When she heard this, Song Zhao understood everything in an instant.
Since the moment Xiao Jingheng was assassinated in Lin'an, the whole scheme had already been laid out.
Even if she had rejected the title of 'Noble Lady', she had already fallen into the trap, with no way to avoid it...
After a brief moment of panic, Song Zhao quickly calmed down.
She looked down at Qu Yanran and said in a steady voice, "You're asking me to save you, but you have committed the unforgivable crime of attempting to assassinate the Emperor. You know I cannot possibly save you, so by saying these things in front of the Emperor, you are trying to tell everyone that the Lin'an incident was ordered by me. Isn't that so?"
Qu Yanran froze for a moment, then tried to change the subject, "Could it be that Your Ladyship wants to kill the donkey after it's finished grinding the flour?"
"Kill the donkey after grinding the flour? Hmph!" Song Zhao let out a cold laugh, then said in a deep, sonorous voice, "If this matter was truly ordered by me, I would have killed you, this donkey, to keep your mouth shut back in Lin'an. How could I have let you live until today, to come before the throne and recklessly slander my reputation!?"
Qu Yanran was obviously not very bright.
With just a few words from Song Zhao, she was rendered speechless, not knowing how to defend herself.
She could only kneel before Xiao Jingheng repeatedly, pleading,
"Your Majesty! All of this was ordered by Consort Song! At the time, I was short on money, so she took the opportunity to help me, forcing me to commit this heinous crime! She even said that if I didn't do it, she would kill me to keep my mouth shut!"
Every word and action from Qu Yanran could not stand up to scrutiny.
Xiao Jingheng was no fool either. He stared at Qu Yanran, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes, and said coldly,
"You say Consort Song ordered you? But for something like this to be arranged so meticulously, it must have been planned well in advance. Consort Song has no one in her family, and has always lived in the palace. How could she have ordered you?"
At this moment, the usually soft-spoken Concubine He spoke up,
"But if it wasn't done by Consort Song, how could the assassin, who had never seen the women of the inner palace before, recognize Consort Song as soon as she entered among all the consorts and concubines?"
"Is your family so poor and destitute?" Ning Wanshuang sneered and rolled her eyes at Concubine He, "So poor that at your age, you don't even have a single portrait? If someone with malicious intent had shown this wretch Consort Song's portrait in advance, of course she would recognize Consort Song."
Consort Yun chimed in, "Yes! Your Majesty, I feel there is something suspicious about this matter."
Rongyue also said, "Consort Song has always been favored by Your Majesty. What good would it do her to do something like this?"
Consort Hui also plucked up the courage to speak on Song Zhao's behalf, "I think what my sisters have said makes a lot of sense. Even if Your Majesty had not officially named Chengyu as Crown Prince at the time, he was still Your Majesty's eldest son, Your Majesty's precious son. Consort Song was favored, and so was Chengyu. Why would Consort Song want to harm Your Majesty?"
Consort Yun gave a cold laugh and said, "Look at how clumsy Consort Hui is with words, yet occasionally she can still make some sense. Indeed, Consort Song is favored, and Chengyu is Your Majesty's only healthy prince. If something were to happen to Your Majesty, wouldn't control over this flourishing dynasty fall entirely into the hands of Consort Song and her son?"
"Consort Yun, mind your words," Song Zhao glared at Consort Yun and said, "Speaking like you do, isn't your father, far away in Jizhou, also secretly contacting the Minister of Personnel and the Minister of Revenue? What is he trying to do?"
"You--"
Amidst the consorts and concubines accusing each other, Consort Hui suddenly said indignantly,
"Your Majesty! All this is because of the nonsense spewed by this assassin, sullying Consort Song's reputation! I think we should lock her up in the Prison for Interrogation by Torture and subject her to severe punishment, to see if she will reveal who instructed her to falsely accuse Consort Song!"
As she spoke, she unconsciously touched the red coral ring on her index finger.
This action was noticed by Qu Yanran, who suddenly cried out,
"Consort Song! I know that I will not leave here alive today after accepting your orders to assassinate the Emperor! I've had enough of the punishments in the Prison for Interrogation by Torture, so I won't let myself be tortured before death! Consort Song! You've brought me to this, I will haunt you even as a ghost!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she struggled madly under the guards' restraints, trying to pounce on Song Zhao.
She seemed to have some martial arts skills. Breaking free of the restraints, even the guards could not hold her back.
Seeing that she was about to harm Song Zhao, the guards had no choice but to unsheathe their swords and stab her.
This sword pierced Qu Yanran's chest and back, spurting out a gush of hot blood.
She glared viciously at Song Zhao, twisted her features and muttered faintly,
"I will not...let you off..."
Then, she breathed her last.
"Ah!!!"
The hall was in an uproar, the consorts and concubines were terrified, and Xiao Jingheng ordered people to cleanly remove the filthy corpse.
Qu Yanran dying in front of Song Zhao was not enough to frighten her,
but now that she was dead, how could this matter be proven without evidence?
After a brief silence in the hall, Xiao Jingheng looked at Song Zhao and said in a relatively calm tone,
"I will get to the bottom of this matter, but with her dying accusation that you ordered her to do this. Consort Song, do you have any explanation?"
Song Zhao looked up at him, her words sonorous, "For things I have not done, what does Your Majesty want me to explain?"
Xiao Jingheng frowned at her for a moment, then let out a short sigh after some time,
"Forget it, we'll stop here for today. Everyone is dismissed..."
"Your Majesty!"
Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Yinzi hurriedly rushed in again, stepped forward and whispered in Xiao Jingheng's ear for a moment.
Xiao Jingheng's previously relaxed brows quickly furrowed again as he said coldly, "Then bring the person in."
Soon, the guards brought in a thin man,
Xiao Yinzi said, "Qu was an official appointed by the magistrate of Tonglu County in Lin'an to serve Your Majesty. After the incident, the magistrate's manor in Tonglu County was wiped out, with all family members dying unnatural deaths. But this servant happened to be out drinking on that day and avoided the disaster."
The servant was extremely frightened to see the Emperor's face. Kneeling on the ground trembling, he said,
"Yo-Your Majesty, I d-don't know anything! It's just that before the manor was wiped out, I saw the master talking with a stranger. Th-that man bumped into me on his way out and gave me a silver note, telling me to pretend I didn't see anything that day."
As he spoke, he fumbled in his clothes and took out a crumpled silver note which he handed to Xiao Yinzi.
Xiao Yinzi presented it to Xiao Jingheng. Xiao Jingheng had only casually glanced at it, but seemed to notice something in the corner of the note.
He quickly sat up straight and took the note to examine it closely.
Soon, his pupils suddenly constricted, and his expression became ashen.
He flung the note on the table and said angrily, "Bring it to Consort Song to take a look."
When the note landed in Song Zhao's hands, she saw that the lower right corner had an imprint that was blurred and faded.
In that condition, it would be extremely difficult for others to discern it.
But Song Zhao recognized it at a glance.
Because...
It was the unique imprint of the Seal of the Duke Who Protects the State!
