Zhao Zhiyan grabbed Xu Lingqing's wrist, his voice low and menacing: "You absolutely cannot admit that the antidote was given to you by someone, understand?"
Such a statement is utterly laughable.
The civil and military officials wouldn't believe it.
Xu Lingqing nodded, then asked anxiously, "Your Highness, will these people be a threat to you?"
"How could that be?" Zhao Zhiyan shook his head. "I will handle this matter properly."
After saying that, he stood up and walked outside. When he saw the figures of many Imperial Guards standing outside, his eyelids twitched suddenly.
Unlike the Imperial Guards, which were personally trained by the Emperor of Northern Chu, the Imperial Guards were trained in the palace by many royal relatives and the Empress Dowager.
He frowned and instructed the guards beside him, "Take good care of the Imperial Concubine Tai and the Princess."
"yes."
He led a dozen or so guards to the Hall of State Affairs.
At this moment, a large group of people were kneeling outside the council hall. The leader of them was the old prince, who was crying his heart out and cursing Zhao Zhiyan for being unfilial, colluding with Japan behind the scenes, and being a sinner of Northern Chu.
"What do you mean by that, Your Highness?" Zhao Zhiyan asked angrily.
The old prince heard the voice and snorted coldly: "The assassin who tried to assassinate the emperor was not from Northern Chu at all. The emperor has already investigated and found out that it was from Dongying. Then the emperor was in trouble. The day before yesterday, your mother, Consort Rou, forced the emperor to abdicate in your favor, otherwise she would kill Princess Jiahua. Zhao Zhiyan, don't say that you didn't know anything about it!"
Zhao Zhiyan frowned deeply.
He was indeed unaware of it.
Japan...
"Zhao Zhiyan, you are so vicious!" The old prince pointed at him, "The Emperor was going to pass the throne to you, why were you in such a hurry?"
"Who doesn't know that the Eighth Princess Consort spent three years in Japan!"
"The Eighth Prince used assassins to rescue Consort Rou, and then used the antidote to force the Emperor to abdicate. What a brilliant scheme!"
Zhao Zhiyan's face darkened: "I didn't!"
The old prince was so angry that his veins bulged: "Then explain why Consort Rou was not poisoned. All the weapons recorded by the Censorate were coated with Heartbreak Powder!"
The old prince slammed the booklet down on Zhao Zhiyan: "Look for yourself!"
Zhao Zhiyan bent down and picked it up. It was written in the handwriting of the Emperor of Northern Chu. There were 108 assassins, none of whom were registered in Northern Chu. Each of them had poison hidden in their mouths, and their knives were covered with Heartbreak Powder...
He would never mistake the handwriting of the Northern Chu Emperor.
It's a thick volume, so it's impossible for it to be fake.
"Does the Eighth Prince recognize these two people?" Empress Dowager Xu's voice suddenly rang out, accompanied by two palace maids, both of whom were bound hand and foot and gagged.
Upon seeing who it was, Zhao Zhiyan's eyelids twitched.
Because those two palace maids were the same two who had accused the doctor of stealing the medicine.
When Xu Lingqing was on the verge of death, he went to the Empress Dowager to ask for the antidote. He happened to run into the old prince chatting with the Empress Dowager and his relatives. He not only failed to get the antidote, but was also humiliated.
Just before leaving, I overheard two palace maids whispering to each other, and one of them mentioned that Granny Tan had mentioned the antidote.
In a fit of anger, he took the two palace maids away and interrogated them privately.
The two were too timid to admit it and confessed immediately.
Therefore, Zhao Zhiyan, not wanting to alert the enemy, ordered the two to steal the medicine in order to avoid the death penalty.
The two men lived up to expectations and stole the antidote.
After Xu Lingqing regained consciousness, he suggested that the two of them expose Empress Dowager Xu and seek justice. Seeing that Xu Lingqing had just escaped death and that Empress Dowager Xu had been aggressive and demanding, he took the two of them to find the Emperor of Northern Chu.
Unexpectedly, the Emperor of Northern Chu did not personally interrogate her, but instead led his men directly to Empress Dowager Xu.
Both of them vehemently denied the existence of an antidote.
Empress Dowager Xu looked down at the two palace maids and said, "Speak, tell us the whole story!"
Empress Dowager Xu was certain that she had been framed, because she had never given Lingxi the Western Region Illusionary Face poison, and must have been falsely accused.
Therefore, she immediately investigated the background of the two palace maids and used both threats and inducements to finally get them to tell the truth.
What a load of rubbish about an antidote! It was all Xu Lingqing's own scheme.
"Your Majesty, when Miss Su Jing first entered the palace, she gave each of us five hundred taels of silver and said that as long as this matter was resolved, she would find a way to let us leave the palace."
The two spoke in unison.
Zhao Zhiyan frowned: "Su Jing is already dead."
"This servant is dead, but the master is still alive. I heard that the Eighth Princess Consort has also entered the palace today. Why don't we invite her out and ask her something?" Empress Dowager Xu said provocatively.
"The Empress Dowager is absolutely right. All these things are due to the machinations of the Eighth Prince's wife," the old prince agreed.
Zhao Zhiyan, however, insisted that Xu Lingqing was innocent and must have been used by someone.
“The two palace maids are untrustworthy; their words cannot be taken seriously.” Zhao Zhiyan’s eyes flashed with coldness, but his face remained calm: “This matter has nothing to do with her, a mere woman.”
Empress Dowager Xu pressed on: "If it has nothing to do with her, then it must be the Eighth Prince who is behind it. Everyone, use your brains and think about it. If I really poisoned the Eighth Prince's wife, why would I hide the antidote in the makeup box? Why would I be so careless as to let two palace maids know about it? And how could they dare to find the antidote right under my nose and send it out without anyone noticing? The two palace maids don't even have the chance to enter the palace to serve me normally!"
Zhao Zhiyan's expression changed slightly.
"The Imperial Concubine Rou used the pretext of delivering medicine to see the Emperor and threatened him to abdicate. This was witnessed by the eunuch who served tea."
The old prince pointed to the kneeling eunuch beside him: "The eunuch was making tea in the side room at the time, so he heard the whole story."
The young eunuch knelt down in fear and kowtowed: "This servant heard Consort Rou insult Princess Jiahua as a vixen and the Emperor as a short-lived ghost. Now that Princess Jiahua is poisoned, it is all retribution. In a fit of anger, the Emperor wanted to kill Consort Rou, but she took out a bottle of antidote, and the Emperor hesitated. Consort Rou then said that if the poison is not cured within three days, Princess Jiahua will surely perish."
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
