Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 543 The Empress Leaves the Palace

Upon hearing this, Qin Baolian immediately knelt down, and Qin Yan and Xu Yizhao followed suit.

Jing Ming cleared his throat and proclaimed:

"His Majesty's decree: 'I have heard that Baolian, the third daughter of the Qin family in Lin'an, is of virtuous and kind nature. During the famine in Yuzhou, she was able to distinguish right from wrong, discern loyalty from treachery, and bravely expose corruption without fear of personal gain, assisting the court in investigating important disaster relief cases.'"

Such righteous deeds are in accordance with the will of Heaven and bring peace to the nation; they are truly exemplary for women.

"I am greatly pleased and hereby bestow upon you: a set of red gold and kingfisher feather headdress, twenty bolts of cloud brocade, a pair of white jade ruyi scepters, a plaque inscribed with the words 'Righteousness Shines Through the Villages' (written by my own hand), and three thousand taels of silver. Furthermore, I decree: Consort Chun, remembering our past friendship, grants Lady Qin permission to enter the palace for an audience tomorrow at 9:00 AM to renew our friendship. This is my decree."

After Jingming finished reading, a palace maid immediately stepped forward and respectfully helped Qin Baolian up.

“Miss Baolian,” Jingming’s tone softened, “His Majesty specifically instructed that the imperial carriage will come here to fetch you to the palace before 9:00 AM tomorrow.”

Qin Baolian's eyes welled up with tears, and she bowed her head in gratitude.

At this time, the evidence against the Jiang family in Yuzhou was conclusive. According to the "Criminal Code of the Great Zhou Dynasty," the Jiang family embezzled disaster relief funds and caused chaos in people's lives. The five main culprits were sentenced to death by hanging, the male members of the three clans were exiled three thousand miles away, the female relatives were confiscated as government slaves, and all their property was confiscated.

Although the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty generally stipulated "amicable divorce" and "divorce," the "Household and Marriage Law" also stated: "If the husband's family commits one of the ten heinous crimes, the wife may petition to leave." The Jiang family's current offense of embezzling disaster relief funds falls precisely into the category of "immorality." The Emperor has issued a special decree, granting Qin Baolian permission to divorce her husband under the pretext of "severing ties of righteousness," canceling her marriage registration, and restoring her to her freedom.

This imperial edict, along with Jingming's way of addressing Baolian, indicates that Qin Baolian has no further connection with the Jiang family and has truly become a solitary, innocent, and free woman of the Qin family.

Qin Yan looked pleased. This imperial edict was not only an affirmation of his third sister's righteous act, but also paved a new path for her future life.

......

The inner palace, Renming Hall.

The Empress abruptly shook off Zhixue's hand, her eyes bloodshot as she glared at Min Rong. "I want to see the Emperor! I want to explain this to him personally! Consort Min, go and announce this again..."

“Your Majesty,” Min Rong sighed, lowering her voice, “The Emperor said that if you insist on disobeying, it will be considered defying the imperial decree. At that time, not only will you be in danger, but the Jiang family… will likely have no way to turn things around.”

These words were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the empress's last struggle.

She stood frozen in place, her thin shoulders trembling slightly, her gaze fixed on the direction of the Funing Palace. Tears finally rolled down her cheeks, splashing onto the bluestone slab and leaving a small wet patch.

After a long while, she slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the crimson in her eyes had faded, leaving only a deathly gray. "...I will leave now."

Zhixue quickly stepped forward and carefully supported her arm. Luwei and Xingyu followed closely behind, both looking somewhat dazed. Four years ago, when the Empress was first promoted from the eldest daughter of the Jiang family to the Crown Princess, Jiang Jie personally selected his personal maid, Granny Gui, and brought the four maids with her into the palace. How glorious they were then! Now, she had left the palace. Granny Gui had been sentenced to death in the Yeting Prison, and Yunshuang, the most lively of them all, had already lost her life back in the Prince's residence. Now, of those who entered the palace with her, only the three of them remained.

Chen Ling stood to the Empress's right, his fingers unconsciously gripping the palace token at his waist. His gaze, however, swept across the crowd, turning back to look at the vermilion gates of the Renming Hall. This hall had once been his ladder to success. He had originally worked in the Shanggong Bureau, and had gone to great lengths to curry favor with the Empress, finally becoming one of her close attendants. He had thought he could climb the ranks by leveraging the Jiang family's influence, but who would have thought that in just a few years, the Jiang family would fall from grace overnight, leaving him with no way out because of his position…

The two beauties, Yang and Ye, remained kneeling on the ground until the Empress's figure completely disappeared around the corner of the Renming Palace gate before they dared to raise their heads slightly.

