Chapter 2474 Evidence

Thinking of this, her breath caught in her throat.

And Nan Yan said calmly: "Come in."

Before this, she had let people in twice in a row, one was Ruying and the other was Xin Mimi, both of which made Chen Lianxiang panic, so this time, Chen Lianxiang almost held her breath, and even her heartbeat almost stopped.

He opened his eyes wide and saw the eunuch who had been following the imperial concubine walk in with a blessing.

She couldn't help but frown.

What is this person doing here?

Tingfu walked into the imperial study, holding something in his hand, and knelt down to greet Zhu Feng, Nan Yan and the others: "Your servant greets the emperor, the imperial concubine, and all the ladies."

Nan Yan said calmly, "Tingfu, did you bring the things?"

Tingfu immediately raised his hands.

"I brought it."

Everyone looked closely and saw that he was holding a small box in his hand.

Zhu Feng asked, "What is this?"

Nan Yan took the box, turned around and handed it to Zhu Feng. Zhu Feng took it, opened it and frowned slightly.

Inside was half a box of incense ash.

He said, "This is—incense ash?"

When she heard the word "incense ash", Shen Lianxiang's breathing became heavy again.

And Nan Yan said calmly: "Yes."

Zhu Feng frowned and asked, "What's going on?"

Nan Yan turned to Tingfu and said, "Tingfu, tell the emperor yourself."

"yes,"

Tingfu knelt upright and said to Zhu Feng, "Your Majesty, these incense ashes are from the incense burnt by Fu'er, the maid of Xianfu Palace, every day in the rockery cave behind the main hall of Xianfu Palace."

"What!?"

Zhu Feng hadn't reacted yet, but Chen Lianxiang and Fu'er beside him were already terrified.

Chen Lianxiang originally wanted to remain calm, but at this point, she also panicked.

I never thought that they only secretly burned a piece of incense every day to destroy evidence. How could such a secret matter be discovered by the imperial concubine?

Could it be that the imperial concubine really sent someone to keep an eye on them?

Fu'er's face turned pale.

She opened her eyes wide, staring at the box in the emperor's hand, and said in panic: "How, how, how is it possible? I clearly went there alone, how could you -"

Tingfu said, "Miss Fu'er, you did burn these incense sticks by yourself. However, a piece of incense takes a long time to burn, and - probably because the incense is poisoned, you usually don't watch over it. After lighting the incense, you leave to do other things."

Fu'er's face turned pale, and she stammered, "So you, you——"

She looked at the box that was half full of incense ash, and her legs suddenly went weak and she almost fell to her knees.

Tingfu said: "That's right. Every time you leave, our family will find a way to enter Xianfu Palace."

Fu'er said in disbelief: "You, how did you know? I have never told anyone, how did you know?"

Tingfu said, "Miss Fu'er probably forgot that on the day when the Imperial Concubine announced that she would conduct a strict investigation of the harem, it was our family that brought the news to your Xianfu Palace."

"So what, I—"

Fu'er was trying to be stubborn at first, but suddenly she thought of something and her whole body trembled.

Even his voice began to tremble, and he looked at Tingfu in horror: "You, you——"

Tingfu sneered and said, "It seems that you finally remembered it."

“…”

"That day, you happened to be carrying something out, but when you met our family, you immediately hid the thing behind you."

“…”

"Although your movements were so quick that I couldn't see clearly, your actions were truly strange. Especially since Princess Xinping was drowning and unconscious, and the Imperial Concubine needed to use a strict investigation of the harem to lure out the evil, and the entire harem was in turmoil, it was inevitable that I would pay more attention to some suspicious people and things."

“…”

"Although you hid the things in your hand at that time, our family had already noticed you."

“…”

"After that, Concubine Jing went to the Imperial Concubine's palace, and I kept watching you. I discovered that you secretly took a piece of incense and ran behind the rockery to burn it."

“…”

"Although we didn't know that this incense was exchanged from Yangxingzhai, this matter is already suspicious. What's more, we also saw you sweep up the incense ashes and throw them into the water. This action is obviously destroying something that should not be known to others, so-"

Zhu Feng's eyes flickered, and he said in a deep voice, "So, from then on, you started observing her, and after she lit the incense and left, you collected the ashes."

Tingfu quickly turned to Zhu Feng and said respectfully, "Yes."

“…”

"Furthermore, Your Majesty, I collected more than just incense ash. If it were just incense ash, there would be no evidence of their involvement. Several times, I took advantage of her absence to extinguish the incense she had just lit and then used the incense ash I had prepared in advance to replace her, without her noticing."

"oh?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Feng reached out and fiddled with the box. Sure enough, he pulled out a few slightly burnt incense sticks from the ashes.

Upon seeing this, Chen Lianxiang seemed to collapse, took two steps back, and almost fell to the ground.

Zhu Feng raised his head, glanced at her coldly, and said, "Wang Baizhi."

Wang Baizhi immediately stepped forward: "I am here."

Zhu Feng said, "Check this incense."

"yes!"

Wang Baizhi hurriedly took the incense with both hands, and without even lighting it, she just put it to her nose and sniffed it, and immediately said, "Your Majesty, this incense is exactly the same as the residual incense that the Imperial Concubine took out from the Yangxing Studio!"

Nan Yan said calmly, "Ever since Tingfu came back to report to me, I've been counting. Concubine Jing had Fu'er burn a total of thirty-eight incense sticks."

“…”

"Including the one used in Yangxingzhai and the one in the Imperial Study today to enhance the efficacy of the medicine, there are a total of forty tablets."

As she spoke, she picked up the box of incense she found in Yangxingzhai.

"Just the right amount, a whole box of incense."

Having said that, she slowly turned around and looked at Chen Lianxiang, her eyes so cold that it seemed to pierce through her body and even her heart.

She said word by word, "Princess Jing, you said it yourself. Those who have fragrance are sinners."

“…”

"What else do you have to say!?"

With a "thump" sound, Chen Lianxiang knelt down.

However, she did not kneel down in fear. Instead, her whole body was shaking as if her bones had been pulled out, and she fell to her knees softly on the ground.

Cold sweat dripped from her face like beads that had broken off the string.

She stammered, "Concubine, concubine..."

At this moment, Zhu Feng's expression turned cold, and his voice became even deeper and more sinister: "Why are you doing this?"