Harem for a living

Chapter 223

The imperial doctors gathered together to re-feed the Empress Dowager Ci'an's pulse.However, even with the reminders on the tiles, the imperial doctors still didn't understand why the queen mother was unconscious. The queen mother was not poisoned. Could it be that the power of witchcraft is so great?
The emperor's complexion was dark, and he asked people to bring up the group of nuns, and he wanted to personally watch the trial of the Minister of Criminal Affairs.All the princes asked to listen in, and Chen Manruan's suspicion on the eldest princess has not been cleared. To be precise, it is not a suspicion.

Because from the beginning to the end, Tang Wan'er said that the matter was done by the queen and the eldest princess, but there was no such conclusive evidence. Even under the few questions from the queen and the eldest princess, Tang Wan'er seemed to be suspicious .

Since everyone wanted to listen in, the emperor generously provided the venue, and the trial venue was still in the Yongshou Palace.However, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice hesitated: "Your Majesty, the trial process is a bit..."

As he spoke, he quietly glanced at the queen and eldest princess, as well as the fourth and eighth princes and fifth princess standing behind the queen.The emperor pondered for a while, then turned to look at Chen Manrou, Chen Manrou smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I am not the kind of person who can't see blood, the Secretary of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs is in charge of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, so I can try the case as I want, and don't worry about my concubine's status." .”

The eldest princess turned pale, but seeing that the fifth princess hadn't left, she bit her lips and said, "Father, this matter is related to my daughter's reputation, and my daughter wants to watch the trial in person. Both the person and the defendant must go to court to answer, and the daughter belongs to the defendant, standing here can also answer Lord Shangshu's question."

Tang Wan'er didn't wait for the emperor's eyes to come over, she said directly: "I want to watch the empress and princess plead guilty here, I believe that all monsters and ghosts cannot escape the palm of the Tathagata Buddha. I'm not afraid of anything, I just hope that the Empress will not be so frightened that she loses her bearings."

Chen Manrou sneered, and did not argue with her, the emperor's attitude was already obvious, Tang Wan'er was at the end of her rope right now.Obviously, Tang Wan'er herself understood this point, that's why she was standing here, so that the so-called evidence could be given a death sentence later, anyway, she didn't have a chance to stand up, so she simply dragged the queen to die together.

Tang Wan'er was already in a state of madness, she didn't want to pull the queen off her horse, she just wanted the queen to die with her.

It wasn't just Chen Manrou who saw Tang Wan'er's thoughts, everyone present had already seen it.Prince Zhuang is old, and he always has some pity for life, so he couldn't help shaking his head at this moment, even if the evidence is convincing, isn't it just a matter of saying who the emperor wants to protect?

The emperor said that the evidence was fabricated, so the evidence cannot be true.The emperor said who planted the evidence, that is who planted it.

Looking at the current situation, the emperor comforts the queen from time to time, and occasionally calls the fourth prince a few words. Does this seem to be a posture to pull the queen off the horse?Women in the harem, the most taboo thing is not being able to see clearly and having bad eyesight.

If Tang Wan'er had stopped before, maybe the emperor would save her life for the empress dowager's sake.It's just that she shouldn't have gone all the way to the dark, ignoring the emperor's repeated warnings and focusing on the dead end of framing the queen.

Soon, the people from the Ministry of Justice arrested the group of nuns. The Minister of the Ministry of Justice is the presiding officer, so he got an extra seat, which was placed under the princes, with the emperor, queen, princess and others standing behind him, and a group of nuns kneeling in front of them. A nun, and on both sides are yamen servants holding boards.

These yamen servants were temporarily transferred from the bodyguards, so they were still wearing bodyguard uniforms, and even the boards they held in their hands were borrowed from the Punishment Department.

"Jinghe, I want to ask you, how can you be sure that the one who gave you the note is the eldest princess?" The Minister of the Ministry of Justice went straight to the point, and the one named was a middle-aged nun, whose face was pale at the moment, and her expression was full of horror .

Chen Manrou was very curious about how the case was handled when the Minister of Criminal Affairs brought him down.

The Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment is the emperor's man. After the last murder case, the emperor's new promotion has nothing to do with the Tang family. Of course, it has nothing to do with the Chen family.However, the Chen family keeps a low profile and rarely gets involved with people in the court, unless they belong to the same department.

