Quick Wear: The host is really just a substitute!

Chapter 157 The Five Powers of Imperial Concubine* (5)

Taoxiang's cheeks turned red and swollen instantly. She staggered back a few steps, her eyes full of fear and confusion.

"My lady..."

"Be careful not to speak out of turn in front of your majesty, or you might endanger your family outside the palace."

Wen Man stared at Tao Xiang coldly, and her voice became even colder.

Taoxiang lowered her head in despair.

The corners of her mouth trembled slightly, and she wanted to say something, but her throat was tightly sealed by fear.

Suddenly, Wen Man turned around, then knelt on the ground with her knees touching the ground.

She lowered her head, her voice trembling with self-blame: "Your Majesty, it is all my fault for not disciplining her, causing Taoxiang to get into such trouble and harming Sister Li for nothing. I feel deeply guilty, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Everyone present was a smart person, and they all knew that Wen Man's current behavior was to sacrifice the pawn to save the king.

Lord Li wiped the sweat from his forehead. He witnessed what happened on New Year's Eve and knew that the person in front of him was Concubine Wen, which made him feel a lot colder in his heart.

The truth doesn't matter anymore.

He paused, then bowed to Xiao Guixi and said, "Your Majesty, since the murderer has been caught, I beg Your Majesty to tell my daughter the truth."

Xiao Guixi did not answer, his eyes were like the edge of an icy sword, piercing Tao Xiang straight away.

"The consequence of lying before the Emperor is death by slicing. Not only that, your whole family will suffer as well. I'll give you a chance, think it over before you speak."

Taoxiang knelt on the ground tremblingly, her fingers clenched tightly.

Finally, she kowtowed and confessed: "Your Majesty, please spare my life. It was all Concubine Wen's idea. In fact, it was Concubine Li who first sent the maid Xiao Cui to kill Concubine Wen, so Concubine Wen asked me to bring the medicine to Xiao Cui. Xiao Cui was also killed by Concubine Wen."

"Your Majesty, the scissors that killed Xiao Cui were secretly replaced by me. The real murder weapon, the scissors, was hidden by me in the side hall where Concubine Wen used to live. Your Majesty, send someone to look for it, and they will definitely find it. The Lord of the Nine Punishments Department was able to find Concubine Wen and my fingerprints on the medicine bottle, so he can definitely find Concubine Wen's fingerprints on the scissors."

Wen Man glared at her fiercely, her voice cold as ice.

"Tell me, who gave you the guts to slander me like this! Do you know how serious a crime it is to frame the Imperial Concubine? Aren't you afraid of the severe torture by the Nine Punishment Department, or of being thrown into a dark prison, where you will never get out?"

Then, she looked at Xiao Guixi aggrievedly, her voice choked with sobs: "Your Majesty, this is all Taoxiang's words. She dared to say anything to get away with it. I am really wronged."

Xiao Guixi frowned slightly, and his gaze stayed on her for a moment.

Enough of this drama.

The person in front of him was no different from the others in the harem, and his rebuttals were all the same, not interesting at all.

Just a name.

Seeing this, Wen Man couldn't help but feel an inexplicable panic in her heart.

She knew she couldn't just give up.

So, she took a deep breath and continued, "Your Majesty, I have always been careful in my words and deeds in the palace, and have never done anything that violates the rules. However, Taoxiang did not hesitate to frame me in order to protect herself. Please, Your Majesty, look into this matter carefully and clear my name."

In the end, Xiao Guixi didn't say a word, but just sat there quietly.

In a moment, he slammed the file in his hand in front of Wen Man and said in a cold voice: "Look for yourself."

Wen Man gently picked up the file and saw clear handwriting on it, describing the whole story of Concubine Li's case.

Her eyes were fixed on the words, and her panic grew.

No!

She absolutely couldn't die now!

Wen Man clenched her fingers, took a deep breath, and slowly raised her head: "I have nothing to say, but I also have something to ask Your Majesty. I wonder if Your Majesty still remembers the Dragon Boat Festival last year, when we planted mugwort, picked herbs, and painted our foreheads?"

Xiao Guixi's pupils widened slightly and he looked at her in disbelief.

Last year during the Dragon Boat Festival, he and Wen Man expressed their feelings for each other. This was well concealed, how could she know?

"Your Majesty, Sister Li's matter is the most important thing right now." Wen Man's lips curled up into a smile.

Xiao Guixi understood.

