"Does Your Majesty really judge my princess to have done wrong based on a mere little beast?"
Inside the main hall, everyone remained silent, all looking at Hai Ling above. A smile played on Hai Ling's lips, her aura shrouded in gloom. She was gently stroking the little lion, Qiu Qiu. Qiu Qiu, already agitated by Zhao Yang Wang Ye Ran Yi's words, had actually called her a little beast. She was a spirit lion! Qiu Qiu's eyes blazed with fire, glaring angrily at Zhao Yang Wang Ye Ran Yi. "You're the little beast! Your whole family are little beasts! I am a spirit lion! A spirit lion!"
Hai Ling was both amused and annoyed. She pressed down on the ball with one hand to prevent it from bouncing back, and her unfathomable, cold eyes gleamed with a chilling light as she slowly stared at Prince Zhaoyang, Ye Ranyi. Under such gaze, Ye Ranyi actually felt a deep pressure.
At this moment, Hailin spoke up, calmly and patiently.
"It seems that Prince Zhaoyang has made a mistake. My Qiuqiu is not some little beast. It is a rare breed called Golden Sand. Everyone knows that Golden Sand is a famous spirit beast, so it is much smarter than ordinary people. Someone tried to poison me with Tianzhu silk, but unfortunately I discovered it."
After Hai Ling finished speaking, she waved the white pink bag in her hand. At the head of the main hall, Princess Zhaoyang, Feng Yao, quickly looked at Nalan Mingzhu with her eyes filled with hatred and gritted her teeth as she glared at her.
Nalan Mingzhu completely ignored her cannibalistic gaze, instead glaring back fiercely.
Hailing continued, "Little Lion Ball Ball has smelled this silk, so it naturally knows who has touched it. Now that it has brought up Princess Feng Yao of Zhaoyang, then she must have touched this silk. May I ask, Prince Zhaoyang, how do you explain this?"
Ye Ranyi's pupils darkened as he glared resentfully at Princess Feng Yao of Zhaoyang, and then spoke.
"Your Majesty previously said that you would find the person who set fire to Qingqian Palace. Now this incident only proves that Feng Yao intended to poison Her Majesty the Empress. Her Majesty was not poisoned. As for the arson, I'm afraid it wasn't Feng Yao's doing."
If it was merely an attempt to poison the Empress, it wouldn't warrant death. However, if it involved swiftly clearing the Qian Palace, that would be a grave offense. It wasn't that Prince Zhaoyang particularly wanted to help Feng Yao, but rather that it involved his Zhaoyang Prince's Mansion. If all of this was truly Feng Yao's doing, what would others think of his Zhaoyang Prince's Mansion?
"Oh, I forgot to tell Prince Zhaoyang that at the scene of the fire at Qingqian Palace, someone put a kind of incense produced in Yunjiang in the palace. This kind of incense is a specialty of the people of Yunjiang. And the person who was going to poison me had this kind of silk, which can only be found in the people of Yunjiang. That's why I'm sure that Princess Zhaoyang is the mastermind behind the fire at Qingqian Palace."
After Hai Ling finished speaking in a cold tone, the hall erupted in an uproar.
Princess Zhaoyang, Ye Ranyi, was speechless, her face terribly gloomy. She glared fiercely at Princess Zhaoyang, Feng Yao, unable to fathom when she had become involved with the people of Yunjiang.
Upon hearing Hai Ling's words, Feng Yao felt annoyed. She had been careless and shouldn't have set her sights on Nalan Mingzhu. Now, she had revealed her true intentions. However, she resolutely refused to admit it and wanted to see how Ji Hai Ling would make her explain. With that thought, she knelt down in the main hall and began to wail.
"Your Majesty, you cannot wrong me! I did nothing wrong. Although I smell of silk on me, it is very likely that it was a scheme by the murderer behind it. That person dared to burn down Qingqian Palace, what could they possibly do? Your Majesty, please do not fall into the trap of the villain!"
When Princess Consort Feng Yao of Zhaoyang shouted, the ministers in the hall naturally thought about it seriously, some nodding and some shaking their heads.
Soon someone stood up and spoke respectfully.
"Your Majesty must investigate thoroughly. We must not fall into the villain's trap. Since this person dared to burn down Qingqian Palace, he must be very cunning. It is possible that he is framing Princess Zhaoyang."
The speaker was still Liu Tan, a scholar of the Grand Secretariat. As soon as Liu Tan spoke, many officials in the court stood up and asked Hai Ling to investigate the matter thoroughly.
Hai Ling waved for everyone to sit down, then looked at Feng Yao and smiled slowly.
"Why is Princess Zhaoyang in such a hurry? I will make you hand it over yourself," she said, then ordered the eunuch at the head of the main hall, "Summon Chen Ruoxuan."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The eunuch ran out, calling out, "Summon Chen Ruoxuan! Summon Chen Ruoxuan!"
The main hall was silent. Everyone stared at her, wondering what the Empress was up to.
Hai Ling smiled and said, "As you all know, Shen Ruoxuan is still a renowned physician. I heard that he has developed a pill called the Nine Turns Truth Pill. Once you take this pill, you will lose your mind and confess what you have done. I believe that if Princess Zhaoyang takes this pill, she will confess what she has done. If she has not done anything, I will naturally not make things difficult for her."
