Jing Xuan saw Lai Xing'er enter the house, pointed to Mama Xia, who was leaning against the wall and napping, made a silent gesture at him, lowered his voice and asked, "Why did you come back alone and didn't see Grandpa Shang?" As soon as the words fell, Mama Xia seemed to be startled by something, suddenly shivered, and opened her eyes. When she saw Lai Xing'er standing in the house, she also asked anxiously, "Is the prince here?" ”

Lai Xing'er pretended to be relaxed and replied: "Listening to the people in the inner fang, the prince just ordered someone to bring out the word, stay in the palace tonight to accompany the emperor, and he will not come back, please rest early, don't have to wait." ”

When Jing Xuan heard this, he put his mind at ease and said to Mama Xia apologetically: "It's that Mama has been waiting for a day, and it's getting late, so Mama might as well rest here." ”

When Lai Xing'er replied, Mama Xia kept staring at his face with scrutinizing eyes, and only then did she retract her gaze and said to Jing Xuan with a smile: "It is the blessing of the old woman to be able to accompany her mother for the New Year." It's just that the old woman has a problem with choosing a shop, and she can't sleep all night when she changes her accommodation, so she should call Xing'er to send me back. ”

Lai Xing'er thought that Mama Xia might be an accomplice in rebellion, and she couldn't help but be afraid in front of her.

Seeing this, Jing Xuan hurriedly called Jinping to come in to help, leaned down again, and asked Lai Xing'er with concern: "What's wrong with you?" ”

Lai Xing'er hugged her right foot with both hands, kept rolling on the ground, and replied with a groan: "When I came back, I walked in a hurry, and I slipped in the snow. Mama, please forgive me for not being able to send you away. ”

Jinping begged: "Mama, you can show him quickly to see if he has broken his bones." ”

Mama Xia shirked unhurriedly and said: "The old woman will only look at the woman's illness, and I am afraid that his injury can only wait for Ming'er to invite Lang Zhong to take a look." Mother, the old woman is really tired, so I went back. ”

Jing Xuan was helpless, so he had to ask someone to send Mama Xia back to her residence, and at the same time instructed Jinping to help Xing'er back to the room, and ask Lang Zhong for diagnosis and treatment at dawn.

This night, Lai Xing'er lay in bed, tossing and turning and couldn't sleep. He felt that Mama Xia seemed to have seen through the play he was playing, and he wasn't sure whether he should report everything he saw to Jing Xuan. finally managed to get through to the dawn, and finally decided to go to Wu Xiaozhong as soon as it was dawn and ask him to help him get an idea.

Once again, the prince really felt that danger was approaching him step by step. If it was said that half a year ago, because of a military report from Yu Chengen, he rashly summoned Jing Yuncong back to Beijing on purpose, and wanted Jing Yuncong to finally hand over the military power in exchange for the queen to no longer worry about his marriage with the Jing family, and acted in a obscure plan, this time Wang Cairen colluded with the eunuch Zhao Muyi of the restaurant to poison and murder the queen on the occasion of the feast in the first palace, which was completely unexpected by him, and caught him off guard, and almost fell into a catastrophe. Fortunately, Wang Cairen was not too stupid, and instigated Zhao Muyi to poison his own food, so that he avoided the fate of being deposed on the spot.

A palace maid in Qingning Palace suddenly collapsed after tasting food for the queen; Zhao Muyi failed to commit suicide, and confessed to Wang Cairen in court; The queen viciously insisted that she should preside over the investigation of the case, and she must find out who was behind it; Yang Quanyi took the forbidden army of Qingning Palace to the East Palace overnight to arrest people, and whenever he recalled this scene, the prince felt like he had a nightmare.

When he received the holy decree on Chinese New Year's Eve, allowing him to enter the palace to ask the emperor and empress for peace on the first day, the prince was really a little nervous. After all, he has been under house arrest in the East Palace for half a year, although the emperor has not removed any of his titles, and even with the acquiescence of the queen, he sent Li Jinzhong to often travel between the palace and the East Palace as the marching Sima of the Marshal's Mansion, and still gave him the important task of military aircraft, but every time he thought of the Hanliang Hall covered with the queen's eyeliner, and the days when King Jianning died and he was terrified and did not dare to leave the emperor's side for half a step on the grounds of illness, he had an indescribable sense of awe for the palace. As soon as he stepped into the palace gate, he couldn't help but glance at the palace behind him, as if once he walked into this courtyard, he would never be able to get out again.

