Chapter 225: Vigilance Sand
A dot of cinnabar, as vibrant as a blood bead, adorned her snow-white skin, making it exceptionally striking.
The crowd whispered amongst themselves, the entire hall filled with astonishment and curiosity.
The world knew that Prince Duan had always doted on this Consort Xue, filling Tan Qiu Courtyard with gifts, elevating a concubine’s daughter to a Consort of Prince Duan envied by all. Her favor surpassed that of other consorts in the mansion, even overshadowing the main consort by three parts.
Who would have thought that in court today, Xue Sui would use the vigilance sand to prove her innocence with Li Huan, tearing apart the carefully woven net Li Huan had spun, and instead implying Li Huan had “deliberately framed” her.
Li Huan had no way to defend himself against such intimate bedroom secrets.
“Your Highness Prince Duan…” Li Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at Li Huan with a half-smile. The handsome corners of his eyes held a sense of triumphant satisfaction.
“How do you explain this matter?”
Li Huan’s eyes were as cold as frost, staring intently at the woman below the steps.
“It’s just vigilance sand—since Consort is knowledgeable in pharmacology and comes from the Old Mausoleum Swamp, it’s hard to guarantee she wouldn’t use some martial world tricks…”
Xue Sui raised her hand, which was as cold as frost, her eyes flickered with mockery: “Do you want to verify it?”
Li Huan felt his throat dry. Looking at the woman’s slender figure below the hall, he suddenly remembered her timid and docile appearance on the day she entered the mansion, her eyes lowered. His heart ached.
He had underestimated her—
He never expected that the seemingly weak woman from that day would act without mercy, so viciously…
Seeing the emotions churning in his eyes, Li Zhao suddenly spoke with a smile.
“I have a question. With Consort’s beauty, why would Imperial Brother treat her with false affection? Could there be another hidden reason…”
Xue Sui smiled slightly, not answering directly. She merely glanced at Li Huan before speaking slowly:
“Your Prince’s Mansion is filled with beautiful women, so why have you only had one daughter in all these years?”
Li Huan’s expression instantly turned extremely unpleasant.
Those in the hall exchanged glances, looking shocked.
She hadn’t said anything, yet it felt like she had said everything…
The reason for not sharing a bed with Li Huan was that Prince Duan “wasn’t capable”…
Otherwise, with so many concubines and consorts in the Prince’s Mansion, how could they have only produced one daughter?
An awkward atmosphere permeated the hall. The Prince’s secret made everyone curious and speculative about the story behind this dispute…
Everyone held their breath, the entire hall so quiet one could hear a pin drop, only Li Huan’s heavy breathing was exceptionally clear.
He was caught off guard by Xue Sui’s move.
He never imagined that Xue Sui would launch such a bold counterattack in full view of everyone…
And that he would be unable to prove his innocence.
Li Zhao narrowed his dark eyes, his amusement almost overflowing.
He crossed his arms, tilted his head slightly, and observed Li Huan with great interest, his eyes full of schadenfreude, looking quite at ease.
“Even now, Imperial Brother still wants to quibble?”
“Framing me—” Li Huan was speechless, his face ashen with anger, veins throbbing on his forehead as if he wanted to devour someone alive…
Minister Xie Yanzhan of the Supreme Court saw his demeanor, his beard trembled slightly, he coughed lightly, and the gavel struck the desk again, making the celadon teacup on the desk hum.
“There are still many doubts in this case. Both human and material evidence require further investigation. We must not be biased or believe hearsay, lest we wrong the innocent…”
Wu Zhi of the Censorate met Li Huan’s cold gaze, his heart tightened. He nodded repeatedly, flipped through the case files, and loudly agreed.
“Minister Xie is absolutely right. The priority is to clarify the case’s context and distinguish the authenticity of the evidence…”
Xie Yanzhan nodded slightly, scanned the hall with a solemn expression, and then raised his voice.
“Summon the witness—the first-rank maid of the Lu Mansion, Bi Yu, to the hall!”
Bi Yu entered on her knees. The hairpin in her hair was a gift from the Second Young Lady Lu before her death.
“Reporting to all esteemed officials, it was Princess Ping Le who gave the snakeberry juice to my young lady…”
Before she finished speaking, her throat choked, and she began to weep.
“My young lady was simple-minded and was deceived by Princess Ping Le. She had no idea that snakeberry juice was poisonous and could kill someone… Nor did she expect it would harm herself and others, leading to such an end…”
To protect the Lu family’s reputation and make her testimony more credible, she did not implicate Lu Xi, making her statement sound reasonable and flawless.
The hall erupted in an uproar.
Xie Yanzhan tapped his teacup against the rim of the cup.
“Bold servant, do you know the penalty for framing a princess?”
Bi Yu’s body trembled violently, as if startled. She remained stunned for a moment before her sobs resumed.
Then, this seemingly timid maid suddenly lunged towards the desk, her forehead hitting the ground heavily.
“I beg all esteemed officials to uphold justice for my young lady. This servant is willing to stake her life on it! That day, Princess Ping Le gifted my young lady an agarwood bracelet and handed her the snakeberry poison. This servant witnessed it with my own eyes…”
Xie Yanzhan slammed the desk forcefully: “Bold slut, how dare you spout lies! Disturbing the court…”
Minister Wu, the Left Censor, coughed lightly, interrupting him, and leaned forward amiably, “You say Princess Ping Le ordered the Second Young Lady Lu to administer the poison?”
