Chapter 45

[Consort Zhen Presents the Crucial Evidence: "The Dowager Empress's Severed Hair"]

Xue Jin'an never expected that Noble Consort Rong's crucial piece of evidence would actually be produced by Consort Zhen, one of the murderers—yes, that was correct, and in hindsight quite obvious; the script titled "The Temptation of the Princes" featured dual culprits.

As previously deduced, for Consort Zhen to be successfully framed, while others might have merely added fuel to the fire, Consort Zhen was undoubtedly the most critical link. From beginning to end, she was openly marked as a culprit, and her crucial evidence was none of other than the blood-dragon wood prayer beads held by the original host.

The original host's birth mother had worn these prayer beads until her dying breath, and had even carefully polished them with oil just before her death. This did not align with the state of mind of the birth mother at the time, who had been falsely accused and framed. According to logical deduction, this could only mean it was a hint left for the original host. The original host might have initially kept them merely as a keepsake, but later inevitably realized the truth, persistently pursuing it in the original text, and ultimately being cruelly murdered.

Just as Xue Jin'an thought of this, a notification popped up.

[Consort Zhen Presents the Crucial Evidence: "Blood-Dragon Wood Beads"]

He saw Consort Zhen take a delicate little wooden box from her garments. Upon opening the box, eighteen dull, lusterless beads lay inside alongside a single bead as brightly red as fresh blood.

Consort Zhen then unfastened the red agate prayer beads from her right wrist, revealing a deep, bone-visible cut across her wrist. Her fingertips slowly traced over it, and her calm tone was inexplicably sorrowful to the extreme: "The Buddha speaks of the eight sufferings of human life: birth, aging, illness, death, meeting those one hates, parting from those one loves, unfulfilled desires, and the raging fires of the five aggregates. Everything is of my own doing."

"Back then, Consort Zhen's favor was so immense that its blessings extended even to the princes. The Seventh Prince was granted the personal name Baoning by His Majesty the moment he was born. Everyone said that if the Weiyang Palace were ever reopened, it would surely be centered around Consort Zhen. It was truly arousing envy, and imperceptibly, greed and delusional thoughts took root."

"My temperament is reclusive, and I have never won His Majesty's favor. Daring not to harbor delusions of becoming the Empress, I only sought the title of Consort or Concubine, hoping merely that my Xuaner would not be subjected to bullying and humiliation. Consort Zhen gifted me the blood-dragon wood prayer beads to lend a helping hand, and I successfully conceived a child. However, my pregnancy was unstable, and by the third month, there were faint signs of miscarriage. To protect the fetus, I heeded the words of Noble Consort Rong, obtaining a secret medicine to apply daily to the items worn closest to my skin, and ultimately succeeded in giving birth to Yun'er."

"From birth, Yun'er was exceptionally well-behaved, physically strong and vigorous, a very lively child. Suddenly, I know not from which day onward, he began crying incessantly, constantly scratching his own body. I thought it was merely the delicate skin of an infant, unable to endure the friction of clothing and feeling uncomfortable. Upon hearing of this, my sister consorts successively sent me various items: the Imperial Noble Consort gave skin-soothing ointment, Noble Consort Rong gave a longevity lock... Consort Zhen gave a sachet ball for repelling mosquitoes and insects, saying it was medicine personally compounded by her younger brother Zhou Yushu, with exceptionally good results."

"I have always been cautious and prudent. All other items were sent to the Imperial Hospital for inspection and left for a period of time to confirm they were non-toxic before use. However, Consort Zhen and I had known each other since childhood, with a deep bond, and it was because of her that I was able to have Xuaner and Yun'er. Therefore, without the slightest hesitation, I hung the sachet ball above the cradle that very day. Yun'er liked it very much, staring at it for a long time every day, and whenever it swung, he would giggle with delight."

"A month later, he was much better, except he began sleeping heavily all day and constantly regurgitating his milk. Xuaner had often been like this when he was young, so I assumed everything was normal... Until that night, his complexion suddenly turned purplish, his breathing became obstructed, and his fingers lost all color... Yun'er died. The imperial physicians said he died of heart failure induced by poisoning."

"I carefully inspected every single item on Yun'er's body, save for the sachet ball. Zhou Yushu had lived in Dianzhou for years, where mosquitoes, insects, rats, and ants are countless; he could easily take a life... At that time, I truly believed it was Consort Zhen's doing. When she came looking to speak with me and was rebuffed by me, mentioning the blood-dragon wood prayer beads at that moment, I dashed it to pieces and broke all ties of gratitude and enmity with her."

