Everyone in the West Side Hall was escorted to Sangyuxuan. The imperial chefs identified them one by one based on their memory and selected a few familiar palace maids.
Xie Yanci immediately recognized Shi Qing kneeling among them: "Why are you here again?"
"Your Majesty, I am the personal attendant of Concubine Song. I have many responsibilities, including fetching meals from the kitchenette."
Royal Chef Li nodded. "Yes, that's her! She comes here often! She directs the cooks to cook, and she watches from the side. Sometimes she'll even talk to the servants."
"So, you two are acquainted?"
The emperor's question silenced everyone.
They also didn't know whether this ordinary palace maid would be implicated in the murder of the imperial heir. If she agreed and was implicated later, her wealth and glory would be lost.
But if you go against your conscience and say you don't know him, and the emperor finds out you've lied, you won't escape punishment either.
"I am patiently asking questions, why do you insist on being so silent?"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I dare not do this!" Li Yuchu's forehead was covered with sweat. He turned his head and whispered to the others, "Anyone who has talked to her before, please step forward!"
Another thin figure stepped forward and replied timidly, "Your Majesty, I once spoke to this sister."
"Please be more specific."
"That's right, I caught a cold that day and had a stomachache, but the meal my young master needed required constant heat, so I couldn't leave it alone for a while. Fortunately, the sister sitting there was kind enough to come over and help. After watching the fire for a while, I was able to..."
Lu Xingzhou bowed again and interrupted, "Your Majesty, has she tampered with the food during this time?"
"This...this servant really doesn't know!" The man was extremely scared and stared at Shi Qing helplessly. "Good sister, you should tell me!"
Shi Qing's face was pale and she said nothing.
Just then, a rapid cough was heard from the inner hall.
Wen Yu stood up almost subconsciously and ran to Wei Shuyi's bed: "Miss! How are you?!"
Xie Yanci did not blame her for her impoliteness and followed her in: "Yao'er, the imperial physician is preparing medicine for you. After you finish, lie down and rest. I will take care of the rest."
Wei Shuyi patted his chest until his breathing became steady. "What is the emperor doing outside? I heard they were interrogating me, but what happened?"
"Someone has tampered with your daily meals and incense. I must find the person behind this today to serve as a warning to others!"
"Incense?"
Wei Shuyi looked at the newly decorated incense burner in the hall and felt sad.
Wen Yu explained promptly, "Your Majesty, my young mistress used to make her own small incense burners and add incense herself. Ever since the witchcraft case, she's abandoned those little gadgets and switched to the large incense burner in the palace. Naturally, the task of adding incense was left to the palace servants at Sang Yuxuan. I never thought that person would be so vicious! He would find any opportunity to harm my young mistress!"
"Yao'er, you shouldn't get angry easily, nor worry too much. Just lie down here. I'll go deal with it first, and then I'll come back to accompany you."
Xie Yanci stopped her from getting off the bed again, and after comforting her with a few words, he walked around the screen and went to the outer room.
This time, he didn't focus on the small kitchen and ask further questions. Instead, he shouted, "Take all the palace servants in charge of spices at Sang Yuxuan and bring them to the Ministry of Punishment. Anyone who refuses to tell the truth will be killed without mercy!"
In the past, people who went to the Ministry of Punishment to suffer could basically come back alive as long as they kept their mouths shut.
The emperor's words clearly showed that he would rather kill an innocent person than let the real murderer go. This made the palace people cry and scream, and the situation was in chaos for a while.
"Did you do this? You were the most active one a while ago, rushing to show up in the inner hall!" "I thought it was you! You left your cleaning job and insisted on getting the spices!" "I saw you acting sneaky the other day, were you planning to murder the young lady?!"
Several palace servants began to accuse each other until the guards came forward and slapped them one by one, causing their teeth to fall out and blood to flow from the corners of their mouths. Only then did they cover their faces and fall silent again.
The palace maid huddled in the corner cried the loudest. She suddenly grabbed Shi Qing's sleeve and said, "Sister, didn't you say that the emperor wouldn't investigate strictly? Why did things turn out like this? Sister, you have to protect me! I don't want to die! I don't want to die at all!"
The guard decisively drew his sword and cut off the sleeve.
Then he picked up the palace maid and threw her at Xie Yanci's feet—
"What were you talking about just now?"
"Your Majesty, please spare me! I will never dare to do that again! Yes, it was Sister Shiqing who gave me the spices, saying that they were Concubine Song's favorites and they were very expensive! I also wanted to show off in front of the young lady so that I could get a promotion, so I was blinded by my own greed and accepted them! Later, I also secretly replaced the spices. I really didn't mean to harm the young lady!"
The palace maid was crying like a pear blossom in the rain, and Xie Yanci just thought it was noisy.
His bright yellow boots kicked at her chest, and he was furious: "You randomly replaced unknown spices, and do you think I should praise you for being loyal to the Lord?!"
"Slave girl, slave girl dare not!"
He was too lazy to continue arguing with this person and walked straight to Shi Qing: "Are you not going to tell the truth yet?"
"I was unaware of this. The spice was indeed given to me by the young lady. Ever since she was demoted by the Emperor, the young lady has been particularly eager to mend her relationship with Xi Changzai and reconcile. I assumed she simply wanted to give the precious spice to relieve Xi Changzai's worries and had no ill intentions, so I gave it to her."
"Oh... no ill intentions? If she really wanted to give a gift, why couldn't she just do it openly? Why did she have to ask you to ask the lowest-ranking palace maid to arrange it?!"
Shi Qing looked up in surprise, her tone still innocent: "Your Majesty, you know the young lady's temper. Since she has repeatedly ordered this, I can only do it. How can I trace the root cause? Your Majesty, just because I asked the reason before, I was beaten into this state..."
As she spoke, she pulled up her sleeves, revealing scratches of varying lengths on her arms!
Jing Ning frowned and muttered to himself: "Oh my God! How did this happen!"
"Your Majesty, when the young lady is upset, she always takes it out on me. She's been scratched with knives, burned with candlelight, and doused with vegetable soup. I've endured it all. I really don't dare to ask the young lady's intentions!"
Xie Yanci stared at the scars, and his anger gradually shifted to Concubine Song.
I thought locking her up for a while to let her reflect would have some effect. Unexpectedly, she became even more violent! When she couldn't beat the other concubines, she started beating the servants around her!
The means were cruel and the attack was brutal. It was obvious that he was acting with the intention of killing people!
Such a vicious person cannot continue to stay in the harem and cause trouble!
The emperor turned around and sat back in the main seat, letting out a long sigh. "Yang Mingrui, call Concubine Song here. I have something to ask her!"
"yes!"
Eunuch Yang hurried out. When he passed by Shi Qing, he couldn't help but flicked his whisk and sighed.
What kind of masters are these? They don't care about the lives of their servants at all!
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