You take on two husbands, I'll turn around and marry the tyrant and rule the world.

"No...no, Your Majesty, it was Consort Hui who framed me," she slumped to the ground, crawled forward a few steps, and tried to grab Duanmu Qingyu's hem, but was ruthlessly stopped by Jingxi.

A single tear rolled down her beautiful face, like a broken flower in late spring.

Looking into the emperor's cold, icy eyes and his pleading expression, one couldn't help but feel pity.

But Duanmu Qingyu looked down at her, his eyes filled with disgust and revulsion.

He has always hated it the most.

These are the kinds of women who appear gentle on the surface but are actually vicious inside, willing to kill people and disrupt the palace in order to win favor.

"I have long ago decreed that the harem must not be jealous of each other or engage in infighting," his voice turned icy, "yet there are always those who take chances and break the law."

"Consort Han," his voice was calm and even, "has been found guilty of secretly possessing the forbidden drug Cold Food Powder in the palace, framing concubines, and plotting murder. The evidence is irrefutable and undeniable. Her heart is wicked, and her actions deserve death. She is hereby stripped of her title and demoted to commoner status..."

Finally, he paused, then said, word by word, "To be beaten to death."

The last trace of color drained from the pretty lady's face, and she collapsed to the ground, limp and lifeless.

"Die..."

The two words made her eardrums ring.

In the palace, the usual methods for executing concubines were white silk, poison, or a dagger.

Although these three methods resulted in execution, they preserved a final shred of dignity for the concubines.

The punishment of being beaten to death was often reserved for servants who had committed serious offenses.

Because being beaten to death with flogging meant having your pants removed and being publicly beaten to death.

The moment she saw the bucket being seized, she knew it was all over.

But a sliver of delusion still lingered in her heart.

In the past, when Consort Bai committed a serious offense, His Majesty only stripped her of her title and did not take her life.

But she forgot that Consort Bai had a powerful family background, so what did she have to rely on?

He never imagined that he would be beaten to death.

Only then did she realize how ruthless emperors could be!

Emperors are ruthless...

Her face was ashen as she pleaded with Duanmu Qingyu, "Your Majesty, you once told me that even if I committed a serious offense, you would still preserve my dignity."

A few days earlier, when she was serving at the Hall of Mental Cultivation with writing and calligraphy, she had asked him for his favor.

"I also said at the time," Duanmu Qingyu said, "Don't challenge my bottom line."

"No..." The pretty lady struggled desperately, pushing away the two palace servants who came to drag her away.

As the eunuchs dragged the person away, Chu Nianci suddenly asked, "Pretty Lady, if you were not the mastermind, perhaps your crime does not warrant death."

The mastermind?

The image of the Empress's unfathomable eyes flashed through Consort Qiao's muddled mind.

Yes, it was all the Queen's hint.

But that was just a hint, without any evidence whatsoever.

She couldn't say.

She committed this crime, and only she died. But if she implicated the Empress, her entire family would be doomed.

Perhaps... perhaps the Empress, out of consideration for her loyalty in dying for her country, might help her family in the future.

She bit her lip hard until the metallic taste filled her mouth, then let the eunuchs drag her out of the palace.

In the struggle, one embroidered shoe fell to the ground, lying alone on the smooth black brick.

Just before she fainted, she heard Duanmu Qingyu's cold voice coming from inside the hall: "The Han clan will be exterminated, and all palace women of Xianyue Pavilion will be beaten to death. All palace slaves will be executed outside the Shenxing Division as a warning to others."

The pretty lady tried to scream and beg for mercy, but her mouth was already gagged.

They were dragged out like rag dolls.

As the beautiful concubine was dragged out of the palace, the blood-stained bronze incense burner was also removed.

A glaring bloodstain on the ground indicated that the main hall was no longer suitable for habitation.

Duanmu Qingyu's gaze swept over the bloodstains on the ground, and he raised his hand to cover his nose.

