slave like jade

Chapter 125
"You..." Seeing Mu Lingzhi's attitude, King Qi was also furious. After all, he is also the king of a country, so he can tolerate such provocations from Mu Lingzhi!

However, when he thought of the heroic cavalry in Daliang, and thought that these cavalry that swept away thousands of troops were all made by him, King Qi couldn't help but lose his guts to be tough!
King Qi stayed on the spot angrily and hated for a while, not knowing how to answer Mu Lingzhi's words.

After hearing Mu Lingzhi's words, Yu Ruyan was so touched that she couldn't be more moved. In the past, as long as it was a word from Concubine Lian and Yu Mingzhu, her father would believe it, and she would not even be given a chance to defend herself, just like what Mu Lingzhi said That way, treat them as treasures but treat her as grass!

Now hearing him say that she is more precious than the most precious things in the world, Yu Ruyan felt sore in her heart. Finally, she who had never been welcomed by others finally met someone who sincerely treats her well.

However, now that Mu Lingzhi was at war with her father for her own sake, Yu Ruyan had a bad feeling in her heart——

In any case, the father is the son of Daqi, no matter how wrong he is, we have to give him some face, but Mu Lingzhi is also angry, with a murderous look on his body, as if he is going to slaughter everyone here in the next second ...

This situation is really not what she wants to see.

She hurriedly stepped forward and pressed Mu Lingzhi's long sword, persuading her, "Your Highness, this is a family matter of the harem of Qi State, Your Highness must not get angry."

After finishing speaking, he said to Qi Wang: "If the father wants to convict the daughter with just a severed tongue, the daughter will definitely not agree. The daughter didn't find the severed tongue in the dark room in the afternoon, why did she suddenly appear during the search? Father Doesn't the emperor think all this is too strange? Therefore, it is not too late to ask the father to give his daughter a chance to defend herself before punishing her."

Yu Ruyan tactfully persuaded Mu Lingzhi, and deliberately changed the topic with King Qi.

Mu Lingzhi understood the meaning of her words, and knew that he was really disrespectful to King Qi by doing what he did now. He mainly felt so heartbroken seeing the scars on Yu Ruyan's face that he lost his mind.

Now after hearing Yu Ruyan's words, he put away his long sword, suppressed the murderous aura all over his body, and said in a calm tone: "The son-in-law was too impulsive just now, if His Majesty wants to punish, why not punish him after finding out the truth of this matter It’s not too late, my son-in-law.” After saying that, he bowed respectfully to King Qi to express his apology.

King Qi didn't dare to really do anything with him, but he is the king of a country after all, and he always has to take his own face into account. Now that Yu Ruyan and Mu Lingzhi have given him the steps, King Qi will no longer be brave , with a long face, said coldly: "I have always been the most impartial and strict, and now you have objections, I will allow you to defend yourself."

Hearing that King Qi agreed to let Yu Ruyan defend himself, Huo Xiang's face turned pale, but seeing Mu Lingzhi's tough attitude, King Qi let go, so he didn't dare to say anything.Suddenly thought of something in my heart, pretending to order my subordinates to ask for imperial physician for Concubine Lian, but secretly ordered my subordinates to go to Yeting.

However, Concubine Lian was unwilling to let her go. Looking at her numb hands, she began to cry loudly. She let go of Yu Mingzhu's hand and slammed into the palace wall, but was held back by the palace servants, crying desperately.

King Qi was annoyed by her making such a fuss.

On one side is his beloved concubine, and on the other side is Prince Liang who can't afford to offend. King Qi's head is getting bigger, and he starts to regret that he shouldn't have allowed Huo Xiang to search the palace tonight.

However, when Concubine Lian was romping around in the Hibiscus Palace, the queen mother who had never shown up appeared, leading Yu Huaizhu by her side, and followed by a group of court ladies.

As soon as she entered the door and saw Concubine Lian's appearance, the Empress Dowager's complexion darkened, and she said coldly: "Today was a good day for Ai's family to eat fast and chant Buddha, but it turned out that it was a whole night, and the whole harem was noisy and there was no peace. You are here crying and begging for trouble, you are a majestic imperial concubine and the master of the harem, you have to take care of your own face to some extent, is it interesting to make such a fuss?"

