The harem is too complicated; the empress, a lazy bum, wins by doing nothing.

Chapter 20 Sophistry
Consort Xian breathed a sigh of relief.

so far so good!
Although the two eunuchs were caught, they still insisted that Consort Rou had been killed.

Fortunately, she had a backup plan.

If all the blame is placed on Consort Rou, this matter should be resolved.

Consort Rou had just entered the palace and had never seen such a scene before. She was so frightened that she began to stammer incoherently.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, Your Majesty the Empress, please believe me. I really don't know what happened. I stayed in the palace all night."

Consort Xian glanced at Emperor Yuanwu and said, "Noble Lady Rou, these two eunuchs have already identified you. What else do you have to say? If you really did it, you might as well admit it openly. I will definitely plead for you and ask the Emperor to show leniency."

Consort Rou couldn't stop her tears from falling. She shook her head desperately, "I didn't, I really didn't. Please believe me, Your Majesty. I really don't know anything. I don't know why these two eunuchs would say that I ordered them to do it. It's...it's them who are slandering me!"

"Slander?" Consort Xian sneered. "If they really slandered you, then please, Noble Lady Rou, produce the evidence. If you can't produce anything, Your Majesty should make a decision as soon as possible and clean up the harem."

"Your Highness, Consort Xian, I have no grudge against you. Why are you slandering me?" Noble Lady Rou's face turned deathly pale. "Can the maids and servants in my palace attest that I have never had any contact with those two eunuchs?"

"Never?" Consort Xian's eyes darkened. "But these two eunuchs are from Zhongcui Palace. Do you think they're fools? You are the head of Zhongcui Palace. Which eunuch or maid in the palace doesn't listen to you? You say you did it, and if you don't, you don't."

People from Zhongcui Palace?
While listening to these words.

Shen Qingwan couldn't help but raise her eyes and glance at Consort Xian.

"Your Majesty, I am truly innocent! I have only been in the palace for a few days. I have no grudge against the Empress, nor do I know her personal maid. Why would I have someone take her away in the middle of the night?"

At this point, Consort Rou wiped away the tears on her face and straightened her back.

"But why does Consort Xian insist that I was the one who wanted to harm the Empress? What are her true intentions? Is Consort Xian always so unable to distinguish right from wrong and distort the truth when she manages the six palaces?"

"You..." Consort Xian trembled with anger: "The evidence is overwhelming, is Consort Rou trying to bluff her way out of this?"

"The certification that Consort Xian mentioned? Is it what those two eunuchs said during their interrogation? Don't you need to verify whether what they said is true or false before directly convicting me? If that's the case, then if I grab anyone and say that Consort Xian instructed two people to kidnap Aunt Zhen'er in the middle of the night, would Consort Xian accept that?"

At this moment, Consort Rou disregarded palace rules and spoke her mind.

Disrespecting Consort Xian means death, and being wrongly accused also means death.

Since I'm guilty either way, I might as well say everything I need to say and die a quick death!
"Enough!" Emperor Yuanwu shouted.

Shen Qingwan stood up and bowed to Emperor Yuanwu: "Your Majesty, this was not done by Consort Rou."

Emperor Yuanwu lowered his eyes, his ink-black pupils reflecting the confession in his hand, making it impossible to discern his emotions.

"This statement wasn't given to me by the Empress, and now she's telling me it wasn't Consort Rou who did it? What exactly is going on with the Empress?"

"Your Majesty," Shen Qingwan said calmly, "the confession only truthfully recorded what the two eunuchs said during the interrogation, but we cannot guarantee that what they said is true. They may have been bribed with a large sum of money or threatened."

"What does the Empress mean?" Emperor Yuanwu paused for a moment, then handed the confession to Wu Jixiang.

Shen Qingwan picked up the two exquisitely patterned money pouches.

"Your Majesty, these two money pouches were probably given to these two eunuchs as bribes. These things are clearly not personal items that eunuchs should have, especially the fabric..."

Shen Qingwan handed one of the money pouches to Emperor Yuanwu.

"Cloth?"

Emperor Yuanwu examined it carefully: "This fabric is just ordinary silk. Apart from its bright colors, it doesn't seem to have anything special about it."

Shen Qingwan smiled, pursed her lips, and emptied all the money from the purse in her hand, turning it over: "Your Majesty, the outer material of this purse is nothing special, but the inside is made of Yun brocade." Yun brocade?

Yun brocade is extremely precious, with complex craftsmanship and uses precious materials such as silk thread, gold thread and peacock feathers.

Only a few bolts of Yun brocade are sent to the palace each year.

Why would anyone use it as the lining of a money bag?

"Your Majesty, if I'm not mistaken, this must have been scraps that the palace servants picked up while sewing the money pouches and used them as lining. Otherwise, no one would use such good material to make the lining of the money pouches."

I just checked where the Yun brocade that entered the palace over the years went. Apart from the two batches that the Empress Dowager had, one batch was light green and the other was light yellow, the remaining three batches, the rose red ones were with Consort De.

The Emperor bestowed the pink and blue fabrics upon Consort Xian; no other fabrics of this kind were found in the palace.

Emperor Yuanwu stared at the blue-lined money pouch in his hand, then looked down at Consort Xian below the throne.

Consort Xian was terrified and collapsed to the ground, her face ashen.

"Your Majesty, I..."

Emperor Yuanwu threw the money bag in front of Consort Xian: "Consort Xian, do you have anything else to say?"

"This concubine..." Consort Xian was completely dumbfounded: "This concubine... does not know."

"I don't know?" Emperor Yuanwu repeated her words.

Just now.

Consort Xian's personal maid, Xiang'er, ran in from outside, crying.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, Your Majesty the Empress, it is all my fault. It was all my doing. I couldn't stand the Empress's bullying, so I bribed two guards in Zhongcui Palace to kidnap Aunt Zhen'er and teach her a lesson. I never intended to really harm Aunt Zhen'er."

"What about Consort Rou?" Shen Qingwan pressed.

"I only told them that if something happened, they could just point to someone else because I was afraid it would implicate Consort Xian."

Consort Rou: ? ? ?

Consort Xian lowered her eyes, not daring to look up.

"Drag him away and beat him to death with sticks."

At Emperor Yuanwu's command, two guards entered through the palace gate and dragged Xiang'er out.

"Consort Xian, Consort Xian, save me... Ah..."

As Xiang'er's voice grew softer and softer, Consort Xian's hand clenched into a fist.

Everyone in the room understood perfectly at that moment.

Everyone knew that Xiang'er stepped forward at this moment only to take the blame for Consort Xian.

However, whether or not to punish Consort Xian, and how to punish her, depended on Emperor Yuanwu's decision.

The Empress Dowager glanced at Consort Xian, who was kneeling on the ground trembling, and said, "Your Majesty, Consort Xian doesn't look well. Perhaps she is ill. The Empress has recovered from her illness. The affairs of the palace should be handled by the Empress, with Consort Shu and Consort De assisting. Consort Xian should rest and recuperate for a while."

(End of this chapter)