Seeing Concubine Gu's greatly stimulated look, the queen felt a sense of joy in her heart.
She had never experienced this pleasure of revenge before.
After entering the palace for more than 20 years, she has never deliberately made an enemy of any concubine in the harem.
A queen should be dignified, virtuous, tolerant, and behave like a mother to the world. From the time she entered the palace at a young age to now, she thinks that although she has not been perfect, she has a clear conscience.
She won't take the initiative to make things difficult for anyone.
But Concubine Gu had touched her bottom line, and she couldn't forgive her graciously.
After walking out of Zhaochen Palace, the Queen glanced at Nanny Ji who was kneeling on the ground, and said lightly: "Take her to Shuhuang Palace. I want to ask her something."
"yes."
"The Queen!" Nanny Ji subconsciously wanted to beg for mercy, "I still have to take care of the Imperial Concubine, please Queen——"
"If you want to make Concubine Gu's life easier, don't say another word." The Queen looked down at her coldly, "Otherwise, I can let her die now."
Mother Ji's face turned pale and she didn't dare to speak anymore.
After being taken to Shuhuang Palace, the queen said calmly: "Isn't Grandma Ji fifty years old this year?"
Mother Ji knelt on the ground in fear and nodded: "Fifty-two slaves."
She was already in her twenties when she followed the imperial concubine into the palace. Because of her age and calm temperament, she was the most trustworthy around the imperial concubine. Twenty-six years have passed in the blink of an eye, and she has witnessed the rise and fall of the imperial concubine's honor and disgrace, and witnessed her step-by-step calculations and plans in the palace.
Even participated in some things personally.
"You are not young anymore." The queen was leaning on the phoenix couch, looking a little lazy, "I am in a bad mood today and do not want to torture you. If you have questions, I will answer them, and I will let you go back to serve the noble concubine. I even asked you to bring some supplements back to replenish her vitality. If you don't cooperate, I can't guarantee whether the imperial concubine will starve to death or die of illness."
Mother Ji knelt on the ground, her body trembling slightly and she did not dare to speak.
She seemed to have had a premonition of what the Queen would ask, and those things were serious crimes that could make someone be quartered.
If you say it, you will die, if you don't say it, you will still die.
"Concubine Gu has only given birth to two children, Prince Chen and the fifth princess, right?"
Mother Ji's voice trembled: "The Emperor...the Queen..."
"You just have to answer 'yes' or 'no'."
Mother Ji gritted her teeth: "...Yes."
"I was pregnant back then. Concubine Gu bribed Po Wen early on and wanted to kill my child, right?"
Nanny Ji trembled like chaff: "Queen, your concubine is not... not..."
"I reiterate, if you don't tell the truth, I will let Concubine Gu die so hard that not even her body will be left." The queen's voice was bone-chilling, "You have served her for so many years, do you plan to die with her? But? There are different ways to die. She has been decent all her life, but at the end of her life, she will be quartered by five horses, executed at a very late hour, or her tongue, nose, and ears will be cut off to make a human pig. Does Nanny Ji think this way of death is decent?"
Mother Ji's face turned pale and she kowtowed repeatedly: "Queen, please forgive me! Queen, please spare my life!"
Aunt Cai walked over and slapped her on the face: "You still haven't told the truth!"
"Ah Cai." The queen said calmly, "Go and bring the fifth princess here."
"yes."
Mother Ji realized something and kowtowed: "Empress, please show mercy to the Queen, I will say this! I will say anything!"
The queen looked at her without saying a word, her eyes threatening.
"The imperial concubine never meant to murder the emperor's legitimate son. She...she just wanted to take the empress's child as her own, because the imperial concubine is not pregnant..." Aunt Ji's voice trembled, "But Po Wen A mistake caused the emperor's son to have an accident..."
"So the Ninth Prince is not the imperial concubine's son?"
Mother Ji nodded: "Yes, yes."
"Has anyone been in contact with my son after his accident?"
