radicalducati Chapter 470 Extra: Sisters
Chapter 470 Extra: Sisters
The Empress then said, "Consort Shu, you also come from a noble family, a family of scholars and officials. How can you not even understand such a simple principle? Do you think that by killing someone and having no evidence to prove your innocence, you can just tell the Ministry of Justice and make them believe you?"
Consort Qing said, "Consort Shu, in this harem, your rank is second only to the Empress, and you also have the power to assist in the management of the six palaces. Is this how you set an example for us concubines?"
Consort Rong wept uncontrollably and crawled on her knees to the Emperor. "Your Majesty, how could Consort Shu be so vicious? My nephew is innocent! How could she be so cruel?"
"If Your Majesty cannot avenge the child in my womb, then please grant me death. I am ashamed to associate with such wolves; I would rather die!"
Consort Shu retorted angrily, "I said, it wasn't me!"
The Empress said, "Consort Shu, do you even know any manners? How dare you be so insolent before the Emperor!"
The Emperor said, "Consort Shu's cruelty in harming the imperial heir is truly wicked. Considering that the Grand Tutor has been dead for less than a year, I cannot bear to punish her severely, but I also cannot let her go unpunished. Her power to assist in managing the six palaces is revoked. From now on, the Empress will have a harder time!"
The Empress was overjoyed upon hearing this, saying, "I am not afraid of hardship; this is simply my duty."
The Emperor then said to Consort Rong, "You should rest and recuperate well!"
After saying that, he didn't even look at Consort Shu on the ground, and walked out of Fengyi Palace.
This scene was naturally witnessed by the concubines, who knew that the Emperor had truly grown tired of Consort Shu.
Consort Rong rushed over and slapped the stunned Consort Shu twice across the face. "You vile woman, how dare you harm me like this! My child!"
Consort Shu was furious. "I said I didn't!"
She stood up, covered her face, and looked around. The sight of so many pairs of eyes filled her with terror. She took a few steps back, bursting into tears of anger. "I will not let you go! I will never let you go!"
After saying that, she ran out of Fengyi Palace once again.
Consort De and Consort Qing exchanged a glance and couldn't help but smile. Pei Linghua, standing in front of the phoenix throne, also smiled speechlessly. Such a fool, I really don't know why the Shen family sent her to the palace.
Inside the Qian Yuan Palace, Li Yuanke asked Li Fude, "Have you found out who did it?"
Li Fude replied, "Your Majesty, it is Consort Qing."
Li Yuanke then ignored him.
Whether he goes to the inner palace or not depends entirely on the situation in the court. Whoever is capable and whoever gets pregnant, if they can keep the pregnancy, they will; if they can't, then they are just unlucky, and he can't be bothered to care.
He knew very well that Consort Shu didn't have the brains to miscarry Consort Rong. If it were in the past, he might have taken care of Consort Shen for the sake of Xi'er, but now that she couldn't prove herself, he couldn't be bothered to care.
Since she has the ability to slander Xi'er, she should naturally have the ability to protect herself.
Consort Min was overjoyed to be pregnant. Her belly grew bigger day by day. She listened to the midwife and went for walks in the Imperial Garden every day so that she could give birth more easily.
Afraid of falling, she walked along a pebbled path and saw a handkerchief on it. She asked a maid to pick it up, "Whose is this?"
The palace maid handed it to her. She unfolded it and looked at it. It was embroidered with a plum blossom, and there was a "Shen" character in one corner. It was obviously from the Shen family. A plan formed in her mind, and she stuffed it into her bosom. "Let's go!"
Upon returning to the palace, she experienced abdominal pain that very night and miscarried within half an hour. The four-month-old fetus was clearly a boy.
Consort Min fainted on the spot.
When she woke up, the emperor and empress were both there. She cried out hoarsely, "Your Majesty, please avenge me! I have been murdered!"
She took out the handkerchief, and after examining it, the imperial physician said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, this handkerchief is covered with powder of the Soul-Severing Grass. If inhaled, it may not kill the adult, but it will harm the fetus."
"I just examined Consort Min's pulse, and indeed, there is poison in her body."
The Empress glanced at the handkerchief. "Your Majesty, this handkerchief belongs to Consort Shu. But why would Consort Shu poison her own handkerchief?"
Consort Min said, "I go for a walk on that road every day. Consort Shu must have known this all along. Yet she deliberately threw the handkerchief on the ground, expecting me to pick it up and return it to her. How vicious Consort Shu is!"
