They are all concubines, so of course they choose the future emperor.

At this moment, countless thoughts flashed through Wei Fuxue's mind.

She thought about cheating, taking advantage, and other methods, but when the time came, she gave up on everything.

Although Jiang Wanyue's words just now were full of pity, they were the only sincerity Wei Fuxue had encountered in the past six months.

She closed her eyes and told the truth.

"I went into labor yesterday... because I threw away the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician. I didn't choose the day you were crowned queen on purpose. I didn't mean to go against you, but I really had no choice, Ping'er... Qixia had a hard time in the temple. The nuns were very cruel. Not only did they make her fetch water, wash clothes and do rough work, they also often humiliated her..."

Once you start, the rest of the conversation doesn't seem so difficult to say.

Wei Fuxue spoke intermittently, and when she talked about the grievances her daughter had suffered, she clutched the collar of her clothes at her chest with heartache.

Jiang Wanyue was silent.

She didn't know what Qixia's situation was like in Tianfu Temple, but she thought it certainly wasn't going to be easy.

It was the Imperial Concubine who ordered Qixia to go to Tianfu Temple to practice mourning. How could the nuns in the temple treat her well?

Although Qixia is a princess, her parents are "dead", and she has offended Prince Ding's Mansion. Without a backer, who would take her seriously?

Jiang Wanyue naturally wouldn't feel sorry for Qixia, but the fact that Wei Fuxue was so devoted to his daughter that he even ignored his own health made her look at him with awe.

Jiang Wanyue thought she couldn't do it.

She didn't respond immediately, but frowned and thought for a long time.

If she had just been reborn, she would definitely not pay attention to Wei Fuxue. She would not do anything that was not beneficial.

But after these two years, her state of mind has become more stable, and she will consider other things besides her own interests.

To put it another way, she had few things in the past and was eager for success, so she tried her best to use all the people and things that could be used. But now that she sits in the back seat and the Jiang family's status is stable, she can naturally do things with ease.

Thinking of this, Jiang Wanyue spoke slowly.

"It was the imperial decree of the noble concubine that Princess Qixia should meditate in Tianfu Temple, and I can't deny her face. However, I can send someone to Tianfu Temple to send some things to Princess Qixia and teach those nuns a lesson. I think her life will be better."

When she said this, she looked up at Wei Fuxue.

Wei Fuxue still looked at her expectantly.

Jiang Wanyue pursed her lips before continuing.

"But I still have to remind you that you are now Rong Fei Wei, and you have no relationship with Qixia on the surface. Even if she leaves the temple in the future, you can't take her into the palace."

Wei Fuxue's face turned extremely pale for a moment.

She smiled bitterly and nodded.

"I know that as long as Ping'er can live a good life, I will be satisfied and dare not ask for more."

She wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, and her smile was filled with sadness as well as bitterness.

"I know Ping'er has done a lot of wrong things, but she was forced into it. She wasn't like this before... After her father got into trouble, I... She felt uneasy and didn't trust Princess Ding, and she always wanted to protect me. In the end, I'm a useless mother."

Jiang Wanyue did not comfort her, that was the fact.

Not everyone can accept the fall from a favored daughter of heaven to an orphan living under the care of others. Ordinary people would probably be devastated, but Qixia was relatively good. She did not lose her mind, she just turned evil.

Judging from the things she has done, she is smart enough and cruel enough to herself. In this respect, she is much better than her mother.

If such people can be trained well, they may be of great use in the future.

There are many people around her who can be used, but not many are as smart and ruthless as Qixia.

Chapter 179

There was silence in the hall for a while.

Not long after, there was a knock on the door.

Jiang Wanyue withdrew her thoughts and shouted, "Come in."

The palace maids came in one after another, some carrying water, some holding towels, some holding medicine bowls, and two of them holding new dresses, all of which were ordered by Jiang Wanyue earlier.

The palace maids helped Wei Fuxue wash her face, changed her clothes, and fed her medicine before leaving.

"By the way, I have something to ask you. Do you know Princess Yurong?"

Wei Fuxue was stunned.

"Princess Yurong? Isn't she in Xuandu Temple over on Wangwu Mountain? Why did Your Majesty think of her?"

"I've only heard of him occasionally, but never met him in person, so I'm a little curious."

Jiang Wanyue did not tell the truth, but just made up an excuse to deal with it.

Wei Fuxue did not ask any further questions.

She bowed her head and thought for a moment before answering.

"I have met Princess Yurong several times. I met her at... a palace banquet before. Later, she got married and we also met a few times. Princess Yurong's personality is completely opposite to Princess Jiayin's. Jiayin seems innocent, but she knows etiquette and is very kind to her superiors and subordinates. However, Yurong is willful and selfish."

Wei Fuxue's eyes gradually narrowed, revealing a look of reminiscence.

