Chapter 401 In the Princess Royal’s Manor, Wang Yueyue Framed Xuetong
Before Feng Yuzhen uttered, Wang Yueyue had answered first, which made him glower with displeasure in his eyes.
“It’s not me. It’s not me. It’s really not me.” Wang Yueyue did not notice Feng Yuzhen’s unusual expression, and all she was eager to do was to prove her innocence. She shook her hands at a loss, her pale face screwing up.
“Who would do it except you!” A nanny kneeling on the ground raised her head and said angrily, and then, she kowtowed to Feng Yuxuan and burst into tears. “Lady felt better as she walked out today. King Ning’s consort got along well with the Lady, so Lady asked us to stand farther from them, so they could have some private talks. Even they helped themselves with tea. But unexpectedly, just after a while, Lady was poisoned to death. Your Highness, please exercise justice for My Lady.”
“Your Highness, please exercise justice for My Lady!” The kneeling maidservants and nannies kowtowed and cried.
Since such a thing happened, a King’s consort died, and she came from the Empress’ family. The fury from the Ding General Manor, from the royal family, and from King Chu was impossible to bear for anyone. Only by accusing Wang Yueyue could they probably have a way out.
Princess Royal neglected them, looked at the manor doctor, and asked coldly, “Doctor, what do you think?”
The manor doctor took a silver needle, pierced it into Leng Fengyan’s finger, and took another to pierce into her throat. Then, he took out the needles and found that the tips of the needles turned black. He said, “The Lady was poisoned to death, and the poison came to her body through throat. I think, she drank it directly and died.”
The poison come through the throat. At that time, all the maidservants and nannies stood away from them, and the only suspect was Wang Yueyue.
All the people stared at Wang Yueyue with suspicion.
“Poisoned, came in from the mouth.” Mo Xuetong standing behind Feng Yuran thought and frowned slightly. She had a doubt in her heart that since Mo Xuetong had felt Ling Fengyan’s pulse before and realized that Ling Fengyan’s pulse had gone wrong when she was alive, the pulse showed that Ling Fengyan had poisoning symptom. Besides, Ling Fengyan acted strangely today and was rather weird.
Wang Yueyue stepped back in fright and defended herself immediately. “Your Highness, it is not me. It is really not me. I did stand close to her, but the tea was poured by herself, and it had nothing to do with me.” Her flustered eyes drifted on Ling Fengyan’s dead face. And that face was no longer calm and beautiful as usual, and turned chilly and livid instead, scaring Wang Yueyue to step back more. She felt her belly falling with pain.
“Lady Ning, how can you say that? Just now you said you and My Lady were as close as sisters, and My Lady died when she was with you. So how can you claim that it has nothing to do with you?” The nanny who was kneeling in the front asserted emphatically, and the other servants kneeling behind her all pointed at Wang Yueyue immediately.
“Feng Yuzhen, give me an explanation.” Feng Yuxuan stared grimly at Feng Yuzhen and rebuked him. Wang Yueyue and Ling Fengyan were as close as sisters, so there would not be any personal resentment between the two. The only resentment came from the incompatibility between their respective husbands. If Wang Yueyue wanted to kill Ling Fengyan, it meant that Feng Yuzhen cut off one arm of Feng Yuxuan.
“Why did you let her poison Fengyan? You can ignore anything but Fengyan is your cousin. You’ve disposed of Third Brother. Why are you still so greedy? Do you want to cut off all the people’s ways to survive? Do you want to sacrifice anyone’s life merely for the sake of power?” Feng Yuxuan was so grieved that he pointed at Feng Yuzhen and rebuked sharply word by word.
It was known to all that Feng Yulei was backed by the Empress and the Empress’ family, Ding General Manor, and Feng Yuzhen was backed by the Empress Dowager and Ding General Manor as well. Feng Yulei’s being imprisoned seemed to be beneficial to Feng Yuxuan, but actually, Feng Yuzhen was the biggest winner because he would get the support of Ding General Manor himself. But at the same time, as the son-in-law of Ding General Manor, Feng Yuxuan would get some support definitely.
