701 Uncovering the Truth (2)
Madam Tan said, “That poison is colorless and tasteless, but his back will hurt slightly. The Great General thought that he was injured when he was practicing martial arts, so he didn’t take it to heart. They found me and told me that the only antidote is that poison that can cause one to go crazy. Whether the Great General lives or dies is up to me. I have no choice. I can’t watch him die…”
The Emperor was puzzled. “But why Helian Beiming? Shouldn’t it be Helian Sheng?”
The expert with the tattoo on the back of his neck was Helian Sheng.
The Emperor had watched Helian Sheng grow up, so how could he not know that he had a tattoo on his neck? Speaking of which, this matter was his fault. When Helian Sheng entered the palace to study with the little commandery princess, the little commandery princess was naughty and fell from a tree. Helian Sheng cut the back of his neck to save her and left a scar. Helian Sheng found it ugly and had a tattoo.
Madam Tan was stunned by the Emperor’s question. After a while, she reacted and said, “It seems that His Majesty already knows that Sheng’er eavesdropped on their conversation.”
Madam Tan did not ask how the Emperor knew. This was not something she should ask about. Moreover, she only cared about the outcome.
She continued, “After Sheng’er was discovered, the State Preceptor recognized him. The State Preceptor sent people to chase after him, but Sheng’er escaped. Sheng’er was seriously injured and was discovered by me when he returned to the manor to recuperate. Under my interrogation, he told me what he had seen and heard in the palace. He originally wanted to enter the palace to return the gift to the little commandery princess, but he was unexpectedly involved in an unexpected disaster.
“I hid Sheng’er. They knew that I had hidden him and forced me to hand him over. When I refused to hand him over, they attacked the general. Then, they threatened me—’This is your last warning. If you don’t hand him over, the Empress can summon him over.’”
That’s right. If the Empress summoned him, how could Helian Sheng not enter the palace to meet her?
The Emperor relied heavily on the Helian family, and Helian Sheng had been the study companion of the commandery prince and princess. It was normal for the Empress to invite him into the palace to see him. Who would suspect that the Empress wanted to kill him?
Upon hearing this, the Emperor felt his fingertips turn cold. His chest was blocked, and his breathing was choked. After a while, he finally found his voice. “You were worried that the Empress would really summon him, so you thought of a way to chase him out of the house?”
Madam Tan nodded. “That’s right. Other than chasing him out, I can’t think of a better way.”
“Then what about the rumor of killing a commoner and the illegitimate child?” The Emperor asked.
Madam Tan said, “At first, I bribed someone to put on a show of letting Sheng’er beat him to death. I wanted to use this to expel Sheng’er from the Helian family. Your Majesty knows that the Helian family’s rules are strict. Old Madam and the Grand General will bear the pain and put aside their family ties, but…”
At this point, Madam Tan’s throat felt a little swollen and painful. “Old Madam doesn’t agree. She said that she’ll kowtow to that person and apologize, begging them to forgive her grandson…”
Thinking of her old mother-in-law who was willing to kneel down to protect her grandson, Madam Tan could not help but cover her face and cry.
“So you came up with another plan and said that you had an affair?”
Madam Tan had schemed, but Old Madam did not believe her. Old Madam secretly pulled her to the side and asked her if she had been bullied. She even said that that person was not half as good-looking as her son. He did not look like an adulterer either.
The Old Madam was a little crazy, but there were some things that could not fool her.
Madam Tan had no choice but to tell Old Madam everything. She told Old Madam that Helian Sheng had offended someone he could not offend. Out of consideration for Old Madam’s safety, she could not say who those people were, but Helian Sheng could not continue to stay at home. Otherwise, he would be killed sooner or later.
Only then did the Old Madam chase Helian Sheng out.
How much determination and pain did the person who doted on her grandson have to drive Helian Sheng out of the house? She even had to pretend that nothing had happened. Even if she went crazy, she had forgotten about such a thing and had never exposed herself.
In her heart, there was a corner that even a crazy person could not enter that protected her grandson’s secret.
She had to put on a show. Helian Sheng had already been expelled from the family. As a mother who had an affair and gave birth to a bastard child, she naturally could not continue to stay in the Helian family.
She requested to go to the nunnery herself.
Family scandals could not be aired in public. Only the masters of the East and West Manor knew the inside story of this “illegitimate child”. To the outside world, they still claimed that Helian Sheng had beaten someone to death before he was expelled from the family.
Madam Tan wiped her tears. “After I entered the nunnery, they controlled me. They believe that as long as I’m in their hands, Sheng’er will come back one day.”
The Emperor did not know that there were so many inside stories about what happened back then. It was not that he had never suspected that the Helian family had offended someone or that they had suffered something. However, he thought that with the Helian family’s power and status, who would dare to scheme against them in the entire Nanzhao? It could not be the Empress.
He had never suspected the Empress. But in the end, it was really the Empress.
A chill ran down his spine. Even the Emperor’s hair stood on end. All these years, what kind of vicious woman was sleeping beside his pillow? How many secrets did she hide from him? Was the virtuous Empress he saw everyday herself, or was it a skin she pretended to be?
The Emperor’s head hurt violently, like an awl that was spinning non-stop, stirring his brain until it was about to disperse. He pressed his aching head with one hand and supported his body on the table with the other. He panted and said, “Helian Sheng… What secret did Helian Sheng hear?”
At this point, Madam Tan had nothing to hide. She raised her head and looked solemnly at the Emperor. She enunciated each word clearly. “The Old State Preceptor is having an affair with the Empress. The Little Princess… might be the Old State Preceptor’s child.”
Boom—
The Emperor’s mind exploded—
… .
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
In the garden near the imperial study, the eunuch and a few palace maids were anxiously looking for the Empress. After the Empress alighted from the carriage, she came alone to stop Madam Tan. Unexpectedly, even though Madam Tan had entered the imperial study, the Empress did not return.
They were puzzled and looked over, but the Empress was nowhere to be seen.
“How did this happen? Where did Her Majesty go?” A little palace maid asked.
“I don’t know. Did she go to the imperial study?” Another palace maid said.
“No, I asked just now. Only Eunuch Wang and a nun entered the imperial study,” another little palace maid said.
“Stop arguing! Hurry up and find her!” The eunuch coldly stopped the palace maids.
Suddenly, a palace maid shouted, “Found it, found it! Her Majesty is here!”
The eunuch hurriedly walked over and dragged the Empress out of the grass. The Empress naturally did not faint here, but was pulled over by Consort Yun and thrown here.
Consort Yun was very careful. No one saw that she did it.
The palace servants thought that the Empress had fainted by herself and did not investigate anything. They hurriedly carried the Empress into the carriage and returned to the Central Palace.
The eunuch invited the imperial physician, but the imperial physician did not manage to diagnose anything. After all, it was true that the Empress was furious. It was not impossible for her to faint from anger. The imperial physician prescribed medicine to calm her down.
The Central Palace was very busy for a while.
During this period, the eunuch went to the imperial study, intending to report to the Emperor that the Empress had fainted, but he did not even see the Emperor.
The Emperor arrived in the central palace two hours later.
At this moment, the Empress had already woken up for a while. She was sitting at the head of the bed drinking the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician. When she heard the palace servants report that the Emperor had arrived, the Empress put down the medicine bowl and was about to lift the blanket to receive him. However, before her feet landed, she felt a strong killing intent.
She looked up in shock and met a pair of cold eyes. Her heart skipped a beat!
