After all, before this incident, all the blame was pointed at Concubine Chu. Everyone was convinced that it was she who had schemed against the queen.
Concubine Chu, however, was even more wronged. She had done nothing! Why were these baseless accusations being piled on her? Whether it was the supposed harm to the queen or the murder of Concubine Lian, she had neither the intention nor the ability.
She never expected the situation to turn out like this. Who on earth wanted to frame her? Could it be Dongfang Yi?
At this thought, her brows knitted tighter, and the anger welling up inside her was uncontrollable. Her eyes blazed with killing intent.
All of this was just a scheme devised by Yaoji. After returning from the hunting tournament, she had already made up her mind to kill Concubine Lian. Last night, she had sent someone to poison her with arsenic.
On the other side, the coroner had already finished examining the body and confirmed that Concubine Lian had indeed died from arsenic poisoning. Strangely enough, the arsenic had not reached her stomach. The traces of it stopped at her throat. The coroner couldn't figure out the reason, only saying that the arsenic was so potent that it took her life before it could reach her stomach.
After hearing this explanation, Dongfang Yi's heart skipped a beat. She always felt that she had missed something. Based on her years of reading detective novels, she was sure there was something fishy going on.
"Are there any other wounds on Concubine Lian's body?" she asked.
The coroner hesitated for a moment and then replied, "Your Majesty, as a subject, I dare not look at Concubine Lian's body without permission. So I don't know. But since she died from arsenic poisoning, whether there are wounds on her body or not doesn't really matter."
He spoke very carefully, afraid that a single wrong word might anger the royal family.
Dongfang Yi couldn't help but sneer inwardly. She couldn't help but mock the feudal etiquette of this era. The person was already dead, yet they still cared so much about propriety. Didn't they know that this would make it impossible to solve the case?
But she also knew that in this era, she had no room to refute. She could only silently accept it. After all, she alone was powerless to change anything.
So she just waved her hand to signal the coroner to leave. She lowered her head and pondered, thinking about how to investigate this matter again. Since the coroner couldn't examine the body, and she didn't care about these things, she decided to do it herself.
On the other side, in the Qianqing Palace.
Helian Qi sat on the highest seat. Below him were Concubine Lian's father, the Minister of the Ministry of Works, and his wife, Zhang.
After hearing the news of their daughter's death, their faces showed only a moment of surprise. Then they quickly regained their composure and asked, "Your Majesty, we would like to trouble you with our daughter's funeral arrangements. We feel really ashamed."
No one would have thought that this would be the first thing a father said after his daughter's death. If Concubine Lian could hear this, she might feel heart - broken.
Helian Qi just gave them a cold look, raised his eyebrows disdainfully, and replied, "It's okay."
He had seen too many things like this, both in the court and in the harem, where people ignored family ties. So he had become used to it. Seeing this couple's indifferent attitude towards their daughter's death, he felt nothing but disdain.
After hearing this, the Minister of the Ministry of Works and his wife then asked what exactly had caused their daughter's death.
Helian Qi sneered inwardly. He thought that they finally remembered to ask about their daughter out of formality.
So he told them that it was initially determined to be a suicide. The two elders actually let out a long sigh of relief, as if they were glad that there were no other complications. Suicide was the cleanest way. Anyway, they had other daughters and could still send them into the harem. As long as this didn't affect the minister's position, it was fine. In fact, the minister had thought that his little daughter had been quite disobedient recently.
Then he let out a long sigh, pretended to be very sad, and began to cry, "My poor daughter! Why was she so desperate that she wanted to die..."
"Oh? Minister, are you blaming me? Did I neglect Concubine Lian so much that she became so desperate?" Helian Qi glared at him sharply and said without giving him any face.
"How dare I, Your Majesty! Please don't wrong me!" The man below immediately knelt on the ground and began to plead his innocence loudly.
"Do you know why Concubine Lian died? She left a letter, full of accusations against the queen's improper behavior, and she also admitted that she had schemed to murder. What crime should she be punished for?!" he continued to ask sharply.
After hearing this, the Minister of the Ministry of Works and his wife became even more nervous. Their shoulders trembled as they knelt on the ground, not daring to say a single word. They never expected that their dead daughter would leave such a rebellious letter. Wasn't this going to put their family in a bad light?!
"Your Majesty... Is there a possibility that she was wronged..." he slightly raised his head and asked in a trembling voice.
Helian Qi sneered. He thought that they hadn't shown such a strong reaction when they heard about their daughter's death. But now, when it came to something that might endanger the family's interests, they got nervous.
"Do you mean that I'm lying?" he asked in a cold voice, with a hint of displeasure in his tone.
"How dare I, Your Majesty!"
"Humph, then get out of here! Don't make a fool of yourselves here anymore!" he continued to shout sharply. His eyes were so cold that it seemed as if ice shards were about to shoot out.
"Yes, yes, yes..." The two people below immediately stood up and respectfully backed out.
The man sitting on the highest seat stared at their backs as they gradually disappeared from his sight. The disdain in his eyes deepened.
This family really disgusted him.
On the other side, after leaving the Qianqing Palace, Minister Zhong of the Ministry of Works sighed repeatedly at his wife, complaining about how he had such a useless daughter. She was dead, but she still brought so much trouble to the family.
Originally, he thought that her death would allow the family to take the opportunity to gain some benefits. But who would have thought that she would be labeled with such a serious crime of disrespect.
"Exactly! This dead daughter! As expected, she was born of a low - class concubine in the mansion. She didn't know any rules at all!" his wife gritted her teeth and said.
Concubine Lian wasn't her daughter, so she had never liked her much. Now she hated her even more, so the words she said were even more unpleasant.
After hearing this, Minister Zhong frowned. After all, she was his daughter. Hearing his wife say such things, he felt a bit embarrassed. So he left angrily and strode towards the outside of the palace.
Since they couldn't get any benefits, there was no point in staying here and adding to their troubles.