Chapter 137 The Secret Behind
【This palace is also a magical place. 】
[The imperial physician appears to be a cunning and dishonest person, but what he does behind the scenes is a heinous crime punishable by the extermination of all nine generations of his clan.]
[Concubine Qi was so scared that she even slapped Zhen Huan twice, yet she dared to poison her with her real name. ]
[The Queen, this old woman, is the same. Everything has been revealed. Why did she call Li Jingyan over? 】
[Why don't you let me kneel down? I can sit on your legs while kneeling. Standing is too tiring. ]
[My eyes are getting too dark to open. I want to go back to sleep.]
[If I had known something this serious would happen, I should have asked Songzhi to make donkey hide gelatin and longan soup before I left. I’m hungry.]
Nian Shilan was afraid that if she stopped now, she would uncontrollably guess what the Queen had done in this matter and think that she had known about it for a long time.
When Concubine Qi came in, the palace maids had already been cleared out of the hall. She looked at them with an ignorant look on her face and knelt down to salute:
"I pay my respects to the Emperor, Empress, and Consort Hua Gui. I was not aware that the Emperor summoned me so late at night..."
“Kneel down!”
Concubine Qi immediately knelt down and said weakly, "Your Majesty..."
The emperor asked directly: "Did you order someone to deliver those two plates of things on the ground to the Fourth Prince?"
Concubine Qi looked at the Longjing Bamboo Fungus Soup and Purple Fragrant Dried Fruits on the ground and said, "I sent this to the Fourth Prince because I felt sorry for him not having a mother. It was all out of good intentions."
"Good intentions? You still dare to make excuses at this point?"
The emperor glared at her, "Since you mean well, drink a bowl of it in front of me. I will forgive you for what you have done!"
"I am a fool. Please spare my life, Your Majesty."
[Do you accept this? ]
"You also know that the Fourth Prince has been without a mother since he was a child and has been raised in the Old Summer Palace."
The queen's tone was a little regretful, but her words were guiding, "Why are you so desperate that you want to attack him?"
"Things are different now. The Emperor wants to bring the Fourth Prince back to the palace and keep him by his side. The Third Prince is not favored to begin with. If the Fourth Prince..."
The Queen frowned, "Who told you that the Emperor wanted to bring the Fourth Prince back to the palace to keep him by his side?"
"Yes, Sun agreed." Concubine Qi said without hesitation, "Sun agreed and said that the emperor wanted Concubine Duan to be his adoptive mother, to train him carefully in the future, and to entrust him with important tasks."
"He also said that as long as the Fourth Prince could not return to the palace in this lifetime, there would be no such troubles."
"Your Majesty can have many children, but I only have one child, the Third Prince. I have to make plans for his future."
[You should have thought about your son and found a palace maid to take the blame. Now that you admit this, doesn't it mean your son is completely hopeless?]
[More stupid than me, no, there is no one stupider than you in the harem! ]
The Queen sighed inwardly: Nian Shilan should not be allowed to come to these serious occasions. She felt in a dilemma whether to laugh or not.
"I also listened to these words and was confused for a moment, which led to such a big mistake."
Concubine Qi kowtowed repeatedly, "But, but I didn't really harm the Fourth Prince."
"The Fourth Prince has already passed away, what else does Sister Qifei want to do to harm him?" Nian Shilan said faintly.
"Dead?" Concubine Qi was so frightened that she held her breath for a moment before she asked, "How could this happen?"
"Sister Qi Fei gave me the medicine herself, don't you know?"
"But Cuiguo said that the Fourth Prince didn't eat it."
The emperor said, "Concubine Qi Li was disrespectful in front of the palace. I order her to be stripped of her title and deposed. She will be moved to the Zibi Mountain House overnight. She will never be allowed to leave without my order."
【Disorder in front of the palace?】
Concubine Qi cried and yelled, and only just said the word "Emperor". The Emperor said with disgust:
"If you dare to say another word, I will lock up the Third Prince with you!"
