Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 225 Guarding Palace Sand

On her snow-white skin, a single vermilion dot, as vibrant as a drop of blood, was strikingly beautiful.

The crowd whispered amongst themselves, the room filled with astonishment and curiosity.

Everyone knows that His Highness Prince Duan has always favored this concubine Xue, showering her with gifts that fill the Tanqiu Courtyard. He has transformed a concubine into the enviable concubine of Prince Duan, whose favor far surpasses that of the other concubines in the mansion, even surpassing that of the principal wife.

Unexpectedly, in court today, Xue Sui used the cinnabar mark to prove that she and Li Huan had no sexual relationship, tearing apart the carefully woven net of Li Huan and confirming that Li Huan was suspected of "deliberately framing" her.

Such intimate details of the boudoir made it impossible for Li Huan to defend himself.

“Your Highness Prince Duan…” Li Zhao raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at Li Huan with a half-smile. His handsome eyes held a sense of triumphant satisfaction.

How do you explain this?

Li Huan's cold eyes were like frost as he stared intently at the woman below the steps.

"It's just a cinnabar mark—since the concubine is knowledgeable in pharmacology and comes from an old imperial mausoleum, it's hard to guarantee she won't use some tricks from the martial arts world..."

Xue Sui raised Ning Shuang's arm, his eyes filled with mockery: "Want to test it?"

Li Huan felt a dryness in his throat. Looking at the slender figure of the woman below, he suddenly remembered the day she entered the room, her eyes lowered, her timid and submissive appearance, and his heart ached.

He underestimated his opponent.

Who would have thought that seemingly delicate woman would be so ruthless and vicious...

Seeing the turmoil in his eyes, Li Zhao suddenly smiled and spoke.

"I have a question. With the concubine's beauty, why would my brother feign affection? Could there be another reason..."

Xue Sui smiled slightly, not answering directly, but merely glancing at Li Huan before slowly saying:

"The prince has many beautiful concubines in his harem, so why has he only had one daughter all these years?"

Li Huan's face instantly turned extremely ugly.

The people in the hall looked at each other in shock.

She said nothing, yet it was as if she had said everything...

The reason she wouldn't share a room with Li Huan was that Prince Duan was "impotent"...

Otherwise, how could the Prince's mansion, with so many concubines and secondary consorts, have only given birth to one daughter?
An awkward atmosphere filled the hall, and the prince's secret fueled everyone's curiosity and speculation about the story behind the conflict...

Everyone held their breath; the entire hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, except for Li Huan's heavy breathing, which was exceptionally clear.

He was caught off guard by Xue Sui's move.

He never expected that Xue Sui would launch such a bold counterattack in front of everyone...

Moreover, it prevents him from proving his innocence.

Li Zhao's dark eyes narrowed slightly, his pleasure almost overflowing.

He crossed his arms, tilted his head slightly, and looked at Li Huan with great interest, his eyes full of anticipation for a good show, quite leisurely and self-satisfied.

"Now that things have come to this, does Your Majesty still intend to make excuses?"

"A fabricated charge—" Li Huan was speechless with rage, his face turning ashen, veins throbbing on his forehead as if he wanted to devour someone alive...

Seeing his appearance, Xie Yanzhan, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, trembled slightly, coughed lightly, and slammed the gavel down again, making the celadon teacup on the table vibrate.

"There are still many doubts in this case. The witnesses and physical evidence need to be thoroughly investigated. We must not be swayed by one side of the story, lest we wrongly accuse an innocent person..."

When Wu Zhi of the Censorate met Li Huan's cold gaze, his heart tightened. He nodded hurriedly, flipped through the case files, and loudly echoed his agreement.

"What you say is absolutely right, Lord Xie. The most urgent task is to clarify the details of the case and verify the authenticity of the evidence..."

Xie Yanzhan nodded slightly, his expression grave as he scanned the lobby, then raised his voice.

"Passporter Certificate—Biyu, First-Class Maid of the Lu Family, enters the hall!"

Biyu crawled in on her knees, the hairpin in her hair being the gift that the Second Miss Lu had given her before her death.

"Your Excellencies, it was Princess Ping Le who gave the snakeberry juice to my young lady..."

Before she could finish speaking, her throat tightened and tears streamed down her face.

“My daughter is naive and easily deceived by Princess Ping Le. She was completely unaware that snakeberry juice is highly poisonous and can kill people… She never imagined that it would harm both herself and others, leading to such an end…”

In order to save face for the Lu family and to make her testimony more credible, she did not implicate Lu Xi, which sounded reasonable and flawless.

The whole hall was in an uproar.

Xie Yanzhan tapped the teacup in his hand against the rim.

"You audacious servant, do you know what the punishment is for framing the princess?"

Biyu's body trembled violently, as if she had been frightened. She stood there stunned for a moment before her sobs resumed.

Then, this seemingly timid girl suddenly lunged at the desk and slammed her forehead hard on the ground.

"I beg you, my lords, to do justice for my young lady! I'll stake my life on it! That day, Princess Ping Le bestowed the agarwood bracelet upon my young lady and handed her the snakeberry poison; I saw it with my own eyes..." Xie Yanzhan slammed his fist on the table: "You audacious, lowly servant! How dare you spout such nonsense! Disrupting the court..."

