bookrandom Chapter 140 The Emperor Arrives
Chapter 140 The Emperor Arrives
Then, more than twenty maids and servants from the Prime Minister's residence huddled together, staring in horror at Yu Chi Ling, Ye Shi Shu, and Gu Si Mo.
If it were anyone else in this situation, they would be furious, even if they weren't frightened, because they had been wronged. But Ye Shishu and the other two showed no anger whatsoever; instead, they remained calm and continued to sit there.
"The Emperor has arrived——"
With a loud announcement.
Then a tall figure in bright yellow entered the courtyard.
He was followed by a large entourage of guards and palace servants.
"This..." Looking at the people lying all over the courtyard, Yu Chisheng stopped abruptly. Even he, the emperor, could hardly help but be frightened by the horrifying scene before him.
The steward of the Prime Minister's residence scrambled to his feet, kowtowed three times, and then, with snot and tears streaming down his face, said, "Your Majesty, you must do justice for my Prime Minister and his wife! Prince Cheng and his wife colluded with Physician Hua to poison my wife's birthday banquet, killing everyone!"
Yu Chisheng was utterly incredulous. His eyes widened as he scanned the scene, then his gaze fell upon the three people seated at the table. He angrily demanded, "Is what he said true? Did you poison all these people?"
Yu Chi Ling, along with Ye Shi Shu and Gu Si Mo, got up and headed towards him.
Gu Simo bowed first, "This commoner greets Your Majesty, long live the Emperor!"
Yu Chisheng pointed at her and asked sternly, "Dr. Hua, what exactly is going on?"
Gu Simo replied, "Your Majesty, I, along with the Prince and Princess, came to attend the Prime Minister's wife's birthday banquet, but for some reason, they all collapsed during the banquet."
"Then why aren't you rushing to treat them?" Yu Chisheng said irritably. "Are you just going to stand by and watch them die?"
“Father,” Yu Chi Ling said, “we were accused of murder by the Prime Minister’s mansion simply because we didn’t drink alcohol. You asked Physician Hua to treat them, but if the treatment is not done properly, I’m afraid we will have even more trouble explaining ourselves.”
Yu Chisheng turned around and ordered Qi Sui, "Quickly summon all the imperial physicians!"
Qi Sui recovered from his shock and quickly accepted the order.
The steward of the Prime Minister's residence then wailed and begged, "Your Majesty, you must do justice for my Prime Minister and his wife! His Highness Prince Cheng and his wife are incredibly audacious, daring to commit such a heinous act in broad daylight! It is an outrage against all reason!"
Yu Chi Sheng looked down at him and glared, "The truth hasn't been found out yet, how can you be so sure that this was done by Prince Cheng and Princess Cheng? Did you see them poison him with your own eyes?"
The steward said, "Your Majesty, all the guests have inexplicably collapsed, except for Prince Cheng and his consort, who are completely unharmed. Doesn't that explain everything? Oh, right, I just remembered, during the banquet, my lady offered a toast to Prince Cheng and his consort, but Prince Cheng refused outright. Everyone else drank, but Prince Cheng and his consort didn't touch a drop. They must have known all along that there was something wrong with the wine, which is why they refused to drink!"
Yu Chisheng asked in a deep voice, "So, you mean that His Highness Prince Cheng invited me here specifically to see them poison people like this?"
The butler was stunned, "..."
Was the Emperor invited by the Crown Prince, or by Prince Cheng?
Ye Shishu stepped forward and explained, “Father, we didn’t drink alcohol because His Highness has just recovered and shouldn’t drink. As for me, I also abstained from alcohol because I need to recuperate and bear children for His Highness. His Highness clearly told the Prime Minister and his wife during the meal. I don’t know what the servants in the Prime Minister’s residence were thinking. Seeing that we were unharmed, they accused us of being the murderers. In my opinion, these servants are the ones who are most suspicious, since they were the ones who prepared the food and drinks today.”
"Your Majesty..." the steward immediately tried to explain.
But Yu Chi Sheng didn't give him a chance to say anything more, and ordered the guards, "Arrest all the servants in the mansion! Interrogate them thoroughly!"
Upon hearing this, the butler's expression changed drastically.
The dozens of servants present were also trembling with fear.
……
The spectacular poisoning case at the Prime Minister's residence drew almost all the imperial physicians from the Imperial Hospital.
The Imperial Censor Lu Changqing approached Yuchi Sheng and reported, "Your Majesty, we have investigated and confirmed that the wine today was indeed laced with a sleeping potion. I personally examined the wine and found that the sleeping potion originated from Huaxiang Pavilion."
"What?!" Yu Chisheng immediately glared at Gu Simo.
Gu Simo calmly said, "Your Majesty, this was not my doing. Please, Your Majesty, see the truth."
Yu Chi Ling chuckled softly, "Father, have you ever seen such blatant poisoning? Let alone the fact that Physician Hua has no grudge against these people, even if he did, with Physician Hua's abilities, what kind of poison wouldn't he have used? Why would he only use some sleeping potion to make people faint? If it were me, if I had the chance to enter the kitchen, half a pound of arsenic would be too lenient. After all, silencing them is more profitable than knocking them out, isn't it?"
Yu Chisheng was rendered speechless by his words.
The steward of the Prime Minister's residence kept insisting that Prince Cheng was the murderer, but as Prince Cheng said, if he were the murderer, he might as well have just poisoned everyone and sent the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister away at once, wouldn't he be the next Crown Prince?
But these dozens of people were only drugged and knocked unconscious. What kind of situation is this?
Could it be that Prince Cheng is just looking for trouble for himself?
Imperial Physician Lu Changqing bowed and said, “Your Majesty, what Prince Cheng said is absolutely right. It is not an easy thing to administer drugs in the Prime Minister’s residence. If someone really had the intention to harm someone, how could it be just a mere sleeping potion? I think this matter is too illogical. I urge Your Majesty to be extremely cautious.”
Yu Chi Sheng looked at Qi Sui and asked in a deep voice, "Have any servants in the mansion given a confession?"
Qi Sui shook his head, "Your Majesty, we have interrogated them, and they all say they know nothing about it."
As if struck by a sudden thought, Yu Chi Sheng looked at his son, frowned, and asked, "You summoned me here because you knew this would happen? How did you find out? Why didn't you stop it? Look at the mess you've made now, what am I supposed to say?"
Yu Chi Ling snorted, "From the moment they served the wine, I knew they wanted to frame Physician Hua and Hua Xiangge. Shu'er and I wanted to watch the show, so we didn't touch the wine. It's fortunate we didn't touch it, otherwise Physician Hua would be speechless now, and by the time we woke up, we'd probably have our heads ripped off."
The next moment, his brows furrowed, and he retorted, "Father, have you considered what price the court would pay if it truly became an enemy of Huaxiang Pavilion? How confident are you that you can eradicate the entire Huaxiang Pavilion? And how confident are you in resisting the retaliation of the Huaxiang Pavilion disciples?"
Yu Chisheng fell silent when asked the question.
The mysterious Huaxiang Pavilion has disciples who are skilled in both medicine and poison. Even if he were an emperor, how many could he guard against?
Ye Shishu said with a wronged expression, "Father, ever since Physician Hua cured my prince's leg injury and appearance, Physician Hua and Hua Xiangge have been inexplicably targeted. You must investigate carefully and not fall for someone's divisive scheme."