"That physician Chu was muddle-headed and negligent, how should he be dealt with?" Consort Shu hurriedly asked.

Chu Shunqing was secretly shrinking back, wishing there was a hole in the ground he could crawl into.

Upon hearing this, he trembled and immediately knelt on the ground.

"The physician Chu was indeed unskilled. Considering his minor contributions to Nanzhao, he was dismissed from his position as physician, punished as a pharmacist, and given twenty strokes of the cane."

A drug addict?

How could this happen?

Medicine apprentices not only had to pound and decoct medicines on a daily basis, but also had to treat the elderly, weak, sick and disabled palace maids and eunuchs. To put it bluntly, they were servants.

No... she doesn't want to do that.

Those palace servants smelled so bad they could kill you.

Chu Shunqing dared not disobey the imperial edict and was so ashamed that he wanted to disappear.

They had to kneel down and kowtow to express their gratitude for the emperor's grace.

Empress Lin's face turned ashen, and she bit her lip tightly.

Duanmu Qingyu turned his gaze to Empress Lin, looking at her coldly, his voice filled with only weariness and boredom: "I don't expect you to be as intelligent and kind as Consort Hui, but at least don't be like that gossipy woman, believing everything you hear and stirring up trouble all day long, causing me so much trouble. I think you need to take good care of your health, and from now on, the concubines shouldn't come to bother you every day!"

This effectively placed the Empress under house arrest.

The emperor's power was so overwhelming that people could hardly breathe.

Empress Lin's face turned pale, and she knelt down immediately: "It was my oversight that led me to misunderstand Consort Hui... I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness."

The palace servants who had been echoing the Empress's sarcastic remarks earlier also hurriedly knelt down.

Consort Shu's beautiful face showed a hint of regret, but her almond-shaped eyes were full of schadenfreude as she laughed and said, "The Empress is also easily swayed and shouldn't have followed the crowd and acted so foolishly."

She looked smug and was about to press her advantage.

At this moment, Li De'an entered to report that Aunt Zhuqing was already waiting in the Imperial Study.

Zhu Qing was the Empress Dowager's personal aunt.

This is how the Empress Dowager learned of the rumors and came to plead for the Empress.

Upon hearing the name Zhu Qing, Duanmu Qingyu glanced at the Empress, raised his hand to signal her to rise, and said, "I don't have time to see her right now."

This has even angered the Empress Dowager.

The makeup on Empress Lin's face could no longer conceal her paleness.

Consort Shu looked at Chu Nianci, her eyes filled with an indescribable complexity.

After a moment of silence, Duanmu Qingyu paused and said, "I have wronged you today, so I will have someone send you a purple crystal incense burner tomorrow."

Chu Nianci bowed her head in a respectful gesture, her voice calm and gentle: "Your affairs are so numerous, yet you still spared time to clear my name. I am not wronged."

He walked up to Chu Nianci, gently helped her up, and stroked the tear stains on her face with his fingertips. His tone softened as he said, "You've been so frightened today. Come back to the Hall of Mental Cultivation with me. Have this place cleaned again."

The emperor even broke the precedent of not allowing concubines to stay overnight in the Hall of Mental Cultivation for her sake.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Consort Lan remains unconscious. I humbly request that Your Majesty allow me to take care of her."

"You truly are a man of deep affection and loyalty. Very well, I will accompany you to see her."

After saying that, he got up, took Chu Nianci's hand, and left gracefully.

The Empress and Consort Shu respectfully saw him off in unison: "Your Majesty, we, your humble servants, respectfully see you off."

Consort Shu watched Duanmu Qingyu's elegant figure from behind, her eyes filled with reluctance. However, she couldn't stop His Majesty from visiting the poisoned concubine. Turning back, she saw the Empress's ashen face and couldn't help but let out a cold snort.

If it weren't for her trying to frame others, how could His Majesty have publicly led Consort Hui by the hand to show his comfort?

