long live the queen

Chapter 108

Concubine Zhuang was taken down and locked up, but things seemed to be more confusing.

All the evidence so far seems to point to Concubine Zhuang, but Wei Yunqing has a preference for Concubine Zhuang, and she is unwilling to believe this from the bottom of her heart, so she decides to intervene and try to find out the truth.

And the first thing she wanted to investigate was Xuelian's body.There is a saying in forensic science: Wherever there is contact, there will be traces.Under modern high-tech detection methods, criminals have almost nowhere to hide. In this era, technology is lacking, and it is only luck to find key evidence.

It had been five days since Xue Lian's body was found and hadn't been buried yet. Fortunately, it wasn't too hot today and it was frozen, so the decay was limited.Cao Jun has been investigating and borrowed Wuzuo from the Ministry of Punishment. Wuzuo said that Xuelian died of suffocation and should have died by hanging.Wei Yunqing was worried and went to look again, but he couldn't find any evidence of homicide, so he had to give up.

And according to the confession of the last court lady who saw Xuelian, she saw Xuelian at dinner and never saw her again.Xue Lian lives alone in a room, and she is very popular on weekdays, but her relationship with friends who entered the palace at the same time is better.

Wei Yunqing had asked Yuxiang, four or five of them were friends on weekdays, so he wrote down the names of the others, called them over and asked them one by one.

These people either had alibi, or their manner of speaking was not inappropriate, making it impossible to find fault, until someone inadvertently said something that alerted Wei Yunqing——Xu Zhaoyi, who lives in the main hall of Yonghe Palace, followed Yuxiang Several of them also entered the palace in the same year, except that Xu Zhaoyi was enshrined as the emperor's wife, while they were still court ladies.

Wei Yunqing was concerned, so he asked a few more questions, and soon learned that when Xu Zhaoyi first entered the palace, Xu Zhaoyi had a good relationship with several people, and Xuelian had a particularly good relationship with her, but after Xu Zhaoyi was granted the title, the two seemed to have no relationship anymore. got engaged.

Wei Yunqing didn't have a deep impression of Xu Zhaoyi.She still remembered that when the winter solstice was approaching last year, Liu Xuan, the attendant of Yonghe Palace, came to her to defend Xu Zhaoyi. At that time, she didn't know what role Xu Zhaoyi played in it, and she didn't care.Later, she took the women in the harem to work together in politics, and mostly dealt with Concubine Xu Guifei. Xu Zhaoyi seemed to be submerged in the crowd, quietly, with a low sense of existence.Until now, in Wei Yunqing's heart, Xu Zhaoyi is still a rather vague name, with a weak appearance and a fresh and refined temperament, but like a cardboard figure, she has no real feeling.

Since Xuelian and Xu Zhaoyi have a very close relationship, Wei Yunqing felt that it was necessary for him to meet Xu Zhaoyi for a while.It's just that she was a little worried that she would startle the snake, so after thinking for a while, she asked Lan Tian to invite Cao Jun over and whispered to him.Cao Jun repeatedly said yes, and left without much delay.

Half a day later, Cao Jun came back with a smile on his face: "My lady, I found it. The servant in Concubine Zhuang's palace is called Xu De, a man from the capital, and his slaves are on business outside the palace. His parents and brothers are all there, but according to their neighbors Said that they moved away with their family a day ago, and I don't know why."

"Moved?" Wei Yunqing frowned.

Cao Jun said with a smile: "I saw that something was wrong, so I investigated further. Guess what? Xu De's family has moved, they were arrested! This servant rescued him out of kindness."

Wei Yunqing felt relieved, it seemed that the interrupted clues were connected again!
Xu De claimed to be hunted down by Concubine Zhuang and stood up to identify Concubine Zhuang. Everyone's attention fell on Concubine Zhuang, but Xu De was forgotten.But Wei Yunqing felt in his heart that Concubine Zhuang would not do such a thing, so the attention was naturally still on Xu De, and it became a matter of course to investigate Xu De.The result of the investigation now is also in line with Wei Yunqing's guess that Xu De framed Concubine Zhuang because his family was threatened!
"Then, have you told the emperor about this?" Wei Yunqing said.

Cao Jundao: "The servant girl came to repay you as soon as she got the news, and she hasn't had time to tell the emperor yet!"

Wei Yunqing got up: "Then let's go there together and tell Xu De the good news along the way."

"Okay!" Cao Jun nodded hurriedly.

Wei Yunqing and his party came to Qianqing Palace in a mighty manner, where Xu De is currently being imprisoned——Yang Yi was afraid that he would be silenced, so he put him under his nose, and someone watched him [-]/[-] to prevent him from committing suicide.

Seeing Wei Yunqing approaching aggressively, Yang Yi hurriedly asked what was the matter, and knowing that she wanted to see Xu De, he immediately asked someone to bring Xu De out.

Xu De didn't seem to sleep well these few days. When he saw Yang Yi and Wei Yunqing, he just knelt down and said repeatedly: "The villain deserves death, please the emperor and queen kill the villain!"

"Your family is safe now." Wei Yunqing cut to the chase.

Xu De was stunned.

Cao Jun immediately asked, "Is your nephew nicknamed A Bao? He is still waiting for your uncle to bring him sweet-scented osmanthus candies to eat."

Cao Jun's words finally brought Xu De back to his senses, his eyes gradually turned red, and he said in a trembling voice, "Eunuch Cao, are the villain's parents and elder brother's family all right?"

"Well, they are now in a safe place, where they can eat, drink and play!" Cao Jun said.

Xu De's heart suddenly relaxed, and his brows that had been tightly locked for several days suddenly relaxed.

