Chapter 545 The Scapegoat
"Tell me! Who is it!" Zhao Yunci's roar almost overturned the roof of the hall.
The young eunuch was already frightened out of his wits, and now he was crying and his forehead was bruised.
"This servant...this servant said it was the third son from the imperial kitchen! It was him! It was he who gave this servant the powder!"
"The third child?" Zhao Yunci frowned.
Concubine Hui seemed to be awakened by the name and asked in surprise, "Little Third Son? But he's the one who stole some bird's nests a few days ago and was punished by me to clean the toilet?"
She covered her mouth, her eyes full of disbelief, and then turned to the emperor.
"Your Majesty! He must be holding a grudge! This man is a gambler and has dirty hands. I punished him for his own good, but who could have known he would be so vicious, not only wanting to harm the Empress, but also dragging me into this!"
As she spoke, she pointed to the cakes in her palace and said, "The cakes here are from the same batch as those sent to Kunning Palace. I have also used them. If he hadn't tampered with the one for the Empress, wouldn't I have also..."
Chu Ruohan stood aside, her eyes fixed on Concubine Hui's face.
When she saw Concubine Hui mentioned Zhang San, under her expression of grief and anger, a trace of almost invisible relaxation flashed across the depths of her eyes, as if a huge stone had fallen to the ground.
This sense of relief came so quickly that it seemed like an illusion, but Chu Ruohan caught it right away.
At this moment, the head of the Imperial Hospital walked in quickly, sweating profusely, and fell to his knees with a thud.
"Your Majesty! The Empress' pulse is... her pregnancy is unstable. This dragon pregnancy... this dragon pregnancy is extremely dangerous!"
"You need to rest immediately and use thousand-year-old ginseng to keep yourself alive. You must not be disturbed again, otherwise... otherwise the consequences will be disastrous!"
Zhao Yunci was already furious, and upon hearing this, her face turned even livid. She slammed the table and said, "You bastard!"
He glared at the young eunuch and said, "Bring that little Sanzi here for me! I want to interrogate him personally!"
Not long after, a eunuch with a hunched back was roughly brought in by the guards. It was Xiao Sanzi.
When he saw this scene, his legs gave way and he knelt on the ground, shaking like a sieve: "Your Majesty, spare my life! I am innocent!"
The young eunuch immediately pointed the finger: "It's him! Your Majesty, it was he who gave this servant the powder and promised to give this servant a large sum of money after the task was completed!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Xiao Sanzi screamed in horror. "When did I ever give you the powder? I have no dealings with you!"
"You still dare to quibble!" Zhao Yunci shouted angrily, "Search me!"
The guards immediately stepped forward and searched Xiao Sanzi roughly.
Soon, a guard shouted, "Your Majesty, we found it!"
In his hand, he held a small oil-paper bag with some white powder still inside, and a fifty-liang silver note.
"This... this isn't mine!" Xiao San's face was ashen as death, and she shook her head desperately, "Your Majesty, this isn't mine! This is a frame-up! It must be a frame-up!"
Upon seeing this, Concubine Hui burst into tears, holding onto the hand of a palace maid, and was on the verge of collapse.
"Your Majesty, please see, the evidence is all here! I...I really don't know how to judge people. I was almost implicated by such a heartless servant, harming the Empress and myself!"
She wept bitterly and turned to Zhao Yunci: "I just lost my child. I will never forget the heartbreaking pain I felt."
"The Empress is carrying the Emperor's child. How could I be so foolish as to do something so heinous?"
"It must be this cunning slave, killing two birds with one stone. He has both avenged me and tried to disrupt the harem by using the Empress's affairs!"
Zhao Yunci looked at Concubine Hui's appearance, then looked at the "physical evidence" on the ground, and the balance in her heart seemed to tilt.
Seeing that the situation was almost heated, Chu Ruohan stepped forward and said softly, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask for your help."
Zhao Yunci nodded and motioned for her to speak.
"Little Sanzi usually stays in the imperial kitchen and has no chance to come into contact with the Empress, let alone have any contact with her."
"Just because he was punished by Concubine Hui, he dared to risk the death of his entire clan and carry out such a vicious plan, even bribing the eunuchs. His mind is so meticulous and his methods are so sophisticated. Is there something else going on?"
"Or, is he just being used as a pawn?"
Zhao Yunci was suspicious to begin with, and after being reminded by Chu Ruohan, the anger in her eyes subsided a little, and she became more scrutinizing.
He pondered for a moment, then said in a cold voice, "Take these two into the Ministry of Punishment and interrogate them strictly! Make sure to get to the bottom of this for me!"
"Also, send someone to check on this little bastard and see who he's been associating with lately!"
"Yes!" The guards took the order and dragged away the crying and injustice-worshiping young third son and the limp young eunuch.
When Concubine Hui saw that the emperor did not completely believe her, she felt secretly resentful, but she did not dare to say anything more. She just lowered her head and shed tears.
It was late at night, and in a corner of the palace, the cell where Xiao Sanzi was imprisoned suddenly caught fire.
The flames shot up into the sky, lighting up half of the night sky red.
When the fire was put out, Xiao Sanzi had already been burned to charcoal, beyond recognition.
There is no evidence after death.
When the news reached Concubine Hui's palace, she was fiddling with her Buddhist beads anxiously.
"Amitabha, it is the will of heaven, and retribution will come." She muttered in a low voice, but the corners of her lips curled up slightly.
Chu Ruohan got the news almost at the same time.
She stood in front of the window, looking at the dark red remaining after the fire in the distance went out, her eyes dark.
This fire started so "accidentally".
This method is too cruel. It doesn't seem like a simple frame-up, but more like... murder to silence the witness.
Ministry of Punishment.
At daybreak, a charred corpse beyond human form was pulled out from the ashes. It was said to be the third son, a servant in the imperial kitchen.
When Zhao Yunci heard the report, his face was so gloomy that water could drip out of it.
"Good, very good! There's no evidence!" He laughed in anger. "A fire is all you need to erase all traces? Do you really think I'm a fool?"
He slammed his palm on the imperial desk, causing the pens, ink, paper and inkstone to jump up.
"You killed people right under my nose! You dared to touch my queen and my legitimate son! This harem needs to be cleaned up!"
Even the smell of ambergris could not suppress the evil spirit in the hall.
Inside Kunning Palace, the smell of medicine dissipated, replaced by a faint soothing fragrance.
Su Wan was leaning on the bed, holding a medical book in his hands, with a calm expression, not even looking like he was dying of poisoning.
Chu Ruohan sat beside her, peeling an apple for her with skillful movements.
"My queen, your trick of 'luring the snake out of its hole' really fooled everyone." Chu Ruohan said softly, handing her a peeled apple.
Su Wan took it, but didn't eat it. She just put it aside, with a cold smile on her lips.
"If we don't do this, how can we let that venomous snake show its true colors?"
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