Ling Guiren's eyes did not escape Chu Yunning's eyes, but she pretended not to notice, lowering her head and continued to talk to her about Emperor Mingwen's recent events.
"I heard Eunuch Mo mention that every time the emperor is upset, you are always there to watch over him and make some snacks..."
"Yes, the emperor only likes to eat snacks made by me." Ling Guiren seemed to have thought of something, and stood up to prepare snacks.
Chu Yunning raised her eyebrows, sat leisurely on the sofa, squinted her eyes and smiled slightly and said loudly, "If the emperor can taste Ling Guiren's snacks, maybe he will remember the past."
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Ling Guiren trotting up with the hem of her skirt. When she saw this, Chu Yunning couldn't help but curl her lips and sneer. If he had known about it today, why did he do it in the first place.
An hour later, Ling Guiren made three plates of snacks, which were still steaming hot right out of the oven. They put them in food boxes and handed them to Chu Yunning.
"I know the emperor doesn't want to see me now, so I'll ask you to give this snack to the emperor. Don't worry, the kindness you showed me today will be greatly appreciated in the future."
Chu Yunning took the food box and smiled slightly: "Then I will wait for Ling Guiren to regain his strength and make a comeback."
"Go quickly, don't let the snacks get cold."
"good."
Chu Yunning ate the snacks on the way. I have to say that Ling Guiren's craftsmanship was pretty good, sweet but not greasy, and the taste was just right.
When I arrived at the entrance of the Yizheng Palace, I happened to meet the Prime Minister.
"Chu Shang Palace?"
After not seeing each other for several months, the Prime Minister seemed to have aged several years. There were fine and dense wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and his eyes were cloudy and fierce.
"Prime Minister." Chu Yunning leaned over.
The Prime Minister smiled and raised his hand: "I can't bear the courtesy of Chu Shanggong. I haven't seen you for a long time. Chu Shanggong seems to be more energetic. Several concubines in the harem have been demoted, left and gone, and there will be no one in the future."
I dare to offend you."
There was a hint of ridicule in these words. Chu Yunning pursed her lips tightly and smiled without getting angry: "These are things that should be the Queen's responsibility. I am also sharing the Queen's worries. The Prime Minister should thank me.
"
"You!" The Prime Minister's face changed slightly, and it took him a long time to calm down: "Chu Shang Palace, don't be too arrogant. When the emperor no longer needs you, you will have no choice but to be kicked out!"
Chu Yunning looked proud: "Prime Minister, please rest assured that there will never be a day when the emperor does not need me. After all, the poison is difficult to cure. As long as I am here, the emperor will be safe and sound."
When the poison was mentioned, Prime Minister Gong's face darkened inch by inch, and he stared at Chu Yunning with narrowed eyes.
"If I stay in the palace for just one day, I will never be inferior to anyone else, even the queen!" Chu Yunning raised her chin, pretending to be arrogant, and the angry prime minister was speechless, and rolled his sleeves angrily.
go.
The Prime Minister has always been known as the old fox. In just a few rounds, the Prime Minister was stunned and suppressed his anger.
He is worthy of being the head of hundreds of officials.
I had to think of a way to anger the Prime Minister. Suddenly, the figure of Yuan Guifei flashed in my mind, so I changed my direction and returned to Qingluan Hall. As expected, I saw Yuan Guifei enjoying the cool under the pavilion. Seeing her coming, Yuan Guifei
The concubine stood up and smiled slightly: "Sister Chu is back."
Chu Yunning nodded gently and sat aside. Before she spoke, Yuan Guibi said in a soft tone: "I know that Sister Chu is here for my father."
"Yes." She did not deny it.
Yuan Guifei sighed softly: "My father is stubborn and will never compromise easily. In my father's eyes, the glory of the family trumps everything else."
Even the queen is just a pawn of the family in his eyes, not his beloved daughter. The Gong family is a century-old family, with descendants and descendants from generation to generation, just like a complicated tree. He wants to eradicate it.
Not overnight.
"Do you mean that the Prime Minister would rather die than surrender?"
Yuan Guifei pursed her lips tightly. In the history books, the fate of the Prime Minister's family was that three generations of clan members were cut in half and exiled among the nine clans. Decades later, a fish that slipped through the net entered the court incognito for revenge and became the biggest murderer in the past century.
Of course, this is all a story for later.
"The higher you climb, the worse you will fall. If Sister Chu has a way to make the Gong family suffer injuries without annihilating the whole army, I am willing to cooperate with you."
Yuan Guifei's ideological consciousness was beyond her expectation. Without even a word of nonsense, she took the initiative to agree to help.
"It is impossible for my sister to give up the throne to me. According to my father's nature, my sister will die in the position of queen."
Chu Yunning also recognized this point. A deposed queen was definitely a shame to a prominent family.
"Father has probably guessed the emperor's intention. If father sees the eldest sister, I expect he will say something to make the eldest sister take action in advance."