Nanny Ji quickly shook her head: "I don't know, I just heard... I only heard from the people in the palace that the Queen Empress fainted due to stimulation. After something happens to the Emperor's legitimate son, we must deal with it quickly to prevent the Queen Empress from waking up and feeling sad..."
The queen closed her eyes, as if she had returned to the time when the child had an accident. Her heart was tightly squeezed and it hurt so much.
"Who carried Rong Cang into the palace to Concubine Gu?"
Mother Ji said: "Dead, all dead..."
"Killed by Concubine Gu?"
Mother Ji shook her head: "I don't know, but the imperial concubine was silenced before giving the order. The imperial concubine thought it was the old prime minister who did it, but...but..."
"Not long after, something happened to Prime Minister Gu." The queen took over her words and suddenly thought of something, "Did the imperial concubine think that Rong Cang's existence was the cause of Prime Minister Gu's death?"
Mother Ji's face turned pale: "No! Your Majesty, definitely not!"
The queen asked the most critical question: "When the child was brought to Zhaochen Palace, were there any obvious marks on his body?"
Mother Ji knelt on the ground and tried to remember, "There is one...it seems to be a mole on her butt..."
The queen said calmly: "Concubine Gu, have you never thought about removing the mark?"
"I have thought about it... I have thought about it." Mother Ji nodded anxiously, "But the child is too young, and I am worried that he will not be able to bear it. The imperial concubine was still young at the time, so she would not think about things very carefully. I am worried... I am worried that if something happens to the little prince, something will happen. The emperor was suspicious and worried that the little prince's life would be in danger after being infected... so he advised the imperial concubine to give up the idea and just try to keep the child under his nose. No one is allowed to take it out, and no one is allowed to see the little prince. The mark..."
The queen raised her hand to support her forehead, feeling relieved suddenly. She should probably be grateful for Nanny Ji's kindness back then.
Even if her kindness was more to protect Concubine Gu, she should still be grateful.
After a moment of silence, she asked again: "The noble concubine has never asked whose family this child belongs to?"
"I asked." Mother Ji nodded, "But the person who came in with the child only said that he was an ordinary family outside the palace, and all of them have been silenced."
"Who's that guy holding the baby?"
"It was another maid who was married into the palace with the slaves." Mother Ji said, "She also died later. The imperial concubine guessed that the old prime minister wanted to silence her, but she is not sure yet."
The queen's eyebrows were covered with a layer of gloom, and she said coldly: "Because of her evil plan, so many people have lost their lives. Hasn't there been an innocent soul looking for her after waking up at midnight in these years?"
Mother Ji knelt on the ground and shivered.
"The Queen." Eunuch Baoyuan came in from outside and respectfully reported: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess are here."
The queen sat up and said, "Take Mother Ji back first. Baoyuan, you personally bring a few people to send her back. She is not allowed to have contact with anyone."
"yes."
Mother Ji stood up from the ground, her legs went weak, and she fell back to her knees. She put her hands on the ground, staggered to her feet, and bowed out.
Rong Cang and Chu Yunfei walked into the palace gate, and happened to see Eunuch Baoyuan walking out with Nanny Ji. Rong Cang recognized Nanny Ji, frowned slightly, and glanced at her thoughtfully.
After entering the palace, the two were about to salute when the Queen raised her hand and said: "Sit down quickly, why should you be polite when you come to my place?"
Chu Yunfei's eyes fell on the queen: "The queen is not in a good mood?"
"Rong Cang was named the crown prince, and I am naturally in a very good mood." The queen sighed, "It's just that I just went to Zhaochen Palace and asked about some things that happened in the past, and my mood was somewhat affected."
Chu Yunfei's voice was gentle: "What happened back then is in the past. Now that everything is in peace, the queen mother should be happy."
The Queen smiled: "I should be happy, but happiness does not prevent me from stepping on a drowned dog."
Chu Yunfei pursed her lips and smiled, then nodded: "That's true."
Especially those who have done a lot of evil and bad things, should be stepped on.
