At the court meeting the next day, the Queen's party showed off the autographed letter of Princess Xihe collected by the Lian family. After comparing it with the letter that Ruan Qingyan had brought out before, they became very powerful!
However, Empress Dowager Gu failed first to snatch the letter hidden by the Lian family, and to put pressure on Qiu Yilan through Ruan Qingyan's life experience to no avail, she was also prepared to deal with it -
As soon as the concubine's autographed letter was confirmed, Qiu Mengmin insisted with "shock and anger" that he was not allowed to serve the concubine Xihe before she died, but the concubine allowed him to take him back to Mrs. Lu before her death. Mom and Dong Yao said it themselves!
Although Princess Ruan never mentioned this matter to him, she never raised any objection. He thought it was acquiescence.
Someone from the Queen's party sneered: "You inherited the title and became the head of the Xihe Palace. Your sister-in-law has no children. She is an orphan and a widowed mother. You insist on delivering the mother to the palace. Princess Ruan is the only daughter." Ji, how dare I offend you?"
"Zhuang Siye said too much." On the Queen Mother's side, a senior member of the Queen Mother's party, wearing a purple coat, a goldfish with a jade belt, and a Xiechi crown stood up and said calmly, "How could I know it wasn't those two old men? Seeing that Princess Xihe is about to die soon, the servant deliberately fabricated lies just to show off in front of her new master? "
"If that's the case, why didn't Princess Ruan say anything about it?" Imperial Prince Siye Zhuang Mo immediately asked, "When Princess Xihe passed away, wouldn't Princess Ruan, the direct daughter-in-law, be here?"
But he just happened to fall into the trap of the senior official - the senior official immediately said: "That means Princess Ruan is unfilial. She kept silent about such a big thing! This is obviously deliberately allowing King Xihe to disrespect his aunt without knowing it!" He said Hei Ran said, "It is Princess Ruan's daughter who has revealed this matter now!"
He raised his hands towards Dan Chi and said, "I don't know whether I should sigh that Princess Ruan is extremely smart, or...?" Although he didn't say the following words, he glanced at Lian Chen and others, and everyone in the court understood what he meant. : Maybe this plan came from Princess Xihe? !
Qiu Yilan frowned slightly. After all, the two empresses had been on a par over the years. Even if the queen's party now had the upper hand in physical evidence, it would not be easy to overpower the queen's party.
Moreover, Queen Mother Gu was really insidious and shameless. She forced Qiu Mengmin to fabricate his aunt's last words and made it appear that he was being plotted by his aunt and sister-in-law!
"This lord is so eloquent in his words!" Qiu Yilan took a breath and said sternly before Zhuang Mo retorted, "I just dare to ask, lord, do you have any evidence for what you said? There is no evidence, it's just empty talk. You slandered my late grandmother and my late mother and concubine. Although my brother died young and I am young and weak, I cannot sit back and let the reputation of my late grandmother and late mother and concubine be trampled on by you!"
She suddenly took a step towards Yang Tao, clenched her fists with her hands, spit out her angry eyes, and shouted, "Unless you come up with evidence today! Otherwise, if you don't go to the tomb of your late mother and concubine to plead guilty, I will join my family and fight until death." !”
She said these words decisively and resoundingly!
The official was so frightened by her momentum that he forgot to reply for a moment.
Zhuang Mo's eyes flashed, and the words he had prepared turned into loud cheers: "Okay! What a pure and filial princess!"
"The imperial concubine is being judged without any evidence!" Behind Zhuang Mo, a purple-robed official also stood up and said with a sneer, "Qiu Dian, we all know that you instigated a retainer to pretend to be Ruan two days ago. Ruan Qingyan, the grandson of the old general, is the son of a distant relative, trying to disturb Ruan Qingyan from participating in the Spring War! Not to mention that Ruan Qingyan was assassinated just after he left the Gongyuan. The only suspicious person in this case was your retainer - "
The official also bowed to Danqi, "I believe that what Qiu Dian did in court, and the actions that Fang Cai made to slander Princess Ruan, must have a personal enmity with the Ruan family! In this case, Qiu Dian should avoid this incident Discussed! Otherwise, Qiu Dian’s words must be unfair!”
