Yuan Zhiniang was not taken very seriously in the palace. She was pregnant before and was appointed as one of the four concubines at the insistence of Empress Dowager Yuan, which caused quite a stir.
But because there are many things going on this year, even if she gives birth to a child and returns to the palace, no one will care.
Even Yun Fenghuang, who had noticed her once, only remembered that she seemed a little haggard when she came back.
But this is understandable. After all, she just gave birth not long ago and has not yet recovered. In addition, Wannian County is not as convenient as the palace, and Xian Fei is not used to living there. In short, it is normal that she did not return to the palace in glory.
It turns out that it’s only been a few days and it’s not working anymore
Yun Fenghuang said suspiciously: "I've never heard of it before. How can someone at such a young age say no?"
"... Yanhong Palace is also in chaos now." Chen Jing bowed slightly and said, "It seems to have suddenly gotten worse. Although I have been feeling miserable in the past few days, the imperial doctor prescribed medicine every day. He is still recovering slowly."
"What about the imperial doctor? What does the imperial doctor say now?" Yun Fenghuang raised his eyebrows, leaned back, and said lazily, "This is the niece of the empress dowager, a loving mother. If she really can't survive it, I'm afraid it won't be that simple. , take it easy!"
Chen Jing nodded to express his understanding: "I have already sent someone to talk to the imperial doctor. The imperial doctor can't explain clearly. He only thinks that there may be some root cause of the disease during delivery?"
Yun Fenghuang laughed and said: "This is not entirely true, it is definitely nonsense!"
"My servant thinks so too, but the imperial doctors are all waiting in the Taoli Palace now, so I can't ask too many questions."
"Keep watching, and also, do a thorough investigation of the people in our palace. Do they have anything to do with the Taoli Palace recently?" Yun Fenghuang thought for a while and ordered, "The Qu family and the Yi family are also involved. They should be smarter. Whether the Concubine Xian lives or dies depends on her own destiny, but don't let the loving mother Queen Mother take the opportunity to cause trouble and cause trouble to this palace!"
Anyway, if she were the Empress Dowager Yuan, no matter what the reason was that there were no virtuous concubines, she would definitely take the opportunity to frame a few concubines she didn't like, so that her niece's death would not be in vain.
It was up to him to save others, so Yun Fenghuang naturally wanted to prevent Empress Dowager Yuan from cheating him.
She had just finished giving instructions to her servants, and the queen over there sent her maid over to invite her, saying that she had something to discuss.
When they arrived at the Chongchang Palace, they saw that Gu Zhen looked very unhappy, and there were several disgraced palace servants kneeling below.
Because the two had just had a quarrel when they were the emperor's heirs. Although Yun Fenghuang didn't think it was anything, Gu Zhen felt unhappy after all. At this moment, he didn't bother to talk. He directly raised the chins of the palace servants and said to Yun Fenghuang: " These are all served by Taoli Palace to serve the Concubine Xian's meals."
Yun Fenghuang sat down in surprise: "What? Concubine Xian's illness?"
"The imperial doctor said it seemed like he had eaten something he shouldn't have eaten." Gu Zhen said with a cold face, "So I brought all the relevant people over... but none of them admitted it."
"Who would admit to such a big thing?" Yun Fenghuang glanced at the Queen, "If the Queen is merciful, why not ask Your Majesty if you want to ask the Imperial City Secretary to take action?"
Gu Zhen hummed, "That's unnecessary."
She calls the Imperial City Secretary for everything, who does she think she is as a queen
I ordered people to drag those palace people down to take care of them, learn some rules, and then drag them back to talk.
Finally, he asked the idler to step back, frowned, and looked at Yun Fenghuang, "That thing you said before...is it true?"
"What's true?" Yun Fenghuang asked knowingly, "What did the empress say?"
Gu Zhen stared at her for a moment, then hummed: "If Concubine Xian cannot survive this situation, we are the only ones qualified to adopt her son!"
"That doesn't necessarily mean that I am the queen of the palace." Yun Fenghuang was thinking about whether he could give him a push and confirm the nonsense he was talking about. At this moment, he smiled slightly and said deliberately, "Don't forget me. Since she already has three heirs, there is no harm in having one more. Moreover, although Concubine Shu is pregnant, but counting the days, her child will be about the same as the Eighth Prince when he is born. This is not ready-made for the Eighth Prince. Do you want to be a companion? Oh, and there is Concubine De. Concubine De has a daughter at her knees. If she can adopt the eighth prince, wouldn’t she just get the word ‘good’?”
