The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

The fifteenth year of Qiyuan.

The queen passed away.

The whole country mourned.

The heirs of the emperor and members of the royal family were forbidden from getting married or having banquets for 27 months, officials and nobles were forbidden from getting married for one year, and the common people only needed to ban them for nine days.

Before nailing the coffin lid shut, Xie Yuzhen, who had successfully taken over the palace affairs, successfully replaced the Queen and Concubine Ning from the coffin. They did not find two fresh corpses to put in, but put some objects of equal weight.

After replacing the two, Xie Yuzhen personally watched over the people nailing the coffin lid, and only then did she feel relieved and handed the antidote to the Turtle Breath Pill to Yunrong, asking Yunrong to assist Wang and Lu in leaving the palace, while she continued to manage the Queen's funeral and check for any omissions.

By the time the queen's funeral was over, the case of the previous dynasty's Marquis Yuyang and others who forged the stone tablet prophecy, interfered with the palace, murdered concubines and attempted to seize the throne had also come to an end.

All the three clans of those involved in the case were exterminated, involving thousands of lives. The emperor wailed and attended the funeral while killing people without mercy. The bloodbath almost covered the entire capital of Dasheng. The killing only came to a temporary end after the news came from the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion that the Duke and the Crown Prince had both caught a cold and died.

Why do you say it is temporary?

It was just because before the stone tablet case, there was still a case of Liu Shuyi assassinating the king and killing the emperor, which had not been tried clearly.

Liu Shuyi, the assassin, was confined to the Yanzhang Palace during the stone tablet case, and all the people in Shunyi Marquis's mansion were also imprisoned in the mansion.

The fourth princess was taken to the Cining Palace and temporarily raised by Empress Dowager Hu.

The young Fourth Princess had no idea that she was about to be separated from her biological mother. She just thought that this time was just like the last time she was brought to the Queen's Palace. Her mother had made a mistake and that after being locked up for a while, she would be taken back by her mother.

Deng Wu and Deng Liu, who were also temporarily staying in the Cining Palace, were only allowed to leave the palace with Deng Si's body when they heard that Duke Ying had died of a cold.

The three sisters had their own thoughts on this trip to the palace, but the final result was something none of them could have predicted - Deng Si, who was the most valued by the family, died for no reason, Deng Wu, who was hinted to enter the palace as a concubine in the future, had to observe three years of mourning for her father because of the death of Duke Ying. Deng Liu, who was the youngest and the youngest, fell ill upon returning home, and several doctors failed to cure her. Later, the wife of the former prince, who had been promoted to the wife of Duke Ying, had no choice but to give her away to a nun who traveled to the imperial capital as an apprentice. After she became a Taoist priest, she slowly recovered.

The title of the Duke of England now falls directly on the head of the eldest grandson, who is only seven or eight years old this year. Most of the people of the same age in the family, as well as uncles, aunts and cousins, have been sacrificed for the loyalty of the old Duke, and the elders who were lucky enough to stay have also resigned from their official positions and are unemployed at home, and those of his generation also have to observe mourning.

Yes.

The once glorious Duke of England's Mansion suddenly became an empty shell of nobility with only a title. The palace gradually became deserted, with the only two hopes left: the immature little Duke and the second prince in the palace.

Unlike the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion, the Marquis of Shunyi's Mansion had long been in decline. It was only because it was once the mansion of a founding marquis that its location was still considered good. When their entire family was imprisoned, they could still smell the scent of paper ashes coming from afar.

Shunyi Bo, who used to be pot-bellied, had lost a lot of weight due to days of anxiety and imprisonment. He and his sons were imprisoned in the same courtyard, and every day they had to eat coarse rice and vegetable leaves sent by the Jinwu Guards. His cheeks turned green and he looked listless. But even so, he still did not forget to curse his first wife, Hong, who died early, and "the good daughter raised by Hong."

Marquis Shunyi couldn't understand why Liu Shuyi wanted to assassinate the emperor. Wasn't it because the fact that she caused Concubine Xu to have a miscarriage was exposed?

She has a princess and is a senior imperial concubine. At most she would fall out of favor, be deposed, and be banished to the cold palace... Why would she go crazy and risk the lives of her entire family?

After scolding Mrs. Hong for not knowing how to raise a daughter, Shunyi Bo scolded Liu Shuyi for being unfilial and vicious. After scolding her once, he saw his eldest son staring blankly at the wall. Shunyi Bo, who couldn't stand his depressed look after being deprived of the title of Crown Prince, suddenly became angry and walked over to kick Liu Baokun: "What a loser!"

Liu Baokun didn't cry out in pain after being kicked, but stared at his father blankly: "Why can't we hear any sound from the women today? Were they taken away, or?"

Hearing what he said, Shunyi Bo couldn't help but think of his newly married young wife and his many charming concubines. He felt even more depressed and resented that most of these women would be given a lighter sentence and not become slaves and lose their lives. At the same time, he wished that his women would understand the principle of chastity and that self-understanding as early as possible was the right path...

Behind the two sighing father and son, the young man who had just become the crown prince and suffered another misfortune silently hugged his legs and huddled in a corner. He couldn't help but think of the day when he got the news that Liu Shuyi had assassinated the emperor, so he boldly stole the seal of Shunyi Bo, and learned Liu Baokun's handwriting, secretly wrote a divorce letter, gave it to his sister-in-law Xiao Hong, and let her leave Shunyi Bo's mansion...

But her surname is Hong after all. This time, in addition to the assassination of the emperor, Liu Shuyi was also involved in another disaster that involved the Hong family. The young man was only worried that even if his sister-in-law left Shunyi's mansion, she would still suffer misfortune when she returned to her parents' home.

Xiao Hong, who was unwilling to marry Liu Baokun and hated the family because of the torture she had suffered, pretended to show concern in front of the boy after realizing his simple and shy thoughts. She did it just to make her life easier in the future, but she didn't expect that it would buy her a glimmer of hope.

Xiao Hong, who got the divorce letter and temporarily escaped accountability, did not know that the Hong family was also being held accountable, but she instinctively did not want to go back to that place. So, she took her trusted maid and two female household registrations that she had obtained through her connections in Jing County in her early years, changed her name, and found a place to stay temporarily in the suburbs of Beijing. After the stone tablet case was concluded and the capital and its surrounding areas were no longer under martial law, she decisively left that place.

As for the young man who had suffered such bad luck... Xiao Hong thought that she could not save him, but she would always remember his kindness in saving her life.

Another month passed.

All the men over the age of seven in the Shunyi Marquis's mansion were beheaded, and the remaining female family members were all made official slaves. Among them, the wife of Shunyi Marquis's eldest son disappeared inexplicably, and the prince produced a divorce letter to prove that she had been divorced long ago and had no relationship with the Liu family anymore. However, the girl's parents' home was later searched, but no trace of her was found.

Whether she is dead or alive, and where she went, has since become another suspenseful story written by literati and poets.