The empress dowager was shocked. The judge could barely make out a human figure. Under his tattered robe, one could see rotten flesh and bones. These were the signs of having been subjected to severe torture. Blood continued to ooze out of his body, dripping onto the shiny jade floor of the Qianming Hall, gradually forming a fishy odor that even the best incense could not cover up.
The Queen Mother quickly covered her nose with a handkerchief, glanced at Princess Ankang, and said, "The judge only told a few truths, and your son deserved it. How could the princess be so cruel to use torture to harm him like this!" She turned to Zhao Yan and said righteously, "Your Majesty, even though the princess is your aunt, you cannot tolerate her seeking revenge for personal gain and harming loyal people."
Who would have thought that Zhao Yan's face turned pale and he looked dazed? The Queen Mother's heart suddenly jumped, and she immediately had some very uncertain premonitions. At this time, Princess Ankang had already slowly opened her mouth and said, "May I ask, Queen Mother, when you were interrogating Yang'er that day, you personally testified that this judge and the late court envoy Qin Feng had treated the late emperor's illness together, and almost stayed with you in the late emperor's bedroom every day. This was how you could expose the crime that my husband and I forced the late emperor to issue an edict to pardon Yang'er. These are all true."
The Queen Mother's suspicious eyes moved back and forth between the princess and Zhao Yan. Seeing that Zhao Yan had no intention of helping, she could not figure out what the princess was going to say, so she replied lightly, "Hmm."
The princess showed a mocking expression on her face, and said coldly to the kneeling judge: "Say what you just said to the Queen Mother again."
The judge knelt on the ground and trembled, as if he would collapse at any time due to blood loss and injuries, but he still said with a hoarse voice and sobs: "I...I deserve to die. I was just an ordinary imperial physician. I was valued by Qin Yuanshi and accompanied him to diagnose the late emperor. Later, I found that there might be something wrong with the prescription, but I...I dare not say it. I am afraid that if I say something wrong, not only will my life be in danger, but it is also very likely to implicate my family..."
"Wait!" The Queen Mother finally realized something was wrong and demanded, "What prescription are you talking about? Explain it to me!"
The judge raised his head with difficulty to look at the Queen Mother, then trembled and bent down, saying, "In the past, I secretly saw the Queen Mother personally scribbling a prescription for Qin Yuanshi, asking him to prescribe medicine for the late emperor according to the prescription, and then personally served the late emperor whether it was decocting or feeding the medicine. I saw that the late emperor's condition was getting worse instead of better, so I thought that the medicine was not suitable for the disease, and advised Qin Yuanshi to change a few herbs, but Qin Yuanshi rejected it. Later..." He showed fear in his eyes, as if he had used great effort to speak, "Later, I carefully checked the prescription again, and found that if the two herbs, Wutou and Pinellia, were taken together, their medicinal properties would counteract each other. If used for a long time... it would be no different from poison!"
He almost roared out the last few words with his last bit of strength, and then fell to the ground and cried bitterly. The palace suddenly became unsettlingly quiet, and both the princess and Zhao Yan tacitly did not speak immediately. The Queen Mother felt dizzy, and it took her a long while to come to her senses. She stood up and pointed at the judge and shouted in a sharp voice: "You are talking nonsense! Who ordered you to frame me? Was it her? Did she order you?" She pointed viciously at Princess Ankang, who had been listening to the judge's testimony with a sneer, and then glared at the judge, took a few quick steps to the side of the judge, raised her foot and kicked him hard, saying: "Even if what you said is true. You were just a small doctor in the past, how could you have the qualifications to see these secrets of the past? Even if Qin Yuanshi and I had some plan, how could we be caught by you!"
"What your Majesty said is not right!" Princess Ankang suddenly spoke coldly, and stood up and walked to the side of the Queen Mother, looking at her and said, "But you yourself admitted in public that this judge was a close confidant of Qin Yuanshi. In the past, he and Qin Yuanshi had treated the late emperor's illness together, and he stayed by the late emperor's bed almost every day. How come he is no longer counted and has become an insignificant little role? In my opinion, your Majesty, you are probably guilty of being a thief..." She bit the last few words so hard and heavily that it seemed to make the whole palace buzz.
