C194

An earthquake of the nation, the king of the whole government;

Grandmother had no intention of causing trouble, so she decided to settle the matter with a title.

Li Anzhu had personally admitted that Xuan Ye's words were already conclusive evidence against her. It was no longer Rong'er's place to think about how she would be convicted if she heard that she had been banned. After all, they had been sisters for so many years, so she only hoped that she would pay the price for what she had done.

Xuan Ye did not have the heart to blame Lee Anzhu. Instead, he handed the matter over to the empress dowager for her decision as all his thoughts were focused on the aftermath of the earthquake. The earthquake was a calamity for the capital, with Beijing as its center. According to incomplete statistics, in the capital alone, there were 12793 houses that had collapsed, 1828 houses that had been damaged, and about 485 people who had died. Among them, the Grand Scholar Wang Pingzhi, the Foreign Minister Wang Kaiyun, had died in the earthquake, and the Minister of Industry, Wang Guangyu, and his family of 43 had all died in the earthquake. The aftershocks continued, and the number of people affected was increasing.

After the earthquake, Xuanye thought day and night about the malpractice of government, and it was time to put an end to it. Two days later, he gathered all the officials under the Manchu Scholars, and the deputy imperial court officials, and gathered them at the left gate to issue the imperial edict, announcing the six flaws in the governance he had been thinking about: first, the officials at all levels were harsh on the people, and the people were suffering greatly; secondly, the officials were favouring the people; thirdly, the soldiers were burning and looting when the soldiers were being used; fourthly, the local officials were not paying attention to the people's suffering; they were unable to help them in any way; five, they were not being punished for their crimes.

The young Xuanye had come to the realization that, in order to rid himself of this evil, it was necessary for an official to lead the way from the top. Only when a minister was pure and honest would the governor be afraid and not go back on his words.

Four days after the earthquake, Xuan Ye's Ministry of Life and Industry and Ministry of Revenue did their best to provide relief to the disaster, pacify the people, withdraw money from the court, distribute it to the affected families and rebuild their homes. Xuan Ye, on the other hand, will personally supervise the relief and reconstruction of the disaster.

How could the empress dowager not be angered? Dealing with Li Anzhu had given her a headache, Li Anzhu was different from Zhang Lieqi, but unlike Wang Jingzhi, she was the one behind the family of generals. The Li family was the Qing dynasty's meritorious general, and if they didn't handle things properly, it would hurt the emperor's heart. Furthermore, the earthquake had just hit the country and everyone was shouting 'heaven's retribution'. How could something like this happen to the harem at this time, so the lesser the impact, the better it would be. Otherwise, the world would criticize it.

On the day of Lee An-zhu's interrogation, the empress dowager asked Rong'er to come as well. After all, Rong'er was the most important witness. Rong'er's small child was already weak. Coupled with the emotional stimulation he received, she was very haggard. She sat silently at the side, listening to the empress dowager's question.

"Lee Anzhu, do you still have any excuses for what the emperor heard with your own ears?" the empress dowager asked in a low voice.

"Old Ancestor, chenqie knows her wrongs. Chenqie only unintentionally found out about you being a concubine. The reason why I told you this was also because of the palace's rules." An Zhu cried as she complained.

"What about the murder of Chang Yin?" The empress dowager raised her voice and asked, "Old ancestor, Yin'er wasn't killed by chenqie. Chenqie never admitted it was her. It was just a coincidence that she died in front of chenqie." Lee Anzhu turned to Rong'er and said, "Sister Rong, you have to believe me. I admit that I once hated you, but I didn't kill Yin'er. I really didn't."

Rong'er gently closed her eyes. That day, she really didn't admit it personally. It was because she didn't ask enough that she had a chance to get through. "Elder Sister Rong, ever since I entered the palace, we've been together, I know you're a good person, but the emperor favors you, I'm envious of you, my request isn't high, as long as the emperor can give me a bit of it, it's fine. I was the one who thought about it, I know I was wrong, I shouldn't have thought about it in front of the emperor, I'm wrong …"

When Rong'er heard Lee Anzhu's words, he couldn't help feeling a bit sad. Was it because of her again? She remembered the hatred the Empress had for her. Was it all because of her?

The empress dowager shook her head in pain. "Alright, you can go down first, concubine. Think about what you've done for the past few days. Even if it's not a death sentence, the punishment is still too severe."

"Yes, chenqie was wrong. I must have thought it over carefully." Lee Anzhu was brought down while crying.

After examining Lee An-zhu, the empress dowager began to think, Lee An-zhu should not have watched the concubine, but Wang Jingzhi's case was true, and the earthquake that happened to the concubine was an instinct for survival. Regarding the murder of the palace maid, this Li An-zhu had never admitted it, and Xuan Ye had also said that she had not personally admitted it, but from the conversation between Rong'er and herself, it sounded like she was admitting it, whereas Lee An-zhu didn't admit it.

However, the empress dowager had still told her that it was not wise to exaggerate the cause and effect of this matter. Xuan Ye understood this logic after hearing it, and after all, Xuan Ye was still the country's first priority. He knew that Rong'er would not be satisfied with the results, so he simply let the empress dowager decide for herself.

In the end, the empress dowager had condemned Li Anzhu for being jealous, scheming, and dishonorable. The empress dowager had once again reprimanded all the empress dowager in the palace. They could not suspect each other, they could not use their schemes to fight each other, and those who violated this rule would definitely be severely punished.

That day, after the empress dowager finished lecturing the people, she left Rong'er behind and looked at him benevolently. "My wife, this one knows that you are the one who has suffered the most in this matter, because everything that happened to my wife was done to you. You have lost the child in your womb, and your best sister has died as well, but I hope you understand that the nation is in trouble now.

"Yes, Old Ancestor. Chenqie understands." Actually, she did not necessarily want An Zhu to die, dying was a cruel thing. After all, Zhang Leyao had killed the prince and An Zhu was different. In the end, it was only because of her that she had fallen prey to An Zhu.

"The Wailing Family has taught her many things." The empress dowager smiled bitterly. "Actually, lowering her to being an ordinary existence was only to keep her alive. After all, after this matter is over, the emperor won't peng her any more. This is a painful lesson for her. She should return to being righteous."

"Yes." Rong'er also nodded. She could understand the empress dowager's difficulties and also understand her words. Without the luxurious life of a concubine in the past, there would be no more of the emperor's pang of love. Li Anzhu had kept her life, but she was afraid that she would no longer be happy living.

She knew that the Emperor had been busy with matters after the earthquake recently, so when Xuan Ye came to see her, he would often give him a smiling face to let him feel at ease. It was just that when there was no one around, he would always feel a little depressed.

"Mistress, I heard that the empress dowager intends to make another concubine in the imperial harem." Xiaoqing was feeding the medicine to Rong'er, she suddenly said as she thought of it.

"Oh?" Rong'er looked at Xiaoqing. "How did you know?"

"Heh, I heard …" Xiaoqing smiled. "After all, the Emperor has decided on six concubines. As for the people of Yonghe Palace, they either destroy everyone in Yonghe Palace or make another concubine. I heard the empress dowager means to make another concubine."

Rong'er nodded his head, of the seven concubines from back then, only five were left. That's right, the six concubines decided by the emperor were missing a person, I wonder who they would be.

Meanwhile, the empress dowager and Xuan Ye were discussing this matter in the Palace of Tzu Ning.