Chapter 65: Shedding Cocoon

  Chapter 65: Shedding Cocoon

  "Wait a minute." Aunt Li suddenly said: "Let me think... That was still during the Chengtai years, it's been about ten or more years since then... Chen Sufen originally wanted to leave the palace, that year the Empress Dowager was ill, and the palace had planned to release a batch of people. At that time, Chen Sufen wasn't in charge yet, she should have also been among those leaving the palace. But later she didn't leave - I found it strange too, but at that time I was out of luck and no longer in the inner court, so I don't know the reason. Hmm, I'll ask someone to find out why she didn't end up leaving."

  Li Aunt acted quickly, saying that she would make inquiries and borrowed the opportunity of people coming from the palace kitchen to pass on the message, and on the third day, there was news.

  But this news, it's hard to say whether it's good or bad.

  "Chen Suping was originally supposed to leave the palace, but news came from outside that her brother and sister-in-law were planning to marry her off to a man in his fifties. She fell seriously ill and after recovering, she stayed on at the Yueting Palace and even got promoted to be in charge of affairs. When she was critically ill, Lu Zhaoyi's people came forward to ask for a doctor to diagnose and prescribe medicine for her."

  "Lu Zhao Yi?" This character is very crucial.

  However, in the palace, it seems there is no Consort with the surname Lu.

  "Back then she was a Consort. Later she became a Deified Concubine and now she is the Empress."

  Queen

  "Perhaps it's just a coincidence..."

  The person behind Autumn is Chen Suping? Is Chen Suping's master the Empress?

  So after taking a few turns, the one who wants to get rid of Chao Sheng is the Empress Dowager?

  But Chao Sheng had never seen the empress before.

  The house was quiet with a few people sneaking around. The sound of firecrackers came from afar, it was unknown whether it was from inside the palace or outside the palace walls.

  "You're just a little girl..." Aunt Li stretched out her hand and pinched her face: "How did you get into such big trouble?"

  Her words didn't seem like a question for Chao Sheng, but rather like she was talking to herself.

  Chao Sheng also felt puzzled: "Wrong? I've never seen the Queen Mother before..."

  I haven't seen that Aunt Chen Sufen either.

  What reason would the queen have for wanting her dead?

  Aunt Li scratched her face in confusion, getting flour on it, a big white streak. Normally, Chao Sheng would have found this hilarious, but now she couldn't laugh at all.

  It must be a mistake.

  They made a series of wild guesses and even implicated the queen, but there was no evidence at all to support this absurd conclusion.

  But the more I tried to convince myself, the greater the panic in my heart grew.

  Perhaps, probably, it's really the queen.

  I really don't know how it ended up like this.

  Auntie Li poured the tea, it was very hot, neither of them had the heart to drink it, the steam rose up and the faces of the people opposite became somewhat blurry.

  "The Empress... is a formidable figure." Li Gu said in a low voice: "Her appearance is not the most beautiful, her family background is not the best, but she has managed to suppress all the other beauties and become the Empress. The two princes older than the Third Prince, one died, the other... became crippled, and those who once competed with her for favor have also been forgotten. Now the Empress's greatest worry is probably that the Third Prince still hasn't been made Crown Prince."

  Just listening like this, you can tell she's a formidable figure.

  But such a formidable figure is now at odds with himself, and Chao Sheng suddenly feels...not afraid.

  It was true that she had known about Qiu Yan's trickery and the presence of a strange Chen aunt in the palace, which made her feel terrified.

  But at this moment, listening to Aunt Li say so, she didn't feel afraid at all.

  The waves were born and touched their chest, and their heartbeat was very normal.

  No cold sweat, no stiff and icy limbs.

  Maybe because I was too slow, I didn't even have time to be scared.

  Maybe I'm numb, afraid it's useless anyway, what's the point of being afraid?

  Auntie Li saw Chao Sheng staring blankly and thought she was scared silly.

  Even wanting to comfort her with a couple of words, there's nothing to say.

  The power and means of the empress were beyond what a small palace maid like Chao Sheng could imagine or contend with.

