The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

The queen frowned and glanced at Xie Yuzhen, who immediately put away her affected attitude and said amiably, "I have been very lazy since I became pregnant. I slept until 9 o'clock yesterday and arrived at Yanzhang Palace around noon. After I arrived at Yanzhang Palace, the maid of Empress Shuyi told me that the princess cried non-stop the night before, and Empress Shuyi stayed up most of the night, but couldn't get up to meet me..."

Shen Xiaoyi was found to have a fever by palace servants on the morning of the second day after she fell into the water, and the imperial physician was invited from the Imperial Hospital to treat her.

"As for the imperial physician, I have never seen him. I don't know if he is in the main hall of Yanzhang Palace, but he is definitely not in Shen Xiaoyi's room. The many palace servants who traveled with me can attest to this."

However, Liu Shuyi used the excuse that the princess was sick to transfer the imperial physician away, and at the same time said that she was too tired from taking care of the princess to get up... This contradiction made the queen's eyes become even more solemn.

Wen Baolin looked at Xie Yuzhen, who suddenly spoke up, with a complicated look. She refused to give Liu Shuyi a chance to argue, and immediately continued: "Yesterday, I arrived at Shen Xiaoyi's residence early. At that time, the imperial physician had just arrived. He only looked at the decoction Shen Xiaoyi took the night before, and before he could re-diagnose Shen Xiaoyi's pulse, Empress Shuyi and her men came over and forcibly took him away!"

She closed her eyes tightly and then opened them again.

Wen Baolin himself was a new concubine who had just entered the palace, while Liu Shuyi was a high-ranking concubine who had given birth to a daughter for the emperor. Her father was a county marquis with fiefdoms passed down from the founding of the dynasty. Although the Shen family also had the title of marquis, they were new nobles with no actual title that had only been passed down for one generation.

Wen Baolin had the confidence to face Liu Shuyi, but not much. Shen Xiaoyi was from the same family as her and was nominally her cousin. She had been tortured to the point of being almost dead. If she, as her cousin, turned a blind eye, she would surely be known as cold-hearted and might even lose the emperor's favor!

She must take the lead for Shen Xiaoyi!

"I thought that after the imperial physician invited by Empress Shuyi arrived, she would release the imperial physician Zhou who was treating Shen Xiaoyi. However, he did not return until noon. Until Concubine Xie came to visit, I could only wipe Shen Xiaoyi's body with cold water together with the palace maids..."

"How outrageous!" Liu Shuyi seemed to be confused, but she could only repeat the words "outrageous" and "slandering" over and over again without any evidence of her own.

Instead, she looked at the queen stubbornly, like a bull in a rage: "Your Majesty, I am at least a second-rank Shuyi, the biological mother of the Fourth Princess. How can you just listen to the words of these two lowly maids who don't know the difference between respect and inferiority and believe them?"

She looks so irritable, no wonder she fell out of favor at such a young age... Xie Wei really couldn't understand where Liu Shuyi got her confidence from. It was clearly her own fault, and now that it was exposed by others, she couldn't come up with a proper reason to convince others. Instead, she kept calling her a slut and throwing a tantrum... With such unreasonable behavior, she still expected the Queen Mother to favor her?

Xie Yuzhen curled her lips, perhaps this was the confidence of a girl from a top wealthy family.

"I have also stayed in Shen Xiaoyi's room for quite a while, but I haven't seen the imperial physician come. Oh, by the way, when I left Yanzhang Palace, I went to ask to see Liu Shuyi, but unfortunately I didn't see her." She stabbed again without haste.

Liu Shuyi became more and more angry: "How dare you! How can a mere talent like you have the right to speak here!"

"I am only telling you what I saw and heard yesterday," Xie Yuzhen said, and suddenly slammed the teacup on the table. Her action scared the concubines next to her.

Xie Yuzhen stood up and pointed at Liu Shuyi's nose: "Madam Shuyi, this is Kunning Palace. The Empress has not told me to shut up. How can you, Shuyi, be so anxious to discipline other concubines in Kunning Palace?"

"What's wrong? Have you done something wrong and you can't stand hearing the truth?" Xie Yuzhen held her waist. Liu Shuyi, who was sitting opposite her, had a look of disbelief on her face and her chest heaved violently due to her anger.

"Slut, don't think that just because you are pregnant..."

Xie Yuzhen raised her hand and took a step forward. Xia Zhi quickly jumped out and grabbed her other hand, so anxious that he couldn't speak.

"As soon as you open your mouth, you call her a slut. Is this the good daughter raised by a nobleman?" She sneered, "I am a commoner and have not read many books, but I know that this curse word is very dirty. If you are really well-educated, you should never say it so easily!"

"Xie, you are committing an insubordination..."

Xie Yuzhen immediately opened his voice to interrupt Liu Shuyi, "It is you, Madam Shuyi, who are so unkind and merciless in order to gain the upper hand, and you take the lives of the concubines at will. Shen Xiaoyi, Wen Baolin, and I are all concubines in the palace, so how can I not empathize with you and feel chilled to the bone when I see you?"

She blinked her eyes, and tears rolled down in an instant. Xie Yuzhen carefully protected her belly and lightly threw herself at the Queen's feet. She raised her face gracefully, looking weak and helpless, full of dependence and trust in the Queen: "Your Majesty, I am afraid. Please make the decision for Shen Xiaoyi and me..."

Liu Shuyi, who obviously hadn't been able to scold the other party verbally, was blamed by the other party, as if she was being forced to death:......

She was so angry that her eyes turned red and she almost shed tears: "Your Majesty, I really just did it for the princess..." She spoke incoherently and could not come up with a convincing statement.

Liu Shuyi's father, the Marquis of Jingjun, was stationed in Jingjun with his eldest son, while she and several other brothers stayed in the capital with their mother. The Marquis's wife only had two legitimate children in her life. Since the eldest son was not around, the Marquis's wife doted on her younger daughter very much. Even when Liu Shuyi pushed a half-brother off a rockery and killed him when she was a child, she easily covered it up.

Later, Liu Shuyi entered the palace. Because of her beauty and flamboyant personality, she was favored for a while and easily took the position of one of the nine concubines.

Liu Shuyi, who had been smooth sailing all the way, never thought that Wen Baolin would pester her endlessly for an adopted daughter of the same clan, and she never thought that Xie Yuzhen, who was of extremely low birth in her eyes, would dare to add fuel to the fire in court...

While pretending to cry, Xie Yuzhen observed the changes in Liu Shuyi's expression and gained some understanding of this woman's temperament.

It's simply because she was born into a noble family and was used to being spoiled at home, so she doesn't care about people who are lower than her in status. She is convinced that she is superior. She can kill people and do all kinds of evil things, but others cannot resist. Even exposing her evil deeds is a crime!

Tsk.

Xie Wei really missed it.

This face that took her life for granted...