Chapter 338 Emperor Died. Was It Empress Dowager’s Final Card?

When Empress Dowager Gu saw Empress Jiang coming in, the light of hatred suddenly lit up under her drooping eyelids. She said word by word, “If it weren’t the Noble Consort who hadn’t accidentally learned that you ordered Madame Qiu to murder Emperor and privately reported to me, I couldn’t have happened to see this today.”

Although Empress Dowager Gu informed that Emperor had been poisoned again, the ministers already knew.

But now Empress Dowager Gu pointed out in front of everyone that Empress Jiang was the culprit of regicide, all the ministers in the hall were surprised.

Naturally, the Empress’ party couldn’t sit back and watch Empress be stigmatized.

“Empress Dowager’s words are so unreasonable!” Because the Empress Dowager’s party had fallen, many people in the Empress’ party, such as Jiang Tianao, spoke in a less respectful tone. “Her Majesty is the prime wife of His Majesty. They are one. Over the years, they have been in harmony. When it was time to confirm the crown prince, His Majesty’s preference for the Seventh Prince raised by Her Majesty showed his trust in her. I dare ask Your Majesty, why should Her Majesty kill Emperor?”

At this point, he changed his words, “It’s Noble Consort Gu. She had two sons, Prince of Yan and Prince of Zhou. When you wanted to make Prince of Yan become the crown prince, God warned. And then this matter was stopped. And next you wanted to make Prince of Zhou the crown price. As a result, His Majesty didn’t like Prince of Zhou, but he had the idea of killing Emperor. Maybe His Majesty’s bad condition today is caused by Consort Gu who is mad at His Majesty because of her second son, and thus she planned to kill His Majesty and frame Her Majesty.”

“Nonsense!” Noble Consort Gu didn’t expect herself to be involved so quickly. She entered the Palace under the pressure of Empress Dowager Gu. Although she had two sons, she didn’t love Emperor. Her sons were born by her after all. Prince of Zhou and his family were gone, but there was Prince of Yan. If Jiang Tianao confirmed that she had the crime of regicide, would Prince of Yan and his son still be safe?

Therefore, Noble Consort Gu was also angry and said in a cold voice, “Deputy Premier Jiang kept saying that I murdered Emperor and blamed Empress. Don’t you know this Fu Ning Palace? Since His Majesty was poisoned on New Year’s Eve, the Empress Dowager and the Empress have told the Imperial Harem not to disturb in order to let His Majesty rest at ease. Princes, princesses, and the crown prince are all forbidden to visit, but only Princesses Changping and Yongfu can visit. How can I murder His Majesty if I can’t even enter the Palace for such a long time? And how can I blame Empress? ”

The Empress’ party’s impression of Noble Consort Gu had always been that she was a submissive and honest person. Unexpectedly, she was forced to be urgent and her words were so sharp. Jiang Tianao was stunned for a while and then asked, “Since you can’t enter Fu Ning Palace, how did you know that Empress ordered her niece-in-law to murder His Majesty?”

“Naturally, I overheard the private words of the palace servants in Fu Ning Palace in the imperial garden!” Noble Consort Gu said coldly, “I originally thought it was a villain that slandered Her Majesty, but it was related to His Majesty’s safety and shouldn’t be ignored! That was why I went to the Hall of Taishi and asked the Empress Dowager to bring me to visit His Majesty, but I didn’t expect… When I came here, I saw His Majesty… His Majesty got poisoned after eating the dishes made by Madame Qiu…”

“Where is the palace man?” Empress Jiang sneered and looked around, “Since there is such a witness, why don’t you call him and confront me?” Her face became gloomy. “Moreover, Yongfu is in the Palace here today. Where is she?”

“Yongfu loves her father and stays inside.” Empress Dowager Gu said coldly, “I just call her out, but she didn’t want to… Speaking of this, I feel very strange. The child didn’t get close to her father before. Why did she come frequently these days?”

She obviously suspected that Empress Jiang was going to kill Emperor and deliberately sent her daughter to get close to Emperor. As mentioned earlier, what Empress Jiang hated most was to make her daughter involved. When she heard the speech, she became angry, “Why? Yongfu is His Majesty’s daughter. Is it wrong to be filial to His Majesty? And didn’t you hear Gu’s words just now, mother? In order to make His Majesty rest at ease, the only prince and princess who can visit His Majesty in Fu Ning Palace these days are the crown prince, Changping, and Yongfu! The crown prince is the prince of the country and needs to go to school. It is difficult for him to go there often. Although Chang Ping is married, she is actually idle. She has no filial piety. Yongfu has to make up for the filial piety of her brothers and sisters. Is anything wrong?”

Empress Dowager Gu said coldly, “Don’t change the topic! I said that Yongfu was not so sensible before. Now she is suddenly attentive. I don’t know if you have taught her.”

“Then Changping went to see His Majesty once and it was taught by mother?” Empress Jiang said, “Why did mother let Changping go to Fu Ning Palace less? I’m afraid you knew today long ago, right? ”

Just after the quarrel, Xue Chang coughed, “Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, the witness mentioned by Noble Consort is here.”

Two empresses looked at each other fiercely and looked down together. Sure enough, a trembling servant was kneeling down.

Empress Jiang saw the servant’s face and was stiff. Qiu Yelan sighed in her heart, “It seems that the little servant was the Empress’s man before?” At least it seemed so.

