Chapter 42

The courtyard of Dali Temple is gray.

The sky was gray, the ground was gray, and even the faces of those wearing official robes were gray.

The air was thick with a sour, rotten smell. It was anger, despair, the curses and tears of countless people, all mixed together and fermented into this pungent odor that sent chills down one's spine.

Cui Yunshu stood in the center of this gray area.

She can hear sounds.

Sounds came from all directions.

"Murderer! Give me back my daughter's face!"

"The heartless Cui family! They use poison to make money and kill people! May they die a horrible death!"

"Punish them severely! They must be severely punished! Destroy their home!"

Cries and curses, like a sticky, icy downpour, pelted her head.

She can see.

She saw those noblewomen who had once fought tooth and nail for a reservation spot in "Flowers in the Mirror" now looking at her with the most resentful and gloating eyes, as if they were looking at a prisoner who had been stripped naked and was about to be paraded through the streets.

She could see the families of the real victims, their eyes bloodshot, their faces twisted with a mixture of grief and extreme anger. They wanted to rush forward, to tear her apart, but were held back by the royal guards in black uniforms that Tang Pu had brought.

She could even see that, in a corner of the crowd, the Second Prince's Consort Wei Shuyu, sitting in a magnificent carriage, was watching her from afar with a look of smugness and cruelty, separated only by a thin veil.

Everyone thought she was crazy.

It was she who took the initiative to request the Dali Temple to intervene.

It was she who took the initiative to invite all the victims' families, prominent figures in the capital, and even storytellers and idlers who thrived on chaos, to participate in this unprecedented, public "trial."

She put the Cui family, and herself, in a precarious position.

Everyone was waiting to see her burned to ashes.

"Miss Cui Si".

The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, an old man over fifty years old with a face as ashen as the courtyard, finally spoke impatiently. His voice was like a stone dragged across the sand, dry and hoarse.

"With witnesses and physical evidence all presented, what else do you have to say?"

The physical evidence consists of the confiscated so-called "toxic" jade cream.

The witnesses were those once beautiful noblewomen, lying on stretchers, carried to the center of the courtyard, their faces covered with white cloths, only able to whimper.

Cui Yunshu neither looked at those people nor those objects.

She simply raised her head slowly, her gaze passing over everyone else, and landed on the expressionless face of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.

"Your Honor," her voice, though not loud, was like a cold needle that pierced through all the noise, "I only have one question: when you adjudicate cases, do you base your decisions on evidence or on hearsay?"

The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review frowned.

"Naturally, it's based on evidence."

"good."

Cui Yunshu nodded.

She turned around and said one word to the maid who had been standing behind her.

"superior."

Two maids carried in a box.

The box was opened, but inside were neither gold nor silver jewelry, nor any tokens of pleading.

Instead, it was a set of extremely strange-looking utensils made of glass and brass. A huge glass flask, several winding tubes, and below it a small alcohol lamp burning with a blue flame.

Everyone was stunned.

What is this? A furnace for alchemy?

Cui Yunshu did not explain.

In front of everyone, she took a box of so-called "poisonous" jade cream that had been seized by the government, and used a silver spoon to scrape all the cream into the huge glass flask.

Then, she lit the alcohol lamp.

Blue flames licked the bottom of the flask.

Everyone held their breath and craned their necks to watch this bizarre scene.

They saw the paste in the flask slowly melt into a milky white liquid after being heated. White steam flowed slowly along the tube to a small glass bottle immersed in ice water at the other end.

Time passed, second by second.

Gradually, a layer of transparent liquid condensed inside that small glass bottle.

Inside the huge flask, the originally milky white liquid slowly began to separate into a thin, almost invisible, light green oily substance.

Cui Yunshu turned off the engine.

She first pointed to the small bottle from which a clear liquid had condensed and said to everyone:

"This is the base of 'Jade Complexion Cream,' which is distilled from flower dew and spring water. It is colorless, odorless, and non-toxic."

Then, she carefully used a thin silver needle to dab a tiny bit of the pale green oily substance from the flask.

Her voice became cold and sharp.

"And this is the real 'poison' that has damaged the appearances of you ladies."

The entire courtyard was deathly silent.

Everyone was stunned by this incredible, almost magical, maneuver.

They don't understand.

But they were deeply shocked.

"Nonsense!" Someone in the crowd finally realized that this person was probably sent by the Second Prince's faction to stir up trouble. "You're just being mysterious! Who knows what kind of nonsense is in this bottle!"

"Yes! She's stalling for time!"

"Witch! This is sorcery!"

The crowd started making noise again.

Looking at those clamoring faces, Cui Yunshu revealed, for the first time, a faint, almost cruel smile.

This is exactly the effect she wanted.

I'm too lazy to waste any more words.

Under the deathly silence of the entire audience, she did something that sent everyone's souls flying.

She first took out another intact box of "Jade Complexion Cream" from her sleeve, which had been personally verified by officials of the Dali Temple and stamped with sealing wax, and then opened it.

