20demayo Chapter 395
Chapter 395
“by the emperor’s decree, consort jin lihua, the noble consort, has been found guilty of harboring malicious intent and conspiring to harm the other concubines in the harem. the evidence is irrefutable, and it pains me deeply to see such treachery. henceforth, the empress shall oversee her punishment according to palace regulations. her title is revoked, and she is demoted to the rank of noble lady, to be relocated to qingyang palace.”
consort jin... now reduced to noble lady jin... stripped of her title, her position, and expelled from yanqing palace to qingyang palace.
that was no auspicious place. it was the infamous xihuo palace, where many had met their untimely ends.
when jiang xinyue had lived there, she had been plagued by constant misfortunes and illnesses. her sister had hanged herself in the side chamber, consort li had drowned in the lake, and the body of consort chu had been discovered in the now-filled lotus pond.
later, jiang yuan, after her release from the palace of exile, had also resided in qingyang palace.
in short, since its renaming, no concubine had dared to live in xihuo palace. it was a desolate, eerie place, devoid of life.
however, the filled lotus pond was now overgrown with roses, attracting many newly selected court ladies and palace maids and eunuchs.
noble lady jin shook her head, “it wasn’t me, it wasn’t me... why...”
her wide eyes seemed ready to burst from their sockets, her temples throbbing with pain. she shouted accusingly, “empress! it was you! you framed me, didn’t you? the emperor has been deceived by you. you are the true venomous snake here!”
jiang xinyue took two steps forward, standing face to face with noble lady jin. one was like an enraged bird, the other as calm and ruthless as an executioner.
suddenly, noble lady jin’s pupils contracted sharply. the onlookers could only see jiang xinyue’s back and noble lady jin stumbling backward, tripping over a haystack, and falling to the ground.
as she fell, leader du immediately stepped forward, thinking that the empress had used some hidden weapon to avenge consort liang.
but all he saw was noble lady jin pointing a trembling finger at the empress, her lips quivering, unable to utter a word. it didn’t seem like she had been attacked, but rather as if she had been terrified.
the empress, meanwhile, wore a smile on her face—a smile that seemed both threatening and terrifying.
“according to palace regulations, noble lady jin, for poisoning consort liang, shall be punished with sixty lashes as a warning to others. should consort liang succumb to the poison, noble lady jin’s life will be forfeited, and i will personally ensure that her name is recorded in the underworld. i will come to claim it when the time comes.”
in other words, if consort liang were to die from the poison, noble lady jin would have to pay with her life.
but... even if she survived the sixty lashes from the investigative bureau, noble lady jin might not live to see another day.
only then did xi que release her, tossing her to the ground with a cold snort before leaving with shuang jiang.
damn it, if her lady hadn’t been so clever, huang yanyu’s schemes might have succeeded, and the consequences would have been unimaginable.
“gag... gag...”
huang yanyu lay on the ground, desperately trying to vomit the soup by sticking her fingers down her throat.
“if you dare to spill even a drop, i will force another bowl down your throat. there’s plenty more soup in the imperial kitchen.”
huang yanyu’s fingers froze. she collapsed to the ground, weeping in despair. “empress, i was wrong... i know i was wrong. please, spare me. i don’t want to die... i really don’t want to die... give me the antidote... please give me the antidote!”
“i’ll go and kowtow to consort liang, i’ll admit my guilt! please, for the sake of the huang and jiang families’ ties, i beg you... i beg you to spare me.”
her forehead was already bruised from kowtowing, but jiang xinyue remained unmoved. “spare you? give you another chance? did you give consort liang a chance when you poisoned her? did you give me a chance? who did you spare? in this game, the victor takes all. if you had won today, you would have shown me no mercy, would you?”
it had to be said, jiang xinyue was absolutely right.
if their roles were reversed, huang yanyu would have shown no mercy either.
“ugh!”
a surge of blood rose in huang yanyu’s throat, and she spat out a mouthful of black blood. her stomach felt as if her intestines were being twisted together, the pain so intense that she rolled on the ground in agony.
jiang xinyue took a deep breath and turned to leader du. “take her out of the palace and hand her over to the huang family. tell them that huang yanyu conspired with noble lady jin to poison consort liang and frame me. the emperor is furious and orders them to leave the capital immediately, never to return. anyone who disobeys will be executed on the spot.”
she would not leave a ticking time bomb nearby. she also wanted both the jiang and huang families to know that it was huang yanyu, not her, who had caused this disaster.
upon returning to kunning palace, jiang xinyue wrote a letter to the jiang family—not to her father, but as a warning to the entire clan.
as long as she remained in the palace, no jiang family member was to send any court ladies to the harem. because jiang xinyue was irreplaceable.
she needed no one to help her secure the emperor’s favor.