Palace Fighting: Naive Concubines' Ascent to Power-Chapter 619 Consort De is Startled

Zhang Qing’s words, in fact, were over ninety percent true, with less than ten percent false mixed within.

Yet it was precisely this ten percent falsehood that played a crucial role, instantaneously shifting the blame from Consort De to the Noble Consort.

The person who confessed under Dong Xue’s coercion was Consort De, not the Noble Consort; the new testimony failed to clarify this and only mentioned the contact with Xia Lei.

Consort Zhen had never overheard the secret conversations between Cai Hua and Nanny Wen; she merely had a vague sense that these servants were acting under someone’s orders but was unsure if it was the Noble Consort’s.

Her confession was arranged by the Emperor.

Initially, the Emperor had given Zhang Qing two options for Consort Zhen: either to spend the rest of her days in Hetai Temple or to do something for him, after which he would help her change her identity and release her from the palace.

Regarding her intention to send live-promoting incense and an incense burner to Lian Hua, her servants had confessed, and when Zhang Qing relayed this to her, Consort Zhen broke out in cold sweat, knowing she had no choice as the Emperor had been more than generous with his offer.

In the end, she chose the latter; she wanted to leave the palace, she longed for freedom.

Zhang Qing handled all these matters, and he was well aware that at this moment, this conversation was nothing more than a formality.

The Emperor said indifferently, "Hmm, let word of this matter spread, and make sure it reaches that person’s ears as soon as possible. Don’t forget about those beloved ministers we released today either."

After giving this command, he did not pause but continued, "Send someone to the Imperial Animal Garden to release Consort De. She must be frightened. Go to my private treasury and select some items for her. Tell her that currently, no one in the palace is in charge and everything is in disarray. Ask her to come back as soon as possible."

Zhang Qing respectfully responded, "Yes."

The Emperor then said, "Considering the time, Beloved Minister Xu has been reflecting behind closed doors for a while now. He probably won’t dare to cause a scene in front of the hall again. Withdraw the Imperial Guards stationed at Xu Mansion."

"Yes," Zhang Qing replied, his head bowed even lower, looking up in his mind even more than before. When the Emperor had confined Great General Xu, the charge had been misconduct in front of the hall. It seemed the Emperor had already planned for this day.

"Beloved Minister Xu comes from a military background, and the men under him are not easy to manage. He has already exhausted himself dealing with them on a daily basis and has been cooped up for some time; let’s hope he hasn’t fallen ill from the boredom. Go with Chu Yuanzheng to Xu Mansion to diagnose and treat him."

Zhang Qing was momentarily startled, but without much thought, he immediately replied, "Yes."

"Hmm, go and take care of it," said the Emperor.

Zhang Qing promptly performed the ritual of asking to be excused.

Not long after, a new wave of excitement swept through the former court and harem, even reaching the entire Capital City, stirring up quite a buzz.

Upon receiving the imperial command, Minister Fan from the Ministry of Rites’s eyes flashed with anticipation. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time and immediately summoned everyone involved in examining the papers to the Ministry of Rites. Once everyone arrived, he opened the sealed box of examination papers in front of them all.

Minister Qin and the others could hardly contain their eagerness as they craned their necks to see. Never had they been so expectant for a single examinee’s papers.

Though Minister Qin maintained his composure in front of Minister Jia and the other students, he, too, was anxiously waiting, wondering when the Capital would settle down. Minister Jia and students from the Imperial Academy buzzed around him daily, and he was growing impatient.

Most importantly, he heard that Lian Mu was quite unperturbed in the Imperial Academy, which only increased his curiosity about how the papers were answered.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Minister Fan carefully unfolded the examination papers on a specially cleared, wide table, his nervousness obvious to all.

Just as he spread them out, before he even had a chance to look, there came a disturbance from outside. The Minister of Personnel had hurried over upon hearing the news but was stopped at the door.

Although the Minister of Personnel had given up on the idea of taking Lian Mu as his disciple, he was still eager to see for himself how extraordinary this youth was.

Even if it violated the regulations and he was stopped outside, he didn’t care; he just waited anxiously. He didn’t know what he was waiting for; he just felt compelled to come.

The Minister of Punishment had also heard about the matter but chose not to come. He had already received other messages, and it seemed he would be busy for some time...

Lian Musu, the person involved from the Imperial Academy, received a letter from home but furrowed his brow as he read it. The letter said the Guo family had been raided, Guo Neng had fled, Lian Bao had entered the Internal Guard Bureau to save Uncle Ma and was currently staying there temporarily, assuring everything was fine and there was no need to look for him.

Lian Bao had always loved adventure. As his older brother, how could he not worry?

And now that the Guo family had been raided and Guo Neng, the main culprit, was on the run, he did not believe the cause was the trafficking of illegal salt, but he couldn’t figure out what else it could be.

If the Guo family were mere pawns in a struggle for power, then it was not appropriate for the Lian family to step forward and overturn their case in order to avoid being crushed by both sides of the power struggle and to protect themselves.

Moreover, when he first escaped, he went straight north to find his younger sister without returning to his hometown to look for evidence to overturn their case. He did not have much evidence available to use.

If he missed this opportunity, it would be even more difficult to overturn the case in the future.

The Lian family members were still on the run, fearing punishment and being hunted by the local government of the Place of Exile.

Was the Lian family doomed to live in such a shadow, forever unable to emerge into the light?

Lian Musu’s heart was filled with worry, and he could no longer concentrate on the new annotations of a rare edition that Minister Fan had given him.

After thinking for a long while, he shook his head; he decided to wait and see how the Guo family’s affair would unfold and to first inquire about Lian Bao’s situation.

With that in mind, he walked towards Minister Jia’s teaching residence.

Meanwhile, in Star Palace, a Shadow Guard arrived. In an instant, the Emperor’s good mood disappeared without a trace as he held the confession document with mixed feelings.

In the pavilion of the Imperial Animal Garden.

Consort Xu De patted the big cat beside her. The cat, understanding her gesture, walked off gracefully towards the distance.

She stood up, stretched lazily, and let out a yawn, "It’s really comfortable living here, among a group of animals. It’s even more pleasant than living in the Harem surrounded by a bunch of consorts."

The paleness crept into the corners of the eyes of the Young Eunuch Xiao Xizi from Star Palace who was delivering the decree.

He didn’t dare respond to such a statement...

This godforsaken place, only Consort De seemed to enjoy living here so happily. Just look at those birds of prey and fierce beasts—it’s frightening just to see them.

Consort De was indeed unusual. When His Majesty decided to confine her, she chose the Imperial Animal Garden as her place of residence.

An incident once occurred in the Imperial Animal Garden where the birds of prey and fierce beasts collectively went mad, attacking people, resulting in the death of several eunuchs who looked after the beasts. After that, some of these creatures even broke into the Imperial Garden, injuring several servants, killing a Palace Maid, and marring the face of an Imperial Concubine Pin.

In the end, the Imperial Guards had to be called to kill the animals that had harmed people. It was only after repairing the fence and completely separating the Imperial Animal Garden from the Imperial Garden that such incidents ceased to happen.

The Late Emperor was absurd to have built the Imperial Animal Garden for a consort from Beyond the Border, seeking convenience by placing it next to the Imperial Garden, just separated by a wooden fence. Later, a section of the wooden fence rotted away without anyone noticing, leading to that tragic event.

That incident occurred many years ago, and nowadays, hardly anyone visits the Imperial Animal Garden. Even the door to it is not easily opened; people who entered the palace later don’t even know there is such a place as the Imperial Animal Garden.

Visit freewe𝑏(n)ovel.co(m) for the b𝘦st novel reading experience