The Empress felt her scalp tingle from the pulling and instinctively reached out to grab Consort Xian's face.
Her fingernails scratched across Consort Xian's cheek, leaving several red marks. Her voice was urgent and angry. " Gu Moyuan went mad on his own. What does it have to do with me? How dare you pin the blame on me!"
After being struck, Consort Xian burst into tears mixed with anger.
If it weren't for the Empress's interference, her Yuan'er would have been the eldest son, and even if he didn't win the throne, his life wouldn't have been bad.
But this bitch! She snatched her son away and couldn't even protect him!
She refused to let go and instead pulled down forcefully.
The phoenix hairpin on the empress's head broke off, and the gold-threaded hairpin flew half a meter away, hitting the snow and scattering the beads everywhere.
The two noble ladies of the harem, who usually sat regally on their high platforms and carefully measured even their smiles, were now completely disregarding their composure.
The Empress grabbed Consort Xian's arm and pressed her down, while Consort Xian grabbed the Empress's collar. The two fell into the snow, their phoenix robes and consort skirts tumbling together.
The palace servants around were all dumbfounded.
The young palace maid covered her mouth, not daring to utter a sound of alarm.
The eunuch reached out to stop them, but froze in place after seeing their faces clearly.
One was the Empress, and the other was the Crown Prince's birth mother.
Who dares to touch it?
Whoever touches it dies.
Consort Xian lay on top of the Empress, her hair completely disheveled, her black hair sticking to her cheeks. She raised her hand to grab the Empress's face again.
The Empress turned her head away, but Consort Xian tore her sleeve.
"What right do you have to accuse me of harming people!" The Empress gasped for breath, a fierce glint in her eyes.
"You raised such a son, who even dared to kill his own brother, and you still want to blame me!"
The Consort Xian concubine stopped moving.
Her face turned deathly pale.
Inside the warm pavilion, Gu Moyuan was still laughing.
The laughter came through the half-open door, like a blunt knife pulling back and forth on the snow.
Consort Xian's tears fell and landed on the Empress's clothes.
But the next moment, she seemed to be driven to the brink of madness by the voice, grabbing the Empress's shoulders and her voice becoming shrill and distorted.
"If you hadn't harmed so many people all these years, my son wouldn't be in this state. This is all your retribution!"
The Empress struggled to lift her face and coldly shouted, " Consort Xian, watch your words!"
"Be careful what you say?" Consort Xian laughed, tears streaming down her face. "What are you afraid of? Afraid that your old grievances will be brought up again?"
The snow was so quiet that you could hear the soft crackling of burning charcoal.
Consort Xian stared into the Empress's eyes and uttered each word carefully.
"Back then, Zhaoyi Lan was seven months pregnant. She drank a pot of the pregnancy-preserving soup you gave her, but she lost the baby and didn't even make it through the winter."
The Empress's pupils contracted slightly.
"And then there's Cairen Zhao, whose child is only two years old. He ate a piece of cheese at night and developed a high fever the next day."
"And the child in Meiren Liang's womb fell into the water on the Dragon Boat Festival. The imperial physician said it was due to cold entering the body, but who had oil poured on the stone railing by the pond?"
The faces of the surrounding palace servants all changed.
These are all old stories that have been suppressed in the palace for many years.
These are also a series of unsolved cases.
Nobody dared to mention it.
No one dared to ask.
The Empress pushed Consort Xian away forcefully, pressing her palm into the snow, her fingertips turning blue from the cold.
"You're crazy."
"Am I crazy?" Consort Xian pushed herself up, her sleeves covered in mud and snow, the scratches on her cheeks stinging.
"You even caused Noble Consort Chen to be unable to conceive again after giving birth to the princess. You made her suffer so much. Do you think no one knows because she didn't say anything?"
"Shut up!"
The Queen also stood up.
Her hair was mostly disheveled, her hairpins were askew, and her face was marked with fine, bloody scratches from Consort Xian's claws.
Her finger pointed at Consort Xian, her voice trembling, yet she still tried her best to maintain her dignity.
"Guards, drag Consort Xian away!"
No one moved.
The palace servants all shrank back, pretending not to hear, wishing they could bury themselves in the snow.
The crown prince killed the fifth prince.
The Empress and Consort Xian fought in public.
The Empress also committed these evil deeds.
Any one of these items, if it got out, would be enough to turn the entire palace upside down.
Who would dare to stand up for whom at this time?
The position of empress might even be replaced.
Consort Xian looked at the palace servants who were avoiding her and suddenly found it all laughable.
She slowly turned around and looked at the warm pavilion.
Gu Nianli was still lying on the ground.
Gu Moyuan stood to the side, the smile in his eyes slowly fading.
He looked down and saw the blood on his palm, and then he saw the small, unresponsive face on the ground.
