Queen's scheming

Chapter 109 The Queen Mother's Accountability ([-])

A gentle voice came from behind the screen, saying: "The Ai family wants to see, who dares to touch the imperial concubine Jing!"

The queen mother turned out from behind the screen with an angry face. An Qingyao was serving beside her, stroking the queen mother's back with one hand.

Shen Qingyi hurriedly got up to greet her, and said with shame on her face: "It's all about the concubines, right? I thought it was just to greet you, and it wouldn't take much time. Who knew that such a thing would happen, please come to the front hall to find the concubines !"

An Qingyao entered the palace yesterday, learned a folk Pai Gow game, and invited the Queen Mother to play together. It was too late yesterday, so An Qingyao rested in the Queen Mother's Cihui Palace. Who knew that the Queen Mother became addicted to playing it , older people have less sleep, the queen mother woke up early and was bored, and wanted to continue playing, but An Qingyao said that she would wait for Shen Qingyi to go. After she finished dealing with it, she didn't know when it would be when she went to Cihui Palace, so she brought An Qingyao to find it by herself.Just now before I paid my respects, I had already played with Shen Qingyi and Concubine Duanjing for a while.

Supported by Shen Qingyi and An Qingyao, the Empress Dowager took the first seat, and said sharply: "If the Ai family hadn't gone through this, they wouldn't know that someone would frame them so blatantly!"

Shen Qingwan did not expect that the Empress Dowager would be in Lingsu Palace.However, all of her painstaking arrangements could not fall by the wayside, so she cried and said: "Queen Mother, it is good that you are here, you have to decide for the concubine! Duanjing noble concubine actually wants to murder your grandson! How dare the concubine dare?" Who are you framing? The concubine did not believe it before, but there are all witnesses and material evidence, and the ironclad evidence is as strong as a mountain, there is no room for the concubine not to believe it!"

"Personal evidence?" The Empress Dowager snorted, looked at Madam Zheng, who was kneeling on the ground, and said, "Personal evidence and physical evidence all appeared in your palace, so how can they be counted? Unless someone saw you with their own eyes. Mama, meet this court lady behind Concubine Duanjing!"

Seeing what the queen mother said, Shen Qingwan wiped her tears and said: "Since the queen mother doesn't believe in concubines, then concubines can't care less about them. Although noble concubine Duanjing is your niece, you can't be so partial. Originally, I wanted to show some dignity to Concubine Duanjing, but since the Empress Dowager didn't believe it, the concubine had no choice but to find witnesses."

"Yumei, you will pass Douyuan, who lives in the same room as Madam Zheng!" Shen Qingwan winked at Yumei while speaking.

Yumei understood, turned around and left, and brought her here in a short time.

Douyuan was originally the third-class maid of the Zili Palace, she was only told by Yumei on the way, and she was staring at her in confusion at the moment.Shen Qingwan was afraid that Douyuan could not recognize the person, so she took the lead and said: "Douyuan, I will ask you, you said in the Zili Palace that day that you had seen Mother Zheng talking with a maid from another palace, and she looked trembling. The court lady, but the one behind Concubine Duanjing?" Shen Qingwan pointed at the back of Concubine Duanjing.

Douyuan heard what Shen Qingwan said, and quickly replied respectfully: "Hui Wan Huang Guifei, this is the elder sister that this servant saw before!"

The Empress Dowager's expression became more and more displeased, she stared at Douyuan who was kneeling on the ground, and said in awe without anger, "You really saw it clearly?"

Douyuan was a little scared, but thinking about Yumei's promise of three times her share on the road, she still nodded firmly.

The Empress Dowager smiled instead of being angry, looked at Madam Zheng and said, "You can also see it clearly, there is no doubt that it is the maid behind Duanjing Concubine?"

Madam Zheng didn't expect to alarm the Queen Mother, but at this time she could only hold on to the end, and said: "If you go back to the Queen Mother, it is indeed a letter from this palace lady to the servant!"

"Okay! Very good!" The queen mother nodded, glaring at Shen Qingwan and said.

