After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 816 Demotion
Haitang had been worried ever since she saw the words that Concubine Xu was poisoned, until Haijiao said in the letter that Jin Jiashu felt that his life was saved, and she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although she also felt that Concubine Xu's illness was too coincidental and suspected that the emperor wanted to take the opportunity to silence his beloved concubine in order to eliminate the hidden danger of the Eighth Prince's succession to the throne, she did not expect that Concubine Xu was really poisoned, but the person who did it was obviously not the emperor, otherwise he would not have accepted the Eighth Prince's advice and used two approaches to try every means to detoxify Concubine Xu.

So who was the one who poisoned him? The answer seems obvious.

Concubine Xu had never left the palace, nor had much contact with outsiders. This kind of palace secret poison should only be recorded in the palace library, and it is definitely not passed down among the people.

Haitang had taken a risk by telling Jin Jiashu about this. However, with Madam Mei around, she could find an excuse to explain why she knew this secret.

For this reason, she even told the story to her grandmother Ma during casual conversation, claiming that it was a palace secret she heard from Wu Qiong, but that it could not be known to outsiders. If Ma Shangyi or Jin Jiashu came to Ma in the future to ask why she knew the story of this palace secret medicine, Ma would be vague about the source, and then Ma Shangyi or Jin Jiashu would think that Ma heard it from Madam Mei and told her granddaughter during casual conversation.

As for Cai Xiaodie not knowing about it...isn't that normal? Madam Mei taught Ma first, and adopted a daughter later. Who would talk about such palace secrets?

This secret poison, which only people in the palace might know about, would be used on Concubine Xu, and the person who drugged her was very obvious. I wonder if the emperor can be so cruel this time?
Haitang changed the letter paper and continued to read the letter. As expected, Haijiao then talked about the subsequent development of the matter.

The emperor was furious about Concubine Xu's poisoning, and immediately ordered his trusted eunuch to investigate the truth. The latter found two traitors in Concubine Xu's palace, one of whom committed suicide by taking poison on the spot, and the other was stopped when he wanted to commit suicide. After being tortured, he finally confessed that he was instructed by someone. The person who instructed him was the eunuch in charge of Concubine Zhang's palace. The emperor broke into Concubine Zhang's bedroom, but learned from the eunuch that the eunuch in charge had actually had an affair with her. She had been on guard against him for a long time, but she did not dare to replace him because the eunuch had a powerful backer.

The emperor was skeptical of Concubine Zhang's words, but her relationship with Concubine Xu was not close, but it was quite harmonious. Concubine Zhang only had two princesses and no princes, so she had no conflict of interest with Concubine Xu. There were also rumors that the two were discussing the marriage of younger generations of relatives from their mother's family. Concubine Zhang had no reason to kill Concubine Xu, but it was not certain that she had bribed the eunuchs in charge of her palace.

The emperor ordered a strict interrogation of the eunuch in charge, and as expected, he got the name of Concubine Sun, who was now only demoted to Concubine Sun. The eunuch in charge was not a fool. He knew that he had betrayed his master, and Concubine Sun had no prince. If she fell in the future, he might not have a good ending. In order to prevent himself from being implicated, every time he received a new order from Concubine Sun, he would always leave something as evidence and secretly collect it, just in case. Now that these new orders fell into the hands of the emperor, they became the evidence of Concubine Sun's guilt.

Even though the emperor had had feelings for Concubine Sun for many years, he could no longer tolerate her misbehavior at this point.

He immediately rushed to Concubine Sun's palace and flew into a rage. Concubine Sun blamed him for being unfaithful and forgetful, and cried and missed the past. She also cried out the name of her dead son, blaming him for dying too early, which caused her mother to be isolated and helpless and bullied.

If it were in the past, the emperor would have softened his heart when he heard Concubine Sun say these words, and would not have done anything to her even if he was angry. But that day, his heart hardened a lot.

The emperor's health is not as good as before. Now, even if he runs to the palace of his beloved concubine to vent his anger, he can't walk on his own two legs. He needs to sit on the dragon sedan to leave the palace and go directly to the bedroom of Concubine Sun. He walked no more than thirty steps, but he was already exhausted and out of breath. His body is like this, and he doesn't know how many months he can live. The position of the crown prince has not been determined, so he worries about what will happen after his death every day. It's okay for Lord Sun to have selfish motives. At least he has shown signs of giving in before, and he won't really let the throne remain vacant and the country be in turmoil. But Concubine Sun, as an experienced concubine who has been with the emperor for more than 30 years and is regarded by the emperor as his beloved wife, has to make trouble at this time, completely disregarding his mood and the overall situation. The emperor deeply felt that he had really misjudged and loved the wrong person over the years.

Although Empress Wu was disgusting, she was not so stupid; no matter how mediocre and incompetent the other concubines were, they still had the advantage of being gentle; Concubine Xu was even smarter, more polite, and more sensible, and would never make things difficult for her husband. His feelings for all of them were not as deep as his feelings for Concubine Sun, but in the end, she was the one who disappointed him the most.

His affection and love over the years were ultimately wasted!

The emperor later expressed his feelings in front of Concubine Xu, looking very sad, almost crying. Concubine Xu was so sick that she was dizzy and had to barely hold on to comfort him. Although the emperor was very moved and gave her a lot of rewards, her condition worsened because of this. Although it did not affect the detoxification effect, the two princes saw it and could not help but feel a little resentful.

The Eighth Prince complained to Jin Jiashu in private, and Jin Jiashu told Haijiao in private. Now Haijiao repeated the emperor's words truthfully. When Haitang read the letter, she felt goosebumps all over her body. It was hard to describe.

However, it is not a bad thing that the emperor no longer has feelings for Concubine Sun. Given the evil she had done in the past, if it were not for the emperor's repeated favoritism, she would have died countless times. If the emperor could withdraw his favoritism, then those who were harmed by Concubine Sun would have hope of redressing their grievances.

Hai Jiao said in the letter that the emperor had demoted Concubine Sun again, and this time she could not even keep her position as a concubine, but was demoted to a beauty of the fourth rank. Sun Ge Lao wanted to plead for his daughter, but the emperor refused to listen to a single word of good words.

In addition to the demotion, the emperor also replaced all the eunuchs in Concubine Sun's palace, demoting them to the laundry department to do hard labor and replacing them with new people with clean backgrounds. The laundry department was not in the palace, so Concubine Sun had no chance to contact her old confidants.

Also, because Concubine Sun was demoted and no longer the head of a palace, she was not eligible to continue living in her original bedroom, so the emperor ordered her to move to another remote palace.

During this process, the emperor's trusted eunuch accidentally discovered that there was another concubine living in Concubine Sun's palace. Her title was only a talented person, but she was already nearly eight months pregnant.

The emperor accidentally visited this Hu Cairen last year after drinking, and later handed her over to Concubine Zhang Gong to deal with. Concubine Zhang Gong replied that she had promoted her to a talented person and arranged a palace for her, and the emperor never asked about her again. Who would have thought that she would be arranged to live in the palace of Concubine Sun, and was pregnant and about to give birth. Why didn't Concubine Zhang Gong report it? Why didn't Concubine Sun report it? And why didn't Concubine Hu herself... make it public?

The emperor was furious again, and Haitang was stunned when she read the letter to this point.

(End of this chapter)