With a warehouse full of supplies, I stood alone as king in this chaotic world, gun in hand.

"Now that you have sufficient evidence, send the person back to the imperial prison for trial. What kind of mess is it to hold a court here?" Empress Wan ordered directly.

"Guards, take Shi Shengqing away and send him to prison to await trial."

She plotted in her heart that as long as she could take Shi Shengqing away from here, she could get rid of Bei Chenyan's control, and then she planned to depose Bei Chenyan and replace him with an obedient crown prince.

Several men dressed in black entered and were about to take Shi Shengqing away.

Bei Chenyan could tell at a glance that they were from the Wan family; judging from their agile movements and aura, they were all experts.

"Let's see who dares to make a move!"

Zhang Qing, Wei Yang, and several other palace guards drew their swords and stopped the men in black.

"How dare you defy the Empress's decree!" Wan Wenting shouted.

"Zhang Qing, anyone who dares to obstruct the government's handling of a case will be killed without mercy!" Bei Chenyan coldly ordered.

"Swish, swish, swish!" Suddenly, a dense crowd appeared outside the gate, drawing their swords and knives.

"You..." Wan Wenting was so shocked that he took a few steps back.

Empress Wan looked at the people outside; they were all from the Eastern Palace. It seemed that Bei Chenyan had been on guard against her for a long time.

A sinister glint flashed in her eyes, and for the first time, she considered killing her son.

"Since that's the case, then I'll also sit in and listen." Seeing that she couldn't take anyone with her, Empress Wan had no choice but to sit down next to the Grand Tutor Wan.

"this……"

All three presiding judges couldn't help but look at Bei Chenyan.

Empress Wan is clearly going to support Shi Shengqing's family, making this case a bit difficult to handle.

"Continue the trial," Bei Chenyan ordered, then sat back down in his seat.

The officials returned to their seats.

"Kneel down." Li Shuang pressed Wan Shuhua down to kneel next to Shi Shengqing.

"Bang!" Empress Wan slammed her hand on the table and said sternly, "How dare you! The case hasn't been investigated yet, and the crime hasn't been determined, and you dare to mistreat my sister like this?"

Upon hearing this, the two palace maids standing next to her immediately stepped forward to help Wan Shuhua up.

"Let's see who dares to move!" Zhang Qing drew his sword from his waist and stopped the two palace maids.

"Insolence!" Empress Wan was shocked that even the guards of the Eastern Palace dared to stop her people. "Crown Prince, are your men so unruly?"

Bei Chenyan's eyes turned cold. "Mother, the founding emperor established an ancestral precept that the empress dowager must not interfere in state affairs. You have repeatedly disrupted the joint trial and judgment. Are you trying to violate this ancestral precept?"

An ancestral precept from the late emperor came down, which dampened Empress Wan's arrogance somewhat.

Although Empress Wan could suppress the Crown Prince in terms of etiquette, she could not violate the ancestral precepts set by the previous emperor.

"I didn't, but the criminal hasn't been convicted yet. How can you use torture? Are you trying to extract a confession through coercion?"

"Empress Dowager, you just said you wanted to listen in, so please listen quietly! If you interfere with or interrupt the trial, I can only ask you to rest in the flower hall." Bei Chenyan's words showed no respect for Empress Wan whatsoever.

Empress Wan gritted her teeth in anger.

She felt that her son, who had been gone for six years, was completely out of her control. He didn't care about her feelings as his biological mother at all, and as soon as he came back, he started targeting the people who had supported him, treating them like enemies.

"Bang!" Minister Gu slammed his gavel and continued his interrogation: "Madam Hu, you are the midwife who delivered Fan Zhaodi's baby back then?"

"Yes, sir, it is indeed I, a humble woman," Hu said, her head bowed in fear.

"Then tell me the details of what happened back then," Minister Gu ordered.

"Yes!" Mrs. Hu recounted what had happened:

"That night, the woman was invited into the Fan family home, which is this mansion, in the middle of the night to deliver Miss Fan Zhaodi's baby."

Another midwife was also brought in at the time. She told the woman that Miss Fan was only eight months pregnant and was going to have a premature birth because of a miscarriage. However, the baby was in an abnormal position, so she had no choice but to ask the woman for help.

Just as the woman was adjusting Miss Fan's baby position, this Lord Shi suddenly barged in and, without saying a word, told us all to leave.

The woman advised Lord Shi that the baby's breech position should be corrected as soon as possible, otherwise both the mother and the baby would be in danger. But before she could finish speaking, Lord Shi gave her and another midwife ten taels of silver each, and said that he had found a better midwife and that they could leave.

Hearing this, the woman and the other midwife took the money and left the delivery room. That night it was raining, with lightning and thunder, and the road was slippery. The woman slipped and fell as she walked across the eaves, and her back ached a little.

An old woman from the Fan family told the woman to rest in the corridor for a while before leaving, and then sent the midwife out of the mansion first. The woman sat for a while and saw a maid carrying a bowl of medicine walk past her.

The woman smelled the medicine and sensed something was wrong, so she followed her. She saw the maid carrying the bowl of medicine into Miss Fan Zhaodi's room.

Upon hearing this, Vice Minister Gu asked, "You smelled something wrong with the medicine. What's wrong with it? Tell me the details."

"Yes..." Madam Hu continued, "When a woman is about to give birth, we, as midwives, usually have the woman's family brew a bowl of 'ginseng soup' or 'pregnancy-stabilizing and smooth delivery soup.' Drinking this soup can help the woman deliver the baby if the labor is too long or if she is exhausted."

However, the woman smelled the aroma of safflower, musk, sparganium, and turmeric in the herbal decoction. These herbs are potent blood-activating and stasis-removing agents that open the orifices and promote circulation, and are absolutely forbidden for pregnant women.

In particular, the herbs Sparganium and Curcuma zedoaria are used to break up blood stasis and promote the flow of qi. If a woman in labor drinks that medicine, her uterus will contract violently, leading to uncontrollable bleeding and potentially causing her to bleed to death.

"Mrs. Hu, are you sure that the soup contained safflower, musk, sparganium, and turmeric?" Minister Gu asked again.

"The woman is confirmed." Madam Hu's tone was very certain.

"I am thirty-six years old at the time. I have been helping my master deliver babies since I was twenty-two. For more than ten years, people have come to me almost every day to help deliver babies. I also perform curettage for women who have miscarried. I am very familiar with these medicinal smells. I am absolutely sure I am not mistaken."

"Bang!" Minister Gu slammed his gavel. "Shi Shengqing, now that all the witnesses and evidence prove you murdered Fan Zhaodi, what else do you have to say?"

"No, I absolutely did not do any of these things, and I don't know anything about any medicine. This shrew must have been bribed to slander me," Shi Shengqing argued, denying everything.

"I did not slander you!" Madam Hu recounted the events of that day, "I thought the servants had brought the wrong bowl of medicine, so I chased after them to tell them that the medicine was not safe to drink."

When the woman returned to Miss Fan's courtyard, she didn't see anyone. As she walked to the door, she faintly heard Miss Fan crying and cursing, saying things like she would haunt her even as a ghost.

At that moment, the woman finally understood what the bowl of medicine meant, and she was terrified! She wanted to leave immediately.