Traitor Concubine Growth Manual

Chapter 126

The court lady knelt on the ground tremblingly, her body trembling like a fallen leaf in the wind, her face was ashen, and she didn't even have the courage to raise her head.

The Empress Dowager smiled, and there was a trace of unhurried certainty in her voice: "If you say it, you can be spared. After all, you are a little maid, and you are not related to Miss Chong, and you have no deep hatred. The reason is to put her to death. If you don't say...Qing He." She raised her voice, "Drag out this court lady who is acting as a minion and beat her to death now."

She didn't say what the court lady did, so she put the words "helping a tiger" here, which obviously meant something.

The maid trembled all over, raised her head hastily, her eyes were clouded with water, and before Qing He made a gesture to come up to escort her out, she said in a panic: "My servant said, this servant must be honest."

The queen mother smiled with satisfaction, and then explained to everyone: "A few days ago, the Ai family interrogated the eunuchs who had entered and exited the Changchun Pavilion one by one on the day that Miss Chong was poisoned. This girl was not originally a servant of the Changchun Pavilion. , but ran into Changchun Pavilion for some reason, and Ai's family became suspicious, so they sent someone to search the place where she lived carefully. There was a pair of agate inlaid gold earrings hidden under the pillow that did not belong to her. Imagine a low-class court lady, how could such an exquisite gadget come here? When Ai Jia asked, she panicked and hesitated to say no The reason why it happened must be because there are ghosts in my heart, so I refuse to tell the truth."

As soon as this remark came out, everyone looked at the shivering man on the ground.People's hearts are not enough, if this court lady really sees money and greedily wants something that doesn't belong to her, it's not surprising that she was instructed to do poisonous things. When everyone is present today, it must be to make things big and kill the person who ordered it in public by surprise.

Chu Yan frowned subconsciously, but at the next moment, without waiting for the Queen Mother to continue, Mu Nianqiu who was sitting in the crowd had already stood up, and said neither humble nor overbearing: "The Queen Mother, this maid is cleaning the vestibule in the courtyard of the servant girl. The maidservant has never spoken to her since she entered the palace. I don't want the Empress Dowager to find out that she was acting in secret today. The servant also wants to know what happened to her, and whether it is really related to the poisoning of Miss Chong. Implications. If there is something really wrong with it, not to mention the Empress Dowager, the servants will personally punish this ignorant court lady."

Having said all that, Mu Nianqiu's gaze fell lightly on the court lady: "Are you talking about, what did you do when you left your post without authorization that day and went to Changchun Pavilion? The pair of agates under your pillow that the Empress Dowager mentioned What happened to the pendant?"

Everyone immediately understood that this court lady was someone close to Mu Nianqiu, but since the daughter of the Mu family entered the palace, she had the privileges given by His Royal Highness to live in the Tinglan Palace of Concubine Mu Gui. This maid belonged to her courtyard, after all, she belonged to Concubine Mu.

The maid's face was extremely pale, and she trembled before she could speak.

The queen mother glanced at Mu Nianqiu indifferently, and said with a half-smile, "Oh? So, the young lady of the Mu family doesn't know about the earring either?"

Her words sounded harsh, as if she was mocking Mu Nianqiu for pretending to be stupid at this time, the maids belonged to her palace, so how else could the earrings come from besides the ones she gave them herself?

All in all, the current situation is very unfavorable to Mu Nianqiu. It sounds like she ordered the court lady to poison her, and then rewarded her with a pair of valuable earrings.

Gu Qi glanced at the silent people in the hall, frowned slowly, looked coldly at the court lady kneeling on the ground, and asked, "Please explain yourself, what's going on?"

Seeing that His Royal Highness asked the question in person, the maid finally raised her head tremblingly, and said in a trembling voice: "Return to His Royal Highness, this servant, this servant is indeed the rough envoy of Tinglan Palace, responsible for cleaning Miss Mu's front yard. The earring The servant girl discovered it when she was cleaning the steps. Seeing that no one was paying attention at that time, she became malicious, thinking that if the servant girl hid the earrings in private, no one would find out... It was the servant girl who was greedy for money and took the jewelry as a gift. I have my own thoughts, which is why today's incident has been provoked for no reason. But the servant has never done anything poisonous! The servant is just a low-level court lady, who just wants food and clothing, and does not commit crimes. How dare you do it for some money? Such a life-threatening thing? Please be enlightened, Your Highness!"

She spoke hoarsely, and finally kowtowed her head violently, and then kowtowed vigorously, bursting into tears.

Concubine Mu's face was also ugly, she stood up abruptly, and said coldly: "The pair of agate pendants you mentioned are inlaid with gold at the bottom, and there are some fine lines in the agate?"

The maid cried and said: "I didn't look at it carefully. Since I picked it up, I have been terrified all day long, and I dare not take it out to take a second look. I worry all night and night, and I can't sleep... If I knew it would be so uncomfortable if I got ill-gotten wealth, I would never dare to take it for myself!"

Concubine Mu was so angry that she pointed at the court lady, she was speechless for a long time, and finally had to stomp her feet while saying: "Some time ago, the Japanese Palace found that the pair of earrings were lost. I searched everywhere but couldn't find them. I thought they were dropped on the earrings. It's somewhere outside Tinglan Palace, I didn't expect to run to your place!"

Seeing that the aunt and nephew quickly dismissed all responsibilities, the queen mother smiled coldly, squinted her eyes and said to Concubine Mu Gui: "Concubine Mu Gui is really careless, such a precious earring can be dropped casually, It’s really strange to lose one and return two.”

