"You ......" Seeing Mu Lingzhi's attitude, King Qi was also angry, in the final analysis, how could he be the king of a country, so could he tolerate such a provocation by Mu Lingzhi!

However, when he thought of the majestic iron cavalry of Daliang, and the thought that these iron cavalry that swept through thousands of armies were all from him, King Qi's courage to harden couldn't help but be deflated!

King Qi stayed on the spot angrily and hatefully for a while, and he didn't know how to answer Mu Lingzhi's words.

After listening to Mu Lingzhi's words, Yu Ruyan was so moved that she couldn't be more moved, ever, as long as it was a word from Concubine Lotus and Jade Mingzhu, her father would believe it, and he wouldn't even give her a chance to defend herself, just like Mu Lingzhi said, 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's heart is sour, and finally, she has never been treated well, and she finally met someone who is really good to her.

However, now seeing Mu Lingzhi fighting with his father for himself, Yu Ruyan had a bad premonition in her heart-

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

This is not what she wants to see.

She hurriedly stepped forward and pressed Mu Lingzhi's long sword, and persuaded: "Your Highness, this is a family matter in the harem of the Qi Kingdom, and Your Highness must not be angry." ”

After that, he said to the king: "If the father wants to condemn his daughter with just one broken tongue, the daughter will definitely not obey." In the afternoon, the daughter did not show her tongue in the darkroom, why did she suddenly appear during the search, didn't the father think all this was too strange? Therefore, it is not too late to ask the father to give his daughter a chance to defend himself. ”

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

Mu Lingzhi understood the meaning of her words, and knew that he was indeed disrespectful to King Qi now, mainly because he saw that the scars on Yu Ruyan's face were too heartbroken, and his heart hurt so much that he lost his mind.

Now after listening to Yu Ruyan's words, he put away his long sword, collected the murderous aura of his whole body, and said in a soothing tone: "Just now, the son-in-law was too impulsive, if Your Majesty wants to punish him, it is not too late to punish the son-in-law after finding out the truth of this matter." After that, he respectfully bowed to King Qi to apologize.

King Qi didn't dare to really do anything with him, but after all, he was the king of a country, and he always had to take care of his own face, and now that Yu Ruyan and Mu Lingzhi both gave him the steps, King Qi was no longer reckless, and stretched his face and said coldly: "I have always been the most fair and strict, and now if you have any 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, and King Qi was relieved, he didn't dare to say anything more. Something suddenly occurred in his heart, and he pretended to order his subordinates to ask Concubine Lian for a doctor, but secretly told his subordinates to go to the court.

However, Concubine Lian didn't give up, looked at her numb hands, and began to cry, let go of the jade pearl's hand and hit the palace wall, but was pulled by the palace people, looking for death and crying.

King Qi was so troubled by her, and he was annoyed again.

On the one hand, he is his beloved concubine, and on the other hand, he is the prince of Daliang who can't afford to offend, and the king of Qi is big, and he begins to regret that he shouldn't have agreed to let Huo Xiang search the palace tonight.

However, when Concubine Lian was rolling in the Jinying Palace, the Queen Mother, who had not shown up, appeared, with Yu Huaizhu by her side and a group of palace maids.

As soon as she entered the door and saw Concubine Lian's appearance, the queen mother's face sank, and she said coldly: "Today is a good day for the mourning family to eat fasting and recite Buddha, but as a result, all night, the whole harem is noisy and noisy, and there is no moment of peace." It turns out that you are crying and begging for trouble here, you are a dignified imperial concubine, and you are 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 Queen Mother seemed to be completely unaware of the Hibiscus Sakura Palace, and she didn't seem to know that Concubine Lian was making such a fuss because her tendons were picked by Mu Lingzhi, but after a few words, Concubine Lian's face was completely turned gray.

Concubine Lian's hand was injured, if it were usual, King Qi would have followed her to make her angry, but today because it was Mu Lingzhi, King Qi didn't seek justice for her, and now she was reprimanded by the Queen Mother in front of everyone, how could the grievance in her heart be calmed?

