Quick Transmigration: The Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character's Revenge

Qi Ning had already promised the emperor that he would no longer speak up for Gao Yun in front of him and could no longer continue to flatter him to his detriment.

However, Gao Yan realized this and successfully took over the task of praising Gao Yun to the point of ruin.

Sure enough, within two days, the praise for Gao Yun among the people intensified.

With Gao Yan's encouragement, everyone said that the fourth prince was virtuous and talented, loved the people like his own children, and was a good candidate to be a wise ruler. He should be made crown prince and inherit the throne.

Upon hearing this news, Gao Yun, Jiang Jingzhou, and the others immediately guessed that it was likely Gao Yan who was behind it all.

“This won’t do. Although I want to make contributions and show my abilities to Father, if those rumors reach Father’s ears, he will definitely become wary.”

What Gao Yun didn't know was that, under Qi Ning's influence, the emperor had long begun to be wary of him. It wasn't because of this incident that the emperor started to be wary of him; it was just that the emperor hadn't shown it, and Gao Yun hadn't noticed it either.

Jiang Jingzhou naturally knew that the current situation was very unfavorable to them.

"Your Highness, what should we do?" Jiang Jingzhou asked.

Gao Yun pondered for a moment and said, "First, try to suppress those rumors from the public. This matter is definitely related to Gao Yan. While you're at it, see if you can find any evidence that he stirred up these rumors behind the scenes."

Just as Gao Yun and his men were discussing countermeasures, another message came from their subordinates: several officials had submitted a memorial to the emperor, requesting that he follow the will of the people and make Gao Yun the crown prince.

Gao Yun certainly wanted the position of crown prince, but that would only be legitimate if the emperor offered it to him willingly. In the current situation, the emperor would only become more wary of him.

"No doubt about it, it must be Gao Yan causing trouble behind the scenes again."

The emperor was aware of the recent public discussions, and soon he saw the memorials requesting the establishment of a crown prince.

The emperor could no longer tolerate it and ordered Gao Yun to be summoned.

Gao Yun approached the emperor and nervously called out, "Father."

The emperor looked at Gao Yun expressionlessly: "Do you know why I summoned you here?"

Gao Yun didn't know how to answer. He lowered his head and remained silent for a while before finally saying, "Your subject does not know."

The emperor sneered and slammed his hand on the imperial desk.

"You don't know? Don't you know the rumors circulating among the people these days? Everyone says you're a good candidate for the crown prince?"

Gao Yun's face turned pale, and he quickly said, "Father, those are just rumors, they shouldn't be taken seriously."

"What rumors? You are the heart of the people now!"

With that, the emperor tossed the memorials to Gao Yun: "Look, there are still people submitting memorials, urging me to follow the will of the people and make you the crown prince. What do you think?"

Gao Yun hesitated for a moment. Seeing the emperor staring at him, he dared not disobey the emperor's wishes. Even though he knew what the memorial contained, he still picked it up and glanced at it.

After reading it, Gao Yun knelt down with a thud: "Father, I went to provide disaster relief and resolve the unrest in order to help you solve your problems. I did not covet the position of Crown Prince."

"Oh? You mean you don't want to be the crown prince?" the emperor asked.

"My son..."

Gao Yun's throat seemed to be blocked, and he couldn't speak.

He didn't know how to answer that question.

The answer is yes or no.

A cold sweat broke out on Gao Yun's back; he couldn't decide whether to want to or not.

If he said he didn't want to, the emperor might just remove him from the position of crown prince.

If he said he wanted to, it would prove that he did indeed covet the position of crown prince.

The emperor stared at Gao Yun kneeling on the ground for a long time before finally saying, "Step down."

Gao Yun felt as if he had been granted a pardon and quickly withdrew.

On the way back, Gao Yun's face was extremely pale.

Unfortunately, he happened to run into Gao Yan, who was on his way to see the emperor.

Gao Yan greeted him, "Fourth Brother, congratulations! You've made a great contribution this time and the people support you. I heard that some ministers have even submitted a memorial requesting that you be made Crown Prince. Congratulations! I just don't know what Father Emperor thinks."

Gao Yun sneered. In the past, he always pretended to be calm and composed in front of Gao Yan, like a gentle older brother. But this time, he could no longer maintain his pretense.

Gao Yan's attempt to flatter him backfired, turning his hard-earned achievements into his father's suspicion, a truly disastrous outcome.

Gao Yun gave him a cold look: "If Fifth Brother wants to know, he can go and ask Father himself."

With that, he turned and left.

Gao Yan smiled.

