Chapter 382: Punishment of Nine Clans

At the Crown Prince's first birthday banquet, all the palace maids in Zhang Wanrong's palace went to watch the Crown Prince's excitement, but Zhang Wanrong said that she was sick that night and had a headache, and she said that her personal maid could prove it.

The maid's words were consistent with Zhang Wanrong's at first, saying that there were not many palace maids in their palace, and she was the only servant who served her wholeheartedly. At

the Crown Prince's full birthday banquet, the Hall of Supreme Harmony was full of singing and dancing, and it was very lively. All the people in their palace left their posts and ran to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to watch the excitement, leaving only Zhang Wanrong to serve the sick Zhang Wanrong.

Under torture, the other palace maids also admitted that they looked down on others and were unwilling to serve Wanrong, who had no favor, no status or power, and was always against the Empress.

They did not see Zhang Wanrong's personal maid come out that night, so Zhang Wanrong did not lie, and she did have an alibi.

Unfortunately, the emperor, like Jiang Xinyue, did not believe their testimonies at all.

He did not say it out loud, but just took Zhang Wanrong to the Suspense Department and detained her separately from the maid. He

told Zhang Wanrong that the maid had told the truth about that night, that she killed Cheng Guiren, and then handled and buried the body with the maid. Now the maid claimed that it was Zhang Wanrong who committed the murder and she was just following the orders of her master, and asked the emperor to show mercy.

The servant dared not disobey the master. If she did not, she would end up dead. She had no choice but to go along with Zhang Wanrong.

The emperor told the servant that Zhang Wanrong had admitted that it was his maid who accidentally killed Cheng Guiren and he accidentally saw it. The maid cried so pitifully that he helped bury the body out of compassion. He asked the emperor to give her a lighter sentence.

The messages passed on by both sides were all fabricated.

Zhang Wanrong was suspicious to begin with. After hearing this, she confessed everything after a few more questions.

However, she scolded the servant in the dungeon, saying that they had agreed not to give her up. As long as they insisted that she was sick, who could find evidence to prove that she was lying?

She was a transparent person in the harem. No one would care whether a transparent person who was not favored was really sick or faking it.

So the truth could not be found out.

The maid was scolded by her and exposed her evil deeds to the public that night. Zhang Wanrong then realized that the emperor had deceived her and the maid had not betrayed her.

But after being scolded by her, she confessed even if she had not betrayed him. It was too late to regret.

Tang Shiliang shook his head: "Zhang Wanrong is worried that Your Majesty intends to promote her concubine sister and assign her to the kitchen, just to let her catch the emperor's stomach with delicious food and then recommend her to the emperor for favor. When she was at home, she bullied her concubine sister because she was young and killed her concubine sister's mother. She felt very guilty. She was afraid that one day she would get power and take revenge on her, so she wanted to teach you a lesson. First, she instigated Cheng Guiren to take action, and then secretly helped her to succeed. Several of Zhang Wanrong's accomplices in the Ministry of Internal Affairs have all been executed by the emperor."

As for the dead Cheng Guiren and the still alive Zhang Wanrong...

Cheng Guiren's father was originally demoted, and now he was directly dismissed from his official position, and his entire family was exiled to the Bingzhou mine to dig coal.

The culprit, Zhang Wanrong, was found guilty of murdering the prince and was directly sentenced to exterminate nine clans.

This was the first time that Jiang Xinyue had seen the emperor exterminate nine clans since she traveled to the Great Yan Dynasty.

She knew that Emperor Xuanwu was a very good emperor. He never thought that human life was cheap. On the contrary, he was very respectful of life. Unless his bottom line was touched, he would never take someone's life easily.

Not to mention exterminating nine clans.

Jiang Xinyue was very glad that the emperor did not treat Zhang Wanrong as soft-heartedly as he did to Concubine De. If she was not severely punished, the tragic ending of the former prince would be repeated on the little dumpling.

She was not a god, and she was not sure if she could help her son escape every time of poisoning.

She only knew that if there was something that threatened her son's growth, she would have to eliminate the threat at all costs.

The emperor probably feared that the past would happen again, so he took measures to eradicate the problem completely.

In the kitchen, a young girl with her sleeves rolled up heard that the Zhang family was exterminated. Her legs went weak and she fell to the ground, wailing loudly: "I knew she was a doomsday star. She killed my mother and wants to kill me. I can finally do what I like, but she can't stand me getting along. She is so anxious to send me to see Prince Yan... Anyone in the Zhang family can die, but I can't! I promised my aunt that I would bring honor to our family and avenge her! Ahhhh... I don't want to die!"

"Who told you to die?"

Xi Que took a big cucumber in her hand and took a bite. It was crisp and refreshing: "My lady Xiuzhu, our queen said that the sauced chicken yesterday was delicious, and the emperor liked it too, so he asked you to make another one today."

Zhang Xiuzhu's crying stopped abruptly: "Not killing me?"

"Why kill you? You have entered the palace and belong to the Emperor and the Empress. What do the nine clans of the Zhang family have to do with you?"

In Zhang Xiuzhu's heart, she was the only relative of the Zhang family, and that was her aunt.

But her aunt had been killed by her sister Zhang Wanrong many years ago. In order to cover up her crime, her father and stepmother announced to the family that her aunt died of a serious illness.

How is it possible?

She saw with her own eyes that Zhang Wanrong pushed her aunt into the well and drowned her.

She was not convinced and went to her father to seek justice. Not only did she not get justice, but she was also beaten to death by her stepmother for disobeying her elder sister and framing her stepmother.

From then on, she knew that she had no home.

She wanted to fight against the injustice of fate, so she could only use the superb cooking skills that her aunt had taught her, but she was trapped in the backyard of the Zhang family and had no chance to go out.

She also secretly disguised herself, sneaked out of the house, and worked as a chef in a restaurant under a false name, saving a lot of money. She accumulated a reputation as a chef in the capital, but after being discovered, she was replaced by an imposter.

Moreover, after her father and stepmother found out, they punished her according to the family rules and scolded her for being shameful, showing off, and having no shame.

She just wanted to cook, what did she do wrong? Why was it shameful?

Should she obey her family's arrangement and take it as her duty to marry someone for the rest of her life, and let her mother do whatever she wants, even if she has to be the consort of a corrupt official who is several decades older than her? Should she be grateful to Dai Ze and accept everything?

Why?

So when she knew that there was a selection of beauties in the palace, and the sisters chosen by her father were unwilling to enter the palace, she secretly discussed with her sisters and changed her name on the selection list.

If she was destined to be controlled by her mother, ignored by her father, trampled on and bullied in this life... then she would rather enter the palace and escape as far as possible.

She never thought that her cooking skills would be appreciated by the Empress, and she was actually allowed to enter the kitchen.

When the news of the extermination of the entire clan came, she really hated Zhang Wanrong, even more than before.

But, Miss Xi Que just said that she would not kill her?

"Wuwuwuwu... Every day, I will be scared to death sooner or later, wuwuwuwu..."