Chapter 89: Storm Rises Again

Storm Rises Again

Nie Jinxuan spoke calmly, her face showing no sign of panic. But as soon as her words came out, everyone present was shocked! Even Emperor Shuncheng slapped the stone table in front of him hard again, and then looked at Nie Jinxuan while suppressing his anger,

"Fourth one's wife, are the words you just said true?"

"Your daughter-in-law dares not speak falsely."

"Good, then can you tell the identity of the deceased and clues about the murderer?!"

Emperor Shuncheng spoke affirmatively; obviously, he had already determined that Nie Jinxuan knew more than just this. Upon hearing this, Nie Jinxuan raised her eyes and looked straight into Emperor Shuncheng's eyes,

"Replying to Your Majesty, regarding the identity of the deceased, your daughter-in-law dares not speculate, but according to the results of the corpse examination just now, the deceased is very likely a concubine brought by Your Majesty from the palace during this spring festival!"

Nie Jinxuan's expression remained unmoved, but the last four words "concubine" made everyone present shocked again! After all, there was constant fighting in the harem, but there had never been such a cruel murder during such a big event as the spring festival, and right under Emperor Shuncheng's nose.

Therefore, after Nie Jinxuan finished speaking, Emperor Shuncheng was stunned, Empress Duan, who had been watching coldly, widened her eyes instantly, and even Noble Consort Zhang, who had been calm, was shocked, and then secretly turned her eyes to glance at Empress Duan...

For a time, a terrifying and strange sense of tension permeated the area around the Moon-Gazing Pavilion. No one spoke, but they glanced at each other and suspected each other.

But in the end, Emperor Shuncheng was the one who could keep his cool. After a brief shock, anger, gloom, and calmness, Emperor Shuncheng pursed his lips, narrowed his eyes, and looked at Nie Jinxuan,

"How can you be sure that the deceased is a concubine of the harem? Do you have evidence?"

"Replying to Your Majesty, I have already said just now, regarding the identity of the deceased, I cannot be one hundred percent sure. So I can only infer based on the previous corpse examination results... And in the corpse examination just now, the deceased's nails were neatly trimmed, there were no calluses on her hands, and although the body was already in a bad state, it could still be seen that the deceased had a well-proportioned figure during her lifetime..."

"Moreover, when cutting the deceased's clothes just now, I also noticed that although the outer garment was damaged, the texture was delicate, and it was definitely not something worn by ordinary palace servants, so I made such a bold inference... In addition, besides these two points, the most critical point is that when examining the corpse just now, I also discovered a ring on the deceased..."

Saying this, Nie Jinxuan gave a wink to the little eunuch beside her, and then the little eunuch hurriedly carried the evidence in his hand and walked quickly to Emperor Shuncheng.

At this moment, listening to Nie Jinxuan's words, Emperor Shuncheng looked at the ring handed to him, and then reached out to pick it up... But just at this moment, before Emperor Shuncheng could carefully examine what the ring was, Noble Consort Zhang's face changed drastically, and she actually cried "woo woo",

"Woo woo... how... how could this be..."

Noble Consort Zhang cried suddenly, and hearing the crying, Emperor Shuncheng couldn't help but turn his head,

"Why is my beloved concubine crying? Could it be that you recognize this ring?"

Emperor Shuncheng spoke in a low voice, his sharp and deep eyes revealing a hint of questioning and exploration. At the same time, Empress Duan, who was sitting on the other side of Emperor Shuncheng, also narrowed her eyes, staring at Noble Consort Zhang in silence.

At this moment, Noble Consort Zhang, who was already tearful, nodded, raised her hand to wipe her tears, and said to Emperor Shuncheng,

"Your Majesty... woo woo... of course I recognize this ring, because... because I personally gave this ring to Lady Tong a few days ago... woo woo..."

Noble Consort Zhang couldn't speak clearly, and after finishing, tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. Upon hearing this, Emperor Shuncheng frowned, but Empress Duan widened her eyes in shock.

……

Lady Tong, entered the palace three years ago. Her father was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, Tong Jin. Because she shocked the whole audience with a "Flying Heaven Dance" during the palace selection, and because she knew how to please Emperor Shuncheng and had a charming appearance, she was promoted from a fourth-rank Lady in just three years.

