Chapter 144: Cross-examination
"Green dress, green dress." The emperor repeated the words of the palace maid, and suddenly remembered that Wanjun was wearing a green dress when dancing in the afternoon.
The emperor didn't believe that what the palace people said was true, Wanjun had never seen Concubine Shu, and she had no grievances with her, and there was no reason to hurt Concubine Shu at all.
"Come on, search with me!" The emperor ordered the palace people to search the place where the incident occurred in the afternoon.
The garden is quiet late at night, with the occasional sound of insects. A group of people, carrying lanterns, walked to the place of the incident and began a carpet search.
According to the testimony of the palace maid, the place where the incident occurred in the afternoon was by the small lake in the imperial garden. A group of people hurriedly walked towards the lake with lanterns.
The night was deep, and a pool of inky lake water resembled a huge black hole, absorbing the hustle and bustle of the entire palace during the day.
The willow trees by the lake sway in the night breeze, and their postures are soft and moving, charming and amorous.
"Search, give me a careful search! Don't miss any corner! The chief eunuch gave orders in a shrill voice.
The people under him didn't dare to be ambiguous, and they all lowered their heads and searched nervously, for fear of missing any clues.
The search in the imperial garden was going on nervously, and at this moment, the emperor was not idle, but stayed in the palace to take care of the unconscious concubine.
"Child, my child, you will be fine!" The sleeping concubine's brows were tightly locked, and her eyebrows were twisted into a huge pimple.
"Concubine Ai is not afraid, I'm here, I'm here to accompany you all the time." The emperor held Concubine Shu's cold hand tightly and tried to comfort Concubine Shu who was sleeping.
Wanjun originally wanted to go to the Imperial Garden to help find things, but was left behind by the emperor. Wanjun was originally a little puzzled, but suddenly remembered the palace maid's confession, and suddenly realized that the emperor regarded himself as a suspect.
Wanjun didn't panic, at this time, the palace maids and eunuchs in the palace all went to the imperial garden, and only a few of them stayed in the palace.
Several imperial doctors were worried, thinking hard about remedial measures, and Wanjun was not idle, busy with the help of grabbing medicine and boiling water.
The emperor looked at Wanjun who was busy beside him, and was even more convinced that this matter had nothing to do with her, but because there was no evidence, it would be difficult to block the mouth of Youyou by directly ruling out her suspicion.
"Found it! Got it! "A eunuch ran faster and arrived at the dormitory first.
"What did you find?" When the emperor heard that he had found evidence, he hurriedly stepped forward to inquire.
"Back to the emperor, it's a sachet." The eunuch knelt on the ground, holding the sachet in both hands, and handed it to the emperor.
The style of the sachet is very ordinary, the dark green sachet is embroidered with a pair of mandarin ducks playing in the water, the edges are outlined with golden silk threads, and a long red tassel falls.
"Whose sachet is this?" The Emperor showed the evidence to the crowd and asked loudly.
"Your Majesty, the concubine recognizes this sachet as Miss Wanjun's!" Concubine Liu hurriedly replied, and everyone was shocked when they heard Concubine Liu's voice.
The emperor's hands were trembling even more angrily, and Concubine Liu's words were like a thunderbolt bursting in his ears, shaking him dizzy.
"Miss Wanjun, now that the evidence is conclusive, what do you have to say?" Concubine Liu looked at the emperor's hesitant appearance, wanted to seize this opportunity, and hurriedly asked.
Although Wanjun said that she had received a forced question, she still maintained her sanity and did not panic.
"Excuse me, then, what color of clothes I was wearing when you saw me in the afternoon?" Wanjun asked the palace maid beside her.
"When the slave saw the girl in the afternoon, the girl was wearing this dress." A palace maid replied truthfully.
"Okay, then let me ask you again, what is the look of the dress on the woman you saw in the imperial garden who bumped into the lady lady?" Wanjun continued to ask.
"Green." The palace maid replied with her head bowed.
"Well, let me ask you, is this the color?" Wanjun casually pointed at Concubine Liu, didn't mean anything else, just asked the palace maid to identify the color.
"Yes." The palace maid's voice was a little hesitant, the voice was very small, and if you didn't listen carefully, I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to hear it.
Concubine Liu listened to the palace maid's answer, a little weak-hearted, stepped forward quickly, and slapped the palace maid's face hard.
"Bold and cheap, you dare to slander the palace, see that the palace is not good to clean you up, and teach you how to understand the rules." Concubine Liu's behavior was a little out of control, and as soon as she slapped it, a bright red palm print appeared on the innocent palace maid's face.
Concubine Liu is arrogant and domineering, and she is well-known in the palace. A house* of female eunuchs watched Concubine Liu bully an innocent palace maid, but they didn't dare to step forward to stop her.
"Stop! I told you to stop me! The emperor watched Concubine Liu make trouble in Concubine Shu's palace, his face was a little unbearable, and he quickly ordered it to be stopped.
Concubine Liu was interrupted by the emperor and didn't dare to do it again, so she could only endure it and be aggrieved and coquettish with the emperor.
