The Queen said with a fake smile: "Apology? Are you here to regret the engagement?"
Prime Minister Xia said with a guilty look on his face, "Your Majesty, I am here to apologize for this matter. I have failed to control my wife and educate my daughter properly, and I have embarrassed Your Highness Prince Liang. I am truly guilty of this."
"You are incompetent in controlling your wife? Where does this come from? What does this have to do with Yuan?" The queen looked at him strangely.
The queen originally thought that he was going to put all the blame on Xia Zian, but she didn't expect that Yuan would be involved. When Eunuch Sun said that just now, she thought that he had misheard, but she didn't expect it to be true.
Prime Minister Xia said, "Please allow me to report to you, Your Majesty. The reason for the broken engagement was that Yuan Shi took revenge for personal reasons and ignored the consequences, which led to such a huge disaster. I am an unworthy minister who allowed her to be so lawless. Please punish me, Your Majesty."
"This is a strange thing. Tell me about it." The queen said with her eyes wide open.
Mei Fei then repeated what she had just said to the Empress Dowager, without missing a single word.
.
The Queen smiled and looked at the Queen Mother. "My Queen Mother has also heard about this. What do you think?"
The Empress Dowager said without hesitation: "If Yuan Shi is really so evil, she must be punished."
Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Xia and Madam Linglong looked at each other and immediately lowered their heads.
The Queen then asked the Queen Mother, "How much do you know about the regret of the engagement?"
The Empress Dowager was stunned for a moment, then she understood what the Queen meant.
The news that reached the palace that day was not rumors from outside, but reports from the people who came back to welcome the bride. In other words, everything that happened that day, at least the divorce letter presented at the gate of the prime minister's residence and Xia Zian's accusation, could stand up to scrutiny word by word, because Prime Minister Xia was completely unable to refute that day.
Therefore, she had previously believed that Prime Minister Xia was mean and ungrateful, and abused his legitimate daughter.
However, today they involved Yuan, whom she disliked, and Concubine Mei testified in person, which made her change her mind about the whole thing.
What kind of person is Yuan Shi? Is she really as bad as Concubine Mei and Prime Minister Xia say
The Empress Dowager immediately had reservations and thought of Xia Zian's words and deeds. If her mother was so vicious, how could she raise such a daughter
Thinking of this, the Empress Dowager did not raise her eyes and said calmly: "I am also a little tired. Let the Queen handle this matter. I will just listen from the side."
The queen stood up, bowed and said, "Yes!"
He sat down again, his eyes swept across Mei Fei's face with a cold look, "Mei Fei, you have been in the deep palace all the time, how do you know about the things in the Prime Minister's Mansion? How do you know that Yuan Shi is so vicious?"
Mei Fei was startled, her face a little stiff, "This..."
"Hmm?" The queen's eyes became even colder as she pressed on.
Mei Fei stammered, "Well, my aunt is the old lady of the Xiangfu, so naturally..."
"Of course you heard it, right? How can you take hearsay seriously?" the queen snorted.
Mei Fei blushed and defended herself, "How can this be hearsay? My aunt is also a second-rank imperial lady of the current dynasty, how could she lie?"
"You mean, the old lady came to the palace in person just to tell you some gossip?" The queen suddenly raised her neck and asked Eunuch Sun, "Go check how many times the old lady has come to the palace in the past few years?"
Eunuch Sun smiled and said, "Your Highness, there is no need to check. Every time the old lady enters the palace, she will come to pay respects to the Empress Dowager. She has not come this year, nor last year. She only came occasionally a few years ago. The old lady is a thoughtful person. Every time she enters the palace, in addition to paying respects to the Empress Dowager, she will also pay respects to the Empress. Your Highness, have you forgotten?"
The Queen nodded, "I have not forgotten. I do remember that the old lady has seldom come to the palace in the past two years. When she occasionally comes, she just sits for a while and then leaves. I was wondering why the old lady came and went in such a hurry. It turns out that she went to Concubine Mei's palace to talk about family matters."
Mei Fei's face began to look a little ugly, "The old lady is my aunt, and it is only natural for her to chat with me for a while. Isn't it a bit harsh for the Queen to say this?"
The Queen and Concubine Mei had a good relationship before, but in fact Concubine Mei had never liked the Queen. She only pretended to be close to her because the Queen was so scheming and resourceful.
Now, in front of the Empress Dowager, she knew that she could not give in, so she pointed out the Queen's shortcomings directly. Because the Queen was mean, even the Empress Dowager agreed with her.
The queen sneered, "What the old lady said is only one-sided. As for whether it is true or not, we need to find out for sure."
Mei Fei frowned. Why was the Queen so unreasonable today? Wasn't it just to punish some people to save her face? Who could be punished? It was all a matter of face. Besides, since Xia Zian had been detained, wouldn't it be better to just deal with Yuan Shi and put an end to the matter
Prime Minister Xia was also a little confused. Although he expected that the Queen might not completely believe that it was Yuan who ordered it, he was the Prime Minister after all, so he had to consider his face and not embarrass himself.
But unexpectedly, the Queen didn't believe at all that it was Yuan who ordered this, and she even didn't believe what Concubine Mei said. What was going on
Could it be that after Xia Zian was detained, he said something that made the Queen believe it
But that's not right. If the Queen believed what Xia Zian said, why didn't she just order someone to summon him to the palace to be questioned? It was obvious that the Queen didn't believe Xia Zian either.
Although Madam Linglong was afraid of the Queen's majesty, she felt a little indignant when she heard that the Queen didn't believe what they said at all. She said, "If your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can order someone to investigate the palace. No matter which servant you ask, you will know what kind of person Yuan is."
The queen waved her hand, "Why bother? Isn't there a servant from the prime minister's mansion in this palace?"
Madam Linglong was startled and quickly shook her head, "Your Majesty, this is unacceptable. Xiaosun is Zi'an's daughter, and she must have followed Zi'an's orders. How could she say anything fair?"
The Queen said coldly: "According to what you said, wouldn't the servants in the mansion not protect the Prime Minister? And..."
The Queen leaned forward slightly and stared at Madam Linglong with a rather fierce look, "You just called the Prime Minister's wife Yuan. Was it you who called her Yuan?"
The Empress Dowager was also a little unhappy. No matter what Yuan's character was, as a concubine, she could only address her as Madam no matter what the occasion. This was the rule.
So, she also said calmly, "Indeed, no matter what happened to Yuan, she has not been divorced and is still the wife of the Prime Minister. You keep calling her Yuan. Where does this put the status of the wife of the first wife?"
Madam Linglong always called Yuan "that bitch" in the mansion, and she only called her Yuan when she had no choice. In addition, she had always heard Concubine Mei mention Yuan "Yuan", so she blurted it out. Unexpectedly, it attracted the attention of the Queen, and even the Empress Dowager was unhappy.
She hurriedly said, "Please forgive me, Queen Mother. Please forgive me. I have always been addressed as Madam in the mansion. I was just nervous just now and followed Concubine Mei and called her Yuan."
Mei Fei said: "Empress Dowager, this is just a title. What's important is the facts."
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(End of this chapter)