The Empress Dowager spoke as if she didn't know about Jinying Palace at all, and she didn't seem to know that Concubine Lian's fuss was caused by Mu Lingzhi's picking on the tendons of her hands. After a few words, it completely wiped out Concubine Lian's face. Gray and white.

Concubine Lian was injured in her hand. If it was normal, King Qi would have followed her and let her vent her anger. But today, because it is Mu Lingzhi, King Qi will not seek justice for her, and now he is still being treated by the queen mother How can the grievance in her heart be calmed down after everyone scolded her in front of her?

Huo Xiang saw that his daughter had suffered such a big grievance tonight and was still being blamed by the queen mother, and his face was flushed with anger. He quietly winked at Yu Mingzhu, who was stunned by the side, and Yu Mingzhu would feel sorry, so he quickly knelt down Go to the Queen Mother and tell the Queen Mother what happened tonight in detail.

The Queen Mother frowned slightly when she heard the words, and said coldly: "Actually, the Third Highness's attack was a bit harsh, but the fault still lies with you."

Pointing at the dragon-headed crutch in his hand, it pointed at Concubine Lian who had a miserable face——

"As the lord of the palace, the Ai family has clearly told you that the fifth girl is now the third concubine of Daliang, and her husband has just fought bloody battles to save thousands of miles of land for Daqi, so I ask you to be more lenient to her. After all, she is staying here less and less every day, which is considered a rare period of time in her mother's house. Even if something is found in her palace, why don't you wait for the emperor to come and find out everything and punish her, but to punish her in private Do it. His Highness the Third Highness loves his wife so much that he can do such a heavy hand to you. Tell me, did you ask for it yourself!"

Concubine Lian was dumbfounded by what the queen mother said, unable to refute a word, she just looked at the queen mother in a daze and said: "The queen mother..."

Ignoring the expression on her face, the queen mother turned to Huo Xiang and said, "It's really a joke for Huo's family. This is a matter of the inner palace. Why do Huo's family come forward in person? It's not that the Ai family doesn't care about this harem, it's just this harem. Concubine Lian has always been responsible for taking care of the affairs of the harem. Aijia always believed that she would take good care of the harem, so she never interfered in the harem affairs. She stayed in Huayang Palace every day to teach Buddha and chant scriptures. Unexpectedly, the palace was Such a big thing happened! Speaking of it, it is also Ai's fault."

The Empress Dowager's words seemed to be blaming herself on the surface, but in fact she was blaming Concubine Lian for not managing the harem well and interfering with Huo Xiang in the harem affairs.Such insignificant words made it difficult for Concubine Lian and Huo Xiang to say.

The queen mother stood in the middle of the yard majestically, and said to the king, "Since everything is caused by the half of the tongue, the emperor should investigate carefully, and it can be regarded as a fair verdict for the fifth girl!"

As soon as the queen mother said this, no one dared to criticize her. King Qi led everyone to sit down in the main hall of Jinying Palace. Concubine Lian asked the imperial physician to bandage her wrists and did not want to go back, so they also stayed together.

The half amputated tongue was brought up again, and everyone else stood on both sides, only Mu Lingzhi stood in the middle of the hall with Yu Ruyan.

The guard who found the tongue before stepped forward and knelt in front of King Qi, and carefully reported the discovery of the severed tongue. Mu Lingzhi listened quietly without saying a word.

King Qi finished asking as usual, pointed to the half of the ground and said coldly to Yu Ruyan: "A few days ago, Chunlan Palace found a severed tongue, and now I found this thing in your palace, what can you explain?" ?”

Yu Ruyan glanced coldly at Huo Xiang at the side, and said coldly: "At that time, I was the only maidservant who followed the guards into the palace to search, if it was someone among the guards, they probably put this thing in my palace, and framed it , is not impossible!"

