As Chu Tiankuo left coldly, Lengmei felt quite disappointed, clenching her fist. And she was so angry that she could not feel that her fingernails were pinched into her palm when she followed Chu Tiankuo with her eyes.

“Don’t blame me for being ruthless if you do so!” Lengmei thought, staring at the direction of Tang Xia’s palace fiercely.

The next day, Lengmei had someone build up the altar outside and summoned many people to watch it at noon.

Lengmei sent out the message on purpose so that many ministers also came here to watch the scene of bustle as if she feared the audience was not enough.

After a while, Lengmei who was supported by her maid came.

Lengmei wore a pure white dress with no hair accessory. The color of Lengmei’s face was quiet. Her appearance was somewhat haggard but not confounded, which highlighted her elegance and beauty.

No wonder there was an old saying that women should wear in white if they wanted to attract people’s eyes.

Lengmei stepped from the bottom onto the altar slowly as Chu Tiankuo and Tang Xia came here, too.

Tang Xia felt more restless as Lengmei walked up step by step and her face gradually turned white.

Chu Tiankuo felt a little bit sorry for Tang Xia at the sight of her uneasy look and tapped her on the back as a consolation.

As Lengmei walked slowly, Chu Tiankuo and Tang Xia suddenly understood what Lengmei had done these days was beyond her plan!

Only in retrospect did they realise what Lengmei had done was a machination.

As Tang Xia gradually understood what Lengmei’s purpose was, she wore a cold look and stared at Lengmei as if she looked at a dead person.

Tang Xia knew what had happened was just warm-up. There must be some reasons that Lengmei did not treat her like this at the beginning.

Maybe it was because that what had happened was not enough for Lengmei to complain of wrongs on the altar and that people would regard Lengmei as making trouble out of nothing.

But Lengmei’s plan succeeded because she framed Tang Xia as the culprit who made Lengmei lose her baby and slandered that as the empress, Tang Xia

was not lenient at all and made Lengmei lose her baby in the womb. Common people would definitely condemn Tang Xia for this matter.

Actually, it was no surprise if Lengmei had a miscarriage as the imperial physician said that Lengmei’s pulse condition was not good and that she would lose her baby if she did not take good care of herself. But what did Lengmei do?

After Lengmei got pregnant, she did not take good care of herself but ran about. There was no wonder that she had a miscarriage.

Besides, people among the imperial harem were quite sophisticated of all ages. Many imperial concubines could get pregnant, but how many of them could give birth to their baby? How many babies could grow up healthily even though they were born?

However, Lengmei went everywhere to show off that her baby was Chu Tiankuo’s first child and was the eldest son of the country after she got pregnant.

Although her baby was not born by the empress, the eldest son of a family was also quite important. It was no wonder that those old ministers cared for Lengmei’s baby.

But Lengmei had a miscarriage now, which meant that the eldest son was gone. And his death was related to the empress Tang Xia.

Those old ministers had looked down upon Tang Xia with the thought that Chu Tiankuo only favored Tang Xia because Tang Xia had enchanted Chu Tiankuo,

and they disliked Tang Xia more now. Moreover, they could submit memorials to His Majesty to banish Tang Xia to the cold palace with the matter of Lengmei’s miscarriage.

As such a thing happened, Lengmei made Chu Tiankuo face the severity of the problem and have reason to punish Tang Xia.

Chu Tiankuo and Tang Xia who stood in the audience and watched Lengmei’s acting. Both of them thought of the problem and turned their heads, looking at each other.

Hence, they both wore an uneasy look. While Tang Xia was angry because Lengmei had framed her for several times,

which made her impatient, Chu Tiankuo was pissed off because he could not protect his beloved woman.

Lengmei who stood on the altar was praying to god and told the common people how wronged she was

with tears on her face, which made her appear lovingly pathetic rather than uncollected.

Common people in the audience defended Lengmei against injustice and started to censure Tang Xia.

