The imperial concubine's opening words temporarily restored silence in the hall.

Did the gift given by the little girl of the Xue family to the Empress Dowager really be borrowed by the Imperial Concubine in advance?

The ladies and ladies in the hall were far away and could not see the Buddhist beads in the hands of the imperial concubine, but the concubines who were close to each other could see clearly that Zen Master Huikong was a person a hundred years ago, and his belongings must be an old object a hundred years ago. How could it be as bright and beautiful as the Buddhist beads in the hands of the imperial concubine?

This is not something that was a hundred years ago, but it was probably the same a hundred days ago.

It is obvious that the Imperial Concubine was deliberately protecting the little girl from the Xue family. Not to mention that today's affairs involve the Empress Dowager. Even the Empress can't plead for Xue Ning'er, but the Imperial Concubine can.

Because the mother of the imperial concubine is the late former princess, and the former princess is the biological daughter of the Empress Dowager.

There is no concubine in the harem who is in the relationship between the imperial concubine and the empress dowager.

In this harem, including the Empress, she can only be called the Empress Dowager, but the Imperial Concubine can be called the Emperor's Grandmother. It is close and far away, which can be seen from a single title.

What puzzled them was that the Xue family and the imperial concubine were not related to each other, so why did she protect this little girl?

Concubine Shu looked at the Concubine, to be precise, looking at her eyes. Soon she withdrew her gaze and a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

I see.

Speaking of which, the little guy named Lin Xiu, who had made ice for Qianqiu Palace for a month, seemed to be Zhang'er's only friend. These days, she often heard Lin Xiu's name from Zhang'er. She could tell that her lonely son really regarded Lin Xiu as a friend.

The Empress Dowager smiled and took the string of sandalwood Buddhist beads from the imperial concubine, looked at her with a strange look, then smiled and said, "Since it's a misunderstanding, the little girl, let's go back first, Madam Gui, see the reward..."

Xue Ning'er sat back in a daze and received the reward from the Empress Dowager, and her head was in a mess.

Song Yuzhi clenched his teeth, but he didn't expect that the things that were almost certain to be resolved so easily, and he felt depressed and angry.

After the Imperial Concubine came out to rescue Xue Ning'er, the matter had already passed, but at this moment, one of the Imperial Concubine came out and said, "This string of Buddhist beads is obviously a new object, not a relic of Zen Master Huikong. I wonder what the purpose of the Imperial Concubine deceived the Empress Dowager and deliberately protected her?"

Just one thing said, the hall was silent, and the needles could be heard.

The person who spoke was Concubine Song, one of the four concubines. Concubine Xian was in the harem. Although there was no imperial concubine favored, she had her own descendants. She was also the King of Qi who was in the limelight in the court. She herself was a daughter of the Song family. With all this, she could compete with the queen and concubine in the harem.

When everyone was pretending to be stupid and silent, she stood up and ruthlessly exposed the imperial concubine, which obviously involved the struggle between the concubines.

Seeing this, Song Yuzhi smiled again.

After being exposed by Concubine Song Xian, the expression of the Concubine Guixia did not change at all. She glanced at Concubine Song Xianxia and said, "Today is the birthday of the emperor's grandmother. I didn't want these things to affect the emperor's grandmother's interest. Since Concubine Xian insisted on digging into the bottom line, I didn't object..."

She looked at Xue Ning'er and said, "That beautiful little girl from the Xue family, come out."

Xue Ning'er immediately got up and walked out. Although she was not familiar with the Imperial Concubine, the Imperial Concubine was obviously protecting her, so she naturally had to cooperate with the Imperial Concubine.

The imperial concubine looked at Xue Ning'er and asked, "Are you sure you put that string of Buddhist beads in the box?"

Xue Ning'er nodded seriously and said, "Confirm, just after entering the hall, I opened it and checked it. Later, for some reason, the box became empty."

The Imperial Concubine smiled at her and said, "Don't be afraid, I will make the decision for you."

Seeing the smile of the imperial concubine, Xue Ning'er's heart quickly calmed down.

Then, the imperial concubine walked back to the Empress Dowager and said, "Grandma, I think the Xue family will not spend an empty box on your birthday. There must be some evil people who secretly designed to frame you. This is not taking the royal family seriously or taking the emperor's grandmother seriously. This person should still be in this hall. It is better to close the door and search for it. I believe she will be able to be pulled out."

At this time, it was Concubine Song who hesitated. She thought for a while and said, "Empress Dowager, this is not very good. Those present today are all nobles from various prefectures..."

The Empress Dowager didn't even look at her, so she waved her hand and said, "The imperial concubine is right. This person dared to frame the Duke's Mansion and destroy the birthday party of Ai's family. He is really brave and must be severely punished to serve as a warning to others. If you come, close the door of the palace. You must find out the person today."

Immediately, two nannies walked to the door and closed the hall door.

Seeing this, a palace maid in the corner turned pale.

The concubines in the harem looked at Concubine Song and sighed in their hearts. Concubine Song didn't know what they were thinking, but they actually wanted to trouble the concubine in front of the Empress Dowager. Isn't this full of food?

