Suddenly, he fell silent. His eyes fixed on Bai Di were filled with heartache, pity, hurt, and struggle, which finally turned into a look of determination.
His back straightened abruptly, and the initial panic faded from his face. He kowtowed hard to Feng Linche and said firmly,
"Your Majesty, the Second Miss is right. It's all this humble citizen! It was this humble citizen who took the initiative to disguise as a eunuch and broke into Wenrui Palace, forcibly defiling the Second Miss. This matter has nothing to do with the Second Miss. It was all done by this humble citizen alone! Please, Your Majesty, don't blame the Second Miss. If there is to be punishment, punish this humble citizen."
These words made Bai Di tremble with anger.
Bai Zheng, who was protected behind Feng Linche, curled her lips and watched everything in front of her with great interest.
Although she didn't know how Su Muxiao and Princess Yunxi had persuaded Chen Jianzhi to take the risk of implicating his entire family to frame Bai Di in the palace,
she had to admit that they had chosen the right person.
Chen Jianzhi was not very capable, but he was an excellent actor.
He deliberately stopped halfway when talking about the letter brought to him by Bai Di's maid, and then pretended to be willing to take all the blame for his beloved, which actually confirmed the affair between him and Bai Di.
Bai Di's hair was in disarray, her face flushed with anger. Her voice trembled with hatred as she said, "You! You're deliberately trying to drive me to death!"
"Di'er, be quiet!"
It was Bai Sheng, who had been silent all this time, who spoke.
She cast a cold glance at Chen Jianzhi and Su Muxiao, then knelt straight in front of Feng Linche and said loudly, "Your Majesty, this matter is suspicious. Since it concerns the reputation of the royal family and the innocence of my younger sister, I hope Your Majesty will conduct a thorough investigation."
"A thorough investigation? How do you expect me to do that?" Feng Linche retorted sharply.
Bai Sheng lowered her eyes and said word by word, "The wine that Su Muxiao forced Di'er to drink must have been drugged. Please, Your Majesty, start by checking all the wine cups used in the palace."
After being silent and analyzing for so long, Bai Sheng still thought that Chen Jianzhi was just an accident in this whole thing.
No matter how this playboy had managed to sneak in during today's banquet, it was impossible for him to have any connection with Su Muxiao, who had just escaped from the family temple.
Even if there was a connection, Su Muxiao, who had been expelled from the Su Mansion and was now powerless, could not have persuaded Chen Jianzhi to do this.
Bai Sheng knew about the feud between Bai Di and Su Muxiao. She also knew that Su Muxiao hated Bai Di.
Moreover, she had clearly seen how Su Muxiao had forced Bai Di to drink that glass of wine.
There must be something fishy about that glass of wine!
It was just that not long after Bai Di drank the wine, Feng Jingxuan and Princess Yunxi had passed out, and the scene had been in chaos. But she vaguely remembered that when the palace servants had cleared away the wine and served refreshments, they had also taken away the wine cup.
As long as the cup hadn't been washed, they would surely find something!
Thinking of this, Bai Sheng looked at Feng Linche firmly and said, "Please, Your Majesty, conduct a thorough investigation and give our Bai family justice."
"Give your Bai family justice?" Feng Jingye sneered, "Do you mean, Miss Bai, that the Second Miss is innocent and it's all the fault of the Su family and our Chen family?"
Bai Sheng's expression remained unchanged. She knew that once she said these words, she would surely be blamed by Feng Jingye's side first.
If it was confirmed that Bai Di had been drugged, Chen Jianzhi, who had defamed an innocent girl, would surely be punished more severely.
It was no wonder that Feng Jingye would be furious.
Bai Zheng sneered.
This was exactly why she couldn't help but applaud Princess Yunxi and Su Muxiao.
The Chen Jianzhi they had chosen had hit Feng Jingye's weak point.
In this way, without them having to do anything else, Empress Chu and Feng Jingye would try their best to prove that Bai Di had seduced Chen Jianzhi.
"Your Majesty, I don't mean that," Bai Sheng said respectfully.
"Back then, it was Your Majesty who personally appointed my younger sister as the future main consort of the Third Prince, which shows that Your Majesty highly approves of her character. A woman approved by Your Majesty would not have done such a disgraceful thing if she hadn't been framed. Or do you mean that Your Majesty misjudged her before?"
"Presumptuous!" Empress Chu roared, "How dare you try to sow discord between me and His Majesty!"
"I wouldn't dare! I just think that whether it's for the reputation of the royal family or for justice, it's necessary to find out the truth of this matter."
Bai Sheng replied calmly and firmly, not backing down at all.
Feng Linche frowned, as if thinking about Bai Sheng's words.
Both Empress Chu and Feng Jingye looked ugly, but they couldn't refute her, so they could only glare at Bai Sheng angrily.
For a moment, the room fell into a dead silence.
After pondering for a while, Feng Linche finally said slowly, "Since that's the case, then do as Miss Bai said and conduct a thorough investigation."
"Yes," the chief eunuch beside Feng Linche immediately replied.
This time, even the female officials beside Empress Chu were sent out. Only Feng Linche's trusted eunuchs were left busy inside and outside Wenrui Palace.
At this moment, Bai Zheng tilted her head and looked at the only room in the side hall that had remained closed and undisturbed since the incident, with a half - smile on her face.
"What are you smiling at?" Feng Linyuan asked gently.
"Nothing. I just think this matter is getting more and more interesting."
Bai Zheng's eyes curved into a lovely shape.
Soon, all the collected wine cups were brought over. As Bai Sheng had expected, the palace always had a complete set of tableware. Since the banquet hadn't ended yet, the collected wine cups were placed in a basin and hadn't been washed.
Three imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Office came and carefully examined the residue in the wine cups and the entire cup wall one by one.
"Well?" Feng Jingye asked anxiously.
After examining the cups three times, the three imperial physicians put down the cups. They looked at each other, and finally the one with the whitest beard and the oldest appearance stepped forward and replied,
"Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince, there's nothing in these wine cups."
"Impossible!"
Bai Di screamed and stood up. Without thinking about anything else, she rushed forward and snatched the last wine cup from the old imperial physician's hands. She looked at it from all sides, but didn't know how to prove it. Tears streamed down her face as she said, "How could this be? There must have been drugs in it!"
Hearing this, Bai Sheng stared at Su Muxiao with a cold and complex look in her eyes, full of disgust and hatred, which made people shiver.
Su Muxiao sighed, but her eyes were filled with bone - chilling coldness. "Di'er, why are you so sure that the drugs were in the wine cup? Could it be that you put them in yourself?"
"You!" Bai Di was hysterical. Unable to control herself any longer, she rushed in front of Su Muxiao, her fingers like claws, and scratched at her face fiercely. "You want to kill me? I won't let you get away with this!"