As soon as this remark came out, the Queen Mother was surprised and said: "Girl, do you actually suspect that Huo Xiang ordered someone to harm you? You can't talk nonsense without evidence!"

What the queen mother said made Yu Ruyan startled——

Yes, what the queen mother said is right, doubts are useless, evidence must be presented to make sense!

Before she could figure out the flaw, Mu Lingzhi spoke slowly.

"Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, it's actually very easy to find out whether it's framed or not!"

Hearing the word "simple", Huo Xiang was startled, while Concubine Lian on the side was even more frightened, and couldn't help changing her face. Huo Xiang gave her a slight wink, telling her not to panic and show her feet.

King Qi asked curiously: "Is there any way for Your Highness to find out this matter?"

"It's actually very simple." Mu Lingzhi said unhurriedly: "It was several days ago that Chunlan Palace discovered the severed tongue, but Gong Tong who discovered the severed tongue was a palace servant who would visit Ye Ting every day. Take it for cleaning, Your Majesty will call the palace servant who is in charge of collecting Gong barrels to come over and ask for clarification."

Hearing that what he said made sense, King Qi was about to ask someone to go to Ye Ting to ask the palace servant who collected the washing buckets to ask questions. Concubine Lian couldn't help but stop her, but Huo Xiang smiled at her with a relaxed face. He shook his head inaudibly to reassure her——

Because when Mu Lingzhi came in, he had already thought of this, and he had already quietly sent people to Yeting to kill the palace servant to silence him, so it could be said that it was Yu Ruyan who killed him.

Unfortunately, what he never expected was that before entering the gate of Jinying Palace, Mu Lingzhi had asked Yu Huaizhu to go to Yeting to find the palace attendant in charge of Gongtong, and that palace attendant had come to Jinying Palace with the Queen Mother .

Therefore, as soon as King Qi's words fell, the Queen Mother said loudly: "There is no need to call people, Aijia from Ye Ting has brought them here to question the emperor."

After finishing speaking, with a wave of his hand, the three palace servants knelt down in the middle of the hall tremblingly.

King Qi asked them what they found when they were collecting Gong barrels from Jinying Palace, and the leader of the palace said: "The servants will go to various palaces and courtyards to collect Gong barrels every morning before dawn, and then replace them with clean ones. Sakura Palace's - nothing out of the ordinary!"

As soon as the palace man said this, King Qi frowned, but Huo Xiang came out to align with the king in a timely manner: "Gong Tong alone can't prove the innocence of the fifth princess. Maybe she hid the severed tongue in other palaces before. It is also possible that I hurriedly threw the thing into the Gong bucket when I heard that the palace was being searched tonight."

"Well, what Huo Xiang said is reasonable, then I ask Huo Xiang to look at something!"

Hearing Huo Xiang's words, Mu Lingzhi was not angry, but looked pleasant. He took the knife in the guard's hand and cut the tongue in half from the middle, revealing the bright red flesh color inside, and said coldly to Huo Xiang: "Huo Xiang You might as well take a look, the inside of this tongue is still fresh. If it is like what Huo Xiang said, this tongue is the one that appeared in Chunlan Palace a few days ago. According to today's hot weather, things that have been left for a few days have already rotted , will it still be so fresh?"

Huo Xiang's complexion changed drastically, and he was speechless for a long time. Mu Ling's voice was piercingly cold: "The palace servants didn't find the tongue when they changed the pail this morning, and the tongue is still so fresh, it's clear that someone deliberately brought it in to frame it. To Jinying Palace, Huo Xiang, do you think what I said makes sense?"

Mu Ling's words punished his heart, forcing Huo Xiang to retreat. At first, Huo Xiang didn't expect that the palace servants in Ye Ting would be found by them first, but now he is so careful that he thought of this level. Let him not refute a word.

Concubine Lian was already stupefied with ashen face. It turned out that she would be able to overthrow Yu Ruyan tonight, so that she would have no room to maneuver in front of the evidence, so that King Qi could convict her, so that she could get along with her. Yu Mingzhu got rid of the crisis of rumors and pushed everything on her, but unexpectedly, things turned around and her father was suddenly cornered.