Since the late emperor and the former eldest princess passed away, the imperial concubine and His Majesty have been her closest relatives. How could she not look to the imperial concubine and to an outsider? spanstyle>Gu/spanstyle>

This sudden change also caused a commotion in the hall.

Many of the girls present were wealthy families, suspected of being thieves and allowed to be searched by others. This was a great humiliation for them. Even if the order was given by the Empress Dowager, they could not accept it.

At this moment, Empress Shu walked out and said, "The Empress Dowager, the noble ladies present, don't think they will do such things, but some palace maids in the harem are not strict in discipline and often steal property from each palace. The most suspicious thing is that, it's better to search from the palace maids first. If there is no harvest, it's not too late to investigate it."

The Empress Dowager nodded and said, "What Concubine Shu said makes sense. Madam Gui, you can do this."

There were about a dozen palace maids serving in this palace tonight. Soon, all the palace maids were gathered together. Madam Gui searched them one by one. As one palace maid was eliminated, the palace maid who stood at the end was extremely pale and her body was trembling slightly without control...

After a moment, all the palace maids except her had been checked.

When Madam Gui walked up to her, the palace maid knew that she could no longer hide it. She looked pale and bloodless. She knelt on the ground with a thud, put a string of Buddhist beads in her palm, and said in a crying voice: "It was a slave who was obsessed with it for a moment. He stole the treasure. The slave deserves to die. The Empress Dowager spares his life, and the Empress Dowager spares his life!"

Madam Gui picked up the string of Buddhist beads and saw that the Buddhist beads were mottled and the beads were very old. It was obvious that they were ancient objects. She looked at the palace maid kneeling on the ground and said angrily: "Bold slave, you are so brave!"

The stolen person was captured, and the palace maid had no room for quibbling, so she immediately admitted it.

It turned out that she had awakened a magical ability in her early years. As long as her hand touched the outer wall of the box, box and other objects, she could take out the things inside from the air. Just now, when she poured fruit drinks for Xue Ning'er, she quietly got the Buddhist beads into her hand. Therefore, when Xue Ning'er presented the brocade box, it was clearly tied with a ribbon, but the brocade box that had not been opened was empty.

Although the Buddhist beads were found, the matter is far from over.

The palace maid was taken to the front, and Madam Gui looked at her and asked, "Who instructed you to steal Buddhist beads?"

Kneeling on the ground, the trembling palace maid said tremblingly: "No, no one instructed me, it was because I was greedy when I saw the money..."

A little palace maid gave her great courage and did not dare to touch the birthday ceremony of the Empress Dowager. Madam Gui glanced at her and said lightly: "It seems you don't want to say it anymore. Check it out, which palace maid she is?"

After she finished speaking, Concubine Xian walked forward with a calm face and said, "No need to check, she is from the Ningxia Palace in this palace."

She originally wanted to embarrass the imperial concubine, but she never expected that as she investigated the case, she found her body.

This palace maid is from her Ningxia Palace, so why hasn't she become the biggest object of suspicion?

Concubine Song looked at her coldly and asked, "Say, who told you to do this!"

The palace maid knew that she could no longer hide it. She pointed to her hand and said, "It was Miss Yuzhi, and the lady said that she had a grudge with Miss Xue's family and asked me to steal her birthday so that she could make a fool of herself in front of the Empress Dowager. It was Miss Yuzhi who asked me to do this..."

Many people in the hall showed strange expressions.

Why should I do this? If she didn't say anything just now, the Imperial Concubine wouldn't have investigated it. Now, after searching, I found out that the Song family was not insulted. Isn't this a humiliation?

After such a thing happened, the queen finally stopped silent. She slowly stood up, looked at Concubine Song and said, "The daughter of the Song family has not been well taught. Concubine Xian should take her back and discipline her well."

After all, he is the daughter of a second-class public family, and even the royal family is not easy to punish. If Song Yuzhi is punished in front of everyone, it will embarrass the Song family, it will not be a good thing for the royal family.

Halfway through the birthday party of the Empress Dowager, Concubine Xian took Song Yuzhi away. This big episode happened. The banquet was still in sequence, but the noble ladies present had a doubt that had never been resolved.

As we all know, the Imperial Concubine comes from a certain tribe in the south of the Yangtze River and has little contact with the powerful people in the royal capital. Why did she protect the little girl of the Xue family so much?

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the imperial concubine has been extremely protective of the little girl and even deceives the Empress Dowager. Although she gave her reasons, it was not trustworthy at all.

Even Xue Ning'er herself did not understand this problem after she returned to her seat.

Song Yuzhi's seat beside her was empty, and Xue Ning'er regretted it. If she hadn't been distracted by her missed Lin Xiu just now, she wouldn't have given the palace maid an opportunity to take advantage of it.

Thinking of Lin Xiu, he should be in the palace now. I wonder if the banquet in the central palace has ended. Is it possible that she will meet him when she goes back?

At this time, in the Ningxia Palace.

Bang!
Chapter completed!