Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 122 Unraveling the Truth (First Update)
"Your Highness! Your Highness!"

Imperial Son-in-Law Xie Zhao rushed in. Seeing Empress Dowager Jiang sitting on the couch, he didn't even bother to bow. He rushed to her side with a look of panic. Seeing Princess Yongchun in her arms with her brows furrowed and seemingly showing signs of waking up, he was relieved to find her safe and sound. He then bowed to Empress Dowager Jiang and said, "Your Majesty, I have lost my composure!"

Empress Dowager Jiang didn't take it to heart. Seeing her son-in-law's genuine anxiety, she nodded slightly and said, "Child, you're very good!"

Xie Zhao pursed his lips and said in a low voice, "I have committed a grave error, murdering the imperial physician Li Shaoting..."

Haiyue's voice rang out from the side, explaining the reason for the man's confession: "Commander Xie did not kill Imperial Physician Li. He has deep feelings for Her Highness the Princess, and this action was to take the blame for her."

Xie Zhao's expression changed drastically. Just as he was about to defend himself, Hai Yue continued, "But in fact, Commandant Xie thought that the princess had lost her mind and committed a serious crime, but he didn't know that the princess he saw was actually a thief in disguise! The princess you saw last night had her hair down and didn't say a word to you the whole time, did she?"

"how do you know?"

Xie Zhao was stunned: "A fake...a fake princess? How could there be a fake princess in the princess's residence?"

In fact, everyone has questions.

With her daughter back in her arms, Empress Dowager Jiang calmed down completely. But after glancing at the corpse covered in the distance, she said, "I still have doubts. How could a thief impersonate my daughter? Hai Shisanlang, why don't you tell me from the beginning!"

"Yes!"

Haiyue had long wanted to sort out the truth, but first she needed to make sure the princess was alright before she could say anything else: "The origin of all this has to do with the princess's sleepwalking. Cai Sizheng, when was this bed brought into the palace?"

The official in charge, Cai Yong, replied in a hoarse voice, "Three months ago, His Highness's sleepwalking became increasingly severe. Sometimes he would suddenly get up at night, and to prevent him from falling and injuring himself, this sandalwood couch was only added to the residence two months ago..."

"This matter must be thoroughly investigated!"

Haiyue said, "Because this sandalwood bed is a specially made illusion prop, the partition inside can hide a person, and this is the beginning of the case."

The crowd stared at the sandalwood couch, both surprised and frightened.

After they looked away, Haiyue continued, "Next, the Yunyin Society, the troupe that performs illusions on the overpass, has been invited into the princess's residence. Entrusted by the princess and her husband, they are tasked with eliminating the wicked servants!"

An assassination attempt occurred in the palace. The group of wicked servants had long since fled without a trace, but when Empress Dowager Jiang heard this, her brows furrowed unusually sharply, and she coldly swept her gaze outside.

It must be said that Empress Zhang's practice of placing people around princesses and their husbands to make their lives miserable was indeed disgusting and difficult to deal with.

If the punishment is too lenient, it will lose its deterrent effect, and other servants will follow suit, with a new group of people continuing to cause trouble; if the punishment is too severe, former officials will jump out, and a label of being unkind and discordant will be attached to you.

But now there's no need to worry. After such a heinous act as an assassination attempt on the Empress Dowager, who knows how many storms will follow? Not to mention those wicked servants, many more people will be dragged into a great purge.

Therefore, Empress Dowager Jiang only glanced at it once, quickly looked away, and listened silently.

Haiyue skipped over many details, only recounting the key points: "The day before yesterday, after the Yunyin Society's performance, they tricked the princess into going out at night, during which time the murderer began his actual operation! Cai Sizheng, was the princess's attire unusual at the time?"

"what!"

Cai Yong exclaimed in surprise, his eyes widening: "Yes! Yes! That woman from the martial arts world knew the art of lightness of body. She said she was worried that others would see His Highness going out, so she switched clothes with His Highness! Is that when they started switching clothes?"

Haiyue shook her head: "No! They can't be replaced!"

"The murderer and the princess have similar builds, but different appearances. Once they are lying still, how could they not be distinguished?"

