Chapter 82: Concubine Zheng in Trouble
Yun Fenghuang was not surprised at all that something would happen to Yuan Niang's baby.
Not to mention that the mistress couldn't keep her pregnancy last time, and this time there will definitely be no peace; it is inconceivable that she can be safe and sound for ten months due to her popularity in the palace.
I just didn't expect the person who struck it to be so fast. At this moment, Yuan Yuniang might not have shown her pregnancy yet.
Furthermore, he actually dragged her into the water?
Yun Fenghuang thought deeply, glanced at the excited crowd in front of him, and cleared his throat: "This is a serious matter. Let's go to the Queen to discuss it together. I also want to know, who dares to throw such dirty water on my head? !”
"How is Yue Jieyu now?" After a while, a group of people arrived at Deyanfu Palace noisily. Upon hearing the news, Queen Ji frowned and asked, "Can the imperial doctor be summoned?"
Yun Fenghuang said: "Your Majesty, I went to Yijia Palace to sit for a while at Wei Jieyu's invitation in the afternoon. When I returned to Huzhu Palace, they blocked the door. I haven't seen Yue Jieyu yet."
Among the group of people, an older palace maid came out and kowtowed: "Reporting to the queen, my queen woke up in the afternoon and asked the maid sent by the imperial concubine to come forward to serve her. Who knows that the maid was pinched by the queen not long ago? When the slaves and the queen were not paying attention, they suddenly pulled out a silver needle and stabbed it into the lower abdomen of the queen! "
Queen Ji asked in confusion: "What does this have to do with Concubine Yun?"
"The Empress doesn't know that the palace maid is called Shanxiang. When she arrived at Huzhu Palace, she was asked to wait outside because Empress Jieyu was taking a nap. As a result, she quietly ran to Yun Bin's place." The palace maid said, "Follow her. Yun Bi talked for a long time, then sneaked back to Ningbi Palace to obey orders... Many people in Ningbi Palace witnessed this with their own eyes. Na Shanxiang and Jieyu had never been harsh to her in the past two days. Why do you want to do such a cruel thing to Jieyu and the emperor?"
"It must be because someone ordered me to do so!"
The palace maid then kowtowed vigorously again and begged the queen, "Please make the decision for Jieyu, and also for the unborn emperor in Jieyu's womb!"
Empress Ji glanced at her and said, "After talking for a long time, you haven't told me yet. How is Yue Jieyu? Is there any serious problem with the heir in her belly?"
The palace maid was quite unwilling to do so. She hesitated for a while and then said: "Aunt Zhu was simply watching closely. She was next to Shanxiang at the time. She saw something was wrong and grabbed her in time... But Jieyu was very frightened. Come on. I had already ordered someone to make a soothing soup and asked the imperial doctor to ask for it. As for what the imperial doctor said, I was already on the way to Yanfu Palace and didn’t know."
"What can be more important than the emperor's heir at this moment?" Empress Ji snorted, "Come here, open the palace's warehouse, pack up some of the best medicinal materials, and send them to Huzhu Palace as soon as possible! Let’s ask the imperial doctor about Yue Jieyu’s condition and report!”
He also asked people to go to the Empress Dowager, the three empress dowagers, and Emperor Chunjia to report, "Tell the empress dowager and the three empresses that Yue Jieyu was in danger. The palace is investigating the truth. Please don't worry too much." ”
After some arrangements, he just ordered people to go to Yanlan Palace to ask Concubine Zheng... to confront the palace maid in front of her.
"After all, the imperial concubine is also pregnant now. It is not appropriate to disturb her until there is conclusive evidence." Empress Ji did this very confidently. "Yue Jieyu has just been in danger. She is also a pregnant woman, so she must be able to understand my painstaking efforts."
It was impossible for Yuan Niang to understand, and neither could the palace maids of Ningbi Palace. They all felt that the queen was partial, but she dared not speak out when she was angry, so they all kept their heads down and remained silent.
Upon seeing this, the queen took them as if they agreed, asked someone to make tea, and sipped it slowly.
After a while, a concubine came to Yanlan Palace. She was the one who came to watch on behalf of Concubine Zheng when Xinqing's body appeared in the lotus pond of Yanlan Palace.
The palace concubine looked about twenty years old, with slender eyebrows, handsome eyes, plump body, and was wearing gold and silver, which made her look somewhat graceful.
Yingying went to the palace to salute and said: "Cai Hao'er, a talented man from Yanlan Palace, pays homage to the Queen. I wish the Queen good fortune and peace."
