amaotonovel Chapter 218 Ling Huan's determination becomes stronger in times of danger
Chapter 218 Ling Huan's determination becomes stronger in times of danger
Zhen Huan said respectfully, "Your Majesty, this matter concerns the safety of the palace and must not be tolerated. However, the forces behind Zhao Qinian are so complex and intertwined that I'm afraid there will be many obstacles."
An Lingrong echoed, "Your Majesty, I and your concubine have been feeling like someone is secretly spying on us in the palace lately. This uneasy atmosphere is truly frightening!"
Concubine Hua raised her eyebrows and said, "Your Majesty, no matter who it is, if they dare to stir up trouble in this harem, I will not show mercy! Even if it costs me my entire life, I will find them!"
The Emperor looked at them, his expression slightly relaxed. "I know you've been having a hard time lately. Imperial Concubine Xi, you are incredibly intelligent. Do you have any ideas?"
Zhen Huan thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I believe the most urgent task is to strengthen the palace guards, especially the entrances and exits of the palaces. Secondly, we can start with Zhao Qinian's relatives and subordinates, promising them huge rewards or using threats to get them to reveal the truth."
The emperor nodded: "Well, this plan is feasible. I will give the order immediately."
A few days later, Su Peisheng, who was in charge of the investigation, came to report, "Your Majesty, I have discovered that Zhao Qinian has close contacts with several ministers in the court. One of them is Lord Wang. His behavior has been very suspicious recently, and he has often met secretly with some unidentified people in the palace."
Zhen Huan asked, "Eunuch Su, do you know who that Lord Wang is?"
Su Peisheng said, "Your Majesty, this Lord Wang is in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. He usually seems to be low-key, but I didn't expect him to be in collusion with Zhao Qinian."
An Lingrong said worriedly, "Your Majesty, if they make any moves in the Ministry of Revenue, it will affect the foundation of the court. What should we do?"
The emperor said in a deep voice, "I will take care of it myself. Pass on my order to summon His Excellency the Prince to the palace!"
When Lord Wang entered the palace and saw the Emperor, he fell to his knees and said, "Your Majesty, I do not know why you are summoned. I am very anxious."
The emperor glared at him and said, "Sir Wang, you have been secretly colluding with Zhao Qinian with evil intentions. Why don't you confess the truth?"
Lord Wang's face turned pale as he argued, "Your Majesty, I am innocent! Lord Zhao and I were just interacting normally, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with us!"
Zhen Huan said coldly, "My Lord, please don't try to quibble. Eunuch Su has already discovered that you and Zhao Qinian have frequent secret meetings and have exchanged a lot of money. How do you explain this?"
Cold sweat broke out on Lord Wang's forehead. "This... this must be someone deliberately framing me. Your Majesty, please investigate!"
Concubine Hua shouted, "Humph! You are such a flatterer, and you still dare to be so stubborn!"
The emperor slammed the table and said, "Come here, take Lord Wang to the prison and wait for me to investigate further! If he still refuses to confess, he will be severely punished!"
After Lord Wang was taken away, Zhen Huan said, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid this matter isn't over yet. Zhao Qinian will definitely not give up even if his assassination attempt fails. We must be careful in our response."
An Lingrong said, "Huan'er is right. I always feel like this palace is shrouded in an invisible net, making it hard to breathe."
Hua Fei said: "What are you afraid of? If an enemy comes, we will fight him. If a flood comes, we will block it with earth. We are not vegetarians in this harem!"
One day, Zhen Huan was walking in the Imperial Garden when a maid suddenly ran up to her, handed her a note, and quickly left. Zhen Huan opened the note and saw that it said: "Be careful of those around you."
Zhen Huan was shocked and returned to the palace to tell An Lingrong and Concubine Hua about this.
An Lingrong said nervously, "Huan'er, what does this mean? Is there a traitor among us?"
Zhen Huan frowned, "It's not clear yet. But we have to be on guard."
Hua Fei said: "From now on, all the palace maids and eunuchs around us must be carefully checked, and no suspicious person can be let go."
So, the three of them began to check on the attendants around them. But after checking around, they found nothing unusual.
Zhen Huan asked doubtfully, "Could it be that someone is deliberately misleading us?"
An Lingrong said, "No matter what, we still need to be vigilant."
At this moment, the emperor came forward with a solemn expression: "I have received news that Zhao Qinian died suddenly in prison. His death was very strange."
Zhen Huan was surprised and said, "Your Majesty, how is this possible? Could someone have killed someone to silence them?"
The Emperor said, "I too have this suspicion. It seems the conspiracy behind this is far more complex than I imagined."
Hua Fei angrily said: "This must be the work of that dark force. They want to destroy the evidence and evade responsibility!"