"I still remember that I didn't get pregnant again for two years after giving birth to Qixia, so the Queen Mother rewarded me with a fertility-giving Guanyin, but I didn't expect that before the gift was delivered, the car broke down on the way and the Guanyin was damaged."

Jiang Wanyue's eyelids twitched.

"Did Yurong do it?"

Wei Fuxue sighed, "There was no evidence at the time, so I couldn't investigate. Later, someone told me that Yurong, the Goddess of Childbirth, had begged the Queen Mother several times, but the Queen Mother didn't agree. That's when I started to suspect her."

Jiang Wanyue frowned slightly.

She didn't expect Princess Yurong to be such a person.

Then why did Li Ce go to see her on purpose?

Given Li Ce's personality, he should dislike this kind of person.

Jiang Wanyue looked at Wei Fuxue a few times and couldn't help but ask again.

"Was she good to Li Ce... the Emperor?"

Wei Fuxue looked at her in surprise: "How is that possible? She has always looked down on Li Ce."

She paused, lowered her voice and continued.

"You don't know that Li Ce was often bullied in the palace when he was a child. It was okay at ordinary times, at most he was ignored, but sometimes when he was praised by the emperor, he would encounter all kinds of things, such as falling off a horse, being pushed into the river, and the eunuchs around him dying of illness after eating the wrong food... everything happened. Yurong should not have done these things, but she mocked Li Ce in front of outsiders several times."

Wei Fuxue had known Li Ce and other princes and princesses since she was very young, so she was very clear about these things.

Jiang Wanyue frowned even more tightly.

"That's even weirder..."

Wei Fuxue looked at her expression and asked tentatively, "Did something happen to Yurong?"

Jiang Wanyue glanced at her and asked back.

"What do you think will happen to her?"

Wei Fuxue raised her eyelids and said, "It's not surprising that she had any trouble. She chose her husband herself and cried and shouted to marry him. But less than three years after the marriage, she insisted on getting a divorce. The emperor couldn't persuade her and had to agree, but forced her to become a nun in Xuandu Temple in order to make her calm down. But as far as I know, she didn't listen."

Wei Fuxue stopped talking suddenly, with a look of confusion on her face.

"Although it's not nice to talk about people behind their backs...but some of the rumors about her are really not plausible."

Jiang Wanyue became interested.

"Oh? What rumors?"

Wei Fuxue took a deep breath and said, "Two years ago, there were rumors that she had kept several male lovers in Xuandu Temple."

Jiang Wanyue's heart skipped a beat, and a guess suddenly emerged in her mind.

Then, she heard Wei Fuxue continue.

"I asked Li Jian about this rumor, but he didn't take it seriously, saying that as long as she didn't cause any deaths, he shouldn't care." She also explained, "Yurong's biological mother saved the emperor and died when she was born, so the emperor was particularly indulgent towards her, which led to her character."

Jiang Wanyue narrowed her eyes.

If this rumor is true, Yurong has had several lovers. Over the years, there must have been some missteps. I'm afraid that child...

She stopped the thought.

If this is true, it would be a scandal for the royal family.

This also explains why Li Ce was unwilling to tell her the truth.

No matter how much Li Ce liked her, he was unlikely to tell her about the royal scandal. Moreover, the one who did such a thing was his sister... I guess Li Ce wanted to kill everyone who knew about it.

Thinking of this, Jiang Wanyue's eyes flashed.

wrong.

If the purpose was just to conceal the fact that Yurong had an illegitimate daughter, there would be no need to switch the child and bring him into the palace.

The key to this matter is probably not Yurong. Replacing her child should be a matter of convenience. Or perhaps, it was because Wei Fuxue acted suddenly yesterday and could not find the newborn child, so he used Yurong's child.

The key lies in the son Wei Fuxue gave birth to.

Jiang Wanyue pursed her lips and looked at Wei Fuxue seriously.

Wei Fuxue did not notice the change in Jiang Wanyue's eyes. She was still marveling at Yurong's deeds.

Jiang Wanyue shook her head in her heart.

Wei Fuxue doesn't seem to be that scheming.

Is there an invisible hand behind this?

Her eyes moved slightly, and she carefully recalled what had happened to Wei Fuxue in the past few months in her mind.

After she entered the Eastern Palace, she basically lost contact with the outside world. The only person she kept in touch with was Qixia. If someone contacted her, Jiang Wanyue would not be able to fail to notice.

So, it should have happened before she entered the Eastern Palace.

Who could be worthy of Li Ce's serious treatment? The remnant of King Qi? Or...

Several possible people instantly emerged in her mind.

But, it’s not certain yet.

However, Jiang Wanyue is no longer in a hurry.

Since she had already guessed most of the reasons and knew that Li Ce had a plan to deal with it, she just had to wait patiently.

