In celebration of the Queen Mother's birthday, all the palaces were decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, creating a scene of joy.
All the concubines also surrounded the Queen Mother, saying many auspicious words, hoping to get closer to her.
However, most of these concubines who were close to each other were young ladies who had just entered the palace a few years ago and knew very little about the affairs of the palace. After all, everyone with a discerning eye now knew that the current empress dowager was disgusted by the emperor, and her life and death only depended on the emperor's thoughts.
The Queen Mother was obviously aware of everyone's contempt, and she dealt with it with a smile, until a loud shout came from outside the hall——
"The Emperor has arrived!"
"Meet the Emperor!"
I haven't seen him for a few days, but the Yan Emperor's demeanor remains the same as before.
Her thick eyelashes are curled wildly, and her eyebrows are naturally long. Wearing a wide-sleeved robe embroidered with curling cloud patterns, she is fluttering, graceful and noble.
Jamel Xiao glanced around, and after his eyes stayed on Shen Qingyi for a moment, he slowly said: "Get up."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
After Imperial Concubine Yu took her seat, she smiled sweetly: "What a coincidence that Your Majesty came here. I am about to give a birthday gift to the Queen Mother."
Today is the birthday of the Queen Mother, and Concubine Yuhuang dressed up carefully for this purpose.
Under the rose-colored tube top, there is a smoked gauze skirt with loose flowers, and the waist is tied with soft gold silk smoke. The hair on the temples hangs low, with a green jade hairpin inserted at an angle. The eyes are full of spring, clear waves are flowing, and they are more beautiful than flowers.
In terms of charm alone, Imperial Concubine Yu is the first in the harem.
Jamel Xiao was very considerate to Imperial Concubine Yu, and asked rather gently: "What kind of gift is it?"
Imperial Concubine Yu raised her head proudly and clapped her hands in faith.
After a while, Xiangwan and two other young eunuchs carried a screen to the table.
"Your Majesty, please take a look!" Concubine Yuhuang moved lightly, stood next to the screen, and suddenly pulled off the red silk.
In an instant, a dazzling bright light bloomed in the hall.
I saw that the screen embroidered with the phoenix was decorated with countless pearls, and each pearl was extremely round and full. The two merged into one, like a golden phoenix flying, and the embroidery was brilliant!
"I would like to take this work to wish the Queen Mother good health, longevity and longevity!"
As the last word of Concubine Yuhuang fell, everyone came to their senses.
After the Empress Dowager praised her, her mood, which had been suppressed for many days, suddenly became clear: "Okay, okay, the Imperial Concubine's gift, the Ai family likes it very much!"
After being praised by the Queen Mother, Imperial Concubine Yu was overjoyed: "Thank you very much, Queen Mother."
"Come here, bring the Chaoyang Five Phoenixes Hanging Pearl Hairpin from when the Ai family was first granted the title of Empress, and give it to the Imperial Concubine!"
When the Queen Mother was conferred the title of Empress by the late Emperor, the late Emperor personally put the Chaoyang Five Phoenix Pearl Hairpin on the Queen Mother's hair. Naturally, this Pearl Hairpin also symbolized power and glory. Now, the Queen Mother gave this Pearl Hairpin to Imperial Concubine Yu. Does it imply that Concubine Yuhuang is the next queen?
As for the Queen Mother's approach, Jamel Xiao did not stop it and seemed to be happy to see it succeed.
For a moment, all the concubines had different expressions.
With Imperial Concubine Yu’s pearls and jade in front of her, the subsequent concubines, even if they offer anything valuable, will naturally be meager.
Soon, it was the turn of the Yufu Palace to present gifts.
Jin Xiuyi held a stack of scriptures and saluted respectfully: "I and Concubine Shen copied ten volumes of the Huayan Sutra of Dafang Guangfo overnight and dedicated it to the Queen Mother. I wish the Queen Mother endless happiness."
