As expected —
Concubine Oriole and Empress Dugu couldn’t sit still after Lady Northern Feng said that.
Because the lady was directly accusing them of disrespecting the empress dowager!
Concubine Oriole left her seat immediately and knelt down in front of the empress dowager with a ghastly pale face. “Your Majesty, I — I really didn’t mean that. I was only trying to entertain Your Majesty with some gossip I was told. I was only trying to cheer Your Majesty up. I didn’t mean anything…”
Empress Dugu changed the subject in a hurry. “Of course you didn’t. It was nothing, really, but I heard that our crown prince flared up over a girl. In order to save Feng Wu, he cut off all four of Old Master Xuanyuan’s limbs, which is why we’re talking about it.”
Well…
Concubine Oriole hadn’t gotten to that part yet. As soon as Empress Dugu said that, the empress dowager’s face darkened!
“What did you say?!”
Despite her old age, she smacked the table so hard that she almost smashed it to pieces!
Darting a taunting sidelong glance at Lady Northern Feng, Empress Dugu said to the empress dowager, “Your Majesty, I heard that the heads of all the major clans protested and gave His Majesty pressure. His Majesty was so angry that he locked the crown prince in the water dungeon!”
The water dungeon?!
The empress dowager felt her head spin!
The water dungeon… That was supposed to be a form of torture for felons!
The water there went as high as one’s chin, and the prisoners couldn’t sit, sleep, or rest in any way, for they would fall down in the water and drown if they relaxed —
“How dare he keep that from me? How dare he?!” The empress dowager was infuriated.
Empress Dugu went on tattling to the empress dowager: “His Royal Highness is supposed to be an aloof, sensible person who sees any woman other than Your Majesty as a stranger. But he stood up for Feng Wu —”
“Feng Wu, this is going to be your downfall. Let’s see if you can withstand Her Majesty’s rage!” thought Empress Dugu with a malicious smile on her face.
The empress dowager was so angry that she almost had a heart attack!
Lady Northern Feng was flustered. Empress Dugu’s attack was a very effective one!
Not only did she mention the difficult situation His Royal Highness was in at the moment, she also pointed out that Feng Wu was the reason, and reminded the empress dowager that Jun Linyuan treated Feng Wu differently…
Those three things together were enough to set the empress dowager off.
What a malicious woman!
If Lady Northern Feng wasn’t here, Feng Wu really would be blamed for everything, and the empress dowager would probably send Feng Wu some poisonous wine and have the latter commit suicide by imperial order!
Lady Northern Feng tried to explain immediately. “Her Majesty the empress has to be mistaken.”
Empress Dugu smirked inwardly, but her face remained composed. “Isn’t it the truth? All the ladies at the Xuanyuan Mansion that night said so.”
Lady Northern Feng snorted. “But you weren’t there that night. I was!”
She then turned to the empress dowager. “Your Majesty, it was all my fault. Please punish me.”
The empress dowager looked at Lady Northern Feng in bewilderment and wondered why the latter was suddenly so serious.
Lady Northern Feng said in a solemn tone, “His Royal Highness did indeed take action that night, but it wasn’t to save Feng Wu. He did all those things to save me.”
The empress dowager said, “What?!”
Lady Northern Feng started her little revenge. “Your Majesty, you have no idea how arrogant that old man Xuanyuan was! He was outrageous!”
