"Dang-dang-dang-"
The gong sounded at the third watch, and in the silent night, the gong sound was so penetrating that the hearts of the servants kneeling in the hall trembled with the sound of the gong. .
The nanny in charge of purchasing in the inner courtyard and the women in charge of the small Buddhist hall were all brought here.
"Master!" Tian Nanny, who was in charge of purchasing, looked carefully at the piece of ring incense placed on the ground, and called Qu, "I don't know anything. The candles, incense and paper money used in the small Buddhist hall have been used for decades. It was bought from the time-honored shop of the Li family in the city, my lord, go and ask everyone in the mansion, everyone knows about it!" Even with her great courage, she would not dare to tamper with the incense candle! At most, she just went to Li's shop to get some oil and water.
The three women who were in charge of guarding and cleaning the small Buddhist hall on weekdays repeatedly kowtowed and said, "My lord, the servants don't know anything!" After learning from a cup of tea that there was something wrong with the ring incense in the Buddhist hall, the old women How is it possible that we still wonder if we are dreaming until now? !
One of the brown-clothed women boldly said: "My lord, in the Buddhist hall are enshrined tablets of the old prince, old concubine, the second master, and the former concubine. The slaves and maids work hard every day, and they dare not leave for a moment. of."
The other two wives also nodded with sympathy, if there was something wrong with the tablets of the masters, giving them a hundred heads would not be enough for the prince and the son to chop off.
Although the errands in this small Buddhist hall are easy, they dare not be careless for a moment.
Xiao Yi smiled coldly, "That is to say, you don't know that there is something wrong with this incense?"
Nanny Tian and those women were scared out of their wits long ago, and loudly argued for themselves: "My lord, I really don't know."
Xiao Yi was too lazy to talk nonsense, his cold eyes fell on them, and he ordered: "Since this is the case, what's the use of keeping you. If you drag on, you will die!"
die? ! Nanny Tian and the wives almost collapsed, and hurriedly kowtowed and begged for mercy: "My lord, spare me! My lord, spare my life!" They were all chilled in their hearts, shrouded in despair. No one in the palace knew that the lord always said the same !
As soon as Xiao Yi gave an order, a few thick-shouldered and round-shouldered women stepped forward with a smile on their faces, saying "I've offended you"...
"Wait!"
At this time, an old and peaceful male voice suddenly spoke, and everyone followed the voice subconsciously.
Lin Jingchen said in a deep voice: "Ayi, I want to ask them a few questions."
Nanny Tian's eyes lit up immediately. The only one in the palace who could persuade the eldest son was the imperial concubine, but the imperial concubine was seriously ill. At this time, the only one who could save them was old Mrs. Lin.
"Old Master, please forgive me!" They begged Lin Jingchen for mercy again, thinking of the doctor's parents, if Old Master Lin would help persuade the Shizi, then they would be saved!
Seeing this, Xiao Yi frowned, and glanced at them impatiently.
Since the ring incense is poisonous, there must be a problem with the purchase, or it was replaced by someone secretly in the small Buddhist hall. These two reasons cannot be escaped. These diabolical slaves certainly wouldn't be ignorant of this, but they deliberately kept it a secret for fear of being punished and implicated.
He didn't want to waste time with a few minions.
Just say what you want, if you don't want to say stick death.
However, Mrs. Lin was willing to give them another chance, Xiao Yi did not stop him, and bowed respectfully: "Grandfather, please do it!"
Lin Jingchen turned his head to look at the women and asked, "In the past 20 days, who have been to the Small Buddha Hall?"
The mothers-in-law looked at each other, and the word "stick death" seemed to be lingering in their ears. They all knew that if the prince couldn't find out what happened today, their lives would definitely be in jeopardy.
Thinking of this, the woman in brown clothes who was the most courageous among them immediately replied honestly: "Back to the old man, except for the concubine Shizi who will go to the Buddhist hall to offer incense every few days. Madam, Third Madam, and several girls and young masters also often go to the Buddhist hall to offer incense. By the way, on the fifth day of this month, the prince also went there after receiving the good news sent by the son..."
The brown-clothed woman said, thinking to herself: Could it be that Mrs. Lin suspected that someone secretly changed the ring incense while going to the Buddhist hall to offer incense
If you think about it carefully, it's not impossible.
On weekdays, after the masters finished offering incense, they would just take a rough look to see if there was anything left behind, or the incense candles were knocked over... A quick glance saw that there was nothing unusual in the Buddhist hall, so they took the Buddha The hall door was closed.
Could it be that it was really done by a certain master in the palace
The women looked at each other in blank dismay, not daring to think about it anymore.
