C108

Qiao Qiao did not rest for the entire night. While lying on the bed, she was still tossing and turning. As the first light of the morning dawned, she stood up. After she finished dressing, she sat on the bed and called out Qingwu.

Qingwu walked in leisurely from outside the palace. She knew that the emperor had important matters to attend to and couldn't sleep at night. As a result, she had spent the entire night outside the palace, looking somewhat haggard.

"Did you not sleep well?" Qiao Qiao looked at Qingwu's tired appearance and asked with concern.

"Reporting to the emperor, this servant sleeps very well." Qingwu bowed slightly as she opened her eyes wide in an attempt to reassure the emperor.

"That's good." Qiao still nodded, "Did you hear any news of the palace feast's casualties yesterday?"

"Reporting to the Emperor, yesterday night, Lord Meng Shi came to seek an audience. However, it is already late in the night and he had already left a message before leaving." Qingwu reported truthfully, "There was a chaos at the palace banquet yesterday, a total of 45 people died, most of them are women, there is no lack of old women and children, a total of 150 people were severely injured, and most of the ministers present were wounded, the seriously injured have been sent to the hospital."

Qiao Qiao's eyes were still cold as he clenched his fists tightly. The people from the Demon Palace were indeed inhumane. The dead were most likely female servants who were powerless. They were not willing to let go of the elderly and children.

"I understand. Send the order and send a thousand taels of silver to the family of the deceased as compensation. The patient will be rewarded according to the severity of the injury." Joe said slowly.

"Yes, this servant understands." Qingwu bowed, then frowned and said, "Your Majesty, I heard that Zhang TaiShou died yesterday in order to protect his wife."

"Zhang TaiShou?" Qiao still frowned, Zhang Taiping had been assassinated to save his wife's life, he was truly a loyal person and should be mourned.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Yufei is injured in Ning Yu Palace right now." Qingwu replied.

Yu Fei … Qiao Qiao was still speechless. If not for Qingwu mentioning him, she would have almost forgotten that she was forced to accept a single concubine at the palace banquet yesterday. This person was Zhang Shou Shou's youngest son, Zhang Muyu!

"Send my decree that Yu Fei is allowed to return to the Zhang Residence to pay her respects." Qiao Qiao still sighed.

"Yes, Your Majesty." No matter who entered the harem, they would be cut off from the parents who raised them. Aside from His Majesty, no one else from the harem was allowed to mourn for their loved ones. Today, the emperor had truly given the Zhang family the greatest comfort by opening his mouth.

"To the throne room." When it was time for the morning assembly, Joe naturally understood that although she had dealt with some of the trifling matters after yesterday's banquet, what was left for her to deal with was today's morning assembly.

"Yes." Qingwu answered and followed Qiao Qiao who was still walking behind.

The throne room was no longer bustling with noise and excitement like it was in the past; instead, it was incomparably cold. There were only a few people within the enormous throne room that were whispering to each other and sighing with emotion.

"Your Majesty has arrived!" Eunuch Zhang shouted, causing the already sparse crowd in the hall to quiet down. The entire hall became so quiet that only Qiao Qiao's slow footsteps could be heard entering the hall.

"Welcome, your majesty. Long live the Emperor, long live and long live the Emperor."

"Everyone, please rise." Joe still turned around slowly and said slowly.

"Thank you, your majesty."

Although there were few people here, etiquette was inevitable.

"Your Majesty, yesterday …" Vice Minister Liu did not attend the palace banquet the day before, so he naturally avoided a calamity.

"Yesterday's matter is irrevocable, I deeply regret it." Qiao Qiao continued to speak. "But since it has come to this, this matter has come to an end."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Vice Minister Liu saw that the emperor wasn't as submissive as before when he was faced with matters, so he was at ease.

"Someone, come!" Qiao Qiao still shouted out coldly.

Outside the throne room, a disheveled man with a head full of disheveled clothes walked in between two guards. The guard threw him in the middle of the hall, and the messy hair made it difficult for everyone to see the appearance of the person on the ground.

"Official, it's about time you tell everyone about the situation." Joe was still frowning slightly, his voice even.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The Supreme Court official walked to the center of the hall with an unperturbed expression and pointed at the unconscious man on the ground. "This man is Imperial Concubine Luo, the legitimate son of Prime Minister Luo."

The moment the justice court official's voice fell, the officials were greatly shocked. The haggard face just now had long been replaced by shock, causing everyone's gaze to fly around. From the justice court official to Imperial Concubine Luo, who was covered in wounds and looked like a puddle of soft mud, before finally landing on Prime Minister Luo, who was feeling sad.

"Your majesty, what is the meaning of this?!" Prime Minister Luo was obviously suppressing the anger in his heart as he spoke to Qiao Qiao in a kneeling manner.

"Prime Minister Luo, no need to be anxious. Just listen to the justice court's words." Qiao Qiao shot a disdainful glance at Prime Minister Luo, a faint smile appearing in his eyes.

"Milords, last night, this old man and the emperor went to the Luo City Palace and saw with my own eyes that Imperial Concubine Luo had a beautiful woman hidden in her sleeping quarters." The justice court's official bluntly stated.

No wonder the punishment was so cruel, but then again, even if Imperial Concubine Luo had a beautiful lady in her sleeping quarters, that was still a family matter for the emperor. He could completely settle things in the imperial harem himself, so why would the emperor allow the justice court to cause such a ruckus in the throne room?

Prime Minister Luo broke out in a cold sweat. He already knew about his son's despicable affairs; he had sent people to warn him many times but could not get any results out of it. As such, all the people inside and outside the palace were his spies.

