pillow bird spring

He raised his hand, and the guards immediately dragged a furtive-looking person to the scene.

The room fell silent.

Everyone recognized her as Zhi Zi, Cui Lingyi's personal maid.

Upon arriving at the scene, Zhi Zi immediately knelt down: "Your Majesty, Empress Dowager, spare my life! It was all Miss's orders that I did this!"

Everything seemed to reverse in an instant.

Before Zhi Zi could even finish speaking.

Wen Xianli's guards brought two more people up.

Cui Xi, standing nearby, exclaimed in surprise, "It's them!"

"What do you mean!" The Emperor's face darkened even further.

Cui Xi knelt down with a thud: "Your Majesty, this servant saw these two people disguised as monks, saying that something had happened ahead and asking you to go there."

Cui Xi did not mention Xiao Yin.

"What exactly is going on?" Even amidst the chaos, the Emperor had already sensed that something was amiss.

Upon hearing the news, Prime Minister Cui rushed over.

Cui Lingyi was also with her.

When Cui Lingyi saw this, her expression changed.

The man disguised as a monk knelt down and pointed tremblingly at Cui Lingyi.

"Your Majesty, this humble subject knows nothing. This humble subject was just following orders and sent Shen Yingshuang to the small wooden house in front." The monk was terrified and knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly.

"Who ordered you to do this?" the Emperor asked sternly.

The monk shook his head frantically: "This humble citizen doesn't know the other party's identity, but..."

The monk seemed to be pointing things out at the scene.

Cui Lingyi's expression darkened slightly, as she hadn't expected such an unexpected turn of events.

As a result, the monk's gaze fell to the side, but before he could speak, he vomited blood and died.

Not only monks, but also gardenias, with their eyes wide open, lying down with their eyes wide open in death.

The scene immediately descended into chaos.

The emperor's expression was solemn.

Under such circumstances, he had already roughly figured it out.

This is unusual.

"The Great Zhou is in utter chaos, yet they insist on believing that a woman with no strength could kill someone," Wen Xianli said bluntly. "It's truly the biggest joke in the world."

He pointed to the corpse of Gardenia beside him.

"This lowly maid is from Prime Minister Cui's residence. Isn't there any clue here?" Wen Xianli sneered.

Prime Minister Cui's expression also changed.

Before he could even speak, Cui Lingyi seemed to have calmed down and walked in front of him.

"Your Highness, I will not take the blame for this crime. Even if this matter has nothing to do with Shen Yinshuang, what does it have to do with me? Princess Chengping and I have always had a good relationship, why would I want to kill her?" Cui Lingyi asked Wen Xianli calmly.

Wen Xianli stood there expressionless.

Cui Lingyi knelt before the Emperor and Empress Dowager: "Your Majesty and Empress Dowager, I implore you to investigate thoroughly. Why did I frame Princess Chengping? Why did I pin the blame on Shen Yinshuang? If that were truly the case, why would I plead with the Empress Dowager to release her? Couldn't I have tortured her to death in the dungeon?"

Cui Lingyi spoke with absolute certainty, without any attempt to evade the question.

It makes people feel incredibly open and honest.

She just knelt there, completely unable to fathom what she was thinking.

"I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly," the Emperor said with a stern face.

Wen Xianli completely ignored the chaos at the scene and turned around and left in a hurry.

Xiao Yin was pinned to the spot by Nangong Zhao.

"Don't act rashly and bring trouble upon yourself," Nangong Zhao said calmly.

The scene was in complete chaos.

Cui Lingyi explained with tears streaming down her face.

The evidence at the scene was insufficient.

Princess Chengping's death was reinvestigated.

Because of Princess Chengping's incident, Pei Shouan is now under house arrest.

Cui Lingyi lacked sufficient evidence, but the Emperor issued a decree before leaving, strictly forbidding her from leaving the palace.

Cui Lingyi looked at Xiao Yin with teary eyes.

"Brother Yin, do you believe me?" she asked Xiao Yin.

Xiao Yin stepped forward, and Cui Lingyi appeared even more aggrieved: "I really didn't do that. Zhi Zi has been with me for many years, and I don't know why she would accuse me like that. If it really was me, how could I have made such a big mistake? There must be a reason."

Xiao Yin gave a faint "hmm".

Cui Lingyi grasped Xiao Yin's hand: "Brother Yin, I swear, I didn't. If I had, I wouldn't have needed to go to such lengths."

"Whether it is true or not, the Emperor will give you an explanation." Xiao Yin finished speaking quietly. "Now listen to me, don't leave the palace. Without evidence, it won't stand."

"Okay." Cui Lingyi nodded.

But the next moment, Cui Lingyi was clearly stuck in the quagmire.

But she seemed to still be thinking about Shen Yinshuang.

"Miss Shen, you've probably been poisoned by snake venom. The venomous snakes in the dungeon haven't been fed in a long time and are starving. And Miss Shen's clothes are probably tainted with a scent that attracts snake venom, which is why the snakes went berserk. This is probably a trap set at every turn, leaving no one to testify."

Cui Lingyi paused for a moment before continuing, "I have some serum here. You should go check on Miss Shen first. At least I'm only under house arrest; there's no evidence, so I'll be fine."

Her voice was very soft.

Xiao Yin just watched for a long time before finally giving a faint "hmm".

Xiao Yin didn't say anything more, only telling Cui Lingyi to take good care of herself.

Cui Lingyi responded.

After the two finished speaking, a guard stepped forward and said, "Miss Cui, please!"

Cui Lingyi released Xiao Yin, turned around and cooperated with the guards to leave.

Xiao Yin remained where he was.

The chaos at the scene subsided immediately.

The bodies of the monk and Zhizi were dragged out.

Nangong Zhao and Xiao Yin exchanged a glance.

Nangong Zhao lowered his voice and said, "He Jiu chased after them, but they were obviously very familiar with this place, and because of the chaos at the scene, they lost track of them."

"Keep chasing," Xiao Yin calmly instructed.

Nangong Zhao nodded.

Since He Jiu didn't return, the pursuit continued.

He also saw the medicine bottle in Xiao Yin's hand, and he paused for a moment.

"What is this?" he asked Xiao Yin.

"The serum. Lingyi said that Yinshuang was infected by snake venom," Xiao Yin said calmly.

He played with the serum in his palm.

Nangong Zhao looked at Xiao Yin without saying a word.

They all knew that Cui Lingyi could control venomous snakes.

But in this situation, no one pointed it out.

Xiao Yin snapped out of his daze and didn't hesitate.

He turned and, carrying the serum, headed towards Wen Xianli's room.

Wen Xianli did not stay at the Zhou Dynasty's temporary palace while staying at Kaiyuan Temple.

It is located alone in the temple.

Xiao Yin was quite familiar with Kaiyuan Temple.

They quickly found Wen Xianli's room.

The guards at the gate immediately stopped Xiao Yin, saying, "General Xiao, this is not the place you should be."

"I want to see her," Xiao Yin said succinctly.

The guards didn't mean to give way.

The two were about to fight.

Nangong Zhao suppressed his anger and gestured to Xiao Yin with his eyes.

This is Wen Xianli's private room. Wen Xianli's temperament is completely unpredictable.

A commotion broke out, and the Emperor questioned why they were there, but none of them could give a clear answer.