"What Dou Jijiu said makes sense." Queen Jiang said immediately.
"What happened to the court is just that Qiu Dian's disciples mistook relatives. No one can do anything but a sage. Is such a trivial matter worth mentioning?" Empress Dowager Gu raised her eyelids and said coldly, "As for the assassination of a scholar, Man, Feng Rugui, a loser, doesn't even think about it. If those retainers are the assassins, why should he meet Princess Ningyi first? As for what Princess Ruan just guessed - Qiu Dian, as a censor, is the one who speaks for himself. Not guilty, not to mention that what he said is not completely unreasonable!”
Empress Jiang sneered: "Oh, my wife doesn't understand the truth of his words? Now there is irrefutable proof that Qiu Mengmin disrespected his legitimate mother. Qiu Dian, as the censor doctor and in charge of the censorship platform, did not say a word to impeach Qiu Mengmin. Instead, he caught Princess Ruan, a deceased person, and kept throwing dirty water. This is not a public revenge, so what else!"
Empress Dowager Gu looked at her solemnly: "Just because after Qiu Zhongyan died in battle, when Qiu Mengmin inherited the title, she moved back to Prince Xihe's Mansion instead of originally living in Prince Xihe's Mansion, it shows that Princess Xihe is not a virtuous person. In this case, it’s so strange that she plots against her illegitimate daughter-in-law!”
Qiu Yilan, who was under Danqi, was furious - the old concubine was so commented by the Queen Mother that she would bear the stigma even if she died!
But the ones who were more angry and anxious than her were the Lian family!
Without saying a word, Lian Chen lifted up his robe and knelt down, and then kowtowed with a loud bang, bang bang bang bang, while kowtowing, he said loudly: "My sister has inherited the court's training from a young age, and she will never treat her children unjustly! It is the tradition of the Chen family. I don’t dare to look at the strictness of the famous families, but the women in the family can still bear the words of ‘gentleness and silence’!”
"That's right!" After praising Lian Chen, Empress Jiang turned her head, met Empress Dowager Gu's eyes through the emperor, and said coldly, "What the mother said is funny! Back then, Emperor Gaozong first established Gong as the crown prince, and then Gong Gong. When the prince was ill, he called the late emperor to fill the palace! Isn't it virtuous for Empress Xiaoding to do so?"
"How can a minister's family affairs be compared to the royal family?!" Empress Dowager Gu was furious, "When a prince gets old and gets married, he must leave the palace and open a palace to avoid chaos in the palace! But none of the ministers abide by the rule of not saying anything about their parents when they are in the palace. Forget the filial piety rules!”
Empress Jiang said coldly: "In this case, Qiu Mengmin's sin is even more serious! He actually moved out of the Xihe Palace while Princess Xihe was still there! Even if there is any rift between mother and son, children should endure it and continue to serve. Come to me! If he leaves like this, he is putting Princess Xihe in an unjust situation! This is clearly his ulterior motive!"
The queen raised her voice, "Moreover, Qiu Zhongyan died in battle, and his eldest son Qiu Jinglan drowned in the pool, causing Princess Xihe to hear the bad news in just a few days, and then died of heartache! How could it be such a coincidence? What happened? Maybe Qiu Jinglan was harmed by Qiu Mengmin in order to usurp the title of King of Xihe!"
Qiu Mengmin knelt down with a "thump" and kowtowed desperately like Lian Chen just now: "How dare I do such an unethical thing?! I beg the Queen to learn from this!"
"This is nonsense!" Queen Mother Gu shouted, "It was clearly Princess Ruan who failed to take care of her children! Moreover, Qiu Mengmin had not yet inherited the title at that time, how could she harm Qiu Jinglan?!"
"Then what did Mrs. Guan say to Dong Yao before?!" Empress Jiang sneered, "These two people clearly had their hearts set on Qiu Mengmin, and were ordered by him to murder Qiu Zhongyan's only son, so that Qiu Mengmin could usurp the property that should belong to his nephew. What's so strange about Wang Jue? How old was Qiu Jinglan at that time? What an innocent child!
Queen Mother Gu was startled and her face darkened!