At the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, copying scriptures as a birthday gift is indeed not very popular, but the "Da Fang Guang Fo Hua Yan Sutra" is the Queen Mother's favorite Buddhist sutra. The Queen Mother didn't say anything, just nodded slightly.
Aunt Zhuyu took the scripture from Yingchun and flipped through it casually, but suddenly her movements stopped.
The Queen Mother said displeased: "What's wrong?"
Aunt Zhuyu looked at Jin Xiuyi, gritted her teeth and said, "To the Queen Mother, the two scriptures Jin Xiuyi presented to me, one has words, but the other... doesn't have a word at all!"
What?
The scriptures handed over to the Queen Mother turned into blank paper?
Everyone was shocked.
Even Jin Xiuyi showed just the right amount of "shock" and quickly explained: "The Queen Mother has been wronged, and I copied it day and night. The paper used is also the best 'Cuo Jin Xuan'. It is absolutely impossible to do this." What a lie!"
After hearing this, Aunt Zhuyu looked at the papers on the two scriptures and found that one of the rice papers was indeed "Cuo Jin Xuan" and immediately nodded to the Queen Mother.
Since the blank paper is not meant to be used as a gift, it can only be...
"Concubine Shen, on the day of the Queen Mother's birthday, you deliberately presented a blank sheet of paper to deceive the Queen Mother. What crime should you be guilty of?!" Aunt Zhuyu shouted, and all the concubines hurriedly knelt down.
Seeing this, Jamel Xiao frowned slightly, as if he wanted to defend Shen Qingyi. The Queen Mother noticed this and looked at Shen Qingyi with an increasingly cold look: "Shen Concubine, what crime do you deserve to deceive others?!"
Seeing that the opportunity was good, Jin Xiuyi shed two lines of tears at the right time and choked up: "I have scolded Concubine Shen several times because of her love for her son. Unexpectedly, she has always been secretly resentful in her heart and wants to take advantage of this birthday party to seek revenge." , I am implicated in this concubine. If the Queen Mother had not investigated clearly, I am afraid that I would not be able to clean myself up even if I jumped into the Yellow River today..."
Presenting gifts at the Jade Palace, asking the Queen Mother for her guilt, practicing rituals and beating her up... This series of events happened so fast that people were caught off guard, but people with a discerning eye have already noticed that this incident was directed at Shen Qingyi.
Seeing this, Imperial Concubine Yu raised a smile: "I'm afraid it's Concubine Shen who doesn't take the Queen Mother to heart at all, so she's too lazy to copy, but she didn't expect that it would implicate Jin Xiuyi..."
Concubine Yuhuang's words almost confirmed Shen Qingyi's charge of "disrespecting the Queen Mother".
Concubine Xian, who sensed something was wrong, was about to speak when she saw Shen Qingyi's face showed no fear and raised her eyebrows slightly.
Jin Xiuyi, Imperial Concubine Yu... With so many high-ranking concubines talking, the Queen Mother today is fully confident that she can completely kill Shen Qingyi. At the worst, she can also make Shen Qingyi trapped in the cold palace so that she can express her feelings. Bad temper!
The Queen Mother was a mature woman, so she naturally noticed that Jamel Xiao was sincere towards Shen Qingyi.
But Jamel Xiao slaughtered the entire Ye family, but the Queen Mother was confined to the harem and could not take revenge. But if the people Jamel Xiao cared about died under his nose, the Queen Mother would still be happy!
So it doesn't matter who set the trap for today's wordless scripture. What's important is that this matter can kill Shen Qingyi!
"Your Majesty, what do you think of Concubine Shen's move?" The Queen Mother glanced at Jamel Xiao with a warning look on her face.
In full view of everyone, there were officials in the outer palace. The Queen Mother did not believe that someone like Jamel Xiao, who valued power more than anything else, would give up everything for a woman.
indeed.
