amaotonovel Chapter 286: Confrontation in Class, Bite Back
Chapter 286: Confrontation in Class, Bite Back
Ji Chuhe is also a warm person, and he can feel her tenderness.
However, she lives like a god without any emotions.
Xiao Yanan felt very conflicted.
He wanted Ji Chuhe and him to have a normal relationship like other couples, have children, love each other and stay together. But he also felt that this was a blasphemy to her.
What should he do to impress her and make her develop feelings for him?
The carriage slowly stopped and someone lifted the curtain.
"We have arrived at the palace gate. Please get out of the car, Prince and Madam."
As Xiao Yanan and Ji Chuhe got off the carriage, a eunuch walked quickly towards them.
"Your servant greets the Crown Prince and the Crown Prince's wife. The eunuch asked me to wait for you two here."
"Thank you." Xiao Yan'an responded calmly.
"Please come in, both of you." The young eunuch led the way.
With the words Ji Chuhe wrote on his palm, Xiao Yan'an felt a sense of peace in his heart.
The few words Ji Chuhe wrote were: Watching today.
The Queen can handle what happens next alone, and they just need to watch and see what happens as victims.
In the imperial study, the Queen and Concubine Luo had already arrived.
Concubine Luo looked at the emperor pitifully and was about to speak when the emperor interrupted her.
"You can tell Lord Lu what you want to say later."
Concubine Luo's face turned pale and she sat there without saying a word.
"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince's wife are here."
"Yes." The Queen then raised her head from the pile of memorials.
Xiao Yan'an and Ji Chuhe walked to the dragon table and saluted the emperor together.
"Your Highness, I, your Highness, pay my respects to you."
"No courtesy, please sit down."
Chao Sihai immediately led Xiao Yan'an and Ji Chuhe to the chairs nearby, "Prince, Madam, please take a seat."
After Xiao Yan'an and Ji Chuhe sat down, they glanced around.
The dragon table is in the middle of the imperial study.
Lord Lu sat facing the emperor, with the empress and imperial concubine on the left, and Ji Chuhe and Xiao Yan'an on the right.
The atmosphere in the room was a bit depressing, making people feel a little breathless.
"Lord Lu, let's begin." The emperor said lightly, and then began to review the memorials.
Lu Hongru immediately stood up and said straight to the point: "I have been ordered to investigate the poisoning case at the Prince's Housewarming Banquet. It has been found out that the suspect in this case is the Imperial Concubine. I am now going to interrogate the Imperial Concubine to see if she is the mastermind behind this case."
"Lord Lu, you actually suspect me?!" Concubine Luo retorted angrily.
"All the evidence points to the Imperial Concubine, not my random guess."
"How dare you!" Concubine Luo shouted.
Then, she turned around and knelt down in the direction of the emperor, "Your Majesty, I am innocent!"
The emperor paused for a moment, looking up at the imperial concubine, "Lord Lu is the presiding judge."
"Your Majesty! What did I do wrong to deserve this injustice?" Concubine Luo was still quibbling.
Lu Hongru recounted the entire trial process to Concubine Luo.
Finally, a key summary was made.
"My Lady, Leng Qiu is the maid you gave to the Prince's Mansion. She bribed the servants and colluded with the chef to tamper with the banquet ingredients, replacing the spices with poison! The poison was from Jichuntang, which is the property of the Zhenyuan Marquis' Mansion!"
"Lord Lu, what you mean is that I ordered my servants, whom I had already appointed, to get poison from the pharmacy under the name of the Zhenyuan Marquis' Mansion and poison the banquet at the Prince's Mansion? Would a normal person do such a stupid thing?" Concubine Luo retorted loudly.
"The shopkeeper of Jichuntang is married to the head nanny of the Imperial Concubine's palace. If the Imperial Concubine's palace takes medicine from Jichuntang's pharmacy, the shopkeeper can get some kickbacks. It is for this reason that the medicines used by the Imperial Concubine's palace in Jichuntang have a separate account. Moreover, the shopkeeper of Jichuntang has already confessed that these medicines were taken by people from the Imperial Concubine's palace."
Concubine Luo was stunned for a moment.
She never knew there was such a thing as kickbacks!
She would often reward the palace servants with some medicinal herbs.
In the palace, besides money, medicinal herbs are what the palace people need most, and they are something that can win people's hearts more than silver.
How is it possible that people don’t get sick if they eat a variety of grains?
When palace ladies fall ill, they cannot call for the imperial physician and can only bear the consequences. If they were rewarded with some medicinal herbs on a daily basis, they would be of great help when they are sick.
Some palace servants would even deliver the medicinal materials to their family members, which could even save their family members’ lives at critical moments.
In line with the idea of keeping the wealth within the family, Concubine Luo of course went to her own Jichuntang to get the medicine!
These idiots actually left behind such important evidence just for that little bit of profit!
No wonder the nanny took the initiative to take responsibility for everything. It turned out that the nanny knew she couldn't escape this matter.
"Your Majesty! Even if I have rifts with the Crown Prince's Mansion, I will never do such a thing! Please believe me! Poisoning is a capital crime according to the laws of our dynasty!" The imperial concubine threw herself in front of the emperor's dragon table, crying in grievance and pitifulness.
"My Lady, whether you are innocent or not, Lord Lu will investigate it clearly." The Queen suddenly spoke up, "Besides, this case is not an ordinary poisoning case. I'm afraid it's aimed at the Third Prince."
"Your Majesty, even if I had the courage of heaven, I would not dare to murder the prince! It must be the steward nanny in my palace. She must be involved in this matter!" Concubine Luo pushed the nanny out directly.
She has no other way to go!
Since the nanny had already guessed the outcome, she would not have come before the emperor alive.
Once the nanny dies, there will be no evidence to prove this matter!
No need to go to the Supreme Court to suffer that torture anymore.
"Go and bring the nanny from the imperial concubine's palace and hand her over to Lord Lu." The emperor ordered.
"Yes." Chao Sihai immediately retreated.
Concubine Luo turned and looked at the Emperor. She wanted to argue with the Queen a few more words before the nanny was brought in.
"Empress, you must be suspecting that I was the one who ordered this! Just like when I gave the Third Prince a plate of cakes out of kindness, and he was poisoned, I quickly ate all the cakes to prove my innocence, but I am still misunderstood to this day."
"The poison doesn't necessarily have to be put on the food." The queen responded indifferently.
"Your Majesty is right. If the poison is placed somewhere else, it must be close to the Third Prince, right? How can I get close to the Third Prince? The person who poisoned him must be able to get close to the Third Prince! The only one who can get close to the Third Prince is your people, Your Majesty."
What Concubine Luo said made it clear that it was the Queen herself who poisoned her.
Before the Queen could speak, Concubine Luo pointed the finger at Ji Chuhe again, "Just now Lord Lu said that the Crown Prince's wife knew seven days before the banquet that Leng Qiu had gone to Liao Yunfei to tamper with the banquet. It is impossible for the Crown Prince's wife to be unprepared! Even if someone in my palace poisoned the banquet at the Crown Prince's Mansion without my knowledge, it is not impossible for the Crown Prince's wife and the Queen to take this opportunity to secretly collude and poison the Third Prince and put the blame on me!"