“Cuiwei, offer her a seat.”
Cuiwei helped Qin Momo to a chair and served her a cup of tea.
“Aunt Qin, what exactly happened back then? Please tell me in detail.”
Qin Momo looked at Li Yueyao uneasily and asked, “Why has Your Highness returned to the palace? Has something happened to His Majesty?”
Li Yueyao turned to look at Qin Momo. “Why would you think of His Majesty when I return to the palace?”
Qin Momo replied calmly and respectfully:
“Your Highness has not returned to the palace for seven years. Your sudden return must have a reason. In this palace, only His Majesty’s safety is what Your Highness cares about most.
That is why I asked this question. I hope Your Highness will tell me the truth.”
Li Yueyao nodded. Qin Momo had served in Kunning Palace since childhood, attended to two Empresses, and was very familiar with both her and the Emperor.
“Yes, His Majesty has been unwell for over two months and has not recovered. I am deeply worried and returned to the palace to see him.”
Upon hearing this, Qin Momo’s expression gradually turned grave. “Could it be poisoning?”
Li Yueyao suddenly looked up at Qin Momo. “Why would you make such an inference?”
“It seems my guess was correct.”
As she spoke, tears streamed down Qin Momo’s face, and she murmured:
“Empress Dowager, I have failed your trust. I have let that wicked woman succeed. Empress Dowager, I have let you down…”
After Qin Momo wept for a while, Li Yueyao sighed and said:
“Aunt Qin, don’t apologize to the Empress Dowager just yet. First, tell me what happened. Otherwise, if something really goes wrong, you’ll be crying and apologizing to me again.”
Distracted by Li Yueyao’s words, Qin Momo wiped her tears and looked up at her.
“Your Highness, this matter is a long story.”
“Then take your time. I’m in no hurry.”
Li Yueyao crossed her arms and spoke leisurely.
“When the Imperial Consort was first promoted to her position, she was pregnant. Because it was her first child and her health was weak, His Majesty sent me to take care of her pregnancy.
At first, I did not notice anything unusual.
After some time, one day when I woke up early, I felt dizzy, but I didn’t think much of it at the time.
However, on the seventeenth day of each month for three consecutive months, I would feel dizzy upon waking up early.
Feeling something was wrong, on the sixteenth day of the fourth month, I paid closer attention.
That day, the Imperial Consort gave me a bowl of soup. I pretended to drink it and then went to sleep.
In the middle of the night, I heard a man’s voice in the courtyard, so I quietly got up and followed it.
I saw a man in black enter the Imperial Consort’s bedchamber, so I stood outside the window to eavesdrop.
I heard the man say that the child could not be kept, as it would reveal the truth.
The Imperial Consort remained silent for a long time before saying, ‘I understand.’
Seeing the Imperial Consort unhappy, the man reached out and embraced her.
The Imperial Consort began to cry, saying she never wanted to enter the palace but had no choice for the sake of that man.
Over the years, she had sent many messages outside, asking that man when she could return.
The man comforted her, saying things were progressing smoothly and asking her to endure a little longer.
He then took out a small bottle from his robe and told the Imperial Consort to secretly add the medicine from the bottle to His Majesty’s food and drink.”
“When I heard this, I was extremely anxious. Just then, a eunuch came from outside to patrol the night, and the sound of the door creaking open startled me.
In my panic, the hairpin on my head knocked against the window, alarming the two people inside.
I quickly turned around, hurried back to my room, and lay on the bed pretending to be asleep.”
The next day, the Imperial Consort claimed she had lost a bracelet and searched the entire palace for the thief, summoning every servant from Fanghua Yuan for questioning.
When questioned, the servant pretended to feel dizzy, and the Imperial Consort did not notice anything unusual.
Later, despite several attempts by the Imperial Consort to probe, the servant did not reveal any information, but servants in Fanghua Yuan began to encounter incidents repeatedly.
I knew this was the Imperial Consort indiscriminately eliminating suspicious individuals.
