I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 478 The pot comes from the sky

Shao Liyi said, "I have other matters to attend to in the palace, so I will take my leave now."

"Wait a minute," Chu Liuzheng called out to her, asking with a smile, "Want some hot pot?"

Shao Liyi: ?

Add one item to the Yaohua Palace deluxe hot pot set meal.

After taking a bite of the hot pot beef, Shao Liyi couldn't help but sigh softly, "She would definitely like it."

"Princess, don't think about it." Dewdrop cooked two slices of mutton for her and whispered, "With her skills, she would never mistreat herself..."

At that moment, someone who was gnawing on a cornbread bone in the military camp sneezed loudly.

"Who is talking about me?"

She tossed the bone to the stray dog ​​that came running, stood up from the haystack and stretched, "Ah~ it's so much more comfortable outside. After the war is over, I'll have to think of a way to get that crybaby out too."

The crybaby himself is currently experiencing tears welling up from the spiciness of the hot pot.

Meanwhile, a lively meal was also taking place in a side hall of the Wenhua Hall.

[The student surpasses the master; Chef Qiao's improved hot pot broth is so delicious it's even good for heating shoe soles!]

Chu Liuzheng kept eating with his chopsticks, enjoying his meal immensely, and Xiao Jingfan also seemed quite happy eating.

After taking a nap together, His Majesty the Emperor forgot about setting some rules for Chu Liuzheng and never thought about it again.

Two days later, Zhou Yuande's investigation led him to Shao Liyi, and he had both witnesses and physical evidence.

Shao Liyi, who was hit by a pot falling from the sky: ? ! !

“Your Majesty, this servant has found out that Xiao Xuanzi has many grievances about his job in the Imperial Kitchen and has been wanting to transfer to another post. These days, he has been getting along very well with the people from Yaohua Palace and has been helping them with a lot of errands.”

Zhou Yuande bowed and reported to the emperor, "According to Lan'er, a palace maid from Yaohua Palace, the dagger that Xiao Xuanzi used to assassinate Miss Chu was from Yaohua Palace. She had seen it in the Yaohua Palace storeroom, and there was also a record of it being stored in the register."

As he spoke, he personally presented the inventory list to Xiao Jingfan and ordered someone to bring up the palace maid Lan'er.

Standing to the side, Shao Liyi saw a somewhat familiar palace maid walk in, who seemed to be someone from her palace. She couldn't help but look at Granny Duan, only to see that Granny Duan's face was grave. Her heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously tightened her grip on Lu Zhu's hand.

Lan'er knelt before the emperor, "This servant Lan'er greets Your Majesty, long live the Emperor!"

Xiao Jingfan glanced at her. "You really saw that dagger in the storeroom of Yaohua Palace?"

"Yes." Lan'er looked at the ground. "This servant saw it with her own eyes and would not dare to deceive Your Majesty."

[Tsk, I see you're having a lot of fun deceiving the emperor.]

Chu Liuzheng beckoned to Chenxing and whispered a few words in her ear.

Chen Xing nodded and quickly went out to take care of it.

Zhou Yuande caught a glimpse of this scene, and for some reason, his eyelids twitched.

Xiao Jingfan flipped through the inventory register and said, "There's no picture in the register, only a black iron dagger is recorded. It's a bit of a stretch to use it as evidence. Besides you, has anyone else seen that dagger?"

“Yes,” Lan’er said. “The key to the storeroom is in the hands of Granny Duan. Every month, Granny Duan personally leads people to check the storeroom against the inventory records. I saw that dagger when I was with Granny Duan during the inventory check.”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingfan looked at Granny Duan standing beside Shao Liyi and asked, "Is this true?"

Granny Duan immediately knelt down beside Lan'er and said, "Your Majesty, there is indeed a black iron dagger in Yaohua Palace, but as Your Majesty just said, the dagger is very ordinary. It is not impossible for someone to use it to frame someone."

