The atmosphere in the palace hall was tense, so quiet that even the faint sobbing of Consort Yao seemed disturbing at this moment.
Among the various consorts, only Consort Ning Wanshuang remained standing. She was closest to Xiao Jingheng, and now, by his side, she gently caressed his chest, which rose and fell violently with anger, and spoke soothingly:
"Your Majesty, do not be angry. The well-being of the Dragon's body is crucial. The words of this little eunuch are ever-changing and hard to fully trust. Perhaps it would be better for Your Majesty to send someone to find his family first. Sorting out right from wrong would be much easier then."
Xiao Jingheng nodded in agreement, and, judging by his expression, those in attendance immediately began handling this matter.
Meanwhile, Consort Yao half-crouched on the ground, repeatedly claiming her innocence. Her tears flowed like a torrent, washing away the thick layer of powder on her cheeks. As her tears fell, they left two streaks of washed-out white, exposing the hidden blemishes beneath the makeup. The distortion of her face due to crying only emphasized Xiao Jingheng's disgust.
In this sudden turn of events, Consort Yao's suspicion now surpassed that of Consort Rongyue. However, Consort Hui found the situation increasingly odd. Knowing Consort Yao to be as dull-witted as a pig, she couldn't fathom her orchestrating such a intricate plot.
With skepticism growing in her heart, Consort Hui spoke up on Consort Yao's behalf:
"Your Majesty, this matter is indeed quite peculiar. As I mentioned earlier, if Consort Yao were truly responsible, then the butterflies she released from the palace, contaminated with the toxic powder, could not have possibly flown to Changle Palace unharmed."
She still wanted to redirect the blame towards Song Zhao, but before she could continue her offensive, a low-ranking attendant bowed and entered, solemnly reporting:
"Your Majesty, while investigating this matter within the palace, I encountered a patrol guard from outside Changle Palace. He has urgent matters to report and is currently waiting outside the hall."
Xiao Jingheng's voice turned cold as he ordered, "Bring him in."
The guard entered quickly, paid his respects to Xiao Jingheng, and spoke:
"I am in charge of patrolling and guarding Changle Palace for the Furen. Several days ago, I saw a maid named Fu'er, who serves Consort Yao, acting suspiciously outside Changle Palace. I instructed my subordinates to keep an eye on her, and they observed Fu'er hiding in the bushes nearby. She took out a glass bottle and released many butterflies from it."
After hearing the guard's testimony, Consort Yao turned pale, collapsing to the ground as if her soul had been snatched away.
It was true that she had instructed Fu'er to carry out this act. On that day, she intended to mix peach blossom pollen with the butterflies and harm Song Zhao by causing her discomfort, leading to a fate similar to her own marred appearance.
However, she secretly worried that the butterflies might not cooperate and fly to Changle Palace as planned, rendering her scheming futile. So, she had Fu'er test it out with uncontaminated butterflies near Changle Palace beforehand.
Initially, Consort Yao thought that even if someone witnessed it, she could have Fu'er cleverly explain it as a gift for Song Zhao, who supposedly liked butterflies. She had not anticipated the unfolding of this intricate scheme.
Little did she expect that her meticulously woven scheme would now serve as the most damning evidence against her.
Seeing her speechless and visibly flustered, Ning Wanshuang said impatiently, "No wonder those butterflies obediently flew into the Imperial Concubine Yigui's palace. It turns out you had planned it all along! Consort Yao, what kind of heart do you have?"
Rongyue also exclaimed with resentment, "You want to harm others and then throw dirt on me... Is this how you treat me as your sister? Your true intentions are truly frightening!"
And Song Zhao, who had been silent throughout, now looked ashen-faced, gazing at Consort Yao with tears in her eyes as he said, "I don't understand. Every day when you greeted Imperial Concubine Chen, you laughed and talked with me, very close. Why would the person who wants to kill me turn out to be you..."
Seeing the accusations mounting, Consort Yao struggled to explain, "No, it wasn't me! I really didn't do it!"
Consort Ying gave her a stern look and said, "Then how do you explain the guards seeing your maid, Fu'er, acting suspiciously in the Chang Le Palace? Fu'er couldn't have wanted to harm Imperial Concubine Yigui on her own, could she?"
"I... I..."
At this moment, Consort Yao found herself completely trapped in a corner. What else could she explain?
