Lingxi shook her head: "This, this thing doesn't belong to me."
“Western Regions Illusionary Face.” Zhao Zhiyan looked at the small bottle with only a few medicines left: “This is a special medicine, which ordinary people cannot obtain. As long as you are willing to tell the truth, I will grant you a complete corpse.”
Lingxi looked up in astonishment, her face drained of color. She couldn't understand how going out for a walk had somehow become a matter of poisoning the princess.
She didn't do this at all.
Although Lingxi also wanted to kill Xu Lingqing, the Empress Dowager sent someone to tell her that if she could get pregnant, the Empress Dowager would make an exception and promote her to a concubine or even a secondary wife.
She hadn't even had a chance to act yet.
"Your Highness, the Princess Consort has framed me! I beg Your Highness to investigate!" Lingxi pleaded in her death throes.
Zhao Zhiyan lost his patience.
At that moment, a guard came up to him and whispered, "Ten days ago, Granny Tan from the palace met Aunt Ling at the back gate and they chatted for more than an hour."
Zhao Zhiyan chuckled, bent down and grabbed Lingxi's chin. A gentle smile suddenly appeared on his face, making Lingxi's heart pound wildly.
"Lingxi, was it the Princess Consort of Guangjia or the Empress Dowager who ordered you to do this?" He reached out his fingertips to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. "Tell me, and I will let bygones be bygones, shall I?"
He slowly helped the person up.
Lingxi was both surprised and delighted, and looked at Zhao Zhiyan in a panic: "Your Highness..."
"I know you had no choice, but now that you've married into this family, you're part of the Eighth Prince's household. Your honor and disgrace are intertwined with mine; only if I am well can you be well."
Under Zhao Zhiyan's patient guidance, Lingxi blurted out, "It's the Empress Dowager!"
Zhao Zhiyan raised an eyebrow: "Empress Dowager?"
He breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, it wasn't a little girl.
Lingxi nodded and buried her face in Zhao Zhiyan's arms: "Your Highness, whatever you ask me to do from now on, I will do it. Please have mercy on me."
Zhao Zhiyan distanced himself from the two, a smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes: "Are you willing to testify against the Empress Dowager?"
Lingxi was taken aback.
...
Ning'an Palace
Empress Dowager Xu woke up early in the morning sneezing incessantly, and her eyelids were twitching. She coldly ordered, "Bring me my Buddhist prayer beads."
Holding the prayer beads in her hand, she turned them one by one, as if only in this way could Empress Xu's restless heart gradually calm down.
"Send someone to tell Qing'er to come to the palace. It's been quite a while since I've seen her. I wonder how she's doing."
Xu Qing'er was summoned and soon entered the palace.
She looked exhausted, and Empress Dowager Xu asked with concern, "Why do you look so haggard?"
"Your Majesty, it's all because of my mother-in-law." Xu Qing'er pouted and complained, "My mother-in-law is becoming more and more difficult to serve. She can't be left alone. Zhao Qingyan has been using illness to avoid going to see me, and she has refused to go again after a few visits. I'm the only one serving her."
Empress Dowager Xu frowned: "Where are the servants in the manor?"
Xu Qing'er felt a little guilty and shook her head, saying, "It was all Qing'er's own choice."
"The Princess Consort of Zhennan has suffered enough in her life. At the age when she should be enjoying happiness, she has to encounter this kind of thing. Can she point out anything?" Empress Dowager Xu sighed.
Xu Qing'er shook her head; "Her hands and feet have been broken, her eyesight is poor, and she's confused. She mistakes people every day and almost didn't even recognize her own son. How could she remember who her enemy is?"
The Prince of Zhennan's Mansion had to swallow this bitter pill.
As the two were talking, news came from outside that the Eighth Prince had sent someone to deliver something.
Empress Dowager Xu wondered, "What could they possibly send over since it's neither a New Year nor a holiday?"
"Bring it in."
Two guards carried a large box into the room. When they opened the box, everyone gasped in shock. Empress Dowager Xu almost fainted from fright.
"Ah!" Xu Qing'er screamed, "Quickly, carry it out!"
Click, the box was closed again.
It took Empress Dowager Xu a long time to come to her senses. She had thought that her eyelids were twitching because Xu Qing'er was not doing well at the Zhennan Prince's Mansion. She never expected that the root cause of her eyelid twitching was the Eighth Prince's Mansion.
"Empress Dowager, why did the Eighth Prince's residence send such a thing in?" Xu Qing'er patted her chest, quite frightened.
Granny Tan said, "Your Majesty, this old servant just took a look, and it seems to be Lingxi."
Upon hearing the words "Lingxi," Empress Dowager Xu's face darkened sharply.
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