Chapter 12 Chapter 12 My prince...he faints at the sight of blood. ...
There was a crackling sound, and the candlelight on the table flickered, but Shi Chun's heart sank.
Since the mysterious haunting incident within the palace, the past three days have been eerily quiet. The palace maids who shared her quarters occasionally shared Xie Tingyu's progress in the palace, but it was just a search, not a public prosecution.
Shi Chun was proud of her own little trick, but she hadn't expected that she could get away with it simply by playing dumb. Taoist Master Xie only came to question her for a while before leaving, never to return. After all, he was only a minor envoy, without the authority to bring charges in the palace.
The emperor only gave her a three-day deadline, and today was the last day. As long as she could complete the task perfectly after tonight, she might even get her wife's praise and be allowed to leave the palace and become the chief hand in the farm below. Then she could save more money for her family.
Thinking of this, Shi Chun felt quite thirsty. After gulping down a cup of tea, she lay down on the bed. Inexplicably, her eyelids began to droop, and soon she fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up, she found her hands tied behind her back and tied to a chair. She was stunned, not knowing whether it was a dream or reality.
Black, very black.
This was Shi Chun’s first impression.
She worked in the palace, and had visited every palace and every corridor, but this place was completely unfamiliar.
After a moment, Shi Chun could roughly make out that she was in a confined, narrow place. But for some reason, she always felt as if countless pairs of eyes were watching her from the dark, their gazes as if they were tangible, creeping sticky and cold across the back of her neck.
Shi Chun was sweating profusely. She struggled secretly, but the rope didn't budge at all.
There was a click. Something seemed to be punctured. Then, for no apparent reason, a faint blue-green light began to fill the air, floating and moving like a will-o'-the-wisp.
With a thud, several hollow bamboo tubes rolled over and finally stopped at Shi Chun's feet.
One drop, two drops, three drops of sweat trickled down her forehead. Shi Chun's eyes widened in shock. Of course she knew what it was. It was phosphorus ash refined from pig and sheep bones she had obtained from a client outside the palace. This substance would spontaneously ignite with the slightest breeze, emitting a faint blue flame.
She remembered that in order to destroy the evidence, they hung it on the beams of the palace, which was very hidden.
When people conduct a search, they usually check cabinets, boxes, and other items, but few people would look up and carefully examine the beams and rafters.
A piece of paper floated in from nowhere, with the four big words "Unforgivable Crime" written on it, red and hideous, and then the words slowly disappeared.
It turns out that Xie Tingyu knew, Xie Tingyu knew everything!
But so what... Shi Chun gritted her teeth. As long as she continued to act crazy or turned against Xie Tingyu, she couldn't do anything. Now her mother, father, and brother were all in the village. She didn't mind dying, but she couldn't let her family get hurt.
The curtain moved slightly, and someone was vaguely visible standing there.
Suddenly, a candle flame lit up.
The curtain was lifted, and a man holding a candlestick walked slowly towards Shi Chun.
The man had long hair draped over his shoulders, wore no ornaments, and was dressed in a plain white robe.
Shi Chun tried hard to swallow his saliva, his eyes wide open almost to the point of bursting.
The man's face was thickly smeared with white lead powder, giving it the appearance of a mask. His expression was blank, and he exuded a fishy odor that only belonged to the underworld.
In the flickering candlelight, the man's face looked particularly eerie and terrifying.
The figures of the two people gradually approaching were reflected on the paper wall.
"I am..." The man spoke in a low voice and was interrupted before he could introduce himself.
"My dear? Are you the dear who used to live in Chunhe Hall?" Shi Chun asked in a shrill voice.
Shi Chun was so frightened that he fell over with the chair, dragging his whole body with the chair on his back, resting his forehead on the ground, shaking like a sieve. "My dear, please forgive me. I only used your palace to cause trouble, but I didn't really kill anyone in your name!"
"...If you interrupt again, I'll cut off your tongue with this dagger."
The man knelt on one knee, put the candlestick aside, and took out a golden knife that could cut through iron like mud.
The cold blade pressed against Shi Chun's cheek as the man spoke, "I am the Inspector of the Netherworld, serving in the service of the Great Emperor of Fengdu, Yinxuantian. I am in charge of examining crimes and imprisoning souls."
"You are in the human world, yet you are using the deceased's name to stir up trouble. This truly smears the reputation of our Fengdu. According to the Laws of the Underworld, after death you will be punished by having your tongue pulled out and your eyes gouged out, and you will be condemned to the animal realm for eternity."
The blade was pressed against Shi Chun's chin, sliding down his neck, causing slight tremors on the skin wherever it passed, and finally the tip of the knife touched Shi Chun's heart and chest.
"The Emperor has said that he will rip your heart out alive and see if it's truly as black as ink. Then he'll put it in a hot wok, add some oil, and boil it. When it's golden brown and cooked through, he'll cut it into pieces and feed them to you."
The next moment, the blade stabbed inward without hesitation.
Shi Chun screamed in fear, watching a bloody, mucus-covered heart ripped out from her right chest.
The person squeezed her heart, and dark red blood dripped down between her fingers. "Now, this inspector asks you, who is the mastermind behind this? And who is working with you to commit this crime?"
