"How could this be!?" Qiao Yan immediately pointed angrily at Zhang Rui and Lou Zhiwen, exposing her. "Without someone's help, could these two casually enter and leave the palace? Without someone's assistance, how could you be so familiar with this palace? You know every nook and cranny, every well and pond. It's as if you're in your own home!"
Lou Qianying was momentarily at a loss for words but quickly regained her composure. "That's because I was lucky enough to be favored by the noble consort and the princess before. I often entered the palace, so I'm relatively familiar with it."
"Since it was an order from the noble consort and the princess," Yun Xi calmly retorted, casting a cool glance at Yi Zhen beside Emperor Zhaohuan. "The places you're familiar with should be in the Rongyue Palace in the harem and the nearby gardens. What does this have to do with the Xingqing Palace in the opposite direction?" As she spoke, her eyes grew cold, and she said sharply, "How dare you lie in front of the emperor! Do you take the emperor for a three - year - old child!?"
Startled by Yun Xi's outburst, Lou Qianying instinctively looked at Yi Zhen. Her determination not to involve Yi Zhen wavered for a moment.
Just as she was hesitating, Yi Yuan calmly spoke up. "Your Majesty, it doesn't matter if she doesn't admit it." Glancing casually at the terrified maidservant kneeling on the ground, Yi Yuan continued, "This maidservant was the guide at that time. If we want to know who her master is, we can just ask her."
"Hmm..." Emperor Zhaohuan nodded and gave a look to the eunuch Zhang beside him.
Taking the hint, Eunuch Zhang took a small step forward, stared at the maidservant, and screeched, "Bold slave! Quickly raise your head and show your ugly face! Be smart and confess quickly. Don't displease the emperor. Otherwise, you'll surely suffer!"
The maidservant was so frightened that she kept kowtowing, shouting, "Your Majesty, spare my life! Spare my life..." But she refused to raise her head.
Eunuch Zhang frowned and nodded at the guard beside the maidservant.
The guard immediately understood his meaning. He reached out and grabbed the maidservant by the hair, forcing her to raise her face.
It was an ordinary face. Her complexion was sallow and there were dark circles under her eyes, probably because of the heavy workload approaching the New Year. It was obvious that she was a low - ranking maidservant.
Yun Xi and the others didn't recognize the people in the palace, but Eunuch Zhang did.
He recognized the maidservant at a glance. A hint of doubt flashed in his eyes. Eunuch Zhang gave Yun Xi and Yi Yuan a meaningful look below. Then, dutifully, he turned to report to Emperor Zhaohuan, "Your Majesty, this is a low - ranking maidservant in the queen's palace. Her name is..."
"Fen Shang!" Before he could finish, Queen Cao Shu, who was only accompanying the emperor to welcome the important ministers as a formality, was shocked and cried out after seeing the maidservant's face clearly.
She never expected that just watching the excitement from the side would involve herself. Cao Shu's face instantly turned darker than the bottom of a pot.
Although Eunuch Zhang's voice wasn't very loud, it wasn't soft either. Everyone was quietly waiting for his answer, so they heard his words clearly.
Immediately, all kinds of gazes were directed towards Cao Shu. Even Emperor Zhaohuan looked at her in surprise.
No one expected it to be someone from the queen's palace!
Yun Xi and Yi Yuan looked at each other in silence. Neither of them could figure it out for a moment.
Even Lou Qianying didn't know. Besides being shocked, she was extremely fortunate that she hadn't confessed Yi Zhen just now.
Now that the situation had taken so many twists and turns, even if she couldn't escape in the end, maybe Yi Zhen could avenge her and kill Yun Xi!
Only Yi Zhen had a hint of mockery and pride flashing in her eyes.
She wasn't stupid enough to use her own people for something that would surely implicate her if caught.
With the incident of Cao Sheng before, the relationship between the two sides was so tense. As a member of the Cao family and Cao Sheng's aunt, it was reasonable for the queen to be angry and take action to teach them a lesson.
"You slut!" Cao Shu couldn't sit still anymore. She slapped the chair and stood up angrily, scolding, "How dare you abet the evildoer and do such a heinous thing! You've completely wasted my teachings on you!"
"Tell me! Who on earth instigated you? What benefits did she give you to make you do such a thing against your master!?"
Seeing that she had been "exposed", Fen Shang no longer "hid" anything. She turned around and kowtowed repeatedly towards Cao Shu, crying, "Your Majesty, since it's come to this, let's just admit it..."
"Your Majesty won't really blame you. After all, you just wanted to vent your anger for Master Cao. Your Majesty will understand your kind heart..."
"Nonsense!" Cao Shu was truly unable to defend herself. She turned and bowed solemnly to Emperor Zhaohuan, swearing sincerely, "Your Majesty, this matter has nothing to do with me. I've always been taught by the empress dowager and taken Your Majesty's words and deeds as an example. Although I can't be as good as Your Majesty and the empress dowager, I consider myself reasonable."
"Regarding the matter between Sheng'er and Yun Xi before, I never thought it was Miss Yun's fault.
"After Sheng'er did that stupid thing at the Lin Woods Banquet, I even sent someone to teach him a good lesson before he went to do hard labor. Everyone in the palace knows this. And now that so much time has passed, how could I suddenly send someone to help this unfamiliar Lou Qianying harm her?"
Turning to glare angrily at Fen Shang lying prostrate on the ground, Cao Shu said coldly, "Someone must have bribed this slut to frame me. I beg Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly and clear my name!"
"Your Majesty—" Fen Shang wailed, tears streaming down her face. "Are you going to abandon me? I've always been loyal to you. You can't kick me out after using me, Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty..."
"Your Majesty." Just as Cao Shu was about to argue further, Yi Yuan's cold voice rang out, cutting off her words.
"I think the queen is not the mastermind behind this."
"This maidservant keeps saying she's loyal. But after just a few interrogations, she told everything. When the queen presented reasonable arguments with nothing unreasonable, instead of helping the queen, she insisted that it was the queen who sent her to help Lou Qianying harm Xiaoxi. Isn't this self - contradictory?"
"But..." Yi Zhen, who had been observing from the side, finally spoke up, very sincerely. "What if this was a plan devised by the queen and Fen Shang? Using Fen Shang's accusation to clear herself of suspicion is the most brilliant tactic."
"Shut up!" Cao Shu glared at her angrily. "This is a conversation between the emperor and me. What right do you have to butt in!?
"Judging from your eagerness to pin the blame on me, could it be that you're the one who bribed Fen Shang!?"
"I didn't, Father." Yi Zhen knelt down aggrievedly and looked at Emperor Zhaohuan sadly. "I was just making a reasonable guess. If the queen is innocent, she shouldn't care about my words."
"You..." Cao Shu was so angry that her eyes went black.
Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, her eyes lit up. She bowed to Emperor Zhaohuan again and said, "Your Majesty, it's hard to clear my grievances today. But there is someone in the palace who can tell the truth.
"As long as we invite her here, today's matter will surely be clear!"