Song Dynasty female artist

Chapter 975: Drive Out of the Palace
Zhao Rui pretended not to understand and asked, "What crime has Talented Lady Liu committed?"

"Your Majesty, Lady Ye has had abdominal pain for the past few days and has not gotten better. In fact, it was I who did it."

"Liu Cairen, you are so brave."

"Your Majesty, please calm down. I was indeed possessed by evil spirits, but I did this only because I was jealous of Lady Ye's favor. I only had someone give Lady Ye the drug to cause diarrhea, and I did not intend to kill her. It's just that rumors have been circulating in the past few days that Lady Ye's abdominal pain seems to have nothing to do with poisoning."

Zhao Rui remained silent, waiting for Lady Liu to continue.

"Your Majesty, I think that perhaps there are more people who harmed Lady Ye than just me."

Zhao Rui: "What Liu Cairen meant is that someone wants to borrow your knife to get rid of Ye Guiren?"

"Your Majesty is holy."

"But what Lady Liu said, does that mean you already know who the person is who harmed Lady Ye and framed you?"

Liu Cairen lowered his head and glanced at Bai Zhu.

Bai Zhu trembled and crawled forward and knelt two steps: "Your Majesty, I am Bai Zhu, a servant. A few days ago, Qi Chongyi gave me something and asked me to bury it under a big tree in the Liuyun Palace. After that, Concubine Ye had a stomachache."

"Oh?"

Zhao Rui: "But these are just your guesses. Besides, this maid is your personal maid, so you can't trust her words."

"Your Majesty, why don't you follow me to the Liuyun Palace and take a look now?"

Zhao Rui stood up: "Okay."

Zhao Rui took Concubine Liu and walked slowly towards Liuyun Palace. Qi Chongyi of Lihua Palace became restless after hearing the news.

"I don't know what Lady Liu said to His Majesty, but she actually managed to get His Majesty to go to Liuyun Palace in person."

Before this, Your Majesty has never set foot in the harem.

Although Concubine Ye was favored, she only went to the Funing Palace to accompany the emperor or served in the Imperial Garden.

"My lady, could it be that he was discovered?"

Qi Chongyi frowned.

"Where is your majesty now?"

"We have passed the Imperial Garden. It will take about a quarter of an hour to reach Liuyun Palace."

Qi Chongyi pursed his lips, clasped his hands nervously together, and walked quickly back and forth in the hall.

"You, go to Liuyun Palace right now and dig that thing out!"

"now?"

Qi Chongyi: "Yes, hurry up and make sure to get rid of the things before His Majesty arrives at Liuyun Palace."

"Yes."

The palace servant took the order and quickly came to Liuyun Palace, and took action after confirming that it was safe.

Just when she found the things and was about to leave, more than a dozen guards suddenly rushed out and surrounded her. The leader was Commander Zeng.

The maid's legs went weak and she fell to her knees with a plop.

At this moment, I realized that I had been fooled.

They are just waiting to fall into the trap themselves. Participating in witchcraft is a capital crime!

The palace maid couldn't bear it and fainted from fright.

Zeng Shengji made a gesture, and an experienced guard came over with a bucket of ice water and poured it over the head of the unconscious palace maid.

The weather was very hot, and after drinking the bucket of ice water, I instantly woke up.

When she opened her eyes, His Majesty was already sitting in front of her.

"I will only give you this one chance. If you don't tell me, I will drag you out and chop you off. Your family will also be implicated. So, think it over before answering my questions."

The maid was shaking all the time. She didn't want to die.

Bai Zhu was struggling in her heart, she knew that even if she said so, the outcome would not be the same, but this emperor was clear about rewards and punishments, so at least he could protect her family from being implicated.

"Your Majesty, it was Empress Chongyi who instructed this servant to do this."

"Qi Chongyi?"

Bai Zhu nodded repeatedly: "Your Majesty may not remember that I am Empress Chongyi's servant. Half an hour ago, Lady Liu rushed to Funing Palace. Empress Chongyi suspected that it was related to the recent abdominal pain of Lady Ye, so she sent me to deal with this matter."

Zhao Rui raised his hand, and Zeng Shengji took four guards to the Lihua Palace next door.

About a quarter of an hour later, Zeng Shengji brought Qi Chongyi.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Qi Chongyi thought it was over.

"I see you, Your Majesty."

Zhao Rui didn't let her get up, which made her heart sink to the bottom. It seemed that Bai Zhu had confessed everything.

"Qi Chongyi."

Zhao Rui kicked the doll thrown at his feet towards her: "Take a look at this and see if it looks familiar."

Qi Chongyi swallowed her saliva and said stubbornly: "Your Majesty, I don't recognize this thing?"

Qi Chongyi refused to acknowledge it, so the maid Bai Zhu started to shout, "My Lady, you watched me sew this, how could you not recognize it? The fabric I used was given to me by you as a reward."

"Bai Zhu, what nonsense are you talking about?"

"I am not talking nonsense. Although I sewed this thing, it was Your Majesty who ordered it. If Your Majesty were to investigate, you would definitely be able to find out the truth."

"Yes, there are records of which palace these things were awarded to."

Qi Chongyi pursed her lips and said, "Your Majesty, look at this servant. She is so rebellious to me. How could she not know that she was bribed by others to deliberately frame me? This cloth was stolen from me by her."

Liu Cairen stood beside Zhao Rui obediently.

Watching the master and servant fighting each other.

She actually dared to frame me in this way, so she should bear the consequences.

Quibbling now will only delay the matter temporarily. Your Majesty will get to the bottom of the matter sooner or later.

As expected, this cloth was supplied to the palace by the Bai family. Because it was used by the nobles in the palace, each piece of cloth was different in order to avoid clashing colors.

It would be easier to find out whether the cloth was a reward from Qi Chongyi or stolen by Bai Zhu.

Bai Zhu worked effectively in Lihua Palace, so Qi Chongyi rewarded her with such good material. After receiving the reward, how could Bai Zhu not show off to other palace maids?

So the other palace maids all knew that this half-new material was a gift from Qi Chongyi, not stolen.

Qi Chongyi used witchcraft to murder others. Although the person did not die, his method was vicious and his heart was evil, so he was demoted to a commoner, driven out of the harem, and went directly to Yunshui Temple to practice Buddhism.

"Your Majesty has driven Qi Chongyi out of the palace?"

Su Yixin was half lying down, Gu Qingjue was rubbing her shoulders, and she was really surprised to hear what Qi Chongyi said.

"What did Qi Chongyi do?"

"He tried to murder Lady Ye with witchcraft but failed, and was discovered by His Majesty."

Gu Qingjue said, "Your Majesty wants to expel her from the palace, but he still feels a little reluctant. If she returns to the Qi family, all that awaits her is a white silk scarf. If she is sent to Yunshui Temple, at least she can keep her life."

I thought this was an accident.

However, less than two months later, at the end of August, shortly after the Mid-Autumn Festival, another concubine was sent to Yunshui Temple.

In early October, Princess Cao of Prince An was three months pregnant and would give birth in May of the following year. Zhao Rui was happier than if he were going to be a father, and gave her a lot of medicinal herbs.

Gu Qingjue roughly understood Zhao Rui's thoughts from these clues and watched what happened next calmly.