Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 217 White-hot

Overnight, all the red silk palace lanterns prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival were taken down, and the newly hung red silk ribbons also disappeared.

Instead, a white white curtain was erected.

When Consort Xiao suddenly passed away, the Emperor was deeply grieved. He immediately removed his bright yellow dragon robe, ordered the six palaces to wear mourning clothes, and issued an edict to suspend court for five days...

This sudden change, like a tidal wave crashing against the shore, instantly caused a huge uproar in the capital.

Nobles and nobles turned pale at the mere mention of it, fearing they would be drawn into the assassination vortex of the Siz assassins, living in constant anxiety.

Rumors flew rampant among the common people.

People gathered in teahouses and taverns, filled with fear and curiosity, asking questions and discussing this bloody and bizarre palace tragedy...

The storytellers in the teahouses were also in high spirits, and they began to tell new stories.

With a thud, the sunflower seed shells from all the tea drinkers fell to the ground.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The third act of 'The Bloodbath in the Golden Palace' is truly a scene of carnage and bloodshed—"

"The murderer was originally a favorite concubine of the prince, with the face of a saint but the heart of a wolf, and a belly full of demonic tendencies..."

"She concealed the secret recipe for snakeberry juice in her sleeve, and while the Imperial Concubine was dozing in the Imperial Garden, she poured it into a jade lotus leaf cup—"

The storyteller spoke with great enthusiasm, replacing Xue Sui and Consort Xiao with figures from the previous dynasty, describing them so vividly that it was as if he had witnessed them firsthand.

Cheers and applause resounded throughout the room.

A man selling steamed buns elbowed the person sitting next to him.

"How could the Minister's mansion have raised such a vicious woman?"

"Shh, didn't you hear what the book said?" The old scholar stroked his beard, shaking his head. "This Consort Xue was kidnapped when she was eight years old. It is said that she grew up in the Old Mausoleum Marsh. What kind of pure-hearted young lady could be raised in that place where jackals roam?"

"No wonder!" The man selling steamed buns smacked his lips. "My cousin's brother-in-law works in the scout camp. He said the water in the Old Mausoleum Swamp is black, and it's filled with two hundred thousand skeletons!"

"Alas, that Miss Lu died such an unjust death. At such a beautiful age, she was about to become the Crown Prince, but who would have thought she would become the scapegoat of the murderer..."

Everyone chimed in with their own opinions, embellishing the story and making it sound incredibly fantastical.

The two princesses who had Xiz blood and Princess Tuya also couldn't escape the gossip.

"What kind of monster was nurtured by the snowmelt of the sacred mountain? Who knows what kind of sorcery it used to bewitch the holy heart!"

"The spies in the West are adept at using honey traps..."

"That Princess Protector of the Nation also had an affair with General Lu... The two had a long-standing illicit relationship, and General Lu abandoned his wife and children so that he could be with the Princess Protector of the Nation forever."

"I heard that in the brothels, the top courtesan has already composed new lyrics and is singing them while holding a pipa..."

"Absolutely! The new tune performed at Tianxiang Pavilion yesterday was absolutely superb—"

A peddler, in a low voice, imitated the prostitute's singing, making a series of incoherent sounds.

"Young widow, shedding her hempen clothes, copies scriptures in the golden palace to meet her former lover, her black hair swirling around her silver spear, the general's tent filled with the warm fragrance of jade—"

A few hooligans in the audience burst into laughter upon hearing the singing.
-
The west courtyard of Xue Mansion.

Upon hearing the servant's report, Madam Qian was so angry that she put her hands on her hips and cursed, "These gossips, they never seem to mind making things worse, spreading baseless rumors like they're real. Humph, these scoundrels, they must have been taking a lot of money from Princess Ping Le's private treasury to feed their mouths..."

She took out a box of silver notes, slammed it heavily on the table, and stared at Xue Qingxiu with eyes as big as copper bells.