"... If you are willing to adopt the eighth prince, can the loving Empress Dowager trust you?" Gu Zhen sneered, "Concubine De has been with you since she entered the palace, and the loving Empress Dowager will not trust her either! Oh, Concubine Shu! After two years of progress and retreat with you, do you think that once the good concubine has her shortcomings, the eighth prince can find someone else to take care of her?"
Yun Fenghuang said: "Your Majesty, please be careful. Concubine Xian suddenly became seriously ill, but she didn't say anything will happen to her yet. She is young, and she is no longer 80 years old. How can she be so unable to hold on? Even if it is true, She can't hold it anymore, how can she endure it without gritting her teeth for the sake of the eighth prince? This is the prince she worked so hard to give birth to, isn't it the guarantee of the future wealth of the Xingning House?"
The more she said this, the more irritated Gu Zhen became: "The haggard Concubine Xian was just because she suffered a lot during childbirth. She is the first child. This is a reasonable thing. Originally, she will be raised in these days. , she's gotten much better. It's not like you didn't see it at the banquet two days ago. After putting on makeup, you couldn't see anything wrong with her unless you looked closer. It's not good to say it's bad now. Yeah, who knows what’s going on?”
"That's not necessarily the case." Yun Fenghuang stood talking and her waist didn't hurt. Anyway, Concubine Xian's life and death were not very important to her. Whoever raised the Eighth Prince would not bother her. This time, things were done well. Gu Zhen and Empress Dowager Yuan fought against each other. If it didn't work, she would not lose anything and she was truly relaxed.
At this moment, he said with a smile, "Perhaps the Concubine Xian had some chronic illness or something, and it suddenly broke out? There were many noble ladies and noble sons raised by slaves and maids in our family, and those who suddenly died at such a young age are not here." Isn’t it a minority?”
Gu Zhen said with a cold face: "Don't be careless here! I ask you, what else do you know about this matter?"
"What do you know?" Yun Fenghuang said lazily, "Don't you think I lied to you? How dare I do this to instigate discord between the middle palace and my loving mother, the Empress Dowager?"
"You dared to tell the truth then, what are you afraid of doing now?" Gu Zhen sneered and said, "Besides, I don't have His Majesty's wishes. Even with the title of Queen, there is nothing you can do. Not to mention suppressing you. But that one is your majesty’s loving mother and empress dowager, who is closer than your own mother. When you told me about the things you don’t have, wasn’t it just to get me to help you? Why, Now I'm asking, what do you want from me?"
Yun Fenghuang said with a smile: "What can we do about this? The queen has preconceived ideas and didn't believe me. When I was tearing out my heart and lungs before, the queen just turned a deaf ear. Now she is so angry that she forces me to do the same. You confess. But after you calm down, you must feel that your loving mother, the Queen Mother, cannot be offended after all. At that time, it will be a waste of time for me. The key is, if the empress turns around and sells me, even if your majesty favors me, , but you can’t tolerate me doing such a thing, right?”
Gu Zhen's face was expressionless: "Don't make things difficult here. You should understand what I value most when I sit in this position! If the loving mother Empress Dowager really wants to use me to gain access to the East Palace, this is what I am doing." The palace is something that even the Gu family cannot tolerate! For this reason, even if I am willing to settle the matter, the Gu family behind me will not compromise! I understand these truths, but you, Concubine Min, don’t know? "
"Your Majesty, you really think too highly of me." Yun Fenghuang just smiled, "Although I am not favored by my loving mother, the Queen Mother, in order to avoid angering my loving mother, the Queen Mother, I usually pay close attention to the Chunyou Palace and Xingwu Palace. Ningbo Mansion, but after all, he was born in a humble background, and there was very little information that could be found out. The reason why he knew this was because the Concubine Xian had only been in the palace for a short time, and there were not many trustworthy people around her. But that was just Before, since she was pregnant and was determined to be a boy, you all know how much the empress dowager and the Xingning family have cared about her. Now even if I am around her, I can't put any informants. At most, I can find a few I'm just asking for news."
