"Earlier, I had Prince Leng investigate your relationship."
"Guards, bring Miss Diao Qiu in."
Leng Ruo Li shouted towards the door.
Xi Qiu was immediately brought into the Empress Dowager's sleeping quarters by the Imperial Guards and made to kneel on the ground.
"You are Xi Qiu, aren't you?"
Leng Ruo Li asked the girl on the floor.
"Indeed!"
Xi Qiu looked up at Leng Ruo Li and replied indifferently.
"What is your relationship with Granny Fang?"
Xi Qiu pursed her lips and remained silent.
Leng Ruo Li gazed at her with deep, discerning eyes and asked directly, "Did you put the arsenic in the Empress Dowager's porridge, or was it Granny Fang?"
"I did it. It has nothing to do with my aunt," Xi Qiu answered decisively.
Granny Fang was extremely anxious. She could not let Xi Qiu admit to the poisoning. If Xi Qiu confessed, the Empress Dowager might spare her life out of consideration for her many years of service.
"Empress Dowager, it was this servant who poisoned your porridge. It has nothing to do with Xi Qiu." Granny Fang rushed to take the blame.
"Granny Fang, how has the Empress Dowager treated you?" Leng Ruo Li looked at Fang Qing with a hint of scrutiny in her eyes.
"The Empress Dowager has been exceptionally kind to me."
Granny Fang looked up at the Empress Dowager with a face full of remorse.
"Then why did you put arsenic in the Empress Dowager's porridge? What was your motive?"
"I... I hate... that the Empress Dowager refused my marriage proposal back then." Granny Fang stammered.
The Empress Dowager, lying in bed, felt a pang of pain in her heart.
"Fang Qing, you have finally spoken the truth. You truly still resent me. Back then, I refused your marriage because the man you loved had already died in battle. I feared you would not be able to bear it, so I kept it from you until now. I thought that after so many years, you would have forgotten him, but I never expected..." She sighed.
Upon hearing this, Granny Fang's tears immediately fell, and she murmured softly, "So he really is dead."
After a long while, Granny Fang regained her composure.
Leng Ruo Li asked her again, "Granny Fang, it wasn't you who put the arsenic in, was it?"
Leng Ruo Li's bright, beautiful almond-shaped eyes seemed to pierce through Granny Fang.
Granny Fang immediately lowered her head, not daring to meet Leng Ruo Li's gaze.
Leng Ruo Li understood immediately and turned to ask Xi Qiu.
"Does the Empress Dowager have any enmity with you?"
"No."
"Then tell me honestly, who instructed you to poison the Empress Dowager?"
"He is my benefactor. I will not betray him, so you don't need to ask."
As soon as she finished speaking, the Empress, dressed in a grand crimson palace gown, barged in.
"Your subject pays her respects to His Majesty and the Empress Dowager."
The Empress performed a proper, grand bow to the Emperor and the Empress Dowager.
Seeing the Empress enter, the Emperor and the Empress Dowager's faces turned extremely grim. This Empress was becoming more and more insolent.
"Your subject heard from the palace staff that the Empress Dowager had awakened, so I rushed over from the Fengqi Palace."
The Empress said with her signature smile, her voice unhurried.
"Then you have arrived at a good time. Isn't this Xi Qiu a palace maid from your Fengqi Palace?" the Emperor asked the Empress sternly.
Upon hearing this, the Empress walked with small, seemingly elegant steps to Xi Qiu and examined her closely. Then, with a composed expression, as if nothing were amiss, she replied, "Your Majesty, this is indeed a palace maid from my Fengwu Palace. If my memory serves me correctly, she is only a second-class palace maid."
Xi Qiu did not understand the Empress's meaning. She lowered her head and furrowed her brow, then looked up to meet the Empress's scrutinizing gaze.
"Your Majesty, may I ask what mistake she has committed?" the Empress asked, feigning ignorance.
"Don't you know perfectly well in your heart?"
The Emperor said to the Empress with a dark expression.
"Your subject truly does not know!"
The Empress smiled at the Emperor, her eyes fixed on Xi Qiu kneeling on the ground. She circled Xi Qiu, then tapped her jade bracelet, as if hinting at something.
Xi Qiu understood the Empress's meaning. She was reminding her to confess and commit suicide. She glanced sideways at Granny Fang, feeling a pang of reluctance.
However, she immediately bit the potent poison hidden in her teeth and spat out a mouthful of black blood.
She closed her eyes tightly, her mind recalling the happy memories of her childhood with her parents. If she hadn't been stolen away as a child, would she not have become someone's tool?
Leng Ruo Li quickly moved to rescue her, but it was too late.
"Qiu'er, my poor Qiu'er."
Granny Fang rushed over, cradled Xi Qiu's body, and wept loudly.
Xi Qiu, her niece, was truly pitiful. She had been stolen by wicked people when she was only a few years old. Her elder brother and sister-in-law searched for Xi Qiu for many years without success. They passed away from illness years ago without ever seeing Xi Qiu again.
Granny Fang was able to recognize Xi Qiu only recently. When she went to the Imperial Hospital to fetch medicine for the Empress Dowager, she saw a familiar palace maid's figure and immediately pursued her. Unexpectedly, that palace maid was Xi Qiu. At first, Xi Qiu was unwilling to acknowledge her identity.
However, after several days of covert investigation, Granny Fang finally uncovered the truth: this young palace maid Xi Qiu was her own niece.
But she didn't understand why Xi Qiu would work for the Empress. Later, after persistent questioning, she learned where Xi Qiu had been all these years.
It turned out she had been stolen by a renowned assassin organization and was now working under the Empress.
When the Empress Dowager ate a few spoonfuls of the Eight Treasure Porridge and was poisoned, Granny Fang immediately knew who was responsible. However, she concealed this matter and did not expose Xi Qiu.
The Empress Dowager looked at Granny Fang, who was kneeling on the ground, and felt a deep sense of unease. She had entered the palace as a concubine to the late Emperor in her teens and had fought with those women for decades, ultimately emerging as the winner of palace intrigues. She had seen every kind of scheme and understood what was happening today.
"Your Majesty, let this matter rest. I already know what happened."
The Empress Dowager waved her hand at them and sighed deeply, "Empress, I have a piece of advice for you: One should not be too clever. If you are too clever, you will eventually fall into a great pit."
"Yes, your subject humbly accepts your teachings." The Empress replied meekly.
"Fang Qing, you will no longer need to serve me. I have arranged for a courtyard outside the palace for you and will provide you with some money for your retirement. Take care of yourself."
Granny Fang, still immersed in sorrow, was stunned by the Empress Dowager's words.
"Empress Dowager, please do not send Fang Qing away. Fang Qing cannot bear to leave you."
Upon hearing that the Empress Dowager intended to dismiss her, Granny Fang was on the verge of collapse. She had been serving by the Empress Dowager's side since she was twelve years old. Decades had passed in the blink of an eye, and she had always remained by the Empress Dowager's side. She and the Empress Dowager were like mother and daughter.
The Empress Dowager was exceptionally good to her servants, unlike other nobles in the palace who were insidious and cruel, treating the lives of their servants as less than nothing.
Now, the Empress Dowager wanted to drive her out of the palace, and she found it truly unbearable.
The Empress Dowager did not respond to her. She waved her hand at the people in the sleeping quarters, "All of you, leave. I wish to be alone."
Leng Ruo Li gave some instructions to the palace maids attending the Empress Dowager.
The Emperor then led everyone out of Changshou Palace.
Outside Changshou Palace, after the Emperor and the Empress and their entourage had left, Jun Mohan suddenly spoke to Leng Ruo Li.