"I'll beat you to death."
As she finished speaking, her small hand flicked, and the blunderbuss was pressed against Consort Mei's forehead.
Although this blunderbuss was not particularly powerful, it was more than enough to kill someone. Mo Chou cried out in alarm, her heart pounding: "Princess, Princess, you cannot!"
Consort Mei's heart had stopped beating from fear. She truly regretted it now. Why had she provoked her? Why hadn't Xi Men Xin Yue dealt with her? Knowing they were not to be trifled with, why had she been so foolish?
Consort Mei also started crying from fear, but Yu'er paid no attention to anyone else. With a flick of her wrist, she was about to fire...
The commotion here had long been reported to the Emperor and the Empress of Fengluan Palace.
A figure in imperial yellow walked in. Seeing the scene, the entire hall of Wende Palace was filled with kneeling people, while Yu'er forcefully held down Consort Mei's head with one hand, and the blunderbuss with the other.
Consort Mei was already half dead with fright, slumped on the ground, only shedding tears and not daring to say a word.
Seeing the Emperor's shadow, she was like a drowning person seeing a straw, wanting only to cling to it tightly. With all her might, she cried out: "Your Majesty, save me."
When Yu'er thought of this man who had not only harmed her own father but was now also summoning these women to the palace, harming Mao Xueqiu, hatred surged in her heart. She hooked the blunderbuss in her hand and fired it.
In a flash, the Emperor's large palm attacked with a powerful gust of palm wind, causing her blunderbuss to miss its mark. It didn't hit Consort Mei's forehead but her shoulder blade, making her turn pale and scream incessantly from the pain.
The entire hall was thrown into chaos. The Emperor looked at the culprit, Yu'er, his pupils suddenly turning icy cold, as if recalling the scene on Giant Peak Cliff that day when he was hit by this thing, causing him to fall off the cliff, leading to the fall of the Wan He Kingdom and the annihilation of the royal family.
His large palm struck again. Yu'er's eyes widened. Although she knew the person before her was not her father, seeing the identical face so cruelly strike without any regard for their relationship, she was stunned and forgot to move.
Just then, a graceful white figure floated in from outside the hall, like a ghost. A delicate shout rang out: "Stop."
The person had already lunged over. Yu'er was sent flying by the Emperor's palm wind. The graceful figure caught her in his arms, calling out with reluctance: "Yu'er, Yu'er, are you alright?"
Tears flowed from Yu'er's eyes as she choked out: "Mother, Mao Xueqiu was killed by that woman? It's dead."
"Mother knows."
Qingyao finished speaking and left without even glancing at the scene in the hall.
The Emperor looked at them coldly. Seeing Qingyao holding Yu'er and turning to leave, he was filled with anger and annoyance. He coldly shouted: "Empress, Yu'er almost killed someone, and you're just leaving?"
Qingyao suddenly stopped and looked back, her pupils shimmering with a thin mist. She spoke coldly.
"What more do you want? For the sake of a woman, you almost killed your own daughter. Your heart is truly hard. Do you really want to kill her? Why don't you ask Consort Mei what she did?
A beauty with a viper's heart? It seems this is the Emperor's taste. You've always been different from others."
With that last sentence, Qingyao, too lazy to bother with the man with the dark, sullen face, directly carried her daughter and walked out. Mo Chou, along with a few eunuchs and maids, quickly followed her.
In the hall of Wende Palace, imperial physicians had arrived and were treating Consort Mei. The Emperor cast a stern glance at Consort Mei and asked calmly: "What did you do to anger the Princess?"
"Me?" Consort Mei was a little scared. Gritting her teeth, she called out pitifully, her face pale, her lips ashen.
"It was concubine's fault, Your Majesty. Please spare concubine. Concubine should not have captured the Princess's pet. Concubine was just angry that she was hit by her last time, so she cruelly killed the pet."
Consort Mei did not dare to conceal anything and quickly explained the events.
The Emperor's face instantly turned cold. It seemed these women were all brainless. They only had beauty but no brains. Who could they not afford to offend but had to offend the Empress's people?
She who could unify the Seven Kingdoms, could she be that easy to deal with? Even he dared not casually attack her?
"You truly disappoint me."
The Emperor said hatefully, throwing down a sentence. Without regard for Consort Mei's life or death, he turned and walked out.
A large group of people majestically left Wende Palace. Consort Mei cried tears of regret, but no one paid her any attention.
In Fengluan Palace, Qingyao soothed Yu'er and asked Mo Chou, embracing her: "How is the search going?"
"Nothing," Mo Chou replied with a heavy heart. The Emperor was not within the Three Palaces. So, excluding the Three Palaces, where else could he be? Just then, a figure rushed in from outside the hall, it was Bingxiao, her face full of excitement.
"Your Highness, this servant saw Xi Men Xin Yue go to a place?"
"Where?" Qingyao released Yu'er and suddenly stood up. Several pairs of eyes in the hall fixed on Bingxiao. She saw a cold light flash in her eyes and said sternly: "The Laundry Bureau."
The Laundry Bureau was the lowest-ranking place in the entire imperial palace, where the lowest servants lived. They only knew how to wash clothes and could barely secure enough to eat. Why would Xi Men Xin Yue go to such a place? Perhaps the Emperor was hidden there.
The Laundry Bureau was not only labor-intensive and tiring but was also rumored to be haunted, and no one dared to go there alone.
Behind it were a row of abandoned empty houses, used for storing miscellaneous items, and also where palace maids and eunuchs who could not bear the hardship had committed suicide, hence the legend of hauntings.
It was said that even during the day, the place was filled with gloomy energy, and no one dared to go there alone.
Xi Men Xin Yue must have hidden people there in the haunted house. That woman lived by martial arts and was not an ordinary young lady. She would never believe in such illusory things, so she must have hidden people there.
This was precisely her cleverness. Who would have thought that the real Emperor was hidden there? All that was needed was to send a few people to watch him secretly. Those people in the Laundry Bureau had never seen the Emperor in their lives, so they would only regard him as an ordinary eunuch, unaware that he was the Emperor.
The moment Qingyao thought of this, she wished she could rush there immediately, but the night had not yet fully fallen, so she could only suppress her impatience.
"Your Highness?"
"Act at Hai Shi, and be sure not to alert anyone else?"
Qingyao's suppressed voice sounded. Mo Chou, Bingxiao, and Mingyue all nodded.
Yu'er thought of her father's whereabouts and slightly suppressed the grief of Mao Xueqiu's death. Hope filled her mind. As long as her father was alright, they would deal with these hateful people in the palace and avenge Mao Xueqiu.
Consort Mei, you wretched woman, just you wait. You thought you had flown onto a branch to become a phoenix just because you were favored by a fake emperor, and you treated a little fox so cruelly.
In Fengluan Palace, the palace lanterns were lit, as bright as daylight.
Inside and outside, there was a silence. In the hall, the Empress's reprimands to the Princess could be heard from time to time. The eunuchs and maids outside the hall looked at each other, realizing that the Empress was truly angry this time.
"If you ever do such treasonous things again, I will punish you severely."
"Yes, Mother."