Huo Xiang saw that his daughter had suffered such a big grievance tonight and was now blamed by the Queen Mother, and he was so angry that his old face turned red, he quietly glanced at Yu Mingzhu who was stunned on the side, Yu Mingzhu would come to his senses, and hurriedly knelt down in front of the Queen Mother, and told the Queen Mother about what happened tonight.

When the Queen Mother heard this, her brows furrowed slightly, and she said coldly: "Actually, His Royal Highness is a little heavier, but the fault lies with you." ”

The dragon head crutch in his hand was pointed, but it was pointed at Concubine Lian, who had a miserable face-

"As the master of the palace, the mourning family clearly told you that the five girls are now the third princess of Daliang, and her husband has just fought bloodily to protect thousands of miles of rivers and mountains for Daqi, so let you be lenient to her, after all, she is staying here now for less than one day, and it is a rare period of time in her mother's house, even if you find something in her palace, why don't you wait for the emperor to come and find out everything and punish her, and do it to her in private. His Royal Highness's beloved wife is so heavy on you. You say, didn't you bring it on yourself! ”

The Queen Mother's words made Concubine Lian stunned, and she couldn't refute a word, but she just looked at the Queen Mother stupidly and said, "The Queen Mother ......"

Ignoring the look on her face, the Queen Mother turned to Huo Xiang and said, "It's really a joke for the Huo family, this is a matter of the inner palace, why do you need the Huo family to come forward in person?" The mourning family does not care about the harem, but the affairs of the harem have always been taken care of by Concubine Lian, and the mourning family has always believed that she will take care of the harem, so they have never interfered in the affairs of the harem, and they keep the Buddha in the Huayang Palace every day, but they didn't expect that there was such a big thing in the palace! Speaking of which, it's also wrong to mourn the family. ”

The Queen Mother's words seemed to be self-blame on the surface, but in fact, she was blaming Concubine Lian for not taking care of the harem well and interfering with Huo Xiang in the affairs of the harem. Such insignificant words made Concubine Lian and Huo Xiang unable to speak.

The Queen Mother stood majestically in the middle of the courtyard and said to the king: "Since everything is caused by that half of the tongue, the emperor should check it out, and it can be regarded as a fair ruling for the five girls!" ”

As soon as the Queen Mother's words came out, no one dared to criticize half a sentence, King Qi led everyone to sit down in the main hall of the Jinying Palace, and Concubine Lian asked the imperial doctor to bandage her wrists and was unwilling to go back, so she stayed together.

The half-truncated tongue was brought up again, and everyone else stood on both sides, only Mu Lingzhi accompanied Yu Ruyan to stand in the middle of the hall.

The guard who had found the tongue before took two steps forward and knelt down in front of King Qi, and carefully told him about the broken tongue, Mu Lingzhi listened quietly without saying a word.

After the King of Qi finished asking as usual, he pointed to the half section on the ground and said coldly to Yu Ruyan: "A few days ago, the broken tongue appeared in the Chunlan Palace, and now this thing has appeared in your palace, what do you have to explain?" ”

Yu Ruyan's eyes swept over Huo Xiang on the side, and said coldly: "At that time, I was the only servant girl who followed the guards into the palace to search, if someone among the guards estimated that this thing would be put into my palace and frame the blame, it would not be impossible!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the Queen Mother was surprised and said, "Girl, do you suspect that Huo Xiang let people harm you?" You can't talk nonsense without evidence! ”

The Queen Mother's words made Yu Ruyan stunned-

Yes, the Queen Mother is right, it's useless to just suspect, you have to come up with evidence to make sense!

Before she could figure out the flaws in this, Mu Lingzhi on the side slowly spoke.

"Queen Mother, Your Majesty, in fact, it is very simple to find out whether it is planted or not!"

Hearing the simple words, Huo Xiang was startled, and Concubine Lian on the side was even more scared, and couldn't help but change her face, Huo Xiang gently glanced at her, telling her not to panic and show her feet.

