Chapter 50 Empress: This is too hard for me!
Jiang Nan walked to the center of the arena, stopped, and stared at the Empress with a mocking gaze and undisguised sarcasm on her face.
"If this leads to a wrongful conviction, won't everyone in the harem be filled with resentment? Is this how you act as Empress? If everyone handled cases like you, I think I could also become the Empress!"
Her words were a blatant slap in the face and a provocation.
Even the most basic greetings and bows were skipped.
When Empress Hesheli saw Jiang Nan appear, her face instantly froze like iron, and her chest heaved violently.
That bitch Jiang Nan is like a persistent ghost.
She was dealing with a concubine who made a mistake, and she was even being publicly reprimanded by this person?
The old nanny of the Hesheli family was trembling with anger. If anyone else dared to speak to the Empress like that...
She had already stepped forward and sternly reprimanded them for their manners, but the other party was Consort Jin…
Her empress mistress suffered repeated setbacks at her hands, and she, a mere servant, dared not utter a word of rebuke despite her anger.
The Queen suppressed her rage, which was about to erupt, and squeezed out words through clenched teeth, her handkerchief twisted into a knot.
"Consort Jin, what brings you here? Why aren't you staying in your Yongshou Palace? What are you doing here causing trouble? Besides, I am the Empress. Where are your manners? Have you forgotten them all?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Nan was not afraid at all. Instead, she smiled brightly, a smile so radiant it was dazzling.
As if she had just remembered, she curtsied perfunctorily and gave an extremely sloppy bow.
"May Your Majesty the Empress be well."
After bowing, she immediately straightened up, raised her chin slightly, and spoke with even greater arrogance.
"If Your Majesty can come, then so can I. I've said it before, this inner palace is not your Hesheli family's backyard. Where can't I go?"
She paused, then extended her slender finger and gently tapped herself, her tone carrying an air of self-righteous arrogance.
"Furthermore, Your Majesty, have you forgotten? His Majesty personally granted me the power to assist in managing the six palaces. If you feel that I am in your way, fine, go and have His Majesty issue an edict to take back this power. Otherwise, please shut up. Since I have this power, I have the right to supervise whether all matters in the harem are fair. This is because His Majesty is wise and specifically asked me to keep an eye on things to prevent anyone from abusing their power, confusing right and wrong, and making the harem a mess."
She put these huge accusations on her.
This escalated the personal grudge to the level of being ordered to supervise, leaving the Empress speechless.
Jiang Nan seized the opportunity and glanced at the two young women kneeling on the ground.
He then looked at the Empress, shook his head and sighed, his tone filled with heartache and indignation.
"Look at the mess you've made! If your shrewd and capable Lord Suo'etu knew about this case, he'd probably call you a fool. If you think you're not smart enough and are a bit stupid, then read more books, broaden your horizons, and stop making rash judgments and making yourself a laughingstock."
"You...you..."
The Empress was left dizzy and disoriented by Jiang Nan's barrage of sarcastic and scathing remarks.
His face turned from pale to ashen, and his finger trembled as he pointed at Jiang Nan, but he couldn't utter a single complete sentence.
She had long known that Jiang Nan had a sharp tongue, like a knife, but every time she experienced it firsthand...
I'm still furious at this kind of merciless, sore-spot-hitting criticism.
Ironically, she even felt that Jiang Nan's insults seemed to have some merit and evidence, leaving her with no way to refute them.
Looking around at the eunuchs and palace maids who had their heads down and wished they could shrink into the ground, he felt a sense of awe.
An unprecedented sense of powerlessness and humiliation welled up in the Empress's heart.
This Guarjia Jiangnan is simply the nemesis of Hesheli.
She was a natural enemy; with this wretched woman around, she, the Empress, would never have a peaceful day.
For a moment, she even felt a sense of utter exhaustion, like she was giving up entirely.
Thinking about whether I should just give in?
