After the emperor read her mind, the salted fish concubine effortlessly won the title of empress.

Chapter 180 The Death of Beauty Ping

The Empress Dowager felt extremely guilty.

She sent Aunt Qingruo to Menglan Pavilion to convey her decree to move Yang Tingyue to the Xiangshan Imperial Palace so that she could cultivate her mind and body there.

Yang Tingyue was terrified and refused to leave the palace no matter what.

Aunt Qingruo had no choice but to reason with her, saying, "Your Highness, if you leave the palace to recuperate for a while, will the Empress Dowager not allow you to return to the palace if you have the opportunity in the future?"

"Your continued presence in the palace is truly an eyesore to the Emperor, and it's not good for you either. Today, the Emperor even pressured the Empress Dowager to punish you, and the Empress Dowager had no choice."

Yang Tingyue cried bitterly, "I only gave him a little of that drug, just to make him consummate our marriage. What did I do wrong? It must be that bitch Shen who made my cousin hate me. I will make sure Shen doesn't get away with this."

Aunt Qingruo was speechless. She hadn't listened to a single word the Empress Dowager said before she entered the palace!

She doesn't even look at the things she's done. If she weren't the Empress Dowager's niece, the fact that the First Prince died at her hands would have been enough to skin her alive.

Consort Shen could not let go of this hatred.

The fact that the emperor was taking medicine in the Empress Dowager's palace could not be kept secret, because the emperor was in very poor condition when he left, and the imperial physicians quickly arrived at Zhaoyang Palace.

Consort Shen naturally knew as well. She had been keeping an eye on Yang Tingyue. She dared not make a move in the inner palace, fearing that the Empress Dowager would find a pretext to use against her. But wasn't Yang Tingyue about to leave the palace?

"You've found out everything? The Empress Dowager intends to send her to the Fragrant Hills Imperial Palace to recuperate?"

"Yes! This servant has inquired clearly. Tomorrow morning, Consort Ping will be sent out of the palace. Your Highness, should we wait?" Yinxing asked.

Consort Shen gritted her teeth in hatred. Even though her son was going to die sooner or later, she would be willing to give up her life to spend one more day with him!

Moreover, she did not ask the emperor to punish her severely at the time; instead, the emperor blamed her, demoted her, and hated Yang Tingyue even more.

Consort Shen burst into tears, touching her swollen belly. "What are we waiting for? No matter who she is, even if she is the Empress Dowager's own daughter, I will take her life to pay for my son's blood!"

"Take this message to my mother! Tell her to do it!"

It was because of the demotion that she understood the emperor's intentions. As his mother, she should fight for the eldest prince and avenge him.

"yes!"

How she wished her deceased eldest son were still in her womb!

She stroked the undergarment her son had worn, silently weeping. She would not let any of those who had killed her son get away with it.

On the day Consort Ping left the palace, the horse suddenly went berserk while the carriage was traveling along the mountain road. It rushed off the road, and the carriage tumbled down a cliff. By the time the people accompanying her went down to rescue her, Consort Ping had already passed away.

The horse also fell to its death, but the new iron shoe had a sharp protrusion on it. After walking for such a long time, the protrusion became embedded in the horse's hoof, causing it to hurt more and more with each step, and it would go crazy sooner or later.

The road to Shangxiangshan Imperial Palace is a winding mountain road with many twists and turns.

When the news reached her, the Empress Dowager fainted on the spot.

Everyone knows who the killer is.

But there is no evidence.

Shen Shixi naturally knew about this news and was not surprised at all. If Consort Shen did not come to her senses, she would not be able to take the position of Consort Shen.

So what if she's the Empress Dowager's niece? She has three children in her hands. Even if the eldest prince is dead, he's still more useful than if he were alive.

The emperor issued an edict that very day restoring Consort Shen to the rank of Consort De, but made no mention of Yang Tingyue's funeral arrangements.

Undoubtedly, this was a resounding slap in the face to the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager still issued an imperial decree, posthumously granting Consort Ping the title of Chongyi for her filial piety and meritorious service, and ordering her to be buried with the rites due to a Chongyi.

After this incident, the Empress Dowager's condition became even more dangerous.

The Empress Dowager had just fallen ill when Zhaoyang Palace announced that she was also ill with a cold and high fever.

After the fall of the previous dynasty, the Empress Dowager's only remaining relative was Princess Yunyang, but she died young, leaving behind only Yang Tingyue and her brother. How could the Empress Dowager not protect them?

The emperor couldn't act openly, but that didn't mean he didn't want to see Yang Tingyue die. As the emperor, didn't he have any shame?

He couldn't force his own mother to do that; Li Yuanyin was still waiting. He owed the Empress Dowager a debt, and he would have to grant Li Yuanyin the title of Prince, which was something he absolutely did not want to see.

