Upon hearing this, Granny Zhang sighed and said, "Miss Lu is indeed Miss Lu, exceptionally intelligent. That means Miss Lu has now personally admitted to everything she said in this bedchamber tonight."
"Hahahaha... Yes, I admit that everything I said tonight is true. But so what? The master of the Qin Prince's Mansion is Brother Han, not you servile lackeys. Between what you said and what I said, guess... who he will choose to believe?" Lu Tianjiao laughed loudly, then leaned close to Zhang Mama's ear and said wantonly.
With a stern face, Granny Zhang solemnly and sternly ordered her, "Kneel down and kowtow to the master of the Prince of Qin's mansion to admit your guilt!"
"The master of the Qin Prince's mansion? I wonder if you mean... Brother Han who has been unconscious for many days, or the Dowager Consort who passed away eight years ago, or you, this audacious servant who is pretending to be a sheep in front of me?" Lu Tianjiao's words were extremely arrogant and presumptuous.
Just then, a deep voice suddenly rang out from inside the hall: "Kneel down!"
"Who's speaking?" Upon hearing this, Lu Tianjiao quickly turned around and looked towards Cheng Liang and the guards. He saw Cheng Liang and the two guards suddenly kneel down with great solemnity, and then loudly proclaim, "Your subordinates pay their respects to Your Highness!"
"Your Highness?" Upon hearing this, Lu Tianjiao froze on the spot, seemingly too afraid to move, and even trembled slightly.
Upon hearing faint sounds from the person on the bed, taking advantage of his distraction, Zhang Mama broke free from his restraints and rushed forward to help the already awake Xuan Yuanhan sit up on the edge of the bed, assisting him in putting on his shoes and socks.
Just as he was about to rise and bow, Xuan Yuanhan hurriedly reached out and stopped him. He stared at Lu Tianjiao's back and angrily rebuked him, "I told you to kneel down with Granny Zhang. Didn't you hear me? Do I have to say it again?"
This almost deafening rebuke seemed to finally pull Lu Tianjiao back from his dreamlike state.
She immediately turned and ran towards the person beside the bed, feigning a wronged expression, saying, "Brother Han, you're awake! You're finally awake! You must stand up for Tianjiao! Those audacious servants of the Qin Prince's Mansion, taking advantage of your serious injuries and unconsciousness, falsely claimed your orders forbidding anyone from stepping into Lin Yuexuan. Tianjiao went through tremendous effort to finally enter this hall. But at night, they conspired to play tricks on Tianjiao, even tricking him into taking a sleeping potion, causing him to hallucinate and talk nonsense. Look, these are all their incriminating evidence, and there's also the teacup on the table where Tianjiao has already finished drinking the flower tea..."
Before Lu Tianjiao could finish speaking, Xuan Yuanhan, still somewhat weak, said indignantly, "Shut up! Stop distorting the truth and spouting nonsense. If you were truly upright, how could you be swayed by such petty tricks?"
Lu Tianjiao looked astonished and said, "Brother Han, I..."
At this moment, Cheng Liang, kneeling in the center of the hall, spoke up, “Your Highness, it was Miss Lu who, taking advantage of my presence at the palace today, sneaked into Xinglin Pavilion with ill intentions and stole datura, adding it to Granny Zhang’s medicine. If it weren’t for Physician Yue’s timely discovery and administration of the antidote to Granny Zhang, given her advanced age, she would likely already be… We were merely ‘luring the enemy into a trap, giving them a taste of their own medicine,’ but unexpectedly, we uncovered the death of the Dowager Consort eight years ago…”
"You're talking nonsense! You're slandering me! I never stole any datura. I was just being kind by seeing that Granny Zhang had the same ailment as my father, so I used my father's secret recipe to get medicine for her from Xinglin Pavilion. Who would have thought she would repay kindness with enmity and treat me like this?" Lu Tianjiao insisted.
"Hmph, I knew you'd say that. Come in, all of you." Cheng Liang called out calmly towards the palace entrance.
Then, a man and two women entered, one in front and two behind. As soon as they entered the main hall, they bowed and kowtowed to the imposing man sitting by the couch.
"Your humble servant Yue Song greets Your Highness, the Prince of Qin."
"A maid from Yanqi Pavilion greets Your Highness, Prince Qin."
Xuanyuan Han said to the three of them in a serious tone, "With me here, you are not allowed to talk nonsense or frame others at will, but you are even less allowed to show any old feelings and deliberately cover up for them."
The three answered in unison, "Yes..."
Physician Yue spoke first, reporting, "This old minister testifies that General Cheng's words are entirely true. Your Highness, please look, this is the prescription Miss Lu gave me to get the medicine. The prescription itself is without fault. However, while I was away from the pharmacy getting the medicine, she secretly took some datura and added it to one of the prescriptions, then brewed it herself and gave it to Granny Zhang. Perhaps Miss Lu was nervous and careless because of her guilty conscience, because there are obvious datura residues in this medicine pot. I originally saw traces of datura in the medicine bowl that Granny Zhang used to take medicine from me... But just as I was pondering this, Miss Lu suddenly returned to Xinglin Pavilion, snatched the medicine bowl from my hand, and washed it clean."
