"Elder sister, you should have guessed that I saved you not just for Shuanghua." Ji Jiuying slowly picked up her tea and took a sip.
Upon hearing this, the woman's eyes flickered slightly, and she waved her hand, signaling Shuanghua to go out first.
After Shuanghua left, the woman suddenly became somewhat resentful.
"Princess, please ask whatever you wish!"
"This princess wants to know why you were silenced by Consort Liang!" Ji Jiuying said calmly.
The woman paused, seemingly reminiscing about the past.
"My name is Senlan. I am just an ordinary palace maid who trims flowers and plants in Huaqing Palace. Consort Liang likes the Purple Ethereal Flower very much, but this flower is very easy to die and cannot withstand wind and rain. One night, a heavy rain came down. My sisters and I, who were in charge of flowers and plants, built a shed to protect the Purple Ethereal Flower overnight. We guarded it all night. My sisters were exhausted all night, so I had to tell them to go back and rest first, while I stayed behind."
"I accidentally fell asleep leaning against the flower bed. As dawn was breaking, I vaguely heard some noises and woke up to find that the painter who used to serve the First Prince was now in Consort Liang's palace. Because it was raining at the time, I vaguely heard Consort Liang telling the painter to add more pigment or something like that."
“I knew that those things were not something a lowly palace maid like me should hear, so I planned to leave quietly. I never expected to be discovered. I ran back to my room, quickly changed my clothes, got into bed, and covered myself with a blanket. It was this action of mine that led to the deaths of a group of my sisters.”
As Sen Lan spoke, her voice began to tremble, and her vision began to blur. In an instant, regret, self-blame, and heartache welled up in her heart.
She never imagined that Consort Liang would be so ruthless!
"This morning, all the Purple Enchantress flowers we had protected died. Consort Liang, on the grounds that we had failed to take good care of the Purple Enchantress flowers, secretly executed all eleven palace maids!"
Ji Jiuying listened quietly to what she said: the painter by the Crown Prince's side? Paint? A large amount? Could it be poison?
It seems there's something fishy about the death of the eldest prince!
After thinking for a moment, Ji Jiuying wrote a letter and gave it to Yingyue to deliver to the Empress.
After leaving the Princess's residence, Ji Jiuying went straight to Yunyu Tower! But she waited for a long time and Liang Bingyan did not arrive. Was she unable to get what she wanted or was she too busy to leave?
Just as Ji Jiuying was about to leave, a maid came to the door.
"This servant greets the Princess." The maid bowed to Ji Jiuying.
"Are you Liang Bingyan's maid?"
Ji Jiuying looked the maid up and down; she was not wearing clothes that a servant should wear.
“Your Highness, I am not Consort Liang’s maid, but Consort Ji’s maid. This is something Consort Liang asked me to give to Your Highness.”
The maid took a wooden box out of her bosom and handed it to Ji Jiuying.
Ji Jiuying took the box and opened it. Sure enough, it contained a jade pendant that exuded spiritual energy. Liang Bingyan's scheming was indeed not to be underestimated.
Ji Jiuying took out some jewelry from her spatial storage and handed it to the maid.
"Thank you, Princess." The maid took the jewelry and left. She hadn't expected that not only had she secured a good job, but the princess would also be so generous.
Ji Jiuying watched the maid's departing figure. The maid was still a bit naive, but it wasn't her business.
“This jade pendant belongs to your mother.”
Feng Che appeared in front of Ji Jiuying.
Ji Jiuying looked at the jade pendant in her hand, purified it with her spiritual power, and then put it on her person.
Meanwhile, the Third Prince was frantically searching every courtyard.
"Find it for me! You must find the jade pendant!" Jun Linyu roared! He was completely baffled; how could the jade pendant, which he even took with him when bathing, suddenly disappear!
He didn't even know when he disappeared, blaming himself for drinking too much at his wedding yesterday.
Grand Tutor Liang stormed into Huaqing Palace.
"Yunhua, why are you only telling me about the box now!"
“Father, I thought I could find it, so…” Consort Liang knew the importance of this matter and had been uneasy ever since the box disappeared.
"How could it suddenly disappear? Didn't I tell you to keep it safe?"
Consort Liang recounted the entire incident to Grand Tutor Liang, who frowned upon hearing it. "Is there anyone who suspects anything?"
“Yes!” Consort Liang pointed to the sky.
Grand Tutor Liang's heart sank! If that person discovered the secret, the Liang family would be completely finished!
"Father, what should we do now?" Consort Liang asked anxiously.
She tried to test the emperor several times, even getting him drunk, but to no avail.
"I'll go back and discuss a plan with your older brother. There's nothing else, so let's not contact each other too often for now."
Grand Tutor Liang said solemnly.
Inside Kunning Palace, the Empress looked at the letter Ji Jiuying had given her, staggered back a few steps, covered her mouth, and couldn't stop the tears from flowing. Over the years, she had never believed that her Ye'er would die of such an illness.
Consort Liang! How could you be so cruel! To poison her is one thing, but her Ye'er is only a few years old! How could you do this to her! The Empress wept uncontrollably.
At this time, the emperor also arrived at Kunning Palace after receiving the news.
The moment the emperor saw Yingyue, he knew that she was the Grand Preceptor's shadow guard, but he didn't understand why the Grand Preceptor's shadow guard would work for Ji Jiuying.
After reading the letter, the Emperor embraced the Empress and said with self-reproach, "Rou'er, it's all my fault for being useless! I failed to protect you!"
"Rou'er, Ye'er's palace and those paintings were destroyed in the fire. Where can we find a painting of Ye'er for Ninth Girl now?"
The emperor asked, "Although Jun Linye's palace has been rebuilt and looks exactly the same as before, everything inside, just like Jun Linye himself, is gone."
The Empress led the Emperor to the palace, opened a hidden compartment, and a long sandalwood box appeared before them. The Empress carefully opened it.
It's the only one in the world that Ye'er still exists.
So she preserved it very well. When she slowly opened it, the painting showed the Empress holding Jun Lintian on a swing, while Jun Linye was also sitting on one side of the painting painting. She was smiling happily in the painting.
"Mother, hold your brother and don't move!"
Jun Linye, a small figure, hurriedly ran back to his bedchamber to retrieve his paintbrush and paints.
"Alright, Mother, I won't move!" The Empress smiled happily as she looked at his serious expression.
Junlinye had a great talent for drawing, and he finished it in no time.
"Mother, look, isn't Ye'er amazing?"
"Mmm~ Ye'er is the best!"
"Mother, when my younger brother is a little older, I will paint another family portrait of the four of us and hang it in your Kunning Palace."
"good."
The Empress stroked Jun Linye's head and replied with a smile.
The scene was so vividly imprinted in her mind, as if it had happened just yesterday.
But! That family photo will never come.
Ye'er loved painting so much that she and the emperor specially found the most famous painter in Cangyue Kingdom to teach him. Unexpectedly, this led to his death. Self-blame and heartache spread from the depths of the empress's heart, so painful that she felt as if she could not breathe.
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