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S T E L L A R C L O U D
[Azurixa] [Celeste S.] [Christine G.-L.]
O R A N G E S T A R
[J Jean] [K.Rom] [Smurfinbatik] [Tori D.] [Ziana K.-P.]
Y E L L O W S T A R
[Leticia P.] [Maria P.] [Nicole]
G O L D S T A R
[Cindy] [Nanashi D. Y.] [Reece P.]
R A I N B O W S T A R
[Amanda] [Book W.] [Britnae M] [Caroline] [Christigale M.] [DetectiveGeek421] [Haruka N.]
[Hlau V.] [Ine O.] [Kiiayame] [kuroneko_chan] [Liznel M.] [Michelle K.] [onepiece] [Oushna]
[Quae] [Ray] [Scorpion Princess] [Sweetlove] [Victoria]
Imperial Concubine Shu never in her dreams expected this result. Wasn’t this mortar something Gu Jinyu invented? How could a four-year-old child make it?
Imperial Consort Zhuang enjoyed the show and wasn’t afraid to make it even bigger, "Imperial Concubine Shu, can it be that Little Five stole other people's ideas and then took it as his own?"
Imperial Concubine Shu felt guilty and her face turned red, "What is Imperial Consort saying? How can Little Five do such a thing?”
Imperial Consort Zhuang smiled faintly, "Then, is it possible that they stole it from Little Five?"
Empress Xiao said in a firm voice, "Imperial Consort should speak carefully. This Empress just heard the child say that his family made it long ago."
Imperial Concubine Shu toughened her scalp and said, "Little, Little Five have done it first a long time ago!"
Imperial Consort Zhuang responded, "That's not what you said just now. Didn't you say that Little Five just came up with it yesterday?"
"I..." Imperial Concubine Shu did mention that the Fifth Prince only shared this idea with her last night.
Imperial Consort Zhuang added, "Can it be that Little Five mentioned it to Little Seven and Little Seven taught it to the child, but the child falsely claimed that it was taught by his family?"
Empress Xiao resolutely said, "Last night, Little Seven stayed in this Empress’s palace as soon as he returned from the Imperial Academy, and His Majesty was there as well. After that, His Majesty sent Little Seven to the East Palace. Tell me, how could Little Seven have met Little Five? Moreover, why would Little Five tell Little Seven about this?"
With such a big age gap, the relationship between the two of them wasn’t close at ordinary times. It was impossible for the Fifth Prince to tell Qin Chuyu such a thing.
Qin Chuyu was just a child. What did he know?
Imperial Consort Zhuang bowed her head, saying, "It was this imperial consort who made a mistake."
Imperial Consort Zhuang was not speaking for Imperial Concubine Shu, and Empress Xiao understood this.
The expression in the eyes of the Emperor as he looked at Imperial Concubine Shu became complicated.
To be honest, the Emperor was very fond of Imperial Concubine Shu. There were always new people coming and going in the palace, but Imperial Concubine Shu was always the most favored one. There was no other reason than that Imperial Concubine Shu was extremely charming and beautiful, and she was very adept at cajoling people. She was a hard to come by beauty.
However, today's events had touched the bottom line of the Emperor.
The Emperor was already annoyed by the fact that Gu Jinyu claimed other’s credit but there was no proof. Right now, the thing that annoyed him the most was people who took the credit of others!
Of course, the Emperor was inherently a man of evidence.
The Emperor said, "Do you have any evidence to prove when Little Five first made this mortar?"
Imperial Concubine Shu remained speechless.
The Emperor went on, "He can’t have imagined it out of thin air. He must have made it first before you believe it, right?"
Imperial Concubine Shu was totally mute.
The Emperor called Eunuch Wei, "Ask the child when his family first made this mortar."
"Yes!" Eunuch Wei went with small quick steps. After a while, he turned back and said to the Emperor, “Reporting to Your Majesty, he said that many of their neighbors' walls were made of this mortar, and they made it last month."
The Emperor gave Eunuch Wei a meaningful glance and Eunuch Wei immediately understood. He turned to call several imperial experts and asked them to go to Bishui Alley.
The imperial concubines originally came to see the Emperor, but now they were watching Imperial Concubine Shu’s show instead.
Imperial Concubine Shu had been in the imperial palace for many years and had never been so embarrassed.
Gu Jinyu ah, Gu Jinyu, you truly pushed this imperial concubine into a pit!
Soon, the imperial experts returned to the palace, and one of them spoke to the Emperor, "Reporting to Your majesty, the mortar over there is indeed the same mortar as the one here."
The evidence was conclusive. The mortar was made by the child's family first.
Now, the question was, how did the Fifth Prince know about the mortar? Did he come up with it on his own, or did he... steal it from others?
Empress Xiao couldn't help but speak, "Imperial Concubine Shu, why don’t you quickly tell us the truth?"
Imperial Concubine Shu was extremely regretful. If she had known this, she would not have been fooled by Gu Jinyu and would not have taken the credit. How should she patch up her lie now?
If only she didn’t involve the Fifth Prince, but she did.
Imperial Consort Zhuang revealed a slight smile as she suggested, "Why not call over the Fifth Prince and ask him in person?"
"No!" She hadn’t made up a plausible story with Little Five yet!
Wasn’t calling over Little Five at this juncture simply asking her to expose her lie?
However, what Imperial Concubine Shu was most afraid of ultimately happened——
"Yi? Imperial Father? Imperial Concubine Mother? Why are you all here?"
It was the Fifth Prince who just returned to the palace, striding towards this side. "Imperial Concubine Mother, I heard you wanted to see me due to an urgent matter!"