The queen called out, told her the whole story, and then asked her: "Since the noble concubine sent you here, do you recognize the mountain fragrance?"
"I recognize you." Cai Hao'er said without hesitation, "Shanxiang was originally a maid serving in Yanlan Palace. She learned some massage techniques from an old grandma and was highly valued by the imperial concubine. I, these are all I went to the main hall to pay my respects to the imperial concubine every day, and I would bump into her eight or nine times out of ten times... Last time, His Majesty went to Yanlan Palace to visit the Imperial Concubine. Because His Majesty mentioned that her arm was sore, the Imperial Concubine even called her over to give Him a squeeze. Over the shoulder.”
What happened after that was just like what Shan Xiang said in front of Yun Fenghuang on the day he arrived at Huzhu Palace. After Shan Xiang served him, Emperor Chunjia felt much more comfortable and praised him a few times. Concubine Zheng immediately offered to give the person to him. emperor.
The emperor refused again and again and finally left. The imperial concubine said, "Your majesty is considerate of me and I must repay you. Yes, the whole harem knows that your majesty likes Yue Jieyu the most. She is pregnant now and she definitely needs a palace like Shanxiang." The thought of "serving people" sent people to Huzhu Palace.
"Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine was very surprised when she learned that Shanxiang had plotted to murder Yue Jieyu, because everyone in Yanlan Palace knew that Shanxiang was the most timid. When she heard that he was going to be given to Yue Jieyu, she panicked and almost knelt down to beg. The imperial concubine took back her life... How could she have the courage to attack Yue Jieyu and the emperor's heir?" Cai Haoer said with a puzzled face, "Please tell me that the imperial concubine's gift to Yue Jieyu is purely for her own good. It’s all good intentions and nothing else.”
Empress Ji was a little disinterested and said casually: "That makes sense...but with so many people here in Ningbi Hall, it is obvious that Yue Jieyu's frightened story about being assassinated cannot be a lie. So why do you think Shanxiang did this? "
Cai Hao'er lowered his head and said that he was stupid: "I hope the queen can see clearly and clear her name."
The queen then asked the maid of Ningbi Palace what she thought was going on.
It was very straightforward over there. They just sent Yunfeng Huangtuo over, and of course they would not change their words now: "Shanxiang is the maid of Yanlan Palace, and the imperial concubine specially sent it to Ningbi Palace. And before she paid homage to Empress Jieyu, , I went to see Yun Bin specifically. These are all the slaves know and see, and the evidence is conclusive!"
He didn't directly say that he suspected the imperial concubine, Yun Fenghuang, or even the queen, but the implication behind the words was that the real culprit behind the scenes must be among these people.
Yun Fenghuang frowned and had an idea in his mind. He raised his voice and said, "Empress, although I have met Shanxiang once before, I don't even know her name. And it's not me who went to see Shanxiang, but Shanxiang himself. They're here! Now the Ningbi Palace people insist on slandering me for being related to Shan Xiang's murder of Yue Jieyu and the emperor's heir. Please confront Shan Xiang!"
Queen Ji then ordered people to spread the mountain fragrance.
Then it didn't arrive because the person was dead and committed suicide.
"Because the empress was frightened and had pain in her abdomen, everyone in the Ningbi Palace was worried about the emperor's heir. They got into a mess and patronized the empress. Later, they were angry that the empress was treated like this while she was pregnant, so they tied him up and threw him under the steps. , I didn’t bother to stare at her for a moment..." The palace official explained, "Just now, the Queen sent someone to spread the mountain fragrance, and then the servants went to find her, because I didn’t expect her to talk to herself. "
Now it's better, there is no evidence to prove it.
The Chongchang Palace suddenly became chaotic, and one after another asked the queen to make the decision.
After all, the emperor's heir was involved. Although the queen didn't care much about the life and death of Empress Yuan Mei, she thought for a long time and finally decided to temporarily ban Yun Fenghuang from the Ziquan Palace to show her comfort to the two pregnant concubines.
"Sister, I really didn't do this." Not long after she announced this, Concubine Zheng came over in person, dismissed the people around her, and solemnly expressed to the queen, "Although I don't like Yuan's cheap maid, But now that she was about to become a mother, how could she do such a cruel thing to improve her children's virtue? Furthermore, my concubine's status was higher than that of the Yuan family, so even if they gave birth to the emperor's heir together, she would not be able to pass over her. , why bother to dirty your hands?”