Concubine Yuan Gui's words reminded her that the Princess of Yunlan Kingdom came to marry and asked her to be the queen. Emperor Mingwen did not express his position for a long time. Instead, he sent someone to greet him. The old fox, the Prime Minister, was just in case. He couldn't do anything.
come out.
"Sister Chu, eldest sister, she will definitely agree to it for the sake of the prosperity of the family." Concubine Yuan Gui said,
Chu Yunning looked deeply at Concubine Yuan, and suddenly said: "I will plead with the emperor for you, give you a new identity, and let you leave the palace and go to Shu. We can still meet in Shu in the future.
Get together."
"Thank you, Sister Chu, for your kindness."
The two of them had a tacit understanding of what was unnecessary and no one mentioned it again.
two hours later
The Prime Minister went to visit the Queen. Less than half an hour after entering, the Queen Mother led a large number of people to visit the Queen.
The queen was lying in a pool of blood, unconscious.
"Prime Minister, what are you doing?" the Queen Mother asked angrily, and ordered people to visit the Queen, only to learn that the Queen's life was hanging by a thread.
"What are you still doing? Go ask the imperial doctor!"
Everyone in Fengyi Palace started to get busy. The Queen was carried to the cave, while the Prime Minister was kneeling aside with a gloomy face. He was being plotted again!
The queen was fine one moment, but suddenly she fell to the ground, bleeding from all her orifices. He didn't even react, and the queen mother came with someone. There was no such coincidence in the world, and he didn't believe it was this kind of coincidence.
After a while, Emperor Mingwen also came: "How is the queen?"
"The Queen is in danger, I'm afraid things won't be good." The Queen Mother sighed: "The Queen's health is not good to begin with, how can she withstand such a torment."
The mother and son chatted for a few words, and then the Queen Mother changed the subject and looked at the Prime Minister: "A tiger can't eat its own children, how can the Prime Minister be so cruel that he won't even spare his own daughter!"
"Queen Mother, I was framed. How could I possibly murder the Queen?" The Prime Minister straightened his back and said in a deep voice, "I sincerely request the Queen Mother and the Emperor to thoroughly investigate the truth and give me justice."
"If it weren't for you, how could the Queen be poisoned?" the Queen Mother asked.
Instead, Gong Cheng asked: "The queen is my daughter. How could I kill the queen so cruelly? What good will this do to me?"
The Queen Mother choked on her words.
"Of course there are benefits!" Chu Yunning walked over, raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty, I feel that in order to continue the glory of the palace family for a hundred years, it is better for the prime minister to let the queen die of illness than to abolish the queen and become a stain on the palace family.
good."
The Prime Minister's pupils shrank suddenly and his eyes were fixed on Chu Yunning. She actually guessed what he was thinking!
It's no wonder that many concubines in the harem can't defeat her, she is indeed smart.
"It's nonsense. The Queen has no fault. How could the Emperor depose the Queen?" The Prime Minister denied it flatly and shifted the responsibility to the other party: "On the contrary, Chu Shanggong had evil intentions and acted in the harem on behalf of the Queen. He also married the Queen.
She was poisoned and murdered because of a grudge. Your Majesty, this woman has evil thoughts and must be severely punished."
The Prime Minister of the Palace scolded her and pointed directly at Chu Yunning: "As long as we take this girl to the Criminal Punishment Department and force a confession through words and deeds, we will be able to find out the truth. Without further delay, please give the emperor an order."
"Is it inappropriate for the Prime Minister to send me to the Sentence Division based on his own speculation?" Chu Yunning said calmly: "The Queen has been childless for many years in the palace. According to the folk rules, she should divorce her wife. The Emperor
Thinking of the love between husband and wife, he tolerated it until now. The princess of the previous dynasty asked her to be the queen by name, but the prime minister panicked, so he took action in advance and let the queen die quietly."
"Ha! You are so smart!" The Prime Minister sneered: "If it is what you said, why should I do it myself today? Wouldn't it be to let everyone know that I was the one who poisoned the queen?"
"Today the Prime Minister is indeed not here to murder the Queen, but hopes that the Queen will commit suicide so that she can gain a good reputation for her understanding of righteousness."
Chu Yunning added: "Two hours ago, the minister and the prime minister met in front of the Council Hall. They smelled a complex aroma on the prime minister's body. It was very light. If I hadn't had a sensitive nose, most people wouldn't have noticed it."
Hearing these words, Prime Minister Gong's heart sank. Today's situation was set up just for him. Someone must have put something on his body!
"The Queen became ill due to overwork and has been ill for a long time. Everyone knows this. It's just that the Queen's condition is more serious than you imagined, so the Queen couldn't bear it and fainted."
The Queen Mother suddenly said: "Chu Shanggong, do you mean that the Prime Minister brought poison to kill the Queen? The dose of the drug was very light, but it accidentally worsened the Queen's condition?"
