After the order, ostensibly for protection but in reality for house arrest, was issued, Consort Xian, Su Jinxiu, was "invited" back to her tent. Outside the tent, all the palace maids and eunuchs who had served her were replaced by Imperial Guards holding long halberds and expressionless.
The once bustling main camp of Changchun Palace has now become a magnificent prison.
But the storm sparked by the "dog fight" has not subsided.
Half an hour later, the emperor's decree once again shattered the peace of the camp.
Under the pretext of "confrontation," Xiao Che "invited" Consort Su Jinxiu, who had been under house arrest, to the heavily guarded main tent of the emperor.
As Su Jinxiu was practically escorted by two imperial guards into the tent that symbolized the highest power in the empire, her heart sank to the bottom. But she knew she couldn't give up yet.
As long as there is no irrefutable evidence, and as long as she insists that Wei Xiao is crazy and making false accusations, she still has a glimmer of hope, relying on the power of her aunt, the Empress Dowager, and her past image of being "gentle and virtuous" in the Emperor's eyes!
She took a deep breath, her face once again adopting her signature pitiful, innocent expression. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her face streaked with tears. As soon as she entered the tent, she knelt down with a thud, facing Xiao Che at the head of the table and Lin Wanwan reclining on the soft couch beside her, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Your Majesty, Empress, you must do justice for me! Wei Xiao clearly knows he can't escape death, that's why he's gone mad and tried to drag me down with him! I... I'm truly innocent!"
Her tearful lament was so moving and expressive that it moved listeners to tears; her acting was superb. If Lin Wanwan hadn't already seen through everything, she probably would have been fooled by her appearance as well.
However, Xiao Che, sitting on the throne, didn't even lift his eyelids.
Lin Wanwan leaned against the soft couch, holding a cup of hot tea in her hand, with a faint and distant smile on her face, as if she were watching a play that had nothing to do with her.
Xiao Che did not interrogate her directly, nor did he even pay attention to her cries. He simply gave a brief order to his trusted eunuch beside him:
"Bring it up."
Two words, spoken lightly, yet they made Su Jinxiu's heart skip a beat, and an ominous premonition instantly enveloped her.
Soon, a heavy, metallic scraping sound came from outside the tent.
Two imperial guards carried in a man covered in blood and with disheveled hair. The man was dressed in prison clothes, with heavy shackles on his wrists and ankles, which made a screeching sound as he took each step.
When the man was roughly shoved to the center of the tent and raised his head, Su Jinxiu's breath caught in her throat!
It's Wei Xiao!
At this moment, Wei Xiao had lost all the imposing presence he had displayed as the General of Zhenyuan yesterday. His body was covered in wounds, clearly indicating that he had been severely tortured, but when his eyes saw Su Jinxiu kneeling beside him, they instantly flashed with a demonic, overwhelming hatred!
"Su Jinxiu!" He didn't even wait for Xiao Che to speak before he roared her name in a hoarse voice.
Su Jinxiu trembled at the deep-seated hatred in his eyes and instinctively shrank back.
Xiao Che slowly raised his eyes and said in an icy voice, "Wei Xiao, I'm giving you one last chance. Tell me everything about your conspiracy with Consort Xian to assassinate her. If there's even a single lie, your entire Wei clan will be exterminated."
These words, seemingly an interrogation, actually cut off all of Wei Xiao's escape routes and gave him the strongest motivation for revenge!
Wei Xiao knew that he and his entire family were doomed.
Overwhelming hatred, at this moment, completely overcame all fear and wishful thinking.
He decided to nail this wicked woman, who had dragged him into the abyss and then tried to kick him away after his failure, to the pillar of shame, so that she would never be able to rise again!
"Your Majesty!" He raised his head, a crazed glint in his eyes. "This sinner will tell you everything!"
The next half hour was the longest and most agonizing torture of Su Jinxiu's life.
Wei Xiao revealed every detail of their conspiracy, spilling the beans!
"This humble subject and Lady Su began exchanging correspondence a month ago through the eunuchs she purchased for her palace! She promised this humble subject that as long as he helped her remove the Empress and ascend the throne, she would enfeoff him as a prince of a different surname and share wealth and honor once the Regent's great cause was accomplished!"
"This autumn hunt was orchestrated by her! She had a trusted confidant arrange for the disgraced official to test His Majesty's strength and bottom line by feigning an 'accidental failure' during the archery competition!"
"She calculated the route precisely, and had us ambush them in the dense forest and mountain paths! Moreover, she herself, under the pretext of going up the mountain to gather herbs, handed over the cold arrow coated with the deadly poison of 'blood-sealing throat' to the traitor's confidant!"
"The plan was for her to fall from her horse in the narrowest part of the palace, creating chaos and diverting the Emperor's core guards! Then, the traitor's men would take the opportunity to assassinate the Empress!"
Every word he said was like a heavy hammer, striking Su Jinxiu's heart and shattering all her wishful thinking and pretense!
Her face, which had initially turned deathly pale, gradually turned ashen.
"You're talking nonsense! You're slandering me!" She was still making a last, futile struggle. "What evidence do you have?!"
"Evidence?" Upon hearing these two words, Wei Xiao burst into maniacal laughter, a laugh as shrill and piercing as an owl's. "Su Jinxiu, do you think I, Wei Xiao, am the kind of fool who can be manipulated at will?!"
After he finished laughing, he suddenly kowtowed heavily in Xiao Che's direction.
"Your Majesty! Just in case, I left one last thing! That thing is the pledge of loyalty that Su Jinxiu wrote for me herself!"
He roared at the guards escorting him, "In the lining of my left boot! A secret letter written by her own hand!"
An imperial guard immediately stepped forward and, sure enough, pulled out a letter tightly wrapped in oiled paper from the lining of Wei Xiao's boot!
The trusted eunuch presented the letter. Xiao Che unfolded the letter, quickly glanced at it, and then a cruel, cat-and-mouse sneer appeared on his cold face.
Looking at the letter and the cold smile on Xiao Che's face, Su Jinxiu knew that she was... completely finished.
That letter was written by her own hand to completely bind Wei Xiao to her schemes. It not only contained promises of "sharing wealth and honor after the deed is done," but also some secret plans about the Regent that only she and the Empress Dowager knew!
That was a death warrant she had personally handed out, a warrant that could condemn herself and the entire Su clan to eternal damnation!
Xiao Che gently, very gently, placed the secret letter, with its clear and beautiful handwriting, on the table in front of Su Jinxiu.
His movements were elegant yet exuded a deadly sense of oppression.
His voice was devoid of warmth, like a cold snowflake, slowly drifting down onto Su Jinxiu's already completely frozen heart:
"My beloved concubine, now, can you recognize the handwriting on this letter?"
As Su Jinxiu looked at the letter and at the familiar, delicate handwriting that belonged to her, the last trace of color drained from her face.
Her body began to sway uncontrollably, violently, and precariously.
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