"Please rise, ladies. Aunt Min has instructed us to escort you back to your respective palaces." A palace maid stepped forward.

Consort Yang took a deep breath and quietly pressed her tight chest. She slowly rose, supported by a palace maid. Her skirt was covered in dust, but she didn't bother to brush it off. She only wanted to get back to her side hall as soon as possible and get some rest.

But Lady Ye seemed to have just been pulled ashore from a drowning predicament, her whole body still trembling uncontrollably. When she tried to get up, her legs gave way and she almost knelt down again, but the palace maid beside her caught her in time.

Outside the palace gates.

Consort Shun, accompanied by Consort Mu and Consort Shen, stood not far away. When they saw the Empress emerge from Renming Hall, the three of them quickly curtsied and knelt to see her off.

The Empress's gaze slowly swept over the three people, and when it landed on Consort Shun's face, a hint of hatred suddenly appeared in the corner of her eyes.

She had nothing to say at first, but suddenly felt that there were some people she still needed to meet.

She stopped in her tracks, her voice hoarse yet still carrying a trace of the Empress's authority, "Why are Consort Chun and Consort Jin absent? As long as I am not deposed, I am still the Empress of the Great Zhou. How dare they not come to see me off? Don't they even understand this last bit of etiquette?"

"—Her Majesty the Empress has left the palace by imperial decree, so we concubines naturally have to come and see her, since we will not be able to see her again in the future."

Consort Chun, dressed in a magnificent gown, appeared side by side with Meng Shu outside the Renming Palace.

The Empress stared directly at Consort Chun, then suddenly sneered: "You are nothing more than a good mother who takes care of everything for you. You have no schemes of your own and spend your days bearing the name of 'pure kindness.' You are just making wedding dresses for others. What is there to be happy about?"

Consort Chun raised the corners of her lips slightly, but there was no smile in her eyes: "Your Majesty the Empress is quite cunning. It's just a pity... that you schemed too much and couldn't even protect your own child. In the end, it was all for naught."

"You...you dare—"

The Empress's face drained of color, her fingertips dug deeply into her palms, and in the next instant, she suddenly raised her arm, about to strike at Consort Chun.

Meng Shu stepped forward, her voice as calm as ever: "A few days ago, I happened to come across a book on the Southwest. When I read about the two witchcraft secrets recorded in it, I found them quite interesting. The secrets said that the witch doctor in a certain place in the southwest often used pottery jars to hold poisonous insects and talismans to perform witchcraft... Looking at it this way, it does have some similarities to the pottery jar that was found in Your Majesty's palace."

These words were like a fine needle, piercing the Empress's Achilles' heel with pinpoint accuracy. Her hand, raised halfway through its swing, froze abruptly, her pupils contracting sharply. She blurted out, "Nonsense! I..."

"Your Majesty!" Zhixue reacted quickly, stepping forward and pressing down firmly on the Empress's arm.

The Empress suddenly came to her senses. She bit her lower lip tightly, swallowing the rest of her words, and looked at Meng Shu with fear and resentment in her eyes.

Min Rong, standing to the side, witnessed everything clearly: the Empress's loss of composure upon hearing the word "witchcraft," and Zhi Xue's panicked attempt to stop her—she took it all in. Her hands, hanging by her sides, clenched subtly; she had already made up her mind. This matter concerned witchcraft, a grave taboo in the palace, and she had to report it to the Emperor immediately.

After the Empress was led into the carriage by the guards, the crowd on the palace road gradually dispersed, and Min Rong hurriedly turned around and headed towards Funing Palace.

Inside the Funing Palace, the emperor was reviewing the confession of the Marquis of Zhenbei presented by the Dali Temple when Jingming quietly reported, "Your Majesty, Consort Min has returned and says she has important matters to report."

"Let her in."

Upon entering, Min Rong immediately knelt down and recounted everything he had seen and heard outside Renming Hall: "...Your Majesty, when Consort Jin mentioned the secrets of Fang Zhizhong's witchcraft, the Empress reacted extremely strongly, and it was only because her maid Zhixue stopped her in time that she stopped talking."

The emperor remained silent for a moment, a cold glint flashing in his eyes, before slowly saying, "I understand. You may leave now; this matter must not be made public."

After Min Rong left, the emperor turned his gaze back to the confession, his fingertips lightly tapping the table.

The Empress and the Gu poison, the Marquis of Zhenbei and his private army, the evidence against the Jiang family—each and every one of them was more than he had imagined.

He summoned Jingming and said in a deep voice, "Have you investigated the purpose and origin of the pottery jar fragments that Xu Yizhao, the Left Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, brought back from the Zhenbei Marquis's entourage? If it involves witchcraft, it should be included in the Zhenbei Marquis's case for trial!"