Chapter 163

"Hiss--"

The palace maids were applying an ice pack to Empress Zhu's face. Unfortunately, they touched a sore spot, prompting her to swipe them away: "All of you, get out!"

She must have been out of her mind today, having been goaded on by Consort Liang's few words, and ran to confront Concubine Zhen.

Previously, she wasn't such an impulsive person, and this time she didn't know if she was too angry at the emperor's endless indulgence in Concubine Zhen, completely losing her usual rationality.

"Your Highness was too impulsive today."

Fen Yun took the ice pack from the palace maid and gently pressed it to her swollen face. "You looked like a..."

Struggling to find an appropriate word, Empress Zhu took a deep breath and said, "Like a brainless fool."

Fen Yun fell silent, her thoughts echoing the Empress'.

Keeping cool, thinking ahead, calm and composed, that's how her Lady Empress was.

Today, she had thrown a tantrum in Hexi Palace, openly going against the Emperor at every turn, acting just like Consort Liang. It's no wonder that the Emperor lost his patience and hit her.

Consort Liang had been slapped thirty times. The Empress had just been slapped once, a display of respect for her status as Empress.

Empress Zhu closed her eyes for a moment and then suddenly sat up straight: "Who switched the incense in my palace?"

The incense burned in Yikun Palace had always been Phoenix Tail Fragrance, a privilege allowed only to the Empress and a symbol of her status, much like the Dragon Saliva Fragrance used by the Emperor.

Yet this morning, when Consort Liang visited, she smelled Chen Shui Fragrance. She had wanted to ask Fen Yun why she had changed it out on the sly...

But Consort Liang's shocking news quickly overwhelmed her, and the issue with the incense slipped her mind, letting Consort Liang carry on with her tirade about Concubine Zhen.

In just a short moment, her mind was befuddled and everything spiraled out of control.

How did she become so irritable and thoughtless?

Only after inhaling the familiar scent of Phoenix Tail Fragrance did she recall the unusual fragrance she had caught in the morning.

Fen Yun immediately strode over, lifting the curtain to see an unknown palace maid, her face in panic, trying to hide the used incense ashes.

A useless person.

"Do you remember, Empress, when I first entered the palace and was slapped and punished on my knees for picking a begonia by Consort Li?"

“What does that have to do with Consort Ye...”

"No!"

Empress Zhu thought for a moment, her clear eyes looking at her, "You and Consort Ye were chosen to enter the palace in the same year."

This was mainly because Jiang Xinyue was so beloved that all the other girls who had entered the palace the same year had lost their lustre. Had it not been for Jiang Xinyue reminding her, Empress Zhu would have forgotten that they were both selected in the same year.

Jiang Xinyue nodded, "The begonia was actually picked by Consort Ye, not me. She was the one who led me to the Imperial Garden. Considering that I was just the daughter of a fifth-grade official and had never stepped into the palace before, I might not have known that the begonia was Consort Li's beloved plant. But would Consort Ye, the legitimate daughter of General Ye, who had been visiting the palace since childhood, not know that the tree symbolized Consort Li's love relationship with the Emperor?"

Impossible, she must have known.

Under the circumstance that she knew, she had tricked Jiang Xinyue into wearing that begonia. Nobody would believe it wasn’t on purpose.

"How is this related to the palace maid putting a psychotic drug into my incense?"

Jiang Xinyue pulled a small voodoo doll out of her sleeve and showed it to Empress Zhu. "Empress, this is made of floating light brocade. A wet nurse saw it in the old emperor's harem, in a concubine's palace. As per palace regulations, it cannot be shown off, so that concubine used it in her underwear, claiming it had warming effects during winter and cooling effects during summer. And this concubine is Consort Ye's aunt."

That would explain why the Ye family has such silk.

"And that palace maid earlier."

With a straight face, Jiang Xinyue made up a story, "She and Yang from my palace are very close. I've seen her in Hexi Palace several times. I suspect now that Yang is not Consort Liang's person, they are all Consort Ye's spies. They just used Consort Liang and also used Empress Zhu as her weapon."

Consort Ye, who is so cunning and manages to pretend to be an idiot that Empress Zhu couldn't suspect her at all.

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

Jiang Xinyue smiled: "I just don't want to let go of the person who really harmed me."

Empress Zhu gritted her teeth: "I will not let go of those who stir up trouble in the palace."

Consort Ye made her lose such a big face, and she will definitely make her pay a painful price.