Chapter 700 - 700 Uncovering the Truth (1)
700 Uncovering the Truth (1)
“Madam, please wait. Let me pass the message.” As there was no more tiger blocking the way, Eunuch Wang successfully brought her to the imperial study.
Madam Tan did not deliberately correct the way Eunuch Wang addressed her. She nodded politely.
Eunuch Wang walked in. “Your Majesty, Mrs. Helian is here.”
“Okay,” the Emperor replied in a deep voice, indicating for Eunuch Wang to bring her in.
“Madam, please,”Eunuch Wang said to Madam Tan.
Madam Tan calmly entered the imperial study and stopped in front of the imperial table. She bowed without looking sideways. “Linghui greets Your Majesty.”
Just before Madam Tan appeared, the Emperor had thought with a trace of hope that perhaps Consort Yun had heard wrongly, or perhaps he had misunderstood the Empress. The Empress had helped him for many years. How could she betray him?
However, the moment he saw Madam Tan, the Emperor had a bad feeling.
“Madam Tan, do you know why I called you here?” The Emperor did not use the word ‘Linghui’. In his opinion, Madam Tan was Helian Beiming’s wife. It did not matter if she became a nun or not. Helian Beiming still had her in his heart, so she was Madam Tan of the Helian family.
Madam Tan lowered her eyes and said, “I don’t know.”
The Emperor asked, “Do you really not know or are you pretending not to know?”
Madam Tan did not say anything.
The Emperor sighed softly. “Alright, I won’t beat around the bush with you. I came today to ask you a few things, but you have to know that you have to tell me everything.”
Madam Tan paused and said after a while, “Your Majesty, please speak.”
The Emperor said bluntly, “A few years ago, a few big things happened in the Helian family. First, my Divine General went crazy and lost all his martial arts. Then, Helian Sheng killed someone and was expelled from the family. Let me ask you, is there something else going on?”
Madam Tan clenched her fists.
The Emperor looked at her solemnly. “Why don’t I ask you something else? Did you do all this? Did you collude with the State Preceptor Hall?”
Madam Tan’s forehead broke out in thin sweat.
The Emperor saw her struggle and patiently tempted her. “You don’t have to be afraid. Even if the sky falls, I will make the decision for you. This country is my empire, and the world is my world. If I want to protect you, I will definitely protect you. The reason why I asked you is because the people who threatened you are already suspected by me. This is your only chance to get rid of them. Think carefully. If you can’t produce evidence, I can’t deal with that group of people. You and your son will never have peace in your lives!”
The Empress’s worries were right. Madam Tan did not dare to betray her and the State Preceptor Hall because the Helian family could not resist them. However, the Emperor was clearly telling her that the once glorious and favored Empress had lost favor with the Emperor. As long as she did not have the Emperor’s love, what was the Empress?
In just an instant, Madam Tan walked out of the shadow of the threat. She bent her knees and knelt on the ground. “Yes, I did it. I poisoned the general and crippled his martial arts.”
Even though he had guessed that this would be the outcome, when he really heard Madam Tan admit it herself, it still shocked the Emperor. “Why did you do this?”
Madam Tan lowered her eyes and said bitterly, “Will His Majesty believe me?”
The Emperor looked down at her and said, “Whether I believe it or not is my business, but if you don’t say it, I won’t even have a chance to believe you.”
Madam Tan was convinced. She nodded and said sadly, “Because if I don’t cripple his martial arts, they’ll take his life!”
“You believe this?” The Emperor frowned unhappily. Helian Beiming was the Divine General of Nanzhao. His martial arts were peerless. Was he so easy to scheme against?
“They have already poisoned him,” Madam Tan said.
The Emperor was stunned.
Madam Tan said self-deprecatingly, “Your Majesty, do you still remember that not long before his accident, you invited him to the imperial study to discuss military affairs? At that time, his tea had already been poisoned.”
That was indeed the case. That year, there were bandits in the east. The Emperor planned to send Helian Beiming to eliminate the bandits and summoned him to the imperial study to discuss the day of the expedition. Because something happened to Helian Beiming a few days later, the Emperor still remembered that summoning.
The Emperor frowned fiercely. “Why is there poison in my tea?”
Madam Tan said sarcastically, “Did the Empress come?”
The Emperor felt as if he had been hit in the head.
The Empress… was here! She brought over a plate of snacks. They were made by the chef in her bedchamber.
Did-did she actually poison Helian Beiming at that time?