"Look, Queen Mother, this is it. It's actually a cloisonné porcelain box! The eunuch bumped into Ah Shou and hid the thing on him without anyone noticing. If Ah Shou hadn't been alert and quick to act after discovering it, this guy would have successfully framed him!"
In the main hall of Qingning Palace, Zhu Ying sat beside the Empress Dowager, and held the broken blue cloisonné porcelain box in front of the Empress Dowager. "Is this something from Qingning Palace? Look at how fast that thief moved. He must have cooperated with others many times. He is definitely a habitual thief!"
Since he came in to pay respects to the Queen Mother, Zhang Shou has been keeping his mouth shut, just sitting there thoughtfully watching Zhu Ying's one-man show. As for the other person present today, Princess Yongping, who he could barely call an acquaintance, and the two princes, he only paid his respects to them at the beginning and never looked at them again, as if they were just unrelated people.
By occasionally looking up at Zhu Ying, he secretly looked at this empress dowager who had ruled the country from behind the curtain. After all, this was the first and only empress dowager who had ruled the country from behind the curtain since the founding of this dynasty, and according to Zhu Ying, she returned the government without any hesitation.
According to the time when Duke Zhao Zhu Jing had made great achievements and was awarded the title during the reign of the previous Emperor Ruizong, as well as the age of the emperor, Zhang Shou felt that she should be a dozen years younger than the lady dowager in Duke Zhao's mansion. However, her dark blue clothes made her look older than the lady dowager, and her jewelry was dark in color. Her expression was even more rigid and dignified, making her look as if she was the same age as the lady dowager.
What was even more different was that Zhu Ying's grandmother was always kind and gentle, and occasionally showed some sharpness and determination, but the empress dowager was probably used to looking down on others, and always had a picky arrogance, which could easily make people who met her for the first time feel at a loss. So, he simply kept silent like a young man who had really lived in the countryside for a long time.
It was not until Zhu Ying, whose voice was as clear as a lark, finally stopped talking that Princess Yongping spoke up: "Although Zhang Shou was quick to react, he could have just shouted 'Catch the thief' instead of throwing the things away. What if it wasn't an enamel porcelain box that was broken, but a seal or something more valuable? Wouldn't that be terrible?"
Zhang Shou glanced at Zhu Ying and saw that she was also looking at him first. He even felt that he could understand her eyes - it was just an expression that said, "If you want to talk, I won't say anything for now..." He just found it funny and simply replied with an expression that said, "It's up to you."
Seeing that Zhang Shou had no intention of making excuses, Zhu Ying immediately took over the responsibility.
"In such a short time, how could Shou know what was secretly slipped to him? What if it was a knife or other murder weapon? Wouldn't he be unable to explain even if he had a hundred mouths? You know, we didn't search him when we entered the palace! Besides, what if someone with ulterior motives escapes without paying attention? In short, if it were me, I would definitely arrest him first and then deal with other things!"
The Queen Mother seemed to be used to Zhu Ying's persuasive speech, and went to see Zhang Shou again. She saw that he was standing straight, with a slightly stiff expression, as if facing a distinguished guest, and was sitting in the same position as when he first came in. Thinking that he had not spoken since he was first brought in by Zhu Ying, she took the thing from Zhu Ying and handed it to a middle-aged female official standing beside him.