She used one finger to dab the snow-white, delicate cream and applied it evenly to the right half of her face.[19]

The movements were composed and elegant, as if she were not at a public trial, but at her own dressing table in her boudoir.

Then.

She then extended another finger.

Amidst the horrified screams and gasps of everyone, she extended her finger toward the silver needle stained with pale green "venom."

She carefully applied that tiny bit of the deadly poison that could fester her beautiful face to the left half of her face.[19]

"She's gone mad! She's gone mad!"

"My God! She actually... tested the poison on herself!"

"Stop her! Stop her now!"

The crowd erupted in chaos.

Even the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review was so surprised that he stood up from his chair.

The Second Prince's Consort, Wei Shuyu, gripped the carriage window curtain tightly, her smug smile freezing for the first time.

Tang Pu's heart leaped into his throat. He instinctively wanted to rush forward, but when he saw Cui Yunshu's calm, almost cold, gaze, he abruptly stopped in his tracks.

He believed her.

Trust her unconditionally.

"One hour."

Cui Yunshu's voice resounded clearly in everyone's ears.

“An hour later, the truth will be revealed.”[19]

After she finished speaking, she sat down on a chair nearby.

He closed his eyes.

It looks like she's asleep.

That one hour was the longest and the shortest hour that Cui Yunshu had experienced since her rebirth.

The whole world fell silent.

She could hear the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the old locust tree in the courtyard.

She could hear the suppressed, heavy breathing of the officials, their families, and the onlookers around her.

She could feel the changes in her face.

On the right, it feels cool and comfortable; the Jade Complexion Cream is slowly being absorbed by the skin.

And on the left...

At first, I didn't feel anything.

Then came a subtle, tingling itch, like being bitten by ants.

Then came the scorching heat.

It was as if a small, invisible flame was burning wildly beneath her skin.

She didn't move.

Not even a twitch of his eyelids.

She is waiting.

Wait for the medication to take effect.

When everyone's patience has been exhausted.

The mastermind behind it all went from smugness to doubt, and then to... fear.

When the slender shadow of the sundial at Dali Temple finally moved to the next mark.

Cui Yunshu opened her eyes.

She slowly stood up.

In front of everyone, she raised her hand and gently removed the veil from her face.

"ah--!"

A piercing scream shattered the deathly silence.

It was sent by a noblewoman who was closest to her.

Immediately following was a chorus of gasps of astonishment.

Everyone saw it.

I saw that face, so beautiful it could make all the colors in the world pale in comparison.

A face that is... half heaven and half hell.

Her right cheek was as smooth as jade and as delicate as porcelain, gleaming with a healthy and soft glow in the sunlight, flawless.

And the left side of her face...

It was red, swollen, and ulcerated, covered with tiny, densely packed pustules, from which a pale yellow, nauseating liquid was slowly oozing out.

Two completely different scenes appear on the same face, creating a shocking, eerie, and terrifying contrast.

Prove your innocence!

She proved to the world in the most tragic and irrefutable way that "Yu Rong Gao" itself is non-toxic!

It's poisonous; it's something that was added by someone!

In the crowd, the Second Prince's Consort Wei Shuyu's body suddenly swayed, and her face instantly turned ashen.

impossible……

That's impossible!

How could she... How dare she!

Cui Yunshu ignored the shock of the crowd.

She simply looked at the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review with an eerily calm gaze and said, word by word:

"My lord, is the evidence sufficient now?"

Before the Minister of Justice could answer...

She slowly raised one hand and pointed to the Second Prince's carriage in the crowd.

Her voice suddenly rose, like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath, gleaming with cold light!

"This poison is called 'Skin-Rotting Grass'. It is not highly toxic, but it can react with orchidone to corrode the skin. This grass is rare, and it is afraid of cold and prefers dampness. In the entire Qin Dynasty, it only grows in three swampy areas in the southern region."

"And the largest production area happens to be located in..."

Her voice was drawn out, each word like a heavy hammer blow, striking everyone's heart.

"...Your Highness, Second Prince's Consort, within your maternal family's fiefdom!"

boom--

The crowd erupted in chaos.

All eyes, like sharp arrows, were fixed on the trembling, magnificent carriage.

Wei Shuyu felt her blood freeze in that instant.

Cui Yunshu's trial is not yet over.

Just then.

The courtyard gate was suddenly kicked open.

Tang Pu's personal guards dragged in a man who was bruised and swollen and trembling all over, like a dead dog.

"My lord!" the guard shouted, "We've caught him! It's the 'Mirror Flower Fate' shop assistant who took money and poisoned the Jade Face Cream!"

Witness testimony!

Physical evidence!

motivation!

Everything forms a perfect closed loop!

The true intentions are revealed when the truth is finally revealed!

Cui Yunshu stood there, one side of her face was stunningly beautiful, while the other side was festering and looked like a ghost.

A cold, victorious smile curled at the corners of her lips.

She looked at the carriage, at the woman who had completely lost her composure, and silently uttered a sentence in her heart.

The game is over.