At this time, it was the third watch of the first night, and the prince stood in the Lin De Palace, anxiously waiting for the results of Wang Cairen's interrogation. Li Jinzhong personally led a group of people from the Prosecutor's Office to wait outside the palace, nominally to assist in the investigation of the case, but the prince knew in his heart: The concubines of the East Palace murdered the queen of the Middle Palace, which has no precedent in this dynasty, and in any case, he, the master of the East Palace, cannot escape the blame. As soon as something unfavorable to him came out of Wang Cai's mouth, this group of people would rush into the temple at any moment and push him to the ground like a prisoner. Can you just sit here and wait for death? The prince paced back and forth in the hall, meditating on a way to get out.

Li Jinzhong stood outside the palace gate, watching the prince in the palace spin around like ants on a hot pot, and he was secretly making calculations in his heart: the restaurant was under the jurisdiction of the Inner Service Province, and Zhao Muyi was the deputy supervisor there, and he participated in the rebellion. Zhao Muyi confessed that he was instructed by Wang Cairen of the East Palace to temporarily direct the queen's attention to the prince, but from the bottom of his heart, Li Jinzhong did not believe that the prince had anything to do with this rebellion case, and if Wang Cairen had another mastermind behind him, it would be fine, if not, turning around, it would be difficult to guarantee that the queen would not be angry with herself, and even if she was the emperor at that time, I am afraid it would be difficult to save herself. There are only two paths available to him at present: either let the prince completely carry this black cauldron, and with his previous work with the queen, he may be able to escape; Or, join forces with the crown prince and quickly close the case, so that the emperor can believe that this is a spontaneous rebellion case between the palace concubines and eunuchs, and even if the queen wants to use the topic to play, the emperor will not let her be involved indiscriminately.

In the past 30 years of his career in the palace, Li Jinzhong has been accustomed to all kinds of open and secret battles, and the reason why he can climb to today's high position is that he is good at figuring out the emperor's mind and unswervingly obeying the emperor's wishes. He witnessed the queen's pressing on the prince step by step, and he also observed the emperor's attitude all the time. In the end, he believed that between the queen and the crown prince, the emperor would finally choose to stand on the side of the prince, and this was clear from the emperor personally choosing a concubine for the prince to the emperor's punishment and secret protection half a year ago, and successfully eased the relationship between the prince and the queen for a while. Therefore, Li Jinzhong quickly vetoed the idea of sacrificing the crown prince to protect himself in his mind, and decided to work together with the prince to tide over the difficulties.

Yang Quanyi hurriedly walked into the courtyard with the footsteps of the two officials of the inspection hall, and saw that Li Jinzhong was still wandering under the corridor outside the hall, Yang Quanyi leaned over with a smile and asked, "Your Excellency hasn't rested yet?" ”

Li Jinzhong knew in his heart that the person in front of him was the key person who really presided over the investigation, from leading the forbidden army to the East Palace to arrest Wang Cairen, until the interrogation of the criminal, the crown prince, who was the chief and deputy Qincha, and he were all left aside, and only Yang Quanyi in front of the queen was in control from beginning to end. He came here at this time, could it be that Wang Cairen had already opened his mouth to confess?

"The prince is waiting for news in the palace, so that the two of them will wait here, and you can go in with me." Li Jinzhong nodded at Yang Quanyi and led him into the Lin De Palace.

Yang Quanyi came to the prince, knelt down and kowtowed: "The slave Yang Quanyi has seen His Royal Highness the prince, and the master has been waiting for a long time." ”

The prince turned his back to Li and Yang and asked softly, "Did she recruit her?" ”

"Yes." Yang Quanyi didn't hear the prince tell him to be flat, so he had to kneel down and reply, "Wang Cairen has already confessed to the master of the rebellion." ”

The prince still didn't turn around, waiting for Yang Quanyi to continue. Li Jinzhong, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but ask, "Who is the Lord's envoy?" ”

Yang Quanyi raised his eyes to look at the back of the crown prince, and replied in a steep voice: "Abolish the crown princess Yang." ”

The crown prince sighed, turned around slowly, looked at Yang Quanyi with a cold gaze, and said, "Yang? It's been three years since she's gone, do you know? ”

Yang Quanyi was stared at by the prince and was uncomfortable, so he simply lowered his head, avoided the gaze of Senran, and replied: "According to Wang Cairen's confession, the Yang family dreamed of her three times, saying that he died of depression back then, all of which were victimized by the queen's mother, and the prince was ruthless and unintentional, asking her to avenge her former master, which made her delirious all day long, and finally connected with Zhao Muyi and made poisoning. ”

Li Jinzhong smiled secretly in his belly, but he broke off on his face: "Confused, you actually believe her nonsense!" ”

