The woman kneeling in the hall raised her head tremblingly.
Under her long hair that was burnt terribly, there was a bluish-purple face in horror.
The empress slightly raised her eyes, and after a quick glance at the familiar face, she lowered her eyes, as if she didn’t care.
“I am a servant from the empress’s palace. Your Majesty, I did not set the fire. I was wronged, please, Your Majesty!”
The maidservant, who had been flustered just now, gradually calmed down.
She kowtowed suddenly on the ground until there was blood on her forehead.
The quiet hall, amidst her constant knocks, had some strange changes.
Lin Mengya sat quietly. The maidservant was the empress’s confidence. She had calmed down so quickly, and didn’t seem confused now.
However, there was no winner or loser yet, so she just had to watch the show with peace of mind.
“I am asking you, why did you go to go to Jinxiu Palace?”
His Majesty looked cold and his voice as indifferent. Suddenly, the pretentious composure on the maidservant’s face slightly changed.
“Your Majesty, I… because…”
No matter what she said, she had shown up in Jinxiu Palace for no reason. If she didn’t find a suitable excuse, she definitely couldn’t convince others.
The maidservant just raised her head and glanced at the empress. Then she gritted her teeth, knocked on the ground all of a sudden, and said loudly.
“Damn me! I wanted to steal things from Jinxiu Palace. Unexpectedly, I accidentally knocked the oil lamp over in the side hall and caused the fire. Your Majesty, please punish me.”
Such a clean admission even surprised Lin Mengya.
She glanced subconsciously at the empress who was watching the show quietly but did not find anything unusual with her look.
She had intended to put the blame on others to save Imperial Noble Consort Dehui and then cause some small troubles for the empress.
She hadn’t expected that the confidant of the empress would turn the beginning of her plan into the end.
Although she was a bit unwilling, today the protagonist was not her.
“Your Majesty, please listen to me.”
Imperial Noble Consort Dehui neither condemned the maidservant sternly nor had any bitterness and hatred. She asked His Majesty to make the decision.
On the contrary, there was a gentle smile on her face, and her beautiful eyes looked compassionate.
“Go ahead.”
The emperor was ambiguous, and in the hall, only Imperial Noble Consort Dehui dared to speak.
With a gentle salute, when Imperial Noble Consort Dehui raised her head again, she smiled softly.
“Your Majesty, you don’t need to be angry about this. I believe that this maidservant was also unintentional. Since she is the empress’s servant, she must have been carefully selected, and her character, talent, and appearance had also been considered excellent. No one is perfect, let alone these poor servants who acted on others’ orders. They may live in the palace without worrying about food and clothing, but their family outside the palace may have encountered some difficulties. Moreover, she did not go to other palaces. She only went to my old palace. I believed she just wanted to exchange some worthless things for money to help her family. Although this is pitiful, the mistake has been made. If Your Majesty wants to punish her, it is reasonable. But, I have something to ask for the grace of His Majesty.”
Imperial Noble Consort Dehui’s voice was gentle and soft, everyone couldn’t help liking her.
Her own palace was burned, but she did not ask His Majesty to build a more gorgeous palace for her or severely punish the arsonist.
Such a gentle and honest woman deserved the honorable title of the Imperial Noble Consort.
“Speak.”
The emperor didn’t talk much, but his tone was much softer after all.
It seemed that the emperor liked the way the Imperial Noble Consort dealt with the accident.
“I want to ask for grace for the menservants and maidservants in the palace. They also have family members outside, and they can neither take care of their parents nor have children. For them, it is a bit too cruel. Therefore, I want to change the damaged area of Jinxiu Palace into a field. The annual harvest will be used to allow these servants to subsidize their households. As long as their family members are in trouble, they will report it in advance and ask people to check if it is true. If it is true, they can borrow some money. Wouldn’t it be a win-win situation by doing this?”
As soon as Imperial Noble Consort Dehui finished her speech, everyone was surprised.
Unexpectedly, she had such kind heart. She suggested turning her palace into a field and using the income from the field to do good deeds.
Some clever imperial nobles even wanted to curry favor with such a kind and beautiful Imperial Noble Consort.
His Majesty seemed a little surprised. After taking a deep look at his Imperial Noble Consort, the grimness on his face was replaced by tenderness.
