sbdcsierra Chapter 815 What if I could prove it?
Chapter 815 What if I could prove it?
Upon seeing this, Supervisor Feng quickly stepped forward, took the box, and opened it. Inside, Ying Xun had placed a small pair of tweezers. Supervisor Feng used the tweezers to pick up the long embroidery needle.
As evidence, the marks on the needle had not been cleaned and still had an unpleasant smell. Eunuch Feng held the needle up to the Emperor so that he could see it clearly, but at a distance.
It was almost evening, and the light shining on the needle cast a chilling glow.
Xu Guiren, who had been confident and full of grievances, was suddenly startled when she saw the needle. She collapsed to the ground in fright, muttering unconsciously, "Impossible, impossible—"
Just now, Consort Yu had been holding her and beating and scolding her, but she hadn't revealed what kind of evidence she possessed. Consort Xu was already certain that Consort Yu's madness was just to vent her anger. Aside from being somewhat panicked at the beginning, she had gradually relaxed after His Majesty arrived. With His Majesty present, no matter how unreasonable Consort Yu was, she couldn't do anything to her anymore. Just when she was relaxed, Ying Xun suddenly produced such evidence. Consort Xu was suddenly panicked and almost without questioning, she gave herself away.
The Emperor looked at Consort Xu with a sharp and cold gaze, and shouted, "Xu, who gave you the audacity to plot against my prince in the palace!"
The mere mention of "Xu Shi" was enough to sentence Consort Xu to death.
Consort Xu then snapped out of her daze. Ignoring the injuries on her face, she scrambled to her feet, knelt on the ground, and hurriedly protested, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am innocent! I don't know! I really don't know anything! I have always been very close to Consort Yu, and I have treated the Tenth Prince as my own son. I really did nothing wrong. I really don't know what happened. How could the Court of Judicial Review accuse me of something with just a needle?"
After listening to her tearful account, the Emperor remained expressionless and instead asked Ying Xun, "Tell me, how can you prove that this needle is the culprit that killed the Tenth Prince?"
Ying Xun immediately replied, "Your Majesty, after the coroner discovered the cause of the Tenth Prince's death, with the consent of Consort Yu, he removed the needle from the Tenth Prince's skull. Lord Lu was present throughout the entire process and recorded everything."
Lu Wei stepped forward and presented the case record. "Your Majesty, when the coroner was removing the needles for the Tenth Prince, I was never away from him for a moment. All the records are here."
The Emperor had Lu Wei involved in the case so that he could supervise and record the entire process. With Lu Wei as a witness, it would naturally prove that Ying Xun's words were true.
The Emperor didn't look at the records Lu Wei presented, and directly asked Consort Xu, "Xu, do you have anything else to say?"
"Your Majesty, I really don't know anything about embroidery needles. I only know how to embroider; how could I know that an embroidery needle could kill someone?" Consort Xu cried pitifully. "Your Majesty, the Tenth Prince died of a serious illness, which was confirmed by the imperial physicians. So many imperial physicians could testify to this. Yet the coroner from the Court of Judicial Review brought up some embroidery needle and tried to pin it on me. I am truly innocent!"
Consort Yu was still kneeling on the ground, her head bowed, her hands gripping the ground so tightly with anger that her knuckles were almost deformed. Listening to Consort Xu's shameless excuse, she wished she could get up and slowly slice her to death to avenge her Ming'er. But in front of His Majesty, she could only endure it in order to beg His Majesty to do justice for her.
Consort Duan, Xue Wanyue, who had remained silent until now, spoke up, “Your Majesty, the imperial physicians could not diagnose the cause of the Tenth Prince's death, which is why they said he died from a sudden and serious illness. But even if it was a sudden and serious illness, there must be a reason. The Tenth Prince had always been healthy, so how could he have suddenly fallen ill without a cause? The needle found in the Tenth Prince's skull by the Dali Temple perfectly explains the cause of his sudden illness. It was this embroidery needle inserted into the Tenth Prince's skull that triggered the illness and killed him. I believe that the Dali Temple's determination of the Tenth Prince's cause of death is correct.”
