Chapter 331: He laughed (2/2)

Chu Qingge shook her head in disbelief, but it wasn’t until the empress dowager and Emperor Tianhui arrived that she realized this was really happening.

“Yunxi, I knew you had the skills,” the empress dowager was as kindly as ever, but only towards Han Yunxi. She had no affection for Chu Qingge.

Chu Qingge felt like throwing up. She was completely mixed up. Tianning’s empress dowager was someone who clearly loathed Han Yunxi. The old woman should be on her side! Emperor Tianhui was certainly her ally, but right now she didn’t even dare to look at him, much less sing his praises. She only kept silent, waiting to see what kind of truth Han Yunxi would show them all. Could she really discover anything within the span of a single day?

Han Yunxi disliked every single person standing in front of her right now. She wanted to finish up this palace business so she could leave and do her own things. First, she took the bottle of poison found in Noble Consort Xiao’s palace.

“This is red-hued Snowpenny. Only a full bottle of this poison is capable of killing its victim, but Noble Consort Xiao still has half a bottle left. Firstly, Noble Consort Xiao wouldn’t be stupid enough to keep the poison by her side after finishing off her victim; secondly, Noble Consort Yun wouldn’t die if she only ingested half a bottle. The court lady framed the consort, but she didn’t understand the principles of such a poison. As such, it wasn’t the court lady who poisoned Noble Consort Yun, either.”

“Obviously!” Chu Qingge laughed coldly. She’d already said these things on the first day. It was Noble Consort Xiao’s court lady, Baozhu,1 that had produced the bottle of poison. She said that Noble Consort Xiao had instigated her to use the poison on Noble Consort Yun. But judging by the contents still left in the container, Baozhu was lying.

Han Yunxi ignored Chu Qingge and continued. “The state of Noble Consort Yun’s body indicates that she was poisoned with a full bottle’s worth of red-hued Snowpenny–no more, no less. In other words, there’s still another half-bottle of the poison lying around somewhere.”

Chu Qingge gave another cold laugh. She had known about that long ago as well. For the past two days, she’d been trying to track down the other half bottle of poison. Once again, Han Yunxi ignored her and kept talking.

“Why does Noble Consort Xiao only have half a bottle? Where could the other half have gone?”

“I suppose you’ve already found it,” Chu Qingge said. She didn’t believe that Han Yunxi was capable of finding the missing bottle in as little as one day. It was even possible that the other half had already been destroyed. Even if it still existed, no one could find it that quickly.

“Mm, I’ve found it. It’s in Li Changzai’s2 palace. Of course, I’d need to take a look before I can tell you where exactly it’s hidden,” Han Yunxi replied seriously.

An unrelated person’s name had suddenly been connected to the case, leaving everyone stunned. Only the empress dowager was steady and calm. Coldly, she order, “Someone come, search through Li Changzai’s Rosy Cloudflight Courtyard.”

Soon enough, a half-full bottle of red-hued Snowpenny was discovered in Li Changzai’s Rosy Cloudflight Courtyard. Chu Qingge found the entire thing inconceivable. She almost asked Han Yunxi how she’d done it, but her pride made her hold back. Li Changzai was brought to the scene, where she started to cry injustice.

“Esteemed Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, chenqie doesn’t know anything! If chenqie understood poisons, I wouldn’t leave half a bottle of poison in the palace, either! Chenqie and Noble Consort Xiao were both framed!”

“Framed? You certainly have guts, doing things like this under my eye. Are you sick of living?” the empress dowager raged.

At this moment, the court lady Baozhu suddenly burst into tears. “Esteemed Empress Dowager, have mercy, have mercy! This servant confesses, this servant confesses everything! It was Li Changzai who made this servant frame Noble Consort Xiao! This servant was afraid that she’d frame charges against me too, so I secretly left half a bottle of poison in her palace. This servant really doesn’t understand poisons. This servant didn’t poison Noble Consort Yun; it was all Li Changzai!”

Chu Qingge listened to all of this while feeling rather shocked. She never expected this, but she was still bewildered as to how Li Changzai’s palace still had a half-bottle of poison! But Han Yunxi simply smiled coldly. It was obvious that the true culprit behind the crime was the empress dowager. Li Changzai was simply the innocent scapegoat. The empress dowager was an old hand who had created countless false charges against others. She was shrewd enough to keep them spinning in circles with this case. Most likely, she’d bribed both Li Changzai and the court lady Baozhu to her side and left the half bottle of poison in the girl’s chambers. That was to leave her a way out in case someone looked into the case.

Unfortunately, Chu Qingge and Han Yunxi actually came to investigate. Even if they uncovered Li Changzai as the culprit and failed to ruin Noble Consort Xiao, the empress dowager would have gotten rid of Noble Consort Yun, at least. That was still to her advantage. Han Yunxi was planning to search around the entire palace for the other half bottle of poison, but as it turned out, the Rosy Cloudflight Courtyard was located conveniently between Noble Consort Yun’s quarters and her own living arrangements at the palace. She was quite familiar with red-hued Snowpenny, and her detox system had sensed the toxin from far enough to show her that it was in Rosy Cloudflight Courtyard.

Now, the true culprit and evidence had come to light. It would be impossible to pin anything on the empress dowager, and neither would Li Changzai and Baizhu try to foist the blame aside. They didn’t dare to sell out the old woman.

It was a flawless plan. Han Yunxi wasn’t refusing to investigate further–she simply would be unable to find any more evidence even if she tried. There laid the true horrors of the imperial harem.

“How could you? A trivial Changzai and a trifling court lady actually dared to frame another Noble Consort! What gall! Someone come, drag them out first and beat them 30 times!” the empress dowager was furious.

Li Changzai and Baizhu naturally begged for mercy, but it was all an act at most. Very soon, both of them were dragged out of sight. Han Yunxi stared at the empty doorway and felt that the harem was like an endless abyss that’d swallow a person right up.

“Esteemed Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, since the case has been concluded, Yunxi shall take her leave.”

The empress dowager was quite satisfied. She even hoped that Han Yunxi could leave sooner. On the other hand, Emperor Tianhui had no interest in the case to begin it. No matter how much he favored Noble Consort Yun, she couldn’t compare to a new candidate for his harem! By the time Han Yunxi left, Chu Qingge was still standing shellshocked in place. She had no idea how Han Yunxi had discovered the missing poison! Finally, she realized the true extent of that woman’s poison skills.

“Your Majesty, I’ve lost!” it was rare for the ice beauty to admit her own defeat.

Still, Emperor Tianhui didn’t mind in the least. “Victory or defeat is a common thing for the soldier, so there’s no need for Miss Chu to be unhappy. Have you thought over the matter from two days ago?”