At this moment, Li Jingshu was terrified, her face pale and her whole body trembling. Her eyes widened, staring at the scene before her in disbelief. The brocade box she had always carried with her, never leaving her side, had been replaced with this strange Buddha statue without her knowing when! Her mind went blank, completely unable to comprehend what had happened.
"This...what's going on? Where is my jade Buddha?" Li Jingshu muttered to herself, her voice trembling obviously.
Obviously, this ghost Buddha should be in Luo Lingyue's brocade box. How could the secret agent in the Prime Minister's Mansion fail in doing this?
At this thought, Li Jingshu felt a surge of despair and helplessness. She knew full well what this incident meant to her. Not only could she lose her position as Crown Princess, but she could even be killed. How could she explain this to the Queen Mother? How could she prove her innocence?
Li Jingshu suddenly recalled Luo Lingyue's strange and mysterious smile from before, and her heart couldn't help but tremble. A strong intuition told her that all this must be related to Luo Lingyue! You know, in modern times, Luo Lingyue is a well-known thief in the bounty hunter circle!
Li Jingshu stood up in a rage, her eyes wide, and roared at Luo Lingyue, "Luo Lingyue! Why on earth are you trying to harm me? You must have swapped my Jade Buddha!"
At that moment, Luo Lingyue stood gracefully among the group of noble women, her face filled with innocence and grievance. She spoke bitterly, "Crown Princess! Although we've had some minor frictions in the past, they were merely the petty thoughts of a young girl in seclusion. Now that you're the Crown Princess, your status is so noble. How can you make such baseless accusations?" Her voice was filled with resentment and dissatisfaction, as if she had suffered a great injustice.
Xiao Jinghan walked over to Luo Lingyue with an expressionless face and spoke in a cold tone, "Your Highness! You must discipline your Crown Princess! My future Crown Princess didn't have any contact with your Crown Princess today. How could I possibly swap the gift she gave to the Queen Mother?"
When the Crown Prince heard that Xiao Jinghan wanted to blame him for this, his face instantly became extremely gloomy. He turned to Li Jingshu and shouted angrily, "Crown Princess! No matter who replaced the gift for the Royal Grandmother, it was all due to your negligence! Hurry and admit your mistake to the Royal Grandmother and make amends!"
Hearing the Crown Prince's rebuke, Li Jingshu snapped out of her trance. Without hesitation, she knelt before Empress Dowager Xue and anxiously declared, "Grandmother, please investigate! Someone has swapped the gift my granddaughter-in-law carefully prepared for you. Please, Grandmother, send someone to investigate this thoroughly and uncover the truth!"
Queen Mother Xue glared at the person before her, her face filled with anger. She firmly believed that Li Jingshu would never do such a thing. However, deep down, she felt extremely disappointed in her. As the future Crown Princess, if Li Jingshu couldn't resist such a conspiracy, how could she ever rule the entire harem?
The Empress Dowager's eyes were filled with disappointment and helplessness. She turned to look at the silent Emperor Wen and asked sternly, "Emperor! What do you think about this matter?"
Emperor Wen sat there expressionlessly, his eyes as cold as ice. He responded indifferently: "Prime Minister, I'll leave this matter to you!" After that, he said no more.
Emperor Wen's attitude is clear as day. It is natural that you, Li Mingfu, should be responsible for handling the aftermath of the daughter you raised!
Li Mingfu's heart was also burning with anger. He couldn't help but feel secretly annoyed. It was a pity that he had thought that it was just a small matter and Li Jingshu would be able to handle it easily and solve it perfectly!
In fact, from the very beginning, Li Mingfu had opposed the scheme set up by the Queen and Li Jingshu. He was unwilling to get involved in the intrigues between the women in the harem, but the Queen vowed that if she could successfully frame Luo Lingyue, she would be able to deal a heavy blow to Concubine An!
Faced with such a situation, Li Mingfu could only frown and helplessly respond, "I will immediately investigate this matter thoroughly! I will definitely give the Queen Mother a satisfactory answer!"
Within an incense stick of time, Li Mingfu brought his men and escorted the two women over.
Li Jingshu was shocked when she saw the two people. One of them was the secret agent planted by the Prime Minister's Mansion in the palace, and the other was actually her own maid Shuang'er!
Li Mingfu said to Emperor Wen with a look of deep sorrow, "Only these two people have touched the gift prepared by the Crown Princess. I have already found out that this maid's sister previously worked in the Empress Dowager's palace and was beaten to death by the Empress Dowager for doing something wrong. Holding a grudge, she bribed the Crown Princess's maid Shuang'er to swap the jade Buddha. She intends to use the ghost Buddha to curse the Empress Dowager!"
Emperor Wen glanced at Li Mingfu and said coldly, "Drag him out and have him beaten to death!"
Empress Dowager Xue said, "Emperor! Today is my birthday, so bloodshed is unsuitable! How about this! Send these two to the barracks as a reward for Dazhao's soldiers!"
The maid and Shuang'er kept begging for mercy, but it was no use. They were dragged away by the soldiers, crying and wailing all the way, their voices extremely miserable! Sending them to the military camp was more terrible than being beaten to death! The maid and Shuang'er cried out shrilly, and in the end, they were still dragged away by the imperial guards...
Li Jingshu bit her lower lip so hard that it almost drew blood, but she still didn't dare to move, because she didn't dare to plead for Shuang'er!
Empress Dowager Xue's eyes were icy cold. She said indifferently, "Crown Princess! Although this matter has been thoroughly investigated, you are still responsible for neglecting your duties! I have decided to punish you by having you copy Buddhist scriptures in seclusion in the Eastern Palace for a month!"
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