Concubine Mu's face was so ugly that she frowned and said, "The pair of earrings were given to my concubine by the emperor at the beginning, how could they be dropped so easily? I'm afraid this court lady stole them from the concubine's room because of a wicked heart. Seeing that the matter has been exposed now, and afraid of being severely punished, I categorically deny that I stole something, and instead say that I found it."

What she said seemed to make some sense, if the earrings were really given to her by the emperor, how could she casually use them as a reward for this court lady?It's okay to send money, or to send off jewelry, but the imperial gift is not something that can be given away casually.

The Empress Dowager was not forgiving, and did not continue to entangle with Concubine Mu Gui on this issue, she just smiled slightly: "Concubine Mu Gui is also right, the things bestowed by the emperor can't be given away casually, it's just that the master's things should be rewarded to the following It is only a blink of an eye to find out the source. And if this kind of treasure given by the emperor is given to someone, once it is found out, the master only needs to deny it and give the slave a name of theft. , saying that he will never give away the things the emperor bestowed, and the servants at the bottom will not be able to wash them off even if they jump into the Yellow River, which is a good way."

Concubine Mu's complexion suddenly changed, and her voice became cold: "The Empress Dowager's words are so harsh, do you really suspect that this concubine is the one who poisoned Miss Chong? You keep saying that your concubine instigated the slaves to poison others , and implying that the concubine sees the matter exposed, so she planted the blame on this court lady, but now there is no evidence, it is too hasty to say that the concubine is so unbearable based on your one-sided words. His Royal Highness is still above the hall , Is it really appropriate for you to disregard the etiquette and wrong the courtiers and concubines like this?"

"Yo, what you said is right, the Ai family just wants to maintain the peace of the harem, so don't let go of any suspicious things. What you said seems to be that the Ai family deliberately targeted you." The queen mother changed the topic, and then Ask the maid, "Well, let's not mention the earrings, Aijia asks you, what are you going to do with a court lady who cleans the front yard of Tinglan Palace, and go all the way to Changchun Pavilion?"

The palace lady hurriedly explained: "Because of getting this earring, this servant has trouble sleeping and eating, for fear of being found out, and I have long heard that there is a little eunuch in Changchun Pavilion who often transports things out of the palace for people, so I just wanted to ask him to help empty the things out of the palace and sell them for a good price... But when the little eunuch heard that the slave girl picked up the earrings, he refused to do this favor to the slave girl, so the slave girl had to... Had to return in vain.”

It sounded like a good reason, and Concubine Mu's expression relaxed a little. In this way, it was all the maid's fault. Even if the Empress Dowager wanted to put the blame on her, there was nothing she could do.

The Queen Mother naturally refused to let it go, and she was already prepared, and lightly ordered Qing He beside her: "Since she said that she found the little eunuch, Qing He, you should ask clearly which little eunuch it is, pull it over and ask talk!"

Chu Yan finally spoke, her voice was gentle and courteous, with a slight smile on her face: "Grandmother, since the little eunuch is helping to dump things in private, I'm afraid you will call him now, and he will call He refuses to admit it. After all, it is against the palace rules to transport things out of the palace privately, so how could he admit that he committed a crime for this court lady whom he has never met?"

The Queen Mother did not expect Chu Yan to stand up and speak, her eyes narrowed slightly, she glanced at Mu Nianqiu, then at Concubine Mu Gui, and realized that Chu Yan was probably protecting Mu Nianqiu.

She smiled: "Drag it out and put dozens of boards on it, are you afraid that he won't tell the truth?"

Chu Yan also followed suit with a smile: "Grandmother is right, you put dozens of boards on it, and if you know it hurts, you will naturally explain it clearly. It's just that today is the Queen Mother's birthday after all, so I'm going to have a banquet and suddenly find out what happened a few days ago. The poisoning incident, and now you have to publicly execute an eunuch, it would be inauspicious to see the blood... According to the grandson's daughter-in-law, it is better to put this matter on hold for the time being and wait until after the banquet is over, what do you think?"

When she said this, she presented the queen gently, today is the queen's birthday, but the queen mother took this opportunity to start the trial, and she wanted to punish her, which might be inappropriate.

The Empress Dowager did not expect Chu Yan to say that. After all, she had already spotted this occasion a long time ago. She had to wait for the right time to drag Concubine Mu Gui and Mu Nianqiu off the horse. With the suspect's pawn, they became the most suspected people.At that time, once the crown prince feels dissatisfied, will he still favor Mu Nianqiu?

Concubine Mu is just a noble concubine, but she has been managing the harem with the Empress Dowager for so long. The Empress Dowager has already had opinions on her, so how could she let go of such a good opportunity?
It's just that Chu Yan's words made it difficult for the Queen Mother to get angry.

Gu Qi finally said: "Put this maid down first, after the banquet is over, I will wait for her."

Chu Yan withdrew her gaze lightly, and did not look at the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother was furious, but there was nothing she could do.

After a while, the palace dancer in the palace entered the hall holding a musical instrument, and soon began to play and dance. Everyone diverted their attention for the time being, and did not hold on to the matter just now.

Chu Yan seemed to inadvertently turned her head and said a few words to Hanzhi beside her. After a while, Hanzhi slowly retreated from the side of the hall.

Because it was at the banquet, there were many palace people serving tea and water, adding vegetables and removing dishes, and no one noticed such a small episode.Chu Yan slowly pointed to the wine glass on the table, signaling Dong Yi to fill it up for herself, but suddenly noticed a scorching gaze resting on her, so she subconsciously looked up, and saw His Highness the Crown Prince frowned slightly, scolding her. Looking at her like that, she came back to her senses... Ah, the right of pregnant women to drink is afraid to be banned!
(End of this chapter)