Chapter 436 A Habitual Pretender
When Xie Shang and Jiang Fenghua arrived at Zhu Zhenzhen's house, they were both dumbfounded by the scene before them.
Zhu Zhenzhen's hair was disheveled, her clothes were in disarray, and she even seemed somewhat mentally unstable. She wrapped herself in a blanket and cried her heart out.
Zhu Yiyi stepped forward and hugged Zhu Zhenzhen, her eyes filled with tears, "Sister Zhen, don't be afraid!"
Zhu Zhenzhen kept pushing her away, staring at her fiercely, "Don't...don't come near me."
Zhu Yiyi cried, tears streaming down her face, "Your Majesty, please do justice for Consort Zhen. It's all my fault. I failed to take good care of Consort Zhen, which led to this accident."
Xie Shang said coldly, "Xiao Yu, how did you protect the young master?"
Jiang Jinyan quickly said, "Your Majesty, now is not the time to pursue accountability. First, find out what happened before punishing anyone. I believe that Lord Xiao must have arranged everything properly, but in the end, something still happened. Could it be that someone deliberately targeted Consort Zhu?"
Xie Shang was still willing to listen to advice. He said in a deep voice, "Xiao Yu, I will listen to your explanation."
Xiao Yu recounted the entire process from leaving the post station to the present: "Your Majesty and the soldiers changed into civilian clothes and protected the ladies. We visited the lantern festival, and the ladies bought some local specialties. Later, I arranged for the ladies to rest at a pre-arranged inn. Originally, we planned to wait for His Majesty and the Empress to meet us there, but they didn't arrive until very late. So, I arranged for the ladies to rest on their own, with maids accompanying them. In the end, I don't know why, Lady Zhu went to the kitchen and got into trouble."
Jiang Fenghua said, "Why would she run into the kitchen? Their bedroom is on the second floor, right? Why would she run into the kitchen alone in the middle of the night? Where is her maid?"
Meixiang knelt on the ground as well, saying, "I was asleep and didn't know when you ran out."
Xiao Yu said, "I've booked the entire inn, and there are soldiers guarding the outside and the inside has been cleared out. I didn't expect this..."
"Who is it?" Xie Shang asked coldly. "Where is the person?"
The innkeeper and the man were also brought in. "Sir, spare our lives! My son was just momentarily blinded by evil spirits and committed a terrible mistake."
Jiang Fenghua stared at the man. How could the son of an innkeeper dare to do such a thing? It was obvious that someone was trying to frame Zhu Zhenzhen.
When Zhu Zhenzhen got into trouble, she was so angry she felt like her lungs were about to explode. She wanted to deal with Zhu Zhenzhen, but she would never use such dirty methods. Her eyes were coldly fixed on Zhu Yiyi's direction.
Zhu Yiyi looked heartbroken and wanted to tear her face apart, but Jiang Fenghua glanced at everyone in the room and knew she had to calm down.
The next moment, she stepped forward, grabbed the man by the collar, and slapped him across the face twice. "You bastard, what did you do? Who ordered you to do this? Tell me the truth, or I will kill you."
The man was terrified. "It wasn't me trying to seduce her, it was her trying to seduce me! I was busy in the kitchen when suddenly a girl pushed the door open. She seemed to be looking for someone, and after a while... she suddenly started trying to take off my clothes, like she was possessed, and then... then..."
"She seduced me. I couldn't push her away. She was so beautiful. I don't know why, but I felt really hot at the time. When she took off my clothes, I felt even hotter. Later, I don't know why, I couldn't control myself." Of course, he thought that since she was offering herself up, he might as well take it. He didn't dare say that out loud.
He added, "Later I realized that she might have been drugged, which is why she went into the kitchen. But I might have also been drugged, which is why I couldn't control myself."
Jiang Fenghua said coldly, "So you're saying you took advantage of someone in distress?"
"She's been drugged. If I don't save her, she'll die," the man continued, stubbornly arguing.
“There are no outsiders in the entire inn, who would drug her?” She dragged Meixiang out, “You are your mistress’s personal maid, how have you been serving her?”
"I only went to sleep after I saw that you were asleep. I don't know when you left. I was asleep and didn't know anything."
Xie Shang also frowned. With such a big incident, he didn't know how to explain it to Imperial Censor Zhu.
Jiang Fenghua then asked Zhang Jingjing, "You two have always been together. Where were you when Zhu Zhenzhen had her accident?"
Zhang Jingjing looked at Zhu Yiyi and said, "I was with Miss Yiyi when she said she was afraid of the cold and came to sleep with me."
Jiang Fenghua asked Zhu Yiyi, "Why didn't you go live with your sister? Why did you go and live with Consort Zhang?"
“It was Consort Zhen who didn’t want me to live with her.” Zhu Yiyi continued, “Consort Zhang lives next door, so I lived next door to Consort Zhang. I was so scared that I wanted to squeeze in with them, but Zhenzhen said she wouldn’t live with me. If Your Majesty doesn’t believe me, ask Consort Zhang. The maids all heard it.”
Zhang Jingjing nodded again, "That's right." Actually, she felt that Zhu Xiaozhu was always on guard against Zhu Yiyi, which was why she didn't want to live with her. She didn't dare to say this for fear of causing trouble. The two sisters' affairs had nothing to do with her.
Jiang Fenghua realized that Zhu Yiyi had deliberately chosen Zhang Jingjing as a witness. She was really cunning. Who would believe that her own sister would use such a method to harm her younger sister?
If Imperial Censor Zhu is helping her from behind, that would be terrifying. Who would have thought that a father could harm his own daughter? In the end, the Zhu family will probably become the biggest victim. Zhu Yiyi's smooth entry into the palace is truly a clever move!
Jiang Fenghua felt that this was not something that Imperial Censor Zhu could do, after all, Zhu Zhenzhen was the eldest daughter of the Zhu family, and had a better chance of regaining favor.
"Zhu Zhenzhen, do you know who wants to harm you?" Jiang Fenghua asked Zhu Zhenzhen directly.
Zhu Zhenzhen seemed to have lost her mind, crying out, "No, don't touch me."
"Who lured you downstairs to the kitchen? Tell me!" Jiang Fenghua's eyes were so cold they looked like she wanted to kill someone. Zhu Zhenzhen was an important pawn in her game, and she absolutely couldn't let her be harmed like this, while Zhu Yiyi continued to be arrogant and domineering.
Xie Shang stared at Jiang Fenghua, feeling as if he no longer recognized her.
Jiang Jinyan said, "Ruan Ruan, she's probably too scared. We'll investigate her slowly once she's calmed down."
Jiang Fenghua glared at her brother and said in a deep voice, "If we don't investigate now, when will we? The person who drugged her must be in the inn. Seal off the inn."
Jiang Jinyan fell silent instantly.
Xiao Yu said, "I have already ordered the inn to be sealed off."
Jiang Fenghua continued, "Zhu Zhenzhen, how long are you going to pretend to be crazy? Who exactly wants to harm you?"
Zhu Yiyi cried out, "Your Majesty, please don't force Zhen'er anymore. She's already pitiful enough. If she doesn't want to talk, then don't force her..."
"Is it that she doesn't want to talk about it, or is it that someone doesn't want her to talk about it?" Jiang Fenghua snapped at her, "What did you do to your sister?"
Zhu Yiyi's eyes were red, and she said aggrievedly, "What does Your Majesty mean? Does Your Majesty mean that I want to harm Zhen'er? Why does Your Majesty always oppose me? What did I do wrong?"
Xie Shang glared at Zhu Yiyi coldly, "Stop making a scene, let the Empress find out the truth."
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