They all knelt there tremblingly. Now, why are they still thinking about it so much? The key is to keep their own lives.
Lin Jingchen was stroking his beard while thinking: Yue'er must have been poisoned for more than half a month, and King Zhennan only went to the Small Buddha Hall once in the fifth day of the lunar new year. The time did not match, so it must not be Zhennan. king.
As for everyone else...
Lin Jingchen thought for a while and asked, "Do you have the registration name and date?"
The women looked at each other again, the people who came and went in this Buddhist hall did not take things from the warehouse, so how could they register them in the register
They racked their brains to remember for a while, and a woman in Tsing Yi said cautiously: "Returning to the old man, although the servants have never recorded it, the servants still remember who came and who came on which days in the past half a month. The servants only know a few A word, it’s better to be dictated by a servant, can some girl please help me write it down?”
Xiao Yi made a gesture to Baihui, and Baihui took the woman in Tsing Yi to the Xishao room next door, and the rest of the people secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads with their sleeves.
If you can escape this catastrophe, then you should really go to the temple to pay your respects!
What happened next has nothing to do with Nanny Tian, so she was temporarily taken out to take care of her, while the other two women knelt and waited for orders.
They waited anxiously for half a cup of tea, and then they saw Baihui and the woman in Tsing Yi came out of the west room one after the other, Baihui presented the list to Lin Jingchen respectfully, and Xiao Yi also moved over Look at that list with Lin Jingchen.
After scanning the list quickly, Lin Jingchen asked, "When was this incense ring replaced?"
"The first day of this month!" The woman in Tsing Yi hurriedly replied, "At that time, the slaves and the woman were changing together."
The other woman in blue hurriedly nodded in agreement.
Lin Jingchen picked up the pen, and "brushed" first crossed out several names with the pen, such as Xiao Luan, Xiao Che, Qiu Shi, Xin Shi, etc., who went to the Buddhist hall before the first day of this month and after the fifth day of this month. They were excluded first, and the rest were the names of the second young master Xiao Luan and the families of the girls.
After Xiao Yi and Lin Jingchen scanned the list, their eyes fell on Xiao Ni's name. The others only went to the Buddhist hall once in the past half month, but Xiao Ni went twice...
Xiao Yi narrowed his eyes slightly, the stinky girl had almost nothing to say to him, even when he was not in Luoyue City, Nangong Yue would tell him some household chores in detail in the letter, in the impression that Xiao Ni did not talk to him The smelly girl turned against each other, and the smelly girl even mentioned that it was not easy for Xiao Ni to be a girl, so she planned to take her by her side and teach her... Could it be her
Lin Jingchen stroked his beard, and asked again: "I see Miss Xiao San often goes to Buddhist halls, is she usually like this?"
The women were stunned for a moment, thinking: Could it be that Mrs. Lin suspected that it was the third girl
"Go back to the old lady," the same lady in Tsing Yi replied respectfully, "Third Miss is filial, and she often goes to the Buddhist hall to offer incense to the old prince and the second master, at least two or three times a month."
"Yes." The brown-clothed woman nodded and echoed, "The third girl is filial and kind to the servants. Last time, she asked Miss Sangrou to share some snacks with the servants." Among the girls, Xiao Fei is high-minded and doesn't care about others, Xiao Rongying is delicate and savage, Xiao Ni is good-natured, and is very kind to servants.
Xiao Yi frowned, and asked: "Miss San, did you share the snacks? What kind of snacks did she use?"
The lady in Tsing Yi didn't have time to think about it, she instinctively blurted out: "Food box."
The other two women thought of something, and their faces were a little ugly. Could it be that...
Xiao Yi's voice became a little colder, and a gleam flashed in his eyes: "She always brings a food box every time she goes to the Buddhist hall? What about the others? Do other people have baskets or food boxes?" If the poisonous person took the opportunity of going to the Buddhist hall to offer incense to replace the ring incense in the Buddhist hall, then it is impossible for him to go to the Buddhist hall empty-handed.
The three women looked at each other again, whispered to each other, and followed the brown-clothed woman back: "Back to Shizi, the third girl will bring some offerings every time she goes to the Buddhist hall. Except for the third girl, who is also the concubine Shizi , the eldest girl, and the second wife sometimes bring a basket, a food box, and the like."
Speaking of later, the brown-clothed woman was already trembling. Hearing the question from the Shizi, could it be that the always kind third girl was the one who killed the Shizi
The women swallowed their saliva, their hearts lifted in an instant, and they knelt there with downcast eyes.
Xiao Ni! Xiao Yi's face was sinking like water, his stinky girl had a good temper, and treated the whole palace like family, but unexpectedly, she raised a white-eyed wolf for nothing!
