klisemfg Chapter 424 And so it was swept away by the wind and rain.
Chapter 424 And so it was swept away by the wind and rain.
Tong Bo's throat tightened, and he was drenched in cold sweat. Just as he regained his senses and was about to warn Mingyue to be careful, he saw a trickle of black blood seeping from the corner of the palace maid's mouth.
Mingyue pried open her jaw and saw a purplish-black patch at the base of her tongue, clearly indicating the deadly poison that kills on contact with blood.
"It was probably between her teeth when she first entered the palace." Mingyue's voice was strained, secretly regretting that she hadn't dislocated her jaw earlier.
The corpse fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Several palace maids screamed in terror, and even Aunt Mei's hands, which were holding the puppet, trembled uncontrollably.
After a while.
Tong Bo's face turned ashen as he personally led the puppet to the Funing Palace to report the incident.
Aunt Mei was extremely frightened and, still in shock, grabbed Mingyue's hand, urging her to go to Dieqiong Pavilion to send a message to Consort Chun.
"What a vicious scheme! They saw that Your Highness and Empress Dowager Zhou had a very close relationship, so they deliberately took advantage of the search to frame Your Highness!" Ruizhu cursed angrily. "Fortunately, Mingyue was quick-witted and nimble. If she hadn't caught her on the spot, our Your Highness might not have been able to get away with it."
A wave of unrest, a wave of up again.
Inside the duty room of Shujing Hall.
Jingming stared at the red cloth wrapping presented by the palace servants, his fingertips trembling slightly.
When the red cloth was lifted, a faint smell of blood wafted out.
Inside, there was a fragment of a swaddling cloth, with dried and hardened brownish-red bloodstains on it. There was also a gold lock tightly bound with a red rope, and at the bottom, there was a yellow talisman with the baby's birth date and time written on it.
......
As night fell, Ruizhu hurriedly entered her bedchamber.
“Your Majesty, Yuehuan confessed to all the crimes, and during the trial, she suddenly crashed into a palace pillar…” Ruizhu’s voice tightened, “…and died on the spot. The Emperor was furious, and Consort Yixiu was stripped of her title and demoted to Jieyu. Shujing Palace has now been locked up and sealed off.”
Meng Shu asked, "Where is the Second Princess?"
"After much pleading, the Emperor finally granted the Second Princess permission to stay with her temporarily."
Meng Shu originally thought that Yi Xiuyuan would have dealt with those deadly things long ago after hearing about the religious ceremony, but she did not expect that they would still remain in the palace.
"Before her death, Yuehuan desperately cried out that it was not a harmful witchcraft, but... but a folk 'borrowing blessings' secret method."
It is said that by taking the eldest princess's personal belongings and using a cinnabar talisman as a medium, a portion of her blessings will be temporarily borrowed to protect the second princess. After forty-nine days, the talisman will be burned, and not only will the second princess be out of danger, but the eldest princess's illness will also disappear with the burning of the talisman..."
"absurd!"
Meng Shu frowned. "Although matters of gods and ghosts have always been unfounded, Princess Lingyi's sudden serious illness could only be caused by witchcraft."
After a while, a playful look appeared on Green Willow's face.
"Does Your Majesty know that Consort Qu, after failing to obtain the gold lock from Consort Qu, brought back a similar one from outside the palace and sent it to Shujing Palace? Upon hearing this, the Emperor has already decreed that she be demoted to the lowest rank of Lady and exiled to the inner palace."
The fact that she was demoted to the lowest-ranking concubine clearly shows that the emperor loathed her to the extreme.
"As for the blood-stained swaddling clothes, they were indeed used by the eldest princess. According to Lord Tong's examination, they came from the wet nurse who served the eldest princess."
"Heh." Meng Shu suddenly chuckled, "Qu Meiren will probably have to put on a show of sisterly affection next."
Green Willow nodded gently and said, "Consort Qu knelt in front of Dieqiong Pavilion for half an hour, saying that she was... apologizing on behalf of her cousin. How could Consort Qi bear to see this? She personally helped her up and had Chun Tao take her back to Ganlu Palace."
As the master and servant were talking, they heard light footsteps outside the hall.
Xia'er entered, curtsied, and reported, "Your Majesty, Aunt Mei requests an audience."
As soon as Aunt Mei entered the hall, she knelt down with a thud and kowtowed heavily: "This servant, on behalf of the Marquis's Mansion and the Madam, thanks Consort Jin. If it weren't for Your Highness's earlier reminder, our Madam might have..."
Meng Shu gestured to Green Willow to help the person up.
"What is Aunt doing? Even if I hadn't reminded you, with your experience, you would have kept a close eye on the people conducting the search."
What leads can we get from that doll?
Aunt Mei bowed slightly. "Your Majesty, that palace maid was only transferred from the Inner Palace last month. Lord Tong thoroughly investigated her background and found that she had some connection with the Li family of Zhao County. Lord Tong has already linked this case with Consort Rong, but Consort Rong is vehemently denying it."
"She would naturally not admit to this fabricated crime."
Meng Shu said calmly, "Consort Rong was taken to the Yeting Palace last night. How could she have known that the palace would be searched under the guise of a religious ceremony today?"
Aunt Mei was still shaken. "Your Majesty is absolutely right. But now that the palace maid has committed suicide by poison, even if it wasn't Consort Rong who ordered it, she has no way to defend herself."
......
Five days later, the dust settled.
Jingming went to the Yeting Palace to deliver the imperial edict. Behind him, a eunuch held a tray in which white silk gleamed with a dazzling cold light in the twilight.
"Consort Li, receive the imperial decree—"
The imperial edict echoed through the deep palace alleys.
"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: There is a Consort Li, originally from Zhao County, who, having received the Emperor's favor, dares to harbor evil intentions and disregard the established order: First, she plots to harm the imperial heir, a crime deserving of death; second, she practices witchcraft and sorcery, framing Consort Tang, thus disrupting the palace."
Both crimes are punishable by death, and Heaven and Earth cannot tolerate them! His title is hereby stripped, and he is ordered to commit suicide with a white silk ribbon; his remains are forbidden from being buried in the imperial concubine's mausoleum.
As for the Li family of Zhao County, who have enjoyed imperial favor for generations, yet allowed their daughter to commit murder, and further, formed cliques for personal gain and harbored rebellious intentions, they are truly difficult to forgive. According to the *Great Law, Criminal Code*:
All males over the age of ten shall be beheaded; their female relatives shall be confiscated and sent to the Imperial Music Bureau as slaves for life; their ancestral homes and lands shall be confiscated; 137 members of their nine clans shall be stripped of their official titles as a warning to others. This decree is hereby proclaimed throughout the land, so that all may know. So be it.
Consort Rong knelt on the bluestone slab, her fingertips digging deep into the cracks between the bricks. Before her execution, she clutched the white silk and laughed shrilly, the sound piercing through the vermilion walls and startling the crows in the trees into scattering.
From the day she was taken to the inner palace, she knelt and begged to see the emperor every day.
But even after the white silk ribbon was wrapped around her neck, she never received a single response.
A single imperial edict sealed the fate of a century-old family, which vanished like dust in the wind.