C92

Consort De had already made preparations before coming here. She was dressed in plain clothes and had already removed all her usual golden hairpins and silver hairpins. The only disharmony was her thick makeup on her face.

"Chenqie has come to plead her wrongs, begging the empress to forgive chenqie's trespass." Consort De flopped down on her knees, not forgetting to shout inside.

"Bah!" Forsythia couldn't help but spit at her when she saw her attitude.

The newly ascended laurel was somewhat afraid, saying, "Doing this won't harm the Empress's reputation? A few days ago, the Empress was not here, but Imperial Concubine Su was still ill. It is normal for her to take care of internal affairs in place of the Empress. "

"Little Gui, I know you haven't gone through much experience, but if you want to become the Empress's right-hand man, you need to perform well." He then recalled that she and Qing Qing had suggested promoting Xiao Gui, and added, "If you don't know what to do, you can look for Director Xing."

Guizhi looked ashamed, "Yes, thank you for your advice."

Only then did Lian Qiuyu turn to enter the inner hall to report, "Empress Dowager, that Consort De is kneeling outside the hall. What should I do?"

Separated by the screen, Qing Qing smiled. "She likes to kneel, so let her kneel." Since she was here to ask for forgiveness, there was no need for her to be polite.

He slowly allowed Cai Hong and Ling Qiong to dress her. It had already been an hour since she saw Consort De who had come to beg for forgiveness.

Consort De still continued to kneel there, completely ignoring the uneven cobblestone road below her knees. If it wasn't for the patient expression on her face, she really would have thought that she was very relaxed at the moment.

"Consort De, what are you doing? I did not allow you to do so. If people knew about this, wouldn't they think that I'm punishing you? " After walking around Consort De in a circle, he squatted in front of Consort De.

Consort De withdrew a faint smile and said, "The concubine did something wrong, so it's only right for the empress to punish the concubine."

Qing Qing pretended not to know what she was talking about and asked, "May I ask what Consort De's mistake was?"

Consort De also knew that Qing Qing was humiliating her, so she placed both hands on the ground and greeted her with a great bow. "It's not that concubines don't act according to their duty, but big sister Concubine Fu suddenly feels chills. To prevent her sisters from falling into chaos, concubines took a few days to manage things on behalf of the empress, forgetting the empress's forgiveness."

Qing Qing stood up and cast a sidelong glance at Consort De. "Since that's the case, why did Consort De come here to beg for forgiveness?"

Qing Qing initially thought that this wasn't a big deal. She wanted Consort De to kneel down and teach her a lesson and then let her go back. However, Lian Qiuwei's words made her sympathy towards Consort De vanish like smoke in thin air.

Consort De panicked, the person from that night was indeed someone at the empress's side. She no longer rested her head on the ground, "Empress, please forgive me for my sin. Chenqie was only raving nonsense when she was drunk that night. I beg the empress, seeing that chenqie is the one who committed this offense, please forgive me."

"Then tell me, what did you say that night, I'll let you off at my discretion." He had someone bring over a chair and sit on it before he opened his mouth with a hint of interest.

Consort De was still hesitating. She didn't know if Qing Qing was trying to trick her. There were so many servants by her side. If she did say anything, these people would be witnesses. But if she didn't, the empress wouldn't let her off.

Qing Qing did not speak for a long time. She then said, "Servants, Consort De committed an offense. After serving the Emperor for so many years, she has only been punished by going to the Great Buddha Temple for a month."

Consort De completely panicked. If it was really only a month, then it was nothing. However, ever since the Zhou Dynasty was established, no concubine has gone to this Great Buddha Temple to return.

Seeing that the servants really wanted to drag her away, they fiercely kowtowed, and blood instantly flowed from their foreheads.