vrcanaries Chapter 146 Shen Zhinian Discovered Suspicious Points
Chapter 146 Shen Zhinian Discovered Suspicious Points
Xiao Beizi would rather die than confess, but he died under torture. The people from the Ministry of Punishment had already searched his room thoroughly, but found nothing unusual except a wooden plaque with his name engraved on it.
Just when the people of the Ministry of Punishment were in a state of panic, someone in the harem discovered Hui'er, a maid from Wanxiang Pavilion, secretly burning paper money for Chen Da Ying beside Jingye Pond. When the Ministry of Punishment learned about it, they took it very seriously and immediately arrested the person.
At first, Hui'er did not admit that Chen Da Ying's death was related to Wanxiang Pavilion. She only said that she had received favors from Chen Da Ying, so she came to pay tribute.
After some interrogation, she finally confessed.
It was Concubine Meng, whom she served, who had been offended by Chen Da Ying, so she held a grudge. That day, they met in the rockery next to Jingye Pond and had another quarrel. Chen Da Ying was pushed by Concubine Meng and crashed into the rockery, dying on the spot!
Hui'er witnessed this incident with her own eyes and felt very uneasy. She was afraid that the ghost of Chen Da Ying would take revenge on her, so she went to burn paper money out of guilt.
Without the emperor's order, how could the people from the Ministry of Punishment dare to interrogate the imperial concubine? Su Quanye immediately went to ask Nangong Xuanyu for permission, and only after getting permission did he bring Concubine Meng to the Ministry of Punishment for questioning.
Of course, Lady Meng did not admit it, saying that during the time when Chen Da Ying died, she had been embroidering in Wanxiang Pavilion and had not gone anywhere. It must be that Hui Er was bribed and deliberately framed her.
However, Concubine Meng was not favored. Since the emperor ascended the throne, he had only favored her once, three months ago. She was from a humble family and had no money to win over the palace maids. Seeing that she had no future and could not make money, those palace maids who flattered the powerful and looked down on the weak gradually found other places to go.
In the entire Wanxiangju, Hui'er was the only one serving Concubine Meng, and no one could prove that what she said was true.
With Hui'er's testimony first and many palace maids confirming later that they had indeed seen Chen Da Ying offend Concubine Meng, she had no way to defend herself.
When the emperor found out, he was furious and ordered Concubine Meng to be banished to the cold palace and executed!
Hui'er knew about the situation but did not report it, so he should be punished with death by beating!
However, at this moment... Concubine Meng revealed that she was three months pregnant!
After the imperial physician felt her pulse, it was confirmed that what she said was true. For the sake of the royal heir, the emperor changed his will and only demoted her to a concubine and imprisoned her in Wanxiang Pavilion.
At this point, the case of Chen agreeing to be murdered was closed.
Seeing that Su Quanye was talking with a dry mouth, Fuqiu handed him a cup of tea and said, "Drink some water to moisten your throat, sir."
Su Quanye took it and said with a smile, "Thank you, Miss Fuqiu."
"Noble Lady Rou, you don't know that what everyone in the harem is most concerned about now is not the death of Mrs. Chen, but the heir in Mrs. Meng's belly."
"If she can give birth to a prince, it is possible for Meng Ying to turn things around!"
Shen Zhinian looked at the confession and pondered for a long time, then suddenly asked, "Does Huier know that Meng Da Ying is pregnant?"
Although Su Quanye didn't understand why Shen Zhinian asked this, he still said respectfully: "Meng promised to keep this matter a secret, and Hui'er didn't know about it until he was beaten to death."
Shen Zhinian became more confident in his guess.
Su Quanye cupped his hands and said, "The Ministry of Punishment still has things to do. If Lady Rou has no other instructions, I will take my leave first."
"Father-in-law, walk slowly."
After Su Quanye left, Handan and the others looked at each other and said hesitantly, "This... could it be that we were wrong before, and the murderer is not Lady Liu, but Lady Meng?"
"Meng Ying is lucky to be pregnant with the heir to the throne at this critical moment, otherwise she would be a corpse now. She is three months pregnant and the fetus is stable. Even if others want to harm her child, it won't be that easy."
Shen Zhinian sat upright on a chair by the window, his whole body exuding a calm and self-sustaining temperament, analyzing the situation in detail: "From the confession, there is indeed no problem. Meng Da Ying also had a motive to kill Chen Da Ying. But... there are still a few doubts about this matter."
"Imperial Physician Tang said before that Meng Da Ying had avoided the palace servants and went to the Imperial Hospital in person, using a poor appetite as an excuse to get black plums and hawthorns. Pregnant women love sour food, so she must have known she was pregnant a long time ago."
"The women in the harem are so shrewd, especially when it comes to the heir to the throne. Meng Da Ying has been able to keep her pregnancy a secret until now, and even the maid who serves her personally has not discovered it. This shows how cautious she is. Even I admire her a little."
"Would such a person really kill someone in the harem? Even if she did kill Chen Da Ying, the fact that she had kept her pregnancy a secret from Hui Er shows that she did not trust him. How could she let Hui Er hold her weak spot?"
"Also, since Meng Ying knows that she is pregnant with the heir to the throne, her status will soon be extremely high. It will not be easy to deal with Chen Ying, who is not very favored. Why take the risk of killing someone?"
Handan widened her eyes in surprise and asked in confusion, "If it weren't for your sharp mind, I would have really thought that the murderer was Meng Da Ying... If that's the case, why didn't you tell Eunuch Su just now?"
Shen Zhinian shook his head: "Su Quanye said so, and Meng Da Ying also defended herself in this way, but there was Hui Er's testimony before, and many palace servants saw her and Chen Da Ying arguing later. The Ministry of Punishment only looks at the evidence when handling cases."
"Besides, these are just my guesses. The Ministry of Punishment has already closed the case. There is no evidence. Why should you listen to me? If a big fuss is made, everyone will just think that I am not willing to give in and that I am disturbing the peace of the harem."
The most important thing is... the emperor has to deal with so many state affairs every day, how can he have so much energy to pay attention to the affairs of the harem? Compared with the common people, the country and the people's livelihood, the death of an unpopular concubine is too insignificant.
When the emperor returns to the harem after a day of handling government affairs, he likes people who can make him feel comfortable and relaxed, rather than people who cause him trouble all day long.
Even if Shen Zhinian is favored now, if she continues to dwell on this matter, it will affect the emperor's favor towards her, which will not be worth the loss.
Fuqiu and the others understood Shen Zhinian's concerns and couldn't help but feel a little worried: "But... Young Master, if the murderer is not Meng Da Ying, the person behind the scenes is still hiding in the dark. That person has already attacked you, and there is no telling when he will attack you again. It is really chilling..."
Shen Zhinian said in a deep voice: "I asked Xiao Mingzi to find out what Liu Ruyan did on the day Chen promised to die. Xiao Mingzi said that she went to the Yangxin Palace to hand over the copied palace rules to His Majesty for inspection, and then returned to Yilan Pavilion and never left again."
"There are several roads from the Yangxin Palace to Yilan Pavilion, and one of them passes through Jingye Pond. Although no one can prove that Liu Ruyan took that road, and we cannot identify her as a suspect, I still feel that this matter has something to do with her..."
"Madam Xiao, I asked you and Yuanbao to compile a list of palace maids who had had contact with Concubine Liu in the past. Have you finished it?"