20demayo Chapter 29
Chapter 29
chapter 29
he glared with his imposing eyes: "where did you hear such nonsense that you dare to be insolent before me? wang dequan, take zhen fangyi away and give her thirty heavy strokes of the rod."
zhen fangyi was zhen fangyi, she had never been anyone's substitute.
"your majesty is protecting zhen fangyi, where does that leave the honorable consort? has the honorable consort suffered for nothing?"
consort jiang kowtowed on the ground, her forehead bleeding: "this concubine begs your majesty to severely punish zhen fangyi, or else all the concubines in the palace will learn her ways of courting favor."
"your majesty, please punish zhen fangyi severely!"
behind consort jiang, a group of concubines aligned with concubine li were kneeling down.
in contrast, empress zhu seemed feeble and weak.
this also made her, as the empress of the middle palace, feel the threat of concubine li once again.
how foolish!
before this, jiang xinyue had never believed that concubine li would risk herself and use treacherous means to attack her.
but seeing consort jiang, consort wan, consort jin, and other concubines from concubine li's faction all kneeling in unison, indignantly demanding the emperor to punish her, she knew the truth.
concubine li was fine, the one in trouble was her - this was a trap set up deliberately to target her.
ridiculous!
did they really think the emperor would favor concubines who forced his hand?
concubine li was sacrificing all of them to achieve her own ends!
a temporary setback is not necessarily a bad thing.
the xuanwu emperor looked at jiang xinyue with a complex gaze, and she looked back at him, her eyes quickly filling with tears. while giving the emperor a faint smile, she also slightly nodded her head.
her eyes seemed to speak, saying she did not want to put the emperor in a difficult position, letting him follow the wishes of consort jiang and the others and severely punish her.
"wang dequan..."
for the first time, the xuanwu emperor felt unable to look directly into those eyes filled with emotion, and had never thought that issuing an order to punish a concubine would be so difficult.
"zhen fangyi's behavior has been unbecoming. from this day forth, she is demoted to the rank of royal lady and exiled to the palace of exile."
her beauty was right here - empress zhu could not find another concubine as beautiful to divert concubine li's favor.
there are often beautiful women in this world, but rarely are there women of transcendent beauty like herself and concubine li.
"you must take good care of royal lady zhen. if anything happens to her, i will hold you responsible."
in the palace chamber, wisps of fragrant smoke drifted about as empress zhu removed her makeup in front of a bronze mirror, revealing a youthful bare face.
as the palace maid fen yun and others applied hair oil to her long hair, she asked: "your majesty, what did royal lady zhen mean by what she said at the entrance to the palace of exile today?"
empress zhu curled her lips slightly: "she was telling me that she understands repaying favors. as long as i occasionally mention her to the emperor, she will find a way to regain his favor. once she is released, she and concubine li will become mortal enemies, and she will help me eliminate concubine li."
fen yun was astonished: "does she have such ability?"
"then think about it - today she was exiled to the palace of exile by the emperor, did she show even a hint of panic?"
fen yun's movements stilled for a moment: "your majesty means..."
"i dare not underestimate her anymore."
a contemplative light flickered in empress zhu's eyes: "who knows if she will become the next concubine li?"
she did not want to defeat concubine li only for another lady zhen who was even more formidable than concubine li to appear.
but...
royal lady zhen was different from concubine li. lady zhen was still young, with a clear sense of right and wrong, likes and dislikes.
in her world, things were either black or white. those she liked were good people, those she disliked were bad people.
she had a bit of cunningness, but used it only against her enemies.
towards her, consort liang, and consort de, she had not the slightest guard up.
"then will your majesty still help her?"
"why not help her a little?"
empress zhu remarked meaningfully, "i am merely making subtle hints. the emperor has no interest in her, so my words will be futile. however, if he does have feelings for her, even if i remain silent, he will still be infatuated with her. such is the way of men; they desire what they cannot have. by going along with the prevailing sentiments, i can win their gratitude. why not do so?"
concubine li was also bewitched. the more she disparaged zhen fangyi, the more the emperor would perceive his love for her as filled with obstacles.
men relish challenges, and the emperor, being the most esteemed man in the land, was no exception.