At that moment, it was as if he finally understood what he had done.
But his expression didn't improve.
Just let go.
Half a piece of jade fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
Consort Xian noticed her son's shoulder sway slightly.
Just as she was about to step forward, Gu Moyuan raised his head, looked past the mess on the ground, and glanced at the Empress.
"Mother."
His voice was very soft.
"Now, my fifth brother can no longer take my place."
The empress slowly froze.
The snow fell even more heavily.
Hurried footsteps came from outside the plum grove. Eunuchs escorted the imperial physician through the artificial hill, followed closely by Gao Fu.
"Make way, all of you make way!" Gao Fu's voice cleaved through the snow. "The imperial physician will go in first!"
The imperial physician on duty knelt down beside Gu Nianli, not bothering to bow, first tearing open the child's blood-stained collar, then pressing a handkerchief against the wound on his forehead.
The blood quickly soaked through the handkerchief.
The imperial physician's fingers probed the side of Gu Nianli's neck, then he bent down to listen to the child's chest, before lifting the collar of the child's shirt at the back of his neck.
The back of his head was swollen and felt soft to the touch.
"Bring ginseng soup, quickly!" the imperial physician shouted to those behind him, already drawing out silver needles and inserting several needles in quick succession.
The Empress knelt beside him, her hands tightly covering her mouth, her eyes fixed on Gu Nianli.
"Imperial Physician, save him!" She grabbed the imperial physician's sleeve, her voice faltering. " Nianli was reciting the Classic of Classic of Filial Piety to me this morning. He only has a head injury; you must save him."
The imperial physician dared not break free and could only continue administering acupuncture. He then had someone bring warm ginseng soup and fed it to Gu Nianli's mouth with a small spoon.
The ginseng soup dripped down the corner of the child's mouth, mixing with blood and soaking his collar.
The imperial physician's hand stopped on Gu Nianli's wrist, and his forehead gradually lowered.
"Your Highness, the Fifth Prince has suffered a head injury, including a severe blow to the back of his head, and his pulse has already stopped."
The Empress didn't hear clearly and kept staring at Gu Nianli's pale face.
The imperial physician knelt by the snow, his voice trembling.
"I... cannot save him."
Another set of footsteps sounded.
"His Majesty has arrived!"
The people in the snow all knelt down.
Consort Xian turned around and saw the Emperor wearing a black fox fur cloak, followed by seven newly arrived beauties, walking from the end of the plum grove path.
The emperor had only come to the Plum Garden to relax.
Until he saw the blood in front of the warm pavilion, the scattered jade chessboard, and Gu Nianli being held in the Empress's arms.
He stopped in his tracks.
The imperial physician knelt at the entrance of the warm pavilion, his forehead covered in snow and his hands stained with blood that had not yet been wiped clean.
"Your Majesty, the Fifth Prince suffered a fractured forehead and a head injury. I have already checked his pulse."
The imperial physician's voice was strained, and the last part of his sentence was almost squeezed out through his teeth.
"The Fifth Prince... is gone."
The emperor stood in the snow, motionless for a long time.
He looked at Gu Nianli first.
The clothes the child was wearing were ones he had personally chosen a few days ago, with a circle of small gold-threaded animals embroidered around the collar.
Now the gold thread is soaked with blood, and the hem of the garment is crumpled into a ball.
The emperor then looked Gu Moyuan.
The crown prince stood in the warm pavilion, his palms stained with blood, his robes also splattered with blood, looking as if his soul had been ripped away.
Then came the Empress and Consort Xian, their hair disheveled.
A woman was holding her youngest son, her face covered in tears.
A man stood in the snow, his sleeve torn, his cheek bruised.
The emperor's mind went blank for a moment.
He had intended to take a stroll in the Plum Garden today.
After reading several memorials in the Hall of Supreme Ultimate, he was so angry about the absurd secret letter from Prince An that read "Refining dung into Gu" that it gave him a headache. He wanted to clear his mind, so he asked several of his new favorites to accompany him out to enjoy the snow.
Who could have predicted that such a scene would be revealed after turning the corner of the artificial hill?
The emperor's gaze fell on Gu Moyuan.
"Crown Prince."
Gu Moyuan heard his father's voice and slowly looked up.
His lips moved.
"Father, it was me."
The emperor opened his mouth, as if to ask why.
But when he saw the shattered chessboard on the ground, and the blood in the prince's palm, all the answers were laid out before him.
The emperor's chest began to ache.
A dull ache rose from my heart, up to my throat, and to my temples.
He raised his hand to his forehead, and the snow scene before him began to sway.
Seeing this, Gao Fu quickly stepped forward to help him up.
"Your Majesty, it's windy outside. Let me help you back to your palace to rest."