The Queen Mother was stunned by what she said, and then revealed a horrified expression. She turned to look at Zhao Yan and said, "Is this all planned?" She turned around and pointed at Princess Ankang, crying out in a sad voice, "It's her! She is the one who plotted to harm the Queen Mother. Yan'er, you must stand up for the Queen Mother! I swear to God, the Queen Mother would never harm your father!"
Zhao Yan sighed, his face showing an extremely painful expression. He slowly picked up the tiger skin from the dragon table and trembled, "I don't want to believe it, but this prescription was written by you personally. Now there are witnesses and evidence. Even if I want to protect you, I don't know how to do it!"
Queen Mother Xia looked at the paper in disbelief, and finally remembered that it was the prescription that the late emperor had induced her to write down by hand. At that time, she was sure that Qin Yuanshi was her man, so how could she have thought that there would be problems with the prescription. She could not have thought that the man she had been sleeping with for many years would put her to death in such a decisive way!
She felt as if her brain was filled with so many things that it almost exploded with pain. She stumbled back a few steps and finally fell softly to the ground. In the chaos, she only grasped the last thought: "Where is my big brother! I want to see my big brother!"
Zhao Yan had never seen his mother so hopeless and helpless. A trace of sorrow flashed across his eyes, and then he immediately rushed to the Queen Mother's side, supported her, and said with a sad expression: "Prime Minister Xia happened to go out of the city for work today. I'm afraid he won't be back in a day. Mother, do you have any difficulties? If so, just tell me!"
"Your Majesty," Princess Ankang looked at the scene in front of her coldly, and suddenly said, "Queen Dowager Xia and Qin Feng took advantage of my brother's serious illness to deliberately poison him, causing him to die. Their hearts are terrible and their crimes should be punished! Although the Queen Dowager is your mother, she did kill your father, and the emperor of Damu! Now, if Your Majesty still wants to show favoritism and cover up, I will be the first to disagree."
Zhao Yan's body froze, and the hand holding the queen mother couldn't help shaking. Then he lowered his head with an expression of pain and pity, but tacitly agreed with the princess's words. The queen mother slowly raised her head, and looked at the two people in front of her with tears in her eyes. Suddenly, she understood everything. She felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. Her nails dug into Zhao Yan's flesh. She said in a weak voice: "You arranged all this, didn't you!" She deliberately instigated Zhou Jihan to report Xia Mingyuan, and then deliberately made her bring up the matter of the past, arranged a chess piece that was destined to be sacrificed, and forced the princess's beloved son to death. The princess was ruined by her reputation and almost her family was destroyed. How could she not hate her? If the princess happened to find evidence that could kill her, she would naturally settle accounts with her no matter what. Qin Feng, the only person who knew the truth, had already died. The judge who was acknowledged by her personally became the most important witness of what happened that year. This strategy was linked together, and it was equivalent to forcing herself into a dead end.
The Queen Mother looked at this son whom she had always thought was cowardly and obedient, and suddenly felt an unprecedented fear. She opened her eyes wide and backed away desperately, but Zhao Yan hugged her. To outsiders, his face was full of tears of pain, but only the Queen Mother heard that Zhao Yan whispered in her ear: "I'm sorry, mother!"
Queen Mother Xia let out a very painful wail from her throat. She could never have imagined that it was her own husband and son who pushed her into this desperate situation. She cried hysterically for a long time, and finally took a deep breath, held back her tears, and said to Zhao Yan word by word: "You are worthy of being his and mine. You are cruel and cold-blooded enough. You have really become a perfectly qualified emperor!" Even at the last moment, he wanted to maintain his reputation as a gentle and kind person. He was absolutely unwilling to bear the infamy of matricide. This was the purpose of his involving the princess in this matter, and he did not mind sacrificing the princess's most beloved son for this.
Zhao Yan sighed barely audibly and said softly, "You taught me this. This is my kingdom, and I will never allow anyone to interfere." Then, he raised his head and loudly issued an order, "The Empress Dowager colluded with the Imperial Hospital's front court to murder the late emperor. First, she will be stripped of her title of Empress Dowager and sent to the cold palace to await her fate."
The queen mother's eyes showed despair. She would never go to the cold palace. She was a member of the Xia family. Even if she died, she would die with the title of queen mother! So she took off the golden hairpin on her head and was about to insert it into her throat, but Zhao Yan knocked it away. He cried and hugged her tightly, but whispered in her ear: "Mother, you can't die yet. If you die, the rest of the play can't go on!"