In my previous life, I killed my whole family. In my next life, I killed the royal family.

The night of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month became a nightmare for many guards and palace maids on duty.

The palace banquet ended at three o'clock in the morning. The night was deep and everything was silent.

Queen Mother Li was lying in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep, with an inexplicable irritation rising in her heart. Finally, she could no longer hold back and sent a palace maid to summon the guard Niu Er to accompany her.

Guard Niu Er was quietly brought into the Queen Mother's bedroom by the palace maids. As soon as he got on the bed, the Queen Mother hugged him tightly. The two of them were like dry wood meeting fire, and they quickly burned fiercely, immersed in joy.

However, just as they were enjoying themselves, Empress Dowager Li's face suddenly turned as pale as paper, as if she had seen something extremely horrifying. She widened her eyes, broke free from the arms of Guard Niu Er in horror, and ran away naked without hesitation.

The palace maids were stunned by the scene before them. The eunuchs stood there at a loss, and the palace maids chased after them.

The Queen Mother Li ran like crazy until she saw a river and jumped into the water without hesitation. The river instantly submerged her figure and the Queen Mother Li disappeared in the rushing water.

The palace servants came to their senses and hurried to the riverside. After a difficult salvage operation, they finally fished out the empress dowager's body which had sunk to the bottom of the water.

The maids hurriedly wiped the Queen Mother's soaked body with a cloth, trying to wipe off the water stains on her body. Then they carefully dressed her and combed her messy hair, trying their best to make the Queen Mother look like she had died from an accidental fall into the water.

At this time, a large group of people gathered around the Queen Mother's body, all of them with a look of horror on their faces, and discussed at a loss: "What should we do?" Everyone fell into extreme panic and anxiety, not knowing how to deal with this sudden change.

The guards on duty at night are also responsible and will be convicted if investigated.

Niu Ermao was terrified and kept saying to his cousin, Deputy Commander Niu, "I was just trying my best to serve the Queen Mother, and she was enjoying it and even screaming. But she suddenly stood up and ran to the river as if she had seen a ghost, and she jumped into the river and drowned. It's really not my fault."

"This is too strange. I'm afraid the Queen Mother really saw a ghost." Deputy Commander Niu was horrified after hearing this.

Deputy Commander Niu quickly thought of a solution, "Yes, in that case, we will tell everyone that the Queen has gone to accompany the late Emperor." This was not the first time he had done such a thing.

He was promoted to the position of deputy commander when the previous emperor was killed. He immediately chose to join the prince, gained the merit of following the dragon, and was promoted three levels in a row to become the deputy commander of the imperial guards and became the confidant of the new emperor.

At the instruction of Deputy Commander Niu, Niu Ermao taught everyone to speak with one voice, "We should say this to the public..."

In the early morning, the sunlight shines through the window lattices onto the floor of the bedroom, making it seem even warmer.

Through the thin gauze curtains embroidered with auspicious clouds and golden dragons with gold thread, one could see several people lying on the wide dragon bed. The emperor was still immersed in the gentle embrace, with a satisfied smile on his lips.

"Your Majesty, it's time to attend court." Eunuch Sheng stepped forward and woke up the emperor.

When the emperor slowly opened his eyes and realized that he was about to start a day of state affairs, he couldn't help feeling a little annoyed.

The emperor muttered, "I have to go to court again."

Eunuch Sheng lowered his head and said nothing. The Emperor has even cancelled his early morning court sessions to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager. If this continues, he will probably have to cancel the morning court sessions sooner or later.

The emperor lazily sat up from the bed, and the palace maids immediately came forward to serve him, helping him dress and wash.

Just as the emperor was preparing to go to court, a eunuch from the empress dowager hurried over and knelt on the ground to report: "Your Majesty, the empress dowager took too much Wu Shi San last night, her whole body was hot, and she jumped into the Taiye Lake and ascended to heaven!"

The emperor widened his eyes and looked at the eunuch in disbelief.

After a long while, the emperor's face suddenly turned gloomy, and he asked angrily: "Why did she die at this time?" His voice was full of dissatisfaction and anger, "I have just ascended the throne and I am busy with state affairs, but she is causing trouble for me!"

The eunuch replied tremblingly: "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother has always been in the habit of taking Wu Shi San, but for some reason she took too much last night, causing her body to lose control..."

The emperor interrupted the eunuch impatiently, "Okay, I don't want to listen to this nonsense! There is not enough money in the warehouse to handle the funeral now, how can I explain to the world?" He paced back and forth, feeling more and more irritable.

The Empress Dowager passed away suddenly, but the Emperor did not feel sad about losing his mother.

Instead, he felt that the Queen Mother's death had put him in a difficult situation.

