"Yue'er, you..."
The Xuanwu Emperor cradled Jiang Xinyue's face, but saw it filled with pain and fear. She shook her head, "Your Majesty... I beg you to let me and Little Tuantuan leave the palace. I'm begging you..."
She cried so fiercely and miserably, almost wailing.
Kind-hearted people always become frightened when faced with such vicious schemes.
The Xuanwu Emperor held her tightly, kissing her tears away again and again: "I will find the true culprit behind this. I will eliminate all those who attempt to separate us."
A destructive rage grew in the man's eyes.
What had he done wrong?
What had Yue'er and Little Tuantuan done wrong?
They merely loved each other, had they violated some heavenly law?
To make his Yue'er constantly targeted, framed, and scared to the point of not wanting to stay in the palace anymore.
So many people wanted to separate them, unwilling to see him happy. He was determined to make all those people regret it.
"So..."
The Xuanwu Emperor held Jiang Xinyue's face, tenderly wiping away her tear stains, his eyes reddened as he said: "Yue'er, don't talk about leaving the palace, leaving me anymore... I can't be without you and the child."
Just thinking about the palace no longer having Yue'er and the sixth prince made his heart feel empty, unable to even feel pain.
He could not... absolutely could not lose them, mother and son.
Jiang Xinyue's crying gradually stopped under his comforting words, turning into sobs: "I... I'm really scared."
Living in Xihuo Palace, where someone died, then moving to Hexi Palace, where someone else died - how could a fragile woman not be afraid of the cruelty in the back palace?
The Xuanwu Emperor brought the clinging Jiang Xinyue inside. By the time they entered the flower hall, Jiang Xinyue had tidied her clothes and hair, wiped away her tears, and followed behind the emperor with the cold, imposing air of a favored consort.
"These people..."
Four eunuchs and one palace maid were all tied up, kneeling in the middle of the hall.
Jiang Chuan stepped forward, pointing at them and said: "Your Majesty, these two servants are menial eunuchs from Hexi Palace. They were caught red-handed spreading news after Wet Nurse Cheng was burned to death. Those two, one is Little Qian from the Empress Dowager's palace, one is Little Yin from Consort Rong's palace. They were waiting for news to come out of Hexi Palace. This palace maid... she's very tight-lipped, refusing to say which palace she's from."
"Your Majesty, we've been wrongly accused!" Little Qian kept kowtowing, "This servant was following the Empress Dowager's orders to deliver something to Consort Rong. On the way, I met Little Yin, so we walked together. We only came over because we saw the fire, truly not to spy on Hexi Palace!"
Little Yin also nodded vigorously: "This servant is innocent..."
As for the palace maid, she seemed not to have expected to be caught, and hadn't even prepared an excuse. She only glared hatefully at Jiang Xinyue.
"Tang Shiliang, dislocate her jaw."
"Crack!"
The palace maid had a look of determination in her eyes, but before she could bite down on the poison hidden in her mouth, Tang Shiliang quickly stepped forward and dislocated her jaw.
She cried out in pain, and a small pill that had been hidden at the tip of her tooth rolled onto the ground.
Yan the Imperial Physician picked it up, peeled off the outer layer of the pill, and shook his head at the concerned emperor: "It's a common mixture of arsenic and oleander found in the palace."
Many oleander plants grew in the imperial garden, but very few consorts knew they were poisonous.
Ingesting it would cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, slow heartbeat, and even death.
Add some arsenic to enhance the toxicity, and it would be hard not to die.
The Xuanwu Emperor's fingers tightened: "Send her to the Investigative Bureau. Tell the Bureau Chief that if he can't get useful information out of her mouth, he should prepare for punishment himself."
The eunuchs from the Empress Dowager and Consort Rong's palaces had consistent stories, and Little Qian even carried a food box.
Magpie opened it to look, and it was full of famous snacks and pastries from the Jiangnan region.
If they weren't lying, then the investigation would have to start with the two menial eunuchs from Hexi Palace.
"This servant... this servant doesn't know who the messages were passed to, this servant never saw... Every time this servant just left the message outside the back door, under the flower pot by the wall. After this servant left, someone would naturally come to retrieve it. But Your Highness... this servant only passed on a few messages, and never did anything to harm Your Highness or the sixth prince. Please, Your Highness, spare this servant."
The other little eunuch trembled, stammering so much he could barely speak clearly: "This... this servant... this servant's sit...situation is si...similar to his. This servant passed... passed messages for... for money. They gave... gave a lot of money. Your Highness, Your Highness please spare this servant, this servant will never dare to do it again."
"Wang Dequan, go to Consort Rong's palace and the Empress Dowager's palace, have them come to collect their people."
As for how they would be collected, that was up to Jiang Xinyue to decide.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
Another eunuch ran in from outside: "Your Majesty, Consort Li from Yanxi Palace... Consort Li has committed suicide!"
"What?"
The Xuanwu Emperor was stunned at first, then widened his eyes to look at the messenger eunuch, and finally clenched his fists behind his back, the tumultuous emotions in his eyes finally settling into calmness: "Is she... dead?"
The eunuch lowered his head, inexplicably feeling afraid: "When... when she was discovered, she had already breathed her last."
Consort Li... how could she have committed suicide?
"This was found in Consort Li's palace."
The eunuch didn't dare delay, handing over a thick stack of letters with both hands.
Those letters had traces of tears blurring some of the words, each line cursing the Xuanwu Emperor and Jiang Xinyue.
The language was extremely vicious. Even if she hadn't committed suicide, if these letters had been discovered, it would have been a death sentence anyway.
Soon after, more palace servants rushed in: "Your Majesty, some items were found in Yanxi Palace, please take a look."
Arsenic, oleander, phosphorus powder, cotton wool...
All the evidence pointed to Consort Li as the mastermind behind everything.
After the Empress Dowager and Consort Rong hurried to Hexi Palace, they were informed that the Emperor and Favored Consort Jiang had gone to Yanxi Palace, so the two rushed there as well.
The crime of plotting against a royal child, even for the Emperor's birth mother who held the position of Empress Dowager, if proven guilty, would likely face death.
No wonder she didn't dare delay in this matter.
It was already late into the night when the Empress and Consort De received the news and arrived belatedly. In the main hall of Yanxi Palace lay the body of Consort Li, dressed in splendid clothes and wearing beautiful makeup.
She seemed to have prepared for death, adorning herself particularly beautifully.
Her maid Xia He, upon seeing Jiang Xinyue, rushed over like a madwoman. Blocked by the guards, she still cursed loudly: "Jiang Xinyue, you slut, you killed my mistress!"