Gu Zhen stared at her.
Yun Fenghuang looked at her calmly.
There was a moment of silence in the palace, and finally Yun Fenghuang stood up directly, saying that he had nothing else to do and had to take care of the emperor's heir, so he resigned
"..." Gu Zhen nodded solemnly.
After she left, the queen asked her surroundings: "Do you think that Concubine Xian's sudden serious illness was an accident, or was it something done by the Concubine or the Yuan family?"
"...My Lady, why don't we wait and see what happens?" After thinking about it for a while, he advised the Queen, "Although Concubine Xian is not the Empress Dowager's favorite niece, she is also highly valued by the Empress Dowager because she gave birth to the eighth prince. She made a mistake, how could the loving mother Queen Mother let it go?"
Moreover, "If the Queen is worried that she will be asked to take over the Eighth Prince, why not complain first?"
"Actually, your Majesty doesn't have to worry too much. After all, Concubine Xian was fine when the Eighth Prince landed. Now the Eighth Prince has clearly recorded it on the jade plate and it is in Concubine Xian's name. Even if His Majesty personally entrusts it to Concubine Xian, At most, it is a concubine prince raised by the empress on her behalf, and still belongs to the concubine prince born by the virtuous concubine." The attendant reminded the queen, "It is not the empress's consent, otherwise how could he become a legitimate son? Furthermore, please think about it, your majesty will not do it either. Agree with this."
Gu Zhen felt a little relieved after hearing this, and sighed: "I don't know how long this kind of days will last?"
If nothing had happened to King Chu, she could still secretly curse Chunjia to ascend to Paradise early, and coerce the young master to ascend the throne. Then wouldn't she need to worry about being criticized like this
But now, the person who least wants anything to happen to Chunjia is her.
After all, it is impossible for the clan members, civil servants and military officials to agree to the succession of a prince who has burned out his brain. If there is anything wrong with Chunjia at this moment, it is hard to say who will be advantaged, but she will definitely not have a good life in the middle palace.
So I still have to endure it.
The news of Gu Zhen's illness came out in the evening of the same day. She said it was because she had been too worried in the past two days. Yun Fenghuang knew her intentions clearly and just smiled: "If this is a coincidence, the Queen is not busy in vain." One scene? If this was a deliberate design, how could it be possible for the Queen to hide away so lightly?"
After saying this, he asked again, "Did the queen find out anything about those people in Taoli Palace?"
"It seems not." Chen Jing said in a low voice, "Because the Queen hastily claimed to be ill, no one has mentioned it yet. But I think the Queen will pass on people and things to us?"
Yun Fenghuang said: "How is it possible? I don't mind taking this hand. But can the empress dowager, a loving mother, rest assured?"
She waited calmly and calmly for Empress Dowager Yuan to enter, but on that day when the palace door was locked, Chunyou Palace was also quiet. She only heard that Empress Dowager Yuan sent someone to see the Concubine Xian, and it seemed that she had no intention of causing trouble.
"This is impossible." Yun Fenghuang said to the people around him, "Just watch, today, the loving empress dowager will have to pretend to be a good mother. Wait until tomorrow, if the virtuous concubine will be so good. , that can be said to be a coincidence, no one planned it. Otherwise, even if the loving mother Queen Mother did not do it, she would definitely have to do something. "
Everyone in Huanhua Palace fell asleep full of fighting spirit.
When I woke up the next day, I heard a big news, but it was not Chunwu Palace, but Yanfu Palace: all the palace residents who had been brought for interrogation from Taoli Palace were dead!
Not a single one was left in one night!
Gu Zhen: "..."
The servant knelt down in panic and apologized to His Highness: "... Yesterday, the lady ordered to set rules for them, so the servants pulled people to the back of the palace and moved the boards... Later, some people couldn't stand it anymore and confessed some trivial things at random, but no one admitted to the murder. Xian Fei. It was already late at that time, so the slaves ordered people to lock them in the woodshed, waiting for me to ask the empress for instructions on how to deal with it. I don't want to open the door today, and the people inside will be dead!"
"Could it be that you were too heavy-handed yesterday?" Seeing the queen's bad expression, someone stepped forward and asked, "Didn't I tell you to set some rules and continue to ask questions? Why did you hit so hard?!"