If Jamel Xiao had encountered this situation a few months ago, he would have given up on Shen Qingyi without even thinking about it, but things are different now.
After Jamel Xiao was silent for a long time, he said calmly: "Concubine Shen is indeed out of proportion in this matter. In this case, she will be demoted and banned."
Being out of proportion and contemptuous of the Queen Mother...these two completely different crimes naturally have two consequences.
The Queen Mother sneered and said, "Is the Emperor determined to protect Concubine Shen?"
Jamel Xiao and the Queen Mother looked at each other and said calmly: "The Queen Mother knows very well who is responsible for what happened today!"
When Jin Xiuyi heard this, his body trembled and his face turned earth-colored.
Why?
It is clear that Shen Qingyi disrespected the Queen Mother, and the crime has been proven conclusively. Why does the emperor still say such things?
Could it be that the emperor is doubting himself?
Jin Xiuyi, who guessed this, looked up carefully at Jamel Xiao, only to find that Jamel Xiao had been staring at her with a disgusted expression, as if he had seen through everything.
The moment you practice your rituals is like falling into an ice cellar!
It's over.
The emperor found out.
Even if everything he did was perfect, the emperor was on Shen Qingyi's side and had the first idea, so he lost from the beginning.
Seeing that Jin Xiuyi was shaking like chaff in a sieve and about to reveal her secret, Imperial Concubine Yu couldn't help but secretly cursed, "It's useless!"
Qiao Jieyu rolled her eyes slightly and said impassionedly: "Concubine Shen disrespects the Queen Mother and flouts the palace rules. Concubine, please ask the emperor for a fair ruling!"
Just as Qiao Jieyu finished speaking, Imperial Concubine Yu's men and other supporters also knelt down:
"Your Majesty, please give a fair verdict!"
"Your Majesty, please think twice!"
"emperor!"
"..."
Countless concubines and officials all knelt down, trying to force Jamel Xiao to severely punish Shen Qingyi.
For the first time, Jamel Xiao felt that even though the Ye family had fallen, he still could not protect the one he loved in his heart.
Suddenly receiving so much help, the Queen Mother felt proud: "The emperor is a wise king, but he must not be deceived by a woman. How can a concubine who is so ignorant of etiquette and despise the Ai family serve the emperor? Emperor, what do you think? ?”
Under the public gaze, countless pairs of eyes fell on Jamel Xiao, waiting for him to make a decision.
Jamel Xiao took a deep breath, as if he had gone back to a few months ago - although the cancer has been eradicated, there are still many imitators. What happened today, is it not another reminder?
Just when Jamel Xiao was in a dilemma, Shen Qingyi, who was in the center of the whirlpool, suddenly said: "To the Queen Mother, the scriptures handed over by the concubines are not blank sheets of paper. Please check it carefully."
The chess pieces that have been completely pressed are still trying to make a comeback?
The Queen Mother sneered and said indifferently: "Oh? When Concubine Shen said this, did she think Ai Jia was lying? Or did she mean that Ai Jia had bad eyesight and couldn't see the difference between scriptures and white paper?!"
"That's not what I meant." Shen Qingyi shook his head slightly: "Actually, at first, I wanted to embroider a 'Longevity Picture' to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday, but Jin Xiuyi found her and said that we would copy the scriptures together. Therefore, I changed my mind temporarily. If the Queen Mother doesn’t believe it, you can search it in the Moon Pavilion. I believe you will be able to find the ‘Longevity Picture’ that I embroidered half of.”
Hearing this, Qiao Jieyu sneered: "Concubine Shen, you are really good at evading the important and taking the easy! Even if you embroidered the 'Longevity Picture', the scriptures you handed over now are blank sheets of paper. This still cannot hide your contempt for the Queen Mother." 's crime!"
Qiao Jieyu hit the nail on the head with her words.
Hearing this, the Queen Mother nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Concubine Shen, no matter what your birthday gift is, the Ai family will only see blank paper!"