"Anyone lying on the couch is the princess herself!"
"If my guess is correct, that night the murderer first exchanged outer garments with the princess. After returning from the East Courtyard, he gave the princess Gastrodia elata powder to take. When the princess returned to her palace, she suddenly fell into a deep sleep. Your attention was all drawn to her, and you hurriedly helped her up. She took the opportunity to hide in the secret compartment of this sandalwood couch."

"From that time on, the murderer only needed to hide here, silently observe the external movements, and wait for the right opportunity!"

"This is the truth behind the princess's initial coma."

The expressions on everyone's faces varied, but most were filled with shock and horror.

Especially the servants and maids led by Si Zheng Cai Yong, never expected that there was another person hiding in the palace these past few days!

After a pause, Haiyue waited for everyone to finish digesting what she had just said before continuing, "On the second day, it was discovered that the princess was indeed in a deep sleep. The mansion reported this to the palace, and the imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital came to diagnose her."

"Of the three imperial physicians, two were very secretive about the princess's symptoms, but only Imperial Physician Li Shaoting made the diagnosis of poisoning."

"Because Tianma San was developed by the imperial physician Li Shaoting. He was quite famous in the capital and was known as a divine doctor because of this unique formula. When he discovered that the princess had fallen into a coma because of Tianma San, Li Shaoting was extremely frightened. In order to clear his name, he fabricated a story about Annam hemp flowers and pointed the suspicion at Princess Li."

"At the same time, Li Shaoting also noticed something amiss with the princess's symptoms."

"The murderer drugged the princess with the ultimate goal of luring the empress here. If the princess remained unconscious, the empress would eventually leave the palace to see her daughter, but the time was uncertain. So before that, the murderer wanted to make sure that the princess was just unconscious and her life was not in danger."

"This person clearly has some understanding of the medicinal properties of Tianma Powder and dared not use too much of it. He probably gave it to the princess in batches. Search her body; there should still be some pills left."

The bolder eunuch stepped forward and touched the corpse, and sure enough, he found a medicine box on the waist containing a few small pills.

"This bed board can not only be flipped, but there is also a hidden compartment here, so you can reach out and put the pill right to the princess's mouth."

Haiyue examined the enormous sandalwood bed, once again marveling at the wisdom of the ancients. The ingenuity of its structure was in no way inferior to magic props of later generations: "I'm afraid the murderer fed the princess medicine every few hours to ensure she remained unconscious." "But Li Shaoting had a more precise grasp of the dosage. After diagnosing the princess, he keenly sensed something was wrong and suspected that the murderer was right beside her, which was why he kept giving her new medicine."

"Li Shaoting was driven by personal motives and worried about being implicated. Even though he saw something amiss, he hesitated for a moment."

"Before he could even make up his mind to report to his superiors, the murderer struck first and killed him to silence him!"

"The murderer changed into the princess's clothes well in advance, so she was prepared for this. In case of an unexpected accident, she could act as the princess!"

"As expected, under the cover of night, she let her hair down, suddenly rolled over and hid the real princess in the bedchamber, then rushed out of the palace herself."

"Caught off guard, you couldn't tell the difference and assumed the murderer was the real princess. Your sleepwalking symptoms worsened to the point where you 'acted as two separate people, lying side by side, unable to distinguish between the real and the fake!'"

"When the murderer returned after killing the princess, he took advantage of the chaos in the palace to pull the real princess out of the side room, put her back on the bed, let her hair down, and even scratched a mark on the back of her hand, all to frame her."

"Seeing this, you all thought the princess had returned from a dream. When you heard the next day that Li Shaoting had died, you were so terrified that you dared not utter a sound."

"Unwittingly, you, the most loyal people to the princess, have been used by the murderer as the best cover!"

Upon hearing this, all the servants knelt down and sobbed continuously.

Haiyue said, "However, there are flaws in all of these. For example, when Princess Li came to see her, the princess's hair was suddenly disheveled, and even after she combed it again, it still looked quite messy. The princess had been confined in the sandalwood bed for a long time, and even though there were air vents inside so she could breathe without any problem, the sandalwood scent on her body was even stronger..."

