The Eldest Daughter Reborn: She Provoked the Obsessive Crown Prince and Couldn't Escape

"This humble woman, Xu, greets Your Majesty..." Xu kowtowed as soon as she entered, not daring to raise her head even slightly.

Consort Pang said smugly, "Xu, who are you? What have you seen and heard? Tell me everything. Don't be afraid. With the Emperor here, no one will dare to make things difficult for you because you told the truth!"

Xu then raised her head and replied with a "Yes".

"I was formerly a servant of the Fu family, and followed our lady to marry into the Chang'an Marquis's mansion. My daughter is now the Lady of Yongning, Cuiyun."

"When I was working at the Marquis of Chang'an's residence, I saw more than once... Her Majesty the Empress and the Marquis of Yongning were very close, like husband and wife! However..." Madam Xu replied boldly.

Before she could finish speaking, Hua Luo spat out, "You're talking nonsense! You're clearly resentful that the Empress kicked you out of the mansion and that you couldn't extort those three sums of money, so you're spouting wild nonsense and making things up!"

"Who gave you the audacity to come to the palace and slander the Queen Mother of the Great Wei?"

Everyone knew the answer to this question; Hua Luo was just asking a pointless question!

Fu Luan said with a half-smile, "I spent ten times the monthly allowance, and yet I raised a bunch of ungrateful wretches! Xu, you haven't finished, have you? Then continue!"

Madam Xu glanced at Yuan Li, and seeing the Emperor of Great Wei's handsome face darken, she quickly lowered her head and continued, "If it is said that Her Majesty the Empress and the Marquis of Yongning had an affair, then that is not true..."

“If there was no illicit affair, how can there be ‘intimate’ relationship? It’s clear you’re lying, you shrew!” Hua Luo spat again.

“This humble woman dares not lie! When our great-aunt—that is, Her Majesty the Empress—was still a young girl, the Marquis of Yongning had been lusting after her. Only after our great-aunt married into the Eastern Palace and became the Crown Princess did he restrain himself somewhat.”

"But who knew that my aunt had divorced the deposed crown prince and was no longer the crown princess! The Marquis of Yongning then had a thought and tried to take my aunt by force several times. He entered and exited my aunt's boudoir as if it were his own home, without any restraint!"

“He was either in the carriage, on the boat, or even in broad daylight in the courtyard, pressing himself on top of her…” At this point, Madam Xu hurriedly slapped her own mouth, “Even I, an old woman, find it disgusting to say such things!”

"The Marquis not only treated the Empress this way, but my young daughter, who was only sixteen years old, was also taken advantage of by him and became pregnant because of his rape. She had no choice but to marry him! The Empress was also one of those who were bullied by the Marquis. Please, Your Majesty... don't blame her!"

Everyone was taken aback by these words, and even Yuan Li looked at Fu Luan.

Even though she was forced, even though these things happened before she entered the palace, even though Fu Yuan was only an adopted son and had no blood relation with her, Xu's evil intentions were obvious!

Regardless of whether the Great Wei and the Emperor could accept a violating queen, the mere fact that she had an affair with her elder brother was enough to plunge her into an abyss of no return!

Fu Luan sneered, "You old woman, you're quite the smooth talker. You seem to be defending me with every word, even telling the Emperor 'don't blame me.' But in reality, your words are only confirming my 'affair' with my elder brother. It's really vicious!"

"Let me ask you, did you witness these sordid things yourself, or did you hear about them from others?"

Xu secretly glanced at Pang Zhaoyuan, who quickly gave her a wink before she said, "It was, of course, that I saw it with my own eyes!"

Fu Luan was furious and said, "Hmph, what a fine 'I saw it with my own eyes'! When you were in my house, you were just a third-class servant woman who looked after houses in the countryside. You only came to the Marquis of Chang'an's mansion because of your husband Asong's matter last year. Your whole family lived in the house outside the second gate."