Even the Empress, who lost her agent, Feng Yulei, would turn to Feng Yuxuan. No matter if Feng Yuxuan or Feng Yulei would succeed to the throne, the Empress would ascend to be the Empress Dowager. If Ling Fengyan gave birth to heirs, she would be the next Empress, which would guarantee the glory and wealth of the Ding General Manor in the following decades. What a great opportunity! Ding General Manor would not sit by and do nothing.
Ling Fengyan was the bond between Ding General Manor and Feng Yuxuan. Now, the bond was broken, and the leading gainer was Feng Yuzhen. Besides, all the evidence was pointed at Feng Yuzhen. Even if Feng Yuxuan was quite level-headed, he could not bear it anymore. His eyes reddened with hatred, and his remarks totally disregarded Feng Yuzhen’s face.
Princess Royal had thought to stop them but fell into silence at this moment. It was not a common poisoning case. If it was handled improperly, it would resort to arms. Although she was a princess, she did not want to get involved and be used by others. So she just sent people to the palace to report and sat beside, frowning.
Feng Yuran held Mo Xuetong’s hand and sat down as well. His leg had not recovered, so he could not stand for a long time. Because Feng Yuxuan and Feng Yuzhen, and Wang Yueyue all stood, Mo Xuetong felt it improper to take a seat and had to stand behind Feng Yuran.
“Eldest Brother. Please wait. If it was she who administered the poison to sister-in-law, I will not cover up her guilt. Here, take my manor doctor here to check when the sister-in-law was poisoned and what poison it is.” Feng Yuzhen had sweated on his head. The things had gone beyond his calculation, so he had no alternative but to drag it on.
Wang Yueyue wobbled and looked at Feng Yuzhen unbelievably. She knew what he meant. If he was unable to prove her innocence, she would be pushed out as a victim. A glimmer of despair took on in her eyes. Although they were a newly-married couple, all the honeyed words could not outweighed the sentence that Feng Yuzhen said today, like a sharp sword piercing into her heart.
Sure enough, all he said were lies!
“My Lady, calm down. Please calm down.” Her nanny shook Wang Yueyue’s hand violently and seeing Wang Yueyue staring at Feng Yuzhen blankly, the nanny pinched Wang Yueyue’s hand hard.
The strong tingling awakened Wang Yueyue from the trance. She put her hands to her belly and knew that she could not get flustered because she had a baby in her belly.
The doctor of King Ning’s manor was brought in soon. And the doctor of Princess Royal’s manor retreated at the sign of Princess Royal. Since Feng Yuzhen did not believe her manor doctor, Princess Royal was unwilling to bring trouble and just let them deal with it themselves.
“Your Highness, King Chu’s Lady was poisoned about 2 hours ago, and the dosage was not much, so she did not die on the spot. But the King Chu’s Lady was in poor health, so she could not hold on and die of the poison. And the poison is named poisonous orchid. She drank it through her throat.” The doctor of King Ning’s manor knew better than that of Princess Royal’s manor, because he not only told the time of the poisoning but also what kind of poison it was.
The poisonous orchid was not a rare medicinal material in the Qin Kingdom. It was available in all aristocratic families, which was used to punish disobedient people like concubines.
Two hours ago? It was when the banquet was about to end. That was to say, all the people present were suspects.
“Your Highness, at that time, Lady Ning was sitting beside our Lady, and some even helped dishes to our Lady.” The nanny kneeling on the ground said immediately.
According to the seat arrangement at that time, Ling Fengyan had Princess Royal on the right and Wang Yueyue on the left. Princess Royal was a senior, and she never helped Ling Fengyan for any food. But Wang Yueyue was the cousin’s wife, so she did help Ling Fengyan some food mannerly when seeing Ling Fengyan’s feeble look. It was not a big deal, but now when it came to this matter, Wang Yueyue’s movement at that time was quite inexplicable.
“Lady Ning, what else can you say?” Feng Yuxuan said coldly.
Wang Yueyue had already collected herself at this time and realized that Feng Yuzhen was unreliable and that she had to rely on herself. She did not step back but came up to curtsy to Feng Yuxuan.
