Proud Feather

Chapter 151 Questioning
The servants of the Crown Prince's Palace?
By the way, it seems that the first person to notice Consort Shu's bleeding was the Crown Princess!
Instantly, all eyes turned to Lü Chan in the corner, and the two events were naturally linked together.

The servants of the Eastern Palace led away Consort Shu's attendants, and then the Crown Princess appeared in Consort Shu's resting room. What does this mean? Could it be...?

But why? Consort Shu's pregnancy didn't interfere with the Crown Princess's affairs.
But if it wasn't the Crown Princess who did it, then her actions are inexplicable.

For a moment, glances were exchanged in the hall, and everyone was filled with doubts.

The emperor was clearly puzzled as well, and turned to ask, "Crown Princess, is this servant from your Eastern Palace?"

Lü Chan was prepared and remained calm as she came out to reply, "Father, this person looks familiar to me; he should be from the Eastern Palace."

The emperor nodded: "So, shall I ask the question next, or will you ask it?"

Despite the unfavorable situation for the Crown Prince, the Emperor still gave him face.

Lu Chan lowered her head gratefully and said, "With Father Emperor here, your son dares not overstep his bounds. I am also terrified and uneasy that Consort Shu has encountered such a calamity. Regardless of whether this person is from the Crown Prince's Palace or not, your son cannot protect him. You shall make the decision."

These words sounded nice, and the emperor's expression softened somewhat. He turned back and looked coldly at the servant woman.

"Who are you?"

The maidservant lay trembling on the ground, speechless for a long time.

Sun Shouquan shouted, "You dare not answer His Majesty's question? Do you want to die? Answer him at once!"

The maid opened her mouth and finally managed to squeeze out a few words: "This servant, Zeng, greets Your Majesty."

"Anything else?" Sun Shouquan asked on behalf of the emperor. "Where are you from? Where do you serve? Tell us everything!"

The maidservant bowed her head and replied, "I used to work in Lord Lü's household, and now I serve in the Eastern Palace."

The emperor raised an eyebrow and glanced at Lü Chan.

Lu's grandfather had served as a prime minister, and the Lu family mansion was Lu Chan's maternal home. Since this maidservant was sent by the Lu family, she must be someone Lu Chan trusted.

Lu Chan frowned upon hearing this. After the Crown Prince left, she had indeed replaced many of the people around her and had also brought in a group of servants from her maternal family. But this Zeng Shi was only familiar to her; she didn't serve her closely, nor did she know her.

"Did you send away the people around Consort Shu?" the Emperor asked.

The maid looked terrified and quickly replied, "Your Majesty is wise. I only saw that the two young ladies wanted to leave but couldn't, so I kindly offered to keep watch for them for a while. I didn't do anything else."

"Is that so?" the emperor said coldly. "If that's the case, why didn't you step forward and explain just now?"

"This servant is naive and inexperienced; I was terrified..."

The emperor snorted coldly: "So you're easily frightened. Fine, I'll assume you meant well. How long were you guarding over there? Why weren't you there when the incident happened?"

"This servant, this servant..." she stammered, unable to finish her sentence for a long time.

The emperor, enraged, turned to her and asked, "Crown Princess, what was the situation when you discovered it? Tell me!"

"Yes." Lü Chan replied honestly, "Your subject led Jin'er to the side hall to change clothes, thinking that Consort Shu was nearby, so we went to check on her. But when we got there, there was no one there, and then we found blood on the hem of Consort Shu's skirt."

"Are you sure no one is here?" the emperor pressed.

Lü Chan nodded: "Your subject is certain."

The emperor then looked at the maid: "Did you hear that? Where were you then? Weren't you guarding Consort Shu for them?"

The maidservant's face turned deathly pale. She stole a glance at the Crown Princess, then lowered her head and sobbed, "This servant... this servant might have been distracted at the time. Yes, the acrobatic performances were so captivating that I became mesmerized..."

Chu He interrupted, "What 'Hundred Plays'? Wasn't that just a short opera performance? Are you telling the truth or not?!"

The emperor recalled that they had indeed been performing a short opera, and the servant woman was clearly talking nonsense.

The maid panicked: "A short play? Yes, a short play, I misspoke..."

The emperor was furious. Her testimony was so inconsistent and contradictory; how could it possibly be credible?

Seeing that things were going badly, Sun Shouquan immediately shouted, "Speaking nonsense in front of the Emperor! Are you out of your mind? Was it a variety show or a short play? What were you doing at the time? Speak quickly!" "I...this servant..." The maid was so flustered that she didn't know what to do. She looked at Lü Chan again, seemingly pleading for help.

Lü Chan looked over calmly, as if she hadn't received anything.

The maid could only kowtow repeatedly: "This servant doesn't know, this servant doesn't know anything. This servant was just so engrossed in watching, standing at the palace gate, that I didn't notice anything happening inside..."

"Didn't you even know the Crown Princess was here?" the Emperor demanded.

The maid shook her head frantically: "No, I didn't see anything..."

"What exactly didn't you see?" Chu He pressed. "Did you not see the Crown Princess, or the scene inside the palace, or the opera performance?"

After a barrage of questions, the maid blurted out, "I didn't see what was happening inside the palace..."

Upon hearing this, she realized something was wrong and kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "This servant has failed in her duty; this servant saw nothing."

The hall was silent for a moment. Although she denied it quickly, she had already revealed a part of it.

The emperor frowned: "You saw the Crown Princess!"

"No, no..."

Sun Shouquan said coldly, "If you still don't answer honestly at a time like this, do you want to be tortured?"

The servant girl stammered, not daring to utter a sound.

At this moment, a eunuch was pushed outside the hall, and the attendant came in to report: "Your Majesty, we have found a witness. This person was on duty nearby and saw what happened outside the side hall."

The emperor's expression softened slightly: "Bring him in."

This is an old eunuch. Judging from his clothes, he should be a low-ranking eunuch who does odd jobs in the palace.

He was pushed to the ground by the guard, and hurriedly bowed, saying, "This servant greets Your Majesty."

The emperor stared at him: "What do you see?"

Although the eunuch was old, his speech was still clear. He replied, "Your Majesty, I was on duty tonight, watching the lanterns in the long corridor opposite the side hall. I had a good view of the hall's entrance. There was a performance of a play on the stage, and I was engrossed in it when I suddenly glanced across and saw someone heading towards the side hall..."

"who is it?"

The old eunuch quickly glanced at the people in the hall and stammered, "They're too far away. This servant only remembers the style and color of the clothes. Yes, yes..."

"Say!"

"It's the Crown Princess!" the old eunuch blurted out.

The Crown Princess had already been there, and the Emperor then asked, "Was there no one else?"

The old eunuch replied, "Yes."

He then looked at the kneeling servant woman beside him: "This aunt was guarding outside the palace at the time. I saw her bow to the Crown Princess and then step aside!"

!!!

The Crown Princess said that there was no one there when she went there.

The maid said she did not see the Crown Princess.

However, the old eunuch's testimony denied both of these points.

When the Crown Princess arrived, this servant woman stood guard outside the palace.

Although the emperor did not want to doubt, he had no choice but to do so at this point.

He looked at her with a stern gaze: "Crown Princess, how do you explain this?"

(End of this chapter)