Wei Yunqing and the others didn't immediately urge him to say anything. Yang Yi didn't know the truth, so he looked at Wei Yunqing, who nodded to him, indicating to listen for a while.

Yang Yi understood and stopped asking questions immediately.

When Xu De's excitement almost calmed down, Wei Yunqing said, "Who arrested your family?"

Xu De hesitated for a while, but thinking that his family was safe, he no longer cared about hiding anything, and said excitedly: "Go back to your mother, it was Xu Zhaoyi who arrested my family! It was she who let me find Qian Lang and ordered him to frame him. Empress, and after the failure, blame everything on Concubine Zhuang!"

This Xu De explained the matter clearly in a few sentences, he is considered a talent, otherwise Xu Zhaoyi would not have entrusted all these matters to him.

"How did Xuelian die?" Wei Yunqing asked again.

Xu De said: "She... committed suicide."

"Why?"

Xu De said: "Ms. Hui, in fact, the villain and Xuelian and Xu Zhaoyi both entered the palace in the same year. At that time, Xuelian made a mistake and was almost beaten to death. It was Xu Zhaoyi who saved her. From then on, Xuelian said that Xu Zhaoyi was Her savior, it doesn't matter if Xu Zhaoyi gives her life. So when she learned that Qian Lang had failed, the villain... was ordered by Xu Zhaoyi to inform Xuelian. Xuelian said to let Xu Zhaoyi rest assured. After hearing the news of her death, I realized that she committed suicide."

"Then you volunteered to help Xu Zhaoyi at the beginning?" Wei Yunqing said.She remembered that Cao Jun said that Xu De's family was taken away two days ago, but the matter of Qian Lang had already happened.

Xu De hesitated for a moment, then knelt down and said in a loud voice: "Please forgive my sin! The villain, Xuelian, and Xu Zhaoyi entered the palace at the same year, and experienced too much together. Xu Zhaoyi came to beg the villain, and the villain had to help her... ...It's just that she actually used the villain's family to threaten the villain... It was the villain who misjudged her all the time, and almost made a big mistake, I implore the emperor and empress to punish the villain, and don't hurt the villain's family!"

All this is clear.

Xu Zhaoyi first learned about the "red birthmark" on Wei Yunqing's left shoulder leaked from Yuxiang from Xuelian, and then asked Xu De to find Qian Lang outside the palace to plot this conspiracy.Later, when Qian Lang was defeated, Xu Zhaoyi was worried that Xuelian would be discovered, so he acted preemptively and asked Xu De to inform Xuelian. Although he did not do it himself, he forced Xuelian to commit suicide.Afterwards, she asked Xu De to frame Concubine Zhuang, even fearing that Xu De would be disobedient, and even used Xu De's family to force him to die voluntarily—as the actual executor of this conspiracy, although Xu De was a "tainted witness" , I am afraid that I will definitely die.

I don't know if it was a coincidence that Xu De became a member of Concubine Zhuang's palace or Xu Zhaoyi's intentional arrangement?If it was the latter, Xu Zhaoyi would be really terrifying, playing tricks on people's hearts and killing people invisible.However, Xu Zhaoyi still missed a point after all, she should not have threatened him with Xu De's family, otherwise Wei Yunqing would not have been able to find any clues, let alone use this in turn to make Xu De betray him.Perhaps in Xu Zhaoyi's view, there is no absolute trust between people, if she doesn't leave some clues, she will feel uneasy.

"It's actually Xu Zhaoyi!" Yang Yi couldn't believe it, and after a while he said loudly, "Come here, bring Xu Zhaoyi here!"

His voice trembled faintly, it was angry.If the murderer behind the scenes was Concubine Zhuang, it was just to frame Wei Yunqing, but if it was Xu Zhaoyi, he would have fooled everyone into it.If one is not careful, everyone will be toyed and applauded by her.

Xu Zhaoyi was quickly brought here, and the person who wanted to bring her here was not polite, her clothes were a little messy, and she looked pitiful.

"Your Majesty, why are you looking for my concubine?" Xu Zhaoyi looked at Yang Yi without squinting as soon as she came in, as if she didn't notice anything wrong with the atmosphere at the scene.

Yang Yi said angrily: "You still have the face to ask me?! Xu De recruited you for everything you did!"

"What did the concubine do?" Xu Zhaoyi looked puzzled, "Please show me, Your Majesty."

"You not only want to frame the queen, but also concubine Zhuang. Xu De has already said all these things, so what else can you argue?" Yang Yi said angrily.

Xu Zhaoyi knelt on the ground and looked up at Yang Yi with tears of grievance in his eyes: "Your Majesty, I have been wronged. Isn't Xu De from the palace of Concubine Zhuang? How can you believe what he said? Concubine Zhuang I have always been at odds with my concubine. If she wants to frame my concubine, I will not be surprised. I have always respected the empress, so how could I do such an outrageous thing? Please investigate thoroughly and return this concubine. Be fair, otherwise the concubine will have to die to show her will!"

Xu Zhaoyi's face was full of grievances, and her voice was clear and powerful, as if a man with no grievances was struggling for his own sad fate.

Yang Yi's face froze, his brows were tightly furrowed, he believed Xu De just now when he said that the mastermind behind the scenes was Xu Zhaoyi, and was about to bring someone to question him, but he didn't expect Xu Zhaoyi to cry for grievances loudly, without any sign of guilt.He didn't know what to do for a while.Who is telling the truth and who is telling the truth?
When Yang Yi was silent, Xu Zhaoyi suddenly stood up and slammed into the pillar!

(End of this chapter)