“Your Highness, as the manor doctor said, Lady Chu was poisoned for about 2 hours. That is today, the time lasted after the closing of the banquet. During that period, Lady Xuan was also present, and three of us still had some talks. And Lady Chu did not feel uncomfortable. But after Lady Xuan left, Lady Chu told me that she felt uncomfortable. Then, Lady Chu and I talked for a while. And Lady Chu spat black blood and died. If I really conducted it, why did Lady Chu react like that?”
In every possible way, Wang Yueyue was trying to get Mo Xuetong under the spotlight. Only when people thought Mo Xuetong was one of the suspects could Wang Yueyue get away! As long as Wang Yueyue was of use to Feng Yuzhen, he would not abandon her!
Her brunt was directed at Mo Xuetong!
“Yueyue, what you said is not true. I was a little far away from Fengyan at that moment. Why did it have something to do with me? Besides, the relationship between Fengyan and I was not so close, and I was turned away from you far. Later, I left in a hurry because I went to take care of my King. During that period, I did not give anything edible to Fengyan. Do you want to shift the blame on me? Have you ever considered King Xuan? Have you ever considered Her Highness?”
Mo Xuetong looked up, and her bright eyes were faintly misty. With a grieved look, She defended herself in a timid manner, her eyes full of grievance and sorrow. Anyone would feel she was wronged for no reason. Mo Xuetong looked at Princess Royal for help.
Hearing Mo Xuetong’s remark, Princess Royal felt angry inwardly and could not help giving a snort.
Although Mo Xuetong was Feng Yuran’s consort, she was Princess Royal’s daughter. Wang Yueyue’s words showed great suspicion to Mo Xuetong that Mo Xuetong was much more likely to poison Ling Fengyan to death undetected. However, Wang Yueyue’s words also led the fire to Princess Royal.
Because if Mo Xuetong could do it undetected, it could not be completed without Princess Royal’s help. Otherwise, how could Mo Xuetong have done it reconditely?
Wang Yueyue was stunned and did not expect that Mo Xuetong could react so quickly and deliberately misinterpreted her words to shift the topic on Princess Royal.
Wang Yueyue tried to explain, but merely met with Princess Royal’s cold eyes. It was undeniable that if Mo Xuetong did poison Ling Fengyan to death, Princess Royal could not escape responsibility for it. So just now, Wang Yueyue deliberately bypassed the topic about Princess Royal with the attempt to bear down Mo Xuetong first, but out of Wang Yueyue’s expectation, Mo Xuetong’s counterattack made Wang Yueyue fell into a dilemma and not dare to speak carelessly.
Wang Yueyue thought that Mo Xuetong was really not so innocent as she looked, instead, she was so crafty.
However, at that moment, Wang Yueyue could not retreat and could even feel the Feng Yuzhen’s eyes as chilly as ice behind. Wang Yueyue got a bit stiffened, gritted her teeth and wailed. “If Lady Xuan does not believe, you can ask those maidservants on the spot at that time. Lady Chu felt uncomfortable when you left.” Wang Yueyue turned to ask the nannies kneeling on the ground, “Lady Chu asked you to bring a basin of water and washed her hands and face, right?”
It was true. As soon as Mo Xuetong left, Ling Fengyan said that she felt dizzy and uncomfortable, and ordered people to take a basin of water to wash her face. And then, she sat down and chatted with Wang Yueyue.
The kneeling nanny thought and nodded. “Yes. I served My Lady to wash the face. Because I was unfamiliar here, I requested a maidservant in the Her Highness’ manor take it away.”
This was to say that Mo Xuetong was more suspicious than Wang Yueyue.
For a moment all the people in the room set their eyes on Mo Xuetong, and fell into silence, so deadly and suffocating.
“Lady Xuan, why did you change your clothes in a while? Why did you change your clothes suddenly?” A sharp-eyed girl screamed abruptly.
Immediately, people’s eyes on Mo Xuetong became astonished. Indeed, the clothes on Mo Xuetong was not what she wore when she came here before.