frightfiction Chapter 1434: Someone Set Up a Game (196 Million Rewards for Extra Updates)
Chapter 1434: Someone Set Up a Game (196 Million Rewards for Extra Updates)
Xiao Mingzi hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, this servant... this servant did not witness the preceding events. I only heard Bingqiao crying and complaining that she went to deliver the sobering soup, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin... he pulled her..."
Hangover soup?
Nangong Xuanyu's eyes suddenly narrowed, and an unfathomable light surged in them.
He said nothing more, only casting his gaze in the direction of Quhe Garden. No one could see what the young emperor was thinking at this moment.
Before the emperor issued an edict, Prince Jin was still a prince of the Great Zhou, and it was not a good look for him to be forced to kneel on the ground by the guards.
Everyone had already moved back to the waterside pavilion from the gazebo, and they all kept quiet and held their breath.
Prince Jin straightened his clothes and sat in a rosewood armchair, his face ashen and his thin lips tightly pursed.
Although he maintained the dignity of a prince, his tense jaw and the sinister look in his eyes revealed his extremely restless mood.
Bing Qiao changed into a clean palace maid's outfit and knelt in the open space in the middle of the hall, curled up into a ball and shivering constantly.
"His Majesty has arrived --!!!"
As Li Changde's voice rang out, everyone knelt down in unison and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, long live His Majesty!"
When Nangong Xuanyu arrived at Quhe Garden, the atmosphere in the garden was as heavy as ice.
He stepped into the pavilion with steady steps, his eyes swept across the entire place, and finally landed on Shen Zhinian.
The emperor did not immediately call everyone to his feet, but walked straight to Shen Zhinian, extended his hand and personally helped her up. His movements were natural and protective.
"Get up."
Nangong Xuanyu spoke in a low voice to Shen Zhinian, then glanced at the dark crowd on the ground and waved his hand casually: "Everyone stand up."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The emperor sat down with Shen Zhinian, their postures revealing an intimacy that needed no words.
When Concubine Dun saw this scene, she felt an indescribable bitterness in her heart.
The Imperial Noble Consort has always prided herself on being strict in running the palace, but today at the banquet she hosted, such a shocking scandal broke out that the prince and a palace maid committed adultery in the palace, causing the royal family to lose all face!
Why did His Majesty not only not blame her at all, but instead treated her so gently and kindly?
This was completely different from what he had imagined: His Majesty would be furious and the Imperial Concubine would be humiliated...
Prince Jin sat upright in his chair, feeling mixed emotions as he watched the emperor's undisguised defense of Shen Zhinian.
Nangong Xuanyu's eyes were as sharp as torches. He ignored the grim-faced Prince Jin and looked directly at Bingqiao, who was kneeling on the ground and trembling. His voice was cold and deep: "Tell me, what on earth is going on?"
Bing Qiao was already frightened out of her wits. Her ambition to curry favor with the rich and powerful seemed insignificant in the face of life and death.
She knew very well that the only way to survive at this moment was to completely extricate herself and put all the blame on others!
Hearing this, Bing Qiao raised her head, and tears rolled down her pale cheeks like beads that had broken off the string.
She kowtowed heavily in the direction of Nangong Xuanyu and Shen Zhinian, and repeated her previous words again while crying, adding a touch of sadness to her words: "This servant is innocent! Your Majesty, please understand!"
"This servant... This servant was just thinking that today is a banquet hosted by the Imperial Concubine, and we absolutely cannot allow any mistakes to occur."
"Seeing that His Highness the Prince of Jin seemed to have had too much to drink and was resting alone in the pavilion, I... I thought of fulfilling my duty and went to the small kitchen to make a bowl of sobering soup for His Highness..."
At this point, she choked with sobs and could hardly continue, as if she had recalled something extremely terrible, and her body trembled even more violently.
"This servant... This servant never expected... The prince... He suddenly grabbed this servant with terrifying strength..."
"Your servant, your servant cannot break free..."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am truly wronged! Please, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please help me!"
Bing Qiao wept bitterly, portraying herself as a weak woman who had done her duty but was brutally bullied. Every word she spoke was an effort to disavow her own initiative, blaming all the shame on the King of Jin's drunken behavior.
This statement is exactly the same as what Xiao Mingzi reported.
After listening to this, Nangong Xuanyu's face showed no sign of belief or disbelief. His deep eyes were dark and unclear, making it difficult to understand.
Shen Zhinian also looked at Bing Qiao quietly. No one could tell whether she believed Bing Qiao's tearful words.
As King Jin listened to Bing Qiao's words that cleared him of all charges, the fury in his heart that he felt was being plotted against gradually subsided and turned into clarity.
He originally thought that the palace maid was just trying to curry favor with him, but now it seems like he was being set up.
Prince Jin even began to suspect that Bing Qiao was deliberately acting under the orders of the Imperial Noble Consort, so that the Imperial Noble Consort and the Emperor could unite and suppress him.
As his thoughts raced, King Jin calmed down.
He stood up, lifted his skirt, and knelt upright in front of Nangong Xuanyu, his posture neither humble nor arrogant, his voice very calm: "My royal brother, please understand."
"Although I am not talented, I am not the kind of person who would lose his temper and disregard etiquette and laws."
"How could this minister not know how to avoid suspicion when he is a maidservant beside the Imperial Concubine?"
"Even if...even if I really do have a special liking for a palace maid, I know the strict palace rules and would never do something that would defile the palace and ruin my own future!"
Having said this, the Prince of Jin raised his head, his eyes calmly meeting the Emperor's scrutinizing gaze, his tone solemn, "After I drank that bowl of hangover soup, I suddenly felt an unbearable heat in my body, and my mind was confused, completely unlike my usual self."
"I seriously suspect that this lowly servant tampered with the soup with ill intentions!"
These words were clearly stated, pointing the finger directly at the bowl of sobering soup and Bingqiao's deliberate drugging.
Bing Qiao, who was kneeling on the ground, was stunned and cried out in injustice in her heart!
All she had been thinking about before was how to leave a good impression on His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin, hoping to win his favor. How could she do such a stupid thing as drugging him?
Moreover, although she wanted to curry favor with him, she also knew very well how serious a crime it was to drug the prince in the palace. She would not dare to do it even if she had ten times the courage!
His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin is clearly trying to get away with it by throwing all the dirty water on her!
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I am wronged!"
Bing Qiao was so anxious that tears streamed down her face. She hurriedly explained, "Even if I had the courage of heaven, I wouldn't dare to drug the prince!"
"Since I cooked that bowl of hangover soup, if there really was a problem, why would I bring it to you myself?"
"I rarely even had the chance to get close to the prince before, so where can I find such a potent medicine?"
"Your Highness...Your Highness, you cannot wrongly accuse me like this!"
Prince Jin and Bing Qiao, one insisted that he had been drugged and lost his mind, while the other cried and complained that he was wrongly accused and deliberately seduced.
The two of them each held their own opinions, arguing with each other. In the solemn atmosphere of the pavilion, there was an awkward feeling of shirking responsibility, like street scoundrels...
Nangong Xuanyu watched the dog-eat-dog scene coldly, but did not attack immediately.