Chapter 253 - Dark Forces of the Empress!

After Qing Que was rescued by Granny Poison, she lost her previous memories. She had done special research for a period of time and wanted to help Qing Que restore her memories, but she never succeeded. Seeing that Qing Que did not care, she did not insist. Unexpectedly, the poisons this time actually restored her memories.

The other three maids also looked at Qing Que anxiously.

Qing Que’s face turned even paler. “Miss, I was chased and fled to a cliff. I really had no way out, so I simply jumped down.”

Shen Ninghua’s eyebrows moved slightly. “The Empress’ people wanted to kill you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because…because I was a traitor.”

Shen Ninghua’s eyes trembled. “Traitor? You worked for the Empress before you lost your memories?”

Qing Que’s lips were dry. She pursed her lips slightly but still found it difficult to speak.

“Yes, the Empress controls a formidable force. It is divided into Biyun Pavilion and Qingtian Pavilion. Biyun Pavilion is comprised of women. They collect orphans and gifted children from a young age. The children are trained according to their talents. Those cold-hearted children who are good at assassination begin to carry out assassination tasks when there are still teens. Those with pretty faces are cultivated with seductive techniques and sent to the backyard of the officials to collect intelligence and bewitch men. Many of them are specially talented. For example, Rui Xue is good at Soul Summoning Technique. Fangxue, who is now serving the Empress, is best at medicine and poison skills. Meixue is the highest-ranking among Biyun Pavilion now. She is strong in martial arts and very sophisticated.”

Shen Ninghua was shocked. The Empress actually had such formidable dark forces in her hands. In all these years, how many of the officials had been controlled by her? Well, Consort Yin should also be the Empress’ subordinate. The Empress had intended to use Consort Yin to frame her by the poison case. But in the end, she did not succeed and implicated the Yin Clan instead.

Qing Que took a deep breath and continued. “The people in Qingtian Pavilion are all men. I don’t know much about them, but I know the general situation. Those who are good at strategy are sent to princes’ mansions to be strategists. Those who are good at martial arts are secretly sent to the army through the hands of the Zhao family. Those with outstanding literary talent will participate in the imperial examinations to become officials. I don’t know how many people have been sent out by Qingtian Pavilion.”

Shen Ninghua slowly leaned back in her chair. Her eyes were as gloomy as black clouds. After a while, she sighed. “No wonder…No wonder for such a long time, the Empress has unparalleled power in the harem. The Crown Prince’s position is as stable as Mount Tai, and the officials lavish praises of her.”

She had thought that the Empress was a tall mountain, but she did not expect that when the clouds scattered, she found the tall mountain was only the tip of an iceberg. In the face of such a strong enemy, Shen Ninghua was extremely powerless. She and Chu Junyi’s foundations were still unstable. When confronting the Empress who had been building up her forces for about twenty years, was there really a chance for them to win?

Looking at Shen Ninghua’s expression, Bai Ruo felt uneasy. “Miss, maybe the situation is not that bad.”

Shen Ninghua shook her head. “Things will probably be even worse than we thought. Qing Que, since you know so much, what was your position in Biyun Pavilion before?”

“I was called Qingxue and ranked above Meixue. I was the NO. 1 among the experts of Biyun Pavilion.”

Shen Ninghua’s heart skipped a beat. “What will happen to the traitors of Biyun Pavilion and Qingtian Pavilion?”

“Death!” Qing Que spat out a single word in a cold voice. “The Empress once said that Biyun Pavilion controls women and Qingtian Pavilion dominates the world! She attaches great importance to the two organizations. The people of Biyun and Qingtian pavilions have been forced to take poison since they were young, and if the poison is activated, they would quickly lose their lives. If you didn’t help me remove the poison, I would have died long before.”

Shen Ninghua nodded. After taking this kind of poison, people probably needed to take an antidote on time to control the medicinal properties of the poison. She had seen a lot of such medicine in Granny Poison’s place. Granny Poison also wanted to plant poison on the four maids, but she rejected it and even suffered a little because of this.

“Qing Que, you said that the one who hurt you this time is the Empress’ people?”

Qing Que nodded and shook her head. “There should be two groups of people this time. Although my martial arts skills are not as good as before because of my previous injuries, I was still able to deal with the first group. However, someone attacked me in the dark and caused me to be injured. I didn’t expect that coming to the verge of death reminded me of what happened before. I found that the person who secretly attacked me in the dark was from Biyun Pavilion.”

“Biyun Pavilion…” Shen Ninghua murmured. “Qing Que, Ruixue has seen you before. Why didn’t she recognize you?”

“I was good at assassination and all kinds of disguising methods in Biyun Pavilion. Because I know the truth that the Empress killed my parents and forced me into Biyun Pavilion, I have always thought of leaving there. Ever since I learned to change my appearance, I have changed my appearance bit by bit. In the end, I never showed my real face to people.”

Shen Ninghua nodded. “Well, you broke away from Biyun Pavilion because you didn’t want to continue living in the world of killing. But now you are by my side and forced into a difficult situation again. If you don’t want to stay by my side, you can leave. I will give you some silver to ensure that you will live a peaceful life in the future.”

