Chapter 62 Note
Everyone erupted in an uproar, but Princess Gaoguo was the only one who spoke up, her tone hinting at pride. "Tsk, tsk, Princess Lingling truly wasted Changyi's kindness. Knowing she was in deep mourning and would bring disaster upon her family, she insisted on intruding upon the Dharma Assembly and even murdered someone. Her sins are truly grave. But Master Guanxuan, Jianfu Temple is a royal sanctuary. Even you, the abbot leading a group of eminent monks, can't suppress this sinister individual's rebellion?"
"Amitabha, I feel guilty for my shallow virtues." The abbot clasped his hands together sadly and said, "Since the Buddha is furious, I am willing to resign my position as abbot of Jianfu Temple. I will spend the rest of my life chanting sutras and praying for blessings to eliminate disasters and ensure the peace of our Tang Dynasty."
No one expected that the highly respected abbot of Jianfu Temple would have to step down because of this. Everyone present had a look of shock on their faces.
"The presiding monk is so profound in Buddhism that he has been implicated in this. It is truly a pity for us believers," Princess Gao said sarcastically. "It seems that if the instigators are not severely punished, the wrath of the gods and Buddhas will be difficult to appease."
Qian Deng responded calmly, "The Grand Princess is absolutely right. Today's events have incurred the wrath of the gods. If the culprit is not brought to justice, the consequences will be disastrous."
Seeing her calm expression, who could fail to hear the hidden meaning in her words?
Princess Gao snorted coldly: "You killed people and stained their blood, and you trespassed into the Dharma Assembly. Who else could be the culprit besides you?"
"Of course it's you, the Grand Princess of Gao." Qian Deng's fearless gaze swept across her unsightly face, and he turned directly to the Queen, saying solemnly, "I hope Your Highness will have mercy on me. The baby in the Dharma Assembly was born today by my cousin. She was weak and exhausted, and she suffered pain all day and all night before giving birth to this child. Who knew that the Grand Princess of Gao, dissatisfied with me, had someone snatch my cousin's child away, brought me to the temple, and framed me. Please, Your Highness, intervene on behalf of the Changhua Palace and have the Princess's Mansion return the child to my cousin!"
"Your Majesty, please understand! This is absolutely not the case!" Princess Gao flatly denied it. "I've been praying in the temple, and I have nothing to do with your cousin's child. Why would I take her away? It was the Princess of Lingling who acted recklessly, murdering someone with a knife in a Buddhist holy place, and then she's blaming me after the incident! Your Majesty, please seek justice and severely punish this cunning and evil person!"
The previous incident in the Xuanhui Hall of Daming Palace had made it known that they had a feud. Now, each of them was arguing with each other, unable to agree on a single truth. The Empress pondered for a moment, then looked at the monks in the nearby Buddhist temple and the young novices standing solemnly chanting the Buddha's name. She asked, "Lingling, you entered the temple and committed the crime. We have witnesses and evidence. Now you're accusing the Grand Princess of Gao. What evidence do you have?"
"There are witnesses in Lingling. Besides the wet nurse who looked after the child, my aunt, Madam Dingxiang, also followed me. However, she twisted her ankle up ahead, so she's waiting on the bluestone railing outside the courtyard wall. I'm all alone now." Qian Deng pointed outside. "Your Highness, please send someone to bring Madam Dingxiang here. She can testify on my behalf. I was in such a hurry to find the child that I didn't carry any weapons."
The Queen signaled, and several guards immediately went out to investigate. However, after searching outside the temple for a moment, they hesitated and returned, reporting, "There's no sign of anyone outside."
Princess Gao sneered, a smug expression on her face. "No one. Looks like Princess Lingling is going to go back and ask her wet nurse to testify for her. Can you trust the people in your house to testify for you?"
Qian Deng, however, had anticipated this and remained calm. "Not being able to find me is normal. After all, this whole thing had been planned out long ago, with the sole purpose of trapping me in a desperate situation. Otherwise, how could I have easily circumvented all the guards and entered the temple's backyard during such a grand ceremony, with such strict security? And how could I have happened upon the child who was being taken away for a blessing and ordination?"
When everyone heard this, they all showed a look of sudden realization, and the Queen's expression changed slightly -
Today, she and the Crown Prince arrived here. Aside from the Imperial Palace, the arrangements should have been the most meticulous and rigorous in the entire world. Yet, someone had set up a trap so close to them, easily breaching their security and potentially making her and the Crown Prince part of the exploitation loophole.