The Empress rebuked Consort Shu, "Consort Shu, what do you have to say?"
Consort Shu knelt down, her head held high and her neck stretched straight. "Your Majesty, I have nothing to say! If I wanted to harm someone, why would I use such methods? Wouldn't it have been easier to just give them a push?"
The Empress angrily retorted, "Consort Shu, we are all sisters in the same palace! Consort Min is carrying the Emperor's child, yet you dare to utter such treasonous words!"
She said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, I believe that Consort Shu should be severely punished."
Li Yuanke glanced at Consort Shu, "Consort Shu, do you have something to say?"
Consort Shu's tears streamed down her face as she looked at the Emperor with a sorrowful expression. "Your Majesty, do you have even the slightest bit of trust in me?"
Li Yuanke smiled, his expression utterly cold and indifferent. "What makes you think I should trust you?"
After saying this, he stood up. "Let the Empress handle matters of the inner palace; I have state affairs to attend to!"
After walking a few steps, he turned back to Consort Min and said, "Consort Min, take good care of yourself; you will have another child!"
His gaze swept over her and saw the undisguised hatred in Consort Shu's eyes. He scoffed and stepped out of the palace gate.
Two months later, on the Empress Dowager's birthday, Consort Shu ate a piece of pastry and was poisoned. It was discovered that the poisoner was someone from Consort Min's palace.
Consort Min was still in a daze when her personal maid confessed, but did not implicate Consort Min. She only said that she wanted revenge because Consort Shu had aborted Consort Min's pregnancy, and she wanted to avenge her mistress.
However, in the harem, the mistress and servants were originally one, especially since she was Consort Min's personal maid.
Li Yuanke didn't care about any of this and left it to the Empress to handle. He didn't care who poisoned whom.
Upon hearing that Shen Shiyan had cursed Shen Shixi, Li Yuanke went to Zhaoyang Palace.
With blood trickling from her lips, she laughed and cried as she saw Li Yuanke arrive, reaching out her hand to him, "Your Majesty, you still have feelings for me, don't you?"
Li Yuanke waved for everyone to leave, leaving only Li Fude to guard the door. He walked to the bedside and looked down at her. No matter how hard she tried, her fingertips could not reach Li Yuanke.
"What were you just cursing?" Li Yuanke asked, standing with his hands behind his back.
Shen Shiyan looked at him, her face pale, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Seeing Li Yuanke's heartless demeanor, her heart was filled with sorrow and anger. "Why? I only met you a few days later than that bitch Shen Shixi, why are you so good to her, but so heartless to me?"
Li Yuanke remained silent.
Tears streamed down Shen Shiyan's face. She lay on her pillow, using all her strength to support herself, looking at Li Yuanke. She desperately wished that Li Yuanke would hug her.
Whether in the Shen family, later in the Eastern Palace, or now in the palace, Li Yuanke has never touched her.
"Your Majesty, I am about to die, can't you hold me?" she cried. "I love you. From the first moment I saw you, I fell in love with Your Majesty. All these years, Your Majesty has been so indifferent to my love. Isn't it because of Shen Shixi?"
The Emperor blamed me for scolding her. Why can't I scold her? The Emperor is my husband, and you are just her brother-in-law. Seducing her own brother-in-law, isn't she a shameless woman?
Li Yuanke felt utterly disgusted and said coldly, "From the first moment I saw you, I loathed you. If it weren't for the struggle for the throne, I would never have brought you into the palace. I have never had any affection for you. The only reason I've protected you all these years is because of the Grand Tutor. Who knew you would be so shameless and even harbor such delusions? You truly disgust me to the extreme!"
Back in the Shen family, Shen Shiyan often bullied Shen Shixi because of her age.
Shen Shiyan's eyes widened in disbelief.
Li Yuanke made no attempt to hide his disgust in his eyes. "If I had known that taking you into the palace would force Xi'er to flee to the capital, I would rather die than take you into the palace. The Grand Tutor died because of you; your death is nothing to regret!"
Shen Shiyan's head drooped down, and with her last breath, her eyes remained wide open.
Li Yuanke glared at her with disgust, stepped out of the palace gate, and instructed Li Fude, "Issue an order to the Imperial Household Department to renovate Zhaoyang Palace inside and out, plastering the walls with pepper and mud, and to follow the same standards as Fengyi Palace."
The next day, the palace informed the Shen family that Consort Shu had died suddenly, and at the same time, Consort Min was ordered to commit suicide!