PFC Chapter 385: Palace Poems (1): Locked in the Deep Palace
Chapter 385: Palace Poems (1): Locked in the Deep Palace
Emperor Hui saw Xie Zhaozhao kneeling and did not ask her to stand up, nor did he mention the privilege of being exempted from kneeling.
Zhou Shaoyu did not say anything and sat down on the left side of Emperor Hui. A little impatience can ruin a big plan, and the emperor's majesty cannot be challenged.
Everyone in the Imperial Study was full of thoughts.
Emperor Hui said slowly, "Everyone is here, come in."
Soon, Dingbei Hou and Dong Qin, who were kneeling at the door, were brought in.
Xie Zhaozhao saw the two of them being brought in out of the corner of his eye and knew that they had definitely been killed.
Since it is a secret interrogation, these two "outsiders" must keep their mouths shut forever.
Empress Xie's crime was so serious that none of them, including Xie Anfeng, Old Madam Xie, Princess Changping, and even Xie Zhaozhao, begged for mercy.
At this point, it's too late to say anything. It all depends on whether Emperor Hui will remember the old friendship.
"Empress, I have been preparing for decades, and finally this year, I will fight to the death with the Wei family. I believe that you hate the Wei family as much as I do. The war in the northwest, the natural disaster in the south, the Dongli Kingdom and the Luzhenla Kingdom attacked Daqian... When Daqian was in the most difficult time, you became disloyal and stabbed me in the back! I really don't understand why you did this?"
Emperor Hui spoke slowly, his face was stern, and his tone was full of resentment.
Empress Xie gently pulled at her sleeves and smiled faintly: "Because it's easiest to kill you now!"
Madam Xie shook her body and said sternly, "Your Majesty, be careful with your words!"
"Is it meaningful to be careful with your words at this time?" Empress Xie smiled again, "Your Majesty, in the blink of an eye, I have been imprisoned in the palace for twenty-two years!"
I have been away from home for three thousand days and in the palace for twenty years. I thank you Chunxi with tears falling before you.
"Your Majesty, I want to kill you and destroy Daqian. It's not just in the past few months, but since the miscarriage of my fourth child."
After hearing what Empress Xie said, Emperor Hui was somewhat confused and tried to figure out the situation: The Empress was pregnant with her fourth child? What year was that?
After thinking for a while, he couldn't remember.
There were too many concubines in the palace, and he couldn't remember when each concubine became pregnant.
Not to mention that he couldn't remember when Empress Xie miscarried her fourth child, he couldn't even remember the birthdays of several princes if it weren't for their mother arranging them every year.
Daqian had too many things to do and too many things on his mind to remember them all.
He was even a little surprised that the queen had been pregnant four times!
Empress Xie saw him thinking deeply and knew that he was thinking, but he couldn't remember. Yes, how could he remember?
There are so many concubines in the harem, like a hundred flowers, competing for beauty. His Majesty is just doing his routine work and sleeping with them one by one!
"When the fourth child had an accident, he was already six months old in my belly, a fully grown prince. After that, my body was injured too badly, and I will never have the chance to be a mother again in this life.
On the surface, it was the favored noblewoman Qing who offended me, but I later found out that the mastermind behind it was not Wei, but you! It was you, a master of acting, who didn't want me to give birth to a child of Xie's bloodline!"
Empress Xie laughed out loud, "You acted so well at that time, sending tonics, killing Concubine Qing, and even killing all of her family members!
If Lan Lin hadn't felt sorry for me and given Qing Guiren a cup of fake-death wine, I would have been kept in the dark my entire life!"
He wanted the Xie family's power to counterbalance the Wei family, but was also afraid of the Xie family's strength.
"Lan Lin is indeed your man!" Emperor Hui said coldly, "Have you been colluding with Doctor Lan for a long time?"
"Don't slander Doctor Lan. He is a thousand times more upright than you." Empress Xie said angrily, "Now I have exposed your true colors, and you are so angry that you throw dirty water on us!"
