Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 502 The Death of Consort Qing (2)

"What kind of medicine is it?" Consort Qing had barely uttered the question when she suddenly realized what it meant.

She raised an eyebrow, her gaze sweeping coldly over Granny Yu, her tone now carrying a hint of condescension: "Granny, that's quite unusual. It's been a long time since you called me 'Second Miss.' Why the sudden change of address? And perhaps you've grown old and forgotten the palace etiquette, failing to even bow to me?"

Granny Yu gave a cold smile, ignoring her words, and slowly turned around to carefully place the tray in her hand on the table.

At this moment, outside the palace.

Several palace servants from the Yeting Bureau, dressed in blue eunuch robes, entered. They all had serious expressions and walked with light and quick steps.

Seeing this, Liuli, who was watching from a distance by the window, was restrained by the leader before she could utter a sound. The other eunuchs quickly dispersed and took up their posts in various places.

Inside the palace, Consort Qing felt increasingly uneasy seeing Granny Yu's condition. When she saw the booklet on the tray, her heart pounded faster and faster, making her chest feel tight.

Standing in front of the table, Granny Yu said in a cold voice, "Second Miss, this medicine was obtained with great difficulty by the Emperor. It can not only cure the weakness that Your Highness was born with, but also cure the palpitations that came later. You will no longer have to suffer from sleepless nights."

Consort Qing was no longer paying attention to what she was saying. The five characters "Old Case of Duke Qing" on the cover, written in black ink, exuded a deep chill under the candlelight. She only glanced at them, and the color drained from her face instantly.

She stumbled to the table, opened only the first page, and then shook her head violently, "No...no...impossible..."

As the pages rustled, the words in the file seemed like countless eyes, staring intently at her. The details she had deliberately forgotten were now clearly laid out on the paper.

When she turned to the last page, her movements suddenly froze.

In the lower right corner of the paper, besides the bright red seal of the Imperial Household Department, there was also a vermilion imperial edict, its force penetrating the back of the paper: "Consort Qing, with a heart of a serpent, murdered her own sister, a crime that reaches to the heavens. Now her innocence is cleared in this document, and she is ordered to commit suicide to atone for her sins, so as to comfort the spirit of Zhitong in the netherworld."

The booklet in Consort Qing's hand slammed to the ground with a "thud".

She stood frozen in place, as if the blood in her body had frozen. That old story, buried for more than ten years, which her mother had kept so secret that even her father was completely unaware of... how could it possibly be revealed one day?

"Second Miss," Granny Yu's sinister voice rang out again.

Consort Qing looked up abruptly and met Granny Yu's distorted face, which made her tremble with fright.

She screamed in terror, staggering backward and crashing heavily into the antique display shelf behind her. A celadon vase shattered, and amidst the chaos, she finally broke down, crying out, "No... I want to see the Emperor! This is all a frame-up! I didn't kill Qing Zhitong... Guards! Guards, come quickly!"

She turned and rushed toward the palace gate like a madwoman, but was stopped by the eunuchs guarding the outside.

"Second Miss, what's the rush?" Granny Yu shook the porcelain bottle as she floated over like a ghost, her eyes bloodshot and frightening. "You haven't taken this medicine that can cure your 'heart disease' yet."

"This is Heart-Corroding Powder. Don't worry, I reckon the Duke has already personally fed it to his wife by now. You two can keep each other company in the underworld."

She chuckled as she spoke, then her withered fingers suddenly grabbed Consort Qing's hair and dragged her roughly into the hall: "Come, come, let this servant serve you one last time, so that you can leave with some dignity."

Consort Qing screamed in pain, feeling as if her scalp was being ripped off, her hair disheveled, and her dark hair a messy smear on her face. She kicked wildly, but was no match for Granny Yu's frenzied strength, and was dragged all the way to the flower hall: "She's gone mad... Granny Yu has gone mad! Someone come here! Liuli! Where is Liuli!"

Knowing her fate was sealed, she still cried out in a defiant voice, "No... even if I die, I must see the Emperor one last time! The Emperor wouldn't do this..."

With a creak, the palace doors closed again.

The two eunuchs kept their eyes down, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened.

"Slap—" A crisp slap echoed in the hall.

Granny Yu slapped Consort Qing hard across the face, the force so great that it made her head turn to the side, and blood instantly trickled from the corner of her mouth. Consort Qing covered her face, her eyes filled with disbelief.

"Isn't the Second Miss curious?" Granny Yu squatted down. "So many years have passed, how could the Emperor suspect the Eldest Miss's background and then the cause of her death back then?"

Consort Qing's pupils suddenly contracted.

Granny Yu whispered in her ear, "It's Consort Jin! Her Highness is incredibly clever. With just a sliver of suspicion, she drew a picture and uncovered this shocking secret..."