"Come on, Concubine Liu is tired, you take her back to the palace to rest first." The emperor saw that Concubine Liu could not help when she stayed, but would make trouble, so he hurriedly asked people to take her away.
After Concubine Liu was taken away, the scene fell silent for a while, and everyone was silent. The beaten palace maid held back the tears in her eyes and didn't let it flow. A man knelt quietly on the ground, one hand covering his swollen cheek.
"Your Majesty, after the competition between the folk girls and Concubine Liu in the afternoon, I was sent by you to the dance room to teach the dancers to dance. Before going to the dance room, the folk girl changed her clothes and carried a sachet with her. Wanjun's words were full of confidence.
"The slaves and maids can testify for the girl, and Miss Wanjun did change her clothes before entering the dance room." Several palace maids answered truthfully.
"Your Majesty, can you let the folk girl take a closer look at this sachet?" Wanjun spoke again and asked the emperor's opinion.
The emperor agreed, and motioned for his men to hand the sachet to Wanjun.
Wanjun took the sachet with both hands, took it to the front and sniffed it carefully, and asked about a strong musk smell, vaguely remembering that Dou Shi had told him that women should try not to touch musk, which can easily lead to infertility and miscarriage.
"Your Majesty, there seems to be a setting in this sachet!" Wanjun's words took the emperor by surprise. If it was an accident that Concubine Shu was bumped into and caused a miscarriage in the afternoon, then the appearance of this sachet proves that it was not an accident at all, but a deliberate revenge.
Wanjun took out a small sachet from his arms in front of the emperor and a room of people. The style is very ordinary, and it is also this kind of sachet embroidered with mandarin ducks and long tassels. Everyone stared at the movements in Wanjun's hands, a little confused.
"Your Majesty, everyone, please see. This is my sachet, it looks no different from this sachet, but it was made for me by my husband Su Qing himself, and my name was embroidered on it. Wanjun handed both sachets to the emperor, and sure enough, one was embroidered with the words "Wanjun", and the other was not.
The emperor confirmed that this matter had nothing to do with Wanjun, and the biggest suspect became Concubine Liu.
Everyone looked at the two sachets handed over by Wanjun in turn, and found that it was indeed as Wanjun said. also believed that Wanjun was innocent.
"It's late at night, so don't stay here and go back to rest." The emperor got up and took the lead in leaving.
The group went out of the palace, the emperor asked Wanjun to arrange a place to live, and found two people to serve in the past, Wanjun wanted to resign, but looking at the emperor's appearance, he could only agree to the emperor's arrangement.
When Concubine Liu returned to the palace, she felt a grievance in her heart, and suddenly sat on the ground, brushing everything on the table with her sleeve, and in an instant all the teabowls and teapots fell to the ground, and the expensive porcelain turned into worthless broken porcelain pieces.
A group of palace maids and eunuchs all knelt on the ground with their heads bowed, all of them were silent, and they didn't dare to come out.
Concubine Liu recalled that the emperor had forcibly sent her back for a lowly palace maid just now, and she felt very angry. A minion dares to bully himself, what should he do in the future?
Concubine Liu's heart was very flustered, and she could only use superficial violence to hide the fear in her heart.
"Niangniang, Niangniang, you get up quickly, it's cold on the ground." A palace maid who accompanied the marriage hurriedly came over and helped Concubine Liu up from the ground.
"You're going to save me, aren't you? You're going to save me, aren't you? Concubine Liu seemed to grasp the last straw, looked at no one around, and pulled the palace maid who accompanied her to marry.
"The slave is willing to go to the soup for the mother, and she will not give up." The palace maid told the truth, from childhood to adulthood, as long as Concubine Liu got into trouble, she would take the initiative to stand up and help her.
Concubine Liu whispered a few words in the palace maid's ear, and the palace maid hurried out, Concubine Liu looked at the back of the palace maid leaving, took a few deep breaths, and then lay down and fell asleep.
Early the next morning, the emperor sent people to search Concubine Liu's palace, but found no results, but found a sachet made of musk in the room of the palace maid under her command.
"The evidence is conclusive, what do you have to say?" Concubine Liu took the sachet she found in her palace, and once again took out the posture she used to treat Wanjun yesterday to scare the palace maid who was framed.
"Mother, the slave is wronged, this is not a slave thing! The slave is wronged, I really don't know why this sachet is here with me! The palace maid who was framed didn't expect that this unlucky person would be herself. His eyes widened in surprise, and he couldn't believe that what had happened was real.
"Dare to be a slave, and dare to quibble, what do you think this is?" Concubine Liu took the green dress that was found in the palace maid's room and threw it in front of the palace maid.
The poor palace maid remembered the testimony of the palace maid yesterday, looked at the skirt that was touched to the ground, and was so frightened that her face turned pale, and the whole person sat on the ground decadently as if her soul had been drained.
"A bold slave, murdering the concubine, and murdering the prince is originally a capital crime, but the saint is merciful and has the virtue of a good life, so he is assigned to the Xin Zhiku." The voice of a eunuch echoed in the palace, and the voice was cold, making people feel creepy when they heard it.
The framed palace maid thought that she was dead, but when she heard that the emperor would not kill her, she quickly kowtowed excitedly to thank her.