"I have nothing to say." Ning Wanyin looked at Helian Qi aggrievedly, as she was speechless.
"But I have been wronged. Your Majesty, please believe me."
Helian Qi: ???
What I need is evidence. I believe you have some use for it.
The evidence of her guilt was irrefutable, and the emperor could not bend the law for personal gain. The most he could do was to save her life and send her to the cold palace.
Helian Qi felt annoyed and said with a gloomy face:
"Let the eunuch in charge of the execution come over and carefully review their testimonies. No clues can be missed!"
"Yes!" Wang Degui accepted the order.
The eunuch Wu Mi, who was in charge of the Criminal Justice Department, was good at torture.
All the emperor can do now is check whether there are any loopholes in these people's testimonies.
Let's give it a try.
Soon, people from the Criminal Justice Department came and interrogated them separately and verified each other's information.
But these people had already colluded with everything, and they would bite Ning Wanyin to death even if they were punished...
"Your Majesty, the testimony has been checked and there are indeed no omissions." Wu Mi stepped forward to report.
Helian Qi had a blank expression on his face, showing no emotion.
Xue Zhaoyi had known this would be the result and glanced at Ning Wanyin, whose face looked ashen, with disdain.
Wu Mi continued, "There is only one thing that doesn't match. When the servants searched Caiye's room, they found five hundred taels of silver hidden in the cracks under her bed, but she refused to admit that the silver was hers."
When a person is brought to justice, his residence will be searched to see if there is anything suspicious.
"This banknote should be the reward given to her by Concubine Ning, right?" Concubine Fang sneered.
Xue Zhaoyi felt something was wrong. Where did this banknote come from?
"After careful inspection, I found that the banknote was stained with the scent of Ruyi Incense." Wu Mi presented a banknote wrapped in cloth:
"According to my investigation, in the entire imperial palace, only Qionghua Garden has Ruyixiang."
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole palace fell silent.
Everyone looked at Xue Zhaoyi.
Given the status of the Duke's Mansion, Concubine Xue would certainly not use the spices that were distributed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but instead the precious spices that she had blended since she was a child.
This Ruyi incense was brought by Concubine Xue from home.
Xue Zhaoyi's face changed slightly, "Nonsense! I have never seen her, let alone given her any money."
Wang Degui hurried forward and presented the key evidence, the silver note, to Helian Qi.
A faint scent of Ruyi lingers.
Helian Qi glanced at the banknote and knew what was going on. He said in a deep voice, "Wang Degui, show the banknote to Concubine Xue."
"yes."
Wang Degui presented the banknote to Xue Zhaoyi.
Xue Zhaoyi picked up the banknote and smelled a refreshing fragrance, it was indeed the scent of Ruyi incense!
How is that possible!
Xue Zhaoyi stared at Ning Wanyin in disbelief:
"You framed me!"
I have been hunting geese all day, but today I was pecked by a goose.
It would be difficult for her to hide evidence in Caiye's residence. The only person who could hide the banknotes was Ning Wanyin!
But she couldn't understand where this Ruyi incense came from?
"The spices used in Lingxue Pavilion are all distributed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I don't have Ruyixiang, how can I conjure it out of thin air?" Ning Wanyin clarified indifferently, looking at Helian Qi with tears in her eyes:
"Your Majesty, please understand! I was almost wrongly killed today. Fortunately, Your Majesty is wise and brave, and the Criminal Justice Department is as good as a god in solving cases. They found these banknotes and cleared my name."
"Xue Zhaoyi plotted to murder Concubine Zhuang and framed me. Your Majesty, please make the decision and give me and Concubine Zhuang justice!"
Concubine Zhuang has been confused ever since she came to Tinglan Palace.
Sometimes it was Xue Zhaoyi who gave the orders, and sometimes it was Ning Wanyin who gave the orders.
Now it was Concubine Xue who was instructing her, and she was confused.
