“Fu Ren Yaoning and Jie Yu Lu are out of luck this time.” Yun Fenghuang gently shook the fan and said slowly to Xi Jing and Xi Le at Zi Quan Hall, “Since Her Highness grounds me here, she obviously made up her mind to investigate thoroughly. I didn’t do it, and Her Highness was more innocent. Nobel Consort Gui who is pregnant should not do it. Therefore, there are few people who are able to buy off the maid of Yan Lan Palace…”

They were Noble Consort Shu, Consort Xin and Fu Ren Yaoning.

Among them, Noble Consort Shu was a collaborator of Empress Ji because Noble Consort Gui was pregnant. Since Noble Consort Gui was safe now, the Empress would not agree to let Noble Consort Shu be a scapegoat. As for Consort Xin, as the daughter of the leader of upright officials, she always led a peaceful life and everyone knew that well.

Compared with Yuan Lianniang who was notorious for being arrogant and Noble Consort Gui who was the daughter of the powerful official, Consort Xin even didn’t need Cui’s Family to guide the public opinion, most of the officials would believe that she was wronged.

The most important thing was that Cui’s Family was relatively neutral in politics, being ambiguous about supporting Emperor Chunjia. Therefore, it was not the top target of Ji’s Family and Zheng Ju.

So, the best choice was among those who supported Prince Regent.

There was another advantage of choosing Fu Ren Yaoning and Jie Yu Lu, which was that some officials’ impeachment against Mr. Lingshan was still in progress. Although the matter that Shizi brought Qi Jiulu several days ago to visit the Emperor was minimized by the royal family, it spread out eventually. Now, if people of Qiong Fang Palace and Bao Hui Palace were the scapegoats, Prince Regent would be more stressful.

Xi Jing and Xi Le looked at each other and smiled, “Your Lady, no wonder you were calm just now. We were terrified.”

Although they both had backers, for one of them was loyal to the Empress and another to Gongxiang Xiao who partially controlled Imperial City Division, they superficially depended on Yun Fenghuang because they were her maids now.

If Yun Fenghuang fell from power this time, even if they could survive by relying on their real backers, it would be unknown whether they could have a bright future.

Therefore, before the real murderer aimed at Yun Fenghuang, they sincerely cared about Yun Fenghuang’s honor and disgrace.

Yun Fenghuang had been very lucky since she joined the Imperial Harem. At this time, she was suddenly sent back to be grounded by the people of Yan Fu Palace and many maids guarded outside… How couldn’t Xi Jing and Xi Le feel uneasy?

They behaved like this, not to mention the rest people.

Nian Xuan promised that she would go wherever Yun Fenghuang went, whom she had served since childhood, no matter being safe or dangerous and no matter being rich or poor, while the others all showed fear in their expressions though they didn’t speak it out.

At present, as Yun Fenghuang explained it in a few words, though they were not convinced immediately, they were somewhat relieved.

“Your Lady, who did this?” After comforting them, Yun Fenghuang waved her hands to let them do their duties, while Xi Le quietly came to her and asked in a low voice, “Did Noble Consort Gui do it?”

“It can’t be her.” At this moment, Empress Ji, who had just sent Noble Consort Gui away, was also discussing the matter with her maids, “She is pregnant now. It is too early to know the gender of her baby, but His Majesty has no child so far. If she gives birth to a prince, wouldn’t Zheng Ju help the prince to be the crown prince?”

The national rule was that letting the legitimate son be the crown prince and letting the eldest son be the crown prince if there were no legitimate sons. However, if the news that the natural mother, who carried a baby, of the eldest prince venomously hurt another concubine who was pregnant spread out, and General-in-chief of the Cavalry behind Noble Consort Gui was a eunuch who was naturally disliked by scholars, even if Noble Consort Gui gave birth to a boy, it would be impossible for her to be honorable and to pursue the status of Queen Mother because of her son.

Therefore, as long as Noble Consort Gui thought about making her baby the crown prince, she would act carefully.

Just as she confessed to the Empress just now, she could deliberately embarrass Yuan Lianniang. As for hurting the royal baby… it would be impossible to do it so obviously even if she wanted to.

The Empress narrowed her eyes slightly, “I think what Pin Yun said before makes sense.”

The maids were confused, “What do you mean?”

“She said that His Majesty has either power or backers. Among the officials, the most loyal and useful one to him is Imperial City Division.” Empress Ji sneered, “But Imperial City Division has been controlled by Prince Regent… Well, all the things happened recently all aimed at Prince Regent’s Mansion, didn’t they?”

She sighed, “I’m afraid that His Majesty would have the power back after years of accumulation.

Only the people at Ning Bi Hall saw Shan Xiang hurt Yuan Lianniang and now Shan Xiang was dead, but Yuan Lianniang was safe… So, only the people at Ning Bi Hall knew most clearly whether the thing was self-conducted or not.

The thing directly targeted at Noble Consort Gui and Yun Fenghuang and indirectly the Empress and even Ji’s Family, which seemed to be Yuan Lianniang’s revenge. In fact, it would be found that the thing might be planned by Emperor Chunjia if one thought about it carefully.

Threatening Ji’s Family to value the royal babies by making use of the rumor that Ji’s Family had hurt the royal babies, and putting pressure on Prince Regent’s Mansion which had been in troubles by making use of the Empress and Noble Consort Gui… It just happened at the proper time when Prince Regent entered the palace and mentioned the marriage of Shizi for finding a helper.

It was so coincident that the Empress could not believe that it was an accident.

“Wouldn’t Fu Ren Yaoning and Jie Yu Lu be the scapegoats this time?” Asked a maid tentatively.

