Screams echoed from the prison.
Zhao Huan sat there coldly; he was quite familiar with these people.
After all, as the emperor, he often went to the imperial kitchen to cook for himself and had a lot of interaction with these imperial chefs.
In the past, everyone thought that the emperor was a very kind person, focused when cooking, and had all sorts of cute little hobbies.
But today, everyone is trembling inside.
They had never seen the emperor like this before.
Zhao Huan's heart was cold; he showed no pity whatsoever.
The food in the palace was thoroughly investigated after he was poisoned for the first time after he ascended the throne.
The emperor's dining standards were extremely strict, but this time things still went wrong.
This infuriated him to the extreme.
The punishment lasted a full hour.
He Liming said, "Your Majesty, there are no clues."
Zhao Huan gently put down his tea and said calmly, "Send everyone to death. Thoroughly investigate the ancestors of each person for eight generations, and monitor the next three generations of their families."
He Liming's heart skipped a beat, and he said, "Yes! Your subject will make the arrangements immediately."
Zhao Huan left the prison in a huff, saw He Liming about to leave, and then added, "Each family will receive an additional ten thousand strings of cash. Shao Chengzhang will arrange the money for you."
He Liming was slightly taken aback, but said, "Yes!"
He Liming was still deeply shocked.
He also knew that most of the people in the Imperial Kitchen were innocent.
But there was nothing they could do. This time, the entire imperial kitchen failed in its duty, almost costing the emperor's most beloved son his life.
The emperor still had feelings for them; this punishment clearly distinguished between gratitude and resentment.
Even if you die unjustly, you must die too.
Better to kill ten thousand innocent people than innocent people.
Back at Yanfu Palace, Zhao Chun was fast asleep.
Han Chenchen sat beside her, watching over her.
Zhao Huan sat on the chair mountain, staring at the map for a while.
Before long, the Empress arrived.
"This concubine greets Your Majesty."
"I am at peace."
"I heard that Chun-ge'er is ill, so I have come to visit him."
Zhao Huan nodded, and Han Chenchen stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty."
Are you feeling better?
"His condition has stabilized."
"That's good." Looking at Zhao Chun's little face, Zhu Lian's eyes also showed pity.
Zhao Chun was a very smart child, and she liked him very much.
It's fair to say that no one in the palace disliked Zhao Chun.
Including those people in the Imperial Kitchen.
The snow outside is falling heavier and heavier.
He Liming rode his horse at full speed.
Zhou Xiumei was from Dongjingcheng. The Zhou family was a small merchant family in the city. They were neither poor nor rich.
Soon, the Imperial Guards arrived at the Zhou family's residence.
The door was closed, but He Liming kicked it open, and everyone filed in.
This week was just an ordinary stay-at-home week, with the house completely dark.
The Imperial Guards immediately lit torches.
Inside the house lay three dead bodies: an elderly couple and a boy of about thirteen or fourteen years old.
He Liming said, "Shao Zhongguan, what do you think?"
Shao Chengzhang summoned the young eunuch behind him. This was the same eunuch who had inspected Zhou Xiumei's family when she entered the palace half a year ago.
"That's right, it's them. They are indeed Zhou Xiumei's parents and younger brother."
"Have you figured it out?"
"Absolutely true!"
The coroner who followed began to examine the body.
He Liming guessed that Zhou Xiumei's family would be killed, so he brought a coroner with him just in case, and he didn't expect that it would actually come in handy.
The coroner's movements were skillful.
After a stick of incense had burned, the coroner said, "These two people were poisoned to death. Like Zhou Xiumei, the poison was hidden under their tongues, and their internal organs were invaded by the poison."
"However, the boy was not poisoned."
How to say it?
“Look, his stomach and intestines are normal, there are no toxins. All the toxins are stuck in his throat, which means he was killed and then forcibly fed to him.”
“Shangguan He, look at this floor. There are some barely visible marks on it, marks left by shoes. The boy must have been smothered to death. His feet were struggling and left these marks on the floor.”
He Liming frowned; it seemed they had found the right clue.
The problem is indeed not simple.
He Liming said, "Logically speaking, Zhou Xiumei has not left the palace since she entered it half a year ago, so it is impossible for her to have any contact with her family."
"But Zhou Xiumei had just died when her parents also committed suicide by poisoning."
"This shows that Zhou Xiumei's entry into the palace was premeditated, and her parents were prepared to die at any time."
Shao Chengzhang glared at the young eunuch, who quickly explained, "Your Excellency, I have checked. The Zhou family has lived in Kaifeng since the founding of this dynasty and are law-abiding citizens."
At this time, a member of the Imperial City Guard had already found the Zhou family's genealogy.
Indeed, the Zhou family had always lived in Kaifeng Prefecture, where they ran a small restaurant to make a living since the Five Dynasties period.
What could possibly motivate this ordinary couple to send their daughter to the palace to assassinate the emperor and princes?
He Liming closed his eyes and thought for a while.
The other party has standards for selecting people.
The sole criterion for this selection was to find someone whose daughter was capable of entering the palace and who was qualified to work in the imperial kitchen.
In other words, once it was confirmed that Zhou Xiumei could enter the palace, the people behind the scenes chose her.
He Liming's gaze immediately fell on the little eunuch, who was terrified.
He quickly replied, "I am only responsible for verifying Zhou Xiumei's family members. Whether or not she is selected is not something I can decide!"
Indeed, the selection process for palace maids was extremely rigorous.
Moreover, the selection process for the Imperial Kitchen is extremely rigorous.
The selection must be made by the head chef of the imperial kitchen, but nothing was found out during the previous interrogations.
In reality, the head chef was definitely wronged. Zhang Shu had been in the palace for eight years, and he had no reason to harm the emperor.
This further suggests that Zhou Xiumei was approached when she returned home on the day she was selected.
The only way to force an ordinary woman to submit is to threaten her with her family.
If Zhou Xiumei doesn't do it, her whole family will die.
Zhou Xiumei has now failed.
Those people came knocking again. Her parents' suicide by poisoning was probably to protect their child.
Unexpectedly, the other party did not spare their child. The child refused to commit suicide, so the other party killed the child.
He then fed her poison to create the illusion of suicide.
Just as he was thinking of this, the little eunuch suddenly said, "That's not right. When I came to check Zhou Xiumei's family, she had a younger sister who was two years younger than her!"
He Liming's eyelids twitched: "Sister!"
Someone immediately ran over from behind: "Boss, the back is open!"
He Liming rushed to the back, and sure enough, the back door was open.
He saw footprints in the snow that were almost completely covered by it.
"Woman's footprints".
One of the footprints was noticeably smaller.
He Liming quickly followed the footprints and rushed out, saying in a deep voice, "Let's go!"
The snow fell heavier and heavier, and there were few people on the streets.
The footprints were quickly covered by the university.
He Liming was lost.
Next, the Imperial City Guard mobilized a thousand men to block off every street and begin the search.
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