Chapter 33: Death of Li
Jamel Xiao arrived very quickly.
When he arrived, he saw Song Zhao lying unconscious on the bed. He hurried to the bedside, held her hand, and asked the imperial physician:
"How is it going?"
The imperial physician said, "Your Majesty, Concubine Song was poisoned by arsenic. Fortunately, Concubine Song has a small appetite and did not eat much for lunch, so the poisoning was not serious. I have already given her a vomiting medicine and a heavy medicine to completely remove the poison, so Concubine Song may remain unconscious for half a day."
After hearing this, Xiao Jingheng felt relieved.
He has always known that his harem may seem like a pool of calm water, but in fact, there are undercurrents.
But this time, with a new person entering the palace, they actually dared to expose these harmful tricks?
He took a deep breath, suppressed his anger and asked:
"Who is responsible for delivering meals to Song Changzai?"
The palace servant who delivered the meal was almost terrified, and hurriedly knelt down and stammered, "It's the servant, but the servant doesn't know why the young lady was poisoned... After the servant brought the meal back from the imperial kitchen, he was going to deliver it directly to Song Changzai, but was called by Li Changzai to help her move the table in her palace, which delayed us for some time. But the food was just a little cold, it's impossible..."
"Drag him away and give him fifty strokes of the cane, and send him to serve in the Xinzheku."
Xiao Jingheng interrupted him with a cold voice, and soon a guard blocked the palace servant's mouth and dragged him away.
When the whole hall was silent, Xiao Jingheng asked again:
"Where is the master of Yaohua Palace?"
"Your Majesty, after Concubine Yao paid her respects to the Empress, she went to Concubine Ying's palace. As for Li Changzai...I'm afraid she's taking a nap right now?"
"Lunch break?" Xiao Jingheng sneered, and gently put Song Zhao's hand back into the quilt and tucked the corner of the quilt, then said:
"Go and bring the person to me."
At this moment, Li Changzai was really taking a nap.
She was a deep sleeper and could not hear any noise. In addition, she was usually very irritable and would either beat or scold the servants. Even if the servants knew that there was a commotion in the West Wing Hall, no one dared to wake her up.
After the person sent by Xiao Jingheng woke her up, she learned that it was Xiao Jingheng who wanted to see her, and she trotted over happily.
Afraid of disturbing Song Zhao's rest, Xiao Jingheng asked Li Changzai to go to the main hall to meet him.
Li Changzai's voice came before her, and she pinched her voice and shouted in a coquettish voice:
"Your Majesty, why are you here at this time?"
But as soon as she entered the door, she noticed that the atmosphere was not right.
Xiao Jingheng sat in the first seat, his handsome face seemed to be covered with a thin layer of ice, which looked creepy.
"What happened to the Emperor?"
Li Changzai walked up to Xiao Jingheng and tentatively reached out his hand to have some physical contact with him.
But she didn't expect Xiao Jingheng to slap her hard in the face, knocking her to the ground.
Li Changzai was slapped so hard that his eyes went dark. He fell to the ground for a long time without coming back to his senses. He just looked at Xiao Jingheng with a surprised look.
"emperor......"
"How many more people are you going to kill, you vicious woman?"
Li Changzai looked as if she was kept in the dark and shook her head dumbly, "I don't understand what the emperor is saying."
Xiao Jingheng narrowed his eyes, "You were the one who asked the palace servants to carry the table for you. The meal sent to Song Changzai went from the imperial kitchen to Yaohua Palace and only stayed in your palace. If the arsenic in the meal wasn't put in by you, who else could it be!?"
Li Chang was in disbelief, her eyes widened as she asked, "Your Majesty, do you suspect that I poisoned Song Changzai? How could I do such a thing in such a forbidden place in the palace?"
"You even dared to murder Shu Fei and her son. Is there anything else you can't do?"
Xiao Jingheng's voice suddenly rose, scaring Li Chang so much that he shuddered.
She was terrified and puzzled:
It has been clearly confirmed that Song Zhao did it, so why would Xiao Jingheng still suspect her?
"It was Concubine Shu and the little prince who were killed by Concubine Song! It wasn't me! Although the wild ginseng was given away by me, wasn't the dirty stuff inside found in Concubine Song's room? Why does the emperor still suspect me?"
Li Changzai cried in grievance, but this only annoyed Xiao Jingheng more.
He signaled Jiang Deshun to hand the confession of the Dali Temple Minister to Li Changzai.
Li Changzai was so shocked after seeing this that he cried out:
"Your Majesty, this is impossible! Fu'er has always been with me. Why would she go to Kyoto to buy cosmos? I don't even know what cosmos is! There is something wrong with this. Someone must be trying to frame me!"
She clutched the confession tightly in her palm, and fell forward with her head on the ground. "Your Majesty, please understand! Fu'er is in the East Side Hall now. If Your Majesty doesn't believe me, you can arrest her and take her to the Ministry of Punishment for severe torture! I really didn't do it!"
Seeing that Xiao Jingheng didn’t even look at her, she crawled forward two inches, grabbed Jiang Deshun’s trouser legs and begged:
"Eunuch Jiang, please help me talk to the emperor. I really didn't do this! Otherwise, go find Fu'er and ask about the matter first!"
Jiang Deshun lowered his eyebrows and looked at her coldly, his heart full of contempt.
House-born servants have been serving their masters since childhood, so they are supposed to be closer to their masters than anyone else.
In order to protect herself, Li Changzai even casually said that she wanted to throw Fu'er to the Ministry of Punishment for severe torture.
As a fellow servant, how could Jiang Deshun have any good feelings towards her?
But he would still ask if he had to.
"Your Majesty, do you want to take that maid to the Ministry of Punishment for questioning first?"
"No need!" Xiao Jingheng waved his hand and said coldly: "The people from the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice have investigated the whole story clearly. What else is there to ask?"
He looked at Li Changzai with disgust in his eyes, "If you have done nothing wrong, why are you so eager to poison Song Changzai and silence her?"
Li Changzai was suddenly faced with such a sudden change and was speechless for a moment. She could only cry and repeatedly explain that she was wronged.
But her words of protest were of no weight in the face of the mountain of irrefutable evidence.
Xiao Jingheng stared at her for a moment, shook his head and said, "It is a misfortune for the Li family to have a vicious woman like you! Come, drag Fu'er out and beat her to death. As for Li Changzai..."
He stroked the ring on his thumb and thought silently:
The charge of murdering the royal heir alone was enough to implicate all nine clans of the Li family.
But Li's father was the governor of river transport and held an important position in the previous dynasty.
The court is in need of people right now, so Xiao Jingheng doesn't want to go to extremes.
So he said: "Li plotted to murder the imperial concubine and poisoned the imperial heir. His crime should be punished! I am thinking that your mother's family has made contributions to the country, so I will let them go and not punish them together. As for you, you will be put in the dark cell and hanged at noon tomorrow!"
Li Changzai's face immediately lost all color, and he cried out at the top of his voice:
"Your Majesty! I am innocent! I have never done anything to harm anyone, why do you treat me like this!"
Seeing that Xiao Jingheng's face was getting worse, Jiang Deshun waved the whisk in his hand and said:
"What are you still standing there for? Take him away quickly, don't let the emperor see it!"
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