Chapter 543

The mark on the child's arm had just become visible, and the faces of those around changed slightly; this child had always been looked after by Chen Yiyi.

It was fine before; how did it become like this today?

Gu Jiu Ling stared fixedly at the deathly pale Chen Yiyi: 'Speak! You're usually quite eloquent—what's with the mark on the child's arm?'

Chen Yiyi's face tightened as she hurriedly said, 'It's that old servant who attends the young lady; I had her bring the child to play in the garden, never expecting her to treat the young lady like this! She deserves to be cut a thousand times, guilty of a death worthy of ten thousand deaths, but what does that have to do with me?'

Gu Jiu Ling couldn't help but laugh angrily; even at death's door she remained stubborn, and she coldly stared at Chen Yiyi before her.

'What does it have to do with you? It has everything to do with you—don't you know the young lady is allergic to pollen?'

Chen Yiyi widened her eyes in disbelief and looked at Gu Jiu Ling.

'What... what pollen allergy? I don't know what the princess consort is saying; this commoner truly doesn't understand.'

Gu Jiu Ling snorted coldly: 'You don't understand? Then we'll use something you can understand—bring that old servant in!'

Soon after, the medicine slave from the infirmary pushed the grandmother who had just injured the young lady in on a specially made single-frame bed.

Tubes were inserted into the grandmother's body; despite such severe injuries, she could still manage to speak.

Her face was as pale as paper, and upon seeing Gu Jiu Ling she trembled uncontrollably.

Gu Jiu Ling produced an ordinary sweat shirt stained with blood; seeing it, the grandmother's tense expression twitched.

'Please, Princess Consort, show mercy! Princess Consort, show mercy! Spare my son!'

Gu Jiu Ling fixed her gaze on the old woman on the stretcher, flung the blood‑stained sweat shirt onto her, and said word by word: 'Your child is a child—does that mean someone else's child isn't a child?'

'Moreover, the young lady of the Zhao family is your master—how could you lay a hand on her?'

'Speak! What exactly did Chen Yiyi give you to dare abuse your master? Don't you want to live?'

'If you utter a single wrong word today, I will cut your son as well, let him taste the pain of abuse—let's all just lose face.'

'No! No! Princess Consort, please! Don't!'

'My lady, I'll speak! I'll say it all—it's the older miss, she made me do this.'

'What nonsense are you spouting? You betrayed your master and harmed people, yet you frame me—what are you even?' Chen Yiyi panicked, lunged forward, but was pinned down by the people on either side.

The An family members also became agitated; Zhao Lang suddenly swiped his sword toward the table corner, actually cleaving half the table in two.

Instantly, everyone around fell silent, an inexplicable fear rising in their hearts.

Zhao Lang stared fixedly at the grandmother lying on the stretcher, raised his sword blade to press against her chest, and gritted his teeth: 'Speak!'

'General! I'll speak! I'll say everything—the older miss made me do this.'

'These past days, the older miss has been playing with the young lady and suddenly noticed that whenever the young lady touches pollen, her hands and face turn red and swell.'

'Our young mistress hastily summoned a doctor, who said this child must not touch pollen; originally the young mistress intended to tell the princess consort about this.'

'But the older miss advised the young mistress, saying the princess consort has been swamped with affairs lately; bothering her over such a small matter would only annoy her needlessly. Better to take some medicine and cure the illness ourselves.'

'The day before yesterday, the young mistress suffered a difficult labor, her life and death uncertain, and the older miss then conceived the idea of replacing her.'

'Since the child born to the young mistress naturally could not be kept, she had the old servant bring the child to play in the garden.'

'Indeed, the child was in great distress, scratching and clawing, wanting to go back; the old servant, annoyed by the young lady's fussing, pinched her a few times, and that was all.'

'It's all the older miss—she said she would give me a manor once the child died from pollen‑induced suffocation, to help my gambling‑addicted son pay off all his debts.'

'I, too, was momentarily bewildered and did this; I beg the general for mercy and leniency!'

Zhao Lang's eyes were nearly bloodshot—these damned bastards!

He fights on the front lines, risking his life to earn them food and drink, amassing so much silver, only to raise these good‑for‑nothing layabouts.

They actually wanted to kill his dear beloved; he was about to thrust his sword into the grandmother's heart, but Gu Jiu Ling blocked him just in time.

'Go file a record with the Ministry of Punishment; this witness must not die yet—we can deal with her after the case is opened.'

Only then did Zhao Lang suppress his killing intent and sheath his sword, though his hand kept trembling.

By now the grandmother's words all pointed to Chen Yiyi kneeling on the ground, and the old lady of the An family immediately shrieked, 'How can you condemn my granddaughter based on a single statement? On what basis?'

'Just because she says it makes it true? What if that old servant is lying?'

Gu Jiu Ling laughed: 'Come! Search Chen Yiyi's residence—we're bound to find something.'

Chen Yiyi's heart lurched; she wanted to say more, but was forcibly pressed down again.

Although the old lady of the An family was stubborn, the panic in her eyes could not be hidden; if this matter blew up, her plan would not only fail but could bring great trouble.

Soon after, two servants emerged from Chen Yiyi's residence with something they had found.

When people saw the servant holding a cat appear in his arms, they were so surprised they couldn't speak. 7k

No wonder these days the young lady of the Zhao family has been fussing and running to Chen Yiyi's courtyard—she had been keeping a cat.

One servant put the cat in a cage and presented it to Gu Jiu Ling, while another handed her a packet of powdery substance.

Gu Jiu Ling picked up the medicine packet, gave it a sniff, and almost slapped the feigning‑innocent Chen Yiyi across the face.

'Then tell me what this is.'

Lord Qiao Songyue beside her also sensed something, stepped forward, took the packet from Gu Jiu Ling's hand, gave it a quick sniff, and his face changed dramatically.

'This… this isn't Five‑Stone Powder, is it?'

Such substances are all the rage among the aristocratic youth of Shang Jing, possessing hallucinogenic effects.

Who would have thought such a thing would turn up in the quarters of a lady of the inner residence; Chen Yiyi froze there, having hidden it well, yet it was still found.

Gu Jiu Ling slowly rose, stepped toward Chen Yiyi, and kicked her.

Chen Yiyi staggered backward and fell; the old lady of the An family wailed, 'Princess Consort of Rui is committing violence in public—Lord Qiao, aren't you going to intervene?'

Qiao Songyue gave a wry smile: 'I could certainly rein her in, but this woman can't even be controlled by Prince Rui—how could I manage her?'

Gu Jiu Ling then took the medicine packet back from Lord Qiao Songyue's hands, looked at the old lady of the An family, and said, 'This is the truth you wanted to see.'