On the one hand, he needed to handle the Queen Mother's funeral to show the dignity of the royal family; on the other hand, the treasury was empty and could not afford the high funeral expenses. This made him feel helpless and he didn't know how to deal with this sudden crisis.

The emperor then thought that he would have to observe mourning for more than twenty days and would not be able to enjoy beauties, and the three beauties he had just favored were so beautiful and charming.

He even cursed angrily: "Why die at this time instead of earlier?"

The eunuch quietly stuffed a stack of silver bills to Eunuch Sheng for help, and called out, "Godfather." He also whispered a few words.

Eunuch Sheng took the banknote, listened to what was said, and nodded.

Seeing the emperor's angry look, he hurried forward to offer advice, "Your Majesty, there is a way."

"What method?" asked the emperor.

"We can tell everyone that the queen missed the late emperor so much that she passed away. No funeral will be held and she can be buried directly in the imperial mausoleum."

The emperor clapped his hands and laughed, "This is a good idea."

At the morning court, the new emperor announced to all officials, "The Queen Mother missed the late emperor so much that she cried day and night. She passed away last night to accompany the late emperor."

"In order to fulfill the Queen Mother's wish to accompany the late Emperor as soon as possible, send her to the Imperial Mausoleum today."

After hearing this, all the officials looked at the new emperor with horror.

For the first time in all their years as officials, they faced someone who frightened them every day, and that person was the new emperor.

These ministers were unable to describe their feelings in words.

Even if Empress Dowager Li really passed away, she could not be buried in the underground palace with the late emperor so hastily.

Should we set up the mourning hall?

We need to offer sacrifices, right?

We need to set up a temple, right?

There was nothing. It didn't look like the death of a queen mother of a country, it looked more like the death of a beggar.

All the civil and military officials remained silent and let the new emperor do whatever he wanted.

That afternoon, the empress dowager was collected by palace servants, dressed in new clothes, put into a coffin, and escorted to the imperial mausoleum by a team of soldiers.

"Fortunately, the underground palace has not been sealed, so it's not a big deal." The new emperor said to all the officials.

The people in the Li Mansion received the sad news that Empress Dowager Li had passed away, and then they got the news that the Empress Dowager had been sent to the underground palace. Everyone in the mansion was stunned.

The funeral was still going on in their mansion when Empress Dowager Li died suddenly at night and was sent to the imperial mausoleum for burial the next day. It was simply unbelievable.

"What was the cause of death of the Empress Dowager?" the Li family asked in surprise.

Although Empress Dowager Li broke off the engagement, causing the Duke's Mansion of the Li Family to be demoted to a Marquis' Mansion, the people of the Li Family were very dissatisfied with Empress Dowager Li.

But without Empress Dowager Li, the Li family would only become more difficult.

The Li family bribed people to inquire about the news in the palace, and they all said that the Queen Mother had fallen ill suddenly. In the end, they learned the truth about the Queen Mother's death from Feng Ying, a palace maid beside Princess Yonghe.

Feng Ying accepted several banknotes from the Li Mansion and whispered, "The princess said that the Li Mansion had better stop asking about it. If they anger the emperor, they will be punished severely. This is how she left..."

Princess Yonghe was very angry that her mother suddenly jumped into the river and died. She was about to get married, but without a mother to rely on, her dowry would definitely be reduced.

She was worried that people from the Li Mansion would come to the palace to cause trouble, anger her brother, and even cause trouble for her.

Princess Yonghe asked people around her to tell the Li family about the cause of her mother's death.

The people in Li's residence were disheartened after hearing this. It turned out that there was an inside story why the Emperor sent the Queen Mother to the underground palace so quickly.

If an old mother was unfaithful to her husband, and invited a young man to have sex with her, and finally she got too excited and jumped into the lake and drowned, no family would be ashamed to hold a funeral.

The Queen Mother is seeking her own death, who can she blame?

The empress dowager died suddenly. Although the palace maids around her were sent to guard the imperial mausoleum, many people still knew the truth.

They secretly told the truth to their families, and their families told their own relatives that the Queen Mother's death was strange.

Niu Ermao was dragged out for a drink. "Ermao, you are amazing. I heard that you are valued by an important person..."

"Haha, that's right." Niu Ermao was very proud.

"I was Princess Yong'an's first man, and I was also with the Queen Mother..." He said everything after he got drunk.

Concubine Zuo had always been at odds with Empress Dowager Li. After learning the real cause of the empress dowager's death, she deliberately sent people to spread the news secretly in order to embarrass the people in the Li residence.

In the end, everyone in the capital knew the cause of Empress Dowager Li's death, except the emperor.