"Go and find some people who can sing. Sing 'The Poisonous Princess's Series of Schemes,' about how Princess Ping Le killed her own mother, forced Lu Er-guniang to her death, and framed our Sixth Miss. Sing it better than those fictional stories they make up! Our family isn't short of money. If it's not enough, I'll go back to my parents' house to borrow more..."

"Wife!" Xue Qingxiu quickly grabbed her, his expression anxious and helpless.

"Be careful, the walls have ears!"

"Third Master is right, Third Madam, you mustn't let a moment of anger bring disaster upon yourself!" Jinshu also whispered to her, "The most important thing right now is for Master to find a way to take care of the young lady and prevent her from suffering in prison..."

Upon hearing this, Qian's eyes reddened.

"The magistrate is making excuses and using his official power to intimidate people—saying that the evidence in this case is conclusive, and as the Minister of Justice, he can't even avoid suspicion, how dare he say a word?"

Jinshu frowned: "Then why don't we have the old lady give a message..."

Qian glanced at the dejected Xue Qingxiu and sneered twice.

"Since the news came yesterday, the old lady has been claiming illness and hasn't left her home, not even going to the Buddhist hall. If you ask me, Sixth Sister used to be so devoted to the old lady, but now that things are so dire, they're all hiding their true colors... What kind of noble family are we? We're better off as merchants, where we value loyalty and friendship..."

After saying that, she wiped away another tear.

"Our poor sixth daughter, abandoned by her closest relatives since childhood, endured humiliation and lived a life of hardship for ten years. She finally managed to earn some dignity, but then she suffered such a sordid fate and became the scapegoat..."

"How could her life be so miserable... She suffered such an injustice, yet not a single member of the Xue family is willing to stand up and speak a word of justice! Is the dignity of a noble family more precious than the lives of their own flesh and blood? If something really happens to Sixth Girl, aren't they afraid of retribution?"

Xue Qingxiu found her words both harsh and piercing. He clutched the crumpled visiting card in his sleeve, his palms aching from the pressure, and he almost broke out in a cold sweat.

After the incident, he went to plead with General Yiwu that very night, but the gatekeeper returned the silver notes unopened, along with a note.

"Lord Xue, it's not that the general is unwilling to intervene, but the higher-ups have set the tone for this case. Prince Duan is personally providing evidence, so even if the general wanted to help, he couldn't get involved."

Xue Qingxiu understood right from wrong.

Not only could General Yiwu not persuade them, but others were also at a loss.

Clinging to his last hope, he asked someone to plead his case to the Crown Prince.

Unfortunately, I couldn't even get a glimpse of the Crown Prince...

He pushed the silver note that Qian had handed him back.

“My lady, some things can’t be solved with money.” Madam Qian gritted her teeth in anger, tears welling up in her eyes. “What kind of bullshit aristocratic families and imperial relatives are we talking about! Now that Sixth Sister is in prison, she probably can’t even get a hot soup, while her father, brothers, uncles and relatives are all officials of the court. I don’t believe they can’t even get a single note through.”

Xue Qingxiu gritted his teeth and glanced at Jinshu.

"Right now, perhaps only one person has a solution—"

Mr. Qian asked, "Who is it?"

Xue Qingxiu glanced at Jinshu, "Sixth Sister herself."
-
In Ruijin Hall, where Consort Xiao's coffin lay in state, layers of white banners hung down, immersing the ornately decorated palace in a cold, desolate gray.

Li Huan knelt before the altar, adding incense. His face was paler than the white silk, and his eyes radiated a chilling coldness.

"Brother Emperor..."

Princess Ping Le entered, stepping on the paper money scattered on the ground. The white gauze curtains around the funeral bed fluttered in the wind.

She was confined to her home for half a month, never imagining that the price of her release would be the life of her birth mother.

The candlelight made her eyes appear red, but the tears didn't fall; instead, they were filled with hatred.

"Mother Consort is most afraid of loneliness. Letting her lie in this cold side hall, without even a confidant to talk to, won't she be lonely? Won't she be afraid?"