If you can't beat them, join them?
But as soon as this thought popped into her head, she suppressed it firmly with her pride as empress.
No, I am the Empress, and I must not show weakness in front of her.
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She forcefully suppressed her surging blood and anger.
I took a deep breath and tried to make my voice sound calm, but it still trembled slightly.
"Fine, fine, Consort Jin, since you think I handled it poorly and that I'm stupid, then you decide. I want to see what extraordinary abilities you have, and let me see how you... can solve this unsolvable case without being stupid."
She deliberately emphasized the phrase "headless case," implying that there was no corroborating evidence in this case.
The two sides have conflicting accounts, making it a complete mess.
She wanted to see what Jiang Nan could do; she was waiting to see Jiang Nan make a fool of himself.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Nan raised her eyebrows even higher.
Wow, the empress has learned something new! Is this an attempt to embarrass her in public?
She sneered inwardly. Could this possibly stump her?
They pushed each other into the water, and nobody saw it? Seemingly a dead end? Haha, that's because you can't think outside the box.
Details are key to solving the case, but there's one thing we need to confirm first.
She ignored the empress's ashen face and turned her gaze to the two young ladies kneeling on the ground.
When her gaze fell on Dai Jia, she paused, then nodded slightly as a greeting.
Then, she looked at another unfamiliar woman and asked.
"May I have your name?"
The young woman raised her head, revealing a face that, though pale, was still undeniably beautiful, her voice trembling with tears and grievance.
“Your Highness Consort Jin, this servant…this servant is Wanyan.”
Jiang Nan's heart stirred slightly.
The Wanyan clan? Oh wow, another big fish.
Consort Jing during the later years of the Kangxi Emperor's reign? She was also granted the title of Consort without having children.
She remained expressionless, simply nodding slightly.
She walked up to the two of them, looking down at them with a flat, pressured voice.
"I'm giving you one last chance. Now, confess the truth, and I might show leniency out of consideration for your youth and ignorance. But if I wait for you to find out the truth myself..."
She paused deliberately, her gaze sweeping coldly over the two of them.
Finally, he gave the Empress behind him a meaningful glance and emphasized his words.
"That won't be so simple. At that point, even the Empress won't be able to protect that malicious person who deliberately framed you, understand?"
Upon hearing this, Daijia and Wanyan, who were on the ground, both trembled.
"Your Majesty, I am not lying. It was she who pushed me."
The two of them were alike, refusing to budge, their voices even trembling with tears.
Seeing this, Jiang Nan sneered inwardly.
They won't shed a tear until they see the coffin.
She wasn't in a hurry; instead, she asked a seemingly unrelated question.
This was because Zhao Deyi had reported that both of the young ladies had been rescued from the lake.
"Neither of you can swim, can you?"
The two nodded blankly at the same time.
"Yes, this servant cannot swim."
Jiang Nan looked closely into their eyes.
Daijia was genuinely bewildered, but she still caught the fleeting hint of guilt in Wanyan's heart.
At this moment, the empress, sitting in the back, couldn't help but sneer, her tone full of mockery and schadenfreude.
"Consort Jin, what's the use of asking these irrelevant questions? With your meager cleverness, you think you can solve cases? Who do you think you are? Do you really think that just because you have some tricks up your sleeve, everyone else is a fool? In my opinion, you are just as stupid as I am, all you do is play tricks."
Jiang Nan turned around and smiled at the Empress, a smile that was bright but also thorny.
"Your Majesty, why are you in such a hurry? The show has only just begun. Just sit back and watch how this fool of mine sorts out the case that you can't solve."
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Yesterday there was a review saying, "This book isn't good, I'm marking it." That review is infuriating! Tomato (the author) should mark every single one of her hundreds of thousands of books. If I knew her name, I'd definitely give her a minor role and make her cry.
Thank you for the tip, Baozi, and also Jialanfei and Jack Lee for the book review. Thank you.
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