Empress Ji said calmly: "Of course I know that my sister is not that kind of person, but Shan Xiang and Yun Bin should be strangers to each other. Why did she go to Yun Bin to talk to Yun Bin when she went to Huzhu Palace for the first time? Concubine Eryun couldn’t explain clearly, so she had to be dragged into the water?”
"I don't know who I am." It was for this reason that Concubine Zheng made the trip in person. Otherwise, given her position, her backer, and her current state of being pregnant, she would not have been charged with instigating Shanxiang to murder Yue Jieyu. Withholding it, even if the evidence is conclusive, there is still room for mediation.
However, Shanxiang dragged Yun Fenghuang in. It didn't matter to Concubine Zheng that Yun Fenghuang was alone. The problem was that everyone now knew that Yun Fenghuang belonged to the queen - Concubine Shu was pregnant with Yuan Yuniang earlier, and there were rumors inside and outside the palace that the culprit was The culprit is Ji's rumors. Most people dare not say it, but they believe in their hearts that Ji does not want concubines other than Ji's daughters to give birth to emperor's heirs, so if any concubine other than Ji's surname is pregnant, Ji's They will try their best to do something poisonous.
In order to wash away this reputation, from the Empress Dowager to the Empress Dowager Ji, no matter how disgusted they are with Concubine Zheng and Yuan Niang, they currently adhere to the principle of putting the emperor's heir first.
If Yun Fenghuang implicates the Queen now, and then implicates the Ji family, then the problem will be serious.
Even if Concubine Zheng has been in seclusion since she was pregnant and concentrated on recuperating the fetus, she still has to go out in person to explain to the queen, "There are four or five maids who have to beat their legs and pinch their shoulders in front of me. Although Shanxiang's skills are not good, Not bad, but that doesn't mean there's no one better than her. It's just that in terms of beauty, I wanted to persuade your Majesty to accept her as a prostitute that day, but His Majesty didn't agree, so I decided to settle for the next best thing. I just sent him to the Ningbi Palace to make things more difficult for the Yuan family... I thought I was just a palace maid, and if the Yuan family died from the trouble, I would just take advantage of the opportunity to come to you and file a complaint..."
"Anyway, Mrs. Yuan is pregnant now, and no one will do anything to her... I really just want to teach her a small lesson. I have absolutely no intention of murdering the emperor's heir, and it is even more impossible to instruct Shan Xiang to murder her in this way. Emperor's heir!"
Queen Ji smiled lightly, it was strange that she would believe this.
Maybe Zheng Guifei really didn't intend for Shanxiang to do it so openly, but it would be ridiculous to say that she didn't have deep ill intentions towards Yuan Niang. Originally, Yuan Niang was known for being jealous. Now that she was pregnant, she should have been careful not to be impatient and to raise the baby with peace of mind. However, she had always been a restless woman, so she entered the palace through a formal invitation. She couldn't bear the concubines, not to mention that Emperor Chunjia was recruiting new people now?
Although the emperor did not agree to take the mountain incense in the end, Concubine Zheng sent someone to send the mountain incense to Ningbi Palace. It was impossible not to tell Yuan Yuniang about it, and even made it more jealous. In short, it would hurt Yuan Yuniang's heart... It's best It would be great if Yuan Niang could be so angry that she had a miscarriage.
"Even you don't know what happened, and Shanxiang is dead. How can I find out the truth?" The queen moved the tea bowl in front of her and said slowly, "Forget it, Yuan is fine anyway. The summer banquet ordered by the royal grandmother and mother is about to begin. It is not appropriate to have any bad rumors in the palace... Tell me, how should I deal with this matter?"
How to deal with it?
Concubine Zheng was stunned for a moment, and she was a little embarrassed. The queen meant that the truth was not important, but how to end this matter.
But if it was other things, just find a scapegoat.
But this matter...
The best scapegoat is Yun Fenghuang. Although this palace concubine was promoted quickly and had the meaning of half a step to the main position, in Concubine Zheng's view, it is not impossible to abandon her. At most, she can pay a little price to convince the queen.
The problem is that Ji has a criminal record, at least in reputation. If Yun Fenghuang, who has a close relationship with Empress Ji and was just summoned alone, is linked to the murder of the heir, even if the evidence is solid, some people will suspect that she is taking the blame for the Empress.
Empress Ji agreed to temporarily put Yun Fenghuang under house arrest just now because she didn't want people to say that she favored the culprit and wanted to prove that Ji had never murdered the heir... But if Yun Fenghuang is not arrested as a scapegoat, Concubine Zheng herself doesn't want to be framed for nothing. Who should be found to be the "real murderer behind the scenes"?