usatvline Chapter 477 Being Instigated
Chapter 477 Being Instigated
Gu Jianchu didn't directly respond to Minister Kong's question, "I just have a reasonable suspicion."
Upon hearing this, Minister Kong and Ping Xibo fell silent instantly. Gu Jianchu was the queen, so it was natural for them to be suspicious of her. After all, Hong Qiao had caused chaos in their entire mansion, so it was not difficult to suspect that someone had deliberately let Hong Qiao in to disrupt the situation.
It is understandable that the family of Minister Kong would not suspect this. After all, their family has no money and there is nothing worthy of outsiders' concern. The Kong family has only one Minister Kong serving as an official in the court. Because he comes from a poor family, his qualifications are relatively weak, and he has no one to rely on. He can be said to be a lonely man. His sons are not very promising either. Otherwise, according to Kong Lin's age, he would have participated in the imperial examinations or taken up a certain position, instead of being idle at home all day and having time to bring a poor person home.
Even if someone wanted to do something in the capital, based on these two points alone, they would not choose the residence of Minister Kong. The Pingxi Marquis's Mansion is better than the Shangshu's Mansion, so it is normal that Minister Kong did not suspect this.
It is estimated that when Hong Qiao chose Kong Lin, she only thought that he was the legitimate son of the Shangshu Mansion and was relatively simple and easy to deceive. What she never expected was that the Kong Shangshu Mansion had no money and was extremely poor. When Mu Yao was around, they could still provide for the family's expenses. Ever since Mu Yao made a fuss and went back to her parents' home, no one has spent money on them anymore.
However, compared to money, Hong Qiao wanted to use the power of Shangshu Mansion to escape from the control of that man.
Now that her affair has been exposed, Gu Jianchu is not sure whether Hong Qiao will give away the man.
Gu Jianchu held the hot water bottle and stared at Hong Qiao with cold eyes.
Hong Qiao was lying on the ground. She could only see the expression on Gu Jianchu's face when she raised her head. All her bones were aching and there was a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth. She wanted to crawl up, but she didn't want to die either.
Better to die than live.
Even if it was a little hard, she wanted to live a good life. Otherwise, she would have died long ago after being tortured twice.
She was found by the wife and young lady of the Jiangnan Governor, stripped naked and thrown outside the city of Yangzhou, and beaten half to death. If it were any other woman, she would have committed suicide on the spot after such humiliation, but she did not. She chose to survive bravely. She had no money, so she begged for food, even gnawing on tree bark and snatching food from animals. Later, she met the gentle and elegant Cao Li.
She thought her life was going to start over again, that she had encountered the light of life, but it was not the case. Cao Li was another darkness in her life, dragging her back into the abyss after she had finally struggled out of the quagmire, which should be a deeper abyss. He fed her all kinds of drugs that could control her, and sent her to all kinds of rich people, just to let her use her body to cheat money. As long as she couldn't get the money, she would beat and scold them, and even not give them the antidote, watching them being tormented by the poison, because Cao Li said that this was the only way to make them remember the lesson.
In addition to her, many sisters were controlled by Cao Li in this way. Some sisters could not bear such a life and chose to commit suicide. She had a sister who was relatively close to her who could not bear such beatings and such dark days and chose to end her life. She was very scared when she saw her sister die.
The Queen was right. Confessing or not confessing would result in two different sentences. If she confessed Cao Li, then she would be a complete victim, and it was Cao Li who instructed her to do so. In this way, the Queen could give her a lighter punishment by pacifying the Xibo Mansion and the Shangshu Mansion.
But if she took the blame herself, she would be the mastermind. Not only did she wrongly accuse the eldest daughter of the Pingxi Marquis's Mansion, she also cuckolded the Shangshu Mansion, and even aborted the child herself, bribed the two little girls, and threatened their families. Each of these things was enough to kill her. She could not bear such a consequence, or she did not want to die at all, so she had no way to bear it.
Hong Qiao struggled on the ground for a long time before finally getting up. She knelt and moved towards Gu Jianchu, but the Queen was pregnant and had to be careful about everything. Before she could move in front of the Queen, Zhu Xia immediately brought people in front of her, blocking her from moving forward. "If you have anything to say, just say it."
Hong Qiao stopped moving, trying to kneel straight, and looked at Gu Jianchu with burning eyes. Because of the pain all over her body, her voice trembled, "Your Majesty, I confess. I will tell you everything."
"If I tell you everything, I wonder if the Queen will spare my life." Hong Qiao didn't dare to gamble, nor could she afford to gamble. She had to get an affirmation from the Queen, an affirmation from the Queen's mouth.
Everyone says that the queen is kind, but how kind is she? She doesn't know. After all, she is just an ordinary person. On the other side is the girl from Pingxi Bo's Mansion. The queen must have selfish motives and will definitely favor the eldest girl from Pingxi Bo's Mansion.
Even if the Queen was kind enough to forgive her, what about the Shangshu Mansion? After all, she had caused chaos in the Shangshu Mansion, causing Kong Lin and Mu Yao to divorce, and she had also cuckolded Kong Lin, making it known to the world that Kong Lin was infertile. Therefore, the Shangshu Mansion and the Xibo Mansion might not let her go. After all, they were extremely powerful and would always find a way to kill her. She still needed the Queen's protection.
As long as the queen keeps her word, these two families won't dare to touch her. After all, they will be in trouble if they disobey the queen.
How could Gu Jianchu not know Hong Qiao's little thoughts.
Although Hong Qiao was primarily responsible for the matter between Mu Yao and Kong Lin, it ultimately came down to their weak relationship, which led to Kong Lin having other thoughts. After all, even if Hong Qiao wasn't involved in this matter, there would be other women involved. It just remains to be seen whether Kong Lin would be fooled.
"If what you said is true and you are not the mastermind, we naturally cannot sentence you to death. On the contrary, we will take your situation into consideration and make other arrangements for you." Gu Jianchu was also telling the truth.
If Hong Qiao was the victim, she would naturally not be punished, and these bullied women would be given a place to stay.
But these are all things for later.
"What do you mean? Did someone really let you into our Shangshu Mansion?" Shangshu Kong's eyes immediately became serious, and he looked at Hong Qiao with hesitation.
Their Shangshu Mansion is not well-off and is very poor. They can't help others and keep an eye on what their Shangshu Mansion is doing.
After thinking about it over and over again, Minister Kong still couldn't figure it out.
Could it be that the Queen and the Emperor already knew something?
These are just guesses, and we can only find out after Hong Qiao confesses.
Hong Qiao did not answer Minister Kong's question.
After receiving Gu Jianchu's assurance, Hong Qiao said truthfully, "Your Majesty, the reason why I entered the Shangshu Mansion was not of my own accord, but because someone instructed me to do so."
Gu Jianchu was not surprised that Hong Qiao confessed. She could see that Hong Qiao wanted to live.