"It's none of my business how you and the Empress fight over a man. But you shouldn't have set your sights on me and tried to bully us, a widow and her orphan!" Yi Qing's voice grew colder and colder as she spoke, almost as if it were covered in ice.
Xiao Tian finally realized something was wrong and fell silent. However, his protective stance remained unchanged.
"Your Majesty, I have no idea what she's rambling about."
So she had reverted to using the humble self - address "your humble servant." It was obvious that she was truly panicked.
Yi Qing looked at the Emperor, whose brows were knitted into a frown, and said unhurriedly, "Your Majesty, do you still remember when I told you about your poisoning?"
Xue Ci's face turned as pale as paper.
"Yi Qing!" Xiao Tian called out.
Yi Qing gave him a charming smile. "Xiao Tian, believe it or not, I don't act easily, but when I do, I'll surely crush her! If the Imperial Noble Consort were to take me as her teacher, she wouldn't have been chased and beaten for all these years without being able to fight back."
"Go ahead and speak," Xiao Tian seemed to have made a decision. He looked at her firmly. "If anything happens, I'll take the blame for you."
"Good. I like you like this." Yi Qing winked at him.
However, when she turned to face the Emperor and Xue Ci again, her expression changed to one of half - smile.
She said, "You were very angry at that time, but you couldn't find out the truth, right? Let me tell you why. The person who poisoned you is the one lying beside you in bed. Am I clear? It's the one beside you in bed, not the nominal Empress."
"You—" Xue Ci suddenly started coughing violently, as if she were going to cough up her internal organs.
The Emperor quickly helped her calm down and couldn't help saying, "Take care of your body. You're still carrying a child."
"Your Majesty..." Xue Ci said with tears in her eyes after coughing. "She's slandering me like this! How dare she! I've blocked a knife for Your Majesty. I'd be willing to die for you without a single complaint. For Your Majesty, I've even killed someone. How could I harm you? She can accuse me of anything, but saying that I want to harm Your Majesty... I..."
Looking at her as if she had been greatly insulted, Yi Qing laughed.
"Don't be in a hurry, Imperial Noble Consort. I said this for a reason. Challenging my superiors, I'm risking my life to play this game with you. You have the Emperor's favor. What can't you afford to play?"
"Yi Qing, if you have something to say, just say it. Don't beat around the bush and be so sarcastic," the Emperor roared. "Yes, I can spare you from the death penalty, but you'll still be punished."
"I really deserve to be punished," Yi Qing said. "Your Majesty, why did I ask for the amnesty medal when I cured you of the poison? Because I knew this day would come. I knew that in the end, I would be the one to tell you that besides harming your body, the poison would also make it impossible for you to have children!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole room fell into a deathly silence.
Then Xue Ci struggled out of the Emperor's arms like a madwoman and tried to bang her head against the bedpost, saying, "I'll have to kill myself to prove my innocence!"
The Emperor, who was also a martial artist, used all his strength to hold her back and said painfully, "A - Ci, A - Ci, don't be angry. Someone, take Yi Qing..."
"Your Majesty," Xiao Tian said. "By now, I have nothing to hide. I knew the truth at that time. It was I who told Yi Qing to keep it a secret."
"Someone, drag the two of them down and lock them up!" the Emperor said almost hysterically.
An hour later, Yi Qing was sitting in the straw. She looked around at the mountain of firewood and said with a smile, "I didn't expect there would be a wood - shed in the palace. I thought we'd be thrown into the prison!"
Xiao Tian always felt that this was a dig at his previous concealment and said, "Not everyone can enter the prison."
"You mean I'm not worthy? Fine. That's for the best. I hope I'll never be worthy in this lifetime."
Xiao Tian said, "Why are you so impatient today?"
"Because she wants to deal with me, so I have to strike first. I've already given my reason. Do you think it makes sense?"
"I don't quite understand," Xiao Tian said. "Do you mean she's faking it?"
"Yes. Although it's not entirely true, I know that her child is actually fine," Yi Qing said. "She should have known that with my medical skills, it's easy to expose her. Do you think she thought I didn't dare or that no one would believe my words?"
Either way, it was a provocation.
It didn't matter. She loved challenges the most. She was a fanatical warrior.
"But I told you before that no matter what, there's the Emperor's child in her womb."
Yi Qing frowned slightly and said coldly, "Are you accusing me?"
"It's not an accusation," Xiao Tian said in a steady voice with a serious expression. "I believe you wouldn't be so impulsive. You must have found something else and are confident. You asked me to believe you, and I believe you can... crush her."
Yi Qing was pleased with this answer and said proudly, "Smart."
Looking at her beaming, Xiao Tian's face softened briefly. He sighed and said, "Don't keep me in suspense. I'm feeling bad now."
"It's already a fact. We'll have to face it sooner or later," Yi Qing said. "I'm sure that the child in the Imperial Noble Consort's womb is not the Emperor's."
Xiao Tian squinted his eyes. "Do you have evidence?"
"Am I evidence?"
Xiao Tian: "..."
"The Emperor was cured of the poison not long ago. Even if he was lucky enough to make a woman pregnant, the child would be born weak. But the Imperial Noble Consort's pregnancy is very stable."
"I see," Xiao Tian frowned and fell into deep thought.
How could the Emperor believe just Yi Qing's words?
"If I don't bring this up, it will be too late to say anything when I'm being crushed by the Imperial Noble Consort. Now at least I've planted the seed of doubt in the Emperor's mind. He won't believe me, but he won't fully trust the Imperial Noble Consort like before either."
Although Yi Qing complained about the dog - like Emperor, she also believed that since both Xiao Jinghan and Xiao Tian had chosen him and he could reach that position, as long as he wiped away the blind love in his eyes, he could still be a wise ruler.
"Next," Yi Qing said. "We should see if the Empress can surprise us."
Although the Empress was weak, after all these years of blood and tears, she should have grasped something.
"Now the problem is up to you," Yi Qing looked at Xiao Tian with high spirits. "Find a way for me to meet the Empress. I want to talk to her."
"The Empress... she's not up to it," Xiao Tian shook his head.
"What's wrong with her? Her brain?" Yi Qing laughed.
Xiao Tian glared at her. "This is the palace. You can't be so blunt."
Yi Qing was amused by him. "Don't worry. She's not a fool. The Xie family sent her into the palace with high hopes. After all, she's just a poor woman deeply in love. If the Emperor didn't take sides, she wouldn't be so embarrassed. I believe she has something in her hands."