The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

Chapter 359 Settling Accounts After the Autumn Harvest (Part 2)

The Empress was unconcerned about the Emperor's threats. She acted discreetly, not believing that the Emperor could investigate so quickly.

Seeing that she showed no remorse, the Emperor was about to order Ji Lingfeng to summon the imperial physician.

Just then, Li Defu walked in and said, "Your Majesty, Consort Chun has arrived. She says she has important matters to report."

The Emperor frowned. Why did Consort Chun come at this critical moment?

“Your Majesty, Consort Chun is always very sensible. She must have come on important business,” Shen Shuhua’s words reminded the Emperor.

"Let her in."

After Consort Chun entered, she didn't waste any words. "Your Majesty, I have something important to report. This matter involves..." She glanced at the Empress.

“Since it involves Her Majesty the Empress, I dare not handle it on my own, so I have come to report to Your Majesty.” After saying this, she looked behind her.

A person walked out from behind her—wasn't that Du Mama, who was ordered by the Empress to kill Shen Shuhua?

Granny Du cautiously walked out and knelt down next to Consort Chun.

When the empress saw who it was, her body went limp and she almost collapsed to the ground.

She turned around and glared fiercely at Granny Du, "You bitch!"

Startled by her glare, Du Mama prostrated herself on the ground and recounted in trepidation the things the Empress had done over the years.

The emperor's face grew darker and darker as he listened to her words.

The Empress crawled a few steps on her knees to the Emperor's feet, saying, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am truly devoted to you."

"Granny Du is talking nonsense."

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! You must believe me!"

The emperor glanced at her with disgust, then kicked her, calling her a "poisonous woman."

"How could I have such a vicious empress?"

"You have betrayed my trust in you."

"Evidence? Since you want evidence, then I will show it to you."

After saying this, the Emperor raised his hand and summoned Imperial Physician Li in.

Imperial Physician Li secretly went to Consort Jing's mausoleum on orders to examine her remains.

This confirms that Consort Jing did indeed die from poisoning.

Du Mama's words also confirmed that Consort Jing was indeed poisoned to death by the Empress.

And the Third Prince is indeed a member of the Du family. As for the real Third Prince, he is the child with a cinnabar mole between his eyebrows.

"Your Majesty, I also have something to report," Shen Shuhua said as she stepped forward.

"What is it?" The Emperor's tone softened noticeably.

Shen Shuhua had someone bring Zhao Mama in.

Granny Zhao recounted how, sixteen years ago, the Empress had instructed her to secretly take away Shen Shuhua's daughter.

"You're talking complete nonsense."

"Do you have any evidence to support your claim?"

Granny Zhao shook her head. "This servant has no evidence. A month ago, Her Majesty the Empress threatened this servant with my family and ordered me to bring Zhao Ruhui back to the capital as she instructed."

“For the sake of my family’s lives, I have no choice but to obey the Empress. As for the evidence, I haven’t seen the child since I entrusted him to my best friend sixteen years ago.”

"As for Zhao Ruhui, she is a child I picked up ten years ago."

She is not the child of the Imperial Concubine.

"I have no evidence for any of this. The jade pendant that could prove Princess Wanming's identity was not pawned. Rather, I kept it with Princess Wanming all along."

"As for Princess Wanming's whereabouts, this servant really doesn't know."

“Everything I have said is true. I beg Your Majesty to investigate.”

Upon hearing that there was no evidence, the Empress snorted coldly, "These are just words taught to you by the Consort, trying to frame me."

“I have evidence,” Ji Lingfeng said from the side.

After he finished speaking, he gave a wink to the door, and the guards at the door brought the person in.

They are family members of Granny Zhang and Granny Zhao.

"Sister Huiniang?" After bowing, Granny Zhang looked in the direction of Granny Zhao and tentatively called out, as if unsure.

When Zhao Mama heard the way the other person addressed her, she was taken aback at first, and then she looked at the other person carefully.

"Sister Zhang?"

The two sisters were so excited that their hands were trembling when they met again after sixteen years.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zhao Mama looked at her family members who were unharmed, kowtowed to the Emperor, and then slowly spoke, "Sixteen years ago, Her Majesty the Empress threatened me with the lives of my family members. She took advantage of the Consort's weakness after childbirth, secretly stole her child, and replaced it with a stillborn baby that she had prepared beforehand."

"As for that child, the Empress ordered me to strangle her."

"But when I saw how cute the child was, I couldn't bear it. At that time, I happened to meet my good sister."

“I gave all the money I had saved up over the years to my best friend, so that she could take the child far away and raise him well.”

"My good sister is Sister Zhang." After saying that, she glanced at Granny Zhang.

Grandma Zhang then told everything she knew.

When the emperor first heard that she had abandoned her child, he was so angry that he was ready to confront her.

Later, after hearing that the child had been taken in by a very kind family and raised well, I finally relaxed.

"So, the child is still alive?"

Shen Shuhua nodded. "Actually, Your Majesty, you have also met that child."

"It's Shen Cao."

A figure flashed through the Emperor's mind, and a smile appeared on his lips. It was that child!

No wonder he felt an extraordinary affinity for the child when he first met him.

In the end, the empress was deposed and sentenced to death.

Shen Cao was officially conferred the title of Princess Wanming.

However, no palace banquet was held to announce it to the world.

It was Shen Cao who said that she didn't want others to know her identity; she preferred life outside the palace.

The Emperor and the Imperial Concubine agreed with her opinion.

However, she had to return to the palace to be with them every two days.

The affairs in the palace have finally come to an end.

Shen Cao looked at the person opposite her. It seemed like this person had gotten used to her ever since he came to her room last time.

They always come quietly at night.

After listening to Ji Lingfeng's description, Shen Cao finally understood the whole story.

It turns out that the person who colluded with Prime Minister Du was Dongfang Ming.

Ji Lingfeng learned about this by chance while he was in Shifeng Village.

Furthermore, after Shen Yu'an wrote to him, informing him of Shen Cao's true identity, he began to secretly send people to investigate.

Just then, he encountered Dongfang Ming's men who brought Zhao Mama's family to Shifeng Village, and he followed this lead to investigate what happened back then.

Later, Shen Cao learned about Granny Zhang's situation and wrote to him about it.

Only then did he connect all the things.

In order not to alert the enemy, he and the emperor staged a play. Even the plague was just medicine specially prepared by the emperor's imperial physician. After taking the medicine, he would experience the symptoms of the plague, but there was no danger to his life.

As for those who died from the epidemic, they were all taken by Ji Lingfeng's men to a farm in the outskirts of Beijing to stay there properly.

The purpose was to allow Prime Minister Du to participate in the game.

They had considered everything, except for Shen Shuhua.

Fortunately, there was a secret passage in the side hall of Yuehua Palace; otherwise, things really wouldn't have been resolved so perfectly.

"Alright, I got it. If there's nothing else, I should go to sleep."

"Uncle Ji!"