Sure enough, the Empress scolded, “Xu Changhe! I thought you were diligent before. I sent you to Fu Ning Palace to serve His Majesty. How dare you slander me? Do you want to die?”

“Why do you threaten him?” Empress Dowager Gu then angrily scolded the Empress, “The truth is the truth. The person you threaten is loyal to Emperor, and how dare you to say the word ‘slander’?”

“Since Empress Dowager Gu pushed the servant out to prove it, it is obvious that this is a Man of Sacrifice. He will insist that Empress ordered me to harm Emperor while cooking!” Qiu Yelan didn’t bother to listen to the quarrel between the two empresses. When she didn’t need to speak now, she frowned and thought about the process. “Generally speaking, after I finished the dishes, the Empress’s people would serve them to Fu Ning Palace, and then the people who served Emperor here would try to eat and make sure it is non-toxic. After that, Emperor would eat. Emperor shouldn’t have got poisoned. Was this poison coming from somewhere else? I was just a scapegoat, or did the taster used the trick of Empress Dowager Ye?”

At this time, the two empresses also thought about the story of Emperor’s Murder, “The servant who tasted food for His Majesty served in Palace of Ganquan. This time, His Majesty was only poisoned, just like the story of Chu Weizhou again! They even had the face to slander me and my niece-in-law.”

Empress Dowager Gu was expressionless and she said, “If you really cared about Emperor, you would know that since Lunar New Year’s Eve, all the servants that taste food for Emperor must have an empty stomach for two hours in full view of the public before they can taste.”

Four hours meant that no matter how many raw eggs were eaten, they would be digested. Naturally, they couldn’t neutralize the toxin.

“The poison wouldn’t be in the dish, too. The dish was sent by the Empress’s man and had been watched all the time. It was not easy to poison that. It should be in other places in the bedroom hall, but I haven’t heard of anyone dead except Emperor. How did they get it?” Qiu Yelan thought hard, “I couldn’t have a clue. I wish I could go into the bedroom to have a look… Alas, Emperor was unlucky to have a mother like Empress Dowager Gu. Empress Dowager Ye attacked him before because of the evil done by Empress Dowager Gu that implicated Emperor. Now the Empress Dowager Gu did it herself…”

When she thought of this, suddenly someone rushed out of the back of the hall and fell into the arms of Empress Jiang and cried loudly, “My father, he…”

It was Princess Yongfu who stayed beside the bed.

Emperor couldn’t go through this time. He was dead.

The sound of the death knell shocked the whole Jing City and caused a stir among the people in the government and the public for a while. But the investigation of the real murderer in Fu Ning Palace didn’t end, but became more and more intense.

Empress Dowager Gu burst into tears and said, “Now, I have to spread out my words. I depend on my son to have today’s position. What’s the advantage for me if Emperor died? Jiang, how dare you to say that I killed Emperor? Is there a mother in the world so cruel to her child?”

“Mother, you have acted as regent for more than 30 years, but never thought about returning the power. How could a mother do this to her son?” Empress Jiang now was determined that Empress Dowager Gu did it. Her anger and contempt were hard to describe. What she hated more was that Empress Dowager Gu took the opportunity of Princess Yongfu’s filial piety to Emperor to let the princess witness the death of Emperor. The empress herself was not very touched by the death of Emperor, but Yongfu, she was Emperor’s daughter.

And Yongfu had always been carefree. She was suddenly stimulated by such a big matter. How could she live in the future?

Empress Jiang held Yongfu’s body tightly and felt her grief. Her heart was almost broken.

Now, they finally thought of Qiu Yelan.

Qiu Yelan would never admit that Empress command her to kill Emperor and that she poisoned Emperor while cooking. She said, “Dishes made by me were sent to Fu Ning Palace by Her Majesty’s servant. Emperor was accompanied by Her Royal Highness Princess Yongfu when he ate the dishes. Now Her Royal Highness Princess Yongfu is well, so there was no poison in my dishes. His Majesty died because he was killed elsewhere.”

“Sophistry!” The Empress Dowager shouted, “The imperial doctor found poison in the dishes”

“When His Majesty got poisoned, the hall must be in chaos. Who knew if His Majesty was poisoned later?” Qiu Yelan sneered, “The servant tasting the food and Princess Yongfu were fine, but you insist that there is something wrong with the dishes. Are you looking forward to having a problem with the dishes?”

Empress Jiang noticed the reminder in her words, gave Princess Yongfu to Maid Lin behind her, stood up, and said, “Investigate now. Immediately ask the Imperial Academy of Medicine to check all the utensils and personnel in His Majesty’s bedroom hall and find out where the poison is.”

Qiu Yelan was relieved when she heard the speech. She thought, “At present, the Empress’ party was in the limelight. People who followed the trend must support the Empress’ party… Empress dowager Gu was really dizzy when she wanted to kill her son to reverse the situation. When Kuang Shihan fell down and lost the court fight, even if she knew the Jiang Family murdered Emperor, she would die more quickly. It wasn’t the last year of the former Emperor when she planted a crime of killing the monarch to the crown prince, she could continue to be her Regent.”

But when she turned around, she saw that Empress Dowager Gu was full of confidence instead of decadence when hearing Empress Jiang saying that she wanted to thoroughly investigate Emperor’s bedroom.

“Strange, does the Empress Dowager’s party still have another plan?” Qiu Yelan thought in confusion, “What’s that?” It seemed that Empress Dowager Gu didn’t have enough cards to play.