Chapter 58: This woman must die, or things will not go smoothly

The torture methods of the Criminal Justice Department were best at cracking open hard nuts.

Especially since Fang Zhaoyi wasn’t exactly a hard nut.

She was ruthless, but only to others.

As a pampered young lady, she hadn’t received any special training from death warriors. After enduring the eighteen tortures of the Criminal Justice Department for three days and three nights, how could she hold out?

She confessed to all the bad things she had done in her life.

Wu Mi, the chief eunuch in charge of torture, examined each item against the relevant suspects, ensuring that all the evidence was complete, and finally presented the case file to the Emperor:

“Your Majesty, after investigation, Chunliu and Chunni were both instructed by Fang Zhaoyi. She attempted to murder Shunbin twice…”

The previous attempt to murder Shunbin and frame Tang Meiren was also Fang Zhaoyi’s doing.

Helian Qi flipped through the case file in front of him, his face as dark as water.

“Besides that, another case was discovered. Fang Zhaoyi once framed Wei Shi in the Cold Palace. She used burning paper money to lure Wei Shi into making a mistake, and after being discovered, she framed her with a voodoo doll… Hongxing has been apprehended, she was bought by Fang Zhaoyi, and her confession has been verified.” Wu Mi continued to report, cautiously saying:

“Fang Zhaoyi’s confession said that it was the Noble Consort who instructed her to attack Wei Shi, but there is no evidence to prove this… Do you need to ask the Noble Consort to cooperate with the investigation?”

Helian Qi’s eyes paused, looking at Wu Mi, “Did the Noble Consort instruct the murder of Shunbin?”

“According to Fang Zhaoyi’s confession, the Noble Consort was unaware of these matters.” Wu Mi replied.

Helian Qi remained silent for a moment, his deep eyes revealing no emotion.

Fang Zhaoyi was the Noble Consort’s person, this was a known fact.

The Noble Consort instructed her to deal with Wei Yingya, obviously an arrangement by the Cen family.

If it involved the royal heir, Helian Qi would never let it go lightly.

Since it was unrelated to the dragon seed, just a matter of Ying Meiren, and there was insufficient evidence, and the Cen family was protecting her, there would be no result if he attacked the Noble Consort.

“Fang Zhaoyi is to be executed by beating, release Tang Meiren and Ying Meiren.” Helian Qi said slowly.

Wu Mi instantly understood that His Majesty didn’t intend to pursue the Noble Consort further, and he accepted the order:

“This servant accepts the order.”

…

In Jingxi Palace.

The Noble Consort sat with her eyes closed in front of the statue of Guanyin, holding a string of prayer beads.

Zhenzhu offered a cup of calming tea, “Your Highness, please have some…”

She was reciting Buddhist scriptures to calm her mind, but the Noble Consort’s heart was very troubled and couldn’t be still.

“The laxity in Changchun Palace is real, but Ning Wanyin has never been lax. Fang Zhaoyi made a wrong move, and I was fooled by her.” The Noble Consort opened her eyes, a hint of coldness flashing in them:

“This woman must die, or I will not be able to achieve my goals.”

“The Xue family is also useless, after all this time, they still let her live and jump around.” Zhenzhu complained, echoing the Noble Consort’s words.

The Noble Consort sneered, “She’s not that easy to deal with…”

Now she understood.

She had underestimated Ning Wanyin.

But there were so many people in the palace who wanted Ning Wanyin dead, Ning Wanyin was like walking on the edge of a cliff.

One wrong step, and she would be shattered to pieces.

“The Xue family wants her dead even more than I do, let’s see how they arrange it.” The Noble Consort lowered her eyes, playing with the prayer beads in her palm. She never liked to be at the forefront, but preferred to plot behind the scenes.

She didn’t believe that with so many people wanting her dead.

She could still be rampant.

At this moment, the head eunuch rushed in, hurriedly reporting:

“Your Highness…”

“Oh no, news just came out secretly from the Criminal Justice Department, Fang Zhaoyi confessed everything, and said that you instructed her to murder Ying Meiren…”

The Noble Consort was quite calm about this, “Her word alone, without evidence. It won’t have any impact…”

“But the Emperor will definitely know…”

“That’s exactly what I want the Emperor to know. If everything Fang Zhaoyi did is said to be unrelated to me, the Emperor won’t believe it either. It’s just harming Ying Meiren, I’m just a messenger, it’s all the Cen family’s arrangement, the Emperor doesn’t need to bother with me…” A hint of cold mockery flashed in the Noble Consort’s eyes:

“The most important thing is that this will make the Emperor clear that Shunbin’s murder has nothing to do with me.”

