What happens in the palace affects the entire body.
As the biggest suspect, Hu Shanwei was held in solitary confinement. Even Meixiang was dragged out of bed in the middle of the night, had her mouth gagged with a rag, and was secretly carried away.
Meixiang saw this and dared not hide anything. She told the whole story about the snacks she got from her old friend in the imperial kitchen, how she made the rice wine and packed it into the food box, how she met Ji Gang, a small flag of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and how she went to the small kitchen of the Yanxi Palace to heat up the rice wine.
Concubine Hu in the Yanx Palace was pregnant with the royal heir, so the female official on duty at the Imperial Food Bureau that night took control of all the people in the small kitchen of the Yanx Palace, replaced a group of people, and even changed the cooking pots!
The royal heir must not be in trouble, and being careful will ensure a long life.
Ji Gang of the Imperial Guard was not on duty in the harem that night. Once the harem was locked at night, it would not be opened unless the emperor issued an imperial decree. According to the rules, the palace gates had to be opened at dawn before Ji Gang could be summoned.
When Jinyiwei Commander Mao Xiang heard that Gong Zhengsi had requested that Ji Gang be summoned for questioning at dawn, he knew that the matter had become a big deal. He was so angry that he pulled Ji Gang out of his warm bed in the middle of the night:
"I want you to find a way to make Hu Shanwei lose the election. You are really capable. You have brought down most of the female officials and even alarmed the Yanxi Palace!"
Ji Gang was shocked in the middle of the night, and then he realized that the matter had become serious. "I... I just wanted her to get sick, miss the palace rules test, and leave the palace on her own."
Mao Xiang grabbed Ji Gang's ear and said, "Do you really need to use such a strong medicine to deal with a girl? Are you stupid?"
Ji Gang covered his ears, "I thought girls were delicate and weak, and ate less, so I was afraid that the medicine would not work, so I put more. I really didn't expect that she had such a good relationship with people. She was in a good mood to party and have fun on the eve of the big exam, and she shared her food with others. I didn't know that Meixiang would actually run to the Yanxi Palace to borrow the small kitchen just to heat a pot of rice wine."
Mao Xiang let go, "Tomorrow the palace official will come to interrogate you, do you know what to say?"
Ji Gang said hurriedly: "Usually we are the ones who interrogate others, but this time it's someone else's turn to interrogate me, I know what to do..."
The noise in Ji Gang's room woke up Mu Chun who lived next door.
Young people are sleepy, and under normal circumstances, even thunder cannot wake them up. But now Mu Chun has moved from the luxurious Xiping Marquis Mansion to the simple Jinyiwei Yamen duty room. He has some habits of choosing his seats, and his buttocks were severely spanked by Mao Xiang, so he would wake up in pain if he turned over. Therefore, he has a very light sleep and will wake up at the slightest movement.
Mu Chun leaned against the wall and listened. He didn't understand what was going on, but he could hear Hu Shanwei's name very clearly. Mu Chun frowned. This beautiful sister was really full of misfortunes. What should he do
Mu Chun squatted in the corner, thinking, and saw a pair of shoes in front of him. He looked up and said, "Mao... Master Mao."
Mao Xiang asked: "How much did you hear?"
Muchun pulled his belt and yawned, "What did you hear? I just came out to pee."
Mu Chun entered the room and was about to close the door when Mao Xiang suddenly pushed the door open, covered Mu Chun's mouth, pushed him to the corner, and blew out the candle...
At four o'clock in the morning, Fan Gongzheng from the Palace Justice Department came to the room where Hu Shanwei was imprisoned.
Unexpectedly, Hu Shanwei was sleeping soundly on the table, using his arm as a pillow.
Hearing the noise, Hu Shanwei woke up, with a few marks on his left cheek.
"Mr. Fan." Hu Shanwei saluted.
Even in the middle of the night, Fan Gongzheng was still wearing his official robe and a black gauze hat with a bunch of wisteria silk flowers on both sides of the hat. His makeup was exquisite and he looked not tired at all.
