Chapter 864 The Flattery Backfires
“What’s going on?” After sitting down and seeing the scene in front of him, the Emperor’s face turned cold.
“Your Majesty, I don’t want to live anymore. I just asked something about Marquis Xing’s Mansion, but Fifth Miss Shao mocked me, saying that my family was in a lower cla.s.s than hers. I was so angry that I argued with her. But She pushed both of us… I disgraced you, Your Majesty. I don’t deserve to live any longer!”
The imperial consort, who was crying and shouting just now, walked to the Emperor with her knees and complained to him with tears on her face.
And her complaints shocked Shao Wanru very much. “How shameless she is to talk nonsense in front of so many people!”
After all, there were a few people present, but most of them were from the Empress’ palace. The rest were the Misses who were about to enter Prince Yue’s Mansion and Prince Zhou’s Mansion.
No one dared to say anything before the Empress spoke.
“Your Majesty… Your Majesty, please uphold justice for us!” The other imperial consort also cried and complained. She looked even more miserable. However, both of them gave direct hints that it was Shao Wanru who had bullied them.
Every imperial concubine living in the palace was so proficient in framing, slandering, and distorting the truth. With just a few words, they had made Shao Wanru at a disadvantage.
Zhang Qilan moved a little, wanting to explain for Shao Wanru, but Infanta Yuan’an who was beside her grabbed her sleeve. She shook her head to indicate Zhang Qilan not to take reckless actions.
The two of them had known each other before and got along well. Zhang Qilan understood the kindness to her from Infanta Yuan’an. At this time, it was not her turn to speak first. However, she couldn’t stand to watch Shao Wanru being bullied by the two imperial consorts. Then she turned to look at the Empress.
Only the Empress could explain what had happened just now, and only she could speak at such a scene. However, she looked very calm, pursing her lips tightly and showing no intention of helping Shao Wanru.
Infanta Yuan’an waved Zhang Qilan’s sleeve again and motioned for her to keep waiting. Zhang Qilan had to nod helplessly.
Shao Wanru did not see the interaction between them. She stood with her head down and listened to the two imperial concubines’ complaint that pushed all the blame on her. And she was not surprised by the Empress’ silence. She had known early that the Empress’s att.i.tude toward her was not kind at all. “Even if she had a smile on her face, the smile is nothing but a cold mask.”
It was impossible that the Empress would explain for Shao Wanru that she didn’t push the two imperial concubines. She was kind enough if she didn’t strike Shao Wanru who was in trouble now.
The Empress was venting her dissatisfaction with Shao Yanru and her hatred towards Marquis Xing’s Mansion on Shao Wanru.
“What noise is it, Uncle the Emperor? Has this place become a market?” A lazy voice with a little gloom suddenly came from outside the hall.
When the Empress looked up and saw Chu Liuchen standing at the door with his hands clasped behind his back, her heart skipped a beat.
Standing in the shadow, Chu Liuchen didn’t look gentle anymore. Instead, he looked creepy and cold.
Only as he walked in slowly and showed the smile on his face did he start to look a little friendly. He was still the gentle and elegant Prince Chen, wasn’t he?
He walked forward and bowed to the Emperor and the Empress. After that, he sat on a s.p.a.cious chair. He looked up and down at the two consorts who were crying and then said with disgust, “Uncle the Emperor, who are these two? Did they do something wrong? They are just two women. Why not ask someone else to interrogate them if they made mistakes? There is no need to do it by yourself.”
Chu Liuchen said that casually with ripples of elegance in his eyes, which made his face even more gorgeous, but his words were scary enough to tremble the two imperial concubines.
“Your Majesty, you have to uphold justice for us. It’s all Fifth Miss Shao’s fault. I’ve disgraced you and I am ashamed to face you. I… I’d better go to die!”
The crying imperial consort came to her senses, acting as if she was about to stand up and crash the pillar again.
The palace servants sank into panic again, for fear that the consort would do hit a pillar. It was a serious offense in front of the Emperor.
“Why do you stop her? Since she wants to die, just let her do it,” Chu Liuchen said with indifference.
His words attracted everyone’s attention. At this moment, his delicate face was no longer as pure and gentle as before in their eyes.
“Your Highness, she said Fifth Miss Shao hurt her. Is that true?” Chu Liuchen looked up at the Empress and asked bluntly, as if he hadn’t noticed the horror and shock in everyone’s eyes.
The question was so direct that the Empress couldn’t avoid it. She could have pretended to be unclear if Prince Chen hadn’t asked her. But now she couldn’t. Even if most of the people in the hall were her subordinates, the truth couldn’t be kept as a secret because there were others.
The truth would be found out at last.
She coughed in a low voice as if she had just come to her senses from shock. “Your Majesty, Fifth Miss Shao didn’t hurt them. They did that by themselves!”