"The Queen Mother is wise." Chu Yunning pointed to the clothes of the Prime Minister: "This clothes is stained with the fragrance of Hanxiucao. It smells not harmful on its own. However, this fragrance conflicts with several kinds of medicine. Once it is contaminated,
The internal organs will wither and die in the shortest possible time.”
The scent of the Prime Minister's clothes was dyed in the Yizheng Hall, and everyone in the Yizheng Hall had already changed into new clothes. Only the Prime Minister's body still had the scent. Chu Yuning was sure that he didn't think too much, so he was unaware of the ghost.
fell into a trap.
The Prime Minister closed his eyes. He knew without even thinking that he must have been exposed to this fragrance. His every word and action was guessed by Chu Yunning.
"Prime Minister, you are so brave, you actually dare to murder the Queen!" The Queen Mother was furious and said to Emperor Mingwen: "The Prime Minister has evil intentions, and the Emperor will punish him severely!"
Emperor Mingwen, who had been silent for the whole time, looked at the Prime Minister meaningfully.
"Your Majesty, I have been wronged. I would never dare or would murder the queen. The queen is the daughter I raised single-handedly. It's too late to feel sorry for her. How could I harm her?" The Prime Minister began to play the card of bitterness, his eyes turned red, and from time to time he
Wipe the corners of your eyes.
However, Chu Yunning found that there was no sadness in his eyes, only the anger and embarrassment after being framed.
"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister may love the Queen very much, but he has to do this for the glory of the family. After all, the Palace family does not need a deposed queen. Regardless of whether the Emperor deposes the Queen or not, the Prime Minister would rather kill her by mistake than take a gamble."
The Prime Minister now understood the Queen's previous state of mind, and wished he could cut Chu Yunning into pieces with a thousand knives to relieve his anger.
Every word was heartbreaking, leaving him unable to refute.
"Chu Shanggong, you go and treat the queen first. I have my own sense of responsibility for the affairs of the previous dynasty." Emperor Mingwen bent down and helped the Prime Minister up: "Prime Minister, I have other matters to discuss with you."
"yes."
The Queen's critical illness was tacitly understood by both parties and no one mentioned it. Smart people know that no matter how many explanations there are, it is useless. The trap is full of pitfalls. The most brainless way is to kill the fish and kill the net, and no one will be able to get through it.
Obviously, the Prime Minister did not intend to do this, but negotiated with Emperor Mingwen in time to reduce the loss and reach some kind of agreement between them.
Soon Emperor Mingwen took the Prime Minister to the side hall.
The Queen Mother took Chu Yunning's hand and lowered her voice and asked: "Thanks to you for solving the Emperor's problem, Ning Yatou, the Queen cannot die, but she cannot live either. We must give up this position, and we must not let the Gong family lose face."
.”
The influence of the Prime Minister is spread all over the world, and there is no good opportunity to eradicate it for a while. We can only clean it up slowly, and the emperor cannot quarrel with the Prime Minister.
The Queen's matter was just given to the Prime Minister.
"Don't worry, Queen Mother, I know what to do."
The next morning at court, the Prime Minister walked out of the procession and asked the Emperor to depose the Queen and give up the Queen's position to Princess Yunlan.
As soon as these words came out, everyone present was shocked and praised the Prime Minister for his magnanimity and for taking care of the country's worries. Little did they know that the Prime Minister's heart was bleeding.
Rather than being deposed, it would be better to ask him to resign and gain a good reputation. As for Emperor Mingwen, he was also willing to fulfill the other party's good reputation.
Emperor Mingwen was embarrassed by his previous actions and declined a few words. The Prime Minister gritted his teeth and knelt on the ground: "I beg the Emperor to consider the people of the world. The position of the Queen should be given up."
Under the repeated requests of the prime minister, Emperor Mingwen took advantage of the situation and demoted the queen to Shu Guifei and moved her to Bihe Palace.
When the queen, Concubine Shu, woke up and learned about this, she was so angry that she smashed all the furnishings in the room.
"Concubine Shu, the emperor asked you to vacate Fengyi Palace as soon as possible. The new palace has been packed up." Chu Yunning came to supervise the move. Seeing the mess on the ground, she felt a little distressed.
Concubine Shu looked at Chu Yunning with deep hatred in her eyes: "Chu Yunning, now you are satisfied. You have calculated this debt for me, and I will remember it forever!"
Chu Yunning raised her eyebrows: "I am still taking care of Concubine Shu's body. If something goes wrong again and she becomes comatose or hemiplegic..."
"How dare you!" Concubine Shu was so frightened that her face changed.
"I dare you, Concubine Shu will know after you give it a try." Chu Yunning was not used to the other party's faults, and Concubine Shu was so stimulated by just a few words that she fainted again.
To her, Concubine Shu was like a poisonous snake waiting for an opportunity. As long as she found the right opportunity, she would definitely pounce on her and bite her. She couldn't take it lightly, so Chu Yunning had no intention of giving her a chance to jump.