Shen Qingwan twitched the corners of her lips secretly, looked at the queen mother, and said in tears: "Queen mother, although the concubine has been promoted to the position of imperial concubine and is a level higher than concubine Duanjing, the concubine thinks she has always respected her. Thinking of her hating the concubine so much, actually wanting the life of the child in the concubine's womb! And ask the queen mother to make the decision for the concubine!"

The queen mother did not speak, but stared at Shen Qingwan with wise eyes, as if she had seen through her whole body, and said with a sneer: "Before so many people gossiped in front of Ai's family, saying that someone was arrogant and domineering in the harem, plotting to harm people, Ai's family would not I just laughed it off, I just thought it was jealousy among the concubines, but I didn't realize it was actually happening. If I hadn't come to this Ningsu Palace today, the Ai family would have been kept in the dark!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Qingwan beamed with joy, and said, "Isn't it? Empress Dowager! If the concubine hadn't caught Madam Zheng, she would never have found out about it! Concubine Duanjing is in the harem. With a dignified and virtuous reputation, who would have thought that she would be so vicious and harm the emperor's heir."

The queen mother snorted coldly, glanced at Shen Qingwan and said: "Concubine Wan, you seem to be laughing too early, even if the trick succeeds, you should go back to your Zili Palace and laugh again!"

Only then did Shen Qingwan realize that she was smiling unconsciously, and she immediately said sadly: "Queen Mother, what are you talking about? How can a concubine laugh, but a concubine was almost poisoned to death!" Shen Qingwan's heart skipped a beat, The Queen Mother actually called her Concubine Wan?
"Empress Dowager! Even if you favor Concubine Duanjing, you can't disregard the royal blood like this. Concubine Duanjing is your niece, and this concubine's belly is your grandson, granddaughter! Whichever is closer, which one is closer to you? Can't tell the difference?" Shen Qingwan said desperately to impress the Queen Mother.With such strong personal and material evidence, if she can't put Concubine Duanjing in limbo, then it will be very difficult for her to try to move Concubine Duanjing in the future.

The queen mother gave Shen Qingwan a cold look, and said: "The Ai family is not old-fashioned yet, whoever is closer, the Ai family will naturally be able to distinguish clearly!"

The Empress Dowager seemed to have calmed down a lot. She looked at Madam Zheng who was kneeling on the ground, and said coldly: "You keep saying that this maid gave you this letter, but you should tell Aijia when and where she was. gave it to you?"

Nanny Zheng swallowed, and said to herself, fortunately, she and Yumei had made up the confession earlier, and she knew it by heart.Mother Zheng thought for a while and said: "Returning to the Empress Dowager, the servants met this girl at dinner the day before yesterday. At that time, all the servants in the palace went to eat. This girl is in the small kitchen of the Purple Palace. I found this servant, and I gave this letter to my servant, warning my servant not to tell others, I was so frightened by my servant!"

Douyuan also responded: "Madam Zheng is telling the truth, and this servant can testify. At that time, this servant happened to pass by the small kitchen, and saw the truth!"

"That's so true!" The Empress Dowager looked at Shen Qingwan, and said in a nonchalant way: "Concubine Wan, the people in your palace pointed at the maid who is next to Concubine Duanjing, which means that Concubine Duanjing ordered you to do so. What do you think should be done with her?"

Shen Qingwan didn't expect the queen mother to ask her opinion, she quickly apologized and said with a smile: "The queen mother can deal with it as she says, so concubines and concubines dare not have any opinions, it's just about the emperor's heir, and I hope you can handle it impartially!"

Shen Qingwan paused for a moment, and finally couldn't help reminding: "That...the Empress Dowager, the concubine has already undergone the canonization ceremony yesterday, and has been promoted to the title of imperial concubine!"

"The Ai family knows!" The Empress Dowager stared at Shen Qingwan and said, "The impartial handling means that according to the palace rules, the crime of murdering the emperor's heir should be punished?"

Shen Qingwan was overjoyed in her heart, but she didn't dare to show it anymore, she just lowered her head and said humbly: "But let the Queen Mother decide!"

The Empress Dowager's eyes were cold, but with a smile on her lips, she sighed, "You're good, but let Ai make the decision!"

(End of this chapter)