Chapter 176 Treason

A look of understanding flashed across Shen Qingci's eyes in an instant.

She slowly stepped forward, looking down at Liu Wenyuan, who was spitting out black blood and whose face was as pale as paper, a cruel smile curving her lips.

“As expected,” her voice wasn’t loud, but it boomed like thunder in the deathly silent study, “As expected… it’s poisonous!”

Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly turned her head, her icy phoenix eyes fixed on the two officials who were already terrified out of their wits!

"Speak!" Her voice was icy cold, filled with an unyielding authority. "Who? Who exactly ordered you to carry out this heinous act against the Regent?"

The two officials were so frightened by her intimidating aura that their bodies went limp, and they both knelt down with a thud!

"Injustice...I'm innocent! Your Highness!"

"We...we really didn't poison them!"

The two looked at each other and saw endless fear and despair in each other's eyes, but they had no words to express their suffering.

Shen Qingci looked at their expressions, scoffed, and showed complete disbelief on her face.

She ignored them and turned her gaze to the imperial physician who was already pale with fright and trembling to the side.

"Imperial Physician," she said with a half-smile, "I remember you just now confidently asserting that the Regent Prince was poisoned by the extraordinary poison, the Immortal-Slaying Powder?"

"Didn't you say you had the antidote?"

"If that's the case," her voice suddenly turned sharp, "then why are you still standing here? Why aren't you going... to detoxify the Prime Minister?"

When the imperial physician was asked this question, he trembled violently, and his face showed extreme hesitation and fear. He did not dare to step forward.

Shen Qingci's gaze grew increasingly cold: "What? You dare not? Why don't you dare to detoxify the Prime Minister?"

"This humble official...this humble official has not yet examined the Prime Minister's pulse, and...this humble official is still unsure whether the poison the Prime Minister has been afflicted with is the same as that afflicted by the Prince. This humble official...dares not prescribe medicine without authorization!"

"Oh?" Shen Qingci lifted her eyelids, her eyes full of sarcasm. "Everyone in the hall just now saw that the Prime Minister's symptoms were exactly the same as the Prince's. How come you can't be sure?"

“Fine,” she waved her hand, appearing understanding, “You said you haven’t seen a doctor yet, so… go see a doctor now.”

Upon hearing this, the imperial physician had no choice but to steel himself, step forward shakily, and place his fingers on Liu Wenyuan's wrist.

In just a moment, his brows furrowed into a tight knot.

Shen Qingci narrowed her eyes and looked at him coldly.

The imperial physician took the pulse for a long time before finally raising his head cautiously, his voice tinged with uncertainty: "Your Highness... Your Highness, the Prime Minister... the poison he has been afflicted with seems... to be different from that of the Prince?"

"Ha!" Shen Qingci scoffed upon hearing this. "You were poisoned one after the other, and your symptoms are exactly the same, yet you're telling me, the Princess Consort, that the poisons you were given were different?"

"This imperial palace is truly... a gathering place for all kinds of poisons, it's quite an eye-opener!"

As she spoke, the smile on her face vanished instantly, replaced by an icy chill!

"I, the Princess Consort, would like to ask you a question!" Her voice suddenly rose, filled with a deadly pressure, "Is it... that the poisons that the Prime Minister and the Prince were afflicted with are truly different, or... is there something else hidden in your so-called antidote for the Immortal-Slaying Powder?!"

The imperial physician's face turned deathly pale in an instant!

His legs buckled, and he immediately knelt on the ground, trembling like a leaf, repeatedly kowtowing and begging for mercy: "Your Highness, spare me! Your Highness, spare me!"

"Spare me?" Shen Qingci slammed her hand on the table. "If you don't tell the truth, how can I, the Princess Consort, spare you?!"

"I, the Princess Consort, dare to force-feed medicine even the current Prime Minister. Do you think... a mere imperial physician like you wouldn't dare?!"

The imperial physician was so frightened by her words that he dared not hide anything and immediately confessed everything in detail.

"It's...it's the Prime Minister! It's the Prime Minister who gave me the antidote!" he cried out. "The Prime Minister instructed me that if...if His Highness the Regent were to have an accident in the palace, I should insist that the Prince was poisoned by the Immortal-Slaying Powder, and then produce the antidote he gave me to cure the Prince!"

"But...but this humble official truly does not know what poison Your Highness has been poisoned with! Nor does he know...what is in the antidote!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Qingci's face showed a satisfied expression.

She waved her hand, signaling Ye Lan to drag the already limp imperial physician away.

Then, she slowly turned around, her icy gaze falling on the other officials in the hall who were already pale with fright.

Those officials had witnessed Shen Qingci's series of thunderous and powerful methods and were already terrified. Looking at her gentle and kind face, they felt that she was more terrifying than a demon from hell!

Immediately, someone knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly and begging for mercy: "Your Highness, spare my life! This official... this official knew nothing!"

"Knows nothing?" Shen Qingci scoffed. "Knows nothing, yet dares to follow Liu Wenyuan and imprison the regent?"

"Do you really not know what wolfish ambitions Liu Wenyuan harbors?"

"Do you really not know that he had already secretly cultivated troops, broken them up into smaller units, and quietly transferred them into the capital, preparing to... rebel and usurp the throne?"

Upon hearing this, the officials present all changed their expressions drastically, their eyes filled with disbelief, shock, and horror!

"What? Treason and usurpation?"

"This...this is impossible!"

An elderly minister, who was the leader, stepped forward tremblingly, his face filled with terror, and pleaded, "Your Highness, please understand! We...we had absolutely no such intentions!"

"Prime Minister Liu...Prime Minister Liu only told us that His Highness the Regent has held power in the court for too long and is unwilling to return power to His Majesty! His Majesty is weak and unable to contend with him, so...so he hopes that we can lend His Majesty a hand and wrest back the power of the court that belongs to His Majesty from the Regent!"

"Yes! Yes! We...we all believed that all of this...was due to His Majesty's secret decree! Everything we did was out of loyalty to His Majesty and to our Great Zhou Dynasty!"

Everyone echoed, their eyes filled with anger and lingering fear at the sight of Liu Wenyuan, who had already fainted on the ground!

Shen Qingci looked at their expressions and sneered inwardly.

A bunch of idiots.

They were being used as pawns without even realizing it.

She was too lazy to waste any more words with them and simply called out, "Someone come here!"

Yuanbao immediately stepped forward to obey the order.

“Take Prime Minister Liu back to his residence properly,” she pointed to the muddy ground. “He poisoned himself, so surely… his people, or his confidants, should know how to cure him?”

"yes!"

Shen Qingci glanced at the side hall again, her voice carrying a hint of barely perceptible gentleness: "Send more people to carry the Prince onto the carriage as well, so he can come back to the manor with me, the Princess Consort."

After she finished doing all this, she didn't even glance at the officials who were already terrified and silent. She turned around and left the study, heading straight towards the main hall of the Taiji Hall amidst a cacophony of gazes.

...

Emperor Yongming had already overheard everything that happened in the study from behind the hidden door.

He was pacing back and forth in the hall, feeling restless. As soon as he saw Shen Qingci enter, he immediately went to greet him.

Before he could speak, Shen Qingci cut to the chase, her voice icy and piercing:

"Your Majesty, I... have already verified it."

"The poison that afflicted the Regent was indeed administered by... Liu Wenyuan!"

"He wants to kill the prince!"