  Li Aunt had been in the palace for so many years, she saw it clearly. In those days, so many beautiful women were defeated one by one in front of the empress. Not to mention the distant ones, but even Liu Fei, the mother of the second prince. At that time, the position was vacant, and Liu Fei had not been without the power to contend for it. But what was the result?

  Chao Sheng comforted her instead: "Auntie, don't worry, she should only be dealing with me."

  This she did not nominate, can refer to Qiu Shan, or can also refer to the person behind Qiu Shan.

  Aunt Li sighed bitterly: "Nonsense, do you think I can still get out of this? Last time the row of meat incident almost happened, if it had really succeeded, you would have been in trouble, could I have stayed out of it?"

  Chao Sheng felt very guilty.

  Auntie Li taught her so many things, but she ended up dragging Auntie Li into the current predicament as well.

  Maybe she shouldn't have learned cooking skills in the first place. In the palace, it's always been that the more you do, the more mistakes you make; the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make; and if you don't do anything, you won't make any mistakes at all. The food served is originally everyone's first choice for poisoning.

  Chao Sheng didn't regret learning cooking skills himself, but he did regret dragging Li Gu Gu down with him.

  "Alright," said Li Gu Gu, "I've lived a life that was picked up from the start, and every extra day is a gain. Fortunately, we're in the East Palace now, even if that person upstairs wants to do something, it's not so convenient. If we were in the Yueting Palace...it would have been..." Li Gu Gu suddenly stopped, her expression uncertain and suspicious.

  "Aunt, what's wrong?"

  Auntie Li waved her hand and Cao Sheng hastily closed his mouth, not daring to argue with her.

  "No way……" Aunt Li raised her head and stared at a spot on the roof, thinking hard: "With the power of the empress, why bother to deal with a small palace maid in such a troublesome way? Wouldn't it be easier to just send two people from the Imperial Guard to strangle her with a strip of cloth?"

  Chao Sheng didn't quite understand what Aunt Li was saying, but when she heard the words "strangle to death", she suddenly felt a chill in the room and couldn't help but shudder.

  "What did you say, Auntie?"

  Li Aunt came back to her senses, her eyes shining brightly, and grabbed her hand: "Chao Sheng, we may have guessed wrong."

  "Isn't it the Empress?" Chao Sheng was startled and almost forgot to lower his voice.

  Aunt Li shook her head: "This is not right, it's definitely not right as far as I know. The Empress's methods are so ruthless that if she wants your life, she will definitely make sure to get it. In the past, she used her methods to kill Consort Liu and cripple the Second Prince's leg, it was like a thunderbolt. There are also other things that can be seen from this, she is absolutely not someone who would leave any room for maneuver, never futile or ineffective, striking at the heart of the matter. She... even if she wants to poison someone, I'm afraid the medicine she uses will be poisonous, and it won't be something like a laxative... that's not her style."

  Chao Sheng may not understand Huang Hou, but since Li Auntie said so, it must be true.

  Li Aunt excitedly licked her somewhat dry lips: "I guess... there are two possibilities. One is that we guessed wrong, the person behind Chen Sufen is not the Empress. Another possibility is that the Empress has some major concerns, so she can't use direct and simple means to deal with you."

  Chao Sheng also became tense, swallowing a mouthful of saliva: "If it's not the Empress, who could it be?"

  "That's hard to say, we're just guessing now and can't conclude that Chen Sufen is the Empress. Or rather, the Empress may have some reason not to openly deal with you..."

  However, as she looked at Chao Sheng, apart from becoming more and more beautiful day by day, there was nothing special about him. He had no powerful backing or family background, what was there for the empress to be wary of?

  There must be something important in between that neither she nor Chao Sheng knows about.

  Two years have passed since entering the palace, it's neither long nor short. Apart from the Yunxia Palace incident, nothing else of importance has happened.

  Anfei's miscarriage is full of doubts, Xianfei and Guifei are both implicated, especially Guifei. If she didn't have a son, the family would be able to calm down, but it's likely that Guifei's position is already unstable. However, according to Li Gugu's speculation, Guifei was probably framed by someone.

