While they were talking, there was a commotion in the garden.

"Let's go, go out and have a look." Song Xiuzhu, Chu Qingruo, and Fu Lingyun glanced at each other, and immediately stood up and walked out.

When they came to the garden, the three of them saw Liu Guard, the leader of the Praetorian Guard in the West Palace, leading several guards to rescue a palace maid who was foaming at the mouth.

The palace maid was about twenty years old, and her face, which should have been fair and delicate, was covered with a faint layer of black gas at this moment, and she was lying on her back on the ground.

The palace maids and eunuchs around her were extremely panicked because of her sudden fall to the ground, some screamed, and some kept retreating, and when they retreated to the side of those guards, they were pushed back by the guards.

"Kneel down, don't mess around!"

The guards kept order with their swords, and when they saw that these people were in a commotion, they immediately shouted in unison.

"Guard Liu, what's going on?"

Chu Qingruo asked as soon as he walked into the garden.

"Returning to the prince, Aunt Qing, this palace maid...... Committed suicide by taking poison! ”

Guard Liu bent down and reported to them.

Suicide by poisoning?

"It seems that this palace maid is the one who was secretly arranged in the West Palace."

Chu Qingruo glanced at the palace maid who had died and said.

Song Xiuzhu regretted: "It's a pity that we couldn't come out earlier to investigate, otherwise we wouldn't have let her give us a death without proof." ”

When Fu Lingyun saw the death of this palace maid, he felt a little familiar, so he whispered to Chu Qingruo: "Qingruo, do you remember what that guy said not long ago? ”

"Are you suspicious ......"

"Well, so I want you to see if she has any special marks or tattoos on her."

When Chu Qingruo heard this, he immediately stepped forward and searched the palace maid's whole body carefully, and sure enough, he found a scorpion tattoo on her waist. At the same time, a fine line was found on her chin that she couldn't see at all.

She couldn't help but reach over curiously, and gently peeled it off, and actually took off a mask as thin as a cicada's wings!

Beneath the mask is an unfamiliar face.

"She's not Sister Ran!"

The outspoken Ah Zhi was the first to exclaim.

The palace maids and eunuchs on the side also came up to see when they heard this.

"It's really not Ara."

"yes, who is this man?"

The crowd knelt there and talked and whispered.

After waiting for Song Xiuzhu to personally inspect the corpse, Liu Guard raised his hand and found two powerful guards: "Carry the corpse down, and hand it over to the Imperial Doctor when the Imperial Doctor comes, and examine it well." ”

"Yes!"

Two guards came up and carried the body down.

Chu Qingruo looked at the corpse that was carried away, and quietly raised his eyes and glanced at everyone present, with different expressions.

Suddenly, I saw a few people with their necks shrunk and hiding in the crowd, their eyes flashing, and they looked like they were sitting on a bad mind.

So Chu Qingruo stretched out his hand and nodded a few of them: "You, and you, a few of you come out, the prince has something to ask you." ”

Immediately, the faces of those who were named by him were as earth-colored as they shook into a sieve.

Song Xiuzhu didn't understand it for a while, but when he looked at Chu Qingruo's eyes, he also understood seven or eight points in his heart.

As soon as he stretched out his hand, he gestured to Guard Liu: "Bring them all over." ”

Guard Liu immediately took a few people and carried them in front of Song Xiuzhu.

Song Xiuzhu sat down on the stone bench in the courtyard with a calm face, and without waiting for him to speak, a few of those people were really scared, so they opened their mouths first.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince spares his life, we, we were all deceived by that woman~"

"Oh? That's a surprise! Lone hasn't said anything yet, how do you know what Lone is asking? ”

Song Xiuzhu has been in the palace for so long no matter what he says, although he can't learn the tricks of the people in the palace, he will always put a few flowers, and it is enough to scare and scare people.

Those palace maids and eunuchs were so frightened by him that they kowtowed to the ground again and again: "The prince forgives his sins, and the prince spares his life!" ”

Song Xiuzhu looked at Chu Qingruo on the side, Chu Qingruo nodded, stepped forward and asked sharply: "If I ask now, whoever recruits first, the prince will be exempted from the death penalty and let him out of the palace, and the rest of the people will ......."

The palace maids and eunuchs didn't wait for her to ask, so they rushed to their knees and moved a few steps forward: "I recruit, I persuade you to know, I recruit all!" ”

Song Xiuzhu turned his gaze to the eunuch.

I saw that he was not very old, but he was born with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, but his eyebrows were slightly hanging in a figure-eight shape, and his eyes flickered and floated, which made Song Xiuzhu dislike it when he saw it.

"Okay, then you can talk about it!"

He pointed to the little eunuch.

The little eunuch was overjoyed, kowtowed a few times on the ground, and said: "Prince Xie is not killed, the slave is called Zhang Bao, and he is in charge of ......."

Sou!

Out of nowhere, a cold arrow was shot, and an arrow pierced the heart, killing Zhang Bao on the spot.

"Protect the prince!"

Guard Liu immediately pulled out the matching sword in his waist and ordered.

The guards immediately protected Song Xiuzhu, Chu Qingruo and Fu Lingyun in the middle.