It was just that although this Lady Tong was charming and gentle in front of Emperor Shuncheng, she also had a hard temper. Because she had friction with Empress Duan shortly after entering the palace, it was Noble Consort Zhang who pleaded for her, allowing her to escape a disaster. Therefore, since then, Lady Tong had formed a grudge with Empress Duan, but was very close to the kind-hearted Noble Consort Zhang. In fact, it could be said that in this harem, besides Emperor Shuncheng, the only person who could persuade the hard-tempered Lady Tong was Noble Consort Zhang.

Noble Consort Zhang and Lady Tong had an extraordinary relationship, and now that Lady Tong was dead, the first person to be suspected would naturally be Empress Duan, who had always been opposed to Lady Tong. And precisely because of this, after hearing that the ring belonged to Lady Tong, Empress Duan's face changed drastically.

Empress Duan was shocked, but then she calmed down and waited to see what would happen. At this moment, hearing that the ring belonged to Lady Tong, Emperor Shuncheng frowned briefly, and then his face sank suddenly,

"Gao Caiyong!"

"This servant is here!"

"Didn't I ask you to check who is missing in the villa? Hasn't it been checked yet?"

Emperor Shuncheng was unhappy, and even his voice was a bit terrifying. Upon hearing this, Gao Caiyong hurriedly responded,

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Replying to Your Majesty, this servant has already sent people to confirm, there is indeed only Lady Tong in the villa..."

"Hmph! People have been dead for three days, how come you only know now?!"

"Uh... this..."

"Who is taking care of Lady Tong? Call them all out! I want to ask them personally, their master has been missing for three days and they didn't notice, what use are such servants?!"

Emperor Shuncheng became more and more angry. Upon hearing this, Gao Caiyong didn't dare to say much and directly had the palace servants who were responsible for taking care of Lady Tong brought over. Once those dozen or so palace servants arrived, Emperor Shuncheng slapped the table and roared,

"Bold servants, Lady Tong has been missing for three days, how exactly have you been taking care of your master?!"

Emperor Shuncheng was furious. Upon hearing this, the dozen or so palace servants were scared out of their wits and kowtowed one after another,

"Your Majesty, please spare our lives, Your Majesty, please spare our lives, this servant doesn't know..."

"Spare our lives, Your Majesty, this servant wouldn't dare to be negligent toward Lady Tong..."

"Your Majesty..."

Perhaps scared out of their wits by Emperor Shuncheng, the group of palace servants all begged for mercy. Suddenly, the originally quiet and strange Moon-Gazing Pavilion became chaotic. Seeing this, Emperor Shuncheng, who was already angry, was even more furious, but then he suppressed his mood and directly asked Gao Caiyong to investigate on his behalf.

Gao Caiyong, as the manager of the harem, was naturally capable. Once he received Emperor Shuncheng's instructions, Gao Caiyong began to inquire separately. After a quarter of an hour, the matter finally had some clues, and Gao Caiyong turned to Emperor Shuncheng and said in a low voice,

"Replying to Your Majesty, there are some clues!"

"Speak!"

"Yes! Replying to Your Majesty, according to the personal maid who usually takes care of Lady Tong, three days ago, after Lady Tong returned to her courtyard, she had a fit of temper, and then said she wanted to stay in her room quietly for four days. During this period, she didn't need anyone to disturb her, so..."

Gao Caiyong reported everything, but before he could finish, he was instantly interrupted by Emperor Shuncheng,

"Nonsense! How could Lady Tong suddenly say she wanted to stay quietly in her room for four days?! Besides, why did she have a fit of temper before? Could it be that Lady Tong is usually so inexplicable?!"

"Uh... no, Your Majesty, you don't know. Lady Tong had a fit of temper that day because, before that, she had..."

Gao Caiyong said in a low voice, but when he reached this point, he paused slightly and then quickly glanced at Empress Duan beside him. Seeing him like this, Emperor Shuncheng's eyes turned stern,

"Speak! What happened before?!"

"Yes, it was because Lady Tong ran into... ran into the Empress, and at that time Lady Tong was disrespectful, angered the Empress, and was reprimanded by the Empress, and was punished..."

The matter involved Empress Duan, and Gao Caiyong couldn't help but lower his voice. At this moment, before Gao Caiyong could finish, Empress Duan stood up and bowed to Emperor Shuncheng,

"Your Majesty, it's better for me to tell you this myself... That day I ran into Lady Tong in the back garden, and I think you know the relationship between Lady Tong and me, Your Majesty. So at that time, I didn't want to say much to Lady Tong, so I thought about turning and leaving. But I didn't expect that Lady Tong would provoke me first, and then we had some verbal conflict."