Seeing that Huo Xiang's expression changed drastically, Yu Ruyan also said: "At night, I went for a walk in the imperial garden with Brother An to digest food. After returning to the palace, Huo Xiang and Concubine Lian have brought people to guard my palace. Since then Since then, I have stayed in the courtyard and never entered the palace, so this severed tongue was obviously brought in by Huo Xiang's people, and it was just used to frame the princess."

Her words were so straightforward, and with the words of Mu Lingzhi before, everyone present, including King Qi, was stunned by the truth. The queen mother said coolly: "Huo Xiang, what else do you have to say?" ?”

The Empress Dowager called Huo Xiang his in-laws before, but now she has changed her words, she clearly believed Yu Ruyan's words, and decided that this matter was Huo Xiang's conspiracy, and Qi Wang also showed disappointment on his face, looking at Huo Xiang angrily , threw the teacup in his hand heavily on the table, made a 'bang' sound, and said coldly: "Huo Xiang, of course what happened tonight?"

Facing the pressing questions from both the Queen Mother and the King of Qi, Huo Xiang gritted his teeth to stabilize his mind, and recovered from the panic. After all, he is old-fashioned. At this time, he also knew that he could not admit that he had framed him. He just gritted his teeth and said: "It has to be said that both the third prince and the fifth princess are eloquent and eloquent, and they took advantage of such a loophole, but the truth is that the palace servants who poured the Gong bucket changed the Gong bucket early in the morning. So many hours have passed, who knows what happened in the middle? As for the tongue is fresh, it only means that this tongue is not the one a few days ago, and it does not mean that this matter has nothing to do with Jinying Palace. After all, the thing was found in Jinying, and the Jinying Palace did not open a stove. If there is this thing in the palace, can the fifth princess eat it raw? Maybe the fifth princess brought it again to continue to scare Chunlan Palace. And , You said the truth is carried, do you have any evidence?"

Huo Xiang's rebuttal shocked Yu Ruyan——

That's right, if you want to say that he was kidnapping, you have to produce evidence, but apart from his own confession, there is no way to produce such evidence!

Concubine Lian saw her father questioning Yu Ruyan to the point of being speechless, she let go of the worry in her heart, looked at Yu Ruyan proudly, and Yu Mingzhu couldn't wait to sneer: "Hmph, My grandfather is still the prime minister of the court, and he has been an official for decades. Only people like you... can tell."

She wanted to scold Yu Ruyan as a bitch, but her eyes felt the chill on Mu Lingzhi's body, and she swallowed the words resentfully.

Mu Lingzhi looked outside the hall, and when he saw that Chen Yiqing was already waiting outside the door, he said coldly, "Whether it's a coercion or not, this palace has its own way to let everyone know!"

After all, he beckoned Chen Yiqing to come in, and when everyone saw the hunting dog in his hand, they were all startled, but Huo Xiang had already thought of something, his whole body shook, his feet seemed unstable, and he retreated How many steps!

King Qi stared blankly at Chen Yiqing bringing the hunting dog into the palace, he didn't understand, so he asked, "Why did Chen Qing bring the dog into the palace in the middle of the night?"

Chen Yiqing said with a hearty smile: "I heard that there was a difficult case in Jinying Palace, and I specially brought this animal here to help His Majesty solve the case. Please rest assured, Your Majesty, this hunting dog of yours is extremely alert and has a very good sense of smell. , not only often accompany my ministers to hunt, but also help my ministers to chase the enemy criminals when they are at the border. It helped to find the old lair of the border bandits two years ago, so we need to know where this severed tongue came from , it can help His Majesty find out."

After hearing his words, everyone couldn't believe that a dog could have such a great effect, but King Qi had hunted before, and knew that hunting dogs had been specially trained, and their keen sense of smell was much better than ordinary dogs. Said, but agreed with the idea, nodded yes.

Huo Xiang looked at Chen Yiqing with a deadpan face as he brought the hunting dog to the broken tongue, letting it sniff it.

