The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

She tried to feel the Queen's breath without giving up, and it seemed that there was still the last bit of body temperature left there. Xie Yuzhen felt a slight warmth on her fingers, and could not help but feel surprised. But in an instant she realized that it was just the remaining body temperature of a dead person, and there was no feeling of breath at all. She suddenly fell into greater sorrow.

"What on earth is going on? When I left, I was clearly..." Xie Yuzhen really couldn't cry out. Her heart was filled with nothing but emptiness and desolation, and only subconscious suspicion and anger.

She turned around and grabbed Yunrong: "What on earth happened? Stop crying! Explain everything to me first!"

Yun Rong was frightened by her crazy behavior. Her sobs were stuck in her throat and she almost couldn't breathe. Xie Yuzhen patted her chest very skillfully, allowing her to breathe smoothly: "... Ahem, the Queen... The Queen has been sleeping lately. Before she went to bed today, she heard people say that the Fifth Prince was not well. Then, not long after His Majesty came, the Fifth Prince passed away. Then, the Queen and His Majesty had a dispute over a rumor in the evening, and then the comet came..."

She sobbed. Her years of training as a court lady allowed her to tell Xie Yuzhen what happened tonight in a clear and concise manner despite her grief: "His Majesty has passed away. The Queen was not in good health to begin with. She could only sleep for more than two hours during this period. The Concubine Shu is gone, and the Concubine Xian is also gone. The Fifth Prince is gone too. The Queen fainted after she couldn't hold on."

After reviewing what happened tonight, Yun Rong regained some sense. She raised her hand and wiped her face vigorously with her sleeve. "After you left, the Queen woke up thanks to the skillful hands of Imperial Physician Lin. But, but Consort Wang suddenly said that she had something important to discuss with the Queen. The Queen herself was not well yet. She said that she was afraid that the matter was too urgent, so she still managed to meet her."

"Who would have thought that as soon as Concubine Wang came in, she said that Concubine Ning poisoned the late emperor, and that the Empress, as the daughter-in-law, knew about it but did not stop it. Instead, she assisted the tyrant and harmed the life of the late emperor. She also shielded the mastermind and concealed the crime afterwards... She was unkind and unfilial, she deserved it... she deserved it..." Yun Rong couldn't say the rest of the words.

"She said that the comet rising from the east was God's warning that there was such an evil spirit in the harem. All the ministers got up overnight and wrote memorials to impeach the evil concubine. Concubine Ning had already committed suicide because her plot to murder the late emperor was exposed. The next one should be the Empress..."

She sobbed again.

Xie Yuzhen stood there in a daze.

Thinking of the words that Concubine Song Shu had warned her before she died, she had not thought at that time that the Empress and Concubine Ning might be involved in the death of the late Emperor. Now that she suddenly learned about it, she was shocked for a moment.

What shocked him was not that the Empress and Concubine Ning were suspected of poisoning the late Emperor, but rather - did the Emperor know about such a big thing, and how did Concubine Wang know about it?

Although Wang Xuanshi was a relative of the Queen, the Queen's ancestor was officially adopted by the founding emperor and was made a king. At most, she had only a sense of face with the people on that side, and they did not have a deep friendship.

Moreover, Wang Xianshi was a shallow person and did not trust the queen. When she became pregnant, the first thing she thought of was to secretly prepare medicine to drink in order to preserve the child. However, she did not expect that her every move was seen by Concubine Deng. She had a miscarriage within three months of her pregnancy due to a series of conspiracies.

Not only did she lose the fetus, but Wang Xuanshi also fell out of favor and gradually fell into obscurity.

When she first entered the palace, she was very keen to pay her respects to the empress, but the empress was busy with affairs and was not close to this distant relative. After meeting her a few times, she realized that there was nothing important going on and she was just trying to build a relationship with her, so she rarely met with her again. However, if the royal concubine wanted to see her for serious matters, the empress would definitely not refuse to see her.

Although she lived a quiet life after her miscarriage, she resumed her previous frequency of paying respects to the empress after she recovered. She would go to Kunning Palace every one or two days, even if the empress was busy with official business and could not see her.

Everyone thought that the Queen's concubine was determined to get close to the Queen, but the Queen was fair and serious. Except for the few who had been with her since she had been in the palace, and Xie Yuzhen who had the audacity to cling to her, she was caring towards the other concubines but not too close to them.

What made Xie Wei really confused was that Wang Xianshi's residence was a long distance away from the palace where Concubine Ning lived and the former court. How did she get the news in such a short time, and deliberately rush to Kunning Palace at this time to say such things?

"...Now it seems that she has been harboring evil intentions for a long time?" The more Xie Yuzhen thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong. Concubine Deng was dead. Could it be that there were still hidden masters in the harem? Or were those in her handwritten letter just part of her plan?

But there was too little information at the moment, so she could only make this judgment temporarily, "Where is she now?"

Yun Rong sniffed and said, "I have overstepped my bounds and ordered the palace servants to tie up the royal concubine in the back."

"Well done." Xie Yuzhen tried hard to stand up. When she walked out of the bedroom unsteadily with a cold face, she happened to meet Concubine Li and Concubine Chen coming over.

Xie Yuzhen did not greet them, but stared at them coldly for a few seconds, then walked to the door without saying a word, picked up the sword that he had just thrown under the threshold, and walked to the room behind the main hall.

Wang Xuanshi was imprisoned here.

Her hands and feet were tied behind her back, and a large piece of sackcloth was stuffed in her mouth. An extra strap was tied behind her head to prevent her from spitting out the stuff in her mouth.

There was only one young eunuch guarding the room. Perhaps because he saw that no one was in the room, the young eunuch sat on the ground and wiped his tears. Suddenly, he saw Xie Yuzhen coming over with disheveled hair and a sword in his hand. He screamed and got up: "Hiccup! Concubine Zhao?!"

"Go down first. I have something to ask her."

Looking at the sword in her hand, the young eunuch trembled and stood behind the door.

Xie Yuzhen walked up to Wang Xuanshi, pulled her up from the ground, dragged her by the collar, and pressed her head on a low table in the room: "Who told you that Concubine Ning poisoned the late emperor, and who colluded with you in advance to impeach this matter in the previous dynasty and force Concubine Ning to be killed? Tell me!"

Xie Yuzhen pulled off the cloth gag.

Wang Xianshi first said "Pah" and said, "Queen Ning deserves death for daring to poison the late emperor. I am just reminding our queen in advance. After all, after tonight, it is still unknown whether she can continue to be the queen. Ah!!"

The sharp pain from her hand brought Wang Xuanshi's words, which were mixed with hatred and joy, to an abrupt halt. Xie Yuzhen bent down, picked up the two bloody fingers that had fallen to the ground, and placed them in front of Wang Xuanshi's face, which was distorted by pain: "Answer my question. If you keep talking nonsense, I will cut off your fingers one by one and feed them all into your stomach!"