Finally, one day the Imperial Consort called me to serve in her chamber. When leaving, she asked me to support her but deliberately fell at the doorway, resulting in a miscarriage.
When the Emperor arrived, the Imperial Consort continuously wept and accused me of intentionally causing her to slip and lose the child.
Everyone around sided with the Imperial Consort, and I had no way to defend myself.
The Emperor was extremely furious and immediately ordered to demote me to the Laundry Bureau.
I originally thought to find an opportunity to inform the Emperor of what I had heard, but he was so enraged at that moment that he refused to listen to my explanation.
People from Fanghua Yuan, under the Imperial Consort's orders, attempted to push me into the lotus pond to drown me, but they did not know I could swim.
Later, that eunuch chased after me and tried to slash my throat with a dagger. I dodged quickly, and the blade cut across my face.
At this critical moment, Consort Rong and Consort Xiang happened to pass by from a side path, startling the attacker away.
Thus, I escaped disaster and went to the Laundry Bureau.
In the Laundry Bureau, there were many familiar faces. They were divided into two factions, mutually restraining each other, maintaining a delicate balance within the bureau.
My arrival disrupted this balance.
Because the two leaders had both received favors from the former Empress, they treated me with considerable care.
Over time, the Laundry Bureau unexpectedly merged into a solid, unified entity.
The Imperial Consort repeatedly attempted to kill me, but with the help of everyone in the Laundry Bureau, I narrowly escaped death each time.
During this period, I also considered conveying the message to the Emperor, but I could not meet him."
Li Yueyao frowned at this point: "Did Sun Fu not help you relay the message?"
"It wasn't Sun Fu's problem, but those junior subordinates who judge people by their status. I simply couldn't get to Sun Fu."
Li Yueyao snorted coldly upon hearing this: "Sun Fu indeed has issues."
Then she asked Qin Momo: "Continue, what happened later?"
"Later, I had people from the Laundry Bureau secretly deliver this message to the Empress, but after waiting for a long time, there was no action from the Empress.
I was very puzzled. If the Empress had grasped the Imperial Consort's weak point, why would there be no movement?"
Li Yueyao shook her head: "To catch a thief, you must catch them with the stolen goods. It likely wasn't that the Empress didn't act, but that the Imperial Consort didn't act.
That black-clad person changed their method of contacting the Imperial Consort, and the Empress couldn't catch her tail."
Qin Momo nodded upon hearing this: "Indeed, I also inferred this."
"Later, once I saw the Emperor again in Yuhua Yuan, I told him everything I knew.
Who would have thought the Emperor actually didn't believe me, which left me utterly despairing.
This time, informing the Grand Princess of these matters, I hope the Princess can properly advise the Emperor.
The Imperial Consort harbors malicious intentions and is certainly not benevolent. It would be best for the Emperor to distance himself from her."
Li Yueyao looked at the dignified senior attendant who had maintained respect throughout her life—first falsely accused, pursued, disfigured by the Imperial Consort, then demoted by the Emperor to perform hard labor in the Laundry Bureau.
Her foolish nephew, upon learning the truth, chose not to believe her, yet she never abandoned her protection of the Emperor.
Qin Momo truly embodies the sentiment of "the Emperor mistreats me a thousand times, yet I treat the Emperor as if it were our first meeting."
That foolish nephew of mine, discarding such a loyal nanny, chooses instead to trust a woman who has cuckolded him.
This move is truly unparalleled—his head must be filled with bubbles.
Li Yueyao suddenly recalled the novels she had read before. That foolish nephew seemed like the kind of foolish emperor specifically prepared for the protagonist's rise to power.
If that were truly the case, then who is the protagonist destined for this rise?
Could it be that black-clad figure in the Imperial Consort's palace?
But who is that black-clad figure?
For a moment, Li Yueyao felt the waters ran deep.
She had thought she was playing the role of a time-traveling heroine saving the nation, but now it seemed she had been cast as the time-traveling heroine pitted against the male lead of a novel.
What on earth is all this?