"How dare you ask?" Li Huan stood up from the prayer mat, his mourning clothes almost blending into the night.

"If it weren't for your willful and reckless behavior, how could Mother have suffered such a calamity?"

Ping Le suddenly looked up, and the ever-burning lamp on the offering table split her eyebrows and eyes into light and shadow, making her look sinister.

"Your Majesty's words are utterly ridiculous! What does it have to do with me that Mother was poisoned? Xue Liu is already in prison, and it was Your Majesty who personally uncovered the evidence. Yet now you're trying to pin the blame on me..."

"Snapped!"

A heavy slap landed across his face.

Li Huan swallowed the words Ping Le hadn't finished saying.

She staggered two steps to steady herself on the testimonies table, turned around to look at Li Huan, and trembled with anger.

"You hit me, how cruel of you—"

“This slap is for my mother.” Li Huan’s voice trembled slightly. “A princess, who treats human life like dirt and is utterly heartless. Hitting you is too lenient.”

"Brother, don't make false accusations..."

"You don't think I don't know what you've done, do you?" His eyes were dark, and his voice was as cold as the autumn wind outside the palace.

“Ping Le, Miss Lu called out your name before she died!”

Ping Le's face was still wet with tears, and a hint of panic flashed in her eyes.

He quickly regained his composure and let out a cold laugh.

"I didn't expect my royal brother to speak up for that vile woman Xue Liu. Well, even a day as husband and wife is worth a hundred days of kindness. She climbed from a concubine to a secondary consort in such a short time, which must be due to my royal brother's favor and promotion..."

After saying that, she glanced at Li Huan with a half-smile, her expression full of mockery.

"Since Your Majesty is reluctant to part with her, why imprison her? Why not simply bring her back to the Prince Duan's residence and keep her as a mistress..."

Li Huan remained silent, coldly watching her.

Ping Le hadn't finished speaking when he gritted his teeth in anger.

"You coveted Xue Liu's beauty and allowed her to secretly poison your mother, causing her death. Now you're pretending to be a filial son?"

Li Huan delivered another slap.

"Still unrepentant! Do you think you can get away with this by your own means? If I hadn't cleaned up the mess for you, you would be the one in jail right now, shackled and locked up!"

Ping Le was stunned.

Before entering the palace, she already knew that Lu Xi had died suddenly on his way to the Ministry of Justice prison, and that his symptoms of bleeding from all seven orifices were exactly the same as her mother's, which was the poison of the snakeberry...

She didn't know what methods Xue Liu used to switch the poison and kill her mother.

But she knew that Lu Xi died at just the right time. It was Li Huan who saved her life. Otherwise, if Lu Xi had been tried and implicated her in ordering the poisoning, even her father might not have protected her.

"Brother... I know I was wrong."

She walked towards Li Huan, grabbed his sleeve, and large tears fell onto his mourning clothes.

"My mother has passed away, and my father has so many children, but I only have you, only you..."

Li Huan lowered his head and pulled her arm away.

“Ping Le, when will you understand? In this deep palace, once you make a move, nothing can be kept clean.”

The firelight danced in his eyes, as if trying to burn away all the weariness in his heart.

Ping Le looked at his dazed and pained appearance and whispered, "Is your heart aching because of Mother, or because of Xue Liu?"

"Shut up." Li Huan looked up, veins bulging on his forehead.

Ping Le's body trembled slightly, and she suddenly leaned closer and whispered, "Your Majesty has fallen for her, hasn't he? That slut has captured your heart?"

Li Huan gazed at the plain white curtains on the deathbed, his voice as cold as ice: "Mind your own business."

Ping Le suddenly stepped forward excitedly, lifted a corner of the brocade quilt, revealing Consort Xiao's pale face.

"Brother, take a good look! Open your eyes wide! If you have even a shred of humanity left, you should repay blood with blood and not let that wicked woman walk out of prison alive!"