The Female Psychology PhD Who Time Traveled to the Royal Harem-Chapter 537
The opportunity to eliminate Concubine Li was provided by a newly selected court lady.
Her name was Jiang Xinyue, the daughter of Jiang Yankun, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.
She was breathtakingly beautiful, with an unparalleled charm.
Everyone said the Emperor treated her as a substitute for Concubine Li, but Zhu Qianying didn’t think so.
It was just that Jiang Xinyue was still young and bore some resemblance to Concubine Li. After all, both were peerless beauties, and it was natural for them to share some similarities.
However, Zhu Qianying noticed that Jiang Xinyue’s features were even more delicate than Concubine Li’s. Given time to mature, her beauty would far surpass that of Concubine Li.
And indeed, Zhu Qianying was not wrong. Jiang Xinyue was exceptionally skilled at pleasing men, and Concubine Li had already been driven to feign illness multiple times out of frustration.
The Northern General, Ye Gaoliang, had a daughter who participated in the same selection of court ladies as Jiang Xinyue.
The Ye and Zhu families had always been allies, and Zhu Qianying had a certain rapport with Ye Erlang.
Bribing Ye’s daughter was an easy task.
From the moment Jiang Xinyue entered the palace, she was already entangled in a web of schemes. Her conflict with Concubine Li was not accidental but inevitable.
At that time, Zhu Qianying didn’t know that she wasn’t the only one targeting Jiang Xinyue—Senior Concubine De was also watching her closely.
It wasn’t until much later that she realized Concubine Li and Jiang Xinyue were not her true enemies; Senior Concubine De was.
But by then, it was too late to turn back.
Concubine Li was killed by Zhu Qianying herself.
By then, Concubine Li had already fallen from grace and was banished to the cold and remote Yanxi Palace.
No one cared about her life or death. In fact, those who had once feared her status and favor, or had been wronged by her, were eager to tear her apart.
“Song Ni'er, I told you that sins must be repaid.”
Song Ni'er looked at her in terror: “I’ve already told you, I didn’t kill your child. Now that I’ve fallen to this state, what more do you want from me?”
“Hah!”
Zhu Qianying sneered: “Whether you killed him or not doesn’t matter anymore. Your words have haunted me for ten years. Now, it’s your turn to die.”
Jiang Xinyue’s sixth prince had been poisoned with phosphorus powder and cotton fibers. If not for the nursemaid who took the blame, the sixth prince would have died.
The Emperor, who doted on the sixth prince as if he were his own eyes, was furious. Those involved in the incident were all executed.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
If the Emperor had acted with the same decisiveness when the Crown Prince died, the second prince wouldn’t have been killed later.
How could smallpox have appeared in the palace?
And why was it that everyone else was fine, but only her second prince contracted it?
It didn’t matter anymore. Song Ni'er and Zhu Qianying had been enemies for so long that their hatred had long since become a matter of life and death.
If she didn’t take this opportunity to kill Song Ni'er, there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t regain favor someday. Zhu Qianying couldn’t allow a second Jiang Xinyue to emerge.
Fenyun handed her the poison, given by Senior Concubine De. It was colorless, odorless, and would preserve the victim’s beauty even after death—a poison called “Eternal Youth.”
Song Ni'er loved beauty above all else. Dying in such a manner, appearing to have committed suicide out of guilt, would hardly arouse suspicion.
Zhu Qianying didn’t mind that Song Ni'er was posthumously granted the title of Imperial Noble Consort.
Once dead, all honors were meaningless—mere empty titles.
The dead could no longer stir up trouble.
As for Jiang Xinyue, wasn’t she clever?
Let her investigate the mastermind behind this.
Let’s see whether the Emperor loved Jiang Xinyue more or his former beloved, Consort Shu.
But Zhu Qianying could never have imagined that the one who killed the Crown Prince and the second prince was none other than Senior Concubine De, whom she had trusted so deeply.
When the Emperor handed her the recovered poison bottle, she recognized it immediately—it was identical to the one she had used to kill Song Ni'er.
“I know that for all these years, the deaths of the Crown Prince and the second prince have been a burden on your heart. You’ve always blamed me for not thoroughly investigating their murders, for not trusting me, thinking I was shielding the Song family…”
Perhaps recalling Song Ni'er’s death, he paused: “Now, I must tell you that you’ve avenged the wrong person. The true murderer is the one you called your sister.”
That night, Zhu Qianying suffered a severe headache and vomited blood incessantly.
The Mansion of the Duke of Cheng—how wonderful!
During the day, they had falsely accused her of poisoning the third prince, leading to her being beaten by the Duke’s elderly matriarch.
And now, at night, the Emperor had delivered the final blow.
Fine…
Everything was just fine!
No one wanted her to live.
Her husband, the Emperor, had known all along that she had killed Song Ni'er. He was afraid she would use the same method to kill Jiang Xinyue, wasn’t he?
How rare!
She had truly thought Shen Ye was an unfeeling stone. But no, he wasn’t.
All his affection had been given to Jiang Xinyue.
But he had underestimated Zhu Qianying.
Her hatred for Jiang Xinyue stemmed only from Jiang Xinyue stealing his love.
Once she stopped loving the Emperor, Jiang Xinyue became nothing more than a pitiable soul trapped within the palace walls.
Suddenly, she missed her home, her father, mother, and younger brother.
If she had married Ye Erlang back then, he would never have hurt her like this.
But what was she fantasizing about?
After the Ye family’s rebellion, Ye Erlang had died on the exile road, his body devoured by wild dogs.
It was all her fault. She had brought this upon herself.
Song Ni'er was right—she deserved this.
Zhu Qianying laughed hysterically, coughing up blood as she laughed, her madness terrifying Fenyun, who clung to her leg: “Your Majesty, think of the fifth prince! He’s still young. Without your protection, his fate won’t be much better than the fourth prince’s.”
The fifth prince…
Zhu Qianying straightened up and wiped the blood from her lips: “First, summon Senior Concubine Xian. Half an incense stick later, summon Consort Shu…”
She would comply with the Emperor’s wishes and face death with dignity.
But Zhan'er and Chuan'er’s deaths would not be in vain.
For so many years, everyone had urged her to move on, to accept that the dead could not return, to look forward and let go.
But how could she move forward?
Both children were born from her own body, raised with her own hands.
If even she forgot them, who would remember?
Wouldn’t their lives have been in vain?
Her early gray hair, her sudden headaches—all were because she had trapped herself in the painful past, unable to escape the deaths of her children.
If she couldn’t avenge them herself, she would make sure someone else did.
The pain of being burned by fire paled in comparison to the pain in her heart.
She would make the Emperor feel guilty, and that guilt would become the weapon to kill Senior Concubine De in the future.
The Emperor valued the third prince too much to act against Senior Concubine De while the third prince was vulnerable. But once the third prince spoke, Jiang Xinyue would surely avenge Zhan'er and Chuan'er.
She believed… she believed in Jiang Xinyue’s character.
If there was a next life, she didn’t want to enter the palace again, nor did she want to love Shen Ye ever again.
She would listen to her father and marry Ye Erlang, live a simple life, raise children, and grow old in peace.
In her daze, she seemed to hear the reckless, domineering laughter of a young man whispering in her ear: “I’m dashing and talented. Why don’t you marry me? I’ll never let you down.”
“Alright. In our next life, you must marry me.”
