Chapter 262 Extinction
Soon a group of people rushed over, and in the middle were Emperor Jingping and Consort Yu.
Emperor Jingping caught sight of Fang Rui lying on the ground, her body a gruesome sight. He quickly raised his sleeve to cover his eyes, his heart pounding wildly.
For this emperor who prided himself on being refined, his words had cost many lives, yet he had almost never witnessed such a death firsthand.
"Protect His Majesty! Protect His Majesty!"
With his personal eunuch blocking his way, Emperor Jingping lowered his sleeves and frowned as he looked at Qiu Heng.
She was still sitting on the low couch, her expression blank, her face pale, as if she hadn't yet reacted.
"How dare you, Qiu Heng! His Majesty is here, and you dare not even bow!" a eunuch shouted sternly.
Qiu Heng knelt down and said, "Your subject Qiu Heng greets Your Majesty."
If in the past Emperor Jingping had harbored some unspoken thoughts about the girl before him because of her uniqueness, now he was filled only with horror and disgust.
"What happened?" Emperor Jingping pointed at Fang Rui's corpse and asked sternly.
Consort Yu stood beside Emperor Jingping, her gaze sweeping over the two palace maids guarding the gate, and coolly reminded them, "His Majesty is asking, aren't you two going to answer?"
The two palace maids began to accuse each other in quick succession.
"Your Majesty, it was Princess Suiyun who killed Fang Rui!"
"Fang Rui brought Princess Suiyun to change clothes. I overheard the two arguing. Fang Rui asked Princess Suiyun if she was afraid that she would be able to turn her life around in the future..."
“This servant heard it too. Fang Rui regrets not teaching Princess Suiyun a lesson before, and telling her to wait…”
Emperor Jingping looked coldly at Qiu Heng: "Qiu Heng, what else do you have to say?"
"Your Majesty, I am innocent. This is the Jade Palace. Fang Rui is a maidservant of the Noble Consort. I am not delirious. How could I kill someone in such a place?"
Consort Yu smiled and said, "Didn't they just say that Fang Rui threatened to settle accounts with you later? You were afraid of being retaliated against, so you impulsively killed her?"
"Your Majesty's speculation is too outrageous. This is the Imperial Palace. A wrong step will not only harm yourself, but also your family. Who would kill someone just because they heard a few harmless threats?"
"Speculation?" Consort Yu raised an eyebrow. "This is not speculation; the two of them saw it with their own eyes."
The two palace maids exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Yes, we saw it with our own eyes."
Qiu Heng immediately asked, "You two were guarding outside the door, how did you manage to see it with your own eyes?"
“We heard screams—” a palace maid blurted out, then realized she had said the wrong thing when she met Consort Shangyu’s cold gaze.
Qiu Heng bowed to Emperor Jingping again: "Your Majesty, you heard it yourself. This palace maid admitted that they only pushed the door open after hearing screams. With screams coming from the front, it is clear that something had already happened to Fang Rui when they came in. They could not have seen me lay a hand on Fang Rui with their own eyes."
For the two ordinary palace maids assigned to guard the changing room, the pressure from Consort Yu's power was one layer, the pressure from Fang Rui dying before their eyes was another, and the pressure from lying to the emperor was a third.
Under immense pressure, people become tense and prone to making mistakes. If you don't give the other person enough time to think, it's perfectly normal for your words to slip up.
Qiu Heng knew very well that Fang Rui had framed her with her death, and Emperor Jingping was biased towards Consort Yu. Under these circumstances, it was impossible for her to escape unscathed, but at least she couldn't be implicated and have someone witness her actions.
Emperor Jingping looked at the two palace maids expressionlessly.
The palace maid who had spoken out of turn was terrified, trembling like a leaf, and stammered, "When we came in, we saw Fang Rui lying on the ground. Before she died, she personally identified Princess Suiyun as the one who killed her..."
"Yes, I saw it too!"
"So you only saw Fang Rui say before she died that I killed her, but you didn't see me do it yourself," Qiu Heng said calmly and confidently.
The two palace maids couldn't help but look at Consort Yu.
Consort Yu chuckled and took Emperor Jingping's arm with one hand: "Your Majesty, listen to how eloquent Miss Qiu is. Qiu Heng, even if the two of them didn't see you make the move, does that mean Fang Rui's death was fake? You wouldn't be suggesting that she did it herself to frame you, would you?"
Emperor Jingping nodded.
Once a person dies, they lose everything. Who would risk their own life to frame someone else?
Qiu Heng slowly shook her head: "I can only guarantee that Fang Rui's death has nothing to do with me. As for whether she committed suicide or was killed by someone else, I don't know."
"Didn't she bring you here to change clothes? You were in the same room, why didn't you know?" Emperor Jingping stared at Qiu Heng with displeasure. "Qiu Heng, don't think I'm easy to fool."
"Your Majesty, I don't know. I fell into a deep sleep shortly after entering. When I woke up to the screams, I saw Fang Rui lying on the ground..." Qiu Heng's gaze swept over the two palace maids. "Like them, I woke up to the screams and found that Fang Rui was in trouble. I was so shocked that I forgot to react when Your Majesty came in."
Emperor Jingping found it amusing: "How could you suddenly fall into a coma?"
The girl being questioned knelt on the ground, her eyes lowered silently. After a moment, she raised her eyes and said, "I have been wondering why this happened. There were only Fang Rui and me in the changing room at the time. No one else intervened, and Fang Rui did nothing. Why did I fall into a deep sleep? Now that I think about it, perhaps the problem lies with that incense burner."
As Qiu Heng pointed, everyone's gaze fell on the incense burner placed on the high table.
The once rich fragrance of the celadon incense burner with its warm glaze has now faded to almost nothing, and no smoke is emanating from it.
Although the incense was strong in the closed room, there was clearly not much in the burner. As the door opened, the scent dissipated quickly.
The incense has burned out, but the ash remains.
Consort Yu scoffed: "Sixth Miss Qiu is really composed. To escape the responsibility of murder, she blames heaven, earth, and incense."
"Your Majesty, I have a clear conscience. Please have the imperial physician examine this incense burner."
Emperor Jingping looked at Consort Yu.
Consort Yu smiled sweetly: "I will listen to Your Majesty. I believe Your Majesty will not let the people of Yuchen Palace die in vain."
"That's natural." Emperor Jingping put his arm around Consort Yu's waist.
"Your Majesty, the smell here is unpleasant. Please move to the main hall."
Upon hearing Consort Yu's words, Emperor Jingping felt a strong stench of blood and was somewhat nauseous. He hurriedly went to the main hall.
"Your Majesty, why not send this incense burner to the Imperial Hospital for examination by all the imperial physicians? Otherwise, if the designated physician examines it, Miss Qiu might not be satisfied with the result."
"Very well." Emperor Jingping listened to Consort Yu's suggestion and immediately ordered someone to send the incense burner to the Imperial Hospital.
Soon, a commotion arose outside, and Emperor Jingping coldly inquired what had happened.
The eunuch who had left with the incense burner returned, accompanied by a kneeling palace maid.
"Your Majesty, I had just stepped out of the main hall when this palace maid bumped into me, and the incense burner slipped from my hand and fell into the auspicious vat..." the eunuch reported in a panic.
The auspicious vat is enormous, capable of holding thousands of liters of water, hence its other name, "Door Sea." This small incense burner fell into it and vanished instantly.
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