Proud Feather

Chapter 154 Flaw
Before the emperor could respond, Lü Chan spoke up: "Father, I am willing to be the first to be examined."

Her suspicions haven't been completely cleared, but her attitude is certainly very proper.

The Emperor nodded: "Then let the Crown Princess go first!"

Sun Shouquan responded with a "yes" and gestured for one of the female craftsmen to come over.

"Please extend your hand, Your Highness."

Lü Chan stretched out her hands, which were clean and unpainted.

“I apologize for the intrusion,” the female craftswoman said, then lowered her head to sniff.

She smelled carefully, from the back of her hand and palm to her fingernails. After smelling for a while, she straightened up and said, "Your Majesty, the Crown Princess's hands have a faint orchid fragrance, as well as angelica and poria... It should be the Orchid Jade Complexion Cream prepared by the Imperial Pharmacy. In addition, there is a slightly sweet and cloying wheat fragrance on her fingertips, so she must have been handling pastries not long ago."

The Emperor looked over: "Is that so, Crown Princess?"

Lü Chan replied, "Yes, I applied jade face cream before coming here, and I gave Jin'er a piece of pastry earlier."

The emperor nodded, acknowledging the incense craftsman's skill. It wasn't surprising that he could smell the Jade Complexion Cream, but to be able to smell even a pastry showed that his sense of smell was indeed extraordinary.

The incense maker breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "Besides that, I didn't smell any other scents."

Sun Shouquan glanced at the emperor's expression and said, "Continue!"

The fact that the Crown Princess's hands didn't smell of incense ash indicates that she hadn't touched the talisman. However, this doesn't prove her innocence. It's unheard of for a master to personally burn paper offerings. This whole scene in the main hall was just a formality; the real show was in the side hall—to see whose person had the smell of incense ash on their hands.

Consort Xian glanced at the Emperor and said to the incense maker, "I'll do it. Come here."

“Yes.” Another female craftswoman walked over and knelt down before Consort Xian.

Soon, she reported the results: "The Empress applied rose pearl cream, and there was also a little ambergris, but no other scent."

Consort Xian praised, "I did indeed apply rose pearl cream, and the ambergris must have gotten on me when I was scenting my clothes."

With the Crown Princess and Consort Xian leading the way, the scent-testing process proceeded quickly. The two female craftswomen swiftly checked all the concubines in the main hall, confirming that no one carried any unusual odor.

Next, we await the results from the side hall.

Chu Ling rested her chin on her hand, her gaze sweeping over the people in the hall.

Consort Xian stared blankly at the palace gate, probably still worried, fearing that she would be implicated.

The emperor's brows were furrowed, and he looked still angry. Chu He tried to speak to him, but only received vague and perfunctory replies.

Lü Chan also stared at the palace gate, but her expression remained calm.

Pang Yu kept touching her stomach, her face occasionally showing a blank expression, before finally lowering her head.

Before long, there was movement in the side hall, and everyone peeked out to look.

"Your Majesty!" Sun Shouquan entered first, "The palace servants have completed the inspection."

The emperor's spirits lifted: "Oh? What was the result?"

Sun Shouquan replied, "We found someone... This servant can't explain it clearly either, please Your Majesty make the judgment."

What do you mean by "can't explain it clearly"? If it exists, it exists; if it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist. How can it be unclear?
The emperor frowned, and everyone else cast questioning glances as the eunuch escorted the person in. Upon seeing the palace attendant's appearance, everyone was shocked and turned to look at Pang Yu.

Pang Yu froze, his mouth agape, unsure what to say.

Finally, Chu He was the first to react, shouting, "What's going on? How could it be Bao Qin? Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?"

Baoqin was the personal maid of Princess Pang Yu, the wife of Prince Xin.

So, the person who harmed Consort Shu was actually Pang Yu? How is that possible?

Everyone in the hall wore expressions of disbelief; no matter how hard they racked their brains, they never imagined it would be Pang Yu.

Prince Xin is Consort Shu's only son. As her daughter-in-law, what reason would she have to harm her mother-in-law's unborn child? Even if Consort Shu gave birth to another son, by the time he grew up, Chu He would already be middle-aged. With such a large age gap between brothers, there was really no question of a struggle for interests.

"That's impossible!" Pang Yu immediately lost his composure and shouted, "Is there incense ash on Baoqin's hands? Did you smell it clearly?"

“Uh…” Sun Shouquan didn’t know what to say for a moment.

The emperor was also taken aback for a moment, but quickly calmed down and shouted, "Sun Shouquan, speak your mind, don't beat around the bush!"

“Yes!” Sun Shouquan composed himself and answered Pang Yu, “Princess Xin, this palace maid did not have the scent of paper ash on her hands.”

Pang Yu's expression calmed slightly, then became even more ferocious: "Then why did you arrest her? Are you trying to slander me?"

Before Sun Shouquan could reply, a voice came from behind: "Eunuch Sun, let me speak!"

Zheng Qiu slowly walked in from the back and bowed to everyone.

Sun Shouquan glanced at the emperor, and seeing that he did not object, he briefly explained the situation: "It was Aunt Zheng who discovered this matter, and she knows the reason best. Thank you, Aunt Zheng."

Pang Yu became even more aggressive: "Aunt Zheng, I have always respected you. How can you lie through your teeth? Since there is no smell of ashes on Baoqin's hands, what reason do you have to arrest her?"

"Princess Consort Xin, please calm down." Zheng Qiu nodded in greeting, and before Pang Yu could make a fuss again, she immediately turned to report, "Your Majesty, this palace maid's hands did not have the scent of paper ash, but they did have the scent of at least three kinds of perfume, and coincidentally, the same three kinds of perfume that were placed in the changing room tonight!"

The emperor quickly realized: "She washed her hands!"

“Indeed.” Zheng Qiu bowed respectfully. “Your Majesty is wise. The talisman paper has a strong smell, how could the person burning it not know? Therefore, they would definitely wash their hands after burning it. But washing hands is one thing, how could an ordinary person use three kinds of perfume? Layering them together would ruin the fragrance and make them a laughing stock. How could the people around Princess Xin not even have this much taste?”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Pang Yu was the eldest daughter of the Marquis's mansion, so how could her personal maid not know this? Using three kinds of perfume was just a sign of her guilt, wasn't it? She was afraid she couldn't get rid of the smell of the talisman, so she simply used several kinds of perfume to cover it up.

Pang Yu paused for a moment, then quickly hardened her tone: "Don't think you can spout nonsense just because you flatter me! There are many reasons to use three different perfumes, such as curiosity to try them all, or perhaps she simply thought they smelled good when stacked together. In any case, there was no smell of paper ash on her hands, and you cannot convict her based on mere speculation!"

Yes, the smell of paper ash is the only way to prove that someone has touched paper ash. If there is no smell at all, it would be a false accusation to conclude that someone has been touched based solely on three types of perfume. This is not convincing to the public.

"Second Sister-in-law, don't worry." Chu Ling looked at her with a smile and said calmly, "Perhaps Qiu Niang has other evidence? Don't worry, if she doesn't, I'll be the first to expel her from the palace!"

After saying that, her face turned cold: "Qiu Niang, did you hear that? You'd better give me a reason, otherwise, even with Father Emperor in front of me, I can't protect you!"

“Yes.” Zheng Qiu continued calmly, “She did wash off the smell from her hands, but she overlooked one thing: her handkerchief. She wiped her hands immediately after burning the paper, so there was a distinct smell of ash on the handkerchief.”

　Post it early, go to bed early, and fix any problems tomorrow.

　　(End of this chapter)