Wutong Palace.
When Chu Yun saw Yuan Jiu bringing people to arrest and interrogate the servant, he knew that the matter was exposed.
She didn't even want to run.
Not only did she not run away, she was already looking forward to exposing all of Queen Xie's crimes herself.
On the other side, Huai'an went to Jiaotang Garden.
Today, Nan Zhi accompanied Ye Jun to the banquet, and Huiyue stayed in the room.
Having often received favors from Ye Jun and having guessed the ins and outs of the matter, Huai'an was very polite when he came.
At least he was polite to Huiyue and the others.
Kong Qing was young and had never experienced anything like this before, so he was so scared that his face turned pale.
Huiyue was also afraid. Even when her master was framed in the past, they were never taken to the Ministry of Punishment for interrogation. However, as a senior palace maid, she could still keep her composure.
"Listen, I swear on my life that Shunyi will never do such a heinous thing as murdering the heir to the throne. Whether you are here with me in the palace or here to serve in the garden, the master has not treated you badly. The silver rewarded for the Mid-Autumn Festival is still warm. If any of you tell the truth, it's fine. But if you dare to slander Shunyi, I will not let you go even if I die and become a ghost!"
After listening to Huiyue's words, at least everyone's trust in Ye Jun increased a little bit, which made them feel relieved.
The two groups were taken to the Ministry of Punishment and interrogated by people from the Dark Chamber.
What no one expected was that Chu Yun vomited out everything before he was tortured.
Everything she knew, from drugging the eldest prince to gain custody of him to drugging Concubine Wan to murder the royal heir, was described clearly and concisely.
If the Queen succeeded, she would destroy Ming Shunyi and then herself, but now it is obvious that the Queen can only destroy herself.
Chu Yun felt relieved. The queen was so stupid that she couldn't even take someone with her to die with.
In the Ministry of Punishment, although Suqin and Su'e were not punished, they were frightened by Chuyun's revelations and their faces turned pale.
Things went smoothly, and the people from the Dark Cabinet quickly reported the results of the interrogation.
It was already late at night, but in the banquet hall, except for the Queen Mother who had gone back because she was too old to sit still, everyone else was detained and not allowed to leave.
After Ning Chen read the charges presented by the Dark Chamber, he felt as if his body had fallen into an icy cave, and his heart was filled with burning anger.
He knew that the queen was not a completely qualified wife, but he did not expect her to do such things.
Holding the evidence, the pressure around Ning Chen dropped.
"Queen, take a look for yourself!"
A piece of paper was thrown to the ground without any hesitation.
The queen's heart was in her throat. She wanted to squat down and pick it up, but her legs went weak and she fell to the ground.
At this moment, he no longer cared about his manners and picked up the paper with trembling hands to read it.
What caught my eye was what Chu Yun admitted, how she bribed Yang to drug the eldest prince.
For a moment, I felt dizzy, my vision went dark and I almost fainted.
He lowered his eyes and caught a glimpse of Ning Chen's dragon boots, then hurriedly knelt down and crawled over.
"Your Majesty, I did not do these things. This is all slander, slander!"
She turned around and pointed at Ye Jun angrily, "Ming Shunyi, you gave birth to a prince and received the emperor's favor, isn't that enough? You even conspired with the palace maids to murder Lady Wan and put the blame on me. You are too vicious!"
"My concubine is vicious?"
Ye Jun stared at her coldly and walked forward step by step.
"From the beginning, Your Majesty claimed to be ill and asked me to take over the preparation of the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. I believe Your Majesty had already arranged everything. The accusation is here. The maids around Your Majesty have explained every detail clearly. Your Majesty still wants to put the blame on me. It's really far-fetched!"
The queen's face went from pale at first to gradually turning blue, and it was obvious that she was becoming more and more guilty.
His lips were pale and his eyes were evasive.
Ye Jun had no intention of stopping. He walked in front of Ning Chen and looked up resolutely.
"Your Majesty, since the Empress Dowager feels that the maid's accusation is slander and must conduct a retrial, I am willing to let the Empress Dowager conduct a retrial of these servants. The words spoken after being tortured will make the Empress Dowager more convinced."
He paused, glanced at the queen, then looked away, "Maybe we can find out more."
She simply couldn't believe that the queen had only done one or two evil things in all these years.
Lin risked her life to assassinate the Queen because the Queen killed her baby in her belly when she was in the palace. However, she had no evidence and could not take revenge for many years.
Later, Hui Zhaorong became familiar with Ye Yun, and she also vaguely mentioned that the loss of Concubine Jingde's fetus when she was in the palace was also related to the Queen.
I won’t talk about the rest.
It would be impossible for the queen to turn things around just by killing three royal heirs, and the Xie family would also be implicated.
At this point, the queen was already confused, but she also knew that she couldn't let the emperor find out more.
He immediately propped himself up and supported Ning Chen's knees.
"Your Majesty, I was confused for a moment. I just was confused for a moment. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me this time for the sake of our years of marriage. Your Majesty...ah—"
"Poisonous woman!"
Veins popped up on Ning Chen's forehead. When he heard the Queen's admission, he couldn't help but kick her.
The blow hit the queen right in the chest with quite a bit of force. The queen screamed in pain and fell backwards to the side. Her already pale face was now distorted by the pain.
"I was married to you when we were young. Even though I didn't love you enough, I always protected your face and respected you. I often told you that you would definitely have a legitimate son. But how did you treat me? You were really ruthless in plotting to murder my offspring, and even tried to put the blame on others. Xie, I really underestimated you!"
Thinking of his respect for his wife and his protection of the Empress's reputation over the years, Ning Chen felt extremely chilled.
At that time, the queen was already crying bitterly and shaking her head desperately, with her hairpins scattered all over the floor, but because of the pain in her chest, she could no longer speak.
The man in front of him became increasingly blurry, his ears began to buzz, and he finally fainted from fear and grief.
Looking at the queen lying on the ground, Ning Chen clenched his fists, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He opened his eyes after a while and spoke in a deep voice, word by word.
"Empress Xie has plotted to murder the heir to the throne and murdered the concubines in the harem. Her virtue is unworthy of her position. We will now take back her Phoenix Seal and Book of Treasures and imprison her in Wutong Palace. All servants around Xie will also be imprisoned for interrogation."
In the hall, all the concubines except Ye Jun lowered their heads.
The Queen's downfall was too quick. Even though the Emperor didn't say to depose her today, her imprisonment is no different from banishing her to the cold palace.
After all, deposing the empress was a national event, and the decree would not be issued lightly. However, the emperor continued to investigate the servants around Xie, which seemed to indicate that he had already considered deposing the empress.
When it will be abolished is just a matter of time.
When things got to this point, Ning Chen ordered people to carry the queen away and dismissed everyone in the harem, leaving only Ye Jun.
It was also at this time that the person in charge of the interrogation in the Dark Chamber came to report another matter.
The interrogation just now was only for the sake of speed, not for detailed investigation. Later, after comparing the details, it was discovered that Chu Yun mentioned that the medicine given to Wan Meiren was safflower powder, not bone-dissolving powder.
This means that there is still someone behind this incident who has not been caught.