“The empress seems good! I didn’t expect that!”

“Cats hide their claws!”

“Right! The empress is so beautiful! She is a vicious beauty!”

“Therefore, men should marry virtuous women. What is her beauty used for?!”

Tang Xia listened to the comments from the common people quietly and understood all the tricks of Lengmei.

All the common people and ministers in the audience were indignant at injustice for Lengmei and denouncing Tang Xia’s cruelness. Such a situation made Tang Xia get in a dilemma for the moment.

Looking at those angry people, Tang Xia thought they were somewhat ridiculous.

“Look, these are uneducated people who conclude the truth by what they see. However, how can the truth be seen only by the eyes? There must be more wrongful convictions by doing so!”

Tang Xia thought so in her mind, but she did not try to defend herself, which made people think Tang Xia was too guilty and afraid to explain.

All the people shouted in chorus as if they had planned it, “Bring justice back to Concubine Leng!” “Oust the empress!”

All the people shouted that Tang Xia as the empress was not virtuous and framed Lengmei so that she lost her unborn baby.

If this matter had not been exposed in public, Chu Tiankuo could kill Lengmei quietly and pretended that Lengmei had a miscarriage

and triggered massive haemorrhage, which made Lengmei and her baby both die. But now, Lengmei put everything on the table and told many common people,

which posed a great threat.

Chu Tiankuo looked at Tang Xia who wore a helpless and wronged look. Then he watched Lengmei who pretended to complain tearfully on the altar and the common people who were deceived by Lengmei and knew nothing about the truth. The situation was so troublesome that Chu Tiankuo felt so frustrated.

At this moment, a minister said, “Your Majesty, now there is solid evidence of the empress framing Concubine Leng and making her lose the baby. Please hurry to decide how to punish the empress!”

“I second the proposal. Now the common people are in a violent rage. If you don’t deal with this matter well, people may be dissatisfied with you so that a turmoil may occur.”

Another minister pointed out his opinion.

Now Lengmei enjoyed overwhelming superiority so that all the ministers claimed that Tang Xia should be punished and outrage would be sparked if Chu Tiankuo did not do so.

Looking at Tang Xia, Chu Tiankuo felt reluctant to punish her. However, he had no other choice.

Chu Tiankuo was rather ambivalent and made a decision, looking at Tang Xia’s innocent face. However, Tang Xia came in front of him before he could say something.

“Your Majesty,” Tang Xia said to Chu Tiankuo, “Your Majesty, we both know that all these are Lengmei’s conspiracies. But the situation now…”

Tang Xia paused as if she had made a decision and continued saying, “Please punish me, Your Majesty!”

As Tang Xia asked Chu Tiankuo to punish her because Tang Xia did not want to embarrass him, Chu Tiankuo felt quite sorry for her, “That’s OK. Lengmei cannot harm me. Don’t worry. I will definitely protect you.”

“No!” Tang Xia held Chu Tiankuo’s hand. “You should punish me for your prestige among the common people. It is OK that I am wronged for now. Please… punish me!”

Looking at the common people in the audience, Chu Tiankuo had no choice but to say to his people and ministers,

“Tang Xia will not be the empress anymore as she is reduced to Concubine Tang.” Chu Tiankuo paused for a while and said, “That’s enough for today. I’m tired. Go back to my palace.”

After Chu Tiankuo finished his sentence, he turned around and went back to his palace, not looking at his people.

As Lengmei had achieved the purpose, she stopped complaining tearfully and pretended to pass out as if she was too upset. Then the palace maids brought Lengmei back to the palace.

The common people and ministers noticed that the main characters were all gone, so they left in small groups as they knew it would not be fun anymore to stay.

All the people were gone after a while as if no one had come here and nothing had happened today.

After Tang Xia went back to her palace, Lyuyou came to her immediately and looked at Tang Xia worriedly, “What should we do now, Your Grace?”