"Your Majesty, I only gave you half of the medicine the First Prince gave me; I kept the rest. Your Majesty, I truly never intended to kill you," Pearl sobbed.
"Besides these, what else have you done?" Consort Zhen continued to press.
"I really don't have Your Majesty anymore." Pearl cried out, "Your Majesty, I swear I really don't have you anymore."
"Pearl, have I treated you well?" Consort Zhen asked dejectedly, "What did the First Prince promise you that made you want to kill me for him?"
"Your Majesty..." Pearl kowtowed, "Your Majesty, it's all my fault, please have mercy!"
"If you confess the truth, I might spare your life out of consideration for the years you've served me. But when you reach the Emperor tomorrow, I'm afraid you'll be dead for sure," Consort Zhen thought to herself.
A hint of panic flashed across Pearl's eyes. She seemed to be struggling with something in her heart. After a long while, she finally spoke, "Your Majesty, the First Prince said... that if I help him with this, he will give me a hundred taels of gold and let me leave the palace."
"That's it?" Consort Zhen wasn't disbelieving what she said.
It's simply because we've been together since childhood.
One look from her eyes.
She can then clearly know what she is thinking.
Pearl's parents are both gone.
If it's just a hundred taels of gold, let her leave the palace.
Consort Zhen did not think she could be bribed.
"Since you don't want to talk, then stay here for now." Consort Zhen shook her head with a smile: "Pearl, for the sake of your years of service to me, I'll give you one more night to think it over carefully and decide whether you want this life or not."
Consort Zhen tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.
She had no idea until today.
It turns out that as long as the poison doesn't kill people, it's not considered harming them.
What hurt Zhenpin the most was that the person she trusted most ultimately couldn't resist temptation and betrayed her.
She suddenly felt isolated and helpless in this vast palace.
The next morning.
As soon as Emperor Yuanwu finished his morning court session, Consort Shu reported the whole story of Consort Zhen to him.
"Father, I am innocent!" Mu Junyao knelt on the ground: "I have no grudge against Consort Zhen, I have never even met her, and I poisoned her in order to bribe her maid."
Consort Zhen knelt beside Consort Shu, wiping away tears: "Your Majesty, I have never wronged the First Prince. Last night, they were caught red-handed by the guards while they were passing poison. Pearl herself confessed to the First Prince's involvement."
"Heh." Mu Junyao sneered: "Pearl was Consort Zhen's dowry maid. Who knows what you two, mistress and servant, are up to, to frame me like this?"
"I... I didn't." Consort Zhen was startled and denied it, "Your Majesty, what I said is true. I did not falsely accuse the First Prince."
"Then what evidence do you have to prove that what Pearl and that little eunuch said is true?" Mu Junyao asked sullenly, "Is there someone who personally witnessed me giving the little eunuch and Pearl poison, or is there my name, Mu Junyao, written on the poison?"
"This..." Consort Zhen paused, choked and unable to speak for a long time.
Besides the eunuch she arrested, there were also the testimonies of Pearl and the other person.
She had no substantial evidence to prove that the poison was indeed given to them by the eldest prince.
How could Emperor Yuanwu possibly believe the one-sided story of two lackeys?
"Hehe." A sly smile curved Mu Junyao's lips. "I guess... Consort Zhen has ulterior motives and wants to help Consort Shu!"
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