The Noble Consort had planned everything from the beginning.

When plotting against an enemy, it’s natural to consider defeat before victory.

If Fang Zhaoyi failed and ended up in the Criminal Justice Department, she would definitely confess everything.

What she could say, she would say directly.

And what she couldn’t let the Emperor know, she would naturally pretend not to know and deny it completely.

Not a quarter of an hour later.

The Emperor’s decree came down from the imperial court, and as expected, it didn’t mention the Noble Consort.

“Everything is as Your Highness predicted, Your Highness is wise.” Zhenzhu reported the content of the decree and flattered her.

The Noble Consort had known that she wouldn’t be implicated, so she didn’t care much, and said indifferently, “Since Ying Meiren is coming back, then arrange for her to live next to Haitang Residence.”

Originally, Wei Yingya had been stripped of her title and rank.

But the Emperor’s word is law, he called her Ying Meiren, so she naturally restored her original position, still Ying Meiren.

Haitang Residence was occupied by Wei Ying Shu, the Noble Consort deliberately arranged for Ying Meiren to live next to Wei Ying Shu.

Let these two sisters fight it out slowly.

…

Returning from Linlang Palace, Shunbin was terrified.

She never expected that she had almost miscarried.

She also held a grudge against Ning Wanyin. Since she had discovered Chunliu’s problem early on, why didn’t she tell her in time?

She almost got hurt.

And made the Emperor unhappy with her.

But if Ning Wanyin had told her beforehand, she might not have believed her one-sided words, and it would have alerted the snake.

“My stomach hurts… Could it be because I was too close to the pomegranate tree…” Shunbin looked at Ning Wanyin in panic.

Chunque angrily accused, “Ning Jieyu knew Chunliu had a problem, how could you just watch her deceive our Empress… If our Empress had something wrong with her body, it’s all your fault!”

Ning Wanyin glanced at their mistress and maid. As soon as she sent Shunbin back to the palace, she had already instructed Lianrui to invite Zhao Yuanpan.

Shunbin didn’t touch the pomegranate tree, even if she did, within half an hour, the effect of the medicine wouldn’t have taken effect.

Poisoning also depends on the dosage.

Ning Wanyin roughly estimated that she should have been frightened and her fetus moved, causing abdominal pain.

Lianrui angrily retorted, “Our mistress has said many times, please ask Shunbin to stay inside. You wouldn’t listen, if it wasn’t for our mistress discovering it in time, you would have already had an accident, can you blame our mistress for this?”

Just then, Zhao Yuanpan arrived, took her pulse and said:

“Your Highness is frightened and your fetus has moved. Just rest in bed for a few days, relax, calm your mind, and you will be able to recover.”

Shunbin nervously said, “I touched the abortifacient today, could it be that I was hurt by the abortifacient…”

“Your Highness has no signs of being injured by an abortifacient, rest assured.” Zhao Yuanpan affirmed.

Shunbin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She suddenly remembered that the Emperor already knew everything. The Emperor valued the dragon seed the most, how could he let her have an accident?

Shunbin quickly looked at Ning Wanyin:

“Wanyin, don’t be angry, Chunque is just too worried about me, she spoke without thinking. I know that today’s mistake is all mine… I’m safe and sound, thanks to you…”

Although she was unhappy with Ning Wanyin, she was even more afraid that Ning Wanyin wouldn’t care about her.

Without Ning Wanyin, she would have already had an accident.

“It’s alright. Chunque is also loyal to her mistress, but she didn’t take good care of Your Highness, knowing that Your Highness was going to Linlang Palace but didn’t stop her, almost harming Your Highness. Someone, drag Chunque away and give her fifty lashes.” Ning Wanyin ordered.

Shunbin’s face changed instantly, “But without Chunque to take care of me, I’m not used to it… This…”

“His Majesty has assigned a few new people to Changchun Palace, among them is an old woman named Wu, who has experience taking care of concubines giving birth during the previous Emperor’s reign, she is steady and reliable. From now on, Wu will be close to Shunbin.” Ning Wanyin looked at her and said calmly:

“Your Highness, rest assured, after Chunque is punished, she can still serve Your Highness.”

Chunque hurriedly looked at Shunbin, “Your Highness, save me… Your Highness, save me…”

After these fifty lashes, she would be half dead.