Chapter 201: The Three-Court Trial
In the Qianqing Palace, Lin Qiming's eyes were filled with grief. He hunched over and kowtowed heavily on the ground,
saying sadly, "Your Majesty, please find out the truth!" The emperor sat on the throne and sighed, "My dear Lin, I know you have just experienced the pain of losing your daughter, and it is difficult for you to accept it for a while, but the fire in Changqing Palace was indeed a sudden incident. The palace maids did not guard the stove properly, which caused it. It is not as you said, that someone murdered Lin Baoer."
"Your Majesty, generally furnaces are equipped with fire-proof devices. Even if a fire occurs, at most only the furnace will be burned. In any case, it is impossible for the entire palace to be burned without anyone noticing. This is really strange."
Lin Zhiyu said in a deep voice, looking at the emperor with burning eyes, "Besides, such a big fire, not a single maid or guard noticed it. Isn't it strange?"
"And Bao'er has always been smart. She would have escaped after discovering the fire. But why did even the maids run out, but she didn't?"
"Why didn't the maid on night duty call Bao'er to escape together?"
"Even though the fire was so strong, some fireproof materials still couldn't burn. Why were all the plants and trees in Changqing Palace engulfed in flames?"
With each question, Lin Zhiyu's tone became heavier, until finally, his voice trembled, "Bao'er is not just a three-year-old child, she is the treasure of our Lin family, our closest person, I don't want her to die so unclearly."
No matter how you look at it, this matter was intentional, otherwise, with Lin Bao'er's ability, she would never have taken the initiative to stay in Changqing Palace and wait for death.
Unfortunately, all the evidence was burned clean by a big fire, forcing them to force the emperor to make the decision.
The emperor was unhappy after being questioned repeatedly, but when he heard his last sentence, he sighed again.
"Send the night maid, the lady-in-waiting of Changqing Palace, and Lin Baoer's personal maid to come in and report."
Not long after, Cuiyun, Qiqing, and Qinglian walked in.
"Your Majesty!"
The three of them knelt on the ground, all trembling with fear.
"Who is the night maid?" The emperor said in a deep voice.
Cuiyun raised her head tremblingly, "Your Majesty, it was me."
"What happened that night?"
Cuiyun kowtowed, "Your Majesty, I was too tired that night and accidentally dozed off. When I woke up, I saw that the palace was on fire. Maybe because I had never experienced such a scene before, I forgot to go in and call the fourth lady first, and ran out directly to call people to put out the fire..."
"Lin Baoer, you could forget such a big person?" The emperor frowned and got angry, "What do you do for a living!"
"Your Majesty, calm down! Your Majesty, calm down! I was too anxious..." Cuiyun was so anxious that she spoke incoherently, "When I took people in to look for the fourth lady, I found that she was missing. I thought she was not in the palace, and when I saw the fire getting bigger, I hurried out..."
"You are lying!" Lin Ruqian could no longer bear it, "Where could Bao'er be if she is not in the palace in the middle of the night?! Could she, a three-year-old child, go out to play in the middle of the night?! Besides, if she went out, wouldn't you palace maids know about it?!"
Cuiyun sobbed and defended, "I don't know... I just couldn't find the fourth lady at that time, and I don't know what was in my mind, but I felt that she might not be in the palace..."
Lin Ruqian was so angry that she wanted to say something, but was stopped by Lin Mobai.
The emperor pursed his lips and asked Qi Qing, "Did Lin Baoer go out?"
Qi Qing shook her head: "Your Majesty, the fourth lady has never left Changqing Palace since dinner, and the maids on duty also said that they have not seen the fourth lady go out."
"What about you?" The emperor looked at Qinglian with a headache, "Why weren't you with Lin Baoer that night? As her personal maid, and brought from the Lin Mansion, shouldn't you have been by her side all the time?" Qinglian
swallowed twice, choked and shook her head, "At that time, I happened to go to the laundry to get the fourth lady's clothes, so I was not in the palace. Who would have thought that when I came back, it would... it would..."
She sobbed in self-blame, her eyes full of guilt.
If she didn't go to get those damn clothes, would Lin Baoer not have died in the fire?
Hearing this, the emperor sighed and looked at Lin Qiming and the others, "My dear Lin, look, there is no murder, it was all an accident. I know what you are thinking, but now Changqing Palace has become a ruin, and there is no evidence to be found."
"I will naturally make the decision for you. The palace maids involved should die as a punishment, as for the others..."
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! It's unjust, Your Majesty! I am innocent!" Cuiyun kowtowed and begged for mercy, and Qiqing also kowtowed heavily to beg for mercy.
The faces of the Lin family were gloomy and they could not accept this result at all.
Lin Qiming clenched his fists, his eyes changed several times, and finally turned cold, and he was about to speak.
At this moment, outside the Qianqing Palace, a woman's voice was so sharp that it attracted everyone's attention.
"Lord Lin! Your Majesty! I have something to say!"
"Lord Lin!"
"Your Majesty!"
The emperor frowned, "Who is making such a fuss?"
The eunuch outside the door said, "It's the maid of Changqing Palace!"
Everyone present had different expressions.
"Your Majesty, can you please let her in?" Lin Zhiyu said.
After a while, the emperor nodded, "Bring her in."
The maid who came in was a maid with a gloomy face. As soon as she came in, she knelt on the ground and kowtowed, "Your Majesty! I have something to say!"
"Speak."
"I remember that the maid of the Empress sent a bowl of ginseng soup to the fourth girl that night. Sister Qinglian was not in the palace at that time, so it was Sister Cuiyun who received her and fed her to the fourth girl herself."
Everyone was shocked.
"What do you mean?!" Lin Zhiyu asked, "What ginseng soup? Why didn't you mention it just now?"
He questioned Cuiyun and Qiqing.
Cuiyun hurriedly explained, "Your Majesty! The Queen did send someone to deliver ginseng soup that day. Because Qinglian was not there, I brought it to the fourth lady."
"I know that the fourth lady has the habit of testing the food for poison, so I tested the ginseng soup with a silver needle in front of everyone, and only after it was found to be poisonous did I serve it to the fourth lady."
"Everyone saw it!"
"Then why didn't you say it just now?" Lin Zhiyu questioned.
"I... I forgot when I was nervous... And this has nothing to do with the fire..." Cuiyun hesitated.
Qiqing nodded in agreement, "Indeed, we all saw it."
"But why did you stop me when I wanted to go in and save the fourth lady!" The palace maid asked angrily, and kowtowed to the emperor again, "When the fire just started, I asked where the fourth lady was, and they all said they didn't know. I wanted to go in to look for her, but they stopped me halfway, saying that the fire was big and it was dangerous to go in..."
"But she could have been saved at that time!"
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