Zhou Wangfei’s face was covered in fingernail marks. One scratch even ran directly from her cheek down to the base of her neck. It was red and swollen, looking extremely frightening.
She covered her face, thinking of the way the Eldest Princess had pounced earlier as if risking her life, and she ground her teeth in hatred.
A dignified Eldest Princess, how was the way she hit people any different from a street shrew?!
In front of so many people, she had actually rushed up and scratched her face!
She had lost all the face of her entire life today!
When she moved, it tugged at the wound on her face. She couldn’t help hissing in pain, her features twisting.
Beside her, Commandery Princess Luochuan was not in any better condition. Her hair was disheveled, there were several slap marks on her face, and her right cheek was completely swollen.
But compared to the pain on her face, what Commandery Princess Luochuan felt more was shame and resentment.
She was a high and mighty princess, the foremost among the noble ladies in the capital.
The thing she hated most had always been others stealing her limelight.
Even when her cousin Liu Mingzhu once overshadowed her, she had happily helped others slap Liu Mingzhu’s face.
But now, she herself had been grabbed by the hair and slapped several times by the Eldest Princess!
All her face had been lost!
She bit her lower lip tightly, hatred reaching its peak.
At this moment, Eunuch Xia came out. His gaze swept across their faces once before saying,
“Zhou Wangfei, Commandery Princess Luochuan, His Majesty summons you both inside.”
Zhou Wangfei immediately came back to her senses. Her heart pounded violently. Her lips moved, but she did not dare delay. She hurriedly bent forward and went up the steps, with Commandery Princess Luochuan following behind, her mood heavy as if she were going to a funeral.
In fact, it was indeed no different from going to a funeral.
The Emperor sat high above, holding several sheets of paper in his hand.
The Eldest Princess, Lu Mingan, and Lu Jintang were kneeling on the ground.
As soon as Zhou Wangfei entered, she pulled Commandery Princess Luochuan and hurriedly knelt.
The hall was suffocatingly silent.
Zhou Wangfei only felt her mouth dry and her tongue parched, lying prostrate on the ground with difficulty breathing.
No one knew how long passed before the Emperor finally asked coldly, “Madam Qin, Jintang’s marriage, you are the matchmaker, correct?”
It had come!
Zhou Wangfei’s heart pounded endlessly. In a voice as faint as a mosquito, she answered yes.
The Emperor let out a sneer. “What deep hatred do you have with the Eldest Princess’s residence?”
The words were spoken with a smile, but Zhou Wangfei felt as though her heart had been seized by a giant hand called fear. Her face turned pale as she kowtowed repeatedly.
“Your Majesty, this subject wife would not dare! This subject wife would not dare!”
She hurriedly explained: “At that time, Jintang fell in love at first sight with Zeng Wenxiu at this subject wife’s villa. The Eldest Princess therefore came to ask this subject wife’s opinion. This subject wife truly only wanted to help fulfill a good match, so I went to the Zeng family to propose the marriage…”
She swallowed with difficulty. “At that time, the Zeng family did indeed tell this subject wife that Zeng Wenxiu feared she was not worthy of Jintang, and also said the child was young and had previously admired someone…”
The highest level of lying is mixing truth and falsehood.
Seven parts truth and three parts false, that is the hardest to distinguish.
Zhou Wangfei had long known that outright lying would not work, so she avoided the important and dwelled on the trivial: “At that time, this subject wife did indeed wish to build goodwill with the Eldest Princess, so I did not pursue it further and arbitrarily told them to carefully weigh things, saying the one who had taken a liking to her was the Eldest Princess’s only son…”
Commandery Princess Luochuan knelt until her knees began to ache, yet she did not dare show the slightest dissatisfaction. She was extremely tense.
The Emperor gave a short laugh and coldly threw those sheets of paper onto the ground.
“Is that so? Then take a look at what these are.”
Zhou Wangfei did not dare refuse. She crawled forward to pick up the papers. After only one glance, her face turned deathly pale.
The first and second sheets were testimonies from Master Zeng and Madam Zeng. Both firmly insisted that everything had already been made clear at the time, but Zhou Wangfei had coerced and tempted them into swallowing the matter between Young Master Song Six and Zeng Wenxiu.
The third sheet was a drawing of her hosting Madam Song!
Below it was the signature of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!
It was the Embroidered Uniform Guard!
Cold dread instantly spread through her heart.
There were Embroidered Uniform Guards in their residence!
These guards might not have heard exactly what was said, but they knew their household’s visitors and even the scenes of their meetings!
How terrifying!
Her elbows began trembling uncontrollably.
And when she saw the last sheet, even the final trace of color drained from her face!
Because the last sheet was Zeng Wenxiu’s testimony.
She had pushed the reason for taking miscarriage medicine entirely onto Commandery Princess Luochuan!
Even the matter of falling into the lake was said to be Commandery Princess Luochuan’s idea.
Zhou Wangfei felt chilled inside, yet cold sweat began pouring down her back. Finally unable to hold on, she collapsed to the ground and began kowtowing frantically:
“Your Majesty forgive me! Your Majesty forgive me! This subject wife is guilty, this subject wife deserves death!”
Commandery Princess Luochuan was startled. Watching her mother repeatedly slam her head to the ground until her forehead soon broke open, infinite fear finally rose in her heart.
She had never seen Zhou Wangfei so afraid.
Nor had she ever seen such a terrifying side of the Emperor.
When the Son of Heaven is enraged, blood flows like floating pestles, before, she had always thought it an exaggeration, but now she finally understood what it meant.
Her whole body trembled as she began kowtowing as well.
The Eldest Princess could not help choking with sobs: “Imperial Brother, you also know that in this life I only have Jintang as my child! He is my only hope in this lifetime, yet Zhou Wangfei treated us like this! What did we do wrong?”
She cried and questioned: “Zhou Wangfei, we have neither grievance nor hatred, why did you frame my son like this?!”
At this moment, how could Zhou Wangfei still have the strength to answer?
She was already terrified to the extreme and hurriedly cried in defense: “No, no! Your Highness, I truly had no ill intent. I just… I just…”
The Emperor smiled faintly: “You just wanted to curry favor with the Crown Prince, wanted to help the Crown Prince’s favored concubine share her worries. So you intended to give the Song family a convenient favor, help them throw off this burdensome baggage, and at the same time draw closer to the Eldest Princess. Is that correct?”
Zhou Wangfei’s crying abruptly stopped.
The Emperor coldly curled his lips: “Yes, already a Qin Wangfei, no further promotion possible. Naturally you must plan for your descendants. I am old. Naturally it is time for you to go curry favor with the Crown Prince.”
These words were truly heart-piercing. Zhou Wangfei could no longer bear it, her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
Eunuch Xia observed his nose and his heart, pretending to be deaf and blind, as if he had seen nothing.
Just then, Eunuch Xia noticed a young eunuch peeking from outside. Without making a sound, he walked out, and after a moment returned quietly, reporting softly: “Your Majesty, Zhou Wang has arrived.”
Zhou Wang’s mood at this moment was even heavier than the time he had previously gone to receive Lu Mingan and Xiao Mo.
The sky had collapsed!
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