An Lingrong asked, "Your Majesty, what should we do now? If the clues are cut off, won't they get away with it?"
The Emperor pondered for a moment. "I will not let them succeed. I will send another capable person to re-investigate. You should also keep an eye out for any clues in the palace."
Zhen Huan said, "Your Majesty, we will do our best. However, the people in the palace are in a state of panic right now, and I'm worried that more trouble will come."
The emperor consoled them, "I will strengthen the palace security. Rest assured, I am here and will not let any harm come to you."
However, despite the emperor's increased security, strange things continued to happen in the palace. First, the locks of some palace doors were inexplicably broken, and then the maids and eunuchs heard strange noises at night.
An Lingrong said fearfully, "Huan'er, is there really a ghost in this palace?"
Zhen Huan said calmly, "Lingrong, there are no ghosts in this world. Someone must be deliberately playing tricks to disturb our minds."
Hua Fei said: "No matter if it is a human or a ghost, if they dare to play tricks in front of me, I will not let them go!"
Zhen Huan said, "Why don't we lure the snake out of its hole? Let's say we've got a key piece of evidence hidden in a palace. Then we'll set up an ambush around that palace and see who will take the bait."
An Lingrong said, "Huan'er, isn't this too risky? What if they see through our plan..."
Zhen Huan said, "No venture, no gain. We can only take a risk now."
Concubine Hua nodded: "Okay, I'll do as you say. I want to see who is behind this!"
So they acted according to the plan, choosing a remote palace and declaring that the evidence was hidden there.
At night, Zhen Huan, An Lingrong and Concubine Hua led their guards to lie in ambush around the palace.
After waiting for a long time, I finally saw a dark shadow sneaking towards the palace.
Hua Fei whispered, "Here it comes!"
Everyone held their breath, and when the black shadow approached the palace gate, they suddenly rushed out and surrounded it.
But when they saw the shadow's face clearly, they were all shocked. It turned out to be an inconspicuous eunuch.
Zhen Huan asked, "Who are you? Why are you here?"
The young eunuch trembled with fear: "Your Majesty, this servant... this servant was forced into this! Someone threatened this servant and told him to come here to check. If he didn't comply, he would kill his whole family!"
Zhen Huan asked, "Who is threatening you? Tell me now!"
The young eunuch cried, "It's... it's Eunuch Li. He said that if I don't do as he tells me, he'll throw me into the well and drown me!"
Zhen Huan and the others exchanged glances, secretly shocked. Who was this Eunuch Li? Why was he involved in this conspiracy?
Zhen Huan said, "Take him away first and try him tomorrow."
After some investigation, it was discovered that although Eunuch Li was inconspicuous in daily life, he had quite a few connections in the palace, and he had some subtle connections with Zhao Qinian and Lord Wang.
Zhen Huan said, "It seems that Eunuch Li is the key to our finding the truth. We must pry the truth out of him."
An Lingrong asked, "But what if he would rather die than surrender?"
Concubine Hua said, "Then don't blame me for being rude! I have plenty of ways to make him speak!"
The next day, Zhen Huan and others began to interrogate Eunuch Li.
At first, Eunuch Li was stubborn and refused to tell the truth, but under the coercion and inducement of Concubine Hua, he finally gave in.
Eunuch Li cried, "My dear ladies, I was forced to do this! It was the Empress who ordered me and others to do these things. I dared not disobey!"
Zhen Huan and others were shocked when they heard this.
Zhen Huan asked, "Are you telling the truth? Why would the Queen do this?"
Eunuch Li said in a trembling voice, "The Empress is dissatisfied with the favor of Concubine Xi and Concubine An, and is also wary of their influence in the palace. She wants to use Zhao Qinian and others to get rid of them and take sole control of the harem."
Zhen Huan angrily said, "How could the Queen be so cruel!"
An Lingrong also said angrily: "We used to respect her so much, but we never thought she would be such a sinister person!"
Concubine Hua said, "Humph! Does she think she can succeed like this? Let's go find the Emperor and expose her true face!"
Zhen Huan stopped her, "Sister, don't worry. We only have Eunuch Li's one-sided statement right now, and the evidence isn't strong enough. If we rush in, the Queen might retaliate, and we'll be in a passive position."
An Lingrong asked, "Then what should we do? We can't just let her go like this, right?"
Zhen Huan pondered, "Let's first secretly gather more evidence. At the same time, we must also be on guard against the Queen attacking us again."
As a result, Zhen Huan and others began to secretly investigate the Queen's crimes, and a secret contest with the Queen began. They knew that this would be a difficult battle, but for the peace of the harem and their own destiny, they had to persevere, even if the road ahead was full of thorns.