Chapter 97: Every layer is full of intrigues
"Yes." Empress Zhong turned to signal Qiu Sui, "I sent someone to carefully search Xiao Xuanzi's residence in the cold palace, and found a pear wood box from the hollowed-out wall. The large and small silver notes in it totaled three hundred Two.”
Qiu Sui took the box that the little palace maid behind her had been holding, opened it and showed it to Xiao Jingfan.
Xiao Jingfan turned his head and glanced.
I saw that there were not only several banknotes in the box, but also two plain gold bracelets of good quality and a pair of red agate earrings.
A young eunuch like Xiao Xuanzi who had just entered the palace only had one tael of monthly silver.
Three hundred taels of silver, he had to save more than 20 years of money alone.
If it was given by the master, he was a little eunuch serving in the cold palace, and his time in the palace was short. How could he get such a reward?
Xiao Jingfan pointed at the pair of red agate earrings, "Bring them here and let me have a look."
Qiu Sui held up a handkerchief and presented the red agate earrings.
Xiao Jingfan didn't hold it with his hands, he just stretched his neck to look at it, his posture was a bit awkward.
Queen Zhong felt strange, "But what's wrong with these earrings?"
Xiao Jingfan didn't answer, but asked Qiu Sui to pick up the red agate earrings and spin them around.
Qiu Sui did as she was told.
The red agate earrings rotated slowly in a circle, and looked sparkly and beautiful under the candlelight.
"This is something gentle and beautiful." Xiao Jingfan withdrew his gaze and raised his eyes to look at Empress Zhong, "There must be another hidden meaning in this matter."
Empress Zhong immediately stood up and knelt down, "I made an oversight, please forgive me."
"Hel your master up."
Qiu Sui bent down and helped Empress Zhong up.
Xiao Jingfan folded the confession on the table and handed it over, "This slave's words cannot be trusted at all. If we investigate further, we must not unjustly accuse innocent people."
"Wei."
Empress Zhong took the confession and asked for instructions: "Now that both Xie Jieyu and Wen Meiren are suspected, should they be ordered to shut themselves up and reflect on themselves?"
Xiao Jingfan thought for a while and nodded: "Yes."
*
The soft sedan returned to Changchun Palace.
Not long after, Gao Yongfu went to Yihe Hall and Xuexiangyuan to convey the Queen's decree, ordering Xie Jieyu and Wen Meiren to shut themselves up, reflect on their own mistakes, and not go out.
The two houses had mixed reactions.
Xie Jieyu did whatever she had to do and even planned to take this opportunity to clean up the Yihe Palace.
However, Wen Meiren was flustered and kept recalling which link had gone wrong and why the queen suddenly suspected her. It should be Xie Jieyu who took the blame for her.
She thought about it again and again, and then told Bizhu: "Call Li Ping'an in. I have something to ask him."
Bi Zhu went out to call someone.
Li Ping'an soon followed Bizhu in and said, "I wish you peace, Master."
Wen Meiren didn't scream, but winked at Bi Zhu.
Bi Zhu exited and guarded the door.
Only Wen Mei and Li Ping'an were left in the hall.
"Let me ask you, besides Zhu Mei and the maids beside her, who else saw you in the Imperial Garden that day?"
Li Pingan lowered his head and recalled carefully for a while, then shook his head and said: "There were only two of them."
"Are you sure that the palace maid only saw the birthmark behind your ear and not your face?"
Li Ping'an nodded, "I'm sure, my servant." Beauty Wen frowned, "If you think about it again, are there any flaws in what you gave Xiao Xuanzi?"
Li Ping'an said: "The slave only gave him a plain gold bracelet without even a pattern. With that bracelet alone, it is impossible to find our Xuexiangyuan."
The plain gold bracelet was taken out from Wen Meiren, and she knew that there were no other marks on it.
However, if there were no flaws in everything, why would the queen suddenly cast doubt on her?
There must be something wrong with this.
Wen Meiren looked around the hall, passing her eyes over the various furnishings, and finally landed on the sandalwood jewelry box on the dressing table.
Something suddenly flashed in her mind, and she shouted loudly: "Bizhu, come in."
Bizhu heard the shout and pushed the door open, "Master, what are your orders?"
"Have I ever lost any clothes or jewelry?"