When he walked into the pavilion, he saw Empress Xiao and the others sitting, and saluted them one by one.
"Imperial Concubine Mother, you don’t look good." The Fifth Prince looked at Imperial Concubine Shu strangely. Everyone else was sitting, only Imperial Concubine Shu stood in the center of the pavilion, looking like she was being interrogated. The Fifth Prince frowned, "What happened?"
Imperial Concubine Shu gave him a meaningful glance.
Empress Xiao pointed to a bucket of mortar on the side and asked, "Little Five, do you know this?"
Imperial Concubine Shu winked at him desperately!
However, the Fifth Prince failed to see it. He looked at the mortar and asked in disgust, "What kind of dirty thing is this?"
Dirty thing, huh. What else did people not understand?
He didn’t even know what mortar was!
Imperial Consort Zhuang covered half of her face and smilingly said, "Little Five, Imperial Concubine Shu said you made this thing?"
The Fifth Prince felt nauseous, "Why would I make such dirty stuff?"
Imperial Consort Zhuang sniggered.
The rest of the imperial concubines also covered their mouths with handkerchiefs.
Empress Xiao, with the bearing of the mother of a country, didn't let even the slightest laugh escape her mouth.
Imperial Concubine Shu just wanted to die.
What about the connection between mother and son? Can’t we have any tacit understanding?
"You withdraw first." The Emperor told the Fifth Prince that this matter had nothing to do with him. The Emperor wouldn't take his anger out on him for the time being.
The Fifth Prince failed to understand the situation, but the Emperor had already given him the order and he could only retreat silently.
The Emperor's cold eyes fell on Imperial Concubine Shu's face, "What exactly is going on? Still not going to speak honestly?"
With both human testimony and material evidence, it was no longer possible for Imperial Concubine Shu to absolve herself of this matter. After so many years in the palace, she was slapped in the face by people in public for the first time, and one of them was even her son.
Imperial Concubine Shu felt suffocated to death, the rim of her eyes red. She said, "Your Majesty, this imperial concubine subject didn't mean to deceive you… This imperial concubine subject did it for a reason."
Imperial Concubine Shu explained how she went to the prison to meet Gu Jinyu. Of course, she didn't mention that Gu Jinyu wanted to give her the credit, but said instead, "…The princess knew that she had angered Your Majesty. She feared that Your Majesty would not believe her method, so she made this imperial concubine lie that it was Little Five's idea. She said that she hoped to be of service to Your Majesty again. How could this imperial concubine subject know that she just stole someone else's idea?"
It was Gu Jinyu again!
Stealing from the little miracle physician again!
Great. He had been worrying about not being able to find evidence for her falsely claiming the credit for the bellows, now she actually sent this mortar along with evidence to his doorstep.
The Emperor looked at Imperial Concubine Shu and said, "That is to say, Imperial Concubine Shu was also deceived. From beginning to end, she was the only one who committed the crime of deceiving the monarch?”
What else could Imperial Concubine Shu say? Admit that she also nearly deceived the monarch?
In order to save herself, Imperial Concubine Shu had to admit that only Gu Jinyu deceived the monarch.
Imperial Concubine Shu bit her lip, knelt down in public, and kowtowed, saying, "This imperial concubine subject’s niece has made a big mistake. Asking Your Majesty to punish her!"
The Emperor stated, "Princess Hui misappropriated other people's achievements, claiming someone else’s credit, and even deceived the monarch. For the sake of Imperial Concubine Shu's intercession for her, she shall be stripped of the position of Commandery Princess; her title is henceforth withdrawn!"
Imperial Concubine Shu was stunned. This, this was called for her sake? Not even the Commandery Princess title was spared!
In fact, it was difficult to strictly convict someone of the crime of deceiving the monarch. For example, Qin Chuyu always lied that he didn't steal any candy to eat, and the Third Prince would sometimes lie that he had done his homework well... Technically, this was all deceiving the monarch, but generally, they wouldn’t be guilty of such crime. They would get punished only if their lies caused great consequences.
It was obvious that there were no great consequences in the case of the mortar. His Majesty seemed to be taking advantage of this situation to strip her of her title and position as Commandery Princess.
People couldn’t help but think of the explosion accident in the Ministry of Works and the rumors in the palace that the bellows were not invented by Gu Jinyu.
If it was because of the bellows, it made all sense.
Imperial Concubine Shu, Imperial Concubine Shu! It turns out that your niece is not as good as you said. Instead, she’s someone completely ignorant, plagiarizing other people's work, and even modifying them privately, resulting in great disaster.
If not your niece, who would be punished?
The way the imperial concubines looked at Imperial Concubine Shu had changed at this moment.
The most thriving woman in the harem finally stumbled.
Imperial Concubine Shu was punished by the Emperor with a one year forfeit of salary, as well as being forbidden to go out of her palace for a month.
Imperial Concubine Shu was blue in the face. What was a public face slapping? This was it.
Everyone in the harem had seen her blunder. From this day on, her black history would never be erased!
The Emperor frowned at her and said, "What? Not leaving yet? Are you dissatisfied with the punishment Zhen gave you?"
"Imperial concubine subject dares not. This imperial concubine subject shall excuse herself." Imperial Concubine Shu stood up awkwardly, saluted the Emperor, and staggered away with the help of her palace maids.
Just as she was a few steps away, the Emperor suddenly called her, "Imperial Concubine Shu."
Imperial Concubine Shu was delighted and looked back with tears in her eyes, expecting the Emperor to say something to comfort her. After all, she was also just implicated in this matter. But unexpectedly, the Emperor just coldly said, "Tell Little Five to come to the imperial study. I will test him with his homework."
Imperial Concubine Shu instantly froze!
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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