Yixiu is reborn, fights against her elder sister, and becomes the queen mother

Concubine Jing sighed and said, "This palace maid is also a pitiful person. It's a pity that her letter has not been sent out yet."

Concubine Jing was a kind person. She knew that Cai'er had committed such a serious crime and that the one thousand taels was stolen money, so she definitely could not give it away.

Her parents and siblings did not receive any money and lost another loved one, and she herself died in vain.

Concubine Hua continued stubbornly, "The letter only said that Cai'er was instructed by someone. Perhaps Concubine Wan discovered what was going on in Cai'er's family and deliberately used this as a handle to threaten her, forcing Cai'er to poison Concubine Bi."

Zhen Huan swore solemnly, "Your Majesty, I don't know what happened to Cai'er's family. But Cai'er died in such an unclear manner, and her family got nothing. I thought it would be better to check whether Cai'er's family had received any large sums of money before."

Concubine Hua was completely panicked. She stood there pretending to be calm, but her hands were tightly clenched around the handkerchief.

"Your Majesty, the disaster will not affect her family. Cai'er's misdeeds are understandable. Your Majesty has always been kind and lenient. Cai'er's parents are probably just ordinary people. There's no need to investigate further, right?"

Huipin stared at Hua Fei quietly and said with a hint of meaning, "Just now, Her Majesty Hua Guifei was saying that she must be severely punished and that the palace rules must be followed. Why has she suddenly changed her mind now? We're just going to investigate. The Emperor hasn't said that her family will be punished. Why are you so panicked, Her Majesty?"

Hua Fei was so angry that she cursed, "How dare you, Huipin! Who gave you the courage to question me?"

"Empress Duan is here."

The eunuch's announcement was heard outside the door.

Concubine Hua sneered and said disdainfully, "Today, my Yikun Palace is really bustling! Anyone can come here and interfere. Songzhi, tell the palace maids and eunuchs outside to keep a close watch and not let any random people in to dirty the Yikun Palace."

Concubine Duan walked into the room and happened to hear Concubine Hua's words. She smiled slightly and bowed slowly, saying, "Your Highness, I pay my respects to the Emperor, to the Empress, and to Concubine Hua."

Yixiu said softly and politely, "Concubine Duan, you have always been in poor health. Why did you come here suddenly?"

Concubine Duan coughed twice, her face looking weak and pale. Seeing this, the emperor waved his hand and said, "Give me a seat!"

Concubine Duan smiled and said, "Thank you very much, Your Majesty, for your concern!"

Concubine Hua rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "Concubine Duan, since you are not feeling well, don't go out. Don't leave the gate of Yikun Palace. If you get sick again, you can't blame me."

Concubine Duan coughed a few more times and spoke in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, Her Majesty Hua Guifei, for your concern. I am still holding on! Today, since the weather was nice, I asked Jixiang to help me go out for a walk. Who knew that we would encounter a sneaky eunuch on the way? I thought he was suspicious and stopped him. I didn't expect that this would lead to such a big incident."

Concubine Hua raised her eyebrows and said in a harsh tone, "Really? That's such a coincidence. I wonder what big event it is that has caused Concubine Duan to come to this palace."

Concubine Duan curled her lips slightly, and met Concubine Hua's beautiful and fierce eyes. She smiled and said, "It turns out that this eunuch accepted bribes and wanted to take some illegal money out of the palace. I wanted to report this to the Empress, but I didn't expect the Empress to go to Yikun Palace."

Concubine Duan held Jixiang's hand, and Jixiang understood and clapped his hands. Two eunuchs came in, escorting an old eunuch.

The old eunuch was so frightened that he cried and begged the emperor as soon as he saw him. "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I won't do it again. They always begged me to bring some things back to their families. I agreed because I felt sorry for them. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

After the old eunuch finished speaking and saw that no one spoke, he bravely opened his eyes. Who would have thought that he would see Cai'er's face with eyes open in death.

The old eunuch screamed, then sat on the ground in a daze, pointing at Cai'er and saying tremblingly, "Cai'er, she... how did she die?"

Zhen Huan seemed to have discovered the key to the matter. She looked at the old eunuch with burning eyes and said, "Why? Do you know her?"

The emperor said, "It seems you knew this deceased maid. If so, tell me what happened between you and her. If you tell a lie, I will have you torn into pieces!"

In fear, the old eunuch confessed everything.

"In reply to Your Majesty, I am usually responsible for going out of the palace to make purchases. Because I can go out of the palace, some palace maids and eunuchs often ask me to bring things back to the palace. Some people also bring things back from outside the palace.

Cai'er was a maid at Suiyuxuan. Her family was poor, and she usually had to send most of her monthly salary back home. One day, when I was out of the palace, her family suddenly sent her a letter, perhaps by forwarding it or something. Unexpectedly, after receiving the letter, she came to me in tears, asking if I could lend her some money.

"I...I...I only collect money, never lend it." I turned her down, but for some reason, she seemed to have gotten richer recently and has sent money home several times. Just yesterday, she gave me a bundle with two dresses inside, telling me to take them home no matter what.

After she finished explaining the matter, she kowtowed and begged for mercy, crying, "This is all I know. I don't know anything else. Please forgive me, Your Majesty, and spare my life!"

Zhen Huan knew that the evidence might be in the bundle, so she quickly said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, since the bundle is still there, why not ask for it? Perhaps there's some evidence inside."

The emperor nodded in agreement and specifically asked Su Peisheng to take people to follow the old eunuch to look for him.

After a while, Su Peisheng returned with his men. He personally opened the bundle, and inside were indeed two finely crafted cotton-padded jackets. Judging from the color and style, they must have been made by Cai'er for her parents.

Concubine Hua breathed a sigh of relief and said, "They are just two pieces of clothing. Seeing Wan Chang's expression, I thought they were some important evidence. I'd like to trouble Eunuch Su to go over there."

Zhen Huan walked forward in disbelief, picked up the clothes and examined them carefully. Now there was no evidence in her favor. If she really had no evidence to prove her innocence, then punishment was inevitable.

"Your Majesty, Wan Chang is plotting to murder the concubines and refuses to admit it. I think it would be better to lock up the servants who serve her in the Ministry of Punishment and torture them severely. Perhaps we can find out something."

Zhen Huan clutched the edge of her clothes tightly and shouted, "I am innocent, and the people around me are innocent too. Your Majesty, please don't do this!"

Liu Zhu also stood up at this time. It was all because of her fault that she offended Huanbi, which implicated the young lady.

The young lady has suffered so much for me, and now I can't let her get involved anymore.

"I am willing to go to the Ministry of Punishment to clear my master's name."