Bizhu thought for a while and said: "I only lost two handkerchiefs, but I found them both."
Check out the 16-9 book bar and see the correct version!
"Bring the booklet." Wen Meiren quickly walked to the dressing table and reached out to open the sandalwood box. "I want to count the jewelry."
While the three masters and servants of Xuexiangyuan were busy counting the jewelry, the Queen Mother's ear came to the ears of the Queen Mother that she ordered Yihe Hall and Xuexiangyuan to close their doors and reflect on themselves.
The Queen Mother leaned against the soft pillow, with the corners of her lips lowered, a look of disgust on her face: "This careless one, what did she do again?"
Aunt Zhao gently beat the Empress Dowager's shoulders and whispered: "I heard that this morning Gao Yongfu led people to the Yihe Palace to investigate and caught a little eunuch with a red birthmark behind his ear. He said that he killed the little eunuch. Xuanzi’s murderer was taken away for questioning.”
"Xu Shi asked and found out the result. The Queen took people to the Wenhua Palace and issued this order after returning from the Wenhua Palace."
"The prince of the Ai family is still bright-eyed." The Queen Mother, the winner of the previous palace fight, understood the key after a little thought. She raised her chin slightly and sounded quite proud.
Aunt Zhao looked at her: You are the Queen Mother, just be happy.
"The queen has been investigating this matter for a few days. If it was really Yu'er who sent someone from her palace to do it, she should have dealt with the person long ago. How can she wait until now for the queen to seize the opportunity? Yu'er must have been framed. Framed.”
The Queen Mother said firmly, and her face became gloomier.
It's not that she wants to protect Xie Anyu, her niece, but in her eyes, Xie Anyu is a fool who will have it written on his face if he does bad things.
If what happened to Xiao Xuanzi was really Xie Anyu's doing, how could she not tell if Xie Anyu came to her every day to say hello?
Aunt Zhao echoed: "The Queen Mother is wise."
The Queen Mother glared at her: "Stop fooling the Ai family with your words. Go to the Wenhua Palace in person to deliver a message. If the emperor is free, invite him to have a meal at the Wanshou Palace tonight."
"Wei."
*
In Nongyun Garden, Chu Liuzheng, who had just finished drinking the medicine, also came across the relevant gossip.
[Tsk, tsk, where are the ladies in the harem playing with matryoshka dolls? This level of everything is all out of mind. 】
[The Queen is a shrewd person, how could she not see that there is something fishy about catching Fu Gui? But she still brought Fugui's confession to the tyrant, wasn't she just betting that the tyrant wouldn't investigate the death of a young eunuch in detail, and wanted to use this to make the tyrant punish Xie Jieyu? 】
[Behind Xie Jieyu stood the Queen Mother. She usually had the Queen Mother to support her. When facing Xie Jieyu, the Queen would inevitably be restrained. How could she feel happy? Of course you won't be lenient when you can add insult to injury. 】
[As for Wen Meiren, everyone has been counted, except for one person, Gao Concubine. 】
[Meiren Wen is on the first floor, and Concubine Gao is on the third floor. Wen Meiren may have long forgotten that she used a pair of red agate earrings to taunt Gao Concubine Dong Shi Xiaofeng. 】
[To be honest, that was just a coincidence. Concubine Gao happened to be wearing the same color clothes as Miss Wen that day, but the styles were different, so it was just that. 】
[Gao Concubine has always kept this pair of red agate earrings. She took advantage of Xiao Xuanzi's purchase of three shares in a row and rewarded Xiao Xuanzi with the red agate earrings and a hundred taels of silver notes. She waited for the day when the Dongchuang incident occurred to nail Wen Meiren to death. In the position of the murderer. This is also the escape route she prepared for herself. 】
[Hmm...Xiao Xuanzi was originally sent by Wen Meiren, so Wen Meiren doesn't take the blame. Even the tyrant recognized these red onyx earrings at a glance as belonging to a gentle woman, which surprised me a little. 】
[Could it be that Wen Mei is the tyrant’s true love? 】
Chu Liuzheng curiously flipped through the gossip related to the pair of red agate earrings, with a subtle expression on his face.
[Uh...well, there is no such thing as true love. Given this origin, it's hard not to remember. 】