Warm fragrance cloud around

Cheng Jiangyun confirmed Mazi Chen's confession, and sent people to the neighboring county overnight. With the emperor's special order, they went all the way without hindrance, and finally rushed to the gate before opening the city, and successfully rescued the terrified little princess back to the capital.

The experience of the little princess in the past few days can be described as thrilling. After returning to the palace, she was still in shock. Zhu Qi and Mingrui, who had always been close to her, were gone. In the end, she was accompanied by the emperor, empress, and prince, the three most noble people in the world. It was so hard to fall asleep sobbing.

Afterwards, the emperor summoned Cheng Jiangyun and inquired in detail about the ins and outs of the captivity incident, and thus the scene in the Yonghe Palace began.

"Don't look for it, I know where they are."

The emperor's tone was very flat, but with an aura of calmness and prestige, De Fei's anger disappeared instantly because of these words, and she even felt a chill.

This day is a rare warm winter day in recent days. The orange sunlight poured through the doors and windows of the palace, making the bright yellow color in front of my eyes almost dazzling. Concubine De was silent for a long time before saying in a hoarse voice: "Concubine... I don’t understand what the emperor means.”

The emperor gave her a condescending look, his eyes full of scrutiny, and he nodded after a long while, signaling to Mr. Wang behind him to bring the things up.

Director Wang held the tray and presented it in front of Concubine De, with a respectful face, "Concubine De, please have a look."

Concubine De turned sideways to the tray, and after seeing what was inside, her face suddenly paled.

Inside the tray are the letters and purse hidden by Xiuzhu.

"Aifei, do you have something to say?"

The emperor's face was still calm and indifferent, as if he was not angry at all because the concubine was unfaithful to him, and even killed the princess, as if the two were just gossip.

Such calmness is even more frightening.

Concubine De didn't know how much the emperor knew about her actions, and she was thinking about whether to obey him to defend herself, she looked past the emperor's figure, and saw Cheng Jiangyun, the minister of Dali Temple standing outside the palace behind him, and the Xiu Zhu, who was escorted by two guards, had no luck anymore, and her body collapsed.

She stared at Xiuzhu's direction as if poisoned, but unfortunately she was too far away to cause her any harm. She glanced at the emperor again, and Concubine De laughed suddenly, her laughter was flamboyant and rampant. There is a sense of relief in it.

"Your majesty, you finally found out that the concubine has nothing to say, isn't all this thanks to you?!"

The emperor looked at her quietly without saying a word.

"I have been in love with Wu Lang for a long time, and it is all because of you, Your Majesty! Your draft decree made me spend five years in this bottomless palace!"

"How many five years are there in a person's life! Fortunately, God did not disappoint me, and I was lucky enough to reconnect with Wu Lang in the palace. But it was still because of you! Because I was afraid that you would blame me, my good father even took away Wu Lang's Life!"

She cast a disdainful glance in Xiuzhu's direction, "Transferred from the imperial guards? Can't come to see me? Do you think I'll believe it?! My Wu Lang is afraid that he will be buried in the ground long ago, and he will never rest in peace!"

After Shen Shangshu dealt with Wood, he gave Xiuzhu a strict order to let her only say that Wood had been transferred in front of Concubine De, and Concubine De had already seen through their deception.

"Wu Lang is gone, why are you still high above, enjoying all the glory and wealth! I can't let you have a good time!" Concubine De's eyes flashed with flames of hatred, she didn't dare to vent her anger to the emperor, so she desperately shot her death gaze at Xiuzhu.

"What should be done and what shouldn't be done, the concubine has already done it. The emperor only punishes the concubine, and the concubine has no complaints." Concubine De finally raised her head to look at the emperor, with a weird smile on her lips, "It's best, Don't let anyone in the know go."

Lin Junnuan went to Dali Temple very early today, and also entered the palace with Cheng Jiangyun, watching the concubine dissing the emperor.

In this era of supremacy of monarchy and patriarchy, I have to say that the thoughts reflected in her words are actually quite advanced. If it weren't for the kidnapping of people and the death of several people involved, Lin Junnuan might still be in her heart Give her a round of applause.

Moreover, it can't be seen that this empress is so ruthless, the last sentence is obviously to tell the emperor not to let her father, or even the rhythm of the whole family.

You sent me into the palace and killed my lover for the benefit of the family, and I will drag your whole family to die together, um, there is nothing wrong...

Thinking deeper, Concubine De should have foreseen this situation a long time ago, and it can even be said that she facilitated it. The purpose of abducting and getting rid of the little princess is to avenge the emperor. Panicked" revealed a bit of flaws, and let people find out the truth of the matter along the way, dragging Shen Shangshu and the entire Shen family into the water.

I'm afraid that even Shen Shangshu himself never thought that the daughter he sent into the palace with his own hands would want to destroy his whole family with his own hands.

As expected of someone who has been in the harem, but they are very quiet, Lin Junnuan couldn't help but sigh.

**

Concubine De then explained very straightforwardly.

However, she insisted on confessing to the emperor alone, and Cheng Jiangyun could not be present, let alone Lin Junnuan.