"I would like to ask you a question. You've never even been to the inner courtyard, so how did you 'witness' those sordid things? On what day, month, and year did you see them?"

Although Xu was a servant of the Fu family and the Chang'an Marquis's mansion, this was the first time she had met Fu Luan.

She saw Fu Luan as nothing more than a young girl not even twenty years old. Even if she was the Queen Mother of the Great Wei, she was probably just someone who "used her looks to serve others." What skills could she possibly have? Therefore, she didn't take her seriously at all.

Who would have thought that Fu Luan's loud rebuke would throw her into disarray!

"Yes, yes, it was last year..." Xu was so anxious that she scratched her head and had no choice but to look to Pang Zhaoyuan for help.

Seeing her like this, Yuan Li also saw through the truth of the matter, and then scolded her in a low voice: "If you can't tell me, you'll confirm your crime of slandering the Empress!"

"I... I dare not! I dare not, Your Majesty!" Xu waited and waited, but no one, Consort Pang, spoke up for her. She could only kowtow repeatedly to cover up her guilty conscience.

"Mother, why are you doing this to yourself!" Everyone heard a sigh coming from outside the hall. The person who came was Cuiyun, who still looked ten years older.

Seeing that Cuiyun was heavily pregnant, Yuanli excused her from the formalities.

Looking at her mother kneeling on the ground, Cuiyun said softly, "Other people's mothers would do their best to cover up all things that might damage their daughters' reputation; but my mother is different. She would rather all the people of the Great Wei think that I, the Lady of Yongning, am 'pregnant by adultery' and 'married because of the child'!"

"What good will it do you to slander the Empress? What good will it do you to slander your own son-in-law? Your Majesty, I am willing to vouch for this with the child in my womb: my lord and the Empress have only the affection of brother and sister, absolutely no romantic feelings between them! I beg Your Majesty to see the truth!"

Upon seeing her daughter, Madam Xu's eyes immediately darkened, making her look like a black-eyed chicken, a stark contrast to her previous timid demeanor.

She stood up shakily, pointed at Cuiyun and cursed, "Pah, you little whore! Other people's daughters have become successful and are living a life of luxury with their whole families."

"You've become some kind of 'Lady of Yongning Marquis' and now you're eating all the food at home by yourself! You can't even write the word 'filial piety' properly!"

Cuiyun continued softly, "I was born a maid and don't know anything about 'filial piety.' Back then, Madam wanted me to study with the young ladies and gentlemen of the Fu family."

"But Mother strongly opposed it, saying that 'a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent,' and only let my younger brother go. Now she complains that I don't know the meaning of 'filial piety'? How ridiculous!"

"Father is dead. You took so many benefits from the Marquis of Chang'an's mansion, yet you were still not satisfied and wanted to extort more money. You were kicked out and used as a pawn without even realizing it! You were originally my mother. If you had come to the Marquis of Yongning's mansion, would I have not taken care of you? But you..."

Cuiyun clutched her stomach, beads of sweat dripping from her forehead. Fuling quickly helped her sit down, took her pulse, and said, "Madam Xu, you've really spoken too recklessly!"

"Although she is your daughter, she is still the Lady of Yongning Marquis and is pregnant. How could you insult her in public?"

"Alright, now that everything is out in the open, the matter of Xu slandering the Empress has been confirmed. Consort Pang, your so-called conjecture that 'Qian Chonghua said the Empress had an affair with the Marquis of Yongning and was therefore silenced by the Empress' has been disproven. Do you have anything else to say?" Yuan Li said slantly.

"I, Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." Consort Pang immediately knelt down, babbling incoherently.

Suddenly, she saw Qian Chonghua's maid, Mei'er, and grasped at her like a lifeline. "It's Mei'er, it's Mei'er who didn't take good care of Sister Qian, causing her to miscarry..."

"Pang Zhaoyuan, what nonsense are you talking about? Wasn't it Madam Yaozhang who beat my Chonghua?"