In the past few days, people have been secretly coming to her door trying to curry favor with her.

Gu Jiangli accepted all of them without hesitation.

They didn't have much money on them, and coincidentally, she had injured her foot, so all they brought were medicines for treating her injury.

After Lotus took the medicine from her, she opened each one and looked at them. They were almost all medicinal wines for treating injuries and fractures, nothing special.

But on this day, a maid brought some medicine that was different from what was expected.

She knelt on the ground, and Gu Jiangli was quite familiar with her appearance.

This maid was among the people who danced with her at the banquet that day, but she didn't say much from beginning to end, so Gu Jiangli didn't have a deep impression of her.

She lowered her head, her face full of flattery, "This servant Wanxin greets the princess... oh no, Consort Yun. This servant knows that your foot is injured, so I specially found some medicine to treat it for you, hoping that you can recover soon and receive the emperor's favor."

As she finished speaking, a hint of shyness appeared on her face.

Wanxin placed the two medicine bottles in Hehua's hands, stepped back, and waited for Gu Jiangli to speak.

Gu Jiangli scrutinized Wanxin from head to toe, picked up the medicine bottle, and asked, "What kind of medicine did you bring?"

"Your Highness, this medicine is very effective in treating external injuries. I guarantee your foot will be fully recovered in three days."

Gu Jiangli's eyes darkened, and he raised the corners of his mouth to ask, "Is this medicine for external application or internal use?"

"Your Majesty, medicine for treating external injuries should naturally be applied topically."

"I understand." Gu Jiangli sneered, then said meaningfully, "Wanxin, do you know what kind of medicine Aman, who arrived an hour earlier than you, brought?"

Wanxin was taken aback, a look of bewilderment on her face: "Aman came too? What...what medicine did she bring for Her Majesty?"

"Nothing else, she just brought over a bottle of safflower wine."

"Safflower wine? Isn't that for treating bruises and sprains? That medicine is useless for Her Majesty."

Wanxin smiled much more easily.

I thought Oman had sent some more pleasing gift to the princess, but it turned out to be something completely useless.

The medicine she sent was more suitable for Her Majesty.

As Wanxin thought this, her smile grew even more confident and smug.

Lotus walked over from the side and sternly rebuked, "How dare you, Wanxin! You dare to collude with outsiders to murder the princess! What is your punishment!"

Wanxin was startled and looked at Hehua innocently: "Aunt Hehua, what are you saying? Colluding with outsiders to harm the princess? How could that be?"

Lotus was furious: "Still trying to deny it! Tell me, how did you know the princess's injury was external?"

Wanxin answered without hesitation, "What else could it be but an external injury? I was dancing with the princess at the banquet when she fell. His Majesty the Emperor questioned her, and that's what she said..."

At this point, Wanxin stopped talking abruptly.

Her face turned deathly pale in an instant, and she involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Speak up, why are you silent? What did the princess say at the banquet?"

Wanxin trembled, her knees buckled, and she knelt directly on the ground: "Princess...this servant..."

Gu Jiangli sat casually in the chair, his posture languid and his expression relaxed. "At the banquet, I clearly said that I had twisted my ankle. Whether it was Aman or the other attendants, the wines they sent were all pretty much the same, either safflower wine or meridian-clearing wine. They couldn't afford anything more expensive."

"Wanxin, you're the only one who thinks I have external injuries. Since you know so much about it, why don't you tell me in detail what kind of external injury I actually suffered?"

"This servant...this servant..."

Wanxin's body trembled like a leaf, and she couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time.

She was trembling violently, but Gu Jiangli was gradually losing patience.

This person clearly knows everything.

Either she did it, or she knew about it but didn't report it.

In any case, it is a serious crime.

"explain!"

A powerful roar made Wanxin confess everything: "Princess, please forgive me! Princess, please forgive me! I was bewitched and put an embroidery needle in your shoe... Please spare me! I have an eighty-year-old grandmother at home who cannot be without my care!"

"So you let me make a mistake at the banquet, almost causing my death at the emperor's hands?"

"No, no...you...you're alright now, aren't you?"

"Wanxin, you're tired of living."

"Princess, please forgive me! I misspoke."

"Who ordered this? Who else knows about this? Tell the truth, and I will guarantee your family's safety."

Wanxin trembled again, her face turning even paler.

This time, she dared not hide it any longer and tearfully confessed the truth:

“That day, a masked man approached me and said that I should hide a needle in the sole of your shoe so that your birthday dance would go wrong. He promised to give us ten taels of gold after the deed was done.”

"Waaah, so much money! I was blinded by greed and did such a heinous thing. I really know I was wrong..."

Gu Jiangli's brow furrowed, and he quickly caught the most important part of her words, "You just said 'we'? Who else is there besides you?"

"Your Highness, it was Yuzhen, Qingdai, and Doukou. Doukou was in charge of buying your dance clothes and shoes, Yuzhen was in charge of stealing your clothes, and Qingdai, who is skilled in needlework, made a new sole for your dance shoes. This servant and Qingdai together hid the embroidery needle in the sole of your shoe. But they have all..."

"He was already killed by the emperor at the banquet?"

"Yes, when the emperor was killing people, I was terrified, afraid that I would be next..."

Gu Jiangli frowned deeply. The people the emperor killed were all those who were detrimental to her.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!