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

Chapter 361 Betrayal
"Consort Xian." Consort Xian's already slightly furrowed brows tightened even more. "I have never offended you, have I? No matter what, your father was originally my father's subordinate. We have no grudges against each other. Why would you frame me like this?"

Consort Yan let out a cold laugh, "You'll have to ask the Imperial Concubine about that."

"you……"

While the two were arguing, Zhen'er had already had someone bring over the account books from when Consort Xian was in charge of the six palaces. "Your Majesty the Empress."

Shen Qingwan pretended to look at it, then handed it to Emperor Yuanwu. "Your Majesty, it is indeed as Consort Xian said. The strokes written on the account book are long dots, while the strokes on the letter have a brush tip. They are indeed different."

“Your Majesty,” Consort Yan cried, “Your Majesty, the Noble Consort must have done it on purpose. Otherwise, how could she have noticed such a subtle detail the moment she saw the letter, even with her eyes swollen from crying and without even looking closely? It’s impossible that she would have noticed it beforehand unless she knew about the difference in the writing.”

Emperor Yuanwu was also troubled by the two of them. He frowned deeply and said, "There is never a day of peace in the harem."

"Your Majesty, since the handwriting is different, it cannot be concluded that these letters were written by me personally. I beg Your Majesty to punish Consort Yan for falsely accusing me." Consort Xian said, kowtowing on the ground.

"Your Majesty, even if I were to frame Consort Xian, I wouldn't dare involve so many court officials. Whether the letter is fake or Consort Xian is colluding with them, we can find out by having these officials thoroughly investigated." Consort Yan did not back down at all.

Inquire carefully...

Consort Xian never expected Consort Yan to say such a thing. She immediately became anxious, and her expression turned gloomy: "Consort Yan really wants to kill me. She will say anything and use any trick. Forging letters is not enough. She also colluded with court officials to frame me."

After Consort Xian finished speaking, she turned to Emperor Yuanwu and cried, "Your Majesty, you must do justice for me! I am truly innocent!"

Seeing Emperor Yuanwu's annoyed expression, Shen Qingwan smiled and said slowly, "Your Majesty, I just took a closer look. These letters were written by Consort Xian to court officials, but there are no replies from court officials to Consort Xian. To say that Consort Xian is colluding with the court, there must be a back-and-forth exchange for it to be considered collusion. There are only letters sent and no replies, and the handwriting on the letters needs to be verified to see if it was written by Consort Xian. It is difficult to determine in a short time."

Consort Yan looked up at Shen Qingwan with some disbelief.

Before entering the palace, she had heard that the Empress and Consort Xian were at odds. Now was the best opportunity to get rid of Consort Xian. But the Empress's words sounded like she was helping Consort Xian. It was all so hard to understand.

Consort Xian listened to Shen Qingwan's words, and although she found it unbelievable, she still nodded firmly.

She felt something was off, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.

“Your Majesty, if we summon all these court officials for questioning now, the impact might be too great. The contents of the letters also involve the Pang clan. If these letters are genuine, Consort Xian would surely have them sent out of the palace after writing them. To find out who sent them out and when, it would be better to start by investigating those around Consort Xian.” After Shen Qingwan finished speaking, she turned her head and glanced at Emperor Yuanwu. “What does Your Majesty think?”

"Hmm, the Empress is right." Emperor Yuanwu's expression changed slightly, and he shouted angrily, "Guards, send Consort Xian's personal maid Xia Mei and the head eunuch Xia Fuchuan to the Shenxing Division for a thorough interrogation. Detain the remaining maids and eunuchs as well, and interrogate them one by one."

Consort Xian's heart tightened suddenly. She had just been wondering why the Empress had suddenly changed her mind and was speaking up for her. It turned out that she was waiting for this!

"No!" Consort Xian said irritably, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Prison is a place where one foot is almost fatal. I am innocent, so why send all the servants around me to the Imperial Prison? In my opinion, even if they are to be sent there, the servants around Consort Yan should be sent there for a thorough interrogation to find out who forged those letters in her possession that wronged me." "Your Majesty, Consort Xian's words are high-sounding, but she is trying to cover up her crimes of colluding with officials of the previous dynasty. Your Majesty must not be deceived by her few words, Your Majesty..." Consort Yan cried.

"Your Majesty, it was clearly Consort Yan who had those letters forged to frame me. I beg Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly." Consort Xian cried even louder.

Emperor Yuanwu stared at the two kneeling figures before him, his face ashen.

Shen Qingwan glanced at where Xia Mei was standing, stood up and bowed, "Your Majesty, I also have some letters here, please take a look."

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhen'er presented a stack of letters to Shen Qingwan. She opened one of them and handed it to Emperor Yuanwu.

Emperor Yuanwu's eyes were deep and indifferent as he glanced at her and took the letter from her hand.

He glanced at the letter with his eyes lowered, and he could easily tell that the handwriting on the letter was Consort Xian's own. In particular, the dot "捺" in the letter that Consort Xian had pointed out was different from the handwriting in the letter that Consort Yan had taken out. In the letter that Shen Qingwan handed over, it was exactly the same as Consort Xian's usual writing habits.

When Consort Xian heard that there was another letter, she was stunned.

letter?
Why is it another letter?
She had Su Tianhe deliver all the letters she wrote to officials of the previous dynasty, so why were there so many letters in the harem with the same content but different handwriting?
Where did the letter in the Empress's hand come from?

Ever since Emperor Yuanwu had the Empress brought from Kunning Palace, she had been sitting beside him. She had no way of forging the time. Could it be that those letters were never sent out of the palace at all, but were all intercepted by the Empress's people?

Will not!
She personally delivered each letter to Xia Fuchuan. He said that the letters had already been sent out. If the letters hadn't been sent out, how could General Qiu have sent Consort Yan into the palace?

What went wrong?

what happened?

Consort Xian looked up at Xia Fuchuan, who was being held by guards. When he noticed Consort Xian looking in his direction, he lowered his eyes as if feeling guilty.

Consort Xian immediately understood.

She jumped up from the ground like a madwoman, rushed towards Xia Fuchuan, and slapped him across the face. "Fine, fine, fine! I've always treated you well, and you actually betrayed me!"

"Your Majesty, you have wronged this servant! This servant did not do it!" Xia Fuchuan said, his voice trembling with tears, feeling aggrieved.

"sell?"

Shen Qingwan walked unhurriedly behind Consort Xian. "What do you mean by that, Consort Xian? Could it be that these letters in my possession were truly written by Consort Xian herself?"