As soon as she finished speaking, the maid with the oval face from Yanqi Pavilion presented the tea tray and said, "Your Highness, this is the dregs of medicine that General Cheng and his men found in Yanqi Pavilion. This afternoon, we smelled medicine in the pavilion and found Miss Lu personally brewing medicine. We offered to help her, but she refused. We thought she had some hidden illness and didn't want us to know, so we left. Please investigate, Your Highness."
At this point, Cheng Liang hurriedly got up and brought all the evidence presented by Physician Yue and the maid to Xuan Yuanhan for his examination.
Seeing this, Xuan Yuanhan looked surprised and suddenly coughed, saying, "What else do you have to say?"
Lu Tianjiao looked completely flustered and could no longer keep up the act. He stammered, "I...I..."
"So, no one here has wronged you," Xuan Yuanhan said calmly.
Seeing that he had bowed his head and remained silent, clearly having no words to refute and tacitly agreeing, Xuan Yuanhan raised his eyes to look at everyone in the hall and said solemnly, "Except for Granny Zhang and General Cheng, everyone else may leave. No one is to divulge even a single word of what happened in the Qin Prince's mansion tonight, or they will surely die."
"Yes," everyone answered in unison, their voices resolute.
After everyone left, Xuan Yuanhan continued speaking to Lu Tianjiao in a deep and angry voice, "Kneel down and sincerely kowtow to Granny Zhang to apologize until she forgives you."
Upon hearing this, Lu Tianjiao was so shocked that she quickly raised her head. For a young lady from a prestigious family, the eldest daughter of Xiqin Academy, to kneel and apologize to an old servant—if word got out, how could she ever face anyone again, how could she maintain her haughty demeanor? Thinking of this, she hurriedly tried to plead, "Brother Han, I..."
As if she also had something to say, Granny Zhang quickly said, "Your Highness..."
However, how could Xuan Yuanhan not know what she was thinking? Yet he still managed to swallow back the words she was about to say. He merely glanced at Lu Tianjiao and harshly rebuked him, "Could it be... that you want me to leave all of this to the Western Qin Academy to handle... Hurry up!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Tianjiao's heart skipped a beat. 'Xi Qin Academy'—if her father and the entire academy found out, it would be as if the whole world knew! The students of Xi Qin Academy were all talented individuals from across the land. Her future, her entire life, would be forever humiliated in the eyes of the world. No, this matter absolutely could not be revealed to her father or the noble children and talented scholars of the academy.
So, she steeled herself, gritted her teeth, knelt down, and repeatedly kowtowed, apologizing, "Granny Zhang, I'm sorry, Tianjiao was wrong, please forgive Tianjiao..."
Seeing that Lu Tianjiao finally gave in, it seemed that it could not relieve Zhang Mama's hatred in the slightest. What she wanted was not for this arrogant young lady to kneel down and admit her mistake, but to seek justice for her old master who died unjustly.
Finally, she mustered her courage and, disregarding everything, knelt heavily before Xuan Yuanhan, crying out in grief and indignation, "Your Highness, my life is worthless, and I would never accept death. Why would I care about her kowtow and apology? All that I have planned today is simply to make this murderer pay the price for the fire that burned the Dowager Consort to death eight years ago. The Dowager Consort cannot have died in vain!"
"Speak! Speak again! Tell His Highness everything you said in this hall tonight! Speak again!" Zhang Mama shouted at Lu Tianjiao with all her might.
"Granny Zhang, get up," Xuan Yuanhan urged.
"No, this old servant won't rise. If Your Highness doesn't severely punish this venomous woman today, this old servant is willing to go see the Dowager Consort right now. These past years, this old servant hasn't lived in vain, and can finally face the Dowager Consort with a clear conscience..." Unexpectedly, as Zhang Mama spoke, she suddenly stood up and rammed herself hard against a pillar in the hall. Cheng Liang reacted quickly and flew in front of her, blocking her path, and Zhang Mama crashed right into his chest.
At this moment, Xuan Yuanhan suddenly felt a surge of anger and a rush of hot blood to his chest, which suddenly and rapidly rose up and filled his entire mind. He then vomited a mouthful of blood, which splattered onto the ground beneath his feet.
Upon seeing this, everyone in the hall stared wide-eyed and exclaimed in surprise.
Cheng Liang quickly released Zhang Mama from his grasp and rushed to Xuan Yuanhan's side to support him. Xuan Yuanhan weakly instructed him, "Tell them all to leave, Your Majesty..."
Seeing this, Granny Zhang left in a huff, her face filled with helplessness and extreme heartache.
Lu Tianjiao's feelings were extremely complicated at this moment. She slowly got up and stepped forward, looking at Xuan Yuanhan's face with a sorrowful yet affectionate gaze, and silently called out to him, "Brother Han..."
With Cheng Liang's gentle support, Xuan Yuanhan weakly said to Lu Tianjiao in a broken voice, "Remember this, I never want to see you again in my life. Get out!"
"Brother Han..." Upon hearing this, Lu Tianjiao seemed excited and wanted to explain something more.
Unexpectedly, Xuan Yuanhan suddenly gathered his energy and angrily shouted at him, "Get out! Do you really want me to change my mind and execute you, or have your entire Lu family buried with the Dowager Consort?"
"Brother Han, you...you heard everything..." Lu Tianjiao was extremely surprised.
However, Xuan Yuanhan seemed to have no desire to speak another word to her from that moment on. Thus, Lu Tianjiao, utterly despondent, slowly walked out of Lin Yuexuan's bedchamber...
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