Fan Gongzheng sat down and looked her up and down, "Even in this state, you can still sleep?"
Hu Shanwei said: "I have a clear conscience."
Fan Gongzheng: "Don't you have anything to say?"
Hu Shanwei asked, "How is Shen Qionglian's condition?"
That talented girl who is rare in a century, the last one to appear was Li Qingzhao from the Song Dynasty. It would be a pity if she passed away like this.
Fan Gongzheng didn't answer, but gestured, "Sit down."
Hu Shanwei sat directly opposite Fan Gong, and the two looked at each other.
Fan Gongzheng was secretly amazed. Was this new female official born brave or was she just frightened silly? She didn't show any fear at all.
Fan Gongzheng used a psychological strategy and said, "Meixiang has confessed, aren't you afraid?"
Hu Shanwei said: "Anyway, the female officials who got into trouble gathered in my room last night to do homework. This is a fact that I cannot deny. It is normal for you to doubt me, but—"
"The Palace Administration Department requires evidence and rules. Otherwise, wouldn't the palace rules and etiquette I have learned for half a month be useless? If it is really my fault, I am willing to accept any punishment. If it is not my fault, the Palace Administration Department is fair and strict, and will definitely find out the truth and clear my name."
When Hu Shanwei was imprisoned, she was also panicked at first, but then she thought, she had nothing to begin with, and now disaster had struck, she was imprisoned and could do nothing. The only way she could do was to face it calmly, so as to live up to her years of studying hard, copying books tirelessly, and taking the risk of stealing a household registration certificate to get into the palace as a female official.
Fan Gongzheng asked again: "More than half of the female officials who gathered in your room last night were suspected to have been poisoned. Wu Siyao suspected that it was related to the food at the banquet last night - why are you not poisoned at all?"
Hu Shanwei said frankly: "I am the host. How can a host only care about himself and not the guests? Last night I only ate a piece of tiger eye nest silk candy and drank a cup of rice wine. The rest was ordinary tea."
He continued, "If I am really like what they said, I was jealous of Shen Qionglian and other outstanding female officials, and instigated Meixiang to poison the food. First of all, where did the poison come from? I had nothing when I entered the palace. The maids searched me and even... even my private parts were checked. I only brought in an iron army badge. Secondly, Meixiang is an old lady in the palace. She knows the rules best. How could she be so crazy as to listen to the instigation of a newcomer like me? Finally, if it was really me who did it, I would definitely poison myself, otherwise I would be the only one who was fine, and everyone would be the first to suspect me."
"Fan Gongzheng, I passed the preliminary selection and the re-selection and was admitted. I'm not that stupid."
After listening to Hu Shanwei's defense, Fan Gongzheng asked, "In your opinion, who caused half of the female officials to fall ill last night?"
Hu Shanwei shook his head, "I don't know, I want to know too."
Fan Gong was looking at her, as if expecting her to say more, but Hu Shanwei was like a saw-mouthed gourd, not uttering a word.
Hu Shanwei knew that if she randomly accused others in order to escape the crime, it would only make the matter more complicated. They all went through hardships to become palace ladies, so why should they make things difficult for each other
Fan Gongzheng left and locked the door from the outside. It was still dark and Hu Shanwei continued to sleep on the table.
Fan Gongzheng handed Hu Shanwei's confession to Ru Siyao, who was also a female official who entered the palace ten years ago. She was in her twenties and had a good appearance.
After reading the confession, Ru Siyao was a little surprised: "She didn't even mention her backers, Mu Chun and the Queen."
Fan Gongzheng nodded, "She didn't say a word. If she were an ordinary person, she would have knelt down and begged for mercy and brought in someone to back her. Hu Shanwei is really strong-willed, I admire her. However, we are at a loss now, and we have also alarmed Concubine Hu in the Yanxi Palace. Concubine Hu is pregnant. If we don't have an explanation tomorrow morning, Concubine Hu will be angry, and the Queen will blame us for our incompetence. By then, we will have to push Hu Shanwei, the biggest suspect, out to deal with the wrath of thunder first. It's a pity that before we find the real culprit, Hu Shanwei will definitely suffer some physical pain."