"Come here..."
He was about to order someone to bring Xiao Ni, when a little girl in blue trousers trotted towards the main room, and after crossing the threshold, she stepped forward and said, "My lord, the old man, the second wife and the third girl Come to see the son of the world, now the third girl is kneeling outside the yard..."
The little maid's expression was a bit subtle, the second wife brought the third girl to Bixiaotang at this time, and as soon as she came, the third girl knelt at the entrance of the yard, making people have to think about it.
The little maid was not sure yet, but the three women kneeling in the main room were like a mirror—it was really the third girl!
Xiao Yi's face was extremely ugly, gloomy and cold, and once again released a fierce murderous aura from his whole body.
For a while, the women and maids in the main room didn't even dare to breathe.
The wrath of the emperor caused millions of corpses to bleed for thousands of miles. It's not much different based on their son's style on the battlefield!
Xiao Yi said slowly: "Let her in!" His face was as cold as frost, every word was as cold as ice scum.
The little maid who came to report was terrified just hearing it, and hurried out after answering.
The women in the main room were all dragged down. They were in charge of the small Buddhist hall, but they didn't even know that the ring incense was changed. The poisonous ring incense was different from the original one. The degrees are different, if they are more cautious, it is impossible not to find out.
With Xiao Yi's temperament, it is not an exaggeration to kill him with a stick, but Lin Jingchen thought that Nangong Yue was trying to dissuade him in the name of accumulating blessings, so he only dragged on and beat 50 boards, and withdrew his errand. Of course, the women were obedient to their promises. Although they had to be punished, they managed to save their lives, and they could only feel lucky.
After a while, the little maid came with Qiu Shi and Xiao Ni, both mother and daughter looked extremely ugly, especially Xiao Ni, who looked like a broken flower swaying in the wind and rain, almost withered Already...
Xiao Ni's demeanor and expression are an answer.
Baihui's heart sank, and the concubine Shi Zi admired the second girl quite a lot, saying that she has a gentle temper and yet fierce, how could the second girl do such vicious things? !
In this strange, heavy and delicate atmosphere, the Qiu mother and daughter walked side by side into the hall, Xiao Ni didn't dare to look at Xiao Yi at all, and knelt down on the cold and hard ground with a "plop".
Qiu Shi stood aside, meeting Xiao Yi's cold eyes.
Speaking of which, it was the first time for the Qiu family to come to Bixiao Hall and Nangong Yue's courtyard, but it was under such circumstances.
Since Master Xiao Er passed away, the Qiu family has always been cautious in words and deeds in the palace, and only hoped to raise a pair of children, so that in the future, they will have an explanation to Master Xiao Er. She has always comforted her son and daughter since they were young and sensible, but she didn't want her daughter to suffer such a catastrophe!
"Master of the in-laws, the son of the world." Qiu Shi blessed his body to salute, and then said in a shy voice, "Sister Ni has something to say..."
Until now, Qiu Shi still felt like a dream. Just now, under his own pressure, his daughter told the truth about that Miss Gu...
The more Qiu Shi heard it, the more frightened he became. In the end, he seemed to be soaked in ice water!
The daughter clearly fell into the opponent's trap, and every step of the opponent was carefully planned, so that the daughter fell into it like drinking poison to quench her thirst...
Qiu's heart was overwhelmed by a mountain, and her heart was in a mess. She felt sorry for her daughter, but she also knew that the person who came was not kind. Her daughter seemed to be addicted to the medicine that Miss Gu took. I am afraid that her need will become stronger and stronger in the future. The consequences would be disastrous... Besides, if my daughter did such a wrong thing, if the son wanted to investigate, I'm afraid he couldn't hide it.
Thinking about it, Qiu's throat felt a bit bitter, after all, he was negligent, and even ignored her daughter's abnormal state during this period, and also blamed herself as a mother for not disciplined her daughter well, and made her The daughter didn't know anything about the secrets in the back house, so she was reduced to where she is today.
It's useless to escape, they always have to give an explanation to Shi Ziye and Shi Zifei!
So, Qiu Shi brought Xiao Ni here.
Even if this test is not easy, as a mother, she must accompany her daughter through it!
I just hope that the son of the world will see them take the initiative to confess, and leave a way for his daughter and the second room to survive.
Qiu looked down at Xiao Ni who was kneeling on the ground, met her bewildered eyes, and nodded slightly at her.
As if Xiao Ni had gained strength from it, she plucked up the courage to look at Xiao Yi, and said, "Brother, I'm sorry, I replaced the Huanxiang in the Buddhist hall..."