She was gambling her life on Wen Man's matter.

Naive.

Did she think she could threaten him?

Xiao Guixi was silent for a while, then looked at Lord Li: "Lord Li, you are the victim, what do you think?"

Lord Li knelt on the ground, his fists clenched, tears glistening in his eyes.

He looked up at Xiao Guixi, his voice choking with sobs: "I beg Your Majesty to make a decision for me and severely punish the two palace maids who killed my daughter, so that my daughter can be buried and rest in peace as soon as possible."

After saying this, he kowtowed deeply again to express his grief and pleading.

"Okay." Xiao Guixi raised his hand and instructed Zhao Tisi, "This man will be handed over to your Nine Punishment Department. He will be executed together with the palace maid who was captured earlier."

As soon as he finished speaking, several guards quickly stepped forward and took Taoxiang away.

Taoxiang struggled hard and kept shouting that she was innocent, but the matter had already been decided by the emperor and no one could plead for her.

**

As Chief Minister Zhao and Lord Li left one after another, Xiao Guixi dismissed everyone in the imperial study.

"Noble Concubine, do you know that what you just said was disrespectful to the late queen?" His voice was full of majesty and chilling.

"Xiao Guixi, do you believe that people can be resurrected from the dead?"

As soon as Wen Man finished speaking, the imperial study fell into silence. It was so quiet that only the two people's light breathing could be heard.

Her words were like a stone thrown into a calm lake, causing ripples in Xiao Guixi's heart and making him start thinking about this bizarre question.

Wen Man looked straight at him and said word by word, "Last March, you said you had never seen a woman as extraordinary as the late queen, and you said you found her interesting."

"Last year during the Dragon Boat Festival, you and the late queen had a heart-to-heart talk. You said that you only loved the late queen and that if you betrayed her, your family would be torn apart and your life would be ruined."

"On the wedding day, the red dowry was laid from the Prime Minister's residence to the Imperial Palace. People in the capital all said that the emperor and the empress were deeply in love, and she sat in the sedan chair and listened with a smile all the way. What was the result? A cup of poisoned wine went down her throat, and she lost her life early."

The staring gaze and questioning words that Xiao Guixi asked made him not want to see Wen Man at this moment.

He raised his hand: "Someone come."

Wen Man sneered: "What? Knowing that I'm not dead, you still want to kill me a second time?"

Xiao Guixi pursed his lips and a guilty expression appeared on his face.

"Wen Man, I will come to see you later."

Hearing this, Wen Man felt relieved. She knew that she was safe now.

Moreover, she seemed to have made the wrong choice of revenge before.

Doesn’t the fact that there are so many women in the harem who are similar to her prove that Xiao Guixi loves her deeply?

If she revealed her true identity, she would have been sealed long ago. Then it would be natural for her to make those women disappear one by one, suppress Song Yuesheng, and kill Xiao Guixi without anyone noticing.

After her identity was exposed, Wen Man didn't even bother to say goodbye and just pushed the door open and walked out.

Xiao Guixi felt upset.

It was true that he felt guilty about Wen Man's death, but he did not feel much joy when he heard that she was safe and sound.

He kept walking back and forth in the imperial study, trying to find out what the problem was.

After an unknown amount of time, Chief Steward Wu suddenly pushed the door open and barged in: "Your Majesty, something's wrong. Concubine Song..."

"Get lost. I'm not interested in hearing any news about Song Yuesheng right now."

Xiao Guixi glanced at Manager Wu.

He still doesn't know how to face Wen Man, why is Song Yuesheng rushing to cause trouble?

Manager Wu quickly retreated and closed the door tightly.

He pulled the maid who reported the incident to a side area and whispered, "Miss Qiaoxin, you heard it just now. His Majesty is in a bad mood and can't listen to anything. You should hurry back to Jiangxue Palace and stay with Concubine Song."

"But... only Your Majesty can invite Imperial Doctor Zhang. Chief Steward Wu, please be kind and help the Empress."

Qiao Xin, who was usually calm and composed, burst into tears and took out a heavy bag of silver from her sleeve.

"It's not that I don't want to help, I just can't do anything. Miss Qiaoxin, please go back quickly."

After saying this, Manager Wu turned and left.

Seeing that her plea was useless, Qiao Xin wiped her tears and ran quickly to Jiangxue Palace.

I don’t know whether Qiao Yue has gone to ask the imperial physician to come back.