The Job Of An Imperial Concubine

55

TJOAIC 55 – PROMOTION AND DEMOTION (升与降)

Once Feng Jin entered the room, he swept his gaze through all the women inside. At the end, it fell upon the empress. “You may rise.”　　

He made his way to the seat of honor and sat down. Expressionless, he said, “We heard that the empress would interrogate the slaves who committed crimes today. By chance, We walked past here so decided to take a look. You may all continue.”　　

The empress stared blankly, unsure of the emperor’s intention. She did not dare to so much as glance at Zhuang Laoyan. Perhaps the emperor really cared about Zhuang Laoyan’s child? 　　　　

“Your Majesty, this concubine has already finished the investigation. Among these five people, two of them have contact with servants in Noble Consort Shu’s palace, one has contact with the servants in Consort Rou’s palace, one has contact with the servants of Zhaorong Xu’s residence, and one has contact with the servants of Noble Imperial Concubine Yan’s residence and Jieyu Zhuang’s residence.  Just now there was a slave that did not admit to his crimes. This concubine already had him dragged away for punishment. That slave used to work in Consort Rou’s palace,” said the empress carefully. Every single imperial concubine that was singled out by the empress all wore wronged expressions.

Zhuang Luoyan furrowed her brows a shade. With this move, the empress dragged quite a few people under the water. Why did she do this? Although there were no true sisters in the imperial harem, they were unlikely to go as far as to make others lose face. Did the empress have another plan with this move, or was she at the end of her rope? 　　　　

“Oh?” After Feng Jin had heard the empress’ words, he looked at the singled-out imperial concubines with much interest. “So what Empress means is, these people are very suspicious?”　　

The empress curtsied half way. “This concubine thinks that all the sisters here wait upon Your Majesty wholeheartedly. So it’s better to clear them of suspicion first.”　　

“Empress makes sense.” Feng Jin pointed to a random palace maid. “Say again which palaces’ servants did this palace maid have contact with?”　　

“Reporting to Your Majesty, this palace maid is called Xiaoju. She works inShangshi Bureau¹. That day, she was in charge of serving Chongyi Zhao food,” replied Ming Lu. “This palace maid has had contact with the servants of Noble Consort Shu, Noble Imperial Concubine Yan, Consort Rou, and Shurong Ye. This slave also investigated the servants that came in contact with her. She doesn’t seem suspicious.”　　　　

“Every person is suspicious. But everyone is also not suspicious.” Feng Jin looked at the empress, a fake smile on his lips. “Then Our empress, let Us know who here exactly harmed Chongyi Zhao. Or is the person who harmed Chongyi Zhao not among these people to begin with?”　　

Never had the empress imagined that the emperor would not give her any face in his words. At once, she dropped to a kneel.　　　　

Seeing the empress kneel, the other imperial concubines also did not dare to remain seated. They all rose to their feet, too afraid to even breathe too loudly. Naturally, some laughed in their hearts.　　

“We were merely just speaking casually. Empress need not be like this. We understand your intentions.” Feng Jin reached out to support the empress to her feet. He glanced at the five kneeling servants. Slowly opened his mouth to say, “Since these people do not admit their crimes, then give them death by caning.”　　

If these people were caned to death, then how could the investigation continue? The heart of the empress trembled. However, she did not dare to openly oppose that decision. She could only stare as those servants were dragged out of the room.