The queen, who was imprisoned in Kunning Palace, was probably the last person to learn that she had been deposed.
The reason was simple. The edict to depose the empress was drafted by the empress dowager who ordered the cabinet minister Kong Daxueshi. Wu Gelao and Zhang Yu were just symbolically filling in the gaps. The emperor was so angry that he ran away. Therefore, after reading the edict, the empress dowager directly ordered the Tongzhengsi to announce it to the world. However, no one remembered that the edict to depose the empress should be sent to Kunning Palace first and read to the deposed former queen mother.
Therefore, when the emperor found out about this, he had already woken up early the next morning in a separate room near the martial arts arena, and hurriedly washed and changed his clothes to rush back to the Qianqing Palace to prepare for court. When Liu Feng carefully mentioned this matter, he saw the emperor's dull face, and his heart skipped a beat, and he immediately realized that the emperor had simply forgotten!
Sure enough, the emperor's expression returned to normal in a moment, but he asked unhappily, "What did the Queen Mother say?"
The Queen Mother... didn't say anything! Liu Feng secretly complained in his heart, but he still had to bite the bullet and said: "After the Queen Mother sent the three elders away, she returned to Qingning Palace. She didn't say anything, and no one dared to ask. As for Kunning Palace, we have been following the previous instructions of the Queen Mother and Your Majesty. As soon as the imperial physician left, someone supervised to close the door of Kunning Palace first..."
"Alright!" Knowing that he had indeed made a big mistake, the emperor could only pat his forehead lightly, and then interrupted Liu Feng's words, trying his best to speak in a nonchalant tone, "Go and tell Chu Kuan to pick a reliable person to go to Kunning Palace to pass on the imperial edict. As for moving the palace, you should first check whether there is a suitable palace in the six palaces in the east and west, and there is no need to rush."
There is no need to rush. Your Majesty, you don't have many concubines in your harem. The twelve palaces in the six east and west palaces are not even full! It is not difficult to free up a palace that is not in the same room with other concubines to accommodate the deposed queen!
However, Liu Feng was most relieved that the emperor did not ask him to do this, but instead instructed Chu Kuan, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, to do it. Therefore, he was not willing to go there in person, and after sending the emperor to the court, he immediately sent a little eunuch to pass on the message to Chu Kuan. However, when the little eunuch came back and reported, he was surprised.
"You mean, Eunuch Chu went to Kunning Palace in person?"
Seeing the 13- or 14-year-old eunuch nodding his head desperately, with an expression that said, "I definitely can't remember it wrong," Liu Feng was immediately confused. But this was not a big deal, after all, the queen had become the deposed queen. Even if Chu Kuan had some friendship with the deposed queen in the past and was planning to comfort her, or if Chu Kuan had a grudge against the deposed queen and was planning to show off his power, it was none of his business anyway.
He immediately forgot about it and didn't even bother to send someone to Kunning Palace to find out what was going on there.
Not only him, but all the concubines also stayed in the palace and restricted the palace maids from going out. Even Concubine Yu, who was always straightforward and even dared to use a sword against the queen, was not interested in going to Kunning Palace to watch the queen's joke at this time. In her words to Princess Yongping, it was the most boring thing to beat a drowned dog.
So, when the queen suddenly heard the news that she was deposed as Consort Jing, which was like a bolt from the blue, she was lucky to avoid making a fool of herself in front of a group of concubines whom she had always looked down upon. But even so, she would not feel the slightest bit of gratitude, because at this moment, her heart and mind were filled with rage and grief.