She certainly couldn't admit that she had originally planned to harm Song Zhao with peach blossom pollen, could she?
Seeing her falter, anyone could see through the demons lurking in her heart.
Xiao Jingheng let out a deep sigh, squinting at Consort Yao with disdain, "You were close to Xiao'er on ordinary days, and you even had a bond from living together in the past. Why would you do such a thing?"
Consort Yao's face was streaked with tears as she knelt in front of Xiao Jingheng, about to explain, but unexpectedly, Yun Shan also knelt down with a 'plop', crying before her, "Your Majesty, it's all this servant's fault!"
She slapped herself hard on both ears, tears streaming down her face, "Consort Yao once said something inappropriate to our young master, so this servant, following Your Majesty's orders, had to slap Consort Yao to make her learn her lesson. It's probably because of this incident that Consort Yao harbored resentment towards our young master and did such a malicious thing!"
Yun Shan's tearful eyes met Consort Yao's shocked gaze, questioning her with bloodshot eyes, "If Consort Yao had any dissatisfaction with me, you could have confronted me directly. But our young master genuinely cherished you. How could you bear to..."
Perhaps others might not have known what Yun Shan was referring to, but Xiao Jingheng had indeed instructed Yun Shan that if anyone dared to mention unpleasant memories to Song Zhao, Yun Shan could reprimand her, no matter who it was.
At this moment, Xiao Jingheng frowned, ignoring Consort Yao's tears, and solemnly asked the palace attendants who served Consort Yao if Yun Shan's words were true.
At this point, who would dare lie to Xiao Jingheng?
One by one, the palace attendants who served Consort Yao confessed truthfully, "Yun Shan indeed... slapped Consort Yao. Consort Yao returned to the palace in a rage because of this incident."
With this revelation, Consort Yao's motive for harming Song Zhao became clear.
With such strong evidence against her, she had no defense left.
Only seeing her crawling on the ground like a piece of rotten flesh, clutching the hem of Xiao Jingheng's court attire, she cried out in despair, her voice hoarse:
"Your Majesty, I truly haven't... Your Majesty..."
"Get out of here!"
How could Xiao Jingheng show any mercy to her?
With a swift kick, he pushed Consort Yao aside, then rose angrily, pointing at her with indignation:
"You venomous woman! You're truly wicked to the core!"
He panted heavily, then turned to Song Zhao, trying to compose himself as much as possible.
"Zhao'er, she intended to harm you. I entrust the power to deal with her to you. You can handle this venomous woman however you see fit!"
At first, Song Zhao didn't respond to Xiao Jingheng's words. Instead, she wiped away tears with sorrow, unable to bear it in her heart:
"Consort Yao and I were close, I never imagined that just because of a slight grievance, she would plot against me, putting me in mortal danger, and even causing harm to the Third Prince, ruining the latter half of his life..."
Upon hearing Song Zhao's words, Consort Hui stared at her fiercely from the corner of her eye.
She didn't believe Song Zhao, but what else could she do?
When Consort Yao heard a glimmer of hope from Song Zhao's words,
she hurriedly crawled to Song Zhao's side, clutching her hand tightly, pleading:
"Sister Zhao, you've always been kind-hearted. You won't let me be wrongly accused, will you? It wasn't me, truly it wasn't..."
"Kind-hearted?" Song Zhao fought back the tears welling up in her eyes, resolutely pushing Consort Yao's hand away, and questioned her loudly,
"Just because of my kindness, am I deserving of being betrayed by you like this!?"
She rose abruptly, bowing deeply to Xiao Jingheng,
"Xiao Lang once told me that the laws of the court are strict, and the Emperor is subject to the same laws as the common people. Consort Yao has condemned Prince Chengjing to spend the latter half of his life bedridden..."
She paused, taking a deep breath, as if making a difficult decision, her words resolute:
"Then, please, Xiao Lang, administer the punishment of amputation to her, let her suffer the agony of the Prince's affliction as well!"
[Amputation: One of the Five Punishments of the Xia and Shang dynasties, also known as the punishment of foot amputation or severing the kneecap of the criminal. In history, Sun Bin was called Sun Bin because he was subjected to amputation.]
[July 2: Worked overtime all day, from seven in the morning until now without finishing, really have no time to update. The update scheduled for July 3 early morning will be postponed to July 4 early morning, with five chapters updated, sorry sorry.]