Although entering the palace was not what Empress Xie wished, she once thought that Emperor Hui should be an affectionate person!
She still remembered that when she first entered the palace, as the only legitimate daughter of the Xie family, she was directly named a concubine.
Emperor Hui even gave her the title "Xi", which was both her nickname and the meaning of "I hope my beloved concubine's life will be like the sunshine, bright, warm and harmonious."
As a lady of noble family brought up by Xie, she really wanted to carry out Xie's hopes, expand the royal family, and be loyal to Emperor Hui all her life.
She was like a rich peony, beautiful and graceful. She had been favored by the emperor for half a year, but she could not get pregnant no matter what.
She sought out the imperial physicians in the palace, and every one of them told her, "Don't worry, having children depends on fate."
She thought she was too anxious and slowly relaxed. Later, because Concubine De was accidentally poisoned and Lan Lin came to detoxify her, she wondered if she had also been poisoned by some kind of drug, causing her infertility?
She deliberately gave Liuli a simple poison and asked someone to call Lan Lin over.
The Lan family is a family of poison doctors, so they naturally have a friendship with the Xie family. The Lan family also looks up to the Xie family, so Lan Lin came to check Liuli's pulse respectfully.
She took the opportunity to ask Lan Lin to take her pulse and help check her daily diet.
Lan Lin immediately found out that her rouge and powder contained "beauty flowers" in her body.
The beauty flower, which always maintains a beautiful appearance like a flower, is a powerful infertility-causing drug. It is colorless and odorless, and can enter the human body silently through food and skin contact.
She was so frightened that she broke out in a cold sweat. She immediately went to Xie Anfeng and whispered to him, "Brother, someone doesn't want me to be pregnant."
Xie Anfeng had a deep relationship with her since childhood. When he heard that someone had secretly put "Beauty Flower" on her, the first person he thought of was Wei Yingzi.
But at that time, the brother and sister did not think of Emperor Hui. After all, even a tiger would not eat its own cubs. They also believed that Emperor Hui had something to ask of Xie, so he would not (dare not) take action against Concubine Xi.
Xie Anfeng gave her Xie's spies, the Xuanyi Guards, and bribed Doctor Wen.
She soon became pregnant with her first child.
When Emperor Hui learned that she was pregnant, he showered her with rewards, even the best things he didn't need, he gave them to Concubine Xi.
Concubine Xi felt that it was too ostentatious, and repeatedly told Emperor Hui: "It is not yet three months, and the fetus is not stable yet. Your Majesty should not make it public yet."
Emperor Hui said excitedly: "There are so many doctors, what are you afraid of? Besides, my beloved concubine is in good health, why worry? I am very happy, just make me happy for once!"
"I was extremely grateful to Your Majesty at that time, because Your Majesty valued this child so much, and I also hoped to give birth to a child for Your Majesty, so that Your Majesty would have more confidence!" Empress Xie laughed sarcastically, "Your Majesty, I was completely focused on you, but you were always calculating against me. When I woke up in the middle of the night, did you feel ashamed and unable to fall asleep?"
Emperor Hui frowned and asked her to continue.
His Majesty rewarded her in such a high-profile manner that people inside and outside the court were extremely excited. It gave people the feeling that as long as Concubine Xi gave birth to a son, he would depose Zhou Jingrui from the position of crown prince and make Concubine Xi's son the crown prince instead.
Not only did all the officials in the court think so, Wei Yingzi thought so, and even Concubine Xi herself almost believed it.
How could such a high profile not arouse the vigilance and jealousy of the harem?
Sure enough, her happiness with this pregnancy lasted less than three months before something went wrong.
At that time, Xu Zhiyan (Xie Zhaozhao's mother) and Mrs. Xie heard that Concubine Xi was pregnant, so they went to the palace to visit her. Two days later, Concubine Xi suffered from abdominal pain, and the imperial physicians tried their best to save the baby, but failed.
The first child was miscarried for unknown reasons.
She called Lan Lin, who found musk in her bird's nest porridge.