PFC Chapter 164: The two parties broke the standoff and fought back (revised)
Chapter 164: The two parties broke the standoff and fought back (revised)
When Kangxi heard Concubine Nianhulu mention shamans, he refused without thinking.
The Manchus believed in shamans, so inviting a shaman was one solution. But even if the shaman cleared the girl's name, it would have made the matter a big deal.
The little girl is so weak and timid that the rumors will crush her, and he doesn't believe that the little girl has a bad luck.
The nails of Concubine Niuhulu dug deeper and deeper into her palms. Although she had her own selfish motives in inviting the shaman, she felt a little embarrassed when she saw that the emperor had so firmly rejected her suggestion. She couldn't help but say:
"Your Majesty, the matter of defeating someone..."
"Your Majesty, I have something to say."
At this time, Nanny Yang carefully handed the master to Hongying, stepped forward and saluted, interrupting Concubine Nianhulu's words.
Concubine Niuhulu's eyes were fierce. It was fine if the emperor was the emperor, but a servant dared to interrupt her. But before she could get angry, Kangxi looked over and said in a deep voice:
"Madame Yang, what do you want to say?"
Nanny Yang did not answer first, but took the box from Zhou Rong's hand and picked it up again. Everyone's eyes were on Concubine Ping and her son and behind Concubine Xian, and they did not notice the box at all. When they saw Nanny Yang's action, they were all puzzled.
"Your Majesty, this box contains the Buddhist scriptures that my master has copied for the young prince over the past five days."
As he spoke, he gently opened the box, revealing several neatly arranged books.
Nanny Yang carefully opened the top volume and saw at a glance the beautiful and graceful small calligraphy with hairpin flowers on it. What was even more speechless was the piety that was revealed between the lines.
Kangxi was startled for a moment, then he glanced at the thick books in the box and suddenly looked at Shi Nanxi.
"Empress Xian, you told me before that you copied some Buddhist scriptures for Yinzhen when you had time. I didn't expect that you copied so many in just a few days."
Others didn't know about Concubine Xian's daily life these days, but he knew it very clearly. He deeply understood that Nanxi was able to copy so many scriptures, and he must have used all his time, except for serving him, to copy Buddhist scriptures.
What Nanny Yang said next really proved Kangxi's guess.
"Because my old slave master was born with a difficult labor and a weak body like the young prince, he was particularly compassionate to the young prince. After entering the palace, he heard that the young prince's condition had worsened. He was worried and anxious, but he couldn't go to Changchun Palace to disturb the young prince's treatment. So he had to copy Buddhist scriptures for the young prince when he had time to show his love."
As he spoke, he handed the Buddhist scripture forward and raised his voice:
"Look at the Buddhist scriptures above. They are all written carefully by me, the old slave master, with every stroke overflowing with piety. Every word represents the heart of the queen. The queen is thinking of copying more and asking me to send them to the Changchun Palace Buddhist Temple for offering, to bless the little prince to be safe and sound."
Although she didn't know why Concubine Xian copied Buddhist scriptures for Concubine Ping's little prince, she could only cry in vain. Only Madam Yang, a servant, charged into battle, not knowing that the Buddhist scriptures were the evidence against her.
Noble Consort Nianhulu immediately gave Consort Tong a subtle look. Consort Tong was also a smart person and interrupted in confusion:
"Madam Yang, you have said so much, which is very touching, but this does not mean that Empress Xian's horoscope is not incompatible with Changchun Palace. And it is possible that it was this Buddhist scripture that hastened the death of the young prince?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Concubine Ping, who was standing next to them, immediately seized on the topic excitedly.
"Your Majesty, look, these Buddhist scriptures are the evidence. They are the evidence that the little prince was killed..."
"impossible!"
At this time, Matron Yang spoke boldly again, and met Concubine Ping's murderous eyes with a serious and old-fashioned face without fear.
"Our queen was born with a difficult labor and was in poor health. She went to the farm to recuperate at the age of three. She once met an old Taoist priest who came to take shelter from the rain. The Taoist priest saw that the queen was kind-hearted and kindly told her that the Buddha loved the world and that the queen was in poor health. She might as well copy more scriptures every day. As long as she kept kindness in her heart, she might have a chance to recover one day."
