Chapter 112

Further doubts.

Since the drugging incident had been discovered by Nie Jinxuan, Xiao Xiu naturally dared not hide anything anymore. She told the whole story from beginning to end!

Xiao Xiu's account was detailed, and she cried her heart out. After hearing the whole story, Nie Jinxuan felt the world go black before her eyes, but she couldn't say a word!

The room fell into an eerie silence, broken only by Xiao Xiu's occasional sobs. After a long while, Nie Jinxuan finally calmed her emotions and spoke again:

"Then Xiao Xiu, let me ask you, what about the Crown Princess? Why, after you drugged him, did you call Zhen Xiao Lian over?"

This was the biggest problem in this matter. After all, whether it was her second sister Nie Jinhui or Xiao Xiu herself, if their starting point was for the relationship between herself and Yin Fengzhan to improve, then why would they call the Crown Princess Zhen Xiao Lian over?! Wasn't this clearly trying to frame Yin Fengzhan?

And she herself was about to return at that time, so this would not only fail to improve her relationship with Yin Fengzhan but would instead cause a misunderstanding! Wouldn't that be completely counterproductive?!

Nie Jinxuan couldn't figure it out. At this moment, hearing Nie Jinxuan's questioning, Xiao Xiu, who was kneeling on the ground and sobbing uncontrollably, sniffled and replied through her tears:

"Woo woo... Princess Consort... this servant doesn't know either... this servant really doesn't know... at the time, I only wanted the Princess Consort and the Prince to have a better relationship, and I hoped the Princess Consort would take back the divorce document, so I listened to the Second Young Miss and drugged the tea... woo woo... I was so scared at the time, so as soon as I saw the Prince drink the tea, I ran out to find you, Princess Consort..."

"Woo woo... but this servant doesn't know how, at that very moment, the Crown Princess went over... woo woo... this servant really doesn't know... woo woo..."

Xiao Xiu truly didn't know. Hearing this, Nie Jinxuan turned her gaze to Yin Fengzhan, who had been silent all along, before looking back at Xiao Xiu.

"Since you say you don't know, then I will believe you... But Xiao Xiu, tell me, where did you get that drug?"

Aphrodisiacs were hard to talk about, whether in ancient or modern times. Xiao Xiu was timid, and a young girl at that, so how could she have gotten her hands on such a thing? Hearing this, the tears Xiao Xiu had just wiped away began to flow again.

"Woo woo... Princess Consort... this, this servant, this servant doesn't know either... it, it was the Second Young Miss who gave it to me..."

"What? Second Sister gave it to you? Do you know where she got it from?"

"Woo woo... this servant, this servant doesn't know..."

Nie Jinxuan had never expected that there would be so many unknown secrets behind the events of that night. Seeing that she couldn't get any more information out of Xiao Xiu, Nie Jinxuan dismissed her.

Once Xiao Xiu left, Nie Jinxuan let out a soft sigh and turned to look at Yin Fengzhan beside her.

"Yin Fengzhan, you heard it clearly this time, it wasn't me who had Xiao Xiu drug you. So, please take back those filthy thoughts of yours!"

Although her anger had subsided somewhat after learning the truth, she still felt uncomfortable thinking about Yin Fengzhan's previous attitude. Hearing this, Yin Fengzhan, who had been silent, glanced at Nie Jinxuan, but his face darkened, and he pursed his lips.

"I am filthy? Nie Jinxuan, I already said that was an accident, it was you who didn't trust me! Furthermore, I had always thought you proposed the divorce because of that misunderstanding, but hearing the whole story today, I realize you had already prepared for the divorce long before that... Nie Jinxuan, what else do you have to explain?"

"Explain? Why should I explain? Yin Fengzhan, you only care about how I wrote the divorce document, but have you ever thought about why I wrote it?"

Suddenly, Nie Jinxuan felt an inexplicable sadness in her heart, her nose felt inexplicably sore, and tears began to well up uncontrollably...

Nie Jinxuan was crying. Seeing this, Yin Fengzhan, who had been about to retort, was stunned. He swallowed his words and remained silent.

Yin Fengzhan stopped talking. The room fell into a deathly silence. After a while, Nie Jinxuan calmed down and wiped the corners of her eyes.

"Forget it, it's already like this now, there's no point in talking about the past! However, there are two things that must be said... First, Xiao Xiu just said the drug came from Second Sister! But the deterioration of our relationship, and my subsequent writing of the divorce document, only happened after we arrived at Zuixiashanzhuang. And at that time, Second Sister was already at the villa, so how did she get those drugs? Who gave them to her? Or to be bolder, could it be that Second Sister had anticipated such an event and had prepared them from the very beginning?"

