Step on a branch

Chapter 400 Go Call the Queen
Cining Palace.

On the bed, the empress dowager slept very restlessly.

After a few turns, she couldn't bear it anymore and asked, "Are you awake? What time is it?"

On the low floor, Mother Xia hurriedly sat up: "Your maidservant is awake, it should be at the third quarter of Yinzheng, it's not yet Maochu, it's still very early, you should sleep a little longer."

"Don't sleep anymore," the empress dowager sighed, "I woke up three or four times this night, and woke up just after I closed my eyes."

Upon hearing this, Mother Xia quickly put on a coat and lit the oil lamp.

The bedroom hall lit the lamp, and the maids serving in the outer hall hurriedly got up and looked inside.

Madam Xia ordered: "Your Majesty is up."

Upon hearing this, the maid tidied up in a hurry, went out to prepare hot water, and brought it in for the empress dowager to wash.

Nanny Xia helped the Empress Dowager off the bed.

When the palace maid was waiting for her to wash up, Wang Gonggong came in and asked Madam Xia, "Why did you wake up so early? It's still dark outside, why don't you advise your mother to rest more?"

"It's not good to take a rest," Nanny Xia said in a low voice, "Just now, in the span of two quarters of an hour, I was asked three times. It's better to get up and rest when you are tired in the afternoon."

After muttering a few words, seeing the Empress Dowager finished washing, Nanny Xia hurried forward again, helped her sit down in front of the dressing table, and combed her hair with her.

"Aijia is not at ease," the empress dowager covered her chest, "I don't know what's going on today, I always feel bored and panicked, as if an accident is about to happen."

Madam Xia comforted, "Maybe it's because of the rain, it seems that it just stopped not long ago, and the outside is still wet."

"It shouldn't be," said the Empress Dowager again, "it should be comfortable when it rains, but it's the other way around for Aijia."

After finishing speaking, she frowned and thought about it again, and asked, "Is the city defense as usual?"

"Uncle Zhongqin presides over it, you can rest assured," Madam Xia said, "Although he is old, he is not as good as a young man in battle, but he has rich experience, sits in the city defense, and his subordinates cooperate, so he will not miss."

"The Ai family is not at ease." The empress dowager curled her lips.

While braiding the Empress Dowager's hair, Mother Xia wanted to say that Uncle Zhongqin would do his best just for Concubine Shun.

When the words came to his lips, he swallowed them with a thought.

She guessed that the empress dowager's "worries" were rooted in Concubine Shun.

The Empress Dowager touched Jin Shu'er's stomach in order to kill Deng Guoshi, and the little Highness still looks like he is about to die at any time.

If Concubine Shun knew about this, would she still be devoted to the Emperor and Empress Dowager?

Fortunately, Concubine Shun didn't know.

The empress dowager is just guilty.

Wanting to understand this, how could Nanny Xia dare to mention Concubine Shun indiscriminately, she could only follow the Empress Dowager to say a few words of relief.

Just as he was talking, there was a message from outside, Wang Gonggong went out to look, then turned around and came in and said: "Madam, Fu Jieyu is here, and I have something important to report to you."

"Her?" The Empress Dowager clicked her tongue, "Why do you have to come here at this hour?"

The prince said fairly: "Jieyu said that I need to report to you face to face."

"Let her wait," the empress dowager stopped the prince who was going to inform her, and changed her mind, "Forget it, let her come in now."

Fu Jieyu came in and bowed: "The concubine has something to report to the Empress Dowager."

The empress dowager nodded slightly, motioning for her to continue.

Fu Jieyu took a deep breath.

She knew that she shouldn't come to the Compassion Ning Palace to disturb her at this hour.

That is to say, the empress dowager got up early today, otherwise, she would have to wait outside for a long time.

However, she couldn't hold her breath anymore.

After getting the answer she wanted before going to bed, she reluctantly waited until the rain stopped, and couldn't bear it any longer. She would rather come here to enjoy the cold wind than wait until morning in her own palace.