I didn't want Yang Quanyi to say: "It's not just nonsense, it's just crazy talk!" Master, Master Li, do you know that Wang Cairen entered the interrogation room, and when his hands and feet were loosened, he suddenly tore all the clothes on his body, shouted naked, and begged Yang to spare her life, saying that he had thrown poison into the drink of the queen and the prince according to her instructions. Seeing this, the slave was afraid that she was secretly cheating, so she hurriedly asked Lang Zhong to come to treat her, but before Lang Zhong came, she suddenly bit her tongue and committed suicide. This matter can be testified by the two officials of the prosecutor's hall for the slave, if there is half a sentence, no matter how the master falls, the slave will never cry out for injustice. ”

The prince only felt that what Yang Quanyi said was absurd, but it was inconvenient to question it directly, so he thought about it and said: "The Wang family was originally the maidservant of the Yang family, if it is said that she is the instigator, there are still two points of credibility. It's just that the dead man taught people to poison in a dream, it's really bizarre, how can people believe it? ”

Li Jinzhong remembered that half a year ago in the East Palace, Wang was so frightened when he saw him, he thought that what Yang Quanyi said was generally not false, but such a shocking case, but a right time ended in such a hurry, in his experience, this is absolutely impossible. Yang Quanyi has won the trust of the queen, and he must have his own merits, so wouldn't it be sloppy and faint to act like this? If there is something strange in it, the prince and his situation will not only not improve, but will become more dangerous. There was a hint of hesitation in the prince's voice, and he hurriedly reminded: "Wang Cairen's body can be examined?" ”

Yang Quanyi kowtowed to the prince and said: "The first time the slave was on the mission to investigate the case, he encountered such a grotesque thing, and he was very careful. Wang Cairen was so angry that the servant immediately ordered someone to carefully examine her body, and found nothing abnormal. The slave came to report, just to ask the master to show me, what should I do now? ”

The prince looked at Li Jinzhong and was silent.

Li Jinzhong did not hesitate at all: "The old slave thought that Zhao Muyi should be interrogated in detail again, and the confessions of Zhao and Wang should be compared and then determined according to the situation." ”

Yang Quanyi immediately replied: "Zhao Muyi has passed three times, and his three confessions are roughly consistent with what Wang said, and no new clues have been found. ”

Li Jinzhong smiled: "Lao Yang, you said that you are the first time to do an errand, how can I look like a veteran in handling cases." That being the case, the old slave has nothing to say, and everything is subject to His Royal Highness the Prince. ”

The prince's expression was solemn, and he said slowly: "The Wang family has been in the East Palace for nearly ten years, and although she is not stable, she is still safe, who knows that she has hidden evil intentions and done such a crazy thing. Boesome Yang Gonggong quickly reported the investigation situation to the queen mother, if the queen mother has a will, the palace will obey the order. The palace drafted a chapter here, and asked my father to issue an edict of dethronement and choose another virtuous prince. ”

Li and Yang saw that the prince wanted to ask for his own deposition, which was unexpected, and they didn't know how to persuade him, Li Jinzhong kowtowed to the ground and said: "The old slave's subordinates are out of this rebellion, and they have no face to serve the emperor, and they are willing to die to apologize." ”

Yang Quanyi was so frightened that he waved his hand again and again, and shouted while running to the outside of the hall: "The prince will wait a while, and the slave will go to report to the mother." ”

After Yang Quanyi left, the prince stepped forward to help Li Jinzhong with both hands, and comforted: "Father-in-law doesn't have to be too responsible. In front of his father, the palace is a person who agrees. ”

Li Jinzhong held the prince's hand tightly, wept bitterly and said: "Since the prince can't bear to give up the emperor, why should the old slave pity this old bone!" It's just that the prince really believes that there is a dream to teach people to poison? ”

The prince's eyes flashed, and he asked, "What does my father-in-law mean by this?" Could it be that there is something else hidden in it? ”

Li Jinzhong lowered his head and replied: "The old slave is stupid, but he will never believe that there is a dead man's dream in the world, the prince might as well wait for the queen's decree to arrive, and then make a decision." ”

The prince raised his face and sighed: "The old grudge has accumulated for a long time, if I am reluctant to give up the position, I am afraid that sooner or later I will be killed!" My father often praised my father-in-law for seeking the country, and he was quite a prime minister, but now he has a good plan to teach me? ”

Li Jinzhong also sighed and muttered: "Now that the matter is unclear and the holy will is unpredictable, what did the prince tell the old slave to say?" The prince should go to bed as soon as possible, don't hurt himself. With that, he silently retreated outside the temple.

The prince stood alone in the temple, and after a long time he sat down at the bookcase, took up his pen, and began to draw up a note of his own deposition.