Qiu Yilan bit her lip and secretly admired Queen Jiang: Originally, when Queen Jiang mentioned Qiu Jinglan, Qiu Yilan thought she was slandering her by the Empress Dowager Xuegu, but now when Queen Jiang said that her mother and Dongyao were talking about Only then did Qiu Mengmin know the queen’s true intention of mentioning Qiu Jinglan!
Two autographed letters from Princess Xihe have proved that the princess never allowed Mrs. Lu to return to the palace.
Qiu Mengmin insisted to the death that she had also been deceived by her servant.
Therefore, Guan Mama and Dong Yao, who had repeatedly said that the old concubine had taken the initiative to ask Qiu Mengmin to honor her biological mother, were destined to be thought to have deliberately fabricated the old concubine's last words to please the new king.
Since Mama Guan and Dong Yao were such fastidious people, in order to please Qiu Mengmin, it might not be impossible to take advantage of the chaos in the palace to murder Qiu Jinglan!
—After all, it was right for Qiu Jinglan to inherit the title of king. As the new king of Xihe, it was impossible for him to be grateful to Mama Guan and Dongyao. Moreover, as the eldest son, Qiu Jinglan definitely has no shortage of people around to serve him. Even if there is a shortage, he may not send Guan Mama and Dong Yao to supplement them!
How logical is it that Qiu Mengmin seizes this point to seduce them and harm her young nephew? !
"Empress Dowager Gu must deny that Mother Guan and Dong Yao murdered Qiu Jinglan..." Qiu Yilan was thinking so, and sure enough, Empress Dowager Gu said coldly: "Even if Qiu Jinglan was murdered, it's her fault that Princess Ruan didn't take it seriously. His own son! Secondly, it may not be Guan and Dongyao. These two are the confidants of Princess Xihe. How can they get away from each other if Princess Xihe is not good? "
The Queen Mother sneered, "Besides, the autographed letter from Princess Xihe can already prove that these two servants are not good people. It can be seen that Princess Xihe's ability to recognize people is only one thing! In this case, other people in the Xihe Palace Isn’t it strange that the servants may not be reliable, or they may be careless or have grudges against Qiu Jinglan?”
Empress Jiang said calmly: "Since my mother also thinks that Qiu Jinglan's death is too strange, my daughter-in-law proposes that the cause of Qiu Jinglan's death be thoroughly investigated!"
The queen sneered as she looked down at the civil and military forces of the entire dynasty, "After all, Qiu Zhongyan sacrificed his life for the country. Since there are doubts about the death of his only son, how could he not investigate?! Otherwise, wouldn't it be a shame to the hundreds of thousands of people who guard the border with Dali?" The heart of a soldier!"
Queen Mother Gu’s heart sank!
It is said that Qiu Jinglan has been dead for more than ten years. Whether she was murdered or not, it is easy to speculate now, but it is almost impossible to really find out anything.
But this request for a thorough investigation was made by Empress Jiang. Of course Empress Dowager Gu must be suspicious. Did the Jiang family grasp the truth about Qiu Jinglan's murder and come around to wait for her
If the Jiang family can prove that Qiu Mengmin plotted to murder his nephew and usurp the throne - then the problem is not just that he disrespected his aunt!
At least the reason why Qiu Mengmin disrespected his biological mother was because he sympathized with his biological mother.
Even though Qiu Mengmin's behavior is considered wrong by the mainstream because her aunt is superior to her biological mother, by grasping the love between flesh and blood, it may not be impossible to win sympathy!
but…
It is possible that the Jiang family is defrauding the Ai family! Empress Dowager Gu was a little unsure - she couldn't help but glance at Qiu Yilan under the Danqi: "The Qiu family suddenly brought this about. She is Qiu Jinglan's sister-in-law. Not long ago, her maternal family had an heir... Could it be that Is there really evidence that you want to expose through Jiang’s help?”
Qiu Yilan noticed Empress Dowager Gu's gaze, her thoughts changed, and she knelt down and prostrated: "I beg the Empress Dowager for permission to thoroughly investigate the death of my brother! In order to restore the innocence of my grandmother and concubine!"
Everyone in the court was silent, holding their breath and waiting for Queen Mother Gu's answer!