Concubine Qi shut up. After the emperor finished speaking, he glanced at Nian Shilan almost subconsciously.
Only for a moment.
[She poisoned the prince, but they didn't execute her directly. Instead, they just said it was a misconduct in front of the palace? ]
[Is this for the Third Prince? ]
The emperor's guard relaxed a little.
The Queen's heart was shrouded in doubt: Is it for the Third Prince?
Or...
Li Jingyan was dragged away and taken directly to Zibi Mountain House.
The emperor concluded that the fourth prince died suddenly of a serious illness.
Nanny Zhang was sentenced to death for failing to take good care of her children.
[Evil disease? Where is He Dinghong? ]
"Anyone who dares to tell anyone about what happened tonight will be killed."
The emperor believed the queen's words and also believed in Nian Shilan's heart for the Nian family. No matter whether they wanted to know the matter clearly or not, the two of them would not spread it.
Nian Shilan wanted to ask Sun Miaoqing, but was interrupted by the Queen, "The Fourth Prince died unexpectedly. I have ordered people to prepare for his funeral."
"Leave this matter to the Queen."
With Su Peisheng's shout of "Start driving", the imperial carriage headed for Jiuzhou Qingyan.
When the Queen and Nian Shilan came out of the Qinzheng Palace, they were hit by a chill. The night was dark, and Nian Shilan could not help herself:
【Why don’t you let me ask Sun Miaoqing? 】
[She was clearly the one behind this, are we really going to let her off like this? ]
[After all this effort, she just got away with it? ]
Tonight's event was decided too hastily. The Queen suspected that there was something else behind it, but she couldn't tell the reason yet. Facing Hua Fei's question, she said in a low and concise voice: "There is no evidence."
[Send the person to the Ministry of Punishment, are you still worried about not having evidence? 】
[In your previous life, when you convicted me, wasn't it like this? ]
The queen stopped and glanced at Nian Shilan: "..."
Didn’t she herself say that all grudges were from past lives?
Why do you keep nagging yourself?
“This is not over yet.”
Sun Miaoqing will not survive, but not today.
The queen was about to leave, but she couldn't help but solemnly warned him, "Watch your mouth and don't mention this matter again."
After saying this, the queen left.
Although she participated in the whole process, Nian Shilan felt as if she had been kept in the dark.
【Did I miss anything? 】
The queen looked solemn and whispered something to Jianqiu on the way. Jianqiu nodded and left.
Not long after Fengji returned to the moon and the clouds, Jianqiu hurried back, "As the queen expected, Liu Bin was punished."
Therefore, that drop of soup from Nanny Zhang really only fell on the back of the Fourth Prince's hand.
Li Jingyan is the second Concubine Duan.
The nine provinces are peaceful and tranquil.
The candles in the hall had gone out. The emperor sat in the darkness and said in a cold voice:
"Dealt with?"
"Your Majesty," it was Xia Qian, who knelt on the ground and replied, "Doctor Liu accidentally slipped while on duty tonight and has sunk to the bottom of the water holding a stone."
“You guys did a great job.”
"As an imperial physician, he didn't want to improve his medical skills. Bringing a poison like Hedinghong into the palace is already a serious crime. He dared to give it to the concubines in private, which is even more unforgivable."
Liu Bin is a bad person and can be easily bribed by money.
Sun Miaoqing knew this, so she ordered Xiao Lezi to secretly give Liu Bin a banknote and asked him to check Li Jingyan's pulse in the afternoon.
Li Jingyan had a lot on her mind, so she asked him directly for the Crane Dinghong.
Liu Bin was even more daring. When he saw the banknote, he immediately found a way to get it for her.
"Sun Danying did go to Changchun Xianguan in the afternoon and said those provocative words. I am stupid and ignorant. Your Majesty, please tell me clearly whether we should do it silently..."
Xia Qian made a gesture of wiping his neck.