"To find out if it was a frame-up, we only need to see if the dagger is still in the storeroom." Chu Liuzheng suddenly interjected, looking at Zhou Yuande, "Eunuch Zhou, have you led people to search the storeroom of Yaohua Palace?" Zhou Yuande replied truthfully, "This matter has not yet been concluded, and this servant dares not offend Consort Liyi."

This is what I saw without opening the warehouse.

Chu Liuzheng then looked at the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, in order to prove Shao Liyi's innocence, why not open the storeroom and take a look?"

"Alright." Before the emperor could agree, Shao Liyi responded first. She said to Duan Mama, "Mama, give the storeroom key to Eunuch Zhou. If you are upright, you have nothing to fear. I am not afraid of being investigated."

Duan Mama hesitated for a moment, but still handed the key to Yaohua Palace's storeroom to Zhou Yuande under everyone's watchful eyes.

Zhou Yuande took the keys and left.

Inventorying the warehouse is a big undertaking, but finding a specific item is quick.

Zhou Yuande returned shortly afterward, along with Chen Xing, who brought Chu Liuzheng a bowl of bird's nest soup.

While eating, Chu Liuzheng listened to Zhou Yuande report to the emperor: "Your Majesty, this servant found the black iron dagger in the storeroom of Yaohua Palace."

As he spoke, he had someone present the dagger to the emperor.

Everyone's eyes followed, and they discovered that the tray contained an ordinary-looking but seemingly sharp dagger.

The moment they saw the dagger, both Granny Duan and Shao Liyi felt relieved.

Chu Liuzheng took a sip of bird's nest soup and turned to look at the emperor: "Your Majesty, since the dagger is in the storeroom, the dagger in Xiao Xuanzi's hand has nothing to do with Shao Liyi."

She had barely finished speaking when Lan'er suddenly said, "This isn't a dagger from the Yaohua Palace storeroom."

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at her. Xiao Jingfan asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Lan'er said, "Your Majesty, there is a tiny chip on the back of the dagger in the storeroom, which is easily overlooked if not carefully examined. I have noticed that the dagger on the tray has no chip on the back."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuande's eyes turned sinister, and he said in a shrill voice, "Are you suspecting that we switched the daggers?"

"This servant wouldn't dare," Lan'er said, but that was the meaning behind her words.

Seeing her like this, Zhou Yuande knew he had been tricked and couldn't help but feel annoyed. He said, "Let's not even talk about how we could have switched things in front of everyone. Whether the dagger is damaged or not is just your opinion. How can you prove that what you said is true?"

"Before Your Majesty, this servant dares not speak falsely," Lan'er said. "This servant suspected it was the dagger in Yaohua Palace's storeroom because I noticed a chip in the same spot on the back of the murder weapon. Otherwise, how could this servant recognize an ordinary dagger? And how could I dare to assert that it was the one in Yaohua Palace's storeroom?"

[Wow! Like master, like servant! She really is the traitor raised by the Empress. With that chatterbox, she's definitely going to pin the assassination attempt on the crybaby princess today.]

[On another note, why did the Empress go to such great lengths to protect Consort Xie? Given the Empress's usual style, shouldn't she have discarded Consort Xie as a pawn by now?]

[Could it be that the Empress Dowager's order for the Empress to copy Buddhist scriptures really worked, that even the Empress, who is soft-hearted but ruthless, began to show compassion?]

Seeing that Eunuch Zhou was speechless because of Lan'er, Chu Liuzheng cleared his throat and said, "Someone, bring the things up."

Everyone:? ?

what?
Of course, it's the thing that Chu Liuzheng asked Chen Xing to find earlier.

She brandished the dagger in her hand and asked, "Does Miss Lan'er recognize this?"

Lan'er looked up and shook her head.

"That shouldn't be the case." Chu Liuzheng flicked the dagger, pointing to the chipped edge on the back of the blade. "You've kept this dagger under your pillow every day, how could you not recognize it?"

(End of this chapter)