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

Consort Qi was the adopted daughter of the Jiang family. With such a major event as the Jiang family's rebellion, it was impossible for her to remain completely unaffected.

Even though the emperor has not yet issued an edict on how to deal with Qi Ning, it is clear that neither the court nor the harem can tolerate her, and they are all urging the emperor to deal with Qi Ning quickly.

Some hoped Qi Ning would be demoted, some hoped she would be sent to the cold palace, and some even hoped she would be executed.

Based on Eunuch Wang's understanding of the Emperor, the fact that he has not yet punished Consort Qi must mean that he has not held a grudge against her because of the Fourth Prince and the Jiang family, and that he still has feelings for her.

Astutely discerning the Emperor's intentions, Eunuch Wang spoke on Qi Ning's behalf: "Your Majesty, it seems that Consort Qi is unaware of the Fourth Prince's plot to rebel with the Jiang family."

It must be said that Eunuch Wang truly understood the emperor and guessed his thoughts perfectly.

The emperor did not really blame Qi Ning.

Although Qi Ning had spoken up for Gao Yun and the Jiang family in front of him before, ever since the disaster relief effort, Qi Ning said that she had repaid the Jiang family's kindness and would never speak up for the Jiang family again, and she really did keep her word.

After so long, her only request was to attend the wedding ceremony at the Prince's Mansion on the day Gao Yun and Jiang Weilan got married.

The subsequent visits to the Prince's Mansion and the study were all at the Emperor's own discretion, and Qi Ning was completely unaware of them.

In fact, the emperor was able to discover the hidden room in his study thanks to Qi Ning retrieving the decorative mechanism; otherwise, he wouldn't have found it.

Qi Ning couldn't possibly have known, otherwise why would she have touched that mechanism? Wouldn't that have been courting death?

She was an orphan to begin with, and now that the Jiang family has fallen, she is even more helpless. Even if she were to be kept alive, what kind of trouble could she possibly cause in the future?

The emperor sighed: "In this matter, Consort Qi is indeed innocent."

Upon hearing this, Eunuch Wang confirmed the Emperor's meaning.

He echoed, "Your Majesty is absolutely right. Moreover, since the incident, Consort Qi has not pleaded for the Jiang family. Even when she received Jiang Weilan's letter, she simply burned it. This shows that Consort Qi is still able to distinguish right from wrong when it comes to matters of principle."

Eunuch Wang's words struck a chord with the emperor.

"You're right."

The emperor pondered for a moment and asked, "Even so, we cannot completely let Consort Qi go unpunished, otherwise we will not be able to convince the public. How should we deal with this so that we can both protect her and silence the gossip in the court and the harem?"

Wang Gonggong thought to himself, "Isn't the emperor's meaning that the punishment shouldn't be too severe, otherwise he'll feel bad, but it also shouldn't be too lenient, otherwise it won't be convincing to the people?"

Eunuch Wang immediately said, "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, it would be better to punish Consort Qi by confining her to her home for a period of time."

"Very well!" The emperor slammed his hand on the table. "Issue an edict to confine Consort Qi in her palace for six months. After the storm has passed, she can be released."

"Yes, this servant understands," Eunuch Wang replied hastily.

In Wang Gonggong's view, the so-called six months was just a pretext for His Majesty to appease the court and the harem. Given His Majesty's favor towards Consort Qi, he would surely find an explanation to bring her out in less than six months.

Qi Ning has indeed been staying in her palace these past few days.

She was certain that the emperor wouldn't punish her too severely, and certainly wouldn't take her life. At most, he would demote her and send her to the cold palace.

However, the palace servants who served her were worried. Several maids and eunuchs had already secretly used their connections to be transferred away, fearing that they would be implicated.

Qi Ning didn't pay much attention to the other palace servants, only asking her personal maids Ji Mei and Ying Liu, telling them to leave whenever they wanted.

Of course, Qi Ning mainly asked Ji Mei. Ying Liu was Gao Yan's subordinate, and asking her was just to avoid revealing her identity.

Ji Mei was quite loyal, after all, she had been with Qi Ning for so long, and Qi Ning was always generous to the people who served her.

She immediately knelt on the ground to pledge her loyalty: "Your Majesty, this servant will not leave, this servant swears to follow Your Majesty to the death!"

Yingliu naturally said the same thing.

Qi Ning nodded and then asked them to bring over their jewelry boxes. She distributed some jewelry and gold and silver to each of them, all of which were things that were inconvenient to take out of the palace.

She held the jewelry box, picking and choosing: "This is for Jimei, this is for Yingliu, this one, this one..."

"As for other valuable items in my palace, such as vases, ornaments, and silks, if I no longer need them, you should dispose of them yourselves and prevent others from taking them."

"In addition, let's take out some silver and distribute it to the palace maids and eunuchs who haven't left yet and have voluntarily stayed behind."

Qi Ning's words sounded like his last words, and Ji Mei was moved to tears.

She choked back tears, saying, "Your Majesty, please don't say such things. You'll definitely be alright."

Qi Ning was both amused and exasperated.

The reason she distributed the items was mainly because she estimated that she wouldn't stay in the palace for long, and these things couldn't be taken out of the palace. It would be a pity to throw them away, so she decided to give them to them.

Of course, she would definitely take the silver notes that could be taken out of the palace with her.

Qi Ning smiled and patted Ji Mei's hand: "Alright, why are you crying? You are the head maid who has served me the longest, so you should be more composed. Go, go and distribute the silver to the palace servants outside."

Upon hearing this, Ji Mei quickly wiped away her tears and replied, "Yes, this servant will go right away."

As soon as Ji Mei left, Ying Liu came to Qi Ning's side.

She lowered her voice and said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured. The Fifth Prince has made thorough preparations. No matter how His Majesty deals with Your Majesty, His Highness will bring Your Majesty out of the palace safely."

Even in the worst-case scenario, where the emperor executes Qi Ning, Gao Yan had already arranged for a fake death drug.

Qi Ning nodded slightly: "Understood."

That afternoon, the emperor's decree arrived, ordering Qi Ning to be imprisoned in the palace for six months.

The concubines in the harem, who had been waiting for so long, were utterly incredulous upon hearing this news.

The things they were waiting for—Qi Ning being demoted, banished to the cold palace, or sentenced to death—none of them happened. His Majesty only imprisoned her for half a year. Was this punishment or protection?

Needless to say, Qi Ning was still well taken care of in the palace, and apart from not being able to go out at will, she was not punished in any other way.

With so many concubines in the harem, there were bound to be a few bolder ones who would bring their grand principles to the emperor's feet and make a scene.

They said this was against the rules; confinement should look like confinement, otherwise it wouldn't be convincing.

Helpless, the emperor had no choice but to send away all the other palace maids and eunuchs in Qi Ning Palace in order to quell the public anger, leaving only two palace maids, Ji Mei and Ying Liu, to serve her personally, and also arranged for people to guard outside the palace.

That's when it really started to look like he was being held captive.

But those concubines who had long disliked Qi Ning were not so easily let go of her. That very evening, someone tampered with Qi Ning's dinner.

"Host, the food is poisoned, you can't eat it!" the system warned.

------