Harem Daily Life

A simple mourning hall was set up in Cidu Hall. Li Cairen knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times to Rong Cairen's tablet. Seeing that there was no one around, she quietly took out the written letter and prepared to burn it for Rong Cairen.

But just as she was about to light the letter, she was intercepted by Shuang'er who appeared out of nowhere.

Shuang'er snatched the letter from her and said, "The copper basin is for burning paper money, not for burning letters for you, Li Cairen."

Li Cairen was so frightened that her face turned pale. She said sternly, "Give me back the letter quickly! How dare a servant like you snatch the master's things? Give it to me now!"

But Shuang'er would not give it to her. She had performed that scene last night just to prepare for it to come in handy today.

Li Cairen came up to grab it, but how could she beat Shuang'er? Shuang'er was holding the letter so high that Li Cairen couldn't reach it at all.

"You are so presumptuous, why don't you return my things to me quickly!" Li Cairen hugged Shuang'er's arm and jumped up, hoping to get the letter. But she failed again and again.

"How dare you! Who is making a noise in Ci Du Hall?" Chang Tai was walking in front and leading the way. When he heard the quarrel coming from Ci Du Hall, he shouted, "The Queen has arrived. Outsiders are prohibited from making noise."

Tao Yanyan brought the concubines over. As soon as they entered the room, they saw Li Cairen hugging Shuang'er in a strange posture. Shuang'er's right hand was raised high, holding a letter steadily in her hand.

"Your servant greets the Empress." Shuang'er immediately threw off Li Cairen's restraints and handed over the letter: "Your servant found that Li Cairen was sneaking around and wanted to burn the letter in a copper basin. You servant felt strange, so you snatched the letter away and ask the Empress to take a look."

The concubines began to discuss in low voices, pointing at Li Cairen who was sitting on the ground.

"I don't know what it says. I heard there is a kind of talisman that can suppress souls. Could it be that Li Cairen wants to burn that kind of talisman for Rong Cairen?"

"What kind of hatred or grudge do you have? You are so vicious that you won't let go even after the person has died."

"Don't speculate. Maybe it's a memorial to express grief."

"An obituary to express condolences? Haha, don't you see that Li Cai is almost terrified? How can it be an obituary?"

Tao Yanyan raised her eyebrows and unfolded the letter. After reading it, she angrily said, "Come here, tie up Li Cairen. She dared to collude with foreign officials and murder the concubine. She deserves death."

Everyone was shocked, Shu Fei was especially shocked. She looked at Li Cairen in disbelief, with a dark look in her eyes.

"Empress, please spare me. I...that was not written by me. It was..." Li Cairen suddenly looked at Shuang'er, then at Tao Yanyan, her eyes widened: "No, it was you, you set up the trap, right?" She pointed at Tao Yanyan, the anger in her eyes seemed to want to burn her to death.

Tao Yanyan had a blank expression on his face: "I just arrived, what can I do? But you, I didn't expect you to conspire with your father, bribe Rong Cairen's former palace servant, and let him go to the cold palace to murder Rong Cairen, and even pretend that she committed suicide! The testimony you wrote in person is very detailed, you can't deny it!"

Li Cairen shook her head: "No! I was tricked by you, you set me up! I want to see His Majesty, I want to see His Majesty!"

Shu Fei glanced at Li Cairen. She didn't expect that things would be such a coincidence. When she wanted to slowly poison Rong Cairen to death, someone actually shared the same idea as her and also took action against Rong Cairen.

Since Concubine Li was responsible for Concubine Rong's death, Concubine Shu would naturally be happy to see it happen.

Shu Fei stood up and spoke on Tao Yanyan's side, saying, "The Empress is in charge of the affairs of the six palaces. You confessed to murdering the concubines. Now that His Majesty is here, can you still deny it?"

Shu Fei spoke, causing Tao Yanyan to give her a meaningful look.

It was really strange that Shu Fei jumped out at this time, as if she couldn't wait to hold Li Cairen accountable.

However, Tao Yanyan only has time to deal with Li Cairen today. As for whether Shu Fei had any influence on Rong Cairen's death, Tao Yanyan has no evidence for the time being and can only give up.

"You ganged up on me and bullied me. I want to see His Majesty, I want to see His Majesty!" Li Cairen demanded loudly, "Although you are the queen, you set me up. You are a mean person. I want to see His Majesty and sue you for murdering a concubine!"

Everyone watched Li Cairen confront Queen Tao, their eyes shifting back and forth between the two of them, and for a moment, no one spoke.

Concubine Ning stepped forward and said, "Empress Tao is the most fair and strict in her work. I believe in her character. But you, Li Cairen, usually have that sinister face. Now that the evidence is conclusive, you actually want to turn the tables and frame the queen. You are really shameless."

Liang Zhaoyi sneered, "Yes, you wrote this letter of apology yourself. Did someone put it on your neck? You have already confessed to murdering Rong Cairen, but you don't repent for what you did. You even tried to drag the queen into this. You are really hopeless."

Zhou Zhaoyi rolled her eyes at Li Cairen and said, "Do you really need His Majesty to come? Why? If His Majesty comes, can he ignore the evidence and favor you? Don't you see how much you are worth now? How dare you be so disrespectful to the Empress?"

The three of them were Queen Tao's substitutes, and they made Concubine Li speechless.

The other concubines also had a mentality of watching the show. Some of the concubines who had been bullied by Li Cairen before breathed a sigh of relief and felt that today was really a refreshing day.

"Your Majesty has arrived!" With a loud shout, He Linzhang and his entourage strode into Cidu Hall.

As soon as she saw the emperor, Li Cairen burst into tears: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please help me. The Queen has set up a trap to frame me!" Li Cairen cried and struggled to throw herself to the emperor.

Eunuch Zhang took a quick step forward and stopped Li Cairen who was about to pounce on him.

He Linzhang frowned, glanced at Tao Yanyan, and then looked at Li Cairen: "Although Concubine De was demoted to a talented person, she is the biological mother of the eldest prince. Her funeral is today, and I am here to see her off. Why are you making a noise in front of her coffin? How disrespectful?"

Li Cairen took the lead and said, "Your Majesty, I was framed by someone, and it was the Queen who framed me. I beg Your Majesty to help me!"

He Linzhang looked at Tao Yanyan, who stepped forward and handed him the letter: "Your Majesty, I brought all my sisters here today to see Rong Cairen off, but I didn't expect that I would discover the real cause of Rong Cairen's death."

Tao Yanyan looked at Li Cairen's pale face and continued, "This letter was seized from Li Cairen. She wrote down in her own hand the process of colluding with his father to murder Rong Cairen. Your Majesty, please take a look."

He Linzhang took the letter, and Li Cairen hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I was frightened by a ghost last night and became confused. The ghost asked me to write these words, so I wrote them. Please understand, Your Majesty!"

Tao Yanyan snorted coldly: "A ghost is frightening? Could it be that Rong Cairen's ghost is looking for you to take your life? Otherwise, who would know that it was you who killed Rong Cairen?"

Li Cairen was stunned. She couldn't think of any other way except crying.