Qing Que kowtowed to Shen Ninghua. “Miss, when I jumped off the cliff, I thought I couldn’t live anymore. But you saved my life. I’m so grateful that you don’t mind my past records of killing. After staying in Biyun Pavilion for many years, I only know how to kill people. If you drive me away, I will really have no way out.”

Qing Que was extremely nervous. As she spoke, she sounded quite panicked. When she thought that Shen Ninghua would chase her away, she felt that there was a stretch of whiteness in front of her eyes with no way out. She was a killer, and there was only blood accompanying her in her life. After successfully fleeing Biyun Pavilion, she could not find any other targets. Fortunately, she met Shen Ninghua and felt that it was good to live like this.

She was different from Bai Ruo and the other two maids. She did not understand the rules of the world and did not understand how to scheme others. She only knew how to carry out orders. She was like a sharp knife, but if no one used her, she was no different from scrap metal. Shen Ninghua was the best person to own and use this knife!

Seeing Qing Que like this, Shen Ninghua felt pity for her. “Get up quickly. Your body is still weak. Go back and have a good rest. Your martial arts are the highest. Without you by my side, I always feel uneasy.”

Qing Que looked up in surprise. Did this mean that Shen Ninghua was not going to chase her away?

“Yes, Miss.”

Before Chu Junyi had investigated it clearly, Shen Ninghua told him what Qing Que had said.

After hearing Shen Ninghua’s recount, he was silent for a long time, and his mood became more serious than ever.

“Many things happened in the Palace in the past few days, but other than making the Empress lose some face, they did not do much harm to her. The Crown Prince was also safe under her protection. The previous grounding did not last long. I have always suspected that the Empress has a force in the dark, but unfortunately, after investigating for a long time, I only found some superficial information.”

Shen Ninghua’s mood was slightly heavy. “The Empress has been in charge of the harem for many years, and she must have spent a long time making these arrangements. If we cannot destroy her at one go, we definitely cannot act rashly. Otherwise, I’m afraid we will be the ones to suffer.”

Chu Junyi nodded and pulled Shen Ninghua to sit on a chair. He gently stroked her belly. “Now that we have a baby, I need to think more thoroughly. Don’t worry, I won’t risk you and our baby.”

Shen Ninghua nodded and leaned into his arms to relax. “Well, how is Rui Xue now?”

“The poison in her body worked once and was suppressed with the medicine you gave me. She still refuses to say anything about the Empress.”

“After all, the Empress had cultivated her for such a long time. If she easily betrayed her master, the words she said were hardly believable. In the past, we didn’t know Qing Que’s identity. But now this matter is easier to handle. Let Qing Que meet her, and there might be unexpected gains.”

“Well, judging from Qing Que’s words, the people in Biyun Pavilion and Qingtian Pavilion are not all orphans. Many of them were robbed from their families because of their unique talents. This matter could be taken advantage of, and it might have a miraculous effect.”

Shen Ninghua agreed. “Indeed, these people have been trained since they were young, and they more or less had some defects in their personalities. Kinship might be an excellent breakthrough, and it would be even better if we could find the parents of some of them.”

“That’s right, Ninghua. I will handle this matter. You don’t have to worry about it all the time.”

“Alright.”

In the embassy, Bu Tinghe sat in the pavilion and looked at the dancers who were performing in the open space. Her expression was very unpleasant.

Bu Jinglan walked over waving his fan. His expression was leisurely, but his eyes were cold.

“Tinghe, you seem to be in a good mood. You are actually watching dancing at noon.”

It was the hottest time of the day, and the dancers had already been dancing under the sunlight for about two hours. Many of them were already sweating profusely, yet they tried their best to hold on, not daring to make a single mistake.

Bu Tinghe took a round fan embroidered with the portrait of a beauty from the table. She covered her mouth with the fan and yawned. “The good news that I expect hasn’t come yet. I was very unhappy and wanted to watch the dance to cheer me up. Who knows that the dancing is also annoying!”

As soon as these words were uttered, the dancers all stopped moving and knelt on the ground while trembling. “Your Highness, please forgive us.”

Bu Jinglan sat on the stool and glanced at the dancers kneeling on the ground. “There are so many beauties. No matter how I look at them, they are pleasing to the eye. How can they be annoying?”

When Bu Tinghe heard this, she suddenly frowned. She glanced at the dancers kneeling in front of her who were pleading for help from Bu Jinglan with their eyes. She suddenly threw the fan to the ground.

“These bitches only know how to seduce men. What’s the use of keeping them? Someone, drag these lowly maidservants down, cut off their legs and throw them into the brothel!”

“Your Highness, please spare us. Sixth Prince, please save us.”

The smile on Bu Jinglan’s lips was extremely gentle, making people feel as if they were bathing in a spring breeze. However, that smile did not change at all even when the group of dancers were taken away. “Sister Wenhe, what’s the use of you being so anxious? If you want to see your beloved, there are many opportunities. Why do you need to vent your anger on a group of dancers?”