My chat group is full of female losers

Chapter 258 The Truth
The calm voice sounded in the Yangxin Palace like a thunderclap.

The officials kneeling on the ground couldn't help but raise their heads and looked at Chu Lu who was holding A Ling's wrist tightly in front of him, with confusion on their faces.

——Your Majesty...what were you talking about just now?
And A Ling's body trembled violently, her eyes filled with panic, as if she was a deer being targeted by its prey.

But the fact that she was given the task of poisoning and assassination must have her own strengths.

She reacted immediately, her eyes quickly filled with tears, her voice was sobbing, and she tried to break free in a panic: "Your Majesty! You...what are you saying? I don't understand! I don't know anything! Your Majesty, you hurt me!"

She cried and tried to pull her wrist back. Her frightened, helpless and pitiful look was very sympathetic.

"Don't understand?" Chu Lu smiled contemptuously, "How long are you going to pretend?"

He held onto my wrist tightly, his voice steady but clearly heard in every corner of the palace: "You were the one who poisoned the yokan soup in the imperial kitchen last time, intending to murder me."

boom!
As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar in the hall!

"what?!"

"is her?!"

"How is this possible? A maid?"

Dozens of officials kneeling on the ground suddenly became agitated, whispering to each other, with disbelief written all over their faces. They looked at Chu Lu, who looked determined, and then at A Ling, who was crying non-stop, and their expressions gradually became subtle.

The Queen Mother also sat up straight, looking as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"She, she is actually the poisoner?" Li Wenyuan's eyes widened. He ignored etiquette, stood up abruptly, pointed his hand forward, and his body trembled, as if he was extremely shocked and angry.

The next moment, the old man let out a loud voice that was totally inconsistent with his aging body: "Bullshit!"

Li Wenyuan's voice trembled with anger: "Your Majesty! How dare you be so stubborn! The injustice of Zhao Zongguan has not been resolved, and you have not repented. In order to save your ridiculous face, you are here, in front of all the ministers, to casually identify a little palace maid! Stupid! It's simply stupid to the extreme!"

Fang Xiaozhi behind him was even more excessive. His tone was full of sarcasm and doubt: "Your Majesty! Isn't it too coincidental that you found the real murderer?! Yesterday, you were helpless and embarrassed because of the wrong judgment of Zhao Zongguan. Now you have found the real murderer, and it's a palace maid who has no power to resist? Such a clumsy trick, do you really think that we are fools?"

Yan Zheng's face was filled with grief, and he almost beat his chest and stamped his feet: "Your Majesty! How could you do this?! Look at her, she is unarmed and of low status, how could she commit such a heinous crime?! This is clearly because you were angry and arrested people at will to vent your anger! Your Majesty! If you really act like this, where is justice? Where is fairness?!"

Other upright officials were also outraged and knelt down and cried out in anger.

"Your Majesty! This is absurd!"

"Your Majesty, please don't make the same mistake again!"

"We absolutely do not believe that a palace maid is the real murderer!"

Seeing this, Ah Ling cried even more bitterly, and kowtowed on the ground: "It's unjust! Your Majesty! Queen Mother! All the gentlemen, please understand! I am more wronged than Dou E! I beg the gentlemen to help me! If I say even a single word of falsehood, I will be cut into pieces!"

She cried bitterly, as if she had suffered a great injustice, which made many officials feel sympathy for her. Coupled with Chu Lu's abrupt behavior, almost everyone believed that this was a farce directed by Chu Lu to save face, and they became increasingly dissatisfied with Chu Lu.

Chu Lu stood up slowly, looking down at everyone in the hall, and finally landing on the faces of Li Wenyuan, Fang Xiaozhi and Yan Zheng, and said calmly: "Take the blame? Do you really think that I just arrested someone to take the blame for the sake of face?"

He paused for a moment, looked at the mixed expressions of anger and contempt on everyone's faces, and said meaningfully: "Do you really think I don't know that Zhao Dequan was framed?"

Li Wenyuan and the others frowned slightly when they heard this.

"Imperial Physician! Come out!" Chu Lu shouted.

The person waiting at the side of the hall was the imperial physician who had previously reported in the imperial study that the poison was of a different age. Upon hearing the voice, he quickly walked into the hall, came to the center, and knelt respectfully: "I am here."

"You come and tell the ministers, and the Queen Mother," Chu Lu gestured, "how you discovered that the poison found in Zhao Dequan's residence did not match the poison in the yokan soup."

The imperial physician raised his head, a subtle expression on his face, but his tone was extremely clear and affirmative: "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother, and all the gentlemen. I... did not find any discrepancies in the age of the poison. When the toxicity is the same and the source may be the same, it is almost impossible to accurately judge the subtle difference in age with just the naked eye and routine tests."

Inside the hall, the confusion on the faces of the clean officials grew deeper.

Li Wenyuan, Fang Xiaozhi, and Yan Zheng all frowned and looked at each other, their eyes full of confusion. If the imperial physician did not find any difference, then what was the matter with the previous report?

Chu Lu looked at their reactions and continued to ask, "Then why did you make such a report in the Imperial Study?"

The imperial physician took a deep breath, bowed his head and replied, "Yes... Your Majesty instructed me to report this in advance."

"what?!"

"Your Majesty's order?!"

The ministers were suddenly shocked. Everyone looked at Chu Lu in disbelief.

"Your Majesty! Why...why are you doing this?!" Fang Xiaozhi couldn't help but ask in a lost voice.