Although the severed tongue was stained with the pickles in Gong's barrel, the fishy smell carried by the tongue was still there, so after the hunting dog sniffed it, it turned around and began to search in the hall.

Just like people, everyone has a different smell, and the smell of each piece of animal tongue is also different, but ordinary people can't feel this smell, but it smells different in the nose of a hunting dog with an exceptionally sensitive sense of smell Therefore, although Yu Ruyan, An Ge and Yu Huaizhu were all smeared with fishy smell when carrying the half basket of severed tongues, the hunting dog just circled around them and brought it in towards Huo Xiang The guards ran away.

In an instant, the hunting dog had already bit the corner of a guard's clothes and did not let go, dragging him to Chen Yiqing's side, and kept yelling "Wow, woof".

And the guard who was found by the hunting dogs was the one who had found the severed tongue before. At this time, his face was pale, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.He looked at Huo Xiang who was also panicked in panic, but after seeing the determination in Huo Xiang's eyes, his whole body was suffocated, and he knelt down in the middle of the hall with a 'plop', unable to get up again.

Mu Ling moved forward like lightning, already hitting the acupuncture points on his body, making him unable to move, and then ripped off his robe with a 'hissing' sound, only to see a little bit of stains on the front of his belt. The blood stains are exactly the blood stains that were stained when the tongue was severed.

"What else can Huo Xiang say?" Mu Lingzhi sneered and approached the pale Huo Xiang. The murderous look in his eyes not only changed Huo Xiang's expression, but also scared Concubine Lian and Yu Mingzhu beside him. Startled.

However, Huo Xiang gritted his teeth and did not speak, but the guard kneeling on the ground suddenly shouted: "This matter is not related to Huo Xiang, it is because the little one loves the eldest princess. If she doesn't see her being bullied, then... just I made a good claim, brought a broken tongue and planted the fifth princess as the eldest princess... This was all my own idea, Huo Xiang and the empress princess didn't know about it, and now the matter has been exposed, the humble official apologises with death."

In the next second, it was too late for Chen Yiqing to make a move, and the guard bit his tongue and committed suicide!

This sudden change shocked everyone, but even though the guard was dead, no one with a discerning eye could see that he was just a scapegoat. Therefore, everyone couldn't help but look at the ashen-faced Huo Xiang, knowing in their hearts that tonight He really planted the blame on Yu Ruyan, they couldn't help looking at him with contempt.

The queen mother sighed lightly and said, "Oh, what a loyal servant!"

Just a word from the queen mother confirmed that this matter was written by Huo Xiang. Huo Xiang knelt down on the ground with a shock, while Concubine Lian and Yu Mingzhu also knelt down in defeat, and asked King Qi to intercede for Huo Xiang.

At this time, the evidence is convincing, and it is useless for Huo Xiang to say anything, and no matter how stupid King Qi is, it is impossible not to understand, so he turned cold and stern and said: "Huo Xiang, I believe in you to let people lead people to search the palace. , I never thought that it would be such an absurd result in the end, that you played with me in the palm of your hand, what should you do?"

King Qi's words made Huo Xiang tremble all over his body. His face was pale, but he gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, it was the old minister who was negligent. He didn't realize that there were such evil-hearted people around him. He blinded his eyes and let him frame and slander you." Fifth Princess, I have committed the crime of negligence, please punish me by Your Majesty!"

Now, of course, Huo Xiang could only grit his teeth and follow the words of the guard who committed suicide. If he didn't separate the relationship like this, what he committed was a serious crime of deceiving the emperor. In addition, he was guilty of framing Princess Heshuo. There is no way to escape the Miejiu Clan.

Therefore, Huo Xiang will never admit that this matter is his arrangement until he dies, only willing to admit that he has committed the crime of negligence!
"Oh, the crime of negligence?" Mu Lingzhi's mouth overflowed with a trace of coldness, and he pointed to the guard who had died of anger, "It's really a little guard who came to help her deal with the fifth princess because she loved the eldest princess." It's so funny, I guess three-year-olds wouldn't believe such nonsense. Mr. Huo, why don't you have the guts to admit it if you have the guts to do it! Why don't you show off your previous aggressive aura at this time, adding the crime of bullying the king to murder and Princess Shuo, no matter what, you have to rob the family and punish the nine clans."

