It was completely black inside.
It's not the normal color of internal organs at all.
In other words, the Ninth Prince was already poisoned before he was stabbed to death by the longsword!
After a long pause, Consort Cui exclaimed in astonishment, "...When did my son get poisoned? I had no idea! My son's meals are always prepared by a special person, how could he have been poisoned!"
Everyone believed that the Ninth Prince had been killed by Yun Zhuo's sword, so much so that seeing the state of the Ninth Prince's abdomen now left everyone shocked and horrified.
Even the emperor's face turned somewhat pale.
"All those responsible for the Ninth Prince's meals shall be sent to the Dali Temple for interrogation!" the Emperor said in a deep voice.
Zhao Chengping, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, had come with the emperor to exhume the body and examine it. He immediately accepted the order and left.
Autumn's Deep Winter White and the others secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Especially as autumn deepens, I can't help but wipe the sweat from my palms.
—Her young lady has finally escaped a calamity! The Ninth Prince's corpse really did have something strange about it! That's wonderful!
Not only can Ye Qingxue be saved, but Yun Zhuo can also be saved.
The emperor turned around and looked at Xiangsi Zi: "What kind of poison did the Ninth Prince suffer from?"
The acacia seed replied, "I don't know yet; it will take some time to verify."
He had never seen this poison before.
Since entering the capital city, Xiangsi Zi has become increasingly doubtful of his own abilities, constantly encountering many poisons he has never seen before, as have Yun Zhuo and the Ninth Prince.
The emperor asked him, "How much time will it take?"
Before Xiangsizi could answer, a guard rushed over in a panic and knelt down with a thud.
"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! Someone broke into the Imperial Prison, rescued Prince Jing, and even set the prison on fire! They released even the most heinous criminals!"
The air froze instantly.
No one spoke; there was only silence.
Only a chilling, eerie atmosphere filled the hall.
The emperor remained completely silent.
No one could guess what he was thinking at that moment.
Only a very few people dared to look at his expression.
But you can't tell if they're happy or angry.
Time ticked by, and everyone held their breath. After what seemed like an eternity, the emperor finally spoke: "Guards! Seize Ye Qingxue!"
The guards drew their longswords, slicing through the air with a clanging sound, instantly surrounding Ye Qingxue completely.
Ye Qingxue stood there, proud and aloof, looking at the emperor: "Father, your daughter-in-law doesn't understand!"
The emperor's eyes blazed with fury: "Are you ignorant, or are you pretending not to? You cleverly lured me here under the pretext of opening the coffin for an autopsy. Meanwhile, you arranged for a prison break to rescue Yun Zhuo. Isn't that right?"
I see!
Everyone suddenly realized that Ye Qingxue was risking her life to open the coffin and examine the body in order to break Yun Zhuo out of prison.
She truly has deep affection for Prince Jing.
But this is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family!
Ye Qingxue laughed, a sorrowful and mocking laugh: "Father, if that's the case, how do you explain the Ninth Prince's poisoning?"
"..." The emperor was speechless.
Ye Qingxue said, "My daughter-in-law still has relatives at home and wouldn't dare to break her out of prison. Instead of suspecting her, Father, why don't you take some men to the Heavenly Prison to check on the situation? What if Prince Jing wasn't rescued but burned to death in the Heavenly Prison? Please, Father, also be concerned about Yun Zhuo's life or death!"
The emperor's sharp gaze was fixed on Ye Qingxue.
He's being threatened with ethics again!
Moreover, Ye Qingxue dared to hold a grudge against him!
She resented that he didn't care about Yun Zhuo's life or death at the first moment, but instead suspected that she was "luring the tiger away from the mountain" to break Yun Zhuo out of prison.
A palace attendant named Lü An quietly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, even if it is confirmed that the Ninth Prince was poisoned before his death, it will not clear Prince Jing of suspicion of murder. The Ninth Prince's fatal injury was a sword wound, not poison."
Everyone suddenly realized, it seemed to be true!
Therefore, it would be more convincing to believe that Ye Qingxue "lured the tiger away from the mountain" to break into the prison and rescue Yun Zhuo.
The emperor gritted his teeth, his voice icy: "Xiangsi Zi and the others will remain here to investigate the poison that the Ninth Prince has been given. The rest of you will come with me to the Imperial Prison!"
He turned and left.
In a short while, most of the guards were taken away, and the crowded Jing'an Hall quickly became empty, with only the night wind blowing.
Ye Qingxue was forcibly taken away, and Qiu Shendongbai immediately followed.
Cui Cairen walked beside Ye Qingxue, her eyes bloodshot, her tone sharp as frost:
"Ye Qingxue, if Yun Zhuo is truly rescued, I will have you torn to pieces and executed by slow slicing! Not only that, I will also have the Emperor exterminate your entire Ye family!"
Ye Qingxue pursed her lips and looked in the direction of the Heavenly Prison—although the Heavenly Prison was built inside the Imperial City, it was outside the Imperial Palace, and it was not visible from here.
The night was cool and still, and the group hurried toward the prison.
...
The prison did indeed catch fire, and flames soared into the sky. When the prison guards realized something was wrong, they began to put out the fire, but they couldn't stop it from growing bigger and bigger.
The carriage of the Xuan King and his wife was hidden in a dark place.
They watched as the people in the prison busily put out the fire and arrested prisoners; it was quite a lively scene.
Ling Ya, Yun Xun's personal bodyguard, approached. Yun Xun immediately stood up and asked, "How is it? How many criminals escaped? Did they leave as we instructed?"
Ling Ya replied, "We've released most of those who could be released. I followed Your Highness's instructions and had them follow the route we told them. I've already had people watching them, so there's no mistake."
"Very good." Yun Xun asked, "What about Yun Zhuo? Have you caught him?"
Ling Ya said, "The fire spread too quickly, and Prince Jing was locked in the innermost cell. By the time our men arrived, Prince Jing was already gone. He must have escaped the fire beforehand."
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