Chapter 92 Full of Confidence
Yun Zhao did not walk far. He just took a few steps under the corridor near Yanying Palace and took a breath.
All matters were reported to her in the side hall where she lived.
In the afternoon, people from the six bureaus came one after another to ask for instructions on official business, and only gradually dispersed when Xiao Jin's oral order came - the morning court would be resumed tomorrow.
Just in the afternoon when order seemed to have been restored, a hidden danger that had been shelved for a long time was suddenly detonated.
Xiao Tao walked in quickly and whispered a few words in Yun Zhao's ear with a serious expression.
Yun Zhao's eyes flashed, then he regained his composure.
Soon, Cao Suzhu arrived. On her wrist was a jade bracelet of exceptionally rich emerald, its lustre and brilliance incommensurate with her status as a palace maid.
She said she was here to visit a patient, and her words were respectful, but her eyes were wandering.
"Hello, Shang Gong! Are you feeling better?" She knelt and bowed, pulling out an exquisite brocade box from her sleeve. "I just met His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin. He heard you were ill, so he asked me to give this to Shang Gong. He said Shang Gong always loved these bright and shining things. I hope you will be pleased with it and get well soon."
Yun Zhao glanced at the box indifferently and didn't take it. "Since Your Highness is so willing to give a gift, why not deliver it personally? It's not proper to let a palace maid like you deliver such a valuable item."
Cao Suzhu was well prepared and handled the situation with ease: "Reporting to the Palace Lady, His Highness seems to have urgent matters that require him to leave the palace immediately. He happened to meet me, so he asked me to convey my message. If the Palace Lady doesn't believe it, you can ask His Highness in person for confirmation." There was a hint of fearless temptation in her words.
A cold smile appeared on Yun Zhao's lips. "If that's the case, let it go. If there's nothing else, you can leave."
"Yes." Cao Suzhu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, placed the brocade box on the table, her eyes lingered on the box for a moment, and then turned to leave.
"Wait!" Yun Zhao's voice suddenly rang out, like ice beads falling on a jade plate.
Cao Suzhu paused, turned around slowly, and looked just the right amount of puzzled. "What else do you want, Shang Gong?"
Yun Zhao didn't look at her. His fingertips lightly tapped the brocade box. His voice was not loud, but it carried an undeniable pressure: "This night pearl is missing."
A flash of panic flashed across Cao Suzhu's eyes, but she immediately forced herself to calm down. Yun Zhao hadn't even opened the box to count, so how could he know the number? He must be trying to trick her!
She immediately said aggrievedly, "Please understand, my servant was just delivering the box. I've never opened it, so I really don't know how much is inside!"
Yun Zhao then looked up at her, his gaze sharp as a knife, and slowly said, "My birthday is the ninth day of the first lunar month. Your Highness knows this very well, so he specially found nine East China Sea night-shining pearls of the same size as mine to give to me, symbolizing 'longevity'. There are only eight in the box now." Her voice suddenly turned cold. "You are the only one who has handled them. If it wasn't you who kept them for yourself, who else could it be?"
Cao Suzhu's heart was shaken, and cold sweat instantly broke out on her back, but she still gritted her teeth and said, "I am innocent! If the palace lady doesn't believe me, you can search me! I definitely didn't take anything privately!"
"Body search?" Yun Zhao, as if he had heard something funny, slowly walked down from the main seat and looked down at her. "Are you stupid enough to hide the stolen goods on your body and wait for me to search?"
"Then... that court lady has no evidence whatsoever, how can she slander me?" Cao Suzhu retorted harshly but weakly.
Yun Zhao didn't waste any more words with her and shouted, "Come here! Palace maid Cao Suzhu has been convicted of stealing the King of Qin's property. The evidence is irrefutable. Take her away and interrogate her strictly! If she surrenders herself now, she might be spared!"
Two strong eunuchs rushed in, one on the left and one on the right, and dragged Cao Suzhu out!