Taking the opportunity, Ying Xun presented his confession: "Your Majesty, the reason I suspect that this matter was done by Consort Xu is not based on mere speculation, but on the testimonies of the palace servants of the two palaces. That is why I came to question Consort Xu."
Upon hearing this, Consort Xu was terrified and looked towards the door, completely lost, hoping someone would come to her aid.
……
In Consort Xiao's palace, upon hearing a servant's report, Consort Xiao accidentally broke the teacup beside her.
"Consort Yu led the people from the Dali Temple to Consort Xu's palace, and His Majesty and that little slut Consort Duan went there too?" Consort Xiao was so shocked that she almost stood up. She grabbed the hand of the nanny beside her and was about to get up, "Let's go and see!"
She had just stood up when she stopped and sat back down. "No, no."
"Go and summon the Third Prince to the palace, and do it quickly!" Consort Xiao ordered.
After the palace servants left, only Consort Xiao and her personal maid remained in the hall. The old nanny advised, "Your Highness, please don't be anxious. It's just that Consort Xu has become too arrogant lately. How could Consort Yu tolerate her?"
Consort Xiao's expression was unusually unpleasant. She raised her hand and rubbed her temples. "I don't know why, but I feel uneasy. Go and send someone to tell Consort Yang to come and take a look!"
The nanny quickly replied, "Yes."
When the deposed crown prince was still alive, Consort Yang and her son clung tightly to Consort Xiao's coattails. After the crown prince was deposed, the Yang family inevitably began to have designs on him. Unfortunately, their luck ran out. The Jiangnan salt mine case almost destroyed the Yang family's fortunes, costing them most of their wealth and severely damaging their strength. Consort Yang and the Fifth Prince were both confined to their quarters and were only released last year. The Yang family had completely lost hope and could only cling tightly to the Third Prince, willingly becoming his vassals.
……
Upon receiving the news, Consort Yang hurriedly led her entourage towards Lingxiu Palace.
While the Emperor was reviewing the testimonies, Consort Yang greeted him and said, "Your Majesty, I heard that something happened at Lingxiu Palace. I happened to be passing by, so I came to take a look. I heard that the cause of the Tenth Prince's death has been found?"
Supervisor Feng quickly explained it to her.
Consort Yang raised her handkerchief to wipe the corner of her eye and sighed, "The Tenth Prince is truly pitiful!"
She bent down to help Consort Yu up, saying, "Sister, please accept my condolences. I know you are sad, but what kind of lowly commoner is that coroner? His Highness the Tenth Prince is a prince. How can we let them touch him so easily? Sister, please don't be fooled by them. Let's bury His Highness as soon as possible so that he can rest in peace!"
Consort Yu pushed Consort Yang away without saying a word.
Consort Xu finally found an opportunity and tearfully pleaded, "Your Majesty, the claim that the embroidery needle harmed someone is utter nonsense. How can the coroner's words be trusted so easily? Are they even comparable to the imperial physicians of this dynasty? I beg Your Majesty to believe me; I would never harm the Tenth Prince!"
Consort Yang chimed in, "Your Majesty, Sister Xu's suspicions are not without merit. How can a mere coroner prove that His Highness the Tenth Prince was killed by a needle?"
The Emperor tossed aside the testimony and looked at Ying Xun. "The key to this testimony lies in the coroner's determination that the Tenth Prince died from an embroidery needle. How does Minister Ying explain Consort Yang's statement?"
"What if I could prove it?"
Lu Yangyang took a step forward, but instead of immediately bowing, she took out a small bottle, poured water onto a handkerchief, wiped her face, revealing her true appearance, and then, to everyone's astonishment, respectfully bowed.
"The deposed Crown Princess, Lady Lu, greets Your Majesty."