Chapter 213, the plum blossom pattern, is Xue's

The three of them looked over at the same time.

Shen Cong appeared beside the overturned carriage at some point.

He was dressed in a crimson robe and a white fox fur cloak, holding a small bronze stove in his hands, and was bending down to carefully examine the horse that had already breathed its last on the ground.

Li Nanke glanced at him a couple more times, feeling a little strange.

Xie Xuanxiao strode over and, mimicking Shen Cong, carefully examined the horse.

"What has Your Highness discovered?"

Shen Cong nodded the horse's head with his chin.

"Pry open the horse's mouth and take a look."

Xie Xuanxiao squatted down, pressed down on the horse's head with one hand, and with a little force from the other hand, pried open the horse's mouth.

The horse's mouth was full of white foam, which was gradually flowing out, and the white foam was mixed with green grass clippings.

Xie Xuanxiao narrowed his eyes, leaned forward and took a closer sniff, his expression changing slightly.

"It's the poisonous plant called 'heartbreak grass'!"

Gelsemium elegans, also known as the "drunken horse grass," can cause horses to go mad if ingested even a small amount, and can lead to poisoning and death if ingested in larger doses.

Xie Xuanxiao stood up, his expression solemn.

"Your Highness is right. This was no accident. Someone fed the horse poisonous herbs beforehand. It was a deliberate attempt to kill Miss Li!"

Shen Cong nodded and looked down at Li Nanke.

Seeing that her round little face was still as pale as paper, her lips were tightly pursed, and she was staring blankly at the horse, not knowing what she was thinking.

He couldn't help but raise his hand and tap her on the head.

"Still not recovered? How come I didn't know you were such a coward?"

"Ouch, that hurts."

Li Nanke covered her forehead, wrinkled her eyes, and glared at Chen Cong.

"I was thinking that if someone really did feed my horse poison, the only chance would be..."

She raised her hand and pointed to the blacksmith shop not far away.

"I just parked the carriage in front of the blacksmith's shop and went in to get something. It should only take about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

Xie Xuanxiao said, "It must have been around that time that someone fed the horse the poisonous herb. We should report this case of premeditated murder to the Bianjing Prefecture."

"Lord Wei is the fastest at investigating cases; he'll surely find out soon. Or perhaps Miss Li has recently offended someone and could provide Lord Wei with some clues."

Xue Shu chuckled coldly.

"That's hard to say. I've heard that Miss Li is unforgiving and has probably offended quite a few people, hasn't she?"

Li Nanke smiled slightly.

"Sister Xue spoke in a sarcastic tone today. I don't know if I offended anyone, but I'm sure I did."

Just now, Sister Xue was so certain that the horse's fright was caused by human intervention. Could it be that this matter...?

Xue Shu's pupils contracted slightly, and she subconsciously took two steps back, saying urgently, "Don't talk nonsense, this has nothing to do with me. I just went out on the street, I... what I said just now was just a casual remark."

She looked at Xie Xuanxiao with a pale face.

"Brother Xie, you can believe me, this really has nothing to do with me."

Xie Xuanxiao patted her shoulder, his voice gentle.

"I believe you, don't rush!"

Xue Shu breathed a long sigh of relief, her expression softened, and she glanced at Li Nanke with a rather smug look.

Li Nanke puffed out his cheeks.

She didn't suspect Xue Shu, but she was a little annoyed by her sarcastic and unpredictable manner.

"Then let's report it to the authorities and have the Jingzhao Prefecture investigate."

"Need not!"

Shen Cong suddenly spoke, raising his calm eyes to look ahead.

"The person has arrived."

who?

Li Nanke looked up and saw Erfeng holding a rope and leading a dirty beggar over.

"Hurry up."

The beggar knelt down at Shen Cong's feet with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly.

"Please, sir, spare my life! I will never dare to do it again, I really won't dare."

Erfeng said, "I've investigated. It was him who was lurking suspiciously in front of the blacksmith's shop and secretly fed the poisonous plant to Miss Li's horse."