"And besides this, there is another more important matter, which is, how did the Crown Princess appear? And why was the timing and opportunity so coincidental?!"

Nie Jinxuan regained her usual sharpness and pointed out two of the most important doubts. As she spoke, she paused slightly and looked up at Yin Fengzhan.

At this moment, Yin Fengzhan also frowned slightly.

"Wouldn't it be enough to just go back to the capital and ask your second sister? As for Xiao Lian..."

Yin Fengzhan spoke in a low voice, but Nie Jinxuan, who had been thinking about the matter, was shocked when she heard him call the Crown Princess Zhen Xiao Lian by her given name, and her eyebrows shot up.

She couldn't tell if it was anger or pain, but she felt very stifled. She couldn't help but snort coldly.

"Hey, Yin Fengzhan, what did you just say? 'Xiao Lian'?! It seems you really do have a deep relationship with that Crown Princess!"

At this moment, even Nie Jinxuan herself didn't realize how sour her words sounded. Hearing this, Yin Fengzhan was also slightly stunned, but his face darkened, and he said nothing more.

Yin Fengzhan stopped talking again. Seeing him sulking and silent, Nie Jinxuan's anger rose even higher.

"Yin Fengzhan, can you stop acting like a coward?! You were quite capable of talking when we were arguing before, why do you go silent whenever we talk about something you don't want to discuss? Can you act like a man and be straightforward?"

Nie Jinxuan really couldn't hold it in anymore! Hearing this, Yin Fengzhan, who was sitting nearby and sulking, glared at her.

"My affairs are none of your business!"

Saying this, regardless of what Nie Jinxuan said next, he stood up and walked out. Watching him leave, Nie Jinxuan, sitting in her chair, widened her eyes in anger and reflexively cursed:

"Yin Fengzhan, you bastard!"

The previous misunderstanding had been resolved, but the relationship between Yin Fengzhan and Nie Jinxuan did not improve because of it! It just shifted from the fiery period of confrontation to a silent period of ice.

Neither spoke to the other, and even during dinner, they sat in silence. Because it was already afternoon when they left Zuixiashanzhuang, they couldn't make it back to the capital after lingering at the Fu Lai Inn, so they had to stay the night.

Because of the cold war, Yin Fengzhan and Nie Jinxuan naturally stayed in separate rooms. The night passed in silence, and early the next morning, Yin Fengzhan and Nie Jinxuan's party set off for the capital. They didn't return to the Wangfu and went straight into the palace.

The Imperial Study was quiet. Seeing Yin Fengzhan and Nie Jinxuan standing before him, Emperor Shuncheng couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"What do you want with me?"

Emperor Shuncheng asked directly. Hearing this, Yin Fengzhan first bowed and said in a low voice:

"Reporting to Father Emperor, this son has come to the palace today because there is actually a matter I must report to you!"

"What matter?"

"It is about the death of Consort Tong!"

He briefly explained the matter. Hearing this, Emperor Shuncheng's eyes flashed, and he turned to look at Nie Jinxuan beside Yin Fengzhan.

"The culprit for Consort Tong's death has already been found, and the culprit has already confessed. I wonder, Fourth Son, why you bring this up now?"

Emperor Shuncheng was speaking to Yin Fengzhan, but his gloomy eyes were fixed on Nie Jinxuan beside him. Hearing this, Yin Fengzhan replied directly:

"Reporting to the Emperor, this son only wishes to tell you a fact... that is, the time of Consort Tong's death is incorrect!"

"Time is incorrect? What do you mean?"

Shocked to hear that the time of Consort Tong's death was wrong, Emperor Shuncheng turned to look at Yin Fengzhan. At this moment, Nie Jinxuan interjected to explain:

"Reporting to the Emperor, in fact, this matter was... it was my carelessness at the time. I only heard that Consort Tong was found in the Jade Pool. So, I intuitively assumed the Jade Pool was an ordinary mountain pond. But yesterday morning, I inadvertently discovered that the Jade Pool is not a simple pond, but a cold pool!"

"The water temperature of a cold pool is much lower than that of an ordinary pond, so it has a significant impact on the corpse. Thus, this led to a large deviation in determining Consort Tong's time of death... Based on the water temperature of the Jade Pool, Consort Tong's time of death was not three days before the body was found, but five days before!"

Nie Jinxuan spoke earnestly. Hearing her words, Emperor Shuncheng was stunned for a moment, then looked at her thoughtfully.

"So you're saying the autopsy was wrong!"