But the Empress vetoed without hesitation, “No, why not? After I discussed with Noble Consort Gui several times, we all think that they are the most suitable ones, don’t we? Besides, Prince Regent is an enemy of Ji’s Family! Wouldn’t it be a good thing to take this opportunity to weaken Gongxiang Mao?”

She narrowed her eyes slightly, “Besides, blaming this matter on them was originally proposed by Noble Consort Gui. Now both Prince Regent and Marquess Qingping are powerful, and Yuan Lianniang is not really hurt. So, they would be punished slightly because of this… After this, they would definitely hate Noble Consort Gui.”

In Empress Ji’s opinion, Noble Consort Gui was even more obtrusive than Yuan Lianniang, though they were all pregnant.

After all, the latter just acted unpleasantly. Even if she gave birth to a child, she would not be powerful enough to threaten the status of the Empress and Ji’s Family. As for the former… If the Empress was careless for a while, powerful eunuchs represented by Zheng Ju would have the final say at Imperial Court.

So, although she wished to ask the Emperor about it immediately by torturing him, after weighing the results again and again, the Empress decided that it would be best to kill the baby of Noble Consort Gui by making use of this matter.

… The main reason why she did so was that Ji’s Family did not agree with many of her suggestions and opinions. After all, Empress was at Imperial Harem and therefore couldn’t do many things without her family’s permission. So, it was impossible for her to restrict the Emperor from this moment.

She could only deal with the things related to concubines.

On the evening of that day after Empress Ji and Noble Consort Gui had reached a consensus, the rumor that Fu Ren Yaoning and Jie Yu Lu jointly ordered Shan Xiang, the maid of Yan Lan Palace to hurt the hostess of Hu Zhu Palace and tried to blame it on Pin Yun of Hu Zhu Palace spread.

“Your Highness, I am wronged! For I didn’t know Shan Xiang at all, how could I order her to hurt Jie Yu Yue and slander Pin Yun?” They two were suddenly wronged and called out injustice when they arrived at Chong Chang Hall.

Fu Ren Yaoning said, “Noble Consort Shu has always been my friend, and Pin Yun is her sister who has always been taken care of by her. Because of this, I treat Pin Yun as my family member. Even though I dislike Jie Yu Yue, how could I aim at Pin Yun? If so, wouldn’t it disappoint Noble Consort Shu?”

Empress Ji said indifferently, “I really want to believe you, but people of your palace have already confessed, which makes it difficult for me to find an excuse. After all, the maids dared not to do such a big thing, and they could gain no benefits for hurting the royal baby, right? How could people be convinced if I announced that you are innocent?”

As she spoke, she threw out several confessions, all of which were just confessed by maids of Qiong Fang Palace and Bao Hui Palace, with fresh handprints on it.

Fu Ren Yaoning and Jie Yu Lu knew that they were in trouble, for they didn’t have any impression on some of these people and some of them were their close attendants but not trusted ones, let alone that they did not do the thing related to Hu Zhu Palace, even if they did, they would not send them.

They were probably other’s spies and were used as excuses for getting them implicated.

Although they knew it, they couldn’t prove their innocence without any evidence. When they tried to find them to confront them, the Empress said that “They all committed suicide by ramming the pillar after they confessed.”

Well, they died just like Shan Xiang, leaving no evidence.

Since they all had powerful family background, Empress Ji “confirmed” that they were the real murderers, but she didn’t really humiliate them. After saying some serious words, she asked them to go back, saying that she would turn to Queen Mother Ji about how to deal with such things.

However, Fu Ren Yaoning hung herself from a beam.

She had left a suicide note, saying that as a daughter of a noble family, and the consort of the Emperor, she could not bear such humiliation. If she really did the thing, she would be willing to be maids forever, but since she didn’t, why should she be wronged?!

“She is so upright, for she comes from a martial family.” After the news came to Zi Quan Hall, Yun Fenghuang signed, “What did Her Highness mean?”

Chen Zhu, who brought the news, smiled awkwardly, “Her Highness is comforting Fu Ren Yaoning at Qiong Fang Palace.”

Yun Fenghuang was stunned, “She is still alive?”

“It’s said that her close maid found something wrong in time and rescued her, but Fu Ren Yaoning is unable to speak right now, and her neck…” Chen Zhu made a gesture, “was left with a bruise and looked terrible. Some ladies and misses of Duke Zhaowu’s Mansion have arrived. They embraced Fu Ren Yaoning and cried out, trying to find Empress Dowager and Queen Mother of Honor to speak their grievance out. Being afraid of disturbing them because it was so late, the Empress came there personally to comfort them.”

When he speaking of this, he lowered his voice, “I also heard that it hasn’t rained on the grassland for a long time this year. Wei Ge’s livestock have suffered a lot of deaths and injuries… The north will probably not be peaceful.”

Yun Fenghuang frowned, saying, “When did you know this news?”

Chen Zhu said that it came from outside the palace not long ago, “Duke Zhaowu has mentioned this matter a few times since the beginning of the year, requesting to increase military supplies to prepare everything.”

It seemed that Fu Ren Yaoning would escape from the matter. After all, she didn’t do it and Yuan Lianniang didn’t have misfortune. Moreover, her father Duke Zhaowu, who was stationed in the north for many years, played an important role. Maybe he would be relied on to resist attacks from Wei Ge… Yun Fenghuang thought about it for a while and then asked, “How about Jie Yu Lu? What did she do?”

Since Princess Lu, who shared the same adoptive father with Jie Yu Lu, was a trouble maker at Prince Regent’s Mansion, there was no reason that Jie Yu Lu would be bullied willingly, wasn’t it?