On the third morning after Xiao Yao returned to the palace, Nanny Ruan came to Jinhuayuan with a bowl of bird's nest. Prince Jing was also there.
"Your Majesty, Princess, there is saffron in this bowl of bird's nest."
How is this possible? The guards and maids in the palace are carefully selected, and the kitchen is even guarded by a dedicated person. Could there be a traitor in Duiyue Pavilion?
Of course this matter must be investigated, and it must be investigated thoroughly. The person behind him is too vicious to dare to give saffron to the Crown Prince's wife. He wants to exterminate the royal family's offspring!
After investigating for a few days, I found out that the finger of blame was pointed at Jinxiuyuan. Okay, okay, I originally wanted her to spend the rest of her life in the palace in peace, but it seems that she doesn't appreciate it!
King Jing had Concubine Han brought to the living room. He and Yin Qianhua sat on the main seats, one on each side. Concubine Han was nervous and pretended to be shocked.
"Concubine Han, I only have one question for you today. Did you put the saffron in Achen's wife's bird's nest porridge?" King Jing asked with a dark face.
"I knew that my cousin would sooner or later put the blame on Jinxiuyuan. I lost, but I want to know why I lost? How am I inferior to that bitch Yin Qianhua?" Concubine Han knew that Prince Jing would not let her go this time, and she didn't want to cause trouble, but could she disobey that prince's order?
She pulled out the hairpin from her head and stabbed herself in the heart, but was snatched away by a guard beside her, who struck her acupoints with lightning speed.
"Han Ying, if you don't want your two daughters to be abandoned by their husbands' families and if you don't want everyone in the world to know about your scandal, then write down what happened honestly."
Concubine Han closed her eyes in despair. She had tried to persuade her aunt not to take action, but the old lady refused to listen. She didn't dare let anyone know that her cousin had evidence against her. She didn't dare to offend either side, but ended up offending both. Not only had she accomplished nothing, but she was also afraid that she would also bring trouble to the Han family and her daughter. She had no idea what the outcome would be.
Concubine Han wrote the confession as requested by King Jing and pressed her fingerprints. King Jing carefully read the confession in his hand and sneered. Mother, his own biological mother not only attacked Old Man Xiao, but also poisoned his granddaughter-in-law with saffron.
Does she dislike Xiao Yao, her granddaughter-in-law, or does she want the Jingwang Mansion to have no descendants? Whatever the reason, she cannot accept it and cannot forgive it.
King Jing kept Concubine Han's confession in his possession and ordered his men to secretly detain her. He also warned her that if she didn't want anything to happen to her two daughters, she had to cooperate.
Xiao Yao knew nothing about this matter. She either stayed in Duiyue Pavilion to make clothes for Yun Yichen, or accompanied Yin Qianhua for walks. She would also personally make soup every day and send it to her parents-in-law. King Jing joked that if she continued to eat like this, her son probably wouldn't recognize her when he came back.
Yin Qianhua would urge Xiao Yao to go back to her parents' home every few days. Seeing that her grandfather's health had basically returned to normal, Xiao Yao was both relieved and sad. She was relieved that the old man was recovering, but sad that he might never be able to ride horses, hunt, or travel around again, and would probably have to spend the rest of his life in this courtyard.
On the way back to Prince Jing's Mansion, Xiao Yao met Tong Jintang. He seemed to be waiting for someone on the roadside. No matter who he had an appointment with, he had to say a few words since he met him.
Xiao Yao asked Tong Jintang through the curtain: "How is my cousin's study going? Are my second uncle and second aunt in good health?"
"My father and mother are both fine, cousin, don't worry. As for me? I'm about to go to Suzhou, and I came here today to say goodbye to you."
It turned out that he was waiting for me here on purpose! Xiao Yao didn't know what to say to him next. The two of them rarely saw each other once a year, so there was really nothing to talk about. Besides, she was already married, so it would be inappropriate to meet a man from another family.
Tong Jintang didn't know what else to say. He said "take care" awkwardly, turned around and left. When Xiao Yao's carriage was far away, he came out from behind the tree again. He was going to study in the south, to avoid his cousin from his grandmother's family, to stay away from his parents' quarrels, and to forget the beautiful figure in his heart one day.
The New Year is just over a month away, and Yun Yichen has been gone for more than twenty days. She misses him more and more, and doesn't know when he will come back. Xiao Yao walks around the gate a few times every day, hoping that the gate will open as soon as she turns around, and that familiar figure will walk towards her in the setting sun.
It was already the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, more than ten days later, when Yun Yichen returned to Kyoto. Instead of going home, he went straight to the palace and presented the evidence he had collected to the emperor.
The Han family not only colluded with the Fan King, but also had connections with Northern Jin. The emperor ordered that all the men, women, old and young of the Han family be kept under guard. Of course, Queen Mother Han refused to accept the so-called evidence. This time, the emperor did not give in. King Jing and Yun Yichen listened quietly to the Queen Mother's accusations, with no waves on their faces.
"Didn't the Han family offend the Yin family back then and the Xiao family now? The two Duke's Mansions are actually no match for two outsiders. A Yuan and A Xuan are your uncles!"
