The smallpox incident instantly caused an uproar in the harem. Concubine Qin panicked when she saw the Imperial Guards coming to her Mingde Palace, as if she realized what had happened.

"Empress Qin, please come with us." The leader of the imperial guards was on high alert and ordered his men to surround the Mingde Palace.

Si Xueyi stood beside Concubine Qin, her palms sweating and nervous, but Concubine Qin still pretended to be serious on the surface and said to the leader of the Imperial Guards, "How dare you! I am the Concubine Qin appointed by the Emperor himself, how dare you touch me!"

"Empress Qin, the emperor has ordered you to be taken to Kangfu Palace for trial. I am sorry for the offense." The leader of the Imperial Guards raised his hand without saying a word and had Empress Qin taken away.

Si Xueyi followed in panic, and they soon arrived at Kangfu Palace. At this moment, Liu Qiuchan had already changed into the queen's court dress, wearing a red robe and a golden crown, looking extremely majestic.

"Let me go!" Even now, Concubine Qin was still stubborn and kept scolding the imperial guards around her.

Seeing this scene, Liu Qiuchan's face instantly darkened, and then she shouted, "You bold Concubine Qin, how dare you be so presumptuous when the Emperor is here!"

After the words fell, Concubine Qin saw the emperor sitting above her. Her arrogance and brutality just now turned into a delicate and innocent look. She lowered her eyes and said pitifully, "Your Majesty, if you want to see me, just tell me. Why did you let the imperial guards arrest me? They hurt me so much."

The concubines from various palaces sat aside, and seeing Concubine Qin openly flattering the emperor, they couldn't help but feel disgusted in their hearts, but they didn't dare to say anything on the surface.

Only the queen, Liu Qiuchan, dared to publicly suppress Concubine Qin. "Put away your pretentious look, Concubine Qin, do you know what you have done wrong?"

"Your Majesty, I didn't do anything!" Concubine Qin still looked nonchalant and winked at the emperor, because she knew that all decision-making power was in the hands of the emperor.

The next second, the emperor snorted coldly, slapped the table next to him, and said to Concubine Qin with a cold and sharp look in his eyes. "That's enough, Concubine Qin, tell me, did you conceal the smallpox and allow it to spread in the palace?"

After the words fell, Concubine Qin's face tensed and she quickly shook her head to deny it. "Your Majesty, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

"Stop acting crazy here. How could you not understand? The palace maid who first contracted smallpox came from your palace." Liu Qiuchan said bluntly.

Concubine Qin still pretended to be ignorant and shook her head innocently. "My Queen, I really don't know anything. Please don't talk nonsense!"

"You won't cry until you see the coffin. Someone bring that palace maid up." Liu Qiuchan was too lazy to talk nonsense with Concubine Qin and directly asked someone to bring the palace maid up.

When she saw the palace maid who was supposed to be dead reappear in front of her, Concubine Qin was startled and immediately fell to the ground, looking as if she had seen a ghost.

"You... aren't you dead?" Concubine Qin said in a trembling voice. The palace maid kept her head down and said nothing.

The emperor asked coldly. "Princess Qin, you said you knew nothing. Since you know nothing about smallpox, how do you know whether the maid in front of you is dead or not?"

After hearing what he said, Concubine Qin realized that she had revealed her flaws. She coughed lightly and said, "I only met this palace maid twice. I happened to hear that this palace maid had contracted smallpox and died, so I said that."

"I think you still don't tell the truth. This palace maid has seen you more than once or twice." Liu Qiuchan said with a sarcastic smile on her lips.

Concubine Qin stared at the maid with a worried and malicious look on her face, and said with gritted teeth, "I have only seen this maid once or twice, and I just have some impression of her. Your Majesty, please do not wrongly accuse me. Whatever this maid said is one-sided. Your Majesty is a wise ruler and will not believe it easily."

Things had come to this point. Seeing that Concubine Qin was still unwilling to give up on seeing Huang He, Liu Qiuchan stopped talking and directly let the palace maid speak.

"I used to be a maid in Mingde Palace. One day, I suddenly felt unwell, and Concubine Qin called a doctor to diagnose my pulse. Only then did I know that I had smallpox. However, Concubine Qin not only did not despise me, but also arranged for me to work in Hanfang Pavilion."

The maidservant told the whole story, and the more she spoke, the uglier Concubine Qin's face became. At the end, she interrupted her and said angrily, "You are lying. When did I know that you had smallpox? I obviously don't know anything. Otherwise, how could I arrange for you to live in Hanfang Pavilion?"

"How can you say such a thing, Concubine Qin? I drank your medicine at that time, which temporarily suppressed the smallpox symptoms in my body, so that I could enter Hanfang Pavilion smoothly. And Concubine Qin, you also asked me to get as close to Miss Lin as possible to let Miss Lin be infected with smallpox."

After the maid finished speaking, everyone around her gasped. Liu Qiuchan was so angry that her body was shaking. She gritted her teeth and said, "Princess Qin, you are so cruel. Zhan'er is just a child of a few years old. Why do you want to hurt her like this?"

"I didn't do anything. This palace maid framed me. Your Majesty, you must believe me!" Concubine Qin said with tears in her eyes. She knelt down and crawled in front of the emperor, begging for mercy.

At this time, Jun Beiqi came in with Lin Zan, and also brought the doctor who had treated the palace maid when Concubine Qin was sick.

When the doctor saw the emperor, he knelt down tremblingly, and the emperor asked directly, "I want to ask you, when Concubine Qin secretly summoned you to the palace to treat this palace maid, was the disease she had smallpox?"

"Your Majesty, that maid had smallpox. I once reminded Concubine Qin that smallpox is highly contagious and must be treated as soon as possible, but Concubine Qin gave me a large sum of money and asked me to keep it secret."

"I am guilty. I accepted the money out of greed and then concealed the matter. Please forgive me, Your Majesty." The doctor outside the palace had never seen such a scene before and was so frightened that he kowtowed repeatedly.

The emperor waved his hand impatiently and had the doctor taken away. Now, with the two people confirming it personally, Concubine Qin had no way to defend herself. With a gloomy expression on her face, she sat there for a long time without saying a word.

"How could there be a vicious woman like you in the harem? You are so shameless." The emperor shouted angrily.