The Empress attended to the Empress Dowager without taking off her clothes. The Emperor was alright, as he was always busy with affairs of state and would only come briefly each time. The poor Empress, despite her illness, personally tasted the medicine at the Empress Dowager's bedside to fulfill her filial duty.

Every day when I came back from Cining Palace, I was so exhausted that my body was completely drained.

Shen Shixi wasn't actually sick. Jiang Lingyou diagnosed her with a cold and a high fever. She was lying in bed, and after the fever subsided, she would feel very weak.

This was all just in case, in case the Empress Dowager was angry with her and insisted that she go to take care of her when she was ill.

Should she go or should she go?

The key question is, why should she be the one to attend to the sick? I've never heard of an old feudal lord being sick and needing his son's concubine to attend to him. What is the mistress of the house for?

She acted as the Empress's representative for half a month, which was more than enough, and she even took care of the Empress Dowager when she was ill!

If Yang Tingyue were alive, the Empress Dowager could have tolerated her. But Yang Tingyue is dead. No matter how she died, it was because the Emperor refused to let Yang Tingyue serve him in bed, so Yang Tingyue had no choice but to take the risk and do something like poisoning him.

To be honest, Shen Shixi living in Qianyuan Palace back then couldn't be considered a case of stealing favor, but the Empress Dowager wouldn't think that way.

Shen Shixi was determined to steal the emperor's favor, and she was open and aboveboard; once she did it, she did it. Now that Yang Tingyue was dead, and the Empress Dowager was going to take her anger out on her, she would just accept it.

Li Yuanke wasn't having an easy time either. Even though Shen Shixi was faking illness, he had no choice but to play along with this wretched fellow. Every day, after finishing his official duties, he had to run back and forth between Cining Palace and Zhaoyang Palace, never getting a moment's rest.

It was precisely because the emperor acted this way that no one suspected Shen Shixi of faking illness.

He was only in his early forties, pampered and healthy, and recovered from the Empress Dowager's illness in about ten days.

The Empress was exhausted, and her body was still dripping wet.

Fengyi Palace had just canceled the morning greetings when Shen Shixi announced her recovery, but she still couldn't escape the Empress Dowager's pursuit and was summoned to an audience.

Shen Shixi wrote a riddle on a piece of paper: "If I and your mother fell into the water at the same time, and you could save one while the other drowned, who would you choose to save?" He handed it to Chao En and said, "Send this to His Majesty. You don't need to say anything."

She wasn't afraid of the Empress Dowager, but rather she was giving Li Yuanke a heads-up: if she were to clash with the Empress Dowager, whose side would she take?

Shen Shixi arrived at Cining Palace in a palanquin.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects and wish you boundless happiness and good health!"

The Empress Dowager quietly observed Shen Shixi for a long time before saying, "Get up and sit down! Tingyue has left. You two have known each other since childhood, and you didn't even go to see her off. I never imagined that someone so young could be so heartless!"

Shen Shixi said, "Your Majesty's words have made me very apprehensive."

But she didn't seem panicked.

"Consort Ping and I were old acquaintances. Before she entered the palace, if she hadn't looked down on me, I would have been willing to call her my confidante, my close friend. But now that she's entered the palace and become one of the Emperor's concubines, all we have left is competition and scheming. We are enemies on the same battlefield."

These words are perfectly reasonable.

Even the Empress Dowager couldn't say that if you sisters in the palace lived in harmony, the Empress Dowager knew better than anyone what the inner palace was like.

But the Empress Dowager could not let it go. "If you hadn't pestered the Emperor that day, preventing him from summoning Tingyue, none of this would have happened today."

This is bullying.

Shen Shixi smiled and said, "Your Majesty, if I could do it all over again, I would still do the same thing. Who in this harem doesn't want the Emperor's favor? I am no exception."

"Who told you that Your Majesty is my husband? I've done so much for you, surely not just for historical recognition. I love Your Majesty, and naturally I want to be the only one in your heart. What I've done is no different from what Consort Ping did."

The Empress Dowager had used these words to shut down the Emperor, and now Shen Shixi was using them to shut down the Empress Dowager.

Yang Tingyue likes the emperor and wants him to sleep with her, which is not wrong, but I am wrong to compete for his favor?

At least I didn't give the Emperor any medicine.

That's the gist of it.

But whether it was true love or not, only Shen Shixi herself knows.

When Li Yuanke received Shen Shixi's note, he was speechless after reading the title. After finding out that she had been summoned by the Empress Dowager, he rushed over.

When he reached the door, he overheard Shen Shixi saying she admired him, and he almost tripped over the threshold.

Clever words and a flattering expression!

The corners of her lips couldn't help but turn up in a smile.