“Reporting to Your Excellency, that is precisely it! This servant dares not lie…”
Bi Yu trembled and kowtowed to him.
“Last year on Laba Festival, this servant personally saw Princess Ping Le take out a confidential letter from a hidden compartment in the Women’s Workshop… It had a diagram of a jade pendant belonging to the Xizi Wolf Guard, which I had seen in Qing Hui Hall…”
She paused, as if remembering something, and tightly clutched the hem of her clothes, her voice choked with tears:
“At that time, an embroidery woman from the Xianchun Embroidery Workshop in the west of the city happened to be delivering embroidery to the Women’s Workshop. She saw it too… If Your Excellencies do not believe me, you can summon her to confront me…”
The hall was in an uproar.
Then it fell into a brief, dead silence.
More than ten officials from the Three Judicial Offices were present, yet not one spoke, nor did they wish to summon the embroidery woman.
Bi Yu, as if not noticing the officials’ evasive expressions, nervously bit her lower lip and continued to speak with a trembling voice, her words dripping with blood.
“My young lady saw Princess Ping Le act ruthlessly, often beating close maids to death. She had instructed this servant to hide evidence of the Princess’s years of oppressing the people, corruption, and forming factions in a sandalwood box under her dressing table, to prevent Princess Ping Le from silencing her…”
Xie Yanzhan’s expression changed, and he slammed the gavel down heavily.
“This slut slandering royalty deserves to have her entire clan exterminated!”
“Minister Xie, please calm yourself—” Li Zhao raised his sleeve to stop his almost uncontrollable anger, looked at Li Huan with a cold gaze, and a mocking smile curved his lips.
“It’s not too late to punish her after we’ve seen the evidence.”
He then turned his head slightly, his gaze piercing as he looked at Bi Yu.
“Where is the evidence left by the Second Young Lady Lu?”
Before he finished speaking, a commotion suddenly arose from outside the hall.
Wen Jia entered the main hall at this moment.
The autumn sun shone through the lintel of the Supreme Court, casting a dappled pattern of light and shadow on her indigo palace gown.
Two palace servants followed her, carrying a sandalwood box. The bronze ornaments on the corners of the box made dull sounds against the bluestone.
Wen Jia clasped her hands and bowed with a dignified posture.
“This is what Duke Lu and Grand Tutor Lu painstakingly investigated in half a year. We ask Your Highnesses and all esteemed officials to judge impartially…”
As the lid of the box was opened, a scent of aged ink wafted out.
The entire hall gasped—
Li Huan’s teacup tightened in his hand, his gaze chilling.
The box was filled with various letters, account books, and testimonies from low-ranking servants and minor figures such as cooks, stable hands, maids, embroiderers, and carriage drivers—
Pawnbroker at Yongchang Pawnshop: “I pawned an item from the Princess’s Mansion and saw half a piece of silk hidden in a compartment. The wax seal had a wolf’s head pattern. I dared not speak of it and still have it at the shop…”
Madam of Tianxiang Pavilion: “Cui Xi, a girl at the pavilion, has a regular customer whose mother is a head-dressing nanny at Princess Ping Le’s Mansion. Once, when this gentleman was drunk, he let slip that the Princess was accustomed to mixing a colorless and odorless poison into rouge and tea. Last autumn, she poisoned three talkative maids…”
Night Watchman Old Jiu: “On the tenth of last month, at the third watch, a masked person entered the Princess’s Mansion through a corner gate. They moved silently, with a strange leather pouch hanging from their waist, looking like a Xizi person…”
These unknown individuals meticulously pieced together how Princess Ping Le planned her schemes, how she secretly hoarded snakeberry poison, how she coerced and threatened Lu Xi, and her daily wicked deeds.
One of the account books clearly recorded the details of Princess Ping Le’s gifts and bribes to certain officials, involving many officials, including some important figures in the Three Judicial Offices.
“On the seventh day of the third month of Chongzhao Year Eight, Censor Zhang of the Censorate received a hu of Eastern Pearls and a gilded incense burner…”
“On the Dragon Boat Festival in May, Minister Xie of the Supreme Court received a painting of ancient mountains and rivers from the previous dynasty…”
“On the sixteenth of the third month, Zhao, the Clerk of the Court of Diplomatic Relations, added twelve beautiful dancers to his household…”
The evidence was so detailed it was astonishing.
Everyone gasped in disbelief at the ironclad evidence.
Xie Yanzhan and Wu Zhi’s faces turned ashen, their expressions extremely grim.
Wen Jia’s gaze swept over Li Huan’s somber face.
“With all the evidence and witnesses present, I implore Your Highnesses and the esteemed officials of the Three Judicial Offices to uphold justice and judge impartially, so as not to betray the sincere intentions of Duke Lu and Grand Tutor Lu.”
“Nonsense.” Li Huan suddenly slammed the table and stood up.
Even with the evidence laid bare before him, he remained as calm as ever.
“No matter how audacious Ping Le is, she would not poison her own mother.”
“Of course not.” Xue Sui raised her eyes, meeting his gaze without flinching, a meaningful smile appearing.
“Because what Princess Ping Le intended to poison was originally the Empress, and accidentally killing Consort Xiao was merely a twist of fate!”
