"...Or was he acting under someone's orders, deliberately trying to...make His Majesty's illness...perpetually incurable?"
Lin Wanwan's seemingly innocent yet incisive words struck like a silent hammer blow into the quiet hall.
The entire Cixi Palace was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
If the previous revelation of the incompatible medicinal properties of "perilla leaves" was like throwing a bucket of dirty water on Liu Fu.
So this sentence is a merciless attempt to shift all the blame onto the Empress Dowager, who is sitting in the main seat with an extremely ugly expression!
An unintentional mistake?
Or... was he acting under someone's orders?
This question was like a sharp knife held directly to the Empress Dowager's neck, forcing her to give an answer.
Everyone present, whether civil or military officials or concubines in the harem, held their breath.
All eyes, as if drawn by invisible threads, were focused on the woman sitting on the phoenix throne, who now appeared somewhat unsteady.
Embezzlement can still be covered up.
That was merely a matter of a subject's lack of virtue; as the Empress Dowager, she could say that she was deceived and unaware of the truth.
However, the "murder" of the emperor delayed his recovery...
This charge is too serious and too heavy.
The weight of this responsibility is so great that even she, the reigning Empress Dowager, absolutely cannot bear it!
The atmosphere froze at that moment.
At the heart of this storm, Emperor Xiao Che, the "victim," remained completely silent.
He just sat there quietly, expressionless, his eyes cold, looking at his mother.
His silence was more oppressive than any shouting interrogation.
Lin Wanwan secretly glanced at the top of his head.
She noticed that the "eating melon.jpg" emoji she had been enjoying earlier had disappeared.
Instead, a completely new expression appeared, one that carried a hint of mockery and indifference.
It was a tiny figure, sitting cross-legged in a director's chair, holding a megaphone, with an expression that said, "I see through everything."
[Please begin your performance.gif]
A barely perceptible smile appeared on Lin Wanwan's lips.
She knew that Xiao Che, like her, was waiting.
Just wait and see how this powerful empress dowager will finish this grand drama that she herself started...
On the throne, Empress Dowager Wang's body trembled slightly.
She could clearly feel the scrutinizing, questioning, and probing gazes coming from all directions, like countless tiny needles pricking her, making her feel like she was sitting on pins and needles.
She could feel the cold, emotionless gaze from her own son, like a sharp sword, piercing through all her pretense.
She knew she was backed into a corner.
It's Lin Wanwan.
This empress, whom she had never taken seriously and thought she could manipulate at will, used a method she had never expected to plan step by step, link by link, to force her to this predicament of certain death!
Looking at Lin Wanwan's seemingly innocent face, which actually concealed endless sharpness, the hatred in her heart grew and spread wildly like a venomous snake.
But she knew even more clearly that now was not the time to hate.
She has to make a choice.
She had to make a painful choice between her reputation, her power, and this loyal confidant who knew too many of her secrets.
Today, if she doesn't give an explanation that satisfies the emperor and all the civil and military officials, then...
Then, all the reputation she had painstakingly cultivated over the years as a "kind mother" and "virtuous empress," and the supreme authority she had so painstakingly built up in the court and the harem, would be...
Destroyed in an instant!
Thinking of this, Empress Dowager Wang's phoenix eyes, which were filled with anger and hatred, were gradually replaced by a cold, resolute ruthlessness.
She slowly, very slowly, took a deep breath.
Then, to everyone's astonishment, she suddenly raised her hand and slammed it heavily onto the rosewood table in front of her with a "smack"!
The loud noise sent a chill down everyone's spine!
Then, a truly astonishing scene unfolded.
The Empress Dowager, who had just been so dignified and arrogant, suddenly had her well-maintained eyes filled with glistening tears!
Her face revealed an expression of extreme grief and indignation!
With trembling fingers, she pointed to Liu Fu's wife, who was lying on the ground, completely terrified. Her voice was filled with the heart-wrenching pain of being betrayed by her loved one.
"What...what a treacherous, ungrateful lackey!"
Her voice trembled violently with grief, filled with sobs.
"I...I have treated your Liu family very well! Liu Fu has served me for twenty years! I have always regarded him as my confidant, as my family! But you...you dare to be so audacious! You dare...you dare to do such a treasonous thing as plotting against the emperor!"
Her tears, like beads from a broken string, rolled down her well-maintained face.
Her heartbroken expression was so convincing and immersive, as if she were truly an innocent victim betrayed by her most trusted servant.
"Help! Someone, come here!"
She suddenly stood up and, with all her might, let out a shrill scream filled with "endless rage"!
Liu's wife, who was kneeling on the ground, was so frightened by this sudden change that she trembled all over and collapsed completely.
She never imagined that the "savior" she had brought would be... the first to turn on her!
"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager..."
"Shut up!" The Empress Dowager snapped, cutting her off with a cold, icy gaze, as if she were looking at a dead woman. "You wicked woman! And your heartless husband! You...you deserve to die!"
She turned to the guards outside the hall, her eyes filled with glistening tears, but her voice became incredibly resolute and ruthless.
"Imperial decree!"
"Throw Liu Fu's entire family, young and old, male and female, into the imperial prison! They shall await my judgment!"
"I...I want to interrogate them myself!"
She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. Her red eyes swept over everyone present, finally settling on Xiao Che's face.
She spoke slowly and deliberately, in a tone that carried both self-justification and warning:
"I will investigate this thoroughly! I will find out if these lackeys have any... accomplices behind them!"
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