Sister Gu panicked. She gritted her teeth and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t know?” Feng Ruqing sneered, “I have the spirit herb here that can make your intestines rot. I wonder if you would like to try it?”
Hearing these words, Sister Gu’s body trembled. She gritted her teeth and continued, “There is no mastermind. It is my work alone!”
Her whole family, their lives, were in the empress’s hands, so she could never admit it.
The empress’s face was pale, and she laughed wryly. “Princess Ruqing, look here… This is just a servant’s revenge. Why would you think there is a mastermind behind it?”
Feng Ruqing sneered and looked at the empress. “The one in bed in the room is surely not your son, but I do feel that you do not care even the slightest about the real culprit. Instead, you are bent on blaming this old servant.”
The empress’s face changed dramatically, and she clenched her fists tightly.
‘Why? Why, when everything was doing fine, Xia Xia turns out to be Feng Ruqing’s daughter?’
If she hadn’t appeared, there wouldn’t have been so much trouble going on, let alone someone to save Murong Qing.
The emperor snapped and laughed. “She’s Qing’er’s aunt. She has always treated Qing’er like her son. How could she not care about him? She just…”
“I am increasingly suspicious of how you became the emperor…” Nan Xian turned to the emperor expressionlessly. “Since you are not afraid of death or pain, I am sure that is because someone has threatened you. Go and arrest all the family members of this old servant. I would like to see if she will tell the truth then.”
The person who could make someone so unafraid of life and death must be some matter in question.
But just what was making her not even afraid of death?
Unless the one being held was her loved one…
Only a loved one could make a person admit to all her sins, regardless of life and death.
As expected, after hearing Feng Ruqing’s words, Sister Gu’s face turned pale. She panicked, and her whole body trembled.
The empress’s face also changed dramatically. She bit her lip hard, not saying a word, as if she was thinking of how to get out of this trouble.
“If you tell the truth now…” Feng Ruqing lowered her gaze and looked at Sister Gu. “I can guarantee that your loved ones will not be harmed in the slightest.”
Ever since the empress had told the emperor about Feng Ruqing, Sister Gu knew that person’s identity.
Although she did not know why this person would care about this matter, she understood that she was the only one who could save her loved ones today.
“My grandson and my children are all in the empress’s hands. It was the empress who told me to do this. Otherwise, she would capture and kill my beloved ones. Please, save them! I will tell you everything.”
Boom!
These words were like a thunderbolt from a clear sky landing on one’s head.
The emperor turned to the pale empress, shocked; his eyes were filled with disbelief.
“Empress, is what Sister Gu said… True?”
His breathing grew heavy as if without taking a breath, he could feel his heart hurting badly.
From the beginning till the end, he had never doubted the empress.
The empress was able to ascend to this position because the late empress trusted her.
It was hard for him to believe it.
Yet, somehow, it was her!
The empress fell to the ground, tears weeping down. “Emperor, I didn’t do it. It’s all Sister Gu’s nonsense. She is falsely accusing me… I have always treated Qing’er like my own son. How could I do such a thing?”
The emperor closed his eyes.
He wished all of these were only a misunderstanding. After all, he had trusted her too much. He did not believe the empress would really be so tricky and cunning!