Chapter 54: Disfigured Palace Maid vs. Cold-blooded Emperor
Eunuch Fu responded respectfully and quickly retreated.

Afterwards, he quickly took people to investigate.

"You were also frightened tonight, so don't stay here. Let Qingtan Qingyu take you back first."

Ye Beichen looked at Yu Yao and said worriedly again.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Yu Yao naturally would not refuse. She bowed respectfully to Ye Beichen, then took Qingtan Qingyu's hand and left the banquet.

on the way back.

"Tongtong, was it the Queen who harmed me tonight?"

Although Yu Yao guessed that it was the Queen who did it, she always felt that someone else was involved.

When it happened, the Queen's expression was so shocked and strange, as if even she herself was surprised.

The system did not hide the truth. "It was indeed the Queen who did this, but she was tricked by Princess Duan and the original Mother-loving Beauty was replaced with the deadly poison Mother-child Return."

"Mother-loving Yan? What kind of medicine is that?"

Yu Yao had never heard of this kind of medicine and asked.

"This drug can cause the fetus to absorb nutrients from the mother like crazy. The stronger the fetus is, the weaker the mother will be. Eventually, the pregnant woman will not have the strength to give birth and will die in childbirth."

After the system explained it this way, she understood.

The Queen's original plan was to kill the mother and keep the son, but she accidentally became a knife in Princess Duan's hands.

At this moment, the Queen must hate Princess Duan to death.

The Queen did hate Princess Duan, but the incident had already happened, so she could only try her best to clean up the mess and prevent anyone from finding out.

Yu Yao asked the system to tell her how the Queen drugged her and how she met with Princess Duan.

Although the key clues have been cleared away by the Queen, it is difficult to find evidence.

But as long as Ye Beichen starts to doubt the Queen, her life will not be easy.

Apart from anything else, at least Ye Beichen will not let the Queen interfere in his affairs again.

A queen without palace power is just a decoration, equivalent to a tiger with its teeth pulled out.

It will naturally be much easier to deal with them in the future.

In the days that followed, Yu Yao intentionally or unintentionally said things in front of Eunuch Fu that seemed inappropriate, but every word gave Eunuch Fu some enlightenment.

With Yu Yao's reminder, Eunuch Fu followed the clues and soon found the culprit was the Queen.

But the clues stopped here, because the eunuch who drugged the patient was already dead.

She died in a dry well in the cold palace, and there was nothing suspicious left on her body.

It does not prove that the little eunuch is the Queen's man.

Yu Yao had expected this. It would be enough for her to make Ye Beichen suspect the Queen.

Afterwards, she asked someone to intentionally or unintentionally tell people on the road passing by Fugong Road that Ruonan had met with Princess Duan in private.

Eunuch Fu smelled something instantly.

Soon they followed this clue and found out that Ruonan had left the palace a few months ago, disguised herself, and secretly went to Prince Duan's Mansion.

Ruonan is the Queen's personal maid and the person she trusts the most. If she needs to go to Prince Duan's Mansion for something, she can go openly.

He is doing this secretly and in disguise. If he says there is nothing wrong, I am afraid no one will believe him.

But no one saw specifically what Ruonan was doing in Prince Duan's Mansion.

Even though no one saw it.

However, Ye Beichen ordered Ruonan to be taken to the Ministry of Punishment for interrogation, and asked his men to pry open Ruonan's mouth.

Because he had doubts about the queen, Ye Beichen did not give her any face.

Instead, he issued an order to have all the palace maids and eunuchs in Fengyi Palace arrested and taken to the Ministry of Punishment.

Then, they were tortured.

Obviously, what the queen did had angered Ye Beichen.

When Ruonan and everyone in Fengyi Palace were captured, the Queen panicked and was very scared.

Ruonan is her most important confidant and knows almost everything about her.

The Queen was very afraid that Ruonan would not be able to withstand the torture of the Ministry of Punishment and would reveal what she had done in the past.

