She wanted to question Bai Zheng.
But her whole body seemed to be frozen and she couldn't break free. She could only let Bai Zheng clutch her waist. The pain made tears stream down her face, making her look so pitiful.
"The Minister Su is really heartless. After all, Su Muxiao is his own daughter. It's already bad enough to send her to the family temple, but he even makes her eat leftovers," Feng Linyuan sighed.
While "comforting" Su Muxiao, Bai Zheng also sighed, "I still remember when my cousin and I went on a spring outing. The snacks we brought were accidentally taken away by a stray cat. My cousin would rather starve than eat a bun from the roadside stall, saying it was dirty. But now, my cousin has ended up having to eat..."
As she spoke, the expression on Feng Jingxuan's face grew more and more unpleasant.
Even Concubine Zhao looked a bit embarrassed. After all, Su Muxiao was the concubine that Prince Feng Jingyang had insisted on taking in back then. Her current situation was also an embarrassment to her son, Prince Four.
Immediately, Concubine Zhao ordered the imperial physician, "Write a prescription to nourish Miss Su's spleen and stomach. Make sure to take good care of her body."
By now, Su Muxiao had understood what had happened from Bai Zheng's whispered explanations in her ear. Although she was a bit annoyed at Bai Zheng for acting without permission, since the situation was already like this and there was no turning back, she had no choice but to play along with Bai Zheng. She timidly curtsied to Concubine Zhao to express her gratitude.
On the other side, the chief eunuch in charge of the investigation had walked up to Feng Linche and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, the matter has been roughly interrogated."
"What's the result?" Feng Linche raised his eyebrows.
At his question, everyone pricked up their ears.
The chief eunuch cast a subtle glance at Concubine Zhao and replied, "The guards at Chang'an Gate said that early this morning, they received an order from Wenrui Palace, saying that it was the seventh princess's birthday today and some noble ladies from the city had been invited.
These noble ladies are of high status. They only needed to recognize each family's carriage and ensure that the guests had invitations. There was no need for excessive inspection to avoid disturbing everyone.
Normally, when there is a banquet in the palace, the guards would surely search each carriage carefully.
Now that the noble concubine had issued a special order, they naturally didn't dare to disobey. They only made sure that no one was carrying weapons and didn't dare to check further.
Therefore, if Young Master Chen Er disguised himself as a servant or a maid and sneaked into someone's carriage, it would be very easy for him to enter the palace through Chang'an Gate.
Now, it's very difficult for the guards to find out which carriage Young Master Chen Er had sneaked into.
They didn't notice anything unusual about the carriages of the young ladies at that time either."
Once one entered Chang'an Gate, it was equivalent to entering the palace.
Therefore, when Bai Zheng entered the palace on normal days, she would take the carriage through Chang'an Gate and then get off. Then, she would be led by the palace servants and move freely within the palace.
That is to say, Chang'an Gate was the only barrier to enter the Great Zhou Imperial Palace.
Hearing this, everyone immediately looked at Concubine Zhao meaningfully.
Not allowing the guards at Chang'an Gate to thoroughly inspect each carriage, this intention seemed rather unusual.
"Concubine Zhao, so it was you who let Jianzhi in!" Queen Chu scolded.
Concubine Zhao's face immediately changed. Pointing at the chief eunuch, she roared, "You're talking nonsense! When did I ever issue an order not to thoroughly inspect the carriages of the noble ladies?"
"Your Highness, please calm down. If there were no concrete evidence, how would I dare to talk nonsense?" The chief eunuch's expression remained unchanged. He wasn't intimidated by Concubine Zhao's anger at all and still replied in a steady voice, "After I heard what the guards said, I immediately asked them to identify the person who delivered this order."
"Who is it?" A sense of foreboding welled up in Concubine Zhao's heart.
"Your Majesty?"
The chief eunuch lowered his head slightly and respectfully asked Feng Linche.
Feng Linche nodded.
The chief eunuch straightened up and loudly announced, "Summon Cuizhu!"
As soon as these words came out, Concubine Zhao's face turned pale. Before she could say anything, she saw a green - clothed palace maid with her hands and feet tied being dragged up while shouting, "Your Highness, save me!"
Concubine Zhao started to tremble all over.
The palace maid was thrown onto the ground in the hall like a piece of ragged cloth.
She struggled to raise her head. When she saw Concubine Zhao, her eyes lit up, "Your Highness! Your Highness, save me! This servant only followed your order and went to Chang'an Gate to deliver a message. This servant knows nothing!"
"Don't slander me! When did I ever ask you to deliver such an order!" Concubine Zhao shrieked.
"Your Highness! You said so. You told the guards at Chang'an Gate not to inspect too carefully because the people coming today were all trustworthy. If it weren't for you, how would this servant dare to deliver the order randomly? This servant has served you for so many years. Please save this servant!" The palace maid named Cuizhu was extremely scared and kept crying and pleading.
Bai Zheng coldly glanced at Princess Yunxi sitting across from her.
Every master would have some unpopular maids.
And Concubine Zhao clearly regarded the purple - clothed palace maid Ziyin as her most trusted and relied - upon subordinate. After years of unfair treatment and disappointment, Cuizhu finally developed evil intentions.
Exposed by the personal maid who had served her for many years, Concubine Zhao naturally couldn't defend herself.
Cuizhu was still crying and pleading, but the chief eunuch had already raised his hand. Soon, someone kicked her and coldly said, "Making such a racket in front of His Majesty. Do you want to die?"
Cuizhu was immediately so scared that she stopped crying.
The chief eunuch coldly asked, "Young Master Chen Er was led to Miss Bai Er's room by you, wasn't he?"
As he was asking, Chen Jianzhi was also dragged up and knelt in the hall.
Cuizhu was about to shake her head, but the moment she saw Chen Jianzhi, her eyes widened suddenly.
The chief eunuch sneered, "This is in front of His Majesty. If you dare to lie, it's the crime of deceiving the emperor! Cuizhu, I advise you to answer truthfully."
Cold sweat kept breaking out on Cuizhu's forehead. She lowered her head and bit her lips tightly.
Seeing Cuizhu's appearance, Concubine Zhao suddenly realized!
Today's birthday banquet was originally requested by Bai Di to deal with Bai Zheng. But now, it was like the mantis stalking the cicada while the osprey lurked behind. Some scheming person had used it. First, Bai Di was brought down, and now they even intended to bring her down too!
Concubine Zhao was flustered. Her brows were tightly knitted, and her fingers kept twisting the handkerchief in her sleeve.
If it weren't for Bai Di's pleading, this banquet wouldn't have been held at all.
But she really didn't have the heart to hold a grand banquet, so she only sent invitations to some noble ladies. Anyway, for Bai Di, as long as Bai Zheng showed up, it didn't matter whether the others came or not.
In Concubine Zhao's heart, Bai Zheng was just the daughter of a third - rank official with little courage and experience. There was no need to go to so much trouble to deal with her.
The reason why Bai Sheng's plan failed last time was just because Feng Linyuan was there to protect her.
This time, Feng Linyuan was not in Yongding. With only Bai Zheng left, as long as they found an excuse to summon her into the palace, there would be a hundred ways to make her life a living hell...