The Crown Prince is the heir to the throne of the country. In public, he is the foundation of the country and in private, he is the only son of the Empress. Although Princess Gao is born into the royal family, after getting married, her current identity is only the mother of the future Crown Princess.
Now that the Crown Princess has not yet entered the Eastern Palace, this mother-in-law has already placed spies and formed cliques in the Eastern Palace, and even dared to make moves near the Queen's carriage. This is truly treasonous.
Qian Deng saw that the Queen was interested and immediately took out the thin paper Cui Fufeng had just handed to him from his sleeve. He knelt to the front of the corridor and presented it: "Lingling has something for your Highness to review."
The prince came up and took it personally, then handed it to the queen.
It turned out to be a folded old paper of poor quality, just the kind of paper that can be found everywhere among the people, and it was not very eye-catching.
The queen opened it casually, looked at it, and then her fingers trembled as she tightly grasped the paper.
The prince was surprised and glanced at the things on the paper, but he only saw a phoenix hairpin in the middle, with a long and sharp beak, and there was something else under the crown and feathers at the back. There were several lines of fine handwriting next to it, and at a vague glance, it seemed to be the words "Princess Gao's Mansion".
Before he could see clearly, the queen had already folded the paper. Instead of handing it to the maid beside her for safekeeping, she held it tightly in her palm.
"Okay, I understand." The queen stood up suddenly and looked at everyone in front of her, her eyes and voice hinting at a coldness.
For some reason, Princess Gao, who was clearly not swept by her, shuddered inexplicably and had an ominous premonition in her heart.
The Queen had already left the corridor and walked up to Qiandeng, gently pressing her shoulder. "Princess Lingling, no matter who you suspect is the real culprit behind this, do not hesitate to find out who is harming you."
Seeing that the queen's attitude changed drastically just because of an old piece of paper, everyone looked at each other in confusion and did not dare to say anything.
Princess Gaoguo was even more panicked, thinking about the piece of paper that Qiandeng had just handed to the Queen. She wondered what was on it that could make the Queen support Lingling County Lady even though she knew that she was accusing her aunt, the Emperor.
But... she had done so many evil things in her life that she couldn't even remember which one this piece of paper was connected to. She felt her scalp tingling for a moment, but she had no clue.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Qian Deng kowtowed to the Queen and then turned to Cui Fufeng and said, "Could you please ask Mr. Cui to send someone to my house to check if the dagger is indeed mine. Also, please ask the craftsmen who are currently working on the construction to come over."
Cui Fufeng, who had a tacit understanding with her, immediately ordered the Dali Temple's Secretary and the other Sizhi officials to come over. As he handed the messenger the bloody dagger, he thought for a moment and added, "Be sure to ask Ling Sijie of the Northern Court's Imperial Guard to take a look as well."
At this point, the temple first served some vegetarian cakes and snacks, inviting the concubines and ladies to enjoy them and rest.
The Sizhi officers arrived in a moment. They first went to the winding path in the backyard to check for signs of struggle and blood, and then went to the lecture platform to investigate the cause of the collapse.
The Jin family craftsmen arrived very quickly. After all, as soon as Jin Tang heard that the county lord needed him, he immediately rushed them over on horseback to check the situation at the meeting.
The secretary of the Changhua Palace came hurriedly and presented the palace archives.
"After examining the dagger, Ling Sijie noted that the wear marks on the back of the dagger were biased to the right, and the tip of the blade had a slight leftward bend, clearly due to the user's left-handed use." General Deng presented the dagger to the Crown Prince, who then examined the marks. "This is a standard dagger. The ironwood sheath was originally protected by leather, but after years of use, the leather has long since worn away. The marks left behind clearly indicate that the dagger's owner was left-handed."
She had thought Ling Tianshui would come over directly and explain things to her in public, but he only asked someone to convey these doubts to her and never showed up.
A vague sense of disappointment flashed across Qiandeng's heart.
Although she had initially brought him into the house just to help her with the autopsy, she had thought that he and she were different from others during these days. Who would have thought that at such a critical moment, he would be so indifferent.
——But, he also prepared something for her that could change the Queen's stance. What could it be? And why?
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