  In the end, Anfei lost her child and imperial favor. Xianfei suffered a blow, and Guifei paid a great price.

  The queen was not involved at all, and the whole thing from start to finish had nothing to do with her, seemingly unrelated to her.

  Auntie Li shook her head.

  However, Xianfei and Guifei were both unlucky, and the position of the Empress and the Third Prince became more and more stable.

  "Chao Sheng, think carefully again, about the matter of the Smoke and Clouds Palace back then... was there really something wrong with it?"

  Chao Sheng was bewildered: "I thought about it repeatedly afterwards, but couldn't think of anything. Someone asked me about the kitchen, and I thought there was a problem with food. But later, I heard that An Fei's incident was due to incense. Her most trusted palace maid, Sui Mu, lost her life because of this matter. And at that time, another palace maid, Qing Jing, who was in the house, was later promoted to Cai Ren - that's all I know."

  There were too few clues and they couldn't figure out what was going on anymore.

  Chao Sheng thought, Empress and An Fei had a miscarriage... Is there any connection between them?

  She was so absorbed in kneading dough that she didn't notice anything else and put the kneaded dough on the counter.

  Anfei is in the middle, with Xianfei and Guifei preceding her, and above them are the Emperor and Empress.

  There are several people below, Su Mu, Qing Jing, Hua Liang and Wang Mei, and the one on the edge is myself.

  Hua Liang and Wang Mei both have ulterior motives, but it's unclear who is behind them. Since Sui Mu is so cautious around them, they have limited opportunities to make a move. Chao Sheng shifts them to one side.

  At the end of the year, Anfei was deeply moved by her own loyalty, and she also saw through the cruelty and intrigue in the palace, with a heart to leave the palace. Chao Sheng moved her away, and at the same time, he also moved himself away.

  At present, in the palace, apart from the masters, there is only one eunuch left - Qingjing.

  But Qingjing is no longer a palace maid now, when Zhaiyu met her, she was Li's concubine.

  Moreover, she should now be living with Xianfei in one place.

  Qing Jing is Xian Fei's person?

  Is it Qing Jing who is likely to take action?

  Chao Sheng thought bitterly, if she were Xian Fei, she would never let An Fei get into trouble right after visiting her. Isn't this clearly asking for trouble?

  No, Xianfei and Guifei should both be able to move out of the way. Even if they had that intention, they wouldn't make a move at this time.

  Move aside Xian Fei, Gui Fei and Qing Jing.

  Now left were the Emperor, Empress and Consort An herself.

  In any case - no matter which woman had borne a child, it was the Emperor's own flesh and blood; what reason would he have to harm his own child?

  Usurp the emperor.

  Only Anfei and the Empress were left.

  Chao Sheng was about to grab An Fei's dough without hesitation and put it aside - she suddenly stopped.

  Anfei is the victim in this matter, she lost her child, her holy position was gone, and even her most trusted palace maid was gone. From any angle, she is very innocent and deserves sympathy.

  But... but why did he die at the end of the year?

  The master and servant have been together for many years, from outside the palace to inside the palace. Consort An should trust her and protect her.

  Why do years die at the end of the year?

  The reason may be many, one of which is whether Anfei gave up on her?

  Is she as misunderstood as I am? Did she find out something she shouldn't have known?

  Chao Sheng felt that her mind was a bit messy. She seemed to have guessed something, but she couldn't get out of the heavy confusion.

  She felt as if she had touched the edge of truth for a moment.

  Just a little bit short——

  "What are you staring at?" Another person in the kitchen asked with a smile: "The steamer baskets are all set, but you're still kneading dough with great enthusiasm."

  No, still... can't think of it.

  But there is one person who might know.

  The Fourth Prince.

  What he said that drunken night sounded like nonsense and rubbish, but...

  Maybe he really knows.

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  It's raining again, I was frozen into a small ball on the mat at night, and had to spread out the bedding.

  Saw many sincere replies, thank you everyone.

  I have carefully read each of your posts.