Chapter 36: Palace Banquet Storm (6)

"Official Dan, the Beiqi Princess died in our Qiongyue Great Hall; this is a major matter that cannot be discussed lightly! This case is handed over to you to investigate thoroughly. You must find the Princess's true cause of death and the murderer." Because of the name Dan Yulan reported, although Yan Hongtian's voice still maintained the dignity of a monarch, his face darkened instantly.

Kneeling halfway on the ground, Dan Yulan replied loudly, "This subject accepts the decree."

Xu Xunsi, who had been holding the corpse tightly in his arms, seemed to have regained some reason. On his young face was the mettle and dignity that a prince of a country should have. He raised his head to look directly at Yan Hongtian on the high seat and said coldly, "If I remember correctly, the Red Ring Silk Worm is a poisonous creature unique to Qiongyue. Seventh Sister has now died tragically in the Qiongyue Great Hall. Beiqi dares to ask the Qiong Emperor to give us an explanation. Xu Xunsi has no objection to Official Dan personally investigating this case, but I hope Official Dan can investigate in front of me."

"Granted!" Things had reached this point, and this request was not excessive. After all, no matter what, the fact that the Princess died in the hall was already a fact.

"In the Great Hall, where would a poisonous snake come from?! The Princess was fine just now, she only drank one cup of wine. Could it be that this wine is poisonous!" A rough voice rang out in such an empty hall, actually loud enough to make people's ears hurt, showing how loud the voice was.

Everyone looked toward the person who spoke. It was another Beiqi envoy, Hu Xi'ang, the eldest son of General Hu Zhangyu. His figure was as rough as his voice, and he was holding the wine pot the Princess had used. Compared to Xu Xunsi's restraint, the anger on his face was undisguised.

Dan Yulan walked toward him, took the wine pot from his hand, and whispered a few words to the attendant beside him, after which the attendant ran away in a hurry.

Zhuo Qing bumped her shoulder against Mo Bai beside her and asked in a low voice, "What is a Red Ring Silk Worm?"

Mo Bai didn't want to pay attention to her, but after looking at her, he saw that her eyes were full of brilliance, staring tightly at the woman's corpse on the ground, different from her usual self. Mo Bai was silent for a while, but finally lowered his voice and replied, "The Red Ring Silk Worm is a poisonous snake unique to the northwest of Qiongyue. Because its body is small, thinner than a finger, and less than two feet long, the locals call it a worm. This snake lives in dark ditches and stone crevices, in extremely wet and cold places. It only comes out at night and never sees sunlight all year round. Its body is bright red, and its toxicity is extremely strong. Being bitten by it results in immediate death. Even if you just touch it or accidentally ingest its venom, you will also die without a doubt."

You die without a doubt even if you touch it? Zhuo Qing was shocked. She looked at Mo Bai and asked anxiously, "There are no wounds on the hands, will you also be poisoned if you touch its venom?"

Mo Bai didn't speak, only nodded coldly.

What a powerful venom. Generally, snake venom is either neurotoxin or hemotoxin, and the most powerful ones contain both. But venom that poisons you just by touching the skin—could it have corrosive permeability?! Zhuo Qing sighed secretly. There was no equipment in this era to test for poisons, otherwise, she could study it properly!

Not knowing if Dan Yulan had any strange tricks, Zhuo Qing raised her head to look at Dan Yulan opposite.

The attendant brought a white porcelain dish and a silver needle about ten centimeters long.

She saw him pour the wine from the pot onto the dish. The originally pure wine had a faint red color, which couldn't be seen in the green bronze cup. Placing the silver needle in his hand onto the dish, the silver needle submerged in the wine immediately turned pitch black. Dan Yulan took out the silver needle and wiped it with a white cloth, but the silver needle remained pitch black.

Zhuo Qing frowned slightly. What could be certain was that this poison contained heavy sulfides, which was why the silver needle turned black. Besides this, what other ingredients were there?! Zhuo Qing continued to watch, but unfortunately, Dan Yulan made no further moves.

Hu Xi'ang was already impatient and asked anxiously, "Is there poison in the wine?!"

Putting away the silver needle, Dan Yulan made no defense and replied truthfully, "The silver needle is pitch black, the wine color is slightly red, and it has a salty, fishy smell. The wine indeed contains the venom of the Red Ring Silk Worm."

Zhuo Qing looked at this Criminal Justice Official she had only met once again. What a unique person. The Red Ring Silk Worm was clearly a poisonous creature unique to Qiongyue; why could he answer so calmly? Didn't he see those two imperial physicians still shaking now! Was he truly so upright and unyielding, or was he too confident in himself, thinking he could resolve this crisis?

Once Dan Yulan confirmed that there was poison in the wine, Hu Xi'ang's furious roar rang out again: "Then someone must have poisoned the wine! Hand the person over!"

Hu Xi'ang was so presumptuous that Yan Hongtian could have had him imprisoned. But doing so at this time would only humiliate the country even more, bullying a small country. If it spread, how would he face the other six countries?! Yan Hongtian's face grew darker and darker, like the prelude to a storm. The hall fell into silence once again.

A clear and gentle female voice rang out softly, dissolving the heavy, suffocating atmosphere: "To have the wine poisoned at the palace banquet is this Palace's dereliction of duty. Chief Steward Wu, bring all the servants who touched that pot of wine to this Palace."

On such an occasion, the Empress shouldn't have spoken, but as the mother of the country, and since it happened in the palace, it was nothing for her to say a few words. Her appearance also happened to ease the atmosphere.

"Yes." Glancing at the Emperor's expression, and seeing he did not stop her, Wu Rong turned and left immediately.

Zhuo Qing cried out "bad" in her heart. Qing Ling was the one pouring wine for the Princess!

Sure enough, several guards brought three servants to the front of the hall, and Qing Ling was also pushed to kneel on the ground. The three servants were already scared out of their wits, prostrating on the ground and shouting incessantly, "Empress, spare our lives! We were only responsible for distributing the wine into the pots; we didn't know which pot was for the Princess. Even if you gave us a hundred guts, we wouldn't dare to poison it!"

Compared to the three servants' dog-like begging, Qing Ling knelt straight, not saying a word, her face expressionless and full of coldness.

The Empress narrowed her eyes, looked at Qing Ling, and said coldly, "Qing Ling, you are a woman sent into the palace by Haoyue, now demoted to a palace maid. Are you harboring resentment, poisoning the Beiqi Princess, or did the Haoyue Sovereign instruct you to poison the Beiqi Princess to provoke the relationship between Qiongyue and Beiqi?!"

Still lowering her head, Qing Ling only spat out three words coldly: "I did not."

"You tried to assassinate the Emperor last night, and you still dare to say you have no evil intentions?! This Palace will give you one chance. Confess truthfully what you did, and this Palace will spare you from physical torture!"

She had always thought her sisters were dead. What was the point of her staying in this world alone? Death was a relief to her. But today she saw her. She absolutely could not let the Empress push the blame onto her, otherwise, it would definitely harm them and also harm the innocent people of Haoyue!

After a long time, Qing Ling finally raised her head slowly and looked at the woman who was high above, feigning pity but actually fake enough to be disgusting. With a sneer, Qing Ling replied loudly, "Last night I just accidentally broke a vase and cut the Emperor, failing to fulfill my duty of service. The Emperor was furious and demoted me to a palace maid. And today, the reason I am standing here pouring wine for the Beiqi Princess is entirely the Empress's decree. I didn't know about it beforehand. If you say I poisoned it, then it was also arranged by the Empress."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 37 =====