"Why?" Chu Lu said calmly, "As early as the moment I learned that Zhao Dequan was a suspect, I realized that he was the scapegoat pushed out by the real murderer behind the scenes. At the same time, I immediately realized that this was a great opportunity. The murderer behind the scenes did things neatly and cleanly, and did not leave any clues. If we want to catch her, we can only wait for her to make a move again." "So I took advantage of her and pretended to be incompetent, relaxed her vigilance, and inflated her confidence. Let her be complacent, let her be self-righteous, and let her dare to take risks again!"

Chu Lu's voice gradually became clear and cold:
"Since the first attempt at poisoning failed, she will definitely look for a more secret and harder to detect poison. At the same time, to be absolutely sure, she will definitely choose to poison after all the poison testing procedures, that is, before delivering the poison to me on the last short journey!"

"So," Chu Lu pointed at Ah Ling, who was frozen on the ground and had stopped crying, and said in a decisive and resolute voice, "The person who was responsible for this last step and personally presented the food box to me must be the murderer who hid himself so deeply! Ah Ling, am I right?!"

The Hall of Mental Cultivation fell into a suffocating silence once again.

Everyone was shocked by Chu Lu's reasoning!

It turns out that the emperor's previous seemingly impulsive and foolish actions were all disguises? It turns out that the so-called unjust case was actually a trick by your majesty to lure the snake out of its hole? !

Isn't this too ridiculous? !
Li Wenyuan, Fang Xiaozhi, Yan Zheng and others opened their mouths, their expressions changing, feeling extremely absurd.

"Ha..." Li Wenyuan let out a helpless bitter laugh, as if he saw a stupid student who could not learn no matter how hard he tried.

"Your Majesty," he said with a sigh, "your inference is a bit far-fetched. You have three meals a day, and there is always someone responsible for the last step. Could it be that they are all murderers?"

"Mr. Li is absolutely right." Chu Lu smiled slightly, "That's why I have another piece of evidence that can identify the murderer."

"Oh? What is it?" Li Wenyuan said weakly, as if he no longer wanted to play with Chu Lu.

Chu Lu raised Ah Ling's wrist, which he had been holding tightly: "That's it!"

"Your Majesty, are you referring to that bracelet?" Li Wenyuan looked at A Ling's wrist and asked, "But what's wrong with this bracelet?"

Chu Lu said clearly, "This bracelet looks ordinary, but it actually has a secret. It has been hollowed out to hide the poison powder. The opening of the bracelet is sealed with special transparent paraffin wax, which is difficult to see with the naked eye. When you want to poison someone, you only need to use your fingernails to scrape open the wax, and with a slight movement of your wrist, the poison powder will fall into your food silently."

Li Wenyuan, who had originally sneered at this, was slightly stunned when he heard this, and the contempt on his face immediately subsided a little.

"If you still don't believe it," Chu Lu pointed to the imperial physician standing in front of the palace, "it just so happens that the imperial physician is here, we can check it in public. See if it is hollow inside? Is there any wax residue on the bracelet? Is there any deadly poison hidden inside? And... is there the same poison in this food box!"

After these words were spoken, everyone's eyes immediately focused on the bracelet on Aling's wrist.

Li Wenyuan, Fang Xiaozhi, Yan Zheng and others looked at each other, and saw horror in each other's eyes. This method is secretive and vicious, but it is indeed feasible. Your Majesty may be right.

Li Wenyuan pondered for a moment and spoke first. His tone was no longer as fierce as before, but more serious: "Your Majesty's method is incredible, but it seems to be logical. This is related to your Majesty's safety and the national system, and it must not be taken lightly! I think that this bracelet should be inspected immediately!"

Fang Xiaozhi stared at Ah Ling's slightly trembling wrist. Although he still looked serious, he nodded and said, "That's right! Words alone are not enough. It is right to check! Whether it is true or not, we will know it with a test! If there is really something hidden in the bracelet and there is poison in the food box, then this woman is guilty! If not, Your Majesty should also clear her name!"

Yan Zheng looked at the imperial physician anxiously: "Quick! Ask the imperial physician to come forward and check immediately! Be sure to check it carefully! Make sure to get to the bottom of it! Only in this way can we be convinced!"

"We second the motion! Your Majesty, please order an inspection!" Other officials also reacted and requested in unison.

A Ling was kneeling on the ground. Her tearful face had turned pale when Chu Lu told her the secret of the bracelet accurately. After hearing the discussions of the officials below, even the last trace of blood color faded away completely.

She knew that she was done.

In the face of solid evidence, all disguises and excuses are useless.

Once the imperial physician takes away the bracelet and food box for inspection, his plan will inevitably be exposed!

An extreme fear and despair instantly gripped her throat, but what followed was the madness and cruelty of being forced into a desperate situation!

——Since I can’t poison you, I’ll do it myself!

A Ling's eyes were full of ferocity! She raised her head suddenly, and while everyone was agitated, she quickly pulled out a silver hairpin that was sharpened to an unusual point from her messy hair!

"You tyrant! Die!"

She let out a shrill scream, tightly grasped the silver hairpin, and like a madman, stabbed Chu Lu's heart fiercely!

She was just an ordinary weak palace maid, not a martial arts master, and her sneak attack was not fast, accurate or ruthless. But in her opinion, the emperor had lived in the palace for a long time, so he would be weaker than her and would definitely not be able to avoid her attack.

"Be careful, Your Majesty!"

"Escort!"

Everyone in the palace was shocked! No one expected that this seemingly weak palace maid would dare to assassinate the Queen Mother and the officials! The Queen Mother even cried out in shock!
Yan Zheng and Fang Xiaozhi were so frightened that their hearts almost stopped. At this critical moment, Li Wenyuan rushed over.

This old official, who was nearly 70 years old, was now filled with anxiety and recklessness. He moved his aging body, opened his arms, and rushed towards A Ling.

"Protect Your Majesty!"

Li Wenyuan roared at the top of his lungs.

(End of this chapter)