She took a few quick steps back to Su Wan'er and said to her, "Your Ladyship doesn't need to be so entangled. Let this servant send someone to contact that army. As for Your Ladyship, if you need any information, just let those people in the palace who have been exposed to the Emperor do it."
"Since they've already been exposed, Miss doesn't need to worry about being discovered by the Emperor when you want to do something." Qing Cao explained briefly.
Su Wan'er thought it over carefully and also felt that made sense, so she agreed.
After that, Qing Cao went to arrange things.
Su Wan'er quickly took over those secret guards known to Si Junlin.
However, considering that she and Si Junlin were still in the state of having swapped bodies, when giving orders, it was still Qing Cao who did it.
As for the matter of contacting the secret army, it would probably take two or three days to get an answer.
No matter how anxious Su Wan'er was, she could only wait.
Fortunately, with the secret guards given to her by her mother, things could be handled without hindrance.
The secret guards were dispersed to various palaces by Qing Cao as Su Wan'er had ordered.
Every day, besides dealing with state affairs, Su Wan'er spent the rest of her time dealing with the information collected by the secret guards from each palace.
In just one day, the secret guards under Su Wan'er found several packets of powder in Concubine Hua's palace. Su Wan'er asked a secret guard to bring one packet. After the imperial doctor's examination, it was found to be exactly the same as the poison in the meal that day.
In this way, the culprit was obvious.
Su Wan'er took the palace servants to the prison where the jailers were held. First, she questioned the jailer who seemed to want to say something that day.
"Your name is Lin San?" Su Wan'er checked the register in her hand and then asked condescendingly.
The jailer quickly replied, "Yes. This commoner, Lin San, pays respects to the Emperor."
"Skip the formalities. You dared to poison the Empress. I suppose in your eyes, I, the Emperor, am also an insignificant figure?" Su Wan'er said indifferently.
The jailer who originally wanted to get up quickly knelt down again.
"Forgive this commoner, Your Majesty. Forgive this commoner. This commoner definitely has no such intention."
Su Wan'er sneered and said, "No such intention? Are you not going to admit it?" As she said this, Su Wan'er's body leaned forward slowly, and a cold aura emanated from her eyebrows and eyes. "I haven't come to you for so many days, but I'm here now because I've found evidence. Otherwise, I wouldn't waste my time coming here."
"Of course, you can also stick to your principles and say nothing. In that case, you can accompany Concubine Hua in martyrdom."
Su Wan'er's last words were the last straw that broke the camel's back. As soon as her voice fell, the jailer kowtowed with a panicked face. "Forgive this commoner, Your Majesty. Forgive this commoner. This commoner was also forced."
"Forced?" Su Wan'er asked a rhetorical question, but her voice was extremely calm. One couldn't tell what mood she was in when saying this, but precisely because of this, it made Lin San even more uneasy.
He didn't want to die. He still had a wife, children, parents to support. Otherwise, he wouldn't have accepted Concubine Hua's money.
Now that he was questioned by Su Wan'er, he naturally told everything.
His situation couldn't really be called being forced.
Not long after the Empress was imprisoned, when they were still discussing why the Empress had been imprisoned, an ordinary - looking palace maid came over. She gave each of them an embroidered money - pouch and said she hoped they could put poison in the Empress's meal.
At first, they refused. She was the Empress after all. Although they had secretly helped kill many prisoners, if the fact that they had killed the Empress was discovered, their lives would be in danger.
Seeing that they didn't agree, the maid didn't take back the money - pouches and just turned around and left.
When they thought the matter was over, suddenly a carriage came outside the prison. Concubine Hua got out of the carriage.
Then, Concubine Hua talked to them a lot, with both threats and inducements. Finally, they had to obey Concubine Hua.
After saying all this, he kept begging Su Wan'er for mercy. "Your Majesty, we really had no choice but to do this. Please forgive us, Your Majesty. Even if you can't spare us, please spare our families."
Su Wan'er didn't want to make things difficult for these jailers. As they had said, they were just insignificant pawns. What Su Wan'er cared more about was the person behind them, Concubine Hua.
So, when facing Lin San's plea for mercy, Su Wan'er directly said, "Alright. Considering that you agreed under compulsion, I'll spare you the death penalty for attempting to murder the Empress. But although the death penalty can be spared, you still have to be punished. Since you accepted bribes, from today on, you're not allowed to engage in any work related to the government. And because you attempted to poison the Empress, you must be exiled to Ice City to do hard labor for three years before you can return to the capital."
After Su Wan'er finished speaking, the matter was settled.
To prevent Concubine Hua's family from retaliating against the two jailers, after they signed and stamped, they were immediately exiled to Ice City.
By the time Su Wan'er went to find Concubine Hua, they were still on their way to Ice City.
Su Wan'er went to find Concubine Hua the next day. All things were carried out secretly, and Concubine Hua and her family received not a single bit of news.
When Su Wan'er came to her room, although Concubine Hua was a bit nervous inside, she remained relatively calm.
"This subject pays respects to the Emperor. May Your Majesty live long and prosper." After she bowed respectfully, she waited for Su Wan'er to let her get up.
However, she waited for a long time but didn't get a response from Su Wan'er.
She carefully looked up at Su Wan'er and found that Su Wan'er was sipping tea leisurely and didn't even glance at her.
The bad premonition in her heart grew stronger.
After Su Wan'er finished a bowl of tea, she finally looked up at her. There was a surprised look in her eyes. "Concubine Hua, why are you still kneeling?"
Concubine Hua always felt that the "Emperor" was doing it on purpose. But besides poisoning the Empress, she hadn't done anything to anger the Emperor. And even if she had poisoned the Empress, the attempt hadn't succeeded. The Emperor disliked the Empress, so he shouldn't act like this.
Concubine Hua would never think that the person sitting in front of her now, wearing the Emperor's skin, was the Empress she had been longing to poison.
Su Wan'er took another sip of tea and then said to Concubine Hua, "Concubine Hua, aren't you going to admit what happened that day?"