After that, Jiang Wanyue didn't ask anything else. She just chatted with Wei Fuxue for a few words and then asked someone to send her back to Liufang Palace.

In the afternoon of that day, Jiang Wanyue called the Deputy Shangyi and Si Zan of the Shangyi Bureau.

These two are old acquaintances. The Deputy Shangyi was the former chef of the Eastern Palace. Jiang Wanyue brought her here because she saw that she was capable.

As for Si Zan, he was the former head gardener, and it was Deputy Shangyi who took the initiative to request to be brought here.

She brought all the people from the former East Palace and the palace maids who served her personally, but there were limited places in the six bureaus, so only these two, Aunt Sun, Nanny Qian, and Xiuchun were arranged to stay in.

Although Xiuchun was promoted to Shanggong, she was mainly in charge of Jiang Wanyue and did not work in the Shanggong Bureau.

There was also Madam Zhou. Jiang Wanyue originally wanted her to work in the Shangshi Bureau, but was rejected by Madam Zhou. Madam Zhou said that she was not good at managing servants and still preferred to cook for the master, so Jiang Wanyue let her continue to work in the small kitchen.

"I have just moved into Fenglai Palace, and the various royal palaces have sent me many gifts. Have you prepared all the gifts in return?"

Jiang Wanyue asked as soon as she saw the two of them.

The Deputy Shangyi knelt down and said: "The gift list has been prepared, and I am preparing to present it to Your Majesty."

"Then bring it here!"

Jiang Wanyue stretched out a hand and took the thick stack of gift lists from the deputy Shangyi.

She flipped through it quickly and then frowned.

The deputy Shangyi's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly asked, "My queen, is there anything wrong? I'll go back and re-draft it."

Jiang Wanyue waved her hand.

"There is basically no problem with these gift lists, except that Princess Yurong and Princess Qixia are not on them."

She looked natural and spoke as usual.

"Although these two are not in the capital, they are members of the royal family after all, and we cannot ignore them. So, Princess Yurong should prepare another one like Princess Jiayin. As for Princess Qixia, she is in mourning, so don't send those bright things. She needs to practice, and she won't need jewelry. So replace it with food, supplements, medicines, and silver!"

Jiang Wanyue said this casually and handed the gift list back.

The deputy Shangyi had no doubts and bowed again.

"I have noted it down."

Jiang Wanyue waved her hand and told the two of them to leave.

The Sixth Bureau was very efficient and sent someone to return the gift early the next morning.

The rest of the prefectures were in the capital and were delivered in the morning. Princess Yurong was in Wangwu Mountain and would not be delivered until the next day.

The one for Qixia was delivered in the afternoon.

At that time, Qixia was being forced to fetch water by two nuns.

She had always lived a life of luxury and didn't have much strength. The bucket was extra large, so it was very strenuous for her to fill only half of it.

But the two nuns watched and when they saw that the bucket was not full, they slapped it.

Naturally, this palm strike would not be directed at the face so that people would notice it. Instead, it would be directed at the back or the arm.

Then the bucket fell back into the well, and Qixia had to draw it again.

If it was just tiredness and pain, it would be fine. It's not that she couldn't bear it.

But the square-faced nun always stared at her with ill intentions, and when it was her turn to be beaten, she would specifically hit her chest and buttocks.

Every time he hit me, he would laugh strangely.

That laughter made Qixia feel creepy.

What’s even more horrifying is that a few nights ago, when she was half asleep, she found someone touching her!

Qixia was so frightened that she screamed and woke up everyone in the yard.

Even the female abbess was alarmed.

The square-faced nun was the disciple of the female abbess. Qixia didn't dare to tell the truth. She knew very well that no one would believe her even if she told it, so she just said that she had a nightmare.

Although she was later punished to recite scriptures in front of the Bodhisattva until dawn, Qixia never complained.

She didn't dare go back to her room to sleep these days, and she took the initiative to help the nuns who were on night watch every day. Finally, she had a few days of peace.

But today I can't avoid it.

She used all her strength to pull up a bucket of water. Just as she brought the bucket to the edge of the well and wanted to take a breath, the square-faced nun suddenly came over.

"That's all the water you got? Haven't you eaten yet? The rice in the temple is not for idlers! Get more water!"

She raised her foot and kicked Qixia's calf.

Qixia hadn't slept for several days, and was already feeling groggy and listless. Her reactions became slow, and she was unable to dodge the kick, which hit her right on the spot.

She stumbled forward and fell to the ground.

The bucket of water lost its support and suddenly slid down the edge of the well, and both the bucket and the water fell heavily on her back.

Qixia couldn't help but let out a scream.

The square-faced nun looked at him coldly: "Still pretending? Get up! If you don't fill this water tank, you won't be able to have dinner today!"

Unexpectedly, as soon as she finished speaking, a panicked voice came from the front.

"Oh no, someone is coming from the palace."