Fortunately, Ruonan's brother is still in her hands.

The queen quickly calmed down.

She secretly sent someone to secretly send Ruonan's jade pendant to the Ministry of Punishment.
Department of Caution and Punishment.

In a dark, eerie, damp, and extremely bloody darkroom, Ruonan was tied to a pillar with iron chains, his whole body was already soaked in blood, and the wounds on his body were so deep that the bones could be seen, which was very hideous and terrifying.

Obviously, he was tortured.

Although he was tortured, Ruonan was very stubborn and still said nothing.

She firmly believed that the queen would rescue her.

At this moment, a jade pendant suddenly flew in from the window of the darkroom and fell at her feet.

Seeing the jade pendant suddenly appearing under her feet, Ruonan's originally calm eyes instantly became excited.

"Ah, brother, brother, Queen, I didn't say anything. I really didn't say anything. Please let my brother go!"

No one knows what happened in the Ministry of Punishment that night.

However, the people on guard at the Ministry of Punishment discovered in the middle of the night that Ruonan was dead, and she had committed suicide by biting her tongue.

Although a jade pendant was left at the scene.

But it was just an ordinary jade pendant and could not prove who it belonged to.

Now that Ruonan is dead, the clue is gone.

The other palace servants from Fengyi Palace who were imprisoned in the Ministry of Punishment did find out something, but most of them were unimportant matters.

At most it would make Ye Beichen have a worse impression of the Queen, but it would not cause any serious harm.

Because there was no solid evidence, Ye Beichen couldn't convict the queen.

Although he could not convict her, Ye Beichen had already determined in his heart that it was the Queen who did it and had colluded with Princess Duan.

Although there was no evidence, he believed it in his heart.

This matter has touched Ye Beichen's bottom line.

The little affection he had left for the Queen was gone.

That night, Ye Beichen went to Fengyi Palace, and he didn't know what the emperor and the empress talked about.

The next day, the queen fell ill and was imprisoned in Fengyi Palace, with no one allowed to visit her.

Of course, he also handed over the palace power in his hands.

The queen was imprisoned, lost her power in the palace, and was not allowed to visit anyone, which was basically the same as being deposed.

Although the emperor did not issue an edict to convict the empress, both the former court and the harem believed that it was the empress who gave birth to Concubine Yao and her child.

You can tell by just looking at the emperor’s recent series of actions.

After all, no one is a fool, and everyone is very clear-headed.

The Queen fell.

The concubines, palace maids and eunuchs who had originally relied on the queen all left.

Afterwards, he started looking for a backer again.

And Yu Yao was the first choice of concubines, palace maids and eunuchs.

Who made her the highest-ranking, favored, and pregnant with the emperor's only child?

Everyone knew at first sight that Concubine Yao had a bright future.

Yu Yao didn't like forming cliques, and there was no need for them, so she asked Qingtan and Qingyu to close the door and refuse visitors.

When the concubines, maids and eunuchs saw that Concubine Yao closed the door and refused to see visitors, they immediately understood what she meant and stopped disturbing her.

After Ye Beichen took back the palace power, he did not give it to any concubine, but gave it to the empress dowager.

Although the Queen Mother's leg injury has not fully healed, it is no longer serious.

Just give it a rough look and let your subordinates handle the rest.

The Queen Mother did not refuse and accepted it happily.

After all, the Queen Mother is also a power-hungry person.

Concubine Wan, who had originally assisted the Queen in handling affairs, was very tactful and handed over the palace power assigned to her to the Queen Mother.

The Queen Mother felt that Concubine Wan was very sensible to the current situation and was more satisfied with her.

Concubine Wan was rewarded with many good things and then allowed to go back.

Concubine Mei has been poisoned and has been lying half-dead ever since, so naturally she can no longer share in the palace affairs.

The palace power that was originally allocated to her was also taken back by the Queen Mother.

For a time, all palace power was in the hands of the empress dowager, and her prestige became increasingly powerful.

(End of this chapter)