“It’s great that you’re so kind-hearted. Okay, I’ll allow it. However, the field that Jinxiu Palace will be converted into can only yield a limited amount of grain. The money may not be able to relieve the urgent needs. Since the Imperial Noble Consort mentioned it, then why don’t you express your opinions and help the Imperial Noble Consort to solve the problem?”
His Majesty had his final word. The Jinxiu Palace fire accident was dealt with lightly.
Someone said that maybe this fire accident was a test given to Imperial Noble Consort Dehui by God.
It could be seen that Imperial Noble Consort Dehui’s performance at this time was very satisfactory.
Everyone’s enthusiasm was unprecedentedly high. When the empress’s maidservant was taken away by the guards, no one noticed it except the empress and Lin Mengya.
The empress still looked polite, noble, and generous, but now the hotly debated protagonist turned out to be her old enemy. After all, her eyes turned cold.
Lin Mengya took a sip of the sweet fruit wine in the cup. With the cleverness of the empress, she probably hadn’t expected that today’s conferring ceremony would have changed so dramatically.
The discussion also became more enthusiastic because of His Majesty’s acquiescence.
But everyone was talking about nothing but donations.
It could not express the donator’s mind, and might also cause comparisons. It would probably end in unhappiness.
Seeing that they didn’t have any good ideas, Imperial Noble Consort Dehui couldn’t help
Immediately, there was a court lady who had a good relationship with Imperial Noble Consort Dehui, followed her silent instructions, and recommended Lin Mengya.
“Princess Yu, you have always had the cleverest ideas. You can’t stay out of things like this now.”
Under such an atmosphere, Lin Mengya could no longer sit by and watch.
Lin Mengya stood up slowly, lowered her eyes, and said softly.
“Your Majesty, the Imperial Noble Consort is so kind. But I think that all the royal family members present also have this good intention. It is better to change the crops in the fields converted from Jinxiu Palace to auctions so that everyone can participate in it. Moreover, no matter if the price is high or low, everyone is doing good deeds, and everyone should be grateful. But I think that this is a good thing for the country and the people. It would be a pity if we chose an ordinary day.”
As soon as Imperial Noble Consort Dehui made this suggestion, Lin Mengya had come up with this idea.
It was not new. After all, in modern society, the titles of various charity auctions have long been not regarded as special things.
A group of wealthy people gathered together to compete against each other in the name of charity once a year. No matter what they got or how much money they spent, as long as their reputation spread, it would an honor that money cannot buy for them.
Besides, they could impress the emperor. Who would refuse it?
As expected, Lin Mengya’s proposal was unanimously approved by everyone present.
His Majesty just said after thinking about it a little.
“Lin Mengya’s statement is reasonable. It should be done carefully. It is better to ask the stargazer to choose a good day.”
Such a serious attitude also made the royal family members realize that the emperor had approved it. Naturally, each of them would take it as an important matter.
The criticism about Imperial Noble Consort Dehui disappeared like this.
Even the empress hadn’t figured out what it was this chaos was about.
But when she saw the warm and respectful attitude of the royal family members present to Imperial Noble Consort Dehui, she somehow felt a slight sense of crisis.
Could it be that their purpose was…?
The empress looked at Lin Mengya with fierce eyes.
When their eyes met, Lin Mengya sneered slightly, which made the empress finally understand what she meant.
They were really coveting her throne as the empress!
At this moment, she fully understood the purpose of these people.
The bastard had found the place where the bitch was, but they didn’t rescue the bitch immediately.
Instead, they thought of a way to ask His Majesty to promise the position of the bitch Imperial Noble Consort!
No, maybe His Majesty knew their plan. Otherwise, how could they have allowed that bitch to show such a big flaw and make her suspicious?
The subsequent burning of the palace room was just the final preparation for the auction proposed by Lin Mengya.
In this encounter, she and her maidservant had been tricked, because they were fully aware that she could not do anything during the conferring ceremony to clear herself of suspicion.
Therefore, they had been so bold.
The purpose of all this was for the slut to get the favor of the royal families, and they were trying to steal her throne!
The empress suddenly figured out the whole story.
It’s a dangerous strategy, and now, the slut had become the most popular one. Even if she wanted to get rid of her, there would be many troubles.
It was just that they had underestimated her.
The hypocrisy on the empress’s face faded and was replaced by a trace of cruel coldness.