"This is absolutely not the case!" The attendant in charge of the execution hurriedly denied, saying that those who did it all had years of experience and could hit whatever they were told. There was absolutely no chance of a mistake. "After the beating yesterday, I asked They were all still in good spirits when we spoke.”
Gu Zhen sneered and said, "No need to ask them anymore! Even if we really missed, how could a group of people fail and not even survive?! This must be because the palace was mixed with sand and deliberately framed me!!!"
What happened next was exactly as the Queen expected. Queen Mother Yuan, who had been quiet yesterday, heard that these people had died in Chongchang Hall, and immediately exploded. She rushed over in person to ask the Queen why she had to rain such a heavy blow. Hand: "It doesn't matter if the slave dog dies, but if we can't find out who is plotting to kill Concubine Xian, what should we do?!"
"That's what the Queen Mother said." Gu Zhen's heart was cold, but a look of guilt appeared on his face skillfully, "My daughter-in-law actually didn't mean to kill them, but the imperial concubine said yesterday, who would plead guilty if asked nicely? Therefore, she asked someone to pull her down to loosen her muscles and bones. Who knew that her daughter-in-law's body was not up to par? Not long after the imperial concubine left, she felt that she was not well, so she delayed the matter... but the gangsters took advantage of the situation to kill and silence her! But even so, the daughter-in-law's body was not well. As the Lord of the Sixth Palace, I have failed to take good care of my internal affairs. I am unworthy of my mother and your majesty’s trust, and I am also unworthy of my virtuous concubine!”
He said feeling sad and shaky.
Seeing this situation, Queen Mother Yuan also subconsciously slowed down her tone and sighed: "I can't blame you, you have always been a kind-hearted child..."
After he stopped talking for a while, he asked Yun Fenghuang, "When did the imperial concubine come, and what did she say and do? Why did the people of Taoli Palace have to be punished as soon as she came, and even the queen also came after a while? Sick? Like a disaster star."
Gu Zhen mentioned Yun Fenghuang because he wanted to drag the imperial concubine into trouble. Of course, the wording at this moment was to make the imperial concubine suspicious.
After hearing this, Queen Mother Yuan's expression changed for a while, and then she slowly said: "The Ai family knows about it. The Ai family will go find the emperor and ask him clearly!"
At this time, the worthy concubine's status in front of the emperor was seen.
The Queen Mother went to Taichu Palace to talk to Chunjia about the whole story, and she suspected that Yunfenghuang had been murdered in Chongchang Palace, and was suspected of murdering the Queen. Only then did Chunjia find out that Concubine Xian's condition had worsened: "Didn't Concubine Xian be still sick two days ago?" Are you okay? Why are you suddenly seriously ill?"
After all, he has a lot of things to do now, and there are only a few people in the harem who are qualified to report any trouble to him immediately.
Like a good concubine who was not favored, even if she had a high position and gave birth to a prince, unless she was certain that she was about to die, people like Yan Yin would not dare to bother the emperor with this news.
Maybe the emperor would feel indifferent and turn around and transfer him away
Empress Dowager Yuan didn't know this, and she almost died of anger when she heard this: "That's one of the four concubines after all. She is lying on the couch struggling for her life, and you don't know anything?! The concubine has a little headache and fever, you Just abandon the government affairs and go with me, you... you should simply dismiss the Sixth Palace and leave only the imperial concubine!!!"
Chunjia stood up and went to coax her: "Mother, don't be angry. It's true that the child has been extremely busy these past two days. Maybe the people below didn't find a chance to report it."
He scowled and asked Yan Yin, "Why has no one reported such big news to me?!"
Yan Yinqu took the blame and immediately knelt down to apologize, saying that all this was her fault, and asked the Queen Mother not to blame the emperor: "The government has been busy these past two days, and your Majesty has been burying his head in papers all day long. I feel heartbroken when I look at this. I am afraid that your Majesty will hear this." The news will become more and more sad, and I think that maybe the good concubine has her own destiny, and it will be fine in two days. I might as well tell Your Majesty then... I know that I am guilty, and I ask the Queen Mother to punish me!"
Empress Dowager Yuan was too lazy to argue with Chunjia about whether he was indifferent to Concubine Xian or whether he had really been tricked by his subordinates. She ignored Yan Yin and only asked lightly: "Then what are the emperor's plans now?"