But when she heard herself being mentioned, she immediately looked at the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, please make the decision for me!"
Xue Zhaoyi hated Ning Wanyin so much that her teeth were itching.
But the banknote is here, and today’s matter cannot be resolved amicably.
You can only sacrifice the car to save the king.
Xue Zhaoyi immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please understand. I have never seen Caiye, and I don't know what this banknote is about..."
The head maid Yinzhu reacted and immediately kowtowed and took over the conversation:
"It was this servant who bribed Cai Ye. This servant did all this. My master is completely unaware of it."
"I was jealous of Concubine Zhuang and Lady Ning's favor, because I admired Your Majesty and was blinded by jealousy..."
Xue Zhaoyi looked at her in shock, "Yinzhu, how could you do such a thing?"
"I feel ashamed of my master..." The palace maid Yinzhu continued to kowtow.
Helian Qi was almost disgusted by this palace maid.
It was obvious that he was taking the blame for Concubine Xue and even used him as an excuse.
"Drag her away and beat her to death!" Helian Qi was too lazy to listen to her nonsense.
There's no need for a trial, the Xue family is indeed tight-lipped.
He had just seen it all.
"Yes." Two eunuchs stepped forward and dragged Yinzhu away.
Helian Qi looked at Xue Zhaoyi and said coldly, "You failed to discipline the palace maids, so you will be demoted to a noble."
When Xue entered the palace, she was promoted to a concubine, but was demoted to a noble lady, which was a real humiliation.
"Your Majesty, Concubine Xue has also been deceived. Please show some mercy." A beauty from Xue's party knelt down and begged for mercy.
Several concubines of Xue's party were also ready to make a move.
"I have already demoted her to a noble lady, but you still call her Zhaoyi. You disobeyed the imperial edict and were banished to the cold palace." Helian Qi said coldly.
The beauty who was begging for mercy was frightened and begged for mercy quickly, "Your Majesty, please calm down. I know I was wrong..."
"Who else doesn't want to obey my order? Come out now, I will send you to the cold palace to keep you company." Helian Qi swept his cold eyes over the concubines.
Everyone was silent, bowing and saluting, "We will follow your Majesty's orders! Your Majesty is wise!"
Helian Qi's gaze finally fell on Ning Wanyin:
"If you hadn't discovered Caiye's suspicious behavior today and reported it to me in time, Linlang Palace would have been in danger of being saved. Pass on my decree that the beauty Jinning be made a concubine."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!" Ning Wanyin knelt down to receive the order.
All eyes fell on Ning Wanyin.
No one expected that she was almost sentenced to death, but was promoted to the position of imperial concubine.
But preventing the fire in Linlang Palace and saving the imperial concubine and princess were indeed great achievements, and promotion was a natural consequence.
It really is full of ups and downs.
Concubine Zhuang's eyes also fell on Ning Wanyin. She didn't expect that Ning Wanyin had saved her by accident...
For a moment, his expression was a little complicated.
"It's getting late, you all should go away." Helian Qi retracted his gaze and looked at Concubine Zhuang beside him and said, "I will go to Linlang Palace with you to see the eldest princess."
"Yes!" Although Concubine Zhuang was not happy that he was talking about visiting the eldest princess, something almost happened in Linlang Palace today...
She was very happy that the emperor stayed with her tonight.
"Farewell, His Majesty." Everyone saluted.
The emperor took Concubine Zhuang away.
The concubines had different expressions, and many of them were looking back and forth between Ning Wanyin and Xue Jinyan, who had been demoted to a noble lady.
"Ning Wanyin, just wait." Xue Jinyan was furious.
She thought she had played a flawless game, but was actually overturned by someone else.
She felt ashamed after losing so much face.
“Bang!”
The next moment, no one expected that Ning Wanyin raised her hand and slapped Xue Jinyan in the face.
The whole palace looked at him with awe.
Everyone was stunned.
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