"is her!"

Consort Qing was speechless for a moment, her eyes filled with resentment and venom, "It was that bitch—"

Granny Yu uncorked the porcelain bottle and said, word by word, "The Emperor's decree only contains the words 'death sentence.' Second Miss, you'd better obey and take this poison..."

Before she could finish speaking, Consort Qing suddenly went limp, her wide-eyed stares lost their luster, and her outstretched arm fell heavily to the ground.

Granny Yu hurriedly placed her fingertip under her nose, only to find that she had stopped breathing, with only her eyes, filled with resentment and malice, still wide open.

"No!" Granny Yu's voice trembled with hatred. "So easily killed? You didn't get away with it this easily when you caused the young lady's wrongful death!"

With that, she grabbed Consort Qing's chin, forcefully pried open her tightly closed lips, and with her other hand raised the porcelain bottle, poured the corrosive powder inside into her mouth. The white powder fell in a flurry. "Even if you die, this debt must be swallowed by this servant!"

On the day of Yiwei in the fifth month of the third year of Zhenghe, when Consort Qu left the palace, Consort Qing suddenly suffered from heart palpitations and died in Zhaoqing Hall.

At dawn the following day, the imperial edict was issued from the Funing Palace, its words sharp and chilling:

"Qing is wicked by nature, morally deficient and wicked. She is hereby stripped of her title of Zhaoyi, demoted to commoner, and her coffin is moved to a desolate tomb in the western suburbs, never to be buried in the imperial concubine mausoleum again."

The Shanggong Bureau used a thin coffin for the body, the coffin was not painted, but covered with half a bolt of blue cloth, and it was carried out from the side gate at midnight.

Occasionally, startled crows would take flight, their cries shattering the moonlight illuminating the six palaces

......

Lingcui Palace.

This morning, Xiuyun received a favor and entered the palace just after 9:00 AM. First, she went to Huining Palace to pay her respects to Consort Chun, as required by custom, before turning to Lingcui Palace to see Meng Shu.

When Meng Shu heard that the person had arrived, she personally went to the outer hall to greet them. Seeing Ding Xiang holding Wen Jie'er, she immediately smiled and took her into her arms.

Before everyone could exchange more than a few words upon entering the flower hall, Xia'er suddenly came in to report: "Your Majesty, Granny Yu is requesting an audience outside the hall."

Meng Shu hesitated for a moment, thinking that Granny Yu must want to see Xiu Yun. Since Qing Zhifei was dead, she had no more concerns at the moment, so she nodded in agreement.

Granny Yu walked in shakily, looking as if she had aged more than ten years overnight. She knelt down and bowed, saying, "This servant greets Consort Jin, pays respects to Your Highness, and greets Madam Zhou."

Dingxiang quickly took Wenjie'er from her, and Meng Shu raised her hand and said, "Granny, please get up."

Green Willow brought over an embroidered stool and led Granny Yu to sit down. This time, Granny Yu did not refuse, but only leaned forward and sat on half of the stool. She hurriedly looked up at Xiuyun, and tears fell as soon as she saw her: "She looks like her, she looks quite alike."

Xiu Yun felt somewhat flustered under her gaze. Just as Meng Shu was about to speak up to defuse the situation, Granny Yu suddenly pleaded in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, please have mercy... and allow this servant to speak a few words with Madam Zhou alone."

Meng Shu looked at Xiu Yun and saw that although she seemed confused, she did not object. So she led everyone to the warm pavilion.

However, only half an incense stick's time later, Granny Yu, her back hunched, came out of the flower hall to take her leave. Although her eyes were still red, her expression was calmer than when she arrived. After giving a distant bow in the direction of the warm pavilion, she left with heavy steps.

In the afternoon, Meng Shu invited Xiu Yun to have lunch, and the two then moved to the study.

Meng Shu took a piece of gold-flecked paper and laid it on the table. She dipped her brush in thick ink and wrote the two characters "Yunzhi". She put down the brush and said softly, "I've been thinking about Wen'er's name for some time. What do you think of these two characters, Aunt?"

“Yu Huaizhi, Mingde Weixin.” Xiuyun held the letter paper, her face full of joy, and said repeatedly, “Thank you, Your Majesty, for bestowing this name upon me. This name is excellent.”

Just then, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the study.

Green Willow lifted the curtain and entered, followed by Xia'er, who was pale-faced. She knelt down with a thud and replied in a tearful voice, "Your Majesty, Granny Yu... she has already passed away."

......

(Happy Qixi Festival. Sorry about yesterday, these two chapters should have been posted together for better flow, but something came up yesterday and I couldn't. There will be at least two updates tomorrow and the day after!)