The punishment of the female imperial court

"There must have been many people present when the incident occurred. I invited you, the Dowager Consorts, here today to corroborate my words, which are not unfounded."

“That’s right,” a kind-faced imperial concubine stopped turning the prayer beads in her hand. “Back then, I was the one who ordered the door to be broken down. After Mingde woke up, I was the one who went to take care of her. There was a lot of blood on her clothes, but no injuries.”

Yu Qiansi nodded slightly to the kind-faced Dowager Consort, "You must be the Dowager Consort Cao of the Ning Temple, who held the highest rank in the Three Palaces back then, right?"

Consort Cao was a concubine of the late Emperor's father, and was a concubine of the late Emperor. Therefore, when the Empress and the Imperial Concubine were unable to find her after a long search and discovered the bloody handprint, the palace eunuchs were in a panic and could only ask this Consort Cao to take charge.

"The murderer must have entered the Imperial Concubine's room that day and talked with her in the inner room, but the two got into an argument during the conversation. In the end, the Imperial Concubine died from a dagger, but not from an instant. There were two dagger wounds on her body."

“The first cut was close to the heart,” Yu Qiansi pointed to the area outside her heart, “but it wasn’t deep enough to be fatal. And the cut wasn’t clean; it must have gone in a little before the victim struggled and broke free of the dagger. The knife then fell, leaving a rough cut.”

"Wait!" Consort Shang shouted angrily, "How do you know so much about the details of those wounds!"

One of the court officials immediately thought of the trip to the imperial tombs and asked in a deep voice, "Lord Yu, did you really plunder the imperial tombs?"

Yu Qiansi frowned and retorted, "Where's the evidence?"

His voice was cold and indifferent, devoid of even his usual fake smile, and his eyes held a chilling intent that seemed to want to tear someone apart. The person who had just spoken up was stunned into place.

Jade Rakshasa seemed unusually impatient today.

"Sir and Empress Dowager, you must have evidence to question me like this, right? Or is it that the events of that year were related to you two, and you're feeling guilty, so you're interrupting me here?" By the end, his tone was blatantly impatient.

She didn't have time to play along with this group's back-and-forth antics today.

The minister who had been questioning him immediately shut up and fell silent.

However, Shang Fu's aunt was unwilling to let the matter drop easily.

"You still haven't said how you knew the condition of the body."

"I have my own way of doing it."

Consort Shang's tone was cold and gloomy: "Could it be that they've robbed the imperial tombs?"

As he spoke, he looked at Jiang Jiqing and said, "Your Majesty, this matter must be thoroughly investigated."

Yu Qiansi also looked at the young emperor. Jiang Jiqing showed just the right amount of surprise and hesitation on his face, a good acting performance of pretending not to know.

Yu Qiansi tugged at the corners of her mouth, her dimples deepening and then receding.

After her trip to Longyuan, Jiang Jiqing's reaction was as she had expected, but she still felt disheartened.

Is this the imperial family?

Relatives and old friends are nothing more than pawns that can be used at will.

She glanced up at Wang Song, who was standing aloof with his head slightly lowered, and felt a little uneasy.

After Jiang Jiqing granted her permission to investigate the case of Empress Mingde, she covered up the matter of Boyi and told the young master everything.

The young master was aware of every step she took, which allowed her to act with confidence and boldness.

He said he had his own way of dealing with it.

But after entering the palace and meeting Qiu Yi, she became somewhat hesitant.

Originally, I planned to tell the young master about Qiu Yi after leaving the palace, but unexpectedly, a series of changes tonight have caused quite a stir.

If we don't immediately enter the palace and apprehend the murderer, he might escape.

Now, we can only take it one step at a time and hope that the young master can come up with a solution. "I never knew that the laws of the Great Sheng Dynasty allowed for arbitrary pronouncements without evidence. If Consort Shang is interested in the laws of the Great Sheng Dynasty, I can send you a copy another day. It never hurts to be familiar with the laws."

Upon hearing this blatant sarcasm, Consort Shang's well-maintained face swelled up with anger.

"Or perhaps," Yu Qiansi was unwilling to let the matter drop so easily, "that Her Highness the Imperial Concubine is feeling guilty about something? Does she not want me to explain the details of the murder case from back then?"

Doesn't this imply that she is the murderer?
Consort Shang felt the gazes cast upon her by others, and her swollen face seemed to crack slightly. She pursed her lips tightly and glared angrily at Yu Qiansi.

Only when she saw her brother casting a comforting glance at her from the crowd did she turn her head away and stop talking.

“The second cut was the fatal wound.” Yu Qiansi’s eyes swept over everyone, and seeing that no one spoke, she continued, “But before that, there were actually many wounds on the corpse from before it died, which are the most interesting.”

"So detailed," the young emperor leaned forward slightly, looking as if he were listening attentively, "You must have worked very hard, Your Excellency."

Yu Qiansi was slightly taken aback and looked at Jiang Jiqing. His superb acting skills made her a little dazed, as if his slightly furrowed brows showed that he was worried about her.

Upon hearing the emperor speak, the thoughts that the others had just suppressed began to stir again.

If we could take this opportunity to impeach Yu Luosha for the heinous crime of stealing from the imperial tombs, it would be a great blow to the Qi State Duke's mansion.

"It's quite an interesting story," Yu Qiansi said coldly, bowing respectfully to Jiang Jiqing. "Back then, it wasn't that no one examined the body."

"After the Zhaixing Tower incident, someone secretly brought a private coroner into the palace. They not only examined the two corpses in the Zhaixing Tower, but also the corpse of Empress Mingdao."

"what!"

"Who dares to be so audacious!"

"Not a single person in the palace knew about it!"

“As for who it was, I don’t know,” Yu Qiansi spread her hands. “Back then, the coroner was also sent to the palace blindfolded. After leaving the palace, he and his family left the capital.”

"He must have known something and escaped!" someone said indignantly. "He should be caught and interrogated severely."

“They were killed by bandits on their way, with only one son escaping by chance,” Yu Qiansi said with a smile. “That orphan wandered around with the autopsy notes left by his coroner father until he met me. I took him back to the capital and he continued to work as a coroner under me.”

At this point, some people gradually came to their senses.

Su Fengcha, in particular, was involved in this matter from beginning to end as the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.

“Someone found him with clues about the person behind the murder of his parents, and coerced him into slandering Bo Yi of the Judicial Commissioner’s Office. Later, they killed him in Dali Temple prison to cover it up.”

Yu Qiansi's gaze fell on Su Fengcha's face, and Su Fengcha's face stiffened, but he did not say anything.

"However, before he was taken away by the Dali Temple, he had already given me the autopsy manual and told me the meaning of the secret text in the manual. Therefore, I was able to know the situation back then."

At this point, Yu Qiansi paused, and no one objected.

She raised her eyebrows slightly.

Zhang Yilun's father was only ordered to examine the bodies of Empress Mingde and the child, but she deliberately added the body of Empress Mingdao.

Even if the person who did this back then were here, they probably wouldn't dare to refute it casually.

Otherwise, it would be tantamount to admitting guilt.

The tricks he learned from those beggars were three parts real and seven parts fake, making them incredibly difficult to distinguish. (End of Chapter)