With several lives on her hands, Liu lost her composure when the emperor looked over.
The Li brothers' affairs have all been exposed, and the evidence is conclusive. She doesn't think her own deeds are foolproof.
The emperor looked at Lady Liu and asked, "Will you speak for yourself, or shall I interrogate you?"
Hou was a few years older than him and was a very good person. Before he became the ruler, their relationship was quite close.
After the emperor ascended the throne, the Marquis of Pingchang lost his wife and remarried. The emperor had heard his praise of his new wife.
At the time, the emperor felt that he trusted his second wife too much. People's hearts are biased, and he did not believe that his stepmother could truly treat her stepson wholeheartedly.
During a game of chess between the emperor and his ministers, the emperor kindly offered some pointers.
However, the Marquis of Pingchang felt that his second wife was simple and kind, and genuinely good to the three children. He even said with a smile, "She herself cannot have children, so she wants to rely on my children for the future, so naturally she dares not neglect them."
Because of their trust, after returning home, Marquis Pingchang also told Lady Liu about the emperor's advice.
Lady Liu then ran to the Empress and cried, saying that she was destined not to have her own child, but that Marquis Pingchang did not despise her, and she was grateful to him and wanted to treat him and his child a thousand times better.
He even said that he treated his stepchildren well, which he learned from the emperor.
The emperor was meddling in the family affairs of his ministers, and they even came to his door crying, mentioning that the crown prince was the emperor's adopted son.
At that time, the Empress was being criticized and remarried her brother-in-law, taking her son with her.
The Crown Prince was their biological son, but because they were uncle and sister-in-law when the Empress was pregnant with him, she couldn't let the child recognize his father, which caused the Empress a lot of resentment.
Although the Empress did not blame the Emperor after being upset by Lady Liu, she was depressed for several days.
The emperor was furious. He had tried to give advice out of consideration for their past relationship, disregarding his status as a monarch, but it only implicated his wife. So he stopped caring about the Marquis of Pingchang's affairs.
After that, Marquis Pingchang also became estranged from him. Now that I think about it, it must have been Lady Liu who interfered.
When Lady Liu saw the emperor, she was reminded of what had happened back then, and she lowered her eyes, not daring to look at him.
She was from the Crescent Moon Clan. After the fall of the previous dynasty, the few remaining members of her clan became slaves of the new dynasty.
After stabilizing the situation in Dayuan, Li Heng contacted the remaining members of his old forces and rescued several descendants of the Ya clan.
Of all those people, she was the most beautiful and was chosen by Li Heng to be fostered in the Liu family, becoming the Liu family's daughter.
When news spread that the old lady of the Marquis of Pingchang was going to remarry her son, Li Heng arranged for her to meet the Marquis of Pingchang, who was traveling to Jiangnan.
She became the second wife of the Marquis of Pingchang as she wished, but she did not expect that although the Marquis of Pingchang trusted her and treated her well, he was loyal to the emperor and there was no way he would do anything that would harm the emperor.
However, the emperor did not think highly of her, and there was no hope of winning over the Marquis of Pingchang. Li Heng made her go to the empress to cry, which made the emperor have a problem with the Marquis of Pingchang. He also often reminded the Marquis of Pingchang that there was a difference between the emperor and his subject.
As their relationship gradually cooled and the Pingchang Marquis's residence faded from the emperor's sight, she and Li Heng were finally able to do what they wanted.
The first thing was to give birth to a child with blood entirely belonging to their Crescent Moon Clan. She became pregnant as expected, but she could not let Marquis Pingchang discover it.
She then encouraged her stepson to study abroad, while she herself claimed she was worried about the child being alone and demanded that he accompany her on his studies outside of Beijing.
Her stepson was young and spent most of his time at the academy, so he didn't notice that she was pregnant. When her belly started to swell, it was winter, and she used the excuse that she had caught a cold from falling into the water when she was young to wear a cloak every day.
On the day she gave birth, the child, who should have been at the academy, suddenly returned home.
Her secret cannot be exposed, so the only option is for the child to die. But how can the child die without arousing suspicion?
To die a worthy death, to have a good reputation!
She bribed a nearby family to stage a scene where her stepson drowned while saving someone. In reality, her stepson was drowned in a water vat by his servants when he discovered her secret.
Then, when no one was looking, they threw the body into the water.
The family that had been bribed were extremely grateful to the Marquis of Pingchang for coming to collect their son's body. She, on the other hand, used the excuse of feeling guilty for not taking good care of her stepson to go to a temple and stay for two months, taking the opportunity to finish her postpartum confinement.
Marquis Pingchang had no doubts whatsoever.
However, the eldest stepdaughter had some suspicions, so she had to go to great lengths to have someone seduce her stepdaughter so that she would be entangled with a man without arousing suspicion.
Although the Marquis of Pingchang was powerful, the other party also had a good father who did not want his daughter to marry a playboy, so he could only send his daughter away from the capital temporarily.
Once out of the sight of Marquis Pingchang, Li Heng could easily deal with a girl.
The youngest child was gluttonous. She hadn't originally intended to kill him, but now that she had her own child, she had to listen to Li Heng and plan for her child's future.
He was greedy, so she encouraged him to stuff more food into his mouth. His young body couldn't digest it all, and he eventually developed tuberculosis.
However, the Marquis of Pingchang lost three sons in succession, and coupled with her usual diet and care, her body could not withstand it and she fell seriously ill.
Naturally, this conditioning is not for the better, but rather to gradually deplete his body by using food incompatibilities.
She acted very cautiously, dealt with everyone, and even won the sympathy of the crowd.
Over the years, she lived alone in the vast Pingchang Marquis's mansion. Occasionally, Li Heng would come to keep her company, or she would use the excuse of going to a temple to pray for blessings to leave the capital and visit her son.
She had originally hoped that once Li Heng succeeded, her son would become the crown prince, and even if she couldn't become the empress dowager, Li Heng would not mistreat her.
But now everything has been exposed.
Lady Liu slowly raised her head and recounted to the emperor the process of poisoning Marquis Pingchang and his son.
"They can only blame their bad luck for running into me. We were originally on different sides and destined to be enemies. He was too trusting, which harmed himself and dragged others down with him."
Liu spoke in a detached tone.
She was willing to confess for two reasons: first, she didn't want to suffer the ordeal of interrogation; second, if she could die like Li Sheng and the others, her son would have one less weakness.
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