"Say, speak with an accent." The nun trembled for a while, glanced at the eldest princess in panic, and then faltered: "That woman's voice is exactly the same as that of the eldest princess, so, so..."

Chen Manrou's eyes flickered, she turned her head and whispered something to the eldest princess, the eldest princess smiled, and went forward to talk to the emperor again.The emperor nodded slightly, so the eldest princess turned around and left the Yongshou Palace. Everyone looked at the emperor suspiciously, and the emperor just smiled and waved his hands: "Yi'an is still a bit naughty at such an age, please be patient."

"Brother Huang, I've watched Yi An grow up. It's normal for a child to be mischievous." The Seventh Prince smiled immediately and everyone nodded.Chen Manrou almost laughed out loud, she has been married for so many years, yet she is still a child.

The Secretary of the Ministry of Justice continued to ask questions, asking some normal questions such as the place and content of the transaction.

After about a stick of incense, ten people wearing the clothes of first-class court ladies suddenly came in outside, but their faces were all covered with veils.As soon as the ten people came in, they saluted together: "My daughter greets the father, the queen mother, and all the princes."

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and the voices of the ten people were neat and exactly the same, even the tone of voice was the same.

Tang Wan'er's face turned pale as well, she didn't understand at all, why did the princess find these people in just a short time.The voices are exactly the same, so it takes training, right?
"Jinghe, since you said that the judgment is based on the voice, then guess which of us is the eldest princess?" The ten people spoke in unison again, staring at Nun Jinghe with burning eyes, the veil completely covered the face, and the clothes They have the same hairstyle, and even their body shapes are almost exactly the same.

Jing and the nun were also stunned, and after a long while, they stammered and said: "There is still evidence. At that time, the princess was also wearing a veil. Later, when she was about to leave, a gust of wind blew by. Be careful, you can see the face under the veil."

Chen Manrou sneered: "Master Jinghe, if I heard correctly, you said that you saw the face of the eldest princess. I thought, this evidence is much more accurate than that voice, right? Why didn't you Did you say you saw the face, but did you say you heard the voice?"

Jinghe was speechless for a moment, Chen Manrou looked at the Minister of Criminal Justice: "My lord, please continue to try the case. This Jinghe mistress, at a glance, knows that she is full of lies. My lord must let her tell the truth."

The Secretary of the Ministry of Justice stood up, saluted respectfully, and then continued to sit down for interrogation.

One nun can walk unyieldingly on a dead road, two nuns can also walk on a dead road unyieldingly, but three is unlikely.What's more, among the more than 20 nuns, there is always one who can tell the truth.

When the nail board was lifted up, a fifteen-year-old nun finally couldn't bear it any longer: "Woo, I said, don't hit me..."

The Minister of the Ministry of Justice waved his hand, and the little nun was taken aside alone, and began to cry, "That night, I was too hungry, so I wanted to find something to eat in the kitchen. Seeing that Jing and the uncle also opened the door and came out, I I hid quickly, for fear that Jing and Uncle Shi would see me. Later, I saw Jing and Uncle Shi go to the wall and use a small shovel to pry a brick down. There was a hole in it, and Uncle Jing and Uncle Shi took out a box from it , then hastily plugged the hole, and went back to the room."

"I was really curious, so I opened the hole and took a look. There was nothing inside on the first day. On the second night, the wooden box was put back by Jing and my uncle. Then I opened it and looked. There was a letter, which said that it was ready, and she could be given the medicine primer, and it was guaranteed that she would not wake up without the antidote."

"In our temple, there are often things like this kind of medicine for people. I just thought that Jing and the uncle took the job in private, so I went to tell the master. Later, the master didn't know what He Jing and the uncle said. Don't let me inquire about this matter again."

The little nun was crying, and Jing He was angry at the side: "I took over Mr. Zhang's family. Mr. Zhang doted on his concubine and killed his wife. His wife wanted to find a way to kill that concubine. Senior sister The reason I didn't let you take care of it was because I was afraid that your mouth would spoil things!"

"That's not true, I've seen it all. It is written in the letter that the medicine primer is the petals of the Impatiens flower. What came out was not poison, but drunk for a thousand years."

The little nun shouted angrily: "If you want to murder the queen mother yourself, then one person should do the work and the other should be responsible. What are you doing to us?" Then she turned to look at another nun: "Master, do you want us all to be buried together?" Okay? We obviously didn't murder the Empress Dowager, so why should we be charged for what Jing and Uncle Shi did?"