After Hai Ling finished speaking, another uproar broke out in the hall, with everyone discussing it with great curiosity.
Princess Zhaoyang, Feng Yao, felt a surge of horror in her eyes and panic rising in her heart. She quickly tried to reassure herself, "No, this can't be. This woman must be lying to me. I don't believe her!" She looked up at Ji Hailing in the main hall and saw that Ji Hailing had a stunningly beautiful face and every gesture was radiant. The dazzling light surrounding Ji Hailing was so intense that Feng Yao felt her heart bleed with hatred, and she couldn't utter a single word.
Outside the main hall, Shen Ruoxuan, dressed in fine clothes, walked in with an air of leisure. He first bowed to Hailing, and when Hailing gestured for him to rise, he stood to one side of the main hall.
Hai Ling looked at Shen Ruoxuan and slowly said, "Shen Ruoxuan, I heard that you once developed a truth pill that can make people tell you what they have done. Do you have such a pill?"
Shen Ruoxuan bowed respectfully and replied loudly, "Yes, I have indeed developed such a pill. This pill is still made from fifty-six kinds of herbs. These fifty-six kinds of herbs stimulate the nerves of the human body, causing the nerves to be paralyzed and out of control of the brain, thereby achieving the purpose of telling the truth."
"Okay, very good."
Hai Ling nodded, signaling Shen Ruoxuan to take out a Truth Pill and hand it to Princess Feng Yao of Zhaoyang.
"Princess Zhaoyang, please take this pill. If you truly have done nothing wrong, I believe that after taking this truth pill, the truth will be revealed. I will never let a bad person go unpunished, but I will also not wrong an innocent person."
Shen Ruoxuan held a pill and stopped in front of Feng Yao, his eyes like water, gleaming with a cold light.
Feng Yao glared at him fiercely, then raised her head and scanned the people in the hall. The hall was silent, and everyone's eyes were filled with curiosity, as well as schadenfreude. These people clearly wanted to see her make a fool of herself. Feng Yao looked at them and suddenly laughed. She pushed away the pill in Shen Ruoxuan's hand and pointed sadly at the people in the hall.
"You all want to see me make a fool of myself, don't you? You want to hear what I have to say? Fine, I'll tell you."
Upon hearing this, Shen Ruoxuan breathed a sigh of relief and quietly raised his head to look at Hai Ling at the head of the table.
Actually, this so-called "truth pill" is completely fake. There's no such thing as a medicine that makes people tell the truth after taking it. They're just using a provocation tactic. People who do bad things always suspect that others know what they've done. With this provocation, Feng Yao might just confess. They were worried that she wouldn't fall for it, but now it seems she really has.
As soon as Feng Yao spoke, Prince Zhaoyang Ye Ranyi exclaimed, "Feng Yao, you?"
Unfortunately, Feng Yao ignored him completely and pointed at Ji Hailing, shouting, "That's right, I ordered people to set fire to Qingqian Palace. I wanted to burn you to death, I wanted to burn you to death. You ruined me. If you hadn't released Feng Qian, how could I have married into Beilu and this philandering prince? I wanted you dead a long time ago, but you're lucky and haven't died yet. So I hate it. I hate that God is unfair. Why can bad people live well, while I have to suffer like this? Now my brother and mother are in trouble, but you, the culprit, are alive and well. So I'm not reconciled."
As Feng Yao spoke, she went berserk, pacing around the main hall before collapsing to the ground and pounding her fists on the floor.
The entire hall was filled with shock. No one had expected that the fire in Qingqian Palace was actually set by Princess Zhaoyang. This woman had gone mad, daring to poison the Empress and hate her so much. And she didn't want to marry Prince Zhaoyang after all! Everyone was both surprised and horrified. Moreover, Princess Zhaoyang and the Empress were old acquaintances and had a grudge against each other before. Was that why she had always wanted to harm the Empress?
In the main hall, Hai Ling, Xi Liang, Nalan Mingzhu, and others had grim and unpleasant expressions as they stared intently at Feng Yao.
Hai Ling recalled the time when the fake Rouge poisoned her with Dragon Tongue Poison. Ruan Jingyue had always said that she wasn't the one who poisoned her. Could it be that Feng Yao was behind it all, framing the princess of Nanling Kingdom?
"Could it be that you were the one who bribed Yan Zhi to poison me with the Dragon Tongue poison from the Southern Ling Kingdom last time?"
Feng Yao laughed again: "That's right, I only borrowed that stupid woman Ruan Jingyue's hand, and you all fell for it and even cut off one of Ruan Jingyue's hands. How ridiculous! How precious is the Dragon Tongue of Nanling Kingdom? Don't I have one too? You actually insisted that Ruan Jingyue poisoned it. You're not that smart."
Feng Yao readily admitted it and did not deny it at all.
"So, you also sent those hundreds of men from Black Wind Cliff?"
Hai Ling pressed on, asking if Feng Yao was behind everything. She thought the woman was utterly despicable, constantly trying to harm her without her knowledge.