Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 197: Legend of Zhen Huan 67

No one in the former dynasty or the harem thought anything of the death of the deposed empress. The emperor did not even plan to hold a funeral for her. He just ordered the body to be carried out and returned to the Ulanara family.

Concubine Xi felt very happy about this, and she became even more gentle and considerate when serving the emperor. It happened that the emperor also needed to change his mood, so he cooperated with her in almost everything. For a moment, both of them seemed to have returned to the time when Concubine Xi had just entered the palace.

However, not only the emperor felt sad about the passage of time, even Concubine Xi felt as if she was in a different world when she recalled the tender and sweet times with the emperor. The person who had won her heart now was Prince Guo, who had always helped her parents and sisters. Even now, the person who could help her take care of her widowed mother and two younger sisters was also Prince Guo.

It was true that the emperor sent people to arrange her father's funeral, and it was true that he sent her father back to his hometown to be buried in the ancestral tomb, but he seemed to have not thought about anything else at all, and did not care at all how her mother and her two daughters, all weak women, would survive in this capital city.

However, the irony was that she could not meet with Prince Guo at all, and instead had to put all her energy into pleasing the emperor. This made Concubine Xi feel like she was split into two halves, one half clearly expressing resentment towards the emperor, while the other half leaned in the emperor's arms with a sweet smile and full of affection.

Concubine Xi felt that she no longer had a close confidant in the palace. Her sister Mei seemed to have seen through the emperor, but her relationship with the emperor was getting better and better. She could even smile sincerely to the emperor. Now she had frequent contacts with Princess Chaogui, but was indifferent to the concubines.

As for Concubine An, ever since Concubine Shen entered the palace, Concubine An has been on close terms with Concubine Shen. Even though Concubine An's father had embezzled grain and grass, the relationship between the two of them became better and better. It even seemed that Concubine An had changed her sensitive and shy nature when dealing with Concubine Shen.

As Concubine Xi thought about it, tears started to flow. She originally thought that her destiny would be to become the person with the highest rank in the harem, and that only then would she feel the loneliness of being at the top. However, she didn't expect that before she even reached that level, she had already been deserted by everyone.

Concubine Xi cheered up and rummaged through her private vault, trying to find things that were not marked as manufactured in-house so that she could give them to her mother and two sisters.

Yun, who is outside the palace, now lives with her two girls in the former house of the Zhen family. The house is in a good location and is surrounded by civil officials. They will not easily point fingers at the three of them. After all, although there is no man in their family now, there is still a concubine in the palace.

However, the three of them, mother and daughter, could block the gazes of their neighbors, but not the members of the Zhen family.

The Zhen family officially became wealthy during the early years of the late emperor. The ancestor of the Zhen family had served as the late emperor's wet nurse. Later, the ancestor left the palace and married someone who happened to be the patriarch of the Zhen family's direct lineage. Their branch was the illegitimate stepson of the ancestor.

Despite this, they also benefited from the help of their ancestor and were never forgotten by the late emperor, so several generations of them had smooth careers as officials in the capital.

However, times have changed. The ancestor passed away earlier than the late emperor. By the time the late emperor passed away, the Zhen family had actually begun to decline, but the family’s foundation was too strong, so others could hardly see it.

So even their meager assets are now coveted by others.

Fortunately, Concubine Xi is still favored in the palace, Yun herself is not an easy person to deal with, and with Prince Guo secretly looking after them, Yun and her mother and daughter live a relatively stable life.

However, Yun didn't know whether her eldest daughter had discovered that she looked similar to Queen Chunyuan. She felt that she must have discovered it, otherwise she wouldn't have been demoted from the position of concubine to the lowest level, and their Zhen family wouldn't have been framed and exiled by court officials, and now they haven't been able to clear their names.

Yun felt sorry for what her daughters had gone through, but she also understood that the only one who could change their family's circumstances at this time was the emperor. Even if Prince Guo cared about everything in their family, it might be the emperor's order.

Therefore, when Yun herself faced Prince Guo, she was always full of thanks to the Emperor and Prince Guo, and she even asked Zhen Yuyin and Zhen Yurao to act in the same way, just to leave a good impression on the Emperor and Prince Guo and make Concubine Xi in the palace feel better.

When Concubine Xi heard the news, she naturally cried quietly again.

But after she cried, she keenly discovered a little truth. Maybe Cui Jinxi was not just someone sent out by some concubine. She was very likely the person of Concubine Shu and Prince Guo in the past.

Concubine Xi was heartbroken, but she still decided to take a gamble on the master-servant relationship between her and Cui Jinxi and ask about the reason behind the incident.

While Cui Jinxi was on guard at night, Concubine Xi asked the question she had prepared: "Jinxi, you have met Queen Chunyuan before, right?"

Cui Jinxi was caught off guard by Concubine Xi's question. A thousand thoughts were running through her mind, but she had no idea how to start.

Cui Jinxi's silence made Concubine Xi's heart sink to the bottom. When she spoke again, her voice was trembling: "So, you saw my appearance and thought I would be favored, so you deliberately went to Sui Yuxuan, right?"

Cui Jinxi couldn't answer this, but Concubine Xi had already thought of a lot. She turned over and asked Cui Jinxi who was sleeping on the small couch beside the bed: "Then why didn't you recognize the old clothes of Queen Chunyuan, which caused me to be plotted against by the deposed queen?!"

Cui Jinxi was finally able to answer this question. She lowered her voice and answered eagerly, "I was originally just an ordinary maid in the palace. The reason I was able to see the beautiful face of Queen Chunyuan was because I was bullied by someone and was caught by her. Later, relying on Queen Chunyuan's face, a concubine asked for me to be brought to her in order to give the Queen Mother face."

"But later, when the concubines moved to other palaces, more servants came out, and because I had some experience, I was able to become a manager of a palace."

"So this servant knows what Queen Chunyuan looks like, but doesn't know much about her affairs. That's why the queen was deposed and plotted against..."

Cui Jinxi was well versed in the principles of speaking, and all her words were the truth, but they concealed many key points. For example, the kind-hearted concubine was Prince Guo's biological mother, now Concubine Shu.

But Concubine Xi could already guess who the concubine was. Wasn't it Concubine Shu who took refuge in the Qingliang Terrace next to Ganlu Temple? !

Concubine Xi felt that Concubine Shu and Prince Guo had ulterior motives. When she thought about it carefully, she realized that the palace had already gone through several purges, but Prince Guo was still able to accurately deliver news from outside the palace to her without anyone noticing. This showed that those several purges still failed to reduce the power of Concubine Shu and Prince Guo.

However, a concubine dowager and a prince have such power in the palace, what on earth do they want to do?

Cui Jinxi could think of everything she could think of now, so what was their purpose in dragging her into this? Could it be that they wanted her to cooperate in doing harm to the emperor?