"Not necessarily." Ru Siyao pointed to a food box beside her: "I think we have found the culprit."
At three o'clock in the morning, when it was just dawn, the female official of the Shanggong Bureau handed out the keys to the gates of the harem on time. The eunuchs in the harem opened the gates and immediately returned the keys to the female official after opening the doors.
The keys to the main gate of the harem, including the keys to various storerooms, are kept by the female officials of the Imperial Court. The keys must be returned after unlocking and locking. Especially for the palace gates, the eunuchs are responsible for unlocking and locking them, and the female officials keep the keys.
The person in charge of the key does not open the door, and the person who opens the door does not care about the key. The female officials and eunuchs supervise each other.
As soon as Ji Gang, a small flagman of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, walked into the Palace Administration Office, he was thrown into prison. His Embroidered Spring Sword was taken off, his Feiyu Clothes was stripped off, and he was beaten with fifty boards until his skin was torn and blood was dripping.
Ji Gang cried out for injustice, but Fan Gongzheng didn't even blink.
After the beating, Ji Gang was almost out of breath, thinking that this Gongzheng Fan looked gentle and kind, but when he started to fight, he was as cruel and ruthless as our Lord Mao. The torture instruments of the Gongzheng Division were even more complete than those of our Jinyiwei's imperial prison!
These women are so scary!
After suppressing Ji Gang's prestige, Fan Gongzheng ordered someone to bring out a food box and asked him, "Does it look familiar?"
Ji Gang gritted his teeth and refused to admit it, "It does look familiar - the food boxes in the palace all look the same."
Fan Gongzheng said, "If you eat something and have vomiting and diarrhea, unless it's a strong poison, there's no way to find out anything, and there's no evidence. But when you were secretly spreading peach blossom powder into Meixiang's food box, a little bit of powder leaked into the food box, and it was found by the female doctors."
Fan Gongzheng took out a small paper bag and said, "This is a small amount of peach blossom powder that the female doctor swept out of the food box with a brush. It's not much, but it's enough to convict you."
Ji Gang wanted to slap himself. He thought it was just a small matter to force Hu Shanwei out of the palace. He never thought that it would alarm the evil female Gong Zhengsi!
Outside the palace, the Jinyiwei was well-known, but in the harem, Gongzhengsi was another Jinyiwei.
Ji Gang thought, I'm dead, it's all my fault, I deserve to die, but I can't betray Lord Mao anyway.
The harem is not allowed to interfere in government affairs. Similarly, foreign officials are not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the harem. The emperor hates this the most. Once Lord Mao is exposed, his position as the commander of the Jinyiwei will definitely be lost.
Ji Gang initially denied it and cried out that he was innocent.
Because if I admit it now, the process will be too fast and it will feel fake, as if I am taking the blame for someone else's crime. It is better to deny it first and then admit it after enduring several tortures. This way, the fake will become real.
Fan Gongzheng shook his head repeatedly. "You have interrogated many prisoners in the Imperial Prison. You should know that if you refuse to confess, I will do all the tricks you have played in the Imperial Prison to you."
Ji Gang said stubbornly: "I won't admit it even if you do it ten times. I didn't do it, so why should I admit it!"
Fan Gongzheng ordered the executioner to use different torture methods, because if Ji Gang did not plead guilty, the same punishment would probably be used on Hu Shanwei, an innocent man.
When the nail of Ji Gang's ring finger was pulled out alive by pliers, Ru Siyao came in and whispered something to Fan Gongzheng.
Fan Gongzheng's face changed and he said, "Stop the execution."
Gong Zhengsi, Jinyiwei commander Mao Xiang dragged Mu Chun in.
Mao Xiang pushed Mu Chun and winked, "Tell Fan Gongzheng yourself what good thing you instigated Ji Gang to do yesterday!"