After returning, Jiang Jingzhou asked Gao Yun, "Your Highness, what should we do? Should we continue the investigation, and what about His Majesty's side?"

"Don't waste your time if you can't find it. My father is already wary of me. I need to keep a low profile for a while."

Gao Yun then instructed Jiang Jingzhou: "Also, tell Consort Qi to keep a low profile recently and not to do anything on her own initiative."

Jiang Jingzhou nodded solemnly: "Your Highness, rest assured, I will have Lan'er go to find Consort Qi."

Soon, Jiang Weilan found Qi Ning: "Ning'er, things are too chaotic outside lately. Someone is deliberately spreading rumors against Your Highness, causing His Majesty to suspect you."

"Really? Who's behind this?" Qi Ning asked knowingly.

"I'm not sure, but it's probably related to the Fifth Prince."

Jiang Weilan instructed Qi Ning: "In short, Your Highness should keep a low profile recently. Ning'er, you should also keep a low profile and not say anything in front of His Majesty for His Highness's sake, so as not to arouse His Majesty's deeper suspicion."

Qi Ning had already promised the emperor that she would no longer do or say anything on behalf of the Jiang family and Gao Yun, so she naturally agreed readily.

When the emperor visited Mingyue Pavilion again, Qi Ning indeed did not mention this matter at all.

Even though she didn't say anything, the emperor felt something was missing.

"My beloved concubine, have you heard about the recent news outside?"

"Your Majesty is referring to the matter concerning the Fourth Prince? Of course, I have heard about it."

"Since you know, aren't you going to say something?"

"What does Your Majesty think I should say?" Qi Ning asked in return.

"Either advise me to follow the will of the people and make the fourth prince the crown prince, or explain to me on his behalf that the fourth prince has no intention of coveting the position of crown prince."

Qi Ning smiled and said, "This concubine wouldn't dare. Besides, as I said, last time was the last time. I won't say anything for them again in the future."

She added, "Your Majesty, you should decide on the matter of choosing a crown prince according to your own wishes. I will not say anything more, and you should not try to lead me astray again."

The emperor was pleased with Qi Ning's indifferent attitude and hummed in agreement.

However, perhaps due to overwork recently, the emperor felt weak and lacked energy for everything, especially in bed.

To avoid Qi Ning noticing, the emperor secretly drank a lot of deer blood wine, but after a while he felt increasingly weak.

So the emperor pretended that he was somewhat angry with her because of Gao Yun's matter, and he neglected Qi Ning quite a bit, and rarely came to Mingyue Pavilion, with the purpose of not letting her serve him in bed, so that he could recuperate.

Qi Ning knew, of course, the real reason why the emperor was neglecting her.

The happiest person about this whole affair was the system. With the emperor's health failing, he finally stopped thinking about serving the emperor in bed, and the system no longer needed to concoct dreams.

However, Qi Ning knew the real reason why the emperor was neglecting her, but outsiders did not.

To outsiders, Qi Ning fell out of favor again because the emperor was angry with her because of Gao Yun's affair.

During the time Qi Ning was favored by the emperor, there were quite a few concubines in the harem who envied and resented her.

During the period when she fell out of favor, she rarely left Mingyue Pavilion, making it difficult for others to make a move. Even if they wanted to target the kitchen, His Majesty had instructed them not to neglect it, so it wouldn't be easy to find an opportunity to deal with her.

Besides, there's no need to go to great lengths to deal with a woman who has fallen out of favor.

Who knew that not long after, Qi Ning regained favor.

Before Qi Ning appeared, although the emperor was also fickle, he still favored his concubines equally. But since Qi Ning appeared, the emperor has basically stopped visiting the other concubines' palaces, which is unbearable for them.

This time, Qi Ning has fallen out of favor again, which some people see as a rare opportunity.

Many people wanted to take advantage of Qi Ning's current loss of favor to completely bring her down and prevent her from regaining favor.

Take Feng Jieyu for example.

Before Qi Ning appeared, Consort Feng was considered one of the most favored concubines in the harem.

But ever since Qi Ning appeared, the emperor has completely forgotten about her.

Feng Jieyu was determined to get rid of Qi Ning, but she hadn't come up with a good way yet.

On this day, when Consort Feng was strolling around the palace with her maids, she suddenly heard voices ahead.

Consort Feng immediately led her maids to hide behind the artificial hill to eavesdrop.

She peeked out and saw Princess Gao Xi, the ninth daughter of Consort Shu, in the garden in front.

The Ninth Princess was picking flowers with her maids. As she plucked the petals, she said to her maids, "Jixiang, this flower smells nice. Let's pick it to make sachets."