"According to the rules of the palace, I wanted to punish Lady Tong. But we are in Zuixiashanzhuang, and it is the spring festival, so after thinking about it, I had Lady Tong close her door and reflect for four days..."

At this moment, Empress Duan had already returned to her usual calmness. She said everything without a hint of panic. After saying this, she paused, looked up at Emperor Shuncheng, and then said,

"So, in front of you, Your Majesty, and all the members of the imperial family present, I admit that I had a verbal conflict with Lady Tong and punished her to close her door and reflect, but besides that, I swear I have never done anything to Lady Tong, I ask you to investigate, Your Majesty!"

Empress Duan admitted in public that she had a verbal conflict with Lady Tong and punished her to close her door and reflect. Afterward, Emperor Shuncheng asked several palace servants who were present at the time, and according to the testimony of the palace servants, the situation that day was indeed as Empress Duan said, exactly the same.

Asking up to this point, the matter was at a dead end. At this moment, seeing that it was getting late, Emperor Shuncheng ordered Gao Caiyong to investigate the matter personally and find the murderer before the end of the spring festival, and then stood up and left.

After Emperor Shuncheng left, the crowd naturally wouldn't stay long and returned to their rooms one after another. But after returning to her room, Empress Duan, who had been calm and composed, instantly raised her hand and threw the teacup on the table to the ground,

"Hmph, good for you, Lady Tong, you won't even let me have peace after you're dead!"

Sitting on a chair, after finishing, a look of anger and gloom appeared on Empress Duan's face. At this moment, seeing her like this, Crown Prince Yin Fenghan, Prince Yun Yin Fengjin, and Yin Fengjin's mother, Consort Li, all frowned, and Consort Li pouted and said,

"Hmph, exactly! If you die, you die, why drag others down!"

Consort Li had always relied on Empress Duan, and after saying this, Consort Li couldn't help but turn her eyes to look at Empress Duan, and then frowned and continued,

"But Empress, who do you think did this? The courage is too big, besides, although Lady Tong is not likable, she is currently favored, who would kill her?!"

Consort Li was a bit curious, but upon hearing this, Empress Duan didn't even look at her and snorted coldly,

"Hmph, who?! Who else could it be?! Besides Zhang Jingya, I can't think of a second person!"

"Zhang Jingya?! No way... Empress, this is not me speaking well for that Noble Consort Zhang, but I don't think this looks like something she would do! After all, that Lady Tong has been close to that Noble Consort Zhang since she entered the palace, and later because that Zhang Jingya acted like a good person and pleaded for her once, she became even closer to Noble Consort Zhang!"

"And that Lady Tong has been promoted step by step these years, but she has never had a conflict with that Noble Consort Zhang. It's not that I'm saying, if it weren't for that vixen Lady Tong helping Noble Consort Zhang blow wind and say good things in the Emperor's ear these years, that Noble Consort Zhang wouldn't have such favor today! So, I have to say, this can't be done by Noble Consort Zhang, unless she is stupid!"

Consort Li spoke loudly, but as soon as she finished, she received a roll of the eyes from Empress Duan,

"Hmph, what do you know?! Do you really think that Zhang Jingya is a good person?! Let me tell you, that Zhang Jingya is a wolf in sheep's clothing. She looks kind, but when she is ruthless, she is more ruthless than anyone! Besides, do you think she has been in the palace for so many years, how did she persist? Let me tell you, if it weren't for that woman, the Emperor would have forgotten who that Zhang Jingya is!"

Empress Duan said through gritted teeth, and then her eyes narrowed fiercely. At this moment, hearing Empress Duan's words, Yin Fenghan, who had been silent, moved his brows,

"So, Mother's meaning is, Noble Consort Zhang attacked Lady Tong to drag you into the water? Just like the last time with Lady Lan, wanting to pay you back in your own coin?"

Yin Fenghan saw Empress Duan's thoughts. Upon hearing this, Empress Duan didn't hide it and looked at him, then pursed her lips,

"Otherwise, what other reason do you think there is?"

"En, Mother's words make sense, but I think Mother doesn't need to worry about this matter... After all, as long as we didn't do it, what are we afraid of?! So in the end, it should be the murderer who is afraid..."

Yin Fenghan had a smile on his face, and upon hearing this, Empress Duan understood instantly, and then a smile slowly appeared on her face...

"Right, Han'er is absolutely right~!" ===== CHAPTER 90 =====