Her voice became softer, but she still gritted her teeth and said, "It was a girl Gu who forced me to do this."
The first time I met Miss Gu in Huanxi Pavilion, it was the other party who "approached" her with ulterior motives, but on the night of New Year's Eve, I was so stupid that I took the medicine given by a stranger... so that I made a wrong step. , every step was wrong, and then I got stuck in the quagmire, the more I struggled, the deeper I got stuck...
To make such a big mistake.
Xiao Yi stared at Xiao Ni fiercely, his eyes were like a lone wolf staring at its prey, as if it was about to bite at any moment, the fierceness made people daunting.
Miss Gu? ! Baihui raised her eyebrows in surprise, and couldn't help but think of someone.
After getting Xiao Yi's permission, Baihui asked, "Could it be that Miss Gu from Huanxi Pavilion?"
Xiao Ni nodded lightly.
Baihui hurriedly reported to Xiao Yi what happened at the Huanxi Pavilion back then, all she knew was that Miss Gu "saved" Xiao Ni from asthma attacks, but as for how Miss Gu got in touch with Xiao Ni later, it was a question of How to get Xiao Ni to do such a thing, Baihui doesn't know.
Xiao Yi looked at Xiao Ni again, although he wished to kill her, but he still had a lot of questions to ask her.
Xiao Yi took a deep breath, managed to calm down a bit, and asked, "Xiao Ni, did Miss Gu give you this ring incense?"
He directly named her by name, obviously he no longer regards Xiao Ni as his younger sister.
Xiao Ni bit her white lower lip and nodded her head: "... After Miss Gu gave me the incense stick, she told me to put it in the small Buddha hall... She swore that the incense stick would not endanger my sister-in-law. life. That's why I..."
She also knows that her words are so weak, but she really has no other choice. When her "illness" flares up, life is really worse than death, which makes her wish to cut herself one knife after another...
At that moment, all she could think about was medicine!
She tried to get over it time and time again, but proved her weakness time and time again. For the "medicine", she was like a worm stuck on a spider web, struggling to the death, but only being stuck tighter and tighter...
Thinking of the difficulties when the "sickness" occurred, Xiao Ni's face became even uglier, and her heart skipped a beat.
Xiao Ni took a deep breath, lowered her head, and murmured: "...Brother, I regret it, I really regret it. So I went to the Buddha Hall again on the seventh day of the lunar new year, and originally wanted to exchange Huanxiang back I didn't expect that the third aunt just came..." She was afraid that Mrs. Xiao would find out, so she didn't dare to replace Huanxiang. After that, she wanted to go to the Buddhist hall again, but she was afraid that going too often would make people suspicious, so she thought about it. I'll go again in a few days, but I didn't expect my sister-in-law to fall ill in just a few days...
It's all her fault!
Xiao Ni's body trembled violently, feeling a faint cold feeling rising from her heart...
Her pale lips trembled slightly, but no one noticed her abnormality, they only thought she was afraid, because of fear...
Xiao Yi pondered for a moment, then asked in a cold voice: "Xiao Ni, where is that Miss Gu?"
Xiao Ni shook her head anxiously, and said in a trembling voice: "I don't know, every time, Miss Gu came to me on her own initiative..."
Xiao Yi squinted his eyes, his eyes became colder, and said: "If that's the case, then go and lure him out for me!"
His tone was commanding, and he didn't give Xiao Ni the slightest doubt at all.
Xiao Ni's body trembled even more, although she was afraid in her heart, she still responded immediately.
Qiu Shi who was beside her couldn't hide her worry, her hands were tightly holding the handkerchief: Miss Gu didn't know where it came from, since she dared to take action against the Crown Princess, she might have her accomplices by her side. It must be extremely dangerous for a daughter to act rashly as a bait, but until now, this is the only way to make her daughter atone for her sins and calm down the son...
At this moment, Xiao Yi suddenly looked in the direction of the door curtain, and in the next moment, there was a sound of raising the curtain, followed by a blue figure coming out of the inner room quickly, walking towards Xiao Yi and Lin Jingchen.
"Grandfather, Ah Yi, Yue'er is awake!" Han Qixia said with a joyful smile on her face.
Xiao Yi's eyes widened, he could no longer care about the people in this room, and immediately strode away, and rushed into the inner room through the curtain. Lin Jingchen followed closely into the inner room.
Is sister-in-law alright? ! Xiao Ni's heart relaxed, as if she had lost her support, she collapsed limply, her breathing instantly became rapid and heavy, sweat poured down from her forehead, her body curled up like a shrimp...
"Miss San!" Sang Rou cried out, her face pale as paper.