You expect me to serve your mistress? The mistress is driving this scumbag and his entire family cra

Chapter 201 The Truth About Consort Xin

Gu Xizhi chuckled softly, stroking the wine cup in her hand, and instead of answering, asked, "Do you know why I have given up drinking?"

"Because of this?"

His smile held a hint of bitterness: "I almost lost my life that time."

Gu Xizhi downed the wine in her cup in one gulp, put the cup down, and exhaled a breath of stale air: "At that palace banquet, someone put aphrodisiacs in my wine."

"Huh?" Liang Jiang exclaimed in surprise, "Who has such audacity?"

Gu Xizhi did not answer directly, but lowered her head and said with a wry smile, "At the palace banquet, how many people do you think would have such courage?"

She suddenly remembered that Consort Xin had indeed said something at the time, saying that she usually had a high alcohol tolerance, but that night she drank a few cups of wine and felt dizzy, which meant that someone wanted to harm her.

It turned out they had been ambushed and were overcome with emotion.

Could it be that those eunuchs who caught the adulterers were also lying in ambush around the bedchamber, having planned this all along?

She considered it for a moment, then asked, "And then?"

Gu Xizhi said in a muffled voice, "Then I was led to my brother's concubine's bedroom, the same concubine you just mentioned, Consort Xin."

Even though Liang Jiang had already guessed, her heart still couldn't help but tremble slightly upon hearing this.

"Is someone trying to use her to harm you?"

Gu Xizhi nodded: "She was also set up; she was unconscious after getting drunk."

Liang Jiang let out a silly "Oh".

"So you stopped drinking from then on?"

Gu Xizhi looked at her with a playful expression: "Why don't you keep asking me what happened next?"

"Later, may I ask what happened next?"

Gu Xizhi glared at her with displeasure: "We are innocent! Nothing happened."

You, sir, had already taken off half of your clothes, and Consort Xin was in such a lewd and half-concealed state, yet you still managed to stop yourself.
What a real man!

Liang Jiang muttered, "It seems this medicine isn't very good."

Gu Xizhi felt utterly enraged. If she had known she would be mocking her like this, she shouldn't have remained unmoved when she was in the closet, surrounded by a warm and soft woman.

He said, enunciating each word clearly, "Whether the medicine is effective or not, others may not know, but don't you know?"

Liang Jiang's face flushed red instantly, and she stammered, trying to remain calm: "I... how would I know?"

"Are you still going to pretend?" Gu Xizhi stared intently at her face: "Wasn't it you who hid in the wardrobe with me that night?"

Liang Jiang immediately dropped her guard: "I just wanted to go into the palace to investigate the truth behind my father's death, but I got lost and stumbled in by accident. When did you find out?"

“That day I followed you from the Duke’s Cemetery all the way into the Duke’s Mansion, and then ordered Guanqi to investigate. At first I thought it might be your cousin Liang Su, but after getting to know her, I found that she was just a figurehead.”

Liang Jiang clicked her tongue in surprise: "You knew that back then?"

"I sought verification step by step, always remaining skeptical."

Liang Jiang gave an awkward smile: "You kept testing me, I thought you were going to kill me to silence me."

Gu Xizhi had just drunk a glass of wine, which was stuck in her throat, neither going up nor down, and burning uncomfortably.

"What have I done to make you think this way?"

"You've carried a white flower with you for two years? What else could it be but to find me and silence me?"

Gu Xizhi didn't know how to answer this.

He couldn't very well tell her that he often thought about that night, reliving the feeling of her curled up in his arms, her warm and soft body, over and over again. At that moment, every pore of his body was awakened, his senses were exceptionally sensitive, and he clearly and vividly remembered her slender waist, her delicate hands, and her thin, frail shoulders.

Even now, the tingling sensation in my palm when I covered her lips with my own hand and she breathed heavily is still fresh in my memory.

To the point that finding her became an obsession for him.

He retorted, "It is true that I want to find you, but why would I want to silence you for no reason?"

Liang Jiang said embarrassedly, "I thought that you and that Consort Xin, being alone together and dressed so casually, must be having some kind of illicit affair... cough cough..."

Gu Xizhi was speechless: "No wonder you didn't forget to trick me before you left. That Consort Xin is brainless, which is why the later events happened."

"What happened next?"

"After you escaped, I was also able to get away in time, but Consort Xin shouted loudly, which alarmed the Empress Dowager and the Emperor."

When my brother interrogated her, she insisted that I was the assassin who broke into her bedchamber. I tried to take advantage of her, but she cried out for help, and I was thwarted.

Having an affair with the emperor's concubines is no small crime. Even if the emperor, out of consideration for brotherly affection, didn't pursue the matter, Gu Xizhi's reputation would be completely ruined, and he would never be able to hold his head up high again.

No woman would willingly throw mud at herself; it must be that someone behind this scheme, having failed in one attempt, has devised another, determined to put Gu Xizhi to death.

Liang Jiang pressed on, "So how did you clarify things later?"

Gu Xizhi smiled and said, "Of course, it's all thanks to you. Your appearance exposed many loopholes in the testimonies of those eunuchs, and I was able to break them down one by one."

This allowed me to clear my name. As for Consort Xin, although she was cleared of the suspicion of adultery, she was punished by the Emperor for falsely accusing me. The fact that she was spared is already a concession from my past actions.”

Gu Xizhi calmly recounted the whole story, summarizing many events in a single sentence, but Liang Jiang could still feel the harrowing atmosphere of the time.

After all, the slightest mistake could lead to utter ruin.

Although Consort Xin was also a victim, her choice to frame Gu Xizhi to protect herself after the incident was indeed her own fault.

"So you went back to Xiliang later?"

Gu Xizhi nodded: "Yes, I also secretly investigated your identity later, but unfortunately, I didn't find any clues at all, so I had to return to Xiliang."

"On this trip to Beijing, I thought that if fate allowed, we might meet again, so I brought this white flower with me."

Liang Jiang gently bit her lower lip: "So who exactly instructed Consort Xin to frame you? Is this just going to be left unresolved?"

Gu Xizhi stroked the wine glass in her hand: "Actually, you already have the answer in your heart, don't you?"

Liang Jiang didn't dare to voice the answer she was thinking.

In order to win the emperor's favor, the concubines in the harem might resort to any means necessary, such as framing Consort Xin.

However, after the failure, Consort Xin did not cry foul or beg the Emperor to restore her innocence and justice. Instead, she risked her life to identify Gu Xizhi. No other concubine in the harem had such extraordinary abilities.

There were only two people: the emperor and the empress dowager.

The target was not Consort Xin, but Gu Xizhi.

Liang Jiang paused for a moment: "At that time, it seems that the Prince escorted my father's coffin back to his hometown, and he and the Marquis argued for our Duke's family in the court to protect my mother and me. Could it be that this angered the Emperor?"

"It has nothing to do with the Duke, so you don't need to worry about it."

Although Gu Xizhi comforted her in this way, Liang Jiang still felt that this might be a trigger.

Gu Xizhi and Marquis Huaiyuan's plea for mercy may have made the emperor realize the threat they posed to him, and thus he wanted to give Gu Xizhi a warning.

Having an affair with a concubine, even if the emperor doesn't punish him, Gu Xizhi's prestige among the officials in the court will be completely destroyed, and he will suffer a complete defeat.

Throughout history, fratricide has been a common occurrence in imperial families.

(End of this chapter)