"It's related to Marquis Yongning, no, it's the wife of the traitor Qin Yin. The concubine heard that she went out of the palace that night, but the gate of the palace was actually closed." Fu Jieyu said.

The empress dowager, who had no energy at first, sat up straight after hearing such a sentence: "What?"

Fu Jieyu said it again: "When she left the palace, the palace gate was just closed, and someone opened the door for her."

The Empress Dowager couldn't help clenching her hands on the table.

The biggest turning point of this game was that night.

The Changning Palace caught fire inexplicably, Qin Dushi took the opportunity to leave the palace, and the empress dowager, who was kept in the dark, knew about it.

Afterwards, the empress dowager also inquired about the situation at the palace gate, and the answer she got obviously did not match what Fu Jieyu said now.

"Why doesn't the Ai family know about this?" the Empress Dowager asked.

Fu Jieyu said: "When the incident happened that day, the guards on the palace gate were afraid of being blamed. When all parties asked, one more thing is worse than one less thing. If the palace gate was not closed at that time, naturally no one would be called in for interrogation or torture. Cursed, if it is said that the palace gate is closed and opened again, everyone will be in trouble. It is also a coincidence that the ministers and concubines learned of the situation that day, and rushed to report to the empress."

The Empress Dowager's eyes sharpened: "Continue."

"I heard that the palace gate was closed at that time, and when the two sides were in a stalemate, it happened to change shifts," Fu Jieyu said, "In the exchange group, one person let the palace gate open so as not to freeze on the palace road. The guard of the sound is named Li, and he has a fellow villager named Fangrui, who is a court lady by the empress's side."

The Empress Dowager's breathing tightened.

Empress Cheng!
Is this a coincidence?
If it was just this incident, the empress dowager would still think that maybe the guard surnamed Li didn't want to offend the Qin Du family, and didn't want to be troublesome, but before that, there was still Changning Palace.

When the fire broke out, the queen rushed to Changning Palace immediately, watched the fire burn, watched the fire go out, even the investigation of the fire was done by the queen.

What kind of thunder falls on the fire, what kind of rat knocks over the oil lamp, it's all the queen's thieves shouting for the thief!

When the third division intervened, the queen had already wiped her tail clean, so how could the third division get caught?
There was Changning Palace in the front, and Guard Li in the back, it can't be a coincidence!
"Go," the empress dowager said to the prince, "detain Guard Li, and then lead someone to question all those bastards!"

The prince had to order to go.

The empress dowager called another court lady: "Go and call the empress."

Fu Jieyu pressed her hand on her chest, steadying her palpitating heartbeat, and when the Empress Dowager looked over, she smiled.

"Very well done," said the Empress Dowager, "Let's step back first."

Fu Jieyu wanted to stay and watch the empress suffer, but on second thought, she still didn't dare to refute the empress dowager's order, so she withdrew.

She didn't go far, and sat down in the small garden beside the Compassionate Ning Palace.

It's the second quarter of Maochu.

Outside the capital, drums and horns thundered.

In the deep palace, it is difficult to hear the movement on the city wall clearly, but the empress dowager just felt that there was some noise.

She simply walked out of the hall, stood in the yard, and looked to the west from a distance.

"The enemy attacked?" she asked.

Madam Xia couldn't tell the difference, so she just said, "It's not that easy to get in."

The empress dowager was still extremely uncomfortable.

Without waiting for the Queen to come, she said, "Go to the Central Palace."

Madam Xia hurried to get a cloak and tied it with the Empress Dowager, and summoned more people.

As soon as the group walked out of the Compassionate Ning Palace, they saw a few people coming out of the corner in the distance, and the leader was Concubine Shu.

　Thank you book friends for working hard today, Wow Xiaoyao, deepforest, Cong Cong Baobao, and book friends 121030193845947 for their rewards.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)