Left Censor-in-Chief Wu coughed lightly, interrupting him, then leaned forward with a gentle expression, "You say, it was Princess Ping Le who instructed Miss Lu to poison him?"

"Yes, sir! That's exactly right! This servant would never lie..."

Jade trembled as she kowtowed to him.

“Last year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, I personally witnessed Princess Ping Le take out a secret letter from a hidden compartment in the women’s quarters… On it was a picture of the Xizi Wolf Guard’s jade pendant that I had seen in Qinghui Palace…”

She paused, as if remembering something, then clutched the hem of her clothes tightly and said in a tearful voice:
"At that time, the embroiderer from Xianchun Embroidery Shop in the west of the city happened to be delivering embroidery to the Women's Quarters, and she saw it too... If you don't believe me, sir, you can summon her for questioning..."

An uproar erupted in the hall.

Then a brief silence fell.

There were more than ten officials from the three departments in the hall, but none of them spoke up to summon the embroiderer.

Biyu seemed oblivious to the adults' enigmatic expressions. She nervously bit her lower lip and continued to deliver her heart-wrenching speech in a trembling voice.

"Before her death, the young lady saw that Princess Ping Le was ruthless and would often beat her close maids to death. She instructed her maid to hide evidence of the princess's years of oppression of the people, corruption, and forming cliques in a rouge box under her dressing table, in order to prevent Princess Ping Le from silencing her..."

Xie Yanzhan's expression changed, and he slammed the gavel down heavily.

"This lowly servant has falsely accused the royal family; her entire clan should be executed!"

"Lord Xie, please calm down—" Li Zhao raised his sleeve to stop his almost out-of-control anger, glanced at Li Huan with a cold expression, and a mocking smile appeared on his lips.

"It's not too late to prosecute after we've examined the evidence."

After saying that, he turned his head slightly and looked at Biyu with piercing eyes.

Where are the evidence left behind by Miss Lu Er?

Before he finished speaking, a commotion suddenly broke out outside the hall.

It was at this moment that Wen Jia stepped into the main hall.

The autumn sun pierced through the lintel of the Dali Temple, weaving a patchwork of light and shadow on her indigo palace dress.

Two palace maids carried a sandalwood box, silently following behind her, the copper ornaments on the corners of the box making a dull thud against the blue bricks.

Wen Jia clasped her hands together and bowed respectfully.

"This information was obtained by Lord Lu and Grand Tutor Lu through a secret investigation that took half a year. We urge Your Highnesses and all officials to make a fair judgment..."

When the lid was opened, a strong scent of aged ink wafted out.

The whole room gasped.

Li Huan suddenly gripped the teacup in his hand tightly, his gaze turning cold.

The box was filled with all sorts of letters, account books, and testimonies from the cooks, grooms, maids, embroiderers, coachmen, and other lowly servants and miscellaneous people.

A clerk at Yongchang Pawnshop said, "When pawning items that came from the Princess's residence, we found half a piece of silk hidden in a lining. The wax seal had a wolf's head design on it, but I dared not say anything, so it remains in the shop to this day..."

The madam of Tianxiang Pavilion said, "Miss Cuixi in the pavilion has a regular customer who said that her mother was a hairdresser in Princess Pingle's mansion. Once, this gentleman got drunk and let slip that the princess had a habit of adding a colorless and odorless poison to her rouge and tea. Last autumn, she poisoned three talkative maids..."

Night Watchman Lao Jiu: "On the tenth day of last month, at the third watch, a masked man entered through the side gate of the princess's residence. He walked silently, with a strange-looking leather bag hanging from his waist, resembling a Xiz person..."

The story, told in detail by a series of unknown, insignificant characters, recounts how Princess Ping Le plotted her schemes, how she secretly hoarded snakeberry poison, how she manipulated and threatened Lu Xi, and her various misdeeds.

One of the ledgers clearly records the details of Princess Ping Le's gifts and bribes to various officials, including some important figures from the Three Departments.

"On the seventh day of the third month of the eighth year of Chongzhao, Censor Zhang of the Censorate collected one bushel of pearls and one gold-inlaid silver incense burner..."

"On the Dragon Boat Festival in May, Minister Xie of the Court of Judicial Review obtained an ancient painting depicting the landscape of a previous dynasty..."

"On the sixteenth of March, twelve beautiful dancers were added to the residence of Zhao, the registrar of the Court of State Ceremonies..."

The level of detail in the evidence is astonishing.

Everyone gasped as they looked at the irrefutable evidence.

Xie Yanzhan and Wu Zhi looked ashen-faced and extremely grim.

Wen Jia's gaze swept over Li Huan's gloomy face.

"With all the people and evidence in hand, we urge Your Highnesses and the officials of the Three Judicial Offices to uphold justice and judge the case impartially, and not to disappoint the earnest intentions of Elders Lu and Grand Tutor Lu."

"Nonsense!" Li Huan slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly.

Even with the evidence shoved in his face, he remained calm and composed.

"No matter how audacious Ping Le is, he would never poison his mother."

"Of course not." Xue Sui raised his eyes, met his gaze without flinching, and revealed a meaningful smile.

"Because Princess Ping Le originally intended to poison the Empress, but the accidental killing of Consort Xiao was merely a matter of misunderstanding!"