King Qi was curious: "Is there any way for Your Highness to find out about this matter?" ”

"It's actually quite simple." Mu Lingzhi said unhurriedly: "It has been a few days ago that Chunlan Palace has broken its tongue now, and the Gong bucket that is now broken is cleaned by the palace people in the court every day, and His Majesty will call the palace person who is responsible for collecting the Gong bucket to come over and ask for it." ”

King Qi heard that he was very reasonable, and was about to open his mouth to call someone to the court to call the palace person who collected the washing bucket to question, Concubine Lian couldn't help but say something to stop her, but Huo Xiang shook his head at her with a relaxed face and shook her head inaudibly to reassure her-

Because when Mu Lingzhi came in, he had already thought of this, and he had already quietly asked people to go to the court to kill the people of the palace, and then it could be said that Yu Ruyan was killing people.

It's a pity that he never expected that Mu Lingzhi had asked Yu Huaizhu to go to the court to find the palace person in charge of Gong Barrel before entering the palace gate of Jinying Palace, and the palace people had already come to Jinying Palace with the Queen Mother.

Therefore, as soon as King Qi's voice fell, the Queen Mother had already said loudly: "There is no need to call people, the mourning family of the court has already brought it over to ask the emperor." ”

After saying that, with a wave of his hand, the three palace people were already kneeling in the middle of the main hall tremblingly.

The king of Qi asked them what they were doing when they collected the Gong buckets of the Hibiscus and Sakura Palace, and the palace man said: "The slaves and maids will go to the palaces and courtyards every morning before dawn to collect the Gong buckets, and then replace them with clean ones from the Hibiscus and Sakura Palace—there is nothing unusual!" ”

As soon as the palace people said this, King Qi's brows furrowed, but Huo Xiang came out at the right time to say to King Qi: "Gong bucket alone can't prove the innocence of the fifth princess, maybe she hid this broken tongue in other places in the palace before, and it is possible that she hurriedly threw things into Gong bucket when she heard that she was going to search the palace tonight." ”

"Well, Huo Xiang is reasonable, then this palace invites Huo Xiang to see something!"

Listening to 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 inside, and said coldly to Huo Xiang: "Huo Xiang might as well take a look, this tongue is still fresh inside, if it is like Huo Xiang said, this tongue is the one that appeared in Chunlan Palace a few days ago, according to today's hot weather, the things that have been left for a few days have long been rotten, will it be so fresh?" ”

Huo Xiang's face changed greatly, and he was speechless for a long time, Mu Lingzhi's voice was cold and piercing: "In the morning, when the palace people changed the gong bucket, there was no tongue, and this tongue is still so fresh, it is obvious that someone deliberately brought it in and framed it for the Jinying Palace, Huo Xiang, do you think this palace is reasonable?" ”

Mu Ling's words were heart-wrenching, forcing Huo Xiang to retreat, Huo Xiang first didn't expect that the palace people in the court would be found by them first, but now he was so cautious that he thought of this layer, so that he couldn't refute a word.

Concubine Lian was already stupid, it turned out that she would definitely be able to bring down Yu Ruyan tonight, so that she would have no place to maneuver in front of the evidence, so that King Qi could convict her, so that she and Yu Mingzhu could get rid of the crisis of rumors and push everything on her, but she didn't expect that things would come to a big reversal, and she suddenly forced her father into a corner.

Yu Ruyan saw that Huo Xiang's expression changed greatly, and she also said loudly: "At night, I was walking with Brother An in the imperial garden to eat, and after returning to the palace, Huo Xiang and Concubine Lian have taken people to guard my palace. Since then, I have stayed in the courtyard and never entered the dormitory, so this tongue was obviously brought in by Huo Xiang's people to frame the princess. ”

She said it so bluntly, coupled with Mu Lingzhi's words before, everyone present, including King Qi, was stunned by the truth of the facts, and the Queen Mother said coldly: "Huo Xiang, what else do you have to say?" ”