Fu Lingyun pulled out his sword from the waist of a guard next to him: "Lend me to use it." He turned his head and said to Song Xiuzhu and Chu Qingruo: "I'll chase it, you guys stay here!" ”

"Good! Then there is Brother Lao Wenyuan. ”

"Wen Yuan, you have to be careful."

Fu Lingyun nodded at them slightly, jumped to the palace wall with his sword, and quickly disappeared between the palaces.

At this time, Chu Qingruo turned his head and said to the palace maids and eunuchs who were kneeling on the ground: "See, your master is planning to let you or leave at all." ”

Several palace maids and eunuchs had long been frightened by this scene, but now they were in a dilemma, and they really didn't know how to choose.

Finally, a palace maid mustered up the courage, knelt in front of Song Xiuzhu again, gritted her teeth and said: "If you say it, it's death, if you don't say it, it's death, the slave maid is out today, originally they didn't want to do this, but now it's better for the slave to simply tell all these pickled things!" The slave and maid knew that they were guilty, and they didn't dare to beg the prince to spare me from dying, but only asked the prince to spare my family's life for the sake of my dying repentance, and the slave and maid died without regrets! ”

Song Xiuzhu still had a little appreciation for this palace maid, and softened his face and said, "Okay, Lone promises you!" Get up and speak. ”

The palace maid was grateful, and after standing up, she said leisurely: "The slave's name is Xianglan, and she is in charge of the soup that Niangniang drinks every day in Niangniang's kitchen. On that day, Miss Ran, oh, the one who had just died, suddenly came to me and asked me to boil a bag of herbs into soup and send it to my mother. Because the slave didn't recognize those herbs, she didn't dare to take them for the mother without authorization, so the slave and the maid politely refused her that day. ”

"Since you rejected her at first, and then got involved?" Chu Qingruo asked sternly.

"Back to Aunt Qing's words, then she went to find the eunuch in charge of the small kitchen, oh, it's him!" Xianglan said, pointing with her hand to the eunuch in charge who was hiding in the crowd, Xie Yuan.

Xie Yuanchang was white and fat, even if he had worked hard to shrink behind a group of skinny palace maids, he could still see him at a glance from afar.

"Go, bring that eunuch to Lone!"

Song Xiuzhu said.

Soon, Xie Yuan was brought to him with a sad face.

As soon as he knelt down, Xie Yuan said: "Prince, don't listen to this cheap maid's nonsense, the slave maid has never done anything to be sorry for the mother!" ”

When Xianglan heard this, she quickly knelt down: "What His Royal Highness the Prince's slave and maid said is true, that is, he used the lives of the slave and maid's family to blackmail the slave and maid, and forced the slave and maid to boil that bowl of herbs for the maid!" ”

When Xie Yuan heard this, he immediately raised his hand in anger and wanted to hit her, but was stopped by Liu Guard's subordinates, who were quick to stop, and at the same time pressed him to the ground: "Bold!" Do you dare to be presumptuous in front of the prince? ”

Xie Yuan shouted loudly on the ground: "Your Highness, the slave is really wronged, this slut has a grudge against me, she, he is dying and wants to bite me!" Prince Mingjian! ”

Song Xiuzhu was unable to make a decision for a while, and turned his eyes to Chu Qingruo.

Chu Qingruo sneered: "Wronged? Well, you can tell me, Miss Ran didn't look for you, so who did you go to? ”

"She's looking for ......"

Xie Yuan's words came to his mouth, and suddenly stopped, knowing that he was speechless, and suddenly showed a look of annoyance on his face, lowered his head, and was silent.

Chu Qingruo smiled again: "It seems that you are not wronged!" As he spoke, he lowered his face again, and shouted: "Tell me quickly, what did Miss Ran do with you, and who did she find later!" ”

Xie Yuan saw that the matter had come to this point, and if he still wanted to say that he didn't know, he was afraid that the prince would not believe it. simply sat on the ground, hung his head and said, "She came to me that day and asked me to find someone to boil out this bag of herbs and send it to my mother." I have a grudge against Xianglan Sulai, so I want her to boil it herself. ”

Speaking of this, Song Xiuzhu couldn't help but ask, "What kind of enmity do you have with him?" ”

Xianglan said: "He once wanted to be a husband and wife with me, but after I refused, he always hated me. ”

"Have you seen anyone since Miss Ran looked for you?"

Chu Qingruo asked again.

Xie Yuan nodded: "Yes, after she looked for it, she went to find them again." He pointed behind him with his hand.

The palace maids and eunuchs behind him all lowered their heads.

After Chu Qingruo asked a few of them to tell the "Ran Girl" about their experience finding them one by one, he secretly thought in his heart: The "Ran Girl" is dead, and these people are just being used for various reasons, and there is no valuable information if they ask again, so they whispered in Song Xiuzhu's ear.

After the two of them finished muttering, Song Xiuzhu waved his hand: "Put them in the prison first, and wait for the mother to wake up and send them down in person." ”

Soon they were taken away by the guards, and at this time, Fu Lingyun, who had gone out to chase the assassins, also returned.

"How? Wenyuan, can you catch someone? ”

As soon as Chu Qingruo saw that he came back safe and sound, the big stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

"No, that person seems to be very familiar with the terrain of the palace, and I chased him after a few clicks."

Fu Lingyun's face was very ugly, because it was the first time that someone was able to escape from his tracking, which made his heart very unhappy!