As for why she was able to avoid the spies that Prime Minister Luo had placed in Luo Cheng's palace, it was all because of that jade pendant. Although the jade pendant had already been lost, the Luo family all knew that a woman had brought the jade pendant along to exchange with her, so naturally, she was extremely respectful towards the jade pendant, so when it came to an important moment, she was naturally of use.

Just at this time, Qiao Qiao ordered someone to pour a bucket of cold water on Luo Qinglun's face. Luo Qinglun shuddered and immediately reacted when she saw the surroundings. She shouted: "Your majesty, your majesty, please listen to Chenqie's explanation."

"Bastard!" Prime Minister Luo stood up and struck his Imperial Highness' son hard, a slap landing on his face.

"Father! Father, quickly save me! Quickly save me! " Luo Qinglun looked like he was afraid of death and wanted to climb up to Prime Minister Luo but his hands and feet were powerless.

"This old man doesn't have a useless son like you!" Prime Minister Luo endured the pain in his heart and pushed Luo Qinglun away before turning around to stand with his hands behind his back.

Qiao Qiao's eyes narrowed slightly. It seemed that the old fox, Prime Minister Luo, was planning on abandoning his son to protect himself.

"Your majesty, child is guilty of a grave crime. This old subject is unable to defend my son any longer, I beg that Your Majesty be convicted." Prime Minister Luo maintained a righteous expression as he cupped his hands toward Qiao.

When everyone was moved by the wise decision of Prime Minister Luo to forsake kinship and protect justice, the Supreme Court's official slowly opened his mouth and said:

"Yesterday, when this old subject and the emperor left for the Luo City Palace, this old man heard personally from Imperial Concubine Luo that the truth behind the assassination attempt on the palace banquet yesterday was related to Lord Prime Minister."

"Nonsense!" Prime Minister Luo shook his sleeves angrily, "Yesterday, my sudden intrusion into the Demon Palace was due to some matter, what does it have to do with this old man? Moreover, this old man is also injured, do you think this old man will collude with the Demon Palace and take my life?"

"Where did the Prime Minister get injured?" Qiao Qiao asked with a face full of worry.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. This old subject's injuries are nothing to worry about." Prime Minister Luo waved his hand, feigning a sigh. "On the other hand, those officials that died in injustice are truly worrisome."

"Yeah." Qiao Qiao was still speechless and then said, "The Prime Minister has the heart to worry about the tragic death of this old subject that happened yesterday. This is the great fortune of my Qiao nation."

Prime Minister Luo could hear the mocking tone in Qiao Qiao's voice. However, he still maintained a calm face and stood in the middle of the hall. He firmly believed that as long as he didn't admit to his crimes, she, Qiao Qiao, would not dare to do anything to him!

"Someone, bring Cui Er!"

Luo Qinglun was crouching in the middle of the hall, his mouth grew big, Cui'er …

In a flash, a ragged, disheveled woman with a face full of purple walked out by herself. She knelt in the middle of the hall and said calmly, "This servant, Cui Er, greets the emperor."

"Cui Er, if you are willing to speak the truth today, I will spare your life. If you are willing, I am willing to let you out of the palace to reunite with your family." Joe still bluntly offered the conditions for seduction.

"Yes, this servant naturally doesn't dare deceive His Majesty." Cui'er bowed once again, kneeling down steadily as she spoke, "This servant was originally serving in the Luo Cheng Palace, but now that the imperial concubine took a fancy to this servant, she forcefully brought me into the inner hall, ignoring my wishes, and forced me to …" Cui Er's mouth slightly trembled, her voice slowly became choked with sobs.

"You're talking nonsense, you bitch! You were the one who seduced me!" Luo Qinglun's face was pale as he scolded while lying on the ground.

"Shut up! Listening to Cui Er finish talking. " Qiao still shot a cold glance at Cui'er, indicating that she should continue speaking.

"Your humble servant's status is low, so I naturally wouldn't dare disobey the Imperial Concubine. Thus, I stayed in the inner hall to wait on her. As time passed, this servant has gotten used to it." Cui'er whispered, "Originally, this servant had a deep relationship with the imperial concubine, but I never thought that the imperial concubine would suddenly tell this servant that he was going to be the crown prince."

Cui Er paused for a moment, causing everyone to turn pale with fright. So the palace banquet yesterday was really related to Prime Minister Luo, he wanted to borrow the Demon Palace's hatred to assassinate the Emperor, he was truly plotting to usurp the throne!

"This servant doesn't understand, so I'll naturally ask. The imperial concubine said that the emperor will pass away during the palace banquet. If the emperor dies and the regent is not here, then the world will belong to the Luo Family …" The tears in Cui Er's eyes flowed down slowly as she spoke while choking on her sobs.

"Nonsense, you're clearly the one greedy for glory and wealth, surrendering yourself to my side. Yesterday night, you clearly asked me for the position of concubine. You bitch, if you go back on your word, you'll die a horrible death!" If not for the tendons in his hands and feet being cut off, he would have stepped forward to tear off Cui'er's blabbering mouth!

However, he never would have thought that his short statement not only confirmed his ambiguous relationship with Cui Er, but also confirmed Prime Minister Luo's intentions of usurping the throne.

Now that all of the ministers were present, she wanted to use Luo Qinglun's words to personally accuse Prime Minister Luo of conspiracy to incite the Devil Palace to commit murder in the imperial harem. The ministers present, even if they were not severely injured, would inevitably suffer light injuries, or their wives or children were harmed, they would definitely hate the person who brought them into the Devil Palace, no matter how much power and authority Prime Minister Luo wielded, he would not be able to defeat the wrath of all the ministers.