The Queen Mother used to call Huo Xiang her in-laws, but now she has changed her mouth, and it is clear that she has believed Yu Ruyan's words, and believes that this matter is Huo Xiang's conspiracy, and King Qi also showed disappointment on his face, looked at Huo Xiang angrily, threw the teacup in his hand on the table, made a 'bang' sound, and said coldly: "Huo Xiang, of course what's going on tonight?" ”

Faced with the pressure of the Queen Mother and the King of Qi, Huo Xiang gritted his teeth to stabilize his mood and recovered from the panic, he was old and spicy after all, and at this time he knew that he couldn't admit that he had planted it, so he just gritted his teeth and didn't let go: "I have to say that the three princes and the five princesses are all clever and discerning, and they actually took advantage of such a loophole, but this prime minister wants to say that the palace people who poured the gong bucket are the gong buckets that were changed in the early morning, and so many hours have passed from early morning to now, what happened in the middle, who knows?" As for the fact that this tongue is fresh, it can only mean that this tongue is not the one from a few days ago, and it does not have nothing to do with the Jinying Palace, after all, the thing was found in the Jinying Palace, and the Jinying Palace did not open the stove, is there this thing in the palace, can the fifth princess take it to eat it raw? Maybe the fifth princess re-brought it to prepare to continue to scare Chunlan Palace. Moreover, you say that the true picture is coerced, but is there any evidence? ”

Huo Xiang's rebuttal shocked Yu Ruyan's whole body-

Yes, if you want to say that he is coercing, you have to come up with evidence, but such evidence can't be taken out except for his own admission!

Concubine Lian saw that her father questioned Yu Ruyan to be speechless, and the worry in her heart was unconsciously put down, and she looked at Yu Ruyan with a smug face, and Yu Mingzhu couldn't wait to sneer: "Hmph, my grandfather is still the prime minister of the court, he has been an official for decades, and he is above board, how can you be wronged is wronged, this tongue is clearly you used to frame me again, how can it be that your grandfather brought it in, such a quibble is only like you...... People can tell. ”

She wanted to scold Yu Ruyan for being a slut, but her eyes felt the chill on Mu Lingzhi's body, and she swallowed back the words that came to her mouth.

Mu Lingzhi's eyes looked outside the hall, and when he saw that Chen Yiqing was already waiting outside the hall gate, he said coldly: "Is it coercive, this palace has its own way to let everyone know!" ”

After that, he beckoned Chen Yiqing in, and when everyone saw the hunting dog he was holding in his hand, they were all stunned, and Huo Xiang had already thought of something, his whole body was shocked, and he seemed to be unstable under his feet, and he actually retreated several steps in a row!

King Qi watched in a daze as Chen Yiqing entered the palace with a hunting dog, and said inexplicably: "What did Chen Qing do with a dog into the palace in the middle of the night?" ”

Chen Yiqing smiled heartily: "I heard that there was a difficult case in the Jinying Palace, and the minister specially brought this animal to help His Majesty solve the case, Your Majesty, please rest assured, this hunting dog of the minister is unusually alert, and the sense of smell is also very good, not only usually accompany Weichen to hunt, but also help the minister chase the enemy criminals when he was at the border, and the lair of the border bandits two years ago was found by it, so if you want to know where this broken tongue came from, it can help Your Majesty find out." ”

When everyone heard his words, they couldn't believe that a dog had such a big effect, but King Qi had hunted and knew that hunting dogs were specially trained, and their astute sense of smell was much more beneficial than ordinary dogs.

Huo Xiang watched with a dead face as Chen Yiqing brought the hunting dog to the broken tongue and asked it to sniff the smell on it.

Although the severed tongue was stained with the pickled dirt in the Gong bucket, the fishy smell on the tongue itself was still there, so after the hunting dog sniffed it, he turned his head and began to search in the temple.

