Madam Linglong knelt forward and sobbed, "Her Majesty, please understand. Zi'an is innocent. She was just used by her biological mother. Please forgive her for her young age and ignorance. If there is any guilt, I will bear it."
The Empress Dowager looked at Madam Linglong and began to feel unsure.
She had been in the palace for many years and had seen all kinds of fights among the concubines, but she was lucky that no one could shake her position as queen, because the late emperor respected her very much and even the concubines did not dare to compete with her, so she just watched the fights coldly.
She felt that the relationship between Madam Linglong and Yuan was not that simple. Naturally, since she had no good feelings towards Yuan, she believed Madam Linglong's expressions of condolence to some extent.
She thought for a moment, then said to Eunuch Sun, "Go and call the Queen over. She is the mother of Prince Liang, and I have to ask her how to deal with this matter."
The Empress Dowager had never thought of holding the Prime Minister's Office accountable. This matter was already embarrassing enough. In order to curb the rumors from the outside world, it was best to do nothing.
Therefore, the initial plan was to punish Xia Zian and leave it at that. But now that Xia Zian has cured King Liang, she is so fond of him that she doesn't have time to deal with him.
After hearing the Empress Dowager's instructions, Concubine Mei exchanged a glance with Prime Minister Xia.
Prime Minister Xia also glanced at Madam Linglong. Madam Linglong wiped away her tears with a handkerchief and pretended to be sad again.
The Queen was already upset, and when she heard Eunuch Sun come to report that Prime Minister Xia had come to the Queen Mother to plead guilty, her face turned cold and she angrily said on the spot: "I will not pursue this matter anymore. He handed his head to me eagerly, what does that mean? Does he really want me to chop off his head?"
Eunuch Sun lowered his voice and said, "Queen, calm down and go over first. Concubine Mei and the Prime Minister both said that the breaking of the engagement was instigated by Yuan."
When Zi'an heard this, a sneer appeared on his lips. He really came to the palace to clear himself, but could he really do so
When the queen heard what Eunuch Sun said, she raised her head, looked at Zi'an and said, "Zi'an, come here."
Zi'an handed the moxa stick to the judge and walked over as he was told. "What does the Queen want?"
The queen looked at her and said sternly, "The matter of your regretting the engagement must be resolved eventually. I will not punish you, and the King of Liang has forgiven you, but you must tell me the whole story of this matter."
The Queen knew a lot about this matter and had heard it from Xia Zian, but she needed to know the whole story so that she could respond to Concubine Mei and Prime Minister Xia.
She could not let Prime Minister Xia and Concubine Mei involve Xia Zian in this matter again, at least not now.
"Your Majesty, why do you bring this up now? My mind is only on..."
The Queen interrupted her and said, "I know you only want to cure King Liang now, but someone is making you worry, so you must deal with it."
Zi'an subconsciously looked up at Murong Jie. Murong Jie crossed his legs, sat leisurely in a chair next to the bed, and talked to King Liang.
Everything seemed to have nothing to do with him, but for some reason Zian felt that it had something to do with him.
Seeing Zi'an looking at him, he also turned his head to glance at Zi'an, his expression was extremely innocent, but there was still a hint of mischief on that handsome face.
Zi'an lowered his head and suppressed his edge. If it was arranged by the Regent, then this scene must be very complicated. Very good, I thought they would wait until she returned home before taking action. Since they didn't wait, then let's have a fight in the palace.
When Zi'an was about to reply to the Queen, Murong Jie suddenly said calmly, "By the way, when I entered the palace just now, I heard people outside saying that Xia Zi'an was thrown into the torture chamber because of breaking off the engagement with Prince Liang. I wonder if the Prime Minister came here because of this matter?"
The queen's expression changed. "What? Who is talking nonsense?"
"That's unknown. The Queen can order a thorough investigation!" Murong Jie looked righteous.
Zi'an almost laughed out loud, he was so innocent, it was obviously him who spread the news, no wonder she came to the palace. He thought she was being questioned in the palace, maybe she came here to clear herself
The queen's face was gloomy. "Zi'an, you go with me. There is no need to talk about the events leading up to and after the regret of the engagement that day. I know everything."
Zi'an replied, "Yes!" It would be better if she didn't say anything. Otherwise, no matter how aggrieved and distressed she sounded, the Queen would always find out about her selfish motives.
Nanny Yang had already prepared the sedan chair. Zi'an went out and saw the bright sun, feeling a little dizzy.
She had to take good care of herself urgently, otherwise, she would not be able to deal with the group of vicious wolves after returning home.
After the queen left, the prince of Liang sent away the judge and the palace servants, looked at Murong Jie and said, "Uncle, it was you who spread the news, wasn't it?"
Murong Jie raised his chin, "What do you think?"
"It's you!" King Liang sighed softly, "Prime Minister Xia threatened his daughter like this, I was really blind at the time."
"You are not blind. He has always been a modest gentleman. Who would have known that he was full of evil intentions?"
King Liang smiled and said, "Since you came to power, you have been ostracizing him. At that time, I thought you were jealous of his talent, but now that I think about it, you were very foresighted."
Murong Jie said nothing, but his eyes were unusually cold. How could he be jealous of talented people when he was in power? Recruiting talented people was more like it. He had secretly assessed all the civil and military officials in the court. He knew the character of Prime Minister Xia from the beginning.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have mentioned it again and again, but everyone thought that he was afraid of Prime Minister Xia's position.
Arriving outside Shou'an Palace, the Queen told Zi'an, "Wait here. Come in when I call you."
Zi'an lowered his hands and stood aside, "Yes!"
Eunuch Sun came out to greet her, shouting, "The Queen has arrived."
The Queen strode in, looking somewhat aggressive. When Prime Minister Xia and Linglong saw her, they couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts. Sure enough, the Queen was in a rage, no wonder she refused to meet her just now.
Mei Fei stepped forward and asked, "The Queen is here?"
The Queen did not even agree to it, but walked straight over to pay her respects to the Queen Mother, "Your Highness, Mother."
The Queen Mother said, "It's good that the Queen is here. You still have to handle this matter yourself."
The Queen walked over to the Queen Mother and sat down, looking at Prime Minister Xia with a sarcastic face, "Prime Minister has come to Shou'an Palace? Didn't he just say outside Changsheng Palace that he wanted to see me? When I left, he disappeared. It turns out that he came to Shou'an Palace. Prime Minister is really like a mysterious dragon that can only be seen from head to tail."
Prime Minister Xia was ready to face the Queen's anger. He knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I was indeed waiting for you outside the Changsheng Palace just now. However, Your Majesty was busy with work, so I came here to pay my respects to the Empress Dowager first."
Eunuch Sun personally served the tea to the queen, who took it and drank it slowly before looking at Prime Minister Xia and saying, "You have been asking for an audience in the Hall of Eternal Life for quite some time now. Why are you still kneeling on the ground?"
Mei Fei saw that the Queen's tone was not good, and knew that she must be resentful, so she stepped forward to smooth things over, "Queen, the Prime Minister and the others know that they are guilty, so they kneel here to apologize to the Queen Dowager and the Queen."
(End of this chapter)