Upon hearing this, the old eunuch trembled and hurriedly crawled forward two steps, begging for mercy: "Please spare my life, Your Highness! I really don't know anything. The person who came to me only said that I should quietly move a few potted plants from the east courtyard to the west courtyard."

"This old servant truly had no idea that poison was buried inside! If I had known, even if I had ten lives, I would never have dared to harm Her Highness and the young prince. I beg Your Highness to spare my life; I was completely bewitched and deceived..."

Xue Shen, who had gotten up to leave, sat back down after hearing this, looking at him with a mocking expression: "Oh? Since you were deceived, but Wang Deshun never said that there was poison buried in that potted plant, how did you know?"

The old eunuch, who was still desperately kowtowing and crying out for justice, suddenly froze like a duck being choked. His eyes widened, as if he couldn't find any words to refute him. After stammering for a long time, he suddenly burst into tears and cried out, "Please spare my life, Your Highness! Please spare my life, Your Highness! I really didn't know at first. I was just blinded by greed and took the money. After moving the potted plant over, I was curious and dug up the soil of the potted plant to take a look, and that's when I realized something was wrong."

“This servant didn’t want to, but that man threatened me, saying that I had already moved several pots over, and even if I regretted it now, I was already an accomplice. If I wanted to turn against him now, the prince wouldn’t spare me. This servant was forced into this situation, please spare my life, Your Highness…”

Xue Shen, with a cold expression, kicked away the old eunuch who crawled over and begged for mercy by clinging to his feet, and got up to leave.

"Find out the truth and give him a quick answer."

Wang Deshun bowed and replied, "Yes, sir." He continued, "Men, drag him to the torture chamber and interrogate him thoroughly."

*

The old eunuch realized that his scheme had been exposed and hated the person who had dragged him down with him. He then explained the whole story very clearly.

However, the person behind the scenes was very cautious. He wore a mask when meeting with the old eunuch, and the old eunuch really didn't know his identity. In short, he only knew a few things.

The other party was probably an old eunuch who was found about three days before Xue Shen decided to move into the East Palace.

At that time, the East Palace was very deserted. An old eunuch was in charge of cleaning and sweeping in the East and West Courtyards by himself. That person came to find the old eunuch at night, gave him one hundred taels of gold, and asked him to move a few potted plants from the East Courtyard to the West Courtyard.

Although the old eunuch was suspicious, the hundred taels of gold were so dazzling that he was blinded by greed and did not investigate further, so he agreed.

Before Xue Shen's men arrived at the East Palace, he moved nearly ten potted plants from the East Courtyard to the West Courtyard as requested by Xue Shen.

Afterwards, Xue Shen and Shen Youying moved into the East Palace and stayed in the West Courtyard.

The man in black never came to see the old eunuch again. The old eunuch was overjoyed to receive one hundred taels of gold, but then he remembered his previous doubts—the other party gave him so much silver just to move a few potted plants to the west courtyard.

He was puzzled, so he secretly found a potted plant in the east courtyard to study. He looked at it from left to right but couldn't see anything special about it. Finally, he had a sudden inspiration and dug out the soil from the potted plant. There he saw the bird carcass buried in the pot.

At first, he didn't know that the bird carcass was poisonous. He thought it was some kind of witchcraft curse and didn't dare to make a big fuss. He casually threw the bird carcass outside the courtyard wall and then nervously thought about how to leave the East Palace.

But what terrified him was that the next morning, when he passed by the courtyard wall, he found a dead wild dog outside the wall, with half a bird carcass in its mouth.

The wild dog was clearly poisoned by the bird carcass—the bird carcass was poisonous.

The old eunuch then realized what he had done. He was filled with dread and fear, but before he could come up with a way to escape, the man in black came after him again.

Moreover, the other party sensed his fear and guessed that he must have known the secret inside the flowerpot, so they directly threatened him.

Fearing exposure, the old eunuch could only help the other party move the remaining ten or so potted plants from the east courtyard to the west courtyard.

But fearing that if something really happened to Shen Youying, Xue Shen would trace it back to him through the potted plant, he tried every means to drag many eunuchs and palace maids into the mess to cover his tracks.

However, Wang Deshun was alert and was not fooled by his little tricks.

"That's all we got out of them." Wang Deshun presented the old eunuch's confession to Xue Shen: "The old eunuch didn't know much either. The other party was masked, so he didn't see the whole picture. However, he gave a very important clue: he said he thought the masked person was likely a woman."

The difference in body shape between men and women is significant. Although the other person was dressed in black and had her face covered, the old eunuch had served in the palace and had seen many women. Even though the other person was trying to conceal herself and deliberately spoke in a rough voice, he could still tell from her body shape, walking posture, and the ear piercings on her earlobes that she was a woman.

"woman?"

Xue Shen looked thoughtful: "Did they ask about his height and any distinguishing features?"

Wang Deshun said, "He was about the same height as an average man, very thin, and had calluses on his exposed hands, like someone who practices martial arts."

Several figures flashed through Xue Shen's mind before he finally settled on one. He narrowed his eyes slightly and sneered, "Yelü Nanxian!"

Since the Battle of the capital, in which the Northern Rong King was seriously wounded and the Northern Rong army was defeated and fled back to the grasslands, the name Yelü Nanxian has not appeared for a long time.

After careful consideration, Wang Deshun concluded that Yelü Nanxian did indeed fit several of the old eunuch's descriptions.

Yelü Nanxian was a Northern Rong person, much taller than women of the Great Wei, and about the same height as ordinary men of the Great Wei. She also practiced horseback riding and martial arts for many years, and her martial arts skills were extraordinary. Therefore, her hands were much rougher than those of ordinary women, with calluses worn from the reins and weapons.

And most importantly, Yelü Nanxian and Xue Shen were enemies.

It wasn't just about national hatred, but also personal grudges.

But what Wang Deshun couldn't understand was: "How could Yelü Nanxian be in the capital? And from what source did she know about those poisonous potted plants left in the Eastern Palace?"

This is exactly the question Xue Shen is currently pondering. He taps the armrest with his finger and says, "Go and investigate the Zhou family."

Although Empress Zhou had committed suicide, Zhou Qing was also killed by Consort Shen.

However, the rest of the Zhou family members are still alive, and Zhou Nian and others are still imprisoned in the Dali Temple prison, awaiting execution in the autumn.

If Yelü Nanxian had been lurking in the capital for a long time, she would naturally have been able to find out about the feud between the Zhou family and Xue Shen. The Zhou family was doomed either way. If Yelü Nanxian found them to cooperate, the Zhou family could drag Xue Shen down with them. Why not?

After all, everyone now knows that the new emperor, like the late emperor, loves his wife dearly.

The late emperor was greatly affected by the death of the late empress.

If Shen Youying dies in childbirth, it will be a tragedy of one life and three lives lost, and the new emperor will likely be devastated.

And most importantly, the death of the former Crown Princess in childbirth was orchestrated by Prince Chen. It was perfectly logical that the Zhou family, who were handling Prince Chen's affairs, would then inform Yelü Nanxian, knowing that poisonous potted plants remained in the Eastern Palace.