Consort Zhen closed her eyes, her voice growing strained as she said, "Initially, no toxicity was detected in the sachet ball. I refused to accept this, believing that Zhou Yushu's methods must be ingenious, and since the imperial physicians had resided in the palace for long periods, they certainly lacked understanding of Dianzhou's worms and poisons, which was why they failed to detect any clues for so long. I therefore lied, claiming I had replaced the medicine inside the sachet ball, and subsequently produced a poison capable of causing death by heart disease for the Imperial Hospital to inspect."

Thus followed the stripping of Consort Zhen's title, her demotion to the criminal woman surnamed Zhou, and her confinement in Zhaoyang Palace. In less than a year, Consort Zhen passed away from illness.

"...After all, it was a friendship of many years. When the time came for her burial, I still went to Zhaoyang Palace to burn a stick of incense for her, and as a result, I accidentally ran into Cuiyun and... the Fifth Prince, who suffered from a heart ailment." As Consort Zhen spoke, her gaze shifted toward the Fifth Prince.

The Fifth Prince was slightly stunned, and then memories began to surface. Ever since he moved into the Princes' Quarters and was finally free from the confinement of Minghua Palace, he had always loved running about outside.

On that particular day, having heard from goodness knows whom that the legendary Consort Zhen of the palace had died, he sneaked into Zhaoyang Palace out of curiosity. However, his martial arts skills were mediocre at the time, and he was easily discovered. That little palace maid had been terribly nagging, constantly bringing up Noble Consort Rong this and Noble Consort Rong that. Finding her tedious to listen to, he had left.

Never did he expect that little palace maid to be Cuiyun. The Fifth Prince tried hard to recall, yet ultimately could not summon the face of that person in his memory.

Consort Zhen continued, "Seeing that the Fifth Prince scaled the wall with nimble movements, with a rosy complexion and no abnormalities, I grew suspicious of his illness. Furthermore, noticing that Cuiyun seemed quite familiar with him, I took her into my palace in order to investigate the truth of the matter in the days to come."

Starting from the Fifth Prince's illness, Consort Zhen spent two years tracking down this array of evidence. At the same time, she discovered that Cuiyun was actually a person belonging to Noble Consort Rong, having served as a spy in Zhaoyang Palace back then. After being taken under Consort Zhen's wing, she naturally transitioned into becoming a spy within her own palace.

Fearing that Cuiyun would report the matter of the evidence to Noble Consort Rong, Consort Zhen had turned the prayer room into that bizarre appearance, little thinking that Cuiyun would assume she was practicing sorcery.

Noble Consort Rong thus complacently believed she held Consort Zhen's weakness in her grip, attempting to manipulate her into continuing to harm the imperial heirs. Meanwhile, Consort Zhen deemed this the optimal moment to seize Noble Consort Rong's vulnerability and went along with the flow.

Such was Consort Zhen's self-testimony. Xue Jin'an listened in awe, once again learning the linguistic art of humanity.

Consort Zhen was truly formidable. Her greatest strength lay in whitewashing herself in a perfectly reasonable manner. From the very beginning, she downplayed her own existence, casting herself in the image of someone forced into committing crimes—an image she had maintained successfully up to the present moment.

Had the [Blood-Dragon Wood Beads] not clearly displayed Consort Zhen's pivotal clues, Xue Jin'an's data would almost have been deceived.

It was true that the Tenth Prince died from the secret medicine, but Consort Zhen's stated timeline for knowing the truth was false. The reason for arriving at this conclusion was simple, resting solely on Consort Zhen's remark that she "has always been cautious and prudent."

How could someone who had always been cautious and prudent only develop suspicions after seeing the Fifth Prince in person? Consort Consort De had immediately thought of the Tenth Prince's death upon hearing of this method of execution and had gone to investigate immediately.

However, the premise that Noble Consort Rong had blackmailed her was 97% true. Upon seeing the severed hair, Noble Consort Rong blurted out "How dare you" rather than "Why is this in your possession," indicating that she believed Consort Zhen was in the same boat as her.

Xue Jin'an did not know when Consort Zhen had decided to strike against Noble Consort Rong, but the timing of their execution plan was easy to determine. It began once it was learned that someone intended to assassinate and test the emperor in the Shangshu Study. Starting from Chu Wenjing's request to reinvestigate Consort Zhen's case, step by step, she gathered Noble Consort Rong's evidence and drove her into a dead end.

