Chapter 230 The Culprit

The palace maid shook her head repeatedly, looking guilty.

Huo Jinchi immediately said angrily: "I haven't even asked you yet, why are you already crying foul? You are just trying to cover up your guilt!"

"Did you prepare the dried loquats for the eldest prince?" he asked again.

The maid shuddered and shouted, "It's not me, it has nothing to do with me!"

"You're talking nonsense!" De Fei was furious. She threw the empty purse of dried loquats at her and said angrily, "You embroidered this purse for the eldest prince. Who else could it be but you?"

"I have always treated you well, but you actually teamed up with outsiders to frame me. Tell me who ordered you to do this!"

"It's not me, it's really not me!"

The maid fell on the ground, repeating these words over and over again.

Then Xiao Dezi came in with a packet of medicine in his hand, "Your Majesty, this was found in the bag of this palace maid, hidden in the lining of her clothes."

Doctor Zhang Yu took it and looked at it, and immediately said, "This is the medicinal powder on the loquat stem."

"You still refuse to admit it?" Xu An, who was standing by, kicked the man down and said angrily.

"I really don't know!"

The queen, who had been silent the whole time, finally said coldly: "Xipin can't stand being quarreled, why don't you take her away and interrogate her!"

Yun Qin, who was lying in Hawking's arms, glanced at her.

Xing'er was dragged out, and soon the sound of a board hitting her and her screams could be heard from the yard.

Then he was dragged back to the palace, covered in blood.

"Your Majesty, she is willing to speak." Xu An said with his hands down.

Without waiting for the question, Xing'er suddenly turned around, looked at Concubine De, and shouted, "My Lady, you have to save me, my Lady. I am only doing what you ordered!"

Concubine De never thought that even after she was beaten like this, he would still open his mouth and bite her!

"What nonsense are you talking about? Zi Yan is my biological son. How could I send you to drug my own flesh and blood?" Defei yelled, her voice a little out of tune.

She then said to Huo Jinchi, "Your Majesty, please do not believe what this bitch said. This was not my fault."

Yun Qin glanced at her lying on the ground in a desperate state. Although she felt happy, she also knew that today's events were indeed full of doubts.

She whispered, "Your Majesty, the eldest prince gave me some dried loquats today and exchanged them for a milk dumpling from me. He said that Concubine De didn't get any milk dumpling."

Huo Jinchi was talking to someone and did not hear everything she and the eldest prince said. Only then did he realize what was going on.

And Concubine De seemed to have just remembered, and hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, the eldest prince loves to eat milk dumplings, but there is not a single milk dumpling among the dumplings I got today. It's too coincidental at this time!"

Huo Jinchi frowned and glanced at Xu An.

"I will check it out right now!"

Yunqin's eyes did not leave Concubine De, and her heart was full of doubts. Could it be that Concubine De didn't know that the eldest prince wanted to exchange milk dumplings with her?

Then why didn't she say it out loud before? Could it be that she didn't notice anything strange?

Or rather, she didn't seem to care that much about the eldest prince.

Xu An came back quickly, with a look of panic on his face, "Your Majesty, one of the maids in charge of distributing the rice dumplings is missing. She is the maid who brought the rice dumplings to Concubine De."

"try to find!"

Everyone had a bad feeling.

As expected, the premonition came true. The maiden was finally found by the lake, having drowned in the lake.

De Fei immediately shouted: "I came here directly after leaving the banquet. Everyone around me is here. I have no conditions to kill a palace maid!"

She looked at the Queen suddenly, "Everything in the palace banquet was arranged by the Queen."

The Queen looked at her and gritted her teeth before saying, "It is true that I have arranged a palace banquet, but I will not bring all the palace maids here, so I will basically use the maids from the original palace. What connection do these people have with me that they can do such a treasonous thing for me!"

"You are the queen, and it is easy for you to order a maid to do your bidding, isn't it?"

"In order to get away with it, Concubine De can really say anything. The palace has a complicated staff, and how can we know whether the palace maid has had any connection with Concubine De for a long time?" The Queen also sarcastically said.

No matter what the two said, things returned to the starting point.

The only clue was Xing'er. Maybe it was because she came here with Defei that they escaped the murder.

"Did you hear that? The one who shared the rice dumplings has been silenced. If you still don't speak up, are you waiting to be punished too?" Huo Jinchi looked at Xing'er and said coldly.

Xing'er naturally knew the fate of the palace maid. She collapsed on the ground like a pool of rotten mud, and shivered for a while before she finally spoke.

"I will tell you everything."

"I broke the jade pendant of immortality that the emperor gave to the eldest prince. I was afraid of being punished, so I kept it hidden. But I don't know how someone found out. That person used this as a threat and gave me this packet of medicine. I asked me to add it to the eldest prince's dried loquats today."

"But I really don't know who that person is. I only know that he is a eunuch. We met at night and I didn't see his face clearly."

Xing Er cried, "At first I thought he just wanted to harm the eldest prince, so I didn't dare to use all of them, but I never thought of harming Concubine Xi!"

De Fei immediately scolded: "You are so brave to eat outsiders' food!"

After hearing this, the queen couldn't help but say, "This is really strange."

This also indirectly ruled her out. After all, the Queen was notoriously indifferent to other people's business and had no authority. How could she know what was going on in Concubine De's palace in such detail?

Yun Qin glanced at Huo Jinchi with an unpleasant expression; his face was already gloomy.

In fact, they had already guessed who had done it. To know so many secrets, to have such a detailed plan, and to even have his hand in the palace, this person must be someone of great status.

And the only person who meets the requirements is the Queen Mother.

Huo Jinchi held Yun Qin's arms tightly, feeling unspeakable guilt and pain in his heart.

Although Yun Qin was surprised, she was not that surprised.

If she gave birth to a child, it would most likely threaten the position of the Queen.

Apart from Concubine De, the Empress Dowager was probably the only one in the palace who wanted her dead the most and was also most afraid of her getting pregnant.

Yun Qin knew it in her heart, but she pretended not to know. She leaned in Huo Jinchi's arms and said sadly, "Who on earth is it and why did you use blood-activating and blood-stasis-removing medicine to treat me? I am not really pregnant."

What she was talking about was the accident that happened that day. Although it was not done by Concubine De, it was also related to her leaking the news to the other palaces.

Even if she doesn't die, she'll be skinned alive!