Shi Chun was so frightened that his heart and liver were broken, and he let out a discordant whimper from his throat. Naturally, he could not answer Xie Tingyu's question.
Xie Tingyu thrust the golden knife into the pig's heart and was about to ask further questions, but she saw that Shi Chun seemed to have lost his mind due to her fright. After a fierce struggle, he actually pulled the rope apart, climbed up from the ground using his hands and feet, and directly broke through the paper wall.
“………………”
Who tied this rope?
Shi Chun missed a step and fell down. The people who were watching quietly under the stage screamed and retreated.
It turned out that this was a stage built inside the palace.
Xie Tingyu asked someone to make arrangements in advance and put drugs in the tea. After Shi Chun was drugged, he tied him up and brought him here, then stuffed a pig's heart into his clothes. Everything was ready.
She reported the emperor's will in advance and invited the emperor's pen-holding envoy, the chief eunuch, a group of palm-wielding envoys, and Ji Lian to the scene to watch how she would use her own method to retaliate against him, how to break through his psychological defenses and find out the mastermind behind the scenes.
...But I didn't expect that I would play too much and make people stupid.
Shi Chun was like a madman. Seeing that the people surrounding her were all maids and ladies-in-waiting of high rank in the palace, she screamed, "Why are you here too? Are you dead too?"
Everyone: “…………”
His body moved faster than his brain. Shi Chun pushed the crowd away with his hands and stumbled out. Suddenly, he heard a whoosh sound and a sharp blade seemed to come through the air.
When everyone saw the arrow, they didn't care about anything and covered their sleeves to avoid it. The arrow was like a meteor, magically passing through everyone and heading straight for the back of Shi Chun's thigh.
Xie Tingyu had prepared the bow and arrow, as well as the quiver, in advance, just in case.
The moment Shi Chun rolled down, Xie Tingyu easily threw away the pig heart, put on his quiver, and picked up the bow and arrow.
She has always been confident in her archery skills, and her arrows never miss their target.
"Are you still going to run? If you do, I can't guarantee where my next arrow will land."
Xie Tingyu took out another arrow and aimed the bow.
But how could Shi Chun, who was frightened out of his mind, listen to these words?
She didn't even bother to pull out the arrow from the back of her thigh, but instead dragged her injured leg and limped out, leaving a conspicuous trail of blood on the ground.
Xie Tingyu narrowed his eyes and shot another arrow without mercy.
The maid who had no time to retreat immediately froze in place, closed her eyes tightly, and only heard the rustling sound of the wind in her ears.
The arrow grazed her and hit Shi Chun's shoulder blade behind her, just three inches away from her heart.
Shi Chun fell to the ground, unable to move. Blood slowly overflowed from the wound, staining her undergarment brown-red.
Seeing this, several palm masters immediately stepped forward and checked his breath to find that he was still alive. One of them held Shi Chun's arm and left together, leaving a clear pool of blood on the ground.
Ji Lian looked at the pile of pig hearts on the stage, with a golden knife shining with a cold light stuck straight in it.
So disgusting.
Xie Tingyu bent down, pulled out the golden sword, and turned to walk towards Ji Lian. The blade was still stained with sticky meat and mixed with strands of blood.
Even more disgusting.
Ji Lian felt her stomach churning, and felt that the golden sword she had lent to Xie Tingyu was no longer usable, and it would be better to throw it away.
He turned his head and saw a pool of blood. The sour feeling rising from his stomach became stronger and stronger. He quickly turned his back, covered his mouth with his hands, and felt dizzy.
Jiangzhu quickly reached out to support his prince.
Xie Tingyu used a towel to wipe the meat residue on the blade, and then used a clean place to wipe the blood between his fingers, but the blood was not so easy to wipe off.
"How about I take it back, wash it, and then return it to Your Highness?"
Ji Lian's entire body was practically hanging on Jiang Zhu's shoulder. Upon hearing this, his back immediately straightened up, and he squeezed out a few words from between his teeth, "I don't want this knife anymore, I'll give it to you..."
The blood from the pig's heart clung to Xie Tingyu's fingers. The bloody odor brought waves of dizziness to Ji Lian. He clenched Jiangzhu's arm and said weakly, "Send me back quickly."
Xie Tingyu twisted the blade and examined it carefully, blinking. "Such a sharp knife. After washing it, you can use it for self-defense. It's not a table knife for cutting vegetables. Why are you so disgusted with it? I just used the knife to play with a pig's heart."
Jiangzhu hugged the shaky Ji Lian tightly and explained, "My prince...he faints from blood."
Xie Tingyu suddenly realized.
The Pen-Bearing Envoy arrived at the right moment and, after a few bows, said, "The palace haunting has been solved. Everything we saw and heard tonight has been recorded. Thank you, sir, for your meritorious service in exorcising the ghost. I will report this truthfully. However, I ask you to submit this evidence to the Zhaoxing Division at 5:00 PM the day after tomorrow. We will then proceed to the Taiji Hall to present the case in detail to His Majesty, so that he can decide on the next course of action."
Zhaoxingsi was the place responsible for the punishment of the harem, eunuchs and palace maids, while Taiji Hall was the emperor's office.
Xie Tingyu nodded in agreement and turned to leave.
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