"Drunk for a thousand years?" Chen Manrou asked suspiciously, and the little nun nodded quickly: "Well, it is drunk for a thousand years. I heard from my master that my great master came from Miaojiang. She brought a very rare The poison is colorless, odorless and non-toxic, but it can make people fall into a deep sleep, and they cannot be woken up. In the Central Plains, absolutely no one can diagnose this poison. After sleeping for ten days, people will wake up in their sleep , unless there is an antidote."

Chen Manrou looked up at the emperor, the emperor's face was cold, and his voice seemed to be icy: "What's the antidote?"

The little nun shrank her body and kowtowed tremblingly: "I, I don't know..."

The emperor turned his head to look at another middle-aged nun who was called Master by the little nun. The nun looked ten years older than Jing and the teacher. The nun is calm.

After twisting the Buddhist beads, the nun said: "The antidote is the brainchild of the Empress Dowager's niece and daughter."

The corners of Chen Manrou's mouth twitched, isn't this the same as calling names?There is only one niece and niece of the empress dowager, and that is Tang Wan'er who has already entered the palace. Tang Wan'er, who is now Tang Zhaorong, is framing the empress and the eldest princess, and wants to step on the empress Tang Zhaorong who is the queen and the eldest princess!

"Isn't it okay to use the heart and soul of this princess?" The eldest princess opened her mouth, looked at Tang Wan'er, and then turned to look at the nun. The nun shook her head: "Only the painstaking efforts of my niece are fine. medicine."

This is all fantasy, Chen Manrou felt that her brain was not enough.I have only heard that the antidote requires blood, the blood of relatives, or the heart and soul of immediate family members, but I have never seen it that requires the heart and blood of my niece and daughter.

However, in an instant Chen Manrou figured it out, no wonder Tang Wan'er was so arrogant and confident before,

It must have happened this time, Tang Wan'er didn't come forward in person, the deadly investigation will at most reach a certain point, and then it will be cut off, it has nothing to do with Tang Wan'er in the palace, and then Tang Wan'er can save the empress dowager .

This credit is only a little less than the credit for saving him.Unless the emperor has real evidence, otherwise, he can't do anything to Tang Wan'er, maybe he will have to pay for a concubine.

"It's really a coincidence. Tang Zhaorong said before that it was the palace and the eldest princess who harmed the empress dowager. Now it happens that only Tang Zhaorong can give the empress dowager to Jiuxing with his own efforts. There is nothing more coincidental than this."

Chen Manrou said with a smile, and turned to look at the little nun: "Did you see any title or signature on the letter?"

"I just saw..." Suddenly, the little nun's face turned red, her mouth moved, her head was about to hang down on her stomach, her face was full of shyness and embarrassment, she didn't know what to say.

Chen Manrou was very surprised, but the little nun's master sighed: "The letter was written by Jing He's sweetheart, and there were some obscene words and songs on it. However, there is no specific name, if not, I will not Let her do something like this."

If this matter was brought up at the beginning, then the people in their temple might be beheaded, implicating the nine clans is not empty talk, murdering the emperor's own mother, killing a temple person is not a trivial matter?
Besides, the things they did in the temple in the past were not clean. If they confessed to the Queen Mother now, they would definitely not be able to live alone.It's better to deny it to death, maybe without any evidence, the royal family will not kill them all.

After all, the royal family also wants face. If the truth of this matter does not come to light, they will not kill the entire temple for no reason.But unexpectedly, at the end, the little apprentice couldn't stand the punishment anymore.I had never seen the world before, so I was so frightened.

Chen Manrou didn't know the twists and turns in the nun's heart, she was looking at Jing He in surprise, she was in her thirties, and she was just ordinary, without any qualities of "pretty widow" or "little nun". How come there is still a sweetheart?
But then Chen Manrou wanted to pat herself on the head, who said middle-aged aunts can't have lovers?As long as the two are in love, why would they care if the other party is a nun or has wrinkles on their face?

Thinking about it, I felt so happy, and realized that my thoughts had turned to a very strange path, and my expression was too inappropriate, so I immediately coughed lightly, and it took a lot of effort to press down the arc of the corner of my mouth.

(End of this chapter)