Chapter 40 She's Lying

The pavilion was already in chaos, with seats arranged in order of official rank.

Lu Jinchuan was a second-rank official, and along with several other people, he was the head of all officials, and his seat was closest to the emperor and others.

The third and fourth rank officials who came after them were relatively close to them, but the lower-rank officials who came after that were far away from the Lu family and could not hear Lu Xinran’s voice.

Many people didn't know that the Zhou father and son had passed away. When they heard that Zhou Zhengya was in trouble, they were all nervous and anxious as if their own daughter had died.

Tang Quyan and Song Junyan, one was the Minister of Dali Temple and the other was the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, both got up and left immediately.

The emperor had a gloomy face, but when he saw that the empress dowager looked normal and not unhappy about the disruption on her birthday, his expression softened a little.

"Mother, your son will take you back to the palace first."

The Queen Mother waved her hands quickly. Lu Xinran had aroused her curiosity that night, and now she wanted to go and see what was going on.

How come something happened to the girl from the Zhou family out of the blue?

"Queen, please help me. Let's go and take a look."

The Queen hurried forward and held the Queen Mother's arm, and the two of them walked towards the direction of the accident.

The emperor, who was left behind, touched his nose, as if he was abandoned!

He glanced in the direction of Lu's house and saw that Lu Xinran was still a little confused, not knowing what had happened.

"His Majesty……"

Eunuch Fu called out nervously, and the emperor gathered his thoughts, his face darkened again, and followed with big strides.

Lu Xinran was still in a daze. She hadn't expected that this body had such a poor alcohol tolerance. Her sleepy mind was still a little confused.

When the waterside pavilion was in chaos and the emperor and the empress dowager left one after another, she finally realized what had happened.

"Should we go take a look?"

As she spoke, she had already stood up with the help of Lu Xinlan's arm, but she was still a little dizzy and almost fell over.

Lu Yuanheng stretched out his hand nervously, but when he thought of the voices he had just heard and saw that she had steadied herself, he withdrew his hand awkwardly.

Lu Jinchuan had already swung his sleeves and strode away behind the emperor, not even glancing at the women in his family.

Lu Xinran was supported by his servants and walked staggeringly towards a secluded path.

Zhou Zhengya's body had been carried out of the lake. She was wrapped in wet clothes, her face was blue, her hair was disheveled, and she was lying lifeless on the ground. She no longer looked like a noble lady from the capital.

The coroner was still on his way, but Tang Quyan, who arrived earlier, had already rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward to examine the body.

"The initial inference is that he was hit on the back of the head with a blunt object and then pushed into the lake and drowned."

While he was talking, Song Junyan had already approached, squatted down and examined it carefully.

"Where is Miss Tuesday's maid?"

"Your Highness, I am here."

Two figures emerged from the crowd, both huddled together with panic-stricken looks on their faces.

"Why is your master here? When did he come? Why?"

The two maids knelt down with a thud, "Your Highness, we don't know either, but someone passed a note to the young lady during the banquet.

"After the young lady saw it, she left the waterside pavilion. I wanted to follow her, but she stopped me. She told me to wait outside the waterside pavilion. If she didn't come back after half an hour, she told me to go to Dingbo Pavilion to look for her.

"I waited for the young lady for a long time but she didn't come back, so I followed Qingye to look for her. Unexpectedly, unexpectedly..."

Hongmei was shaking as she spoke, and she was almost sticking to the ground.

Song Junyan and Tang Quyan looked at each other and were about to ask another maid to repeat it when they heard a familiar voice.

[No, this maid is lying! ]

The scene suddenly became quiet, and Lu Xinran, who was being supported by someone, was still flipping through the melon-eating system.

The emperor and the empress dowager were originally behind the crowd. When they saw Lu Xinran, they hurriedly took a few steps forward and stood within ten steps of her.

[She clearly gave the note to Zhou Zhengya. She knew who handed it to her. Why would she lie?]

Song Junyan and Tang Quyan continued to look at each other, and the two tacitly chose to continue waiting for their inner thoughts to reveal more details.

But the voice in his heart became silent at this point. Song Junyan looked through the crowd and saw that the owner of the voice was fighting against sleepiness.

[This glutinous rice wine is sweet and fragrant, why do I feel so sleepy after drinking it? ]

Lu Xinlan beside him was speechless. She drank three pots of wine by herself. After drinking so much, she just wanted to sleep, which already proved that the wine was not strong.

[No, no, I have to watch the sequel. I can’t let Zhou Zhengya offend the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother is so kind. She even gave me a reward today.]

Then there was a burst of silly laughter, which made Lu Xinlan want to cover her head, but he didn't know how to start.

The Queen Mother felt very relieved when she saw Lu Xinran standing and swaying in the crowd.

"He's a good kid. I was right."

It was just a string of Buddhist beads, not rare, but she still remembered it.

The Queen's eyes were extremely gentle, "How could she not remember how good her mother was to her?"

She was originally a kind-hearted child, and few people treated her well in the past.

The Queen Mother looked at Mrs. Pei and Mrs. Zhao and shook her head. These two... their actions were still a little lacking.

Lu Xinran's eyes were about to close. She was so sleepy that she couldn't even open the booklet in the system.

[What is the name of this maid? ]

"You two, tell me your names."

Song Junyan knew that she needed a name to see the details, so he started questioning the moment this voice in his heart rang out.

"My name is Hongmei."

"My name is Qingye."

[Hongmei, oh, yes, she was the one who lied just now. Let me see why she lied.]

[The note was handed to him by a little eunuch. What was the name of that little eunuch?]

Song Junyan: “…”

Tang Quyan listened carefully for a moment and understood the logic of Lu Xinran's investigation. If she didn't know the other party's identity and name, she would not be able to find out many things.

However, this can already help them a lot.

"Come here, take these two away for careful interrogation. If anyone is found to be lying, he will be immediately caned to death."

"Yes, sir!"

"My lord, have mercy on me, my lord, have mercy on me!"

Hongmei panicked instantly and knelt on the ground and kowtowed madly.

"I was wrong just now. I received the note from Eunuch Chen."

"I was wrong just now. I received the note from Eunuch Chen."

Eunuch Chen?

Lu Xinran received the signal and immediately opened the system, but... there were so many little Chen uncles, which one was the one who delivered the note?

Tang Quyan's face froze: "Which eunuch Chen, point out the person!"

Hongmei looked up in panic, trying to search for the other person in the crowd, but she didn't see any familiar figure after looking for a whole week.

"Yes, it's Eunuch Chen who serves Concubine Tong in Anhua Palace."