After waiting for a while, the imperial guards who had gone in to report came out and ushered Yue Qing inside.
Yue Qing then strode into Qi Wan'er's bedchamber.
The two concubines present wore expressions of displeasure.
Ignoring them, Yue Qing, with Xue Mei in tow, walked further into the bedchamber.
Upon entering Qi Wan'er's chambers, Yue Qing saw all of Qi Wan'er's palace maids kneeling in the courtyard, their heads bowed, listless.
Imperial guards with stern expressions stood guard all around.
At the sound of Yue Qing's arrival, some of them raised their heads, their eyes filled with panic and fear.
Yue Qing glanced at them and walked directly towards the main building.
Reaching the entrance, Yue Qing could clearly see the situation inside.
The room was deathly silent, the atmosphere exceptionally oppressive and terrifying, so stifling one dared not even breathe.
Emperor Li Heng sat on the main seat, with Empress Jiang seated beside him.
Below Li Heng, Consort Zhang was also seated.
Three people knelt on the ground: Qi Wan'er, her personal palace maid, and a young guard.
The latter two looked disheveled, appearing as if they had undergone torture.
Both Li Heng and Empress Jiang wore grim expressions.
Li Heng, in particular, was exceedingly dark-faced, his eyes filled with fury and hatred.
Empress Jiang was somewhat better; though her expression was grim, her eyes held a detached indifference.
As for Consort Zhang, her expression was rather telling; her face was devoid of emotion, but her eyes betrayed a sense of schadenfreude.
Qi Wan'er's face was cold, devoid of any expression.
Her personal palace maid kept her head bowed fearfully.
The young guard's face was etched with terror.
Yue Qing, having already used his mental energy to probe the ongoing interrogation when he sensed movement in Qi Wan'er's chambers, had a general understanding of the cause of this scene from their words.
After the banquet, Li Heng had returned to his own bedchamber.
About an hour later, Consort Zhang had requested an audience with Li Heng, informing him that while stargazing after returning to her palace, she had inadvertently seen a figure resembling a man enter Qi Wan'er's bedchamber. She felt this was no minor matter and had rushed to report it to Li Heng.
Upon hearing this, Li Heng had immediately flown into a rage.
A strange man appearing in his harem late at night could only portend ill. It was highly probable that this concubine had betrayed him, cuckolding him.
Furthermore, the matter involved Qi Wan'er, the woman he loved most, which only fanned the flames of his anger.
Unwilling to believe Qi Wan'er had betrayed him, Li Heng, accompanied by Consort Zhang, went to Qi Wan'er's bedchamber to ascertain the truth of Consort Zhang's words.
Upon arriving at Qi Wan'er's chambers, they did not see Qi Wan'er come out to greet them. Only her personal palace maid, along with other palace staff, performed the customary salutations.
The personal palace maid displayed signs of panic and fear the moment she saw Li Heng.
Li Heng felt a sense of foreboding and rushed into Qi Wan'er's room, where he found a young guard intimately embracing Qi Wan'er from behind.
Upon hearing the sound of someone entering, the two released their embrace and turned around, their eyes filled with panic and fear.
Li Heng immediately flew into a rage and lunged at the guard.
Not long after he stormed in, Consort Zhang arrived with her retinue and also witnessed the scene inside the room.
The guard hastily fell to his knees, begging for mercy and claiming he had seduced Qi Wan'er, imploring the Emperor to spare her.
Upon hearing this, coupled with her previous experience, Qi Wan'er understood immediately that she had been framed.
She had been preparing for bed when a man suddenly emerged, embraced her, and covered her mouth, preventing her from calling for help, until Li Heng burst in.
It was clear someone intended to frame her for illicit relations with the guard, leading to her execution by Li Heng.
Qi Wan'er felt a chill in her heart, considering the perpetrator to be utterly wicked.
Li Heng had intended to kill the guard, but Consort Zhang restrained him, advising him to investigate thoroughly, in case there was a misunderstanding.
Consort Zhang then sent for Empress Jiang, as she was the mistress of the harem and such matters fell within her purview.
After calming down, Li Heng ordered his personal eunuch to relay a message to the imperial guards, sealing off Qi Wan'er's bedchamber and detaining everyone within her palace for interrogation, intending to uncover the full story.
However, the affair between a consort and a guard was considered a scandal, so Li Heng imposed a gag order, forbidding any news from spreading.
Unfortunately, news still leaked. The considerable commotion had attracted the attention of some individuals, and the well-informed concubines learned of the incident, desiring to witness the drama. However, they were all kept outside by the Emperor.
By now, Li Heng and Empress Jiang had already interrogated Qi Wan'er, the guard, and her personal palace maid.
Qi Wan'er recounted her experience, asserting that she had not engaged in any illicit relations with the guard.
However, the guard claimed he and Qi Wan'er were indeed lovers and produced a jade pendant that Qi Wan'er had worn from his person.
Qi Wan'er's personal palace maid pleaded for mercy from the Emperor, stating that Qi Wan'er and the guard had been in contact and that she had delivered messages for them.
Looking at the jade pendant produced by the guard and hearing the words of her personal palace maid, Qi Wan'er realized she had been betrayed by her own maid, and that the guard and her personal palace maid had conspired with someone behind the scenes to frame her.
Qi Wan'er immediately refuted their claims.
However, faced with the seemingly irrefutable evidence and the scene he had witnessed, Li Heng found it difficult to believe Qi Wan'er's words.
Seeing Li Heng's expression, Qi Wan'er knew he did not believe her. Her heart turned cold, and she no longer argued, kneeling with a blank expression, utterly disheartened.
She thought that being executed might be a good thing, as it would bring her freedom from the imperial palace.
Yue Qing looked at Qi Wan'er, sensing her profound despair.
In the original plot, Qi Wan'er was also framed for an affair with a guard, leading to many misunderstandings with Li Heng and much suffering for her.
The only difference was the location where she was framed.
In the original plot, Qi Wan'er had consumed wine laced with aphrodisiac at a banquet. Feeling unwell, she had gone out for some air. Unexpectedly, the drug took effect, and at that moment, a guard had emerged and embraced Qi Wan'er tightly.
This scene was witnessed by a concubine, who, after a fright, had cried out, attracting everyone at the banquet. They had all seen Qi Wan'er and the guard embracing and in a state of disarray.
Under the public gaze, even though Qi Wan'er knew she was being framed, she could not refute it, nor could she identify her accuser.
Li Heng, in his fury, immediately ordered the guard to be beaten to death.
However, he still harbored some affection for Qi Wan'er and ordered her to be whipped, and then subsequently sent to the Imperial Laundry Bureau to work.
Qi Wan'er endured a life of humiliation and hardship in the Imperial Laundry Bureau.
It wasn't until a year later, when the concubine who had framed Qi Wan'er met her downfall, that she confessed the truth before being sentenced to death by Li Heng, wanting to see Li Heng filled with regret and anguish in her final moments.