"Yeah, got it." Su Wan'er suddenly noticed the bright red peonies embroidered on her cuffs. It seemed that there were still quite a few benefits to being the queen. If she were an ordinary woman... Well, why bother thinking about such things.
"By the imperial edict of the Empress Dowager, please kneel to receive it, Your Majesty the Queen." The shrill voice of the eunuch delivering the edict annoyed Su Wan'er greatly at this moment. She was about to quit this wretched job anyway, and yet she still had to kneel and rise like this.
She had no choice but to put on a respectful look. Just as she got up, the Empress Dowager walked straight towards her seat. She had no idea what the old lady was up to and could only stare at her motionlessly. As the Empress Dowager got closer and closer, she couldn't help thinking that the old lady wouldn't give her a couple of slaps before leaving, would she? But although she was at the mercy of others at the moment, her martial arts skills were not for nothing. Su Wan'er made up her mind that if the Empress Dowager tried to hit her, she would definitely stop her and not take this humiliation.
Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager also stopped and looked at her. Su Wan'er was stunned and subconsciously wanted to take a couple of steps and kneel there. But to her surprise, the Empress Dowager actually sat down in her seat.
Oh, so that's what it meant. It turned out that she had occupied the seat of honor just now. She thought she had been sitting so properly, but now looking at the Empress Dowager, that was real poise. Not even her eyelashes trembled.
While kneeling there, Su Wan'er was still distracted, thinking that the old lady must be very proud now. Finally, there was no one in the harem who could threaten her power. In the future, she would support her own niece to the position of the queen, and then everything would surely be under her control...
"Empress Su, of immoral conduct, attempted to harm the concubines and treated the birth mother of the prince harshly... Her position as the queen is hereby revoked, and she is demoted to a commoner." Such an imperial edict, of course, was for the sake of formality. It was a long and rambling piece, simply piling up some fancy words to portray her as extremely evil, so that people would think it was right to depose the queen as soon as they heard it.
Su Wan'er was so dizzy from listening that she secretly swore that the harem was really no place for a human being. She would never come back here even if she were beaten to death. Otherwise, she would surely be eaten up by these terrifying women sooner or later, with not even a bone left.
"Deposed Empress, do you have anything to say?" The Empress Dowager asked Su Wan'er symbolically after listening to her own imperial edict with satisfaction.
"I, Su Wei, thank the Empress Dowager for her grace." Su Wan'er felt that she had finally got what she wanted and had nothing to fear anymore. She could finally give the old lady a good dose of annoyance.
"What? Su Wan'er, what trick are you playing now?"
Su Wan'er guessed that the Empress Dowager must be very disappointed, disappointed for not seeing the scene she had expected of her crying and kneeling down to beg for mercy.
"No, no. Hasn't the Empress Dowager forgotten? At the palace banquet that day, the late emperor personally bestowed upon me the title of the first female general of the Great Jin, with the name Wei. It would be more appropriate for the Empress Dowager to call me Su Wei from now on." Just assume that Su Wan'er had died in this palace, killed by you people.
She was now infamous and had to find a way out. She couldn't really go around the military camp with the identity of a deposed empress.
She had written a letter to Brother Jingtian early yesterday. Everyone knew how many sons the Su family had, but probably only the families that were close in the capital knew how many daughters there were.
Just assume that the Su family originally had these three daughters. The two legitimate daughters were of similar age. One was good at martial arts and was named General Wei, while the other was gentle and virtuous and was made the queen.
"What does Su Wei have to do with the deposing of Su Wan'er? Now that the two great generals of the Su family are injured, it's a time when we need people. With the emperor's generous grace, naturally, the younger sister won't be implicated because of the elder sister's mistakes in the deep palace." Su Wan'er laughed smugly. Looking at the Empress Dowager's livid face, she strode towards the door.
Outside the main palace of the harem, even the air was fresh.
"Qingcao, are the horses ready?" Su Wan'er called out softly.
"Yes, mis... Miss." Qingcao was obviously very happy too. Even though she had been worried these days that Su Wan'er might be punished. If she were demoted to the Cold Palace, it would be terrible. But fortunately, with the foundation of the Su family, no one dared to do anything to her easily.
Before the Empress Dowager came this morning, she had not only mobilized the power of her maternal family. She had even arranged for all kinds of officials accumulated over the years in the court, as long as they could speak, to hold the emperor back. Even her elder brother, the emperor's own uncle, had threatened to die in the main hall. Only then did Si Junlin give in and let the Empress Dowager decide everything.
Now seeing Su Wan'er's performance, the Empress Dowager finally realized that she might have been tricked.
"Stop!" The Empress Dowager quickly walked out. "Su Wan'er, did you do this on purpose?" the Empress Dowager questioned.
"I've said it. I'm Su Wei now. The Empress Dowager is so wise. Why bother worrying about a foregone conclusion?" Sure enough, the Empress Dowager was still a shrewd old fox, but it was a bit too late to realize now, wasn't it? After all, she was going to fight on the battlefield. She had to have some strategies, or else the late emperor wouldn't have bestowed the title of general on her for nothing.
All the servants who usually served in the main palace of the harem were very reluctant to see Su Wan'er leave. Due to the Empress Dowager's presence, they didn't dare to show it. But as soon as the Empress Dowager left, they all rushed out to see her off.
Su Wan'er left Xiaotao behind. After all, her eldest brother had been poisoned. Although the urgent reports in recent days had all said that he was fine, she still left her bracelet for her to wait for the chance to detoxify her eldest brother. She didn't trust Si Junlin. Even though he valued talents, what if he valued power more...
These two snow-hoofed black horses had been brought into the palace as part of her dowry when she entered the palace. There were originally four of them to form a team for good luck, but two of them had died because they were too comfortable. After that, these two had been carefully trained. It seemed that even horses couldn't stand the various things in this palace. The battlefield was more suitable for her.
"Miss, let's go." Qingcao waved goodbye to Xiaotao and the others with tears in her eyes.
"Giddyap—" The horses galloped as if they could feel their master's excitement. They ran straight to the main gate in a flash. Let whoever wants to be the queen be it. Su Wan'er carried the imperial edict of being deposed as the queen, and one after another, the palace gates opened.
But when there were still the last two outer gates of the Meridian Gate left, there came shouts from behind.
"Your Majesty the Queen, Your Majesty the Queen, please stop and wait."
Su Wan'er frowned. She had just thought that she finally didn't have to listen to people calling her the queen anymore. Who was this following her like a shadow?
"Miss, it's Fang Xi." Qingcao called out to her.
"Fang Xi?" Su Wan'er stopped the horse and looked back. Sure enough, it was that unlucky Fang Xi, out of breath and being supported by two secret agents. It was really hard for them to catch up with the horses.
"Your Majesty the Queen, ouch, luckily this servant caught up." Fang Xi could hardly catch his breath.
"Which queen is Lord Fang looking for? There's no queen here." Su Wan'er thought he wasn't worthy of sympathy.
"Ouch, please have mercy, Your Majesty. The emperor is injured, seriously injured. Please go and have a look." Fang Xi knelt down and begged her.
"Injured?" Su Wan'er frowned. Why was he so useless? "If he's injured, he should go to the imperial physician. What can I do by going to see him?"
"Your Majesty, the emperor refuses to see the imperial physician. He won't even let them stop the bleeding. The Empress Dowager is so anxious. The emperor insists that you go and bandage his wound." Fang Xi was almost crying in front of her.