Cao Suzhu was truly frightened at this point, and she screamed, "Yun Zhao! You have no evidence and are abusing lynching! I refuse to accept this!"
Yun Zhao's face was as gloomy as water, and his tone was cold: "Beat her! Beat her hard! Beat her until she tells the truth!"
In the courtyard outside the palace, the torture bench was quickly prepared. The dull sound of the board hitting flesh and Cao Suzhu's shrill screams instantly shattered the palace's afternoon tranquility.
The palace maids standing around all held their breath, their faces pale. No one dared to speak, let alone plead for mercy.
Yun Zhao's gaze seemed to inadvertently sweep across the closed doors and windows of the main hall of Yanying Palace - she knew Xiao Jin was inside, but he did not come forward to stop him.
This silence itself is a kind of tacit consent, a kind of indulgence, and it is also her greatest confidence at the moment.
"You two," Yun Zhao pointed to the other two eunuchs, "go to her residence and search it thoroughly. Bring back anything suspicious!"
"Yes!" The eunuch took the order and hurried away.
The caning in the yard continued, but after five strokes, blood marks appeared on Cao Suzhu's buttocks and legs.
Yun Zhao raised his hand and the execution was suspended.
She walked to the torture bench, leaned forward slightly, and said in a cold voice that only the two of them could hear, "Tell me, where did you hide that pearl? Cao Suzhu, being stubborn will do you no good. I have plenty of ways to make you speak."
Cao Suzhu was shaking with pain, her lips bleeding from biting, but she still stubbornly said, "You want to accuse me... You can always find a pretext... I... didn't take it..."
Yun Zhao suddenly stood up, took two steps back, and his eyes turned completely cold: "Keep fighting!"
The heavy board fell again. By the tenth blow, Cao Suzhu was already unconscious and groaning weakly.
Yun Zhao knew it was far from fatal, so he said calmly, "Since you won't confess, then just beat him to death. In this palace, one more is not too many, and one less is not too few."
These words were spoken lightly, yet they were extremely arrogant and domineering! They also made all the palace servants who were watching clearly realize once again how ruthless this young palace lady was and how deep her favor with the emperor was!
Just as the twentieth blow of the stick was about to fall, the eunuch who had gone to search came back hurriedly holding several things.
Yun Zhao glanced at Cao Suzhu, who was dying and bleeding from her mouth, and waved his hand again to stop.
The eunuch knelt and reported, "Reporting to the Imperial Concubine, we found these in the secret compartment of Cao Suzhu's pillowcase: a jade pendant and handkerchief suitable for men, as well as several elaborately embroidered sachets, also in the men's style, which have not yet been given away. These gold and silver jewels are of exquisite quality and are far beyond the proper use of a palace maid. There is also fifty taels of silver in cash, far more than she could possibly save from her monthly salary."
Yun Zhao casually picked up an exquisitely carved white jade pendant and spoke in a calm tone, each word piercing the heart: "She secretly gave it to a man outside her family. And it seems this 'man outside' is either wealthy or noble."
Wu Lingyu immediately stepped forward and cooperatively picked up a red gold and kingfisher butterfly hairpin. She examined it carefully, her tone of surprise almost adding insult to injury: "Shang Gong, look at the craftsmanship and quality of this hairpin. It looks like it was made by the Imperial Household Department. It's not something that even ordinary officials can afford. This Cao Suzhu must have married a royal relative..."
Upon hearing this, Yun Zhao smiled softly, but that smile was colder than ice. Her gaze fell on the dying Cao Suzhu, and her voice was clearly heard throughout the courtyard: "Having an affair with a man outside the family is a capital crime. If you further tarnish the reputation of the royal family, your sins will be unforgivable even if you die a thousand times. To preserve your dignity, this person must not be allowed to live."
Seeing that she was about to be beaten again, the dying Cao Yunzhu screamed: "Yun Zhao! You can't! I am the King of Qin's man!"
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