Traveling through the heavens from the prequel of the Lotus Lantern

Chapter 735 Tai’an Palace

Yang Jiao followed Chen Ying to the Tai'an Palace where the Queen Mother lived, and then walked into the palace under the leadership of Huang Renli, the manager of the inner palace.

He immediately noticed Ning Xuening kneeling in the hall with a hairpin on her neck. He also saw an elegant old woman sitting on the main seat, and there were several beautiful women standing on the side of the hall.

Immediately, Chen Ying bowed and saluted:
"Chen Ying, the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, has been ordered to pay his respects to the Queen Mother."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Jiao followed suit and bowed:

"The Criminal Division is asking Zhang Zhe to pay homage to the Queen Mother."

After finishing his words, Jiang Xuening, who was kneeling next to Yang Jiao, looked startled, as if he had something to rely on in his heart. When he raised his eyes to look at him, he placed a hairpin on his neck and couldn't help but let it fall.

At this moment, those beautiful women clearly had Yao Xi. When she saw Yang Jiao, a hint of surprise appeared on her face, and she stared at Yang Jiao intently.

After this gesture, Zhou Baoying waved to her and she came back to her senses.

The luxurious old woman, Queen Mother Xue, frowned:
"What's wrong with the criminal department? He's just a seventh-grade official, right?"

Chen Ying replied respectfully:
"Going back to the Queen Mother, Lord Zhang has already dealt with the criminal matters that have been backlogged for more than half a year in just a short time since he joined the Criminal Department. He is a good hand. I am afraid that I am weak and will be slow to deal with the matter of the Queen Mother, so I took Lord Zhang with me. "

After hearing this, Queen Mother Xue was not entangled and asked calmly:
"Did everyone already know the facts of the case on the road?"

Chen Ying replied:
"I've already said it."

Queen Mother Xue nodded with a hint of coldness:
"Then you two will investigate carefully and find out what kind of villain is behind the scenes."

Chen Ying looked at Huang Renli:

"May I ask where the physical evidence from today's case is now?"

Huang Renli took out the fornication papers found in Jiang Xuening's room in Yangzhizhai:

"Master Chen, please take a look."

Chen Ying read what was written on the paper and handed it to Yang Jiao:
"Master Zhang, take a look too."

Yang Jiao took it and saw on the paper that it was written that the three hundred loyal souls were so innocent and that a mediocre king with no virtue dared to be the emperor. He knew that this was talking about the tragic death of three hundred children 20 years ago.

He spoke calmly:
"White deer paper, ordinary letter size, regular script. On the way here, I read the rubbing of the content engraved on Yu Ruyi. It is indeed the same as the content of this letter."

Chen Ying asked aloud:
"What Master Zhang means is that whoever has this thing in his hands is related to rebelling against the party?"

Yang Jiao spit out two words:
"not necessarily."

Queen Mother Xue didn't hear her satisfactory answer, and her eyes turned cold:
"The physical evidence is so clear, but it's just not certain. What's Mr. Zhang's intention?"

Yang Jiao was still calm:

"Things related to rebelling against the party are inherently complicated. There are laws and regulations, and there is no crime without evidence. A piece of paper alone cannot convict someone. The whole story needs to be found out before we can make a conclusion."

As soon as these words came out, Zhou Baoying spoke in a low voice:
"Master Zhang is indeed a straight minister."

Yao Xi and Yourong Yan replied with a cheerful smile:
"That's natural."

Yang Jiao asked Huang Renli:

"May I ask who found this thing, when and where did it come from?"

Huang Renli replied:
"Our family is conducting an investigation in the palace according to the order of the empress. Tonight at [-]:[-] pm, Jiang Xuening came out of Jiang Xuening's room in Yangzhizhai."

Yang Jiao asked:

"The room is very big, where am I asking?" Huang Renli replied:
"It's hidden in a book on the desk. It's very secret. If you don't search carefully, it may be difficult to find it."

"what book?"

"this."

