The affectionate display between the two women left everyone around them stunned. They had never seen the two of them in such a harmonious atmosphere before.
The noble ladies around looked at each other, suddenly at a loss for words.
However, the two women on the ground were already deeply immersed in their act. The Imperial Concubine Rui endured the disgust in her heart and lay sobbing uncontrollably in the arms of this “elder sister”.
“If elder sister doesn't believe in my innocence, then I'll prove it with my death.”
Hearing this, Shi Muyuan quickly shook her head and tightly protected her, afraid that she would hit the nearby pillar again.
“What are you doing, younger sister? I've never said that I don't believe you. Moreover, the death of that palace maid is really strange. If a mere palace maid can defame your innocence, then anyone in the palace can bully you in the future.”
The Imperial Concubine Rui buried her head in her arms and cried.
“I've really never had any other thoughts about anyone. My loyalty to the late emperor can be witnessed by heaven and earth. Please investigate this clearly, elder sister.”
The ladies beside exchanged glances, and finally, Lady Wang took the initiative to step forward to smooth things over.
“Since words alone aren't convincing, why don't we invite General Qin here? He should recognize his own handwriting. Even if someone imitated his handwriting, he can prove his innocence.”
It was a good idea.
Soon, Qin Feng was hurriedly called over. His hair was in a mess, which showed that he probably didn't know what had happened when he rushed over.
If that was the case, it would be for the best. The real liar would surely show many flaws.
Shi Muyuan scanned those eager people and knew that it would be most appropriate for them to speak up.
So she took the initiative to give them this opportunity.
“Today's matter not only involves General Qin but also me and the Imperial Concubine Rui. For the sake of fairness, let the ladies do the questioning.”
Her proposal took everyone by surprise, but it still excited them.
Lady Li originally wanted to step forward actively, but Lady Wang spoke up directly.
“Lady Li, you'd better not get involved in this matter. You've always had complaints against the empress dowager before. Even if you participate in this today, few people will believe what you say in the end.”
Lady Li gritted her teeth, looking extremely reluctant, but the other noble ladies were busy watching the show and had no time to pay attention to her.
Finally, after discussion, the ladies sent were all the wives of officials who had no connection with any faction in the court.
Lady Wang took the lead and walked up to General Qin.
“Today we're just trying to prove the innocence of the general, the empress dowager, and the imperial concubine. Please cooperate, general.”
Qin Feng had just heard about the matter and had calmed down by now.
He secretly worried about the Imperial Concubine Rui. He wondered where she got the courage to involve Shi Muyuan in this matter. She was the apple of the Shi family's eye. When her maternal family was still around, they could only barely compete with the Shi family.
He thought that if today's matter reached the ears of the Shi family, especially Shi An, this imperial concubine probably wouldn't end up well.
He suddenly looked forward to watching a good show.
His thoughts quickly returned. He sat down calmly beside them.
“Thank you, ladies. I hope you'll be fair and just.”
“Of course.”
Lady Wang coughed lightly. “I wonder if General Qin can write a calligraphy for us now?”
Qin Feng pretended to be unaware. “I only heard before that the empress dowager had something very important to discuss with me today. I don't know why the ladies want me to write a calligraphy now?”
“General Qin just follow our instructions. You're here today just to cooperate with us.”
The one who spoke was the wife of General Meng who guarded the border. Maybe because she had practiced martial arts since childhood, she was very straightforward in her actions and didn't like intrigue. Her words were a bit blunt now.
However, Qin Feng was already used to this way of doing things, so he didn't hesitate and immediately started writing on the paper brought by the palace maid just now.
As he wrote stroke by stroke, the noble ladies in charge of handling this matter carefully compared the handwriting on the paper.
“Do you think this looks like the same person's handwriting? I think it's a bit similar.”
Lady Meng curled her lips. “The little habits of holding the pen are different. Where is it similar? I don't know how you're looking at it.”
After she said this, the other ladies also began to observe carefully. Indeed, when Qin Feng finished writing, he obviously exerted more force, so it even looked a little different.
Although the handwriting on that love letter was similar to his, overall, there were still great differences.
Moreover, through observation, they also found that Qin Feng had a special little habit when writing each stroke. That was, no matter if there was still ink or not, he would habitually dip the pen in ink, which led to each character taking a lot of time and being evenly inked. This was also the biggest difference from the love letter.
The characters on the love letter showed obvious signs of running out of ink, obviously written in one go by the writer.
There was no need to continue the test. Lady Wang discussed with the other ladies and thought it was about time.
“Okay, thank you for your hard work today, general. Empress Dowager, now we've verified that this matter has absolutely nothing to do with you and the imperial concubine, and General Qin is also innocent. I think that palace maid was probably sent by someone else. Later, search her room. Maybe we can still find some clues.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Ziyi ran in from outside.
“Your Majesty, we found some things in that palace maid's room. There are also some words we don't understand. I think they should not be from our country.”
Shi Muyuan raised her eyebrows and quickly asked someone to bring them up.
After she finished reading, her face turned slightly cold.
“I never thought that there was such a palace maid hidden in my palace. If this matter hadn't been exposed this time, I'm afraid we wouldn't have discovered her until next time.”
All the noble ladies were curiously asking, “I wonder what exactly is in the empress dowager's hand?”
Shi Muyuan guessed that all this was arranged by the Imperial Concubine Rui. It seemed that there were still some unknown secrets behind her.
However, since the things had been found, there was no need to hide them anymore. She directly handed over the envelope.
Lady Meng stretched her neck. With sharp eyes, she found that the words in the envelope looked familiar to her.
“Isn't this what General Qin is most familiar with?”
She said this because she had once gone to the border with her husband and had captured many enemy prisoners. The secret letters they exchanged were exactly in this kind of writing.