Jixiang asked, "Princess, didn't you just make two sachets a while ago? You gave one to the Empress and the other to the Fifth Prince. Who are you going to give this sachet to this time?"

The Ninth Princess was only seven years old. She had only been learning needlework for a short time when she learned to make simple sachets.

"I want to make one as a gift for my father."

She snorted and said, "For a while, Father Emperor spent every day with that Consort Qi and didn't have time to visit Mother and me. I heard that recently Father Emperor hasn't been seeing Consort Qi much. He even came to see me yesterday, so I'll forgive him for now and make him a sachet."

Jixiang found Gao Xi's words somewhat amusing. Children are just naive and innocent, with clear likes and dislikes, and they don't hide who they like or dislike at all.

"Princess, you seem to dislike Consort Qi quite a bit. You've been muttering about it to yourself several times recently."

Gao Xi nodded: "I just hate Consort Qi. She's one of my fourth brother's people and she's always helping him to deal with my brother."

"Also, Father Emperor dotes on this Consort Qi and rarely visits me anymore. Of course I hate her, and I'm happy that she's fallen out of favor."

Jixiang was both amused and exasperated, but she still reminded her, "Princess, you can only say these things to me in private, but please don't tell anyone else."

"Of course I know. My mother and brother forbid me from telling anyone else. They are afraid that Father will find out."

Hearing these words, Feng Jieyu, who was hiding behind the artificial hill, unconsciously raised a strange smile on her face.

Consort Feng was originally worried about how to deal with Consort Qi, but unexpectedly she immediately had an idea.

The Ninth Princess was the Fifth Prince's younger sister. The Fifth Prince and the Fourth Prince were at odds, and Consort Qi was a member of the Fourth Prince's faction.

In this way, it becomes quite reasonable for Consort Qi to plot against the Ninth Princess.

Consort Feng knew that the Emperor had always doted on his youngest daughter, the Ninth Princess.

Now that Consort Qi has fallen out of favor, if she were to plot against the princess, she would surely enrage His Majesty completely, and there would be no chance of her regaining favor.

Thinking of this, Consort Feng immediately beckoned her personal maid to come closer and whispered a few instructions to her.

The palace maid nodded and went out, making an excuse to temporarily lure away Jixiang, the palace maid beside the Ninth Princess, leaving the Ninth Princess alone in the garden.

Taking the opportunity, Consort Feng approached Gao Xi and asked with a smile, "Ninth Princess, are you picking flowers here?"

Gao Xi turned her head and glanced at the woman behind her. Her father had too many women in the harem, and she didn't know all of them.

However, she vaguely remembered this woman; she seemed to be a favored concubine from some time ago.

"You are, Consort Feng?"

"That's right, so the Ninth Princess recognizes the concubines."

Feng Jieyu was very happy; since she recognized him, things would be much easier to handle.

But the Ninth Princess didn't think so. Recognizing her was one thing, but she didn't really take Consort Feng seriously.

Although she was young, she was quite clever. When she saw Feng Jieyu suddenly come up to her and try to get close to her, she immediately guessed what was going on.

"Was it you who had my maids lured away just now?"

"This……"

Feng Jieyu was surprised that her guess had been corrected.

Gao Xi took a step back and said warily, "What do you want to do? Be careful, or I'll tell my father!"

"Ninth Princess, don't be afraid. Listen to what I have to say. I overheard what you and your maid were saying. You dislike Consort Qi, don't you?"

"How dare you eavesdrop on this princess's conversation!" Gao Xi glared at her.

Consort Feng took a step closer, squatted down, and whispered, "Ninth Princess, listen to me. Don't you hate Consort Qi? Do you want her to disappear completely?"

"Make Consort Qi disappear completely?"

“That’s right.” Consort Feng coaxed, “Think about it, although Consort Qi has temporarily fallen out of favor, she may very well regain favor after a while. Wasn’t that what happened last time?”

"If Consort Qi regains favor, she will help the Fourth Prince deal with the Fifth Prince again, and His Majesty will have no time to visit you and Consort Shu."

Gao Xi thought about it and realized it was indeed possible. That Consort Qi was so beautiful, and her father was a man who loved beautiful women the most. Even if he neglected her for the time being, he might continue to dote on her after a while.

If Consort Qi regains favor, it will not be a good thing for them.

Gao Xi recalled the conversation she overheard outside the study between her mother and her brother, who also disliked Consort Qi.

If we could completely disfavor Consort Qi, my mother and brother would surely be very happy.

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