Only in the afternoon, the emperor ordered someone to blockade Shen Shangshu's mansion, and sent Shen Shangshu to prison on the grounds of "forming a party for personal gain", "corrupting the law" and "murdering the royal family's blood".

The series of incidents caused by the "Gang of Heroes" had caused the emperor to have a lot of grudges against Shen Shangshu. He just thought about his power and personal ability in the court, and wanted to keep him for the time being.But this time the little princess was taken into captivity, and the concubine De's infidelity had a lot to do with him, and the emperor had completely lost patience with him.

Lin Junnuan secretly treats the heart of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, perhaps being betrayed is what the emperor can't bear the most.No matter how calm he is, men have no tolerance for things like wearing a cuckold, not to mention that he is still the real dragon emperor, the king of the world.

In fact, the emperor didn't pay much attention to Concubine De before.

He and the queen are young couples with a deep relationship. After so many years, their sons are married and they still respect and love each other.But in order to consolidate his position and balance the court, he also had to draft a concubine.

There is never a shortage of women in the palace, and the emperor has never treated any woman other than the empress differently. Even when he routinely flipped cards, what he thought of was not the faces of each concubine, but the background they represented. .

Concubine De's betrayal did make him feel displeased, but not to the point of anger, but what she said surprised the emperor a bit.That's all.

On the same day, the emperor ordered Shen Shangshu to be executed, all his property was confiscated, the adult men of the family were exiled for three thousand miles, and the old, weak, women and children were exempted from the crime.

Some other officials who were in league with him were also inevitably implicated and convicted.

Because it is the New Year's Eve, it is not suitable to see blood, so Shen Shangshu's beheading will be done after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the next year.

It was also on this night that Concubine De, the head of the four concubines in the palace, died suddenly of a sudden illness. When everyone was sighing, they felt that this was the retribution caused by Shen Shangshu.

However, in the dead of night, the hidden guards in the palace quietly wrapped a corpse in a white cloth and buried it next to the grave of a guard who died not long ago in the suburbs.This is the condition that Concubine De negotiated with the emperor at the price of confessing all her father's evil deeds.

These are all things for later, so I won't mention them for now.

**

After watching a big show in the palace, Lin Junnuan was silent all the way back.

Mr. Cheng wondered if there was something he didn't do well that made his fiancee angry, he couldn't figure it out after thinking about it, so he just asked directly.

"What is Ah Nuan thinking?"

Lin Junnuan replied subconsciously, "I was thinking about what Defei Empress said just now."

Defei's words?Cheng Jiangyun frowned, Concubine De's words were sonorous, but she was clearly treasonous, so there was nothing to think about.

"Could it be that Ah Nuan thinks Concubine De is innocent?"

"I just feel a little pitiful and pathetic for her," Lin Junnuan sighed, "Innocent but not necessarily innocent."

The pity lies in being involuntary and becoming a victim of the family's interests; the tragedy is in knowing the mistake and committing the crime, and embarking on the path of disloyalty and unfilial piety; with several lives on his hands, how can he be called innocent.

Sometimes Lin Junnuan feels that she is too cold-blooded in some aspects.

For example, in modern times, a lot of news talk about a murderous case in order to attract people's attention. They always like to dig out the story behind the prisoner, how miserable his childhood was, and how pitiful his own situation is. A protective aura that makes crime seem trivial.

But in many cases, whether in public opinion or in court, this kind of "sorrowful whitewashing" is an effective means, which puzzles her very much.

No matter how hard you have suffered, no matter how hard you have suffered, no matter how pitiful you are, is there any logical relationship between this and your violating the rights and even lives of others and committing unforgivable crimes?

Therefore, regarding Concubine De's behavior, she would at most sigh "she is a ruthless person", and hoped that she would be punished as she should.

Lin Junnuan shook her head, "Let's not talk about it, let someone go and find out if there is any relationship between Zhu Qi and Mingrui?"

"The two of them?" Cheng Jiangyun was puzzled, "What did you find?"

"Why did Zhu Qi commit suicide? Have you figured this out?"

Cheng Jiangyun shook his head, "You know?"

"It's just a guess," Lin Junnuan explained: "I suspect that Zhu Qi found out that Mingrui was bewitched by others, and wanted to harm the little princess, so he gave her laxatives to prevent her from leaving the palace."

"You mean, Zhu Qi is protecting Mingrui?"

"That's right, that's why I asked you to find out what the relationship between the two of them is." Lin Junnuan smiled, "And Zhu Qi was sent by the emperor to protect the little princess. Would someone from a secret guard make things difficult for a little palace lady? ? I always feel that she looks like she is trying to make things difficult for Mingrui, maybe reminding her to teach means more."

"She thought that if Mingrui was prevented from leaving the palace, the little princess would be safe. Who knew that the real prisoner was still waiting on the road."

"If you want to save the little princess, you must confess Mingrui, and Mingrui's life will be at stake; if you want to protect Mingrui, then you will miss the best time to find the little princess and go against her mission."

"Zhu Qi couldn't choose between the two, and in the end he had to die in front of the emperor to apologize. Does this make sense?"