Her face softened as she spoke:
"The queen was half-believing and half-doubting what the wandering Taoist priest said, but she happened to be recuperating at the manor, so she half-believed and half-doubted what the old Taoist priest said and copied Buddhist scriptures every day. That's how the queen was able to write scriptures that exuded piety."
Kangxi nodded secretly at this. No wonder the little girl, at such a young age, had such beautiful handwriting that it also exuded piety.
When Nanny Yang said this, she turned her gaze to Elder Liu who was kneeling on the ground, her serious and old-fashioned expression somewhat agitated.
"I didn't expect that when the queen reached the age to participate in the selection and enter the palace, she actually met Old Liu who could take care of her body. She immediately remembered what the old Taoist said. From then on, she believed in Buddha even more and was extremely pious to him. She believed that disrespecting Buddha would bring retribution. How could the Buddhist scriptures copied by such a queen possibly bring death to the little prince? Isn't that indirectly saying that Buddha brought death to the little prince?"
"Be bold!"
"Ah, Buddha, it is not me who disrespects you, it is Concubine Ping who ordered me to do this. Retribution has come, retribution has come..."
The words of Concubine Nianhulu and a young eunuch were heard at the same time, but everyone focused all their attention on the young eunuch.
The young eunuch was thin and weak, his face pale as he lay on the ground. A pungent yellow liquid was coming from the ground. He kept shaking his head to deny it, as if he had hysterics.
Kangxi narrowed his eyes and looked at Concubine Ping who suddenly froze.
After Yang Ma mentioned that disrespecting Buddha would bring retribution, Concubine Ping became panicked subconsciously. Until the last sentence that Buddha had defeated the young prince, her whole brain buzzed, and she subconsciously remembered that she had asked people to remove the sandalwood from the temple, and also, she had people scrape the gold powder off the Buddha's body. Could it be...
It was unknown what she was thinking about, but her face was even paler than the young eunuch's, and she didn't notice Kangxi's gaze at all.
The servants around her wanted to remind her, but they did not dare to be presumptuous since the emperor was here. At the same time, they were as frightened as the little eunuch.
Kangxi stroked the jade ring, and seeing Concubine Ping's expression, he immediately had a guess and glanced at Liang Jiugong.
Liang Jiugong flicked his whisk, stepped forward and said sternly to the young eunuch:
"You are such a daring servant! You don't even want to tell the truth in front of the Emperor, and you still want to go to the Ministry of Punishment!"
The Ministry of Punishment was hell for the servants in the palace. The eunuch, who had lost his soul, regained his consciousness and kowtowed in fear:
"I said, I said, it was Concubine Ping who ordered me to withdraw after the imperial decree of the selection of concubines was issued..."
"You are not allowed to say it." At this time, Concubine Ping finally came back to her senses, and her eyes were bloodshot when she heard the eunuch's words.
Upon seeing this, Kangxi flicked his sleeves and uttered the word "Say" coldly through his thin lips.
The young eunuch trembled with fear, not daring to raise his head, and continued tremblingly:
"…she removed all the incense in the temple and asked me to scrape off the gold powder on the Buddha. All of this was ordered by the Queen Mother. It's not that I'm disrespectful to the Buddha. If the Buddha wants to take retribution, it should be the Queen Mother. It has nothing to do with me!"
The room was deathly silent, with only the young eunuch's cries of injustice being heard. Everyone looked at Concubine Ping in disbelief, suspecting that they had heard it wrongly.
Shi Nanxi, who was leaning on Hongying's arms, had the same expression as everyone else, but her eyes seemed to casually glance at the frightened little eunuch.
Ever since she learned from Zhou Rong about the strange things happening in Concubine Ping's Buddhist temple, she had someone secretly investigate it. At that time, she happened to find out that the young eunuch in charge of the Buddhist temple in Changchun Palace was extremely superstitious and timid, so she immediately decided on this plan.
Now everything is going smoothly as planned and I feel very happy.
However, Kangxi's mood was extremely bad.
His expression was extremely gloomy.
Directly instruct:
"Liang Jiugong."
Liang Jiugong immediately stepped back and went to the Buddhist temple himself. The room was so quiet that even the sound of breathing seemed to have disappeared.
Concubine Ping collapsed on the bed, with two words in her mind:
Finished!