Zheng Xi mistaking the Sixth Prince was Noble Consort Rong's doing, meant as a diversion to support the true assassin. Yet the evidence retrieved from Hanxiang Courtyard—[The Sixth Prince's Portrait]—had an 87% probability of being Consort Zhen's handiwork, perhaps in alliance with Consort Shu, given that Consort Shu's objective today was crystal clear: to make Noble Consort Rong pay the price for targeting the Sixth Prince.

Of course, there remained a 13% possibility that Noble Consort Rong's subordinates were truly so careless as to leave the evidence behind without hurriedly disposing of it. Yet not a shred of evidence could be found within Noble Consort Rong's Minghua Palace—this much was indisputable. Judging from Noble Consort Rong's attitude, those bottles and jars of hers likely could not compound complete insect pheromones; someone must have swapped them out.

Therefore, it was evident that Noble Consort Rong was a habitual offender quite adept at clearing away the traces of her crimes.

As for the incident at the racecourse, there was a 99% probability that it had been entirely orchestrated by Consort Zhen.

At present, the progress of the entire scenario had reached 99%, lacking only the final 1% to completely render Noble Consort Rong speechless even if she had words to say.

"Consort Zhen!" Noble Consort Rong glared at Consort Zhen with bloodshot, crimson eyes, as if she wanted to devour her alive.

Consort Zhen twirled the red agate prayer beads in her hand, her fingertips sliding past eight beads before pausing to form a Sanskrit phrase: *amitabha*.

Although Xue Jin'an did not understand scriptural meanings or Buddhist tenets, after listening to so many scriptures, recognizing a Sanskrit word was entirely effortless. He immediately performed reading comprehension, providing the Mandarin translation of the term and the relevant explanations written within the scriptures.

*Amitabha* meant Amitabha Buddha, also known as the Buddha of Immeasurable Light, and cloud meant light, cloud meant immeasurable, and immeasurable was cloud.

"Consort Zhen, I want you to die!" Amidst a shrill scream, a figure lunged fiercely at Consort Zhen, seizing her by the neck and viciously pinning her hard to the ground. It was none other than Ziyun, whose internal energy had been crippled and who had been ignored off to the side for quite some time.

The imperial guards reacted swiftly, rushing forward to pull Ziyun away, only to find that this person possessed such immense strength that she refused to loosen her grip no matter what. Seeing Consort Zhen's face turn purplish-blue, they could no longer afford to hesitate, drawing their blades and piercing straight through Ziyun.

"M-Master, Ziyun has tried her best..." Ziyun collapsed limply to the ground, losing her breath in the blink of an eye. Those unblinking eyes reflected Noble Consort Rong's stunned expression.

Clutching her bruised neck, Consort Zhen scrambled up from the ground with difficulty and once again knelt before the Emperor, her voice hoarse as she slowly spoke, "This concubine aided and abetted wickedness, supped with the tiger, and caused Consort Zhen to be wronged out of selfish desires... Every day since knowing the truth has been spent in torment. Today, order has finally been restored, and the true murderer who harmed Yun'er has been brought to justice. This concubine has no remaining regrets in her heart, save for failing Yuting."

"The Buddha says... karmic retribution. This concubine humbly requests confinement to the prayer room, accompanied day and night by green lamps and ancient Buddhas, to chant scriptures and pray for Crown Prince Zhang, Yun'er, and Consort Zhen... for the remainder of this life." With the red agate prayer beads wrapped around her right wrist, Consort Zhen pressed her palms together, lowering her gaze and veering her eyes, wearing a look of utmost compassion.

The second round of centralized discussion concluded, and the voting phase required no further scrutiny; without exception, all cast their votes for the dual culprit combination of Noble Consort Rong and Consort Zhen. It was merely that everyone treated Consort Zhen as an accomplice, and fools of Consort Xian's caliber had sincerely believed her self-testimony, feeling indignant and aggrieved on her behalf.

[Voting successful! Congratulations on clearing the script "The Temptation of the Princes", congratulations on earning the Novice Host badge, with many more scripts waiting for you to discover~ See you next time~ Xue Jin'an~]

Paying no further heed to the pop-up messages, Xue Jin'an directly closed the murder mystery game. The voice chat buttons in his field of view vanished, and everything returned to normal.

With an expressionless face, he stared at Consort Zhen, watching the Emperor bestow upon Consort Zhen an expression of "Knowing one's errors and being able to reform is the greatest virtue." He felt something burning within his chest, and his blood surged with noise.