"Your Majesty, even if you're going to keep a dog, you should keep a useful one. You wouldn't believe it, would you? If your brother had treated people better back then, you wouldn't have made such a formidable enemy, constantly causing trouble and making your life miserable here." Consort Shu couldn't resist making a sarcastic remark before leaving.

Empress Lin's face had turned ashen, and she no longer had the strength to refute.

His Majesty was furious about the matter of Hanshifen (Cold Food Festival Powder).

In an instant, all the palace maids were summoned to witness the execution.

The news of Consort Qiao being beaten to death and Physician Chu being dismissed spread throughout the palace in the blink of an eye, but Lin Jingrui was the last to know... At that time, he was holed up in the pharmacy, focusing on preparing a health-preserving prescription for the Empress.

The news was brought to him specifically by a young eunuch.

"What did you say? Physician Chu has been dismissed? Why?" Lin Jingrui grabbed the eunuch's wrist, his face turning pale instantly. "Did you hear that right?"

That aloof and noble face was filled with disbelief.

"Hey, let go..." The little eunuch hurriedly broke free. "How could it be wrong? Consort Qiao poisoned Consort Bai with cold food powder and tried to frame Consort Hui. It's all over the palace. Physician Chu couldn't detect the poison and almost misled the Emperor's judgment. It's a miracle he was only dismissed... Oh, and His Majesty also ordered all the palaces to go and witness the execution."

After saying that, he suddenly remembered that this Imperial Physician Lin and Physician Chu were family, so he quickly slapped his mouth and hurriedly ran away.

Lin Jingrui stood there blankly for a while, as if he had lost his soul, then suddenly turned around and ran towards the Censorate.

Chu Shunqing was being dragged outside the Shenxing Division by two eunuchs.

The pretty lady had her trousers pulled down and was pressed onto a bench. She struggled desperately, but how could she possibly win against those strong and fierce executioners?

To avoid killing him in a few blows, the executioner avoided hitting his internal organs and instead aimed at his bones, each blow producing the sound of bones cracking.

The sound of the clapper scraping against my eardrums was like a knife.

Bright red blood spread across the floor tiles, and the soil in the cracks of the stones greedily sucked up the blood.

Chu Shunqing felt a sensation of needing to urinate below. She couldn't hold it in any longer and felt a heat below, so she tightly closed her eyes.

I felt so ashamed that I wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground.

All she wanted was for this nightmare to end quickly.

How did it turn out like this?

This is completely different from what she remembers from her past life...

In her past life, she rose from a pretty concubine to a beautiful imperial consort, enjoying great prestige in the palace.

Although he was not extremely wealthy or powerful, he should now have gained the Empress's favor.

Chu Nianci?

In her previous life, she was being tormented by Xie Shi to the point of being bedridden. How could she have become a noblewoman?

And I went through so much trouble to get into the Imperial Medical Bureau...

What gives her the right?

Is it just because he can serve tea and water to His Majesty?

Chu Shunqing forced himself to stay calm.

It's all Chu Nianci's fault!

If she hadn't said that "the two poisons are different," how could I have ended up like this?

She kept repeating to herself: There must be a mistake, something must have gone wrong...

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of the slap finally stopped.

An executioner eunuch walked towards her.

The eunuch smelled the stench of urine on her.

"Damn it, what bad luck! I peed all over myself before I even started," the eunuch cursed, covering his nose.

Chu Shunqing was so ashamed and indignant that he wanted to die.

"Ugh..." She had just opened her mouth when a wooden board slapped her hard across the face, the pain rendering her unable to make a sound.

Just then, she suddenly saw something outside the crowd... behind the grove of wintersweet trees.

A tall, slender figure, like a blue crane, stood there.

Lin Jingrui.

He stood there frozen like a stone statue.

His face was blank, a mixture of astonishment, embarrassment, regret, and an unconcealable shock and disgust...