The Emperor said coldly, "Because they are my and Axuan's uncles, your brothers, they were able to avoid punishment for their private purchase of horses and fodder. Because they are members of the Han family, they conspired with the vassal king to privately manufacture weapons, but I only confiscated the weapons and punished the vassal king. Now they are colluding with the Northern Jin people, and you want me to pretend to be deaf and dumb. Then, Queen Mother, please tell me how I should explain this to the people of the world."
Queen Mother Han opened her mouth but could not utter a word. She didn't know how to refute her son, and she had no reason to stop their decision, but she couldn't bear to watch the Han family perish.
"My Queen Mother did more than that! She sent someone to poison Xiao Hu's horse, and even sent Concubine Han to put saffron in your grandson's wife's bird's nest porridge."
Queen Mother Han calmed down and sneered, "My favorite youngest son married the daughter of an imperial censor. How can I accept this? Xiao Hu is just a common man. Why should his granddaughter occupy the position of the crown prince's consort?"
King Jing shook his head and said nothing. He didn't want to argue with Queen Dowager Han about this matter anymore. What happened to his father-in-law's family, the grievances his wife and daughter had suffered for many years, Mr. Xiao's health that would never recover, and his daughter-in-law who almost lost her qualification to be a mother, what had they done wrong, why did they have to suffer such injustice.
Since the topic of the palace was being discussed, Prince Jing thought of the women of the Han family and Concubine Han. It was time to reveal some things.
He asked someone to take away Concubine Han, her two uncles, and Concubine Han's biological mother, Liu.
After everyone was gathered, King Jing asked Liu: "Some things should be discussed by my aunt or my cousin."
Liu raised her head timidly. She knew that deceiving the royal family was a crime of deceiving the emperor, so she dared not tell the truth. She could only crawl to the Queen Mother, hug her legs and cry for help.
Concubine Han sat on the ground dejectedly. She wanted to ask King Jing not to say anything, but she also knew that there was no room for turning things around at this point.
"Back then, in order to allow my aunt's family to borrow the favor of the Duke of Han's Mansion, my aunt secretly created opportunities for my nephew to get close to my cousin without my uncle and mother's knowledge. After the two of them fell in love, they arranged for them to meet secretly. As a result, my cousin was no longer a virgin when she married into the palace. Am I right about this?"
The emperor and Yun Yichen opened their mouths in shock. The Han family was too bold to do such a thing. Duke Han and Duke Qing kowtowed and cried out that they were innocent. They had been kept in the dark for so many years, and only today did they know the truth. Queen Mother Han's eyes were evasive. She also wanted to marry her innocent niece to her son, but she only knew about this when the wedding date was set and it was a hot topic. What could she do! If the marriage was cancelled, the Han family would be in big trouble. The younger brother and sister-in-law and niece begged hard, so they could only make a big deal out of it.
"I had no intention of marrying my cousin. I wanted to explain it to her on the day she got married, but I accidentally overheard this secret. I also learned that my biological mother was willing to sacrifice even her own son for her family."
"My Queen Mother didn't. She only found out the truth at the last minute. At that time, your marriage had already been decided. What could I do? I could only make the best of it."
King Jing sneered, "So my son also made the mistake and found my aunt's nephew. He gave Concubine Han a hallucinogenic drug, making her mistakenly believe that it was me who stayed overnight at Jinxiu Garden. In fact, Yun Ruoqing and Yun Ruoxing have nothing to do with me.
Originally, I planned to wait until the two children were married, and after Achen and Ruonan got married, I would let Concubine Han and her cousin go, allowing them to move to a new place and start a new life. But Concubine Han refused to accept my offer. Not only did she poison Qianhua and Ruonan, causing them years of suffering, but now she's even using saffron on Achen's wife. How can I tolerate this?
I only regret now why I waited until today to reveal this, causing my family to suffer for so many years. I feel sorry for them, and it is because I cared too much about family ties that I hurt them."
The emperor was also extremely disappointed with his mother. After ordering the Han family to be taken away, he ordered that all the palace maids and eunuchs in Fengxiang Palace be replaced, and sent the empress dowager to another garden to live for a while to recuperate.
A few days later, the punishment for the Han family was announced. All the men were beheaded and the women were assigned to do forced labor three thousand miles away.
The palace was particularly lively during the New Year of that year. All five members of the Jingwang family were present. The Seventh Princess insisted on letting Xiao Yao touch her big belly, saying that she had dreamed of having a daughter who looked like Xiao Yao.
Both the emperor and the empress were amused by her. How could the child of the top scholar be related to Prince Jing's Mansion? What the hell is going on!
During the meal, Xiao Yao felt nauseous after smelling a sour soup, so she had to excuse herself and go out for some fresh air.
Empress Mu beckoned Yin Qianhua over and whispered to her, "Looking at this situation, is Achen's wife pregnant?"
Will it? If so, that would be great. The emperor, who overheard their conversation, even stopped singing and dancing. He ordered someone to summon the imperial physician and urged his stunned nephew to go out and find his wife.
Standing outside the hall and breathing the fresh air, Xiao Yao felt less depressed. Yun Yichen came over and tied her cloak.
Against the backdrop of dazzling fireworks, the two smiled at each other, interlocked their fingers, and walked together towards the brightly lit hall...
-----
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