The beggar cowered in fear, crying and shouting.

“I really don’t know anything about ‘heartbreak grass’. Someone found me and gave me two taels of silver and a handful of grass.”

He instructed the servants to feed this bundle of grass to the cart outside the blacksmith's shop, and the other servants knew nothing more.

Shen Cong raised an eyebrow slightly.

Erfeng kicked him hard, "What did the person who gave you the Heartbreak Grass look like? Did they say anything else?"

The beggar cowered, trying hard to recall.

"He was wearing a cloak and ordinary gray coarse cloth clothes, so I couldn't really see his face clearly... Ah, I remember now, he had triangular eyes."

At her waist...there was a small wooden plaque with words written on it and a flower drawn on it.

"What word? What flower?"

"I can't read, but I remember that flower... it's a plum blossom."

Xue Shu screamed in terror.

"You're talking nonsense!"

In Bianjing, each noble family had a waist tag representing their status, while servants wore wooden tags to facilitate identification.

Among the prominent families, only one family uses plum blossoms as waist tags.

The Duke of Xue's Mansion!

Because the current Empress has a particular fondness for plum blossoms, the Duke of Xue chose to have plum blossoms engraved on his waist tag.

Xue Shu's face turned ashen as she pointed at the beggar and angrily shouted, "Where did this filthy thing come from, daring to slander my Duke Xue's mansion!"

"Guards, drag him away and beat him to death!"

"Shu'er!"

Xie Xuanxiao frowned and stepped forward to stop Xue Shu, "Calm down, he only mentioned plum blossoms, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the Xue family."

Xue Shu gripped his arm tightly, and her anger subsided somewhat.

"Brother Xie, it definitely can't be from the Xue family, you have to believe me."

Xie Xuanxiao nodded and gently patted her arm to comfort her.

Shen Cong nodded slightly to Er Feng.

Erfeng understood, quickly went into a nearby shop, and soon ran out again, this time with a piece of paper and a pen in his hand.

The pen was dipped in ink, dripping and dripping.

Erfeng shoved a pen into the beggar's hand, saying, "Draw the words on the wooden sign."

The beggar dared not refuse to draw, and after much thought, he finally managed to draw a single character in a crooked and awkward manner.

Although the drawing is crooked, you can still make out what the characters are.

Xue!

Xue Shu flew into a rage, "You're talking nonsense! Who told you to say that? If you don't tell the truth, I'll have you beaten to death right now!"

The beggar dropped his pen, cowered on the ground, covered his head with his hands, and cried out, "I...I really didn't lie."

"you!"

Shen Cong interrupted Xue Shu directly and gave instructions to Er Feng.

"Send the person to Bianjing Prefecture and let Wei Yan investigate."

"yes."

Erfeng responded and casually called over a guard to have the beggar taken away.

Xue Shu became anxious, "Why did Your Highness send someone to take him away? He framed my Xue family, and he hasn't even explained himself yet."

Shen Cong gave her a cold glance.

"If the Xue family is innocent, they can appeal directly to Bianjing Prefecture. If they are innocent, they can be sentenced directly in Bianjing Prefecture, saving them the trouble of making two trips to Bianjing Prefecture."

Xue Shu was so angry she nearly fell backward.

Why did King Xuan speak so harshly?

She was so anxious that tears were about to fall as she tugged at Xie Xuanxiao.

"Brother Xie, what should I do? Can you take me home? I can go home and explain what happened today to my father."

Xie Xuanxiao hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay, don't worry, I'll take you home."

He bowed slightly to Shen Cong.

"I shall take my leave now, Your Highness, please make yourself at home."

Li Nanke waved her little hand and said with a smile, "Brother Xie, I will definitely come to thank you tomorrow."

Xie Xuanxiao paused for a moment, then strode away.

"Brother Xie? Tsk tsk, you call me so intimately. I didn't know you and Xie Xuanxiao were so close?"

A soft, cold snort sounded from above.