Just like people, everyone has a different breath, and the smell of each animal's tongue will be different, but this kind of smell is not felt by ordinary people, but it smells different from the nose of the hunting dog with an extremely sensitive sense of smell, so although Yu Ruyan, Brother An and Yu Huaizhu were all contaminated with fishy smell when carrying the half basket of broken tongues, the hunting dog just turned around them and ran towards the group of guards brought in by Huo Xiang.

In an instant, the hunting dog had already bitten the corner of a guard's coat and no longer let go, dragging him to Chen Yiqing's side, and he couldn't stop yelling.

The guard who was found by the hunting dog was the one who had broken his tongue before, and at this time, his face was already pale, and beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead. looked at Huo Xiang, who was also panicked, but after seeing the determination in Huo Xiang's eyes, his whole body was suffocated, and he knelt in the center of the hall with a 'plop', and couldn't get up anymore.

Mu Ling stepped forward like electricity, and he had already clicked on the acupuncture points on his body, making him unable to move, and then ripped open his robe with a 'hiss', only to see that the placket between his belts was stained with a little blood stain, which was the blood stain that was stained when he broke his tongue.

"What else does Huo Xiang have to say?" Mu Lingzhi sneered and approached the pale Huo Xiang, the murderous aura in his eyes was so strong that not only made Huo Xiang's expression change greatly, but even the Lotus Concubine and Jade Pearl on the side were stunned.

However, Huo Xiang gritted his teeth and did not speak, but the guard who was kneeling on the ground suddenly shouted: "This matter is not about Huo Xiang, it is because the little one loves the eldest princess, and he can't see her being bullied, so he ...... made a claim, and brought a broken tongue to frame the fifth princess to vent his anger for the eldest princess...... This is all my own idea, Huo Xiang and Princess Niangniang didn't know, and now that the matter is exposed, I apologize for my death with my humble position. ”

In the next second, Chen Yiqing was too late to make a move, and the guard had already committed suicide by biting his tongue!

This sudden change frightened everyone, but although the guards were dead, no one with a discerning eye could see that he was just a substitute for the dead, so everyone's eyes couldn't help but look at Huo Xiang with a dead face, and they all knew in their hearts that tonight's incident was really planted by him for Yu Ruyan, and they couldn't help but look at him with disdain.

The Queen Mother sighed softly and said, "Alas, what a loyal servant!" ”

The queen mother said casually, and she already decided that this matter was Huo Xiang's handiwork, Huo Xiang's whole body was shocked and knelt on the ground, and Concubine Lian and Jade Mingzhu also knelt down with a disastrous face, and opened their mouths King Qi to intercede for Huo Xiang.

At this time, the evidence was conclusive, and it was useless for Huo Xiang to say anything, and no matter how mediocre King Qi was, it was impossible for him to still not understand, so he said with a cold face: "Huo Xiang, I believed in you to let people take people to search the palace, but I didn't expect that in the end it would be such a ridiculous result, and it was actually to play with me in the palm of your hand, what crime should you be guilty of?" ”

King Qi's words made Huo Xiang's whole body tremble, his face was pale, but he gritted his teeth and said: "Your Majesty, it was the old minister who neglected to supervise, and there was such a person with evil intentions around him who did not appear, and he blinded him, let him frame and slander the fifth princess, and the minister committed the crime of negligence, please punish Your Majesty!" ”

Now, of course, Huo Xiang can only grit his teeth and follow the words of the guard who committed suicide, if he doesn't clear up the relationship like this, he will commit the great crime of bullying the king, plus the crime of framing Princess Heshuo, I am afraid that I will not be able to escape from the robbery of the family and the destruction of the nine clans.

Therefore, Huo Xiang will not admit that this matter was arranged by him until he dies, and he is only willing to admit that he has committed the crime of negligence!

