someone. But until today when Du Shi's entire secret was exposed, he realized that he didn't know Du Shi that well. That's why he was so angry that he punished her for multiple crimes? ]
[Or maybe he is fed up with Du and is punishing him again with the things he has punished before.]
【Du's family, Du's family...】
When the emperor left, Concubine Xian stood up and bowed before sinking into her own thoughts. Today was really wonderful. But even if Madam Du fell, she was unwilling to underestimate her.
Shen Qing listened to Concubine Xian's thoughts and became more and more confused. Concubine Xian felt that the emperor did not think that Du had taken the initiative to kill the two palace maids, but her incident forced the emperor to recognize Du Baolin's true face, so he no longer showed mercy.
According to Concubine Xian's thinking, the emperor's demoting Du from Jieyu to Baolin was a lenient punishment. Otherwise, these palace maids were only injured by Du Baolin this time. Could this little pain affect Du Baolin's status? Could it make the emperor banish Du Baolin directly to the cold palace?
Shen Qing blinked and suddenly remembered that Du Baolin didn't think that she killed Xia Chan and Wen Xin. She just ordered Liu Shun to cause trouble for Xia Chan and Wen Xin. Xia Chan and Wen Xin were crippled and tortured. Du Baolin would think that Liu Shun did a good job, but this result definitely did not include the death of the two.
According to Du's thinking, he might even think that death is actually a privilege, rather than living in pain.
The virtuous concubine in front had already stood up and started talking with a smile on her face to the virtuous concubine who was running towards her.
Concubine De said: "My sister is so beautiful, but the emperor didn't even look at her. He really has no sympathy for women and has let down my sister's earnest expectations."
Concubine Xian smiled gently and said, "The Emperor treats us sisters equally. If a deaf palace servant heard what you said, he would think that your appearance was flawed and not worthy of the Emperor's special favor."
Defei chuckled but smiled without showing her teeth.
From a distance, this scene made one think that Concubine Xian and Concubine De were very affectionate and had a good relationship.
Shen Qing stood beside Xuancao, still immersed in his own thoughts. If Du Shi did not intend to kill the palace maid, and it was the result of a combination of circumstances, then could there be someone else's calculations?
However, Liu Shun, who was involved in the matter, was taken away and executed on the spot. Daimao left the palace, and Du Shi was unaware of the situation, so the matter could no longer be investigated.
Will the emperor know the truth of this matter?
On the one hand, Shen Qing felt that this was his own imagination, but on the other hand, he couldn't help but doubt it.
Whether Chaolu played any role in this, she was Daimao's confidant, but now she turned against Du without hesitation, and in a short period of time she became an eighth-rank female official instead of starting as a female historian.
However, since Mrs. Du was demoted to the cold palace, Shen Qing could finally feel relieved. This was a great result.
There is no need to worry about what Mrs. Du will do to her after she has recuperated.
The banquet ended hastily and the group returned to Jingren Palace again.
Xianfei was very tired. Chatting with Defei was the most exhausting thing for her. It was more difficult for her than getting along with the emperor. She was usually nervous when facing the emperor, but when facing Defei, she felt a strong sense of crisis.
There are three senior palace maids around Concubine Xian. Besides Xuancao, the other two are named Qingyu and Qinggu.
Qingyu and Qinggu were both maids in their twenties. They were assigned to Consort Xian when they were in the Prince's Mansion, and then followed Consort Xian into the palace. But they were originally maids in the palace. It was because the prince's concubine married into the Prince's Mansion and needed capable people to serve, that they were transferred from the palace to the Prince's Mansion, and then returned to the palace.
Both of them are very capable and non-troublemaking people, as can be seen from the tolerant looks they give to Daylily.
There were four second-class maids, including Shen Qing, and the other three were Cuiwei, Qigu, and Jihe. Jihe was the one who found Shen Qing hesitating at the gate of Jingren Palace today.
There were as many as eight third-class palace maids, and Concubine Xian knew them all and could even call them out by name. She would sometimes take them with her when she went to enjoy the scenery in the palace.
The palace maids helped the virtuous concubine to bathe and rest.
Qie He pulled Shen Qing towards the palace servants' quarters: "You will live in the same room with me from now on. The Concubine Xian said that since you have just arrived, you don't need to do any work first. You can recover from your injuries before you start your duty."
Shen Qing relied on her young age to act cute without any unfamiliarity, and thanked her in a pinched voice: "Thank you, beautiful sister."
Qie He smiled and asked her, "What did you call me?"
"beauty?"
Qi He tapped her forehead and said, "You are still a sex addict at such a young age."
Shen Qing touched her forehead and smiled, but she still didn't understand whether Qi He was Xiao Dingzi's man.
Too many eyes were on her today, and in order to avoid suspicion, she and Xiao Dingzi even deliberately avoided looking at each other.
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