Mu Lingzhi's words made Huo Xiang extremely flustered. Thinking of the lives of hundreds of people in the Huo family, he couldn't care about anything else. He knelt down in front of King Qi, and said in tears, "Your Majesty, the old minister has been fighting for you all these years. Daqi, there is hard work without credit, what happened today is indeed the negligence of the old minister, and has nothing to do with Concubine Lian and the eldest princess..."

"The guilty minister voluntarily pleaded guilty and exiled to the concubine. I also ask His Majesty to be merciful. For the sake of the guilty minister's company with Your Majesty for many years, spare the guilty minister's family and Concubine Lian!"

Having said this, King Qi couldn't bear to look at Concubine Lian and Yu Mingzhu who were crying into tears, and then at the white hair growing on Huo Xiang's head.

But the queen mother thought that now that Huo Xiang's power is gone, it would be very difficult if he insisted on prosecuting him for the serious crime of deceiving the emperor, because his disciples and officials were too involved, and the whole Daqi would be bloody. Chao Gang will also be affected.

Now he voluntarily pleaded guilty and exiled. At his age, if he went to that extremely miserable place, he might die in less than two years!

Thinking of this, the queen mother sighed and said: "Forget it, this matter is a matter of the harem after all. Since Huo Xiang voluntarily asked for punishment and exile, and one person does one thing, one person is responsible, the emperor will not pursue other things."

King Qi had this intention, so he quickly and respectfully agreed.

Looking at Mu Lingzhi who was stern and silent, the Queen Mother asked, "Is Your Highness satisfied with this punishment?"

Mu Lingzhi is a smart man, and he understands that Huo Xiang's position in Daqi involves too many interests, so he doesn't insist: "This is Daqi's family business, my son-in-law is just helping my princess to clear her name." , as long as she is satisfied, so will my son-in-law."

After hearing his words, the queen mother nodded appreciatively, looked at Yu Ruyan, and asked: "Girl, you were wronged today, and now the truth is revealed, are you satisfied with your father's ruling?"

Yu Ruyan would not understand what the queen mother meant, and Mu Lingzhi didn't say anything, and she didn't want to embarrass the queen mother, so she said obediently: "The granddaughter is all up to the queen mother!"

After a whole night of turmoil, the situation in Jinying Palace finally returned to calm. Concubine Lian and Yu Mingzhu watched Huo Xiang being taken away, completely collapsed on the ground, with despairing eyes...

If her father, Huo Xiang, hadn't taken the responsibility for the crime alone, Concubine Lian would have been punished anyway. Now seeing her old father's glory in his life, but when he was old, because she was exiled, she couldn't help but feel so sad that her teeth were bleeding, and her hands were bleeding. The pain at the broken tendon was so painful that she trembled all over, but she dared not say a word, and she didn't even dare to mention the revenge of the broken tendon. The real thing was to knock out the tooth and swallow it in her stomach!

The cold sweat on Yu Ruyan's body had already dried up, but she couldn't calm down for a long time——

If there were no Mu Lingzhi tonight, Huo Xiang's end would be her end now!
It is truly winner and loser!
After everyone left, An Ge said to Yu Ruyan unconvinced: "Princess, this matter is obviously a conspiracy by Concubine Lian and Huo Xiang. Why didn't Princess take this opportunity to let the emperor punish Concubine Lian?"

Yu Ruyan sighed and said, "Her Highness broke her tendon tonight. If I pursue it further, His Highness will be involved again. So let her go for now."

"But now that her natal family has fallen, Concubine Lian has lost an important backer. Isn't it easy to completely bring her down!"

Looking at the cold moon outside the window, Yu Ruyan's eyes flashed with a sharp coldness——

It's the end of the month, and she has to plan well!

(End of this chapter)