The Empress’s explanation was very neutral. It sounded like she was standing at the same side as Shao Wanru to help her. But she did not mention the two imperial concubines’ sarcasm to Shao Wanru before.
Shao Wanru looked up at the Empress and saw her smiling kindly at her. She bowed sideways to the Empress and remained silent.
It was not her turn to speak yet. Since Chu Liuchen was here, she was relieved.
“Your Highness, do you mean that they framed Fifth Miss Shao? But why? Fifth Miss Shao spends most of her time in the boudoir and has rare contact with others. She couldn’t have offended many people. Is it because of me?” Chu Liuchen examined the two imperial concubines who no longer dared to cry and suddenly smiled.
The Empress’s smile froze on her face. Chu Liuchen was such a difficult man. She just said something neutral, but he turned it into a confession of the bad deeds of the two imperial concubines.
Anyway, the two consorts did that to please the Empress. They were very smart and also flattered her. As long as she was annoyed and unhappy, they would immediately follow her wishes. They could be considered useful women. So she did not want them to be punished now, especially because of her.
“It’s not a big deal. It’s just an intense debate between women. There! Help them up! The Emperor is here. How can they be allowed to be presumptuous!” the Empress said slowly.
Her tone was very gentle, and it was obvious that she wanted to smooth it over.
“Uncle the Emperor, my fiancee was humiliated! How can I swallow it?” Chu Liuchen’s raised his eyebrows with an evil smile.
The Empress wanted to let it go, but Chu Liuchen didn’t agree. How could he allow others to bully his woman at will?
“Take the two women outside and beat them with thick sticks ten times each!” Looking at Chu Liuchen’s face, the Emperor said coldly with a gloomy face. Two eunuchs came in and dragged the two consorts away.
“Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I promise I won’t do it again!”
“Help me, Your Merciful Majesty!” Aware that they were in crisis, the two imperial concubines begged the Empress for mercy with sincere tears. They had thought that the Empress would think highly of them after they flattered her, but they didn’t expect they would infuriate the Emperor and that Prince Chen would show up to protect Fifth Miss Shao wholeheartedly.
The two consorts regretted it. If they had known that Prince Chen was so protective of his fiancee, they would not have taunted her like that just now!
Even if they were lucky enough to survive the punishment today, they would be laughed at by every woman in the harem. The two were both regretful and irritated.
“Your Majesty…” The Empress showed a shocked face and pleaded. She wanted to save them.
“I should have not intervened in this. But since you are merciful, I have to make decisions for you once. If the women in the harem are all scheming like these two, then there will be no peace in the palace. Empress, you should pay more attention to teaching them!”
The Emperor rebuked them with a cold voice, including the Empress. The Empress was annoyed and gnashed her teeth, but she could say nothing to retort. She had long known that the Emperor was partial to Chu Liuchen rather than her.
Since he was a child, Chen Liuchen had never shown respect to her and often embarra.s.sed her in front of others
The Empress took a deep breath, suppressed her anger, and warned herself in her heart again and again. Then she slowly raised her head with a gentle smile on her face and she bowed to the Emperor and said, “You’re right, Your Majesty! I shouldn’t have been so inconsiderate. I thought that I should be generous towards your consorts!”
“You are too merciful!” Although the Emperor’s voice was still cold, his expression softened. He looked around and said meaningfully, “Are they all the future princesses?”
“Yes, they are!” The Empress answered with a smile as if nothing had happened just now. The two imperial consorts had been taken away, and no one knew where they were executed. The hall had been restored to peace.
Shao Wanru and other guests had been rearranged to sit down. The Emperor glanced at those women and nodded. He had seen most of them. At this time, he felt quite satisfied.
However, he became very discontented and frowned when his eyes fell on Shao Wanru.
His dissatisfaction, on the one hand, came from Shao Yanru. When thinking of her character, he would feel uneasy. Although Shao Yanru was announced as his consort, she was deserted in a distant corner of the imperial palace, just like living in the Cold Palace.
There was never a lack of beauties in the palace. So however beautiful Shao Yanru was, the Emperor would never fall in love with such a vicious woman as her, who might even provoke the fight between his sons. The Emperor gave her the t.i.tle as his consort in order to avert another argument between Chu Liuyue and Chu Liuzhou because of this woman.
The Emperor felt that the Fifth Miss Shao was too charming at such a young age. That was a kind of inborn charm, which made her one of the most gorgeous ones among a group of beauties. However, a hint of coldness in her eyes and eyebrows diluted the excessive attraction and made her more attractive when she blinked and looked at others.
“Can my nephew withstand the temptation when facing her?” Looking at Shao Wanru, the Emperor frowned his eyebrows more and more tightly. He kind of regretted promising Empress Dowager and agreeing on their marital engagement…