The little eunuch next to him saw that Huang Renli had a troubled look on his face, and immediately bowed and said:

"Sir, I don't know how to read. I just remember that there are four characters on the cover of the book, but I can only recognize one character."

Jiang Xuening suddenly said:
"It's "Poetry Around the Fire". I only put this book on my case, and I just read it an hour before Eunuch Huang brought people to search. The rest on the case are just pen, ink, paper and inkstone, so I remember it clearly. .”

Because she had been kneeling in Tai'an Hall for an hour with extremely high concentration, she looked very weak when she spoke, and her body was even more shaky.

Seeing this, Chen Ying asked the Queen Mother for instructions:
"Your Majesty, I see that this girl's face looks wrong. Can you please allow her to get up first? I'm afraid she will faint during the interrogation, which will delay the case."

Queen Mother Xue snorted coldly:
"Huh, as long as she doesn't overthrow my Tai'an Palace, it's all good."

She glanced at Jiang Xuening with disgust, saw that his face was pale and looked exhausted, and said:

"Get up."

"Yes." Jiang Xuening couldn't kneel down for a long time, and his feet were already numb. When he got up with great difficulty, he couldn't help but stumbled towards Yang Jiao.

Yang Jiao quickly held her arm with quick eyes and hands. This scene made Yao Xi's expression change and she became sulky.

After Jiang Xuening stood firm, he said in a deep voice:

"I would also like to ask Mr. Zhang to clearly observe that this piece of paper has absolutely nothing to do with my daughter, and it is definitely not her handwriting."

Yang Jiao was unmoved and said:
"How can you prove it if you are making empty claims?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xue Shu stood up next to Yao Xi:

"My daughter can testify for Miss Jiang."

Suddenly, Jiang Xuening was surprised, and Queen Mother Xue's expression changed slightly. She knew her well-educated niece very well.

"The Empress Dowager, Mr. Zhang, I know a little bit about calligraphy. Miss Jiang initially wrote in running cursive. Although she later learned regular script from her husband, she was still like a child learning to walk and could not write this page."

Although Jiang Xuening felt weird, she still expressed her gratitude:

"Thank you Miss Xue."

Yang Jiao naturally understood that Xue Shu was the culprit, because the current emperor had no heirs and was in poor health.

Therefore, both Empress Dowager Xue and Duke Ding Xue Yuan wanted to marry Xue Shu to Linzi King Shen Jie, and then find ways to make Shen Jie the crown prince's younger brother. In this way, the future queen would belong to the Xue family.

A few days ago, Xue Shu discovered that Shen Jie was wearing a handkerchief that was obviously his daughter's. He also saw that Jiang Xuening's handkerchief was the same as the one in his hand, so he thought that Jiang Xuening was favored by Shen Jie, so he took action against her. But in fact, Shen Jie's handkerchief belongs to Jiang Xuehui.

Afterwards, Yang Jiao said calmly:
"Although there is evidence for what this girl said, there is still a possibility of imitation of the handwriting, so let's not care about it for now."

He continued unhurriedly:
"It is not difficult to prove that this object is related to Miss Jiang. The palace is very strict about the inspection of objects entering and leaving the palace. At the beginning of entering the palace, all the things brought by the companion must be checked. Therefore, if it is not bribed by Miss Jiang, If you know the palace officials who inspected it at the time, then the paper containing the evil words must have come from the palace."

"There are regulations for all paper products in the palace. They are not allowed to be burned privately. Even if they are used, they are kept in one place and are strictly managed. This paper is the white deer paper used in the palace. Everyone in Yangzhizhai How much was delivered and how much was used should be recorded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

"If the empress suspects that this statement was written by Miss Jiang and is involved in the Yu Ruyi case, she might as well order an adjustment to the Ministry of Internal Affairs' expense accounts."

"Check the number on Yang Zhizhai's paper again. If the number on Miss Jiang's paper does not match, or is slightly missing, five points will be added to the suspicion of this crime."

(End of this chapter)