Zhen Shicheng followed the eunuch into the Yangxin Palace and bowed his head to greet the emperor and empress: "I have seen the emperor and the empress."
In addition to the emperor and empress, Jiang Si and Prince Qi were also in the palace. They all came from Kunning Palace, and the unconscious Princess Qi was still there.
"My dear Minister Zhen, has there been any progress in the investigation?" Emperor Jingming couldn't wait to know the situation, but he remained calm on the surface.
Zhen Shicheng quickly glanced at Jiang Si out of the corner of his eye, feeling the warmth of meeting a family member.
Things have been calm lately and he has been itching for a long time.
It can be said that since he returned to Beijing and became the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, the girl from the Jiang family has been responsible for almost half of the serious and important cases he handled.
Wow, Jiang Si is such a talented person.
Zhen Shicheng couldn't help but look at Jiang Si twice more.
Emperor Jingming frowned and thought unhappily: He was asking Old Zhen a question, why was Old Zhen always staring at his daughter-in-law?
Humph, don't think he doesn't know that the old man once wanted to marry the seventh wife to his son. Could it be that he still hasn't given up?
What a pity, my father-in-law, Duke Dongping, didn’t like it!
Thinking of this, Emperor Jingming immediately became more fond of Jiang Ancheng, but then he thought of Jiang Ancheng's son's death and felt guilty.
No, we have to compensate this sensible, knowledgeable and visionary father-in-law.
Emperor Jingming was distracted for a moment, thinking about how to compensate Jiang Ancheng.
His son has sacrificed his life for the country. It is not excessive for an elderly person to send off a young person.
Emperor Jingming had an idea: let the title of Dongping Earl be passed down to the third generation. Dongping Earl was still young, and it was still in time for him to marry and have children to inherit the title.
Zhen Shicheng had no idea that because he looked at Jiang Si twice more, he aroused the sense of crisis in his rival, the old emperor, and thus a huge pie was about to fall on the head of the Dongping Marquis's mansion.
He cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have found out some information."
The King of Qi, who was standing on the side, was immediately nervous.
Whether Li's affair will be exposed depends on Zhen Shicheng.
Although the King of Qi had thought of abandoning the Princess of Qi when he first met her, it would be best if the matter was not exposed. After all, no matter how he tried to distance himself from the matter, it would still have an impact on him.
"My dear Minister Zhen, please tell me in detail." Emperor Jingming straightened his face.
He knew that Zhen Shicheng was a capable person, which showed that he had made the right choice.
"I found a ball of incense on the edge of the cliff. After interrogation, I learned that the ball of incense was thrown out from the carriage of Princess Qi. I took out the remaining incense from the ball and tried it. I found that people who inhale the incense will become weak and unable to move soon..."
Hearing this, Emperor Jingming immediately glanced at Jiang Si.
Jiang Si spoke at the right time: "Father, after my daughter-in-law got on Fourth Sister-in-law's carriage, she saw that the incense ball was exquisite and lovely, and the fragrance in the carriage was very pleasant. I was curious and asked Fourth Sister-in-law about it."
"What did she say?" Emperor Jingming asked immediately.
Jiang Si glanced at King Qi and said, "She said that the incense came from overseas and is very rare. If I like it, she will ask someone to send some to me later."
Emperor Jingming's eyes were like knives, and he looked at Prince Qi: "Fourth Brother, do you know what kind of incense this is?"
The King of Qi turned pale and said in panic, "My son rarely pays attention to the things women usually use. I wonder what kind of incense Li used..."
"The wreckage of the carriage and the dead horse that fell off the cliff have also been found." Zhen Shicheng said, immediately drawing everyone's attention back.
Emperor Jingming was slightly surprised: "You found it so quickly?"
In his opinion, it was already very rare that Zhen Shicheng could find out in such a short time that the incense in the incense ball was the "culprit" that made the Princess of Qi and the Princess of Yan unable to move. How could it be so easy to find the carriage that rushed off the cliff?
Zhen Shicheng explained: "The cliff is not too deep and there is a small path leading directly to the bottom of the cliff. One of the yamen runners happened to live nearby and was very familiar with the terrain there, so he quickly led some people down to the bottom of the cliff and found the carriage and horses."
At this point, Zhen Shicheng paused for a moment, and then continued, "Not only did we find the carriage and horses, but I also dissected the horse's corpse and found out why the horse went crazy—"
Emperor Jingming's eyes narrowed, and he asked anxiously, "What's the reason?"
"I have discovered a kind of herbal residue in the horse's stomach that can cause the horse to go crazy and hallucinate."
The queen, who had been quiet until now, raised her eyebrows.
Emperor Jingming looked unhappy: "In other words, the horse pulling the carriage was frightened because it took poisonous herbs?"
"Exactly."
Emperor Jingming was silent for a moment, then asked solemnly, "So what is your conclusion, Lord Zhen?"
Zhen Shicheng said without hesitation, "When the two princesses stopped at Baiyun Temple, the driver of Prince Qi's mansion must have taken the opportunity to feed the horses with grass mixed with poisonous grass, which frightened the horses. At that time, the incense ball hanging in the carriage took effect, making the people in the carriage powerless and unable to escape... According to common sense, I think it was Princess Qi who wanted to harm Princess Yan—"
"Impossible!" King Qi abruptly interrupted Zhen Shicheng.
Zhen Shicheng looked at Prince Qi and said calmly, "What objections do you have, Prince?"
The King of Qi looked tense and said unhappily, "Master Zhen, don't you think this speculation is ridiculous?"
Zhen Shicheng stroked his beard and asked calmly, "What do you think is absurd?"
The Prince of Qi sneered, "If my wife really wanted to harm the Princess of Yan, why would she put herself in danger? Could it be that she didn't want to live anymore and wanted to die with the Princess of Yan?"
Prince Qi asked two questions in a row, causing Emperor Jingming to nod secretly.
This is also where his doubts lie.
He didn't pay much attention to the relationship between the fourth and seventh sons' wives, but it didn't seem like they would die together.
"Why doesn't Lord Zhen say anything?" Prince Qi asked with a raised eyebrow, his eyes cold.
Zhen Shicheng cupped his hands and said calmly, "I also can't understand why Princess Qi wanted to die together with Princess Yan. If you want to know the reason, you should probably ask Princess Qi."
The Prince of Qi laughed mockingly, "Is this Lord Zhen's keen observation? He only found some superficial evidence, but ignored all the unreasonable things and insisted that it was my wife who did it. He even said something ridiculous like asking my wife why!"
Zhen Shicheng looked at the Prince of Qi and sighed softly, "I understand your confusion. But I pointed out that the two princesses were frightened and in danger because of the Princess of Qi. I didn't just rely on the poisonous grass in the horse's stomach and the poisonous incense in the incense ball. There is more important evidence."
"What evidence?" This time, Emperor Jingming and Prince Qi asked in unison.
Jiang Si stood with his eyes lowered, his expression calm.
The Queen stared at Zhen Shicheng intently, curious about what evidence he could produce.
Zhen Shicheng didn't keep the secret, he coughed and said, "The driver of Prince Qi's mansion has told us."
Several people were stunned, as if they did not understand what Zhen Shicheng meant.
Zhen Shicheng looked at the Prince of Qi and explained, "The driver of your mansion confessed during interrogation that the Princess of Qi had ordered him to mix poisonous grass into the fodder—"
So, when he was just relying on speculation, he had witnesses.