"And there was an unexpected incident during this time."

"I can't be sure whether the murderer deliberately found the prince consort to take the blame or just happened to run into him. In any case, the result is that the prince consort scratched a similar wound on the back of his hand and became the criminal who killed Li Shaoting!"

Upon hearing this, the imperial son-in-law Xie Zhao finally realized his mistake and was filled with shame: "I saw Your Highness from afar last night... but I couldn't see clearly at the time... I really thought it was Your Highness asking me for help... husband and wife are one, how could I not help her?"

Empress Dowager Jiang sighed softly, gave him a comforting look, and then looked at Cai Yong, the Chief Justice: "Chief Justice Cai, is Hai Shisanlang's statement correct?"

Si Zheng Cai Yong was the most desperate. The one they had painstakingly protected turned out to be a fake princess. But then he suddenly felt that it didn't make sense: "No! No, that's not right! If it was that illusionist named Yan Ling, who had been hiding in the partition all along, why were there still four illusionists when they arrested the Yunyin Society yesterday?"

The number of people in the princess's residence is limited, and any unexplained appearances or disappearances will be noticed, especially outsiders, who attract even more attention.

The Cloud Hidden Society initially had four members who joined the mansion, and the same four were later locked in the woodshed.

This is why no one paid any attention to it.

Who would have thought that a murderer would suddenly appear and hide in the princess's palace?

"This is also the most crucial part of this design!"

Haiyue said, "The Cloud Hidden Society originally had five illusionists. The one who just assassinated the Empress Dowager was the fifth one. She usually hides inside the robes of the bloated Red Maiden. Five people pretend to be four people so that they can sneak in without leaving a trace at the crucial moment..."

"They're coming!"

Footsteps sounded outside, and Lu Bing entered first, knife in hand, his body stained with blood. He was followed by Hong Qi and others, who escorted three people in on either side.

Haiyue glanced around and matched the members of the Yunyin Society described by Li Yuying one by one, and found that they were Hong Niangzi, Jiao Bai and Lu Cangzhou, but the youngest Yan Ling was nowhere to be seen.

Lu Bing's expression was also unpleasant. He immediately knelt down, full of shame: "Your Majesty, I failed in capturing the thief and one person escaped. We are still searching for him. I beg Your Majesty to punish me!"

Empress Dowager Jiang said calmly, "Lu Wenfu, you have rendered meritorious service in protecting the emperor and capturing the thieves. Bring the thief leaders here. I want to see them in person."

Lu Bing hesitated for a moment. Hong Niangzi's hands and feet had been broken, but she was still in danger. However, he could not disobey the Empress Dowager's order. Hearing this, he used his body to half-protect the Empress Dowager Jiang before letting Hong Niangzi, who was actually on the verge of death, step forward.

Empress Dowager Jiang made a gesture, and the maidservant beside her stepped forward and lifted up Hong Niangzi's lower garment.

Even those who were somewhat prepared were still taken aback.

What appeared before me was a pair of severely deformed, bent legs; the empty space could indeed have concealed a person who had undergone rigorous training.

"It's unimaginable what kind of pain and torment one must endure to practice this kind of illusion magic, as well as the decades of persistent hard work..."

Haiyue sighed, "But in the end, you used it to kill and commit crimes!"

Empress Dowager Jiang said in a deep voice, "I have lived in the palace for a long time and have no grudges against any of you. I don't know why you would go to such lengths to harm my daughter and me?"

With bloodstains all over her face, Hong Niangzi spat weakly, "You wicked woman, you indulge your own brother, you are tyrannical and cruel to the people, you commit all kinds of evil, everyone has the right to kill you, why can't we kill you?"

The palace suddenly fell silent.

Not to mention the imperial son-in-law Xie Zhao and the official Cai Yong, even Lu Bing and Li Yuying were stunned when they heard this.

Hai Yue frowned almost imperceptibly, while Empress Dowager Jiang's eyes widened slightly, then a thoughtful expression appeared on her face, and finally, the corners of her mouth turned down slightly: "Oh? You mean, you mistook me for Consort Zhang and killed someone by mistake?"

(End of this chapter)