"Oh, the sin of negligence?" The corners of Mu Lingzhi's mouth overflowed with a trace of cold coldness, and he pointed to the guard who had died of anger and said: "A little guard came to help her deal with the fifth princess because he loved the eldest princess, it is really funny, such nonsense, it is estimated that a three-year-old child will not believe it." Master Huo, why don't you have the guts to admit it! At this time, why don't you take out your aggressive momentum before, the crime of bullying the king and the murder of Princess Heshuo, how can you have to raid the family and punish the nine clans. ”

Mu Lingzhi's words made Huo Xiang panic to the extreme, thinking of the Huo family's hundreds of lives, he couldn't care about anything else, knelt down in front of King Qi, and said with tears: "Your Majesty, the old minister has worked hard for the sake of Daqi all these years, and today's matter is indeed the fault of the old minister's negligence, and it has nothing to do with Concubine Lotus and the eldest princess......

"The criminal minister voluntarily asked the guilty to be exiled, and I also asked Your Majesty to be merciful, for the sake of the criminal minister who has been with Your Majesty for many years, spare the criminal minister's family and Concubine Lian!"

At this point, King Qi looked at Concubine Lotus and Jade Mingzhu who were crying, and then looked at the white that was born on Huo Xiang's head, and he couldn't bear it.

And the Queen Mother thought that now that Huo Xiang's general trend has gone, it will be difficult if he insists on pursuing his crime of bullying the king, because his protégés and officials are too widely involved, and I am afraid that the entire Daqi will be bleeding by then, and the dynasty of Daqi will also be affected.

Now he voluntarily asks for exile, and at his age, he goes to that place of great suffering, and he is afraid that he will die if he does not survive two years!

Thinking of this, the Queen Mother sighed and said: "That's it, after all, this matter is a matter of the harem, since Huo Xiang voluntarily asked for punishment and exile, and one person does one thing, the emperor will not pursue anything else." ”

King Qi had this intention, and hurriedly agreed respectfully.

Looking at Mu Lingzhi, who had a cold face and did not say a word, the Queen Mother asked, "Your Highness can be satisfied with this punishment?" ”

Mu Lingzhi is a smart person and understands that Huo Xiang's status in Daqi involves too many interests, so he doesn't force it: "This is a family matter of Daqi, and the son-in-law is just helping my princess to find out her innocence, as long as she is satisfied, the son-in-law will be satisfied." ”

Listening to his words, the Queen Mother nodded appreciatively, looked at Yu Ruyan, and asked, "Girl, you have been wronged today, and now that the truth is revealed, are you satisfied with your father's ruling?" ”

Yu Ruyan didn't understand what the Queen Mother meant, and Mu Lingzhi didn't say anything more, she didn't want to embarrass the Queen Mother, so she said obediently: "The granddaughter is up to the Queen Mother to do everything!" ”

After a night of turmoil, the matter of Hibiscus Sakura Palace finally returned to calm, Concubine Lian and Jade Mingzhu watched Huo Xiang being taken away, and completely collapsed to the ground, their eyes desperate......

If it weren't for her father Huo Xiang to bear the blame alone, how could Concubine Lian be punished, now seeing the glory of the old father's life, but when she was old, because she was exiled, she couldn't help but be grief-stricken, her teeth were bitten and bloody, and the broken tendons on her hands were so painful that her whole body trembled, but she didn't dare to say a word, and she didn't even dare to mention the hatred of broken tendons again, what was really to knock out her teeth and swallow it in her stomach!

The cold sweat on Yu Ruyan's body has long been dry, but her heart can't be calmed for a long time-

If there is no Mu Lingzhi tonight, Huo Xiang's fate now will be her fate!

It's really a win or a loser!

After everyone left, Brother An said to Yu Ruyan unconvinced: "Princess, this matter is obviously a conspiracy between Concubine Lian and Huo Xiang, why didn't the princess take this opportunity to let the emperor punish Concubine Lian?" ”

Yu Ruyan sighed and said: "She was picked off by His Highness tonight, and if I pursue it again, it will definitely involve His Highness again." So, let her go for the time being. ”

"But now that her mother's power has fallen, Concubine Lian has lost an important backer, isn't it easy to completely overthrow her!"

Looking at the cold moon outside the window, the jade eyes flashed with a sharp cold light-

It's almost the end of the month, and she's going to have to plan well!