The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity-Chapter 694 - 656: Digging a Pit (Part 1)

The two palace guards acted swiftly, and within the blink of an eye, they had Yuanbao tied up tightly.

Yuanbao struggled incessantly but found her body weak and devoid of strength.

Recalling the tea Song Yuanbao had poured for her in the rear garden of the Cleansing Room earlier, she became enraged, "Did you poison me?"

"Just to make sure Aunt Gu can’t struggle," Song Yuanbao leaned closer to her, "After all, it’s not easy for me to catch the real culprit. If you were to escape, it would ruin the fun."

Yuanbao glared at him with anger, but her gaze seemed feeble due to her lack of strength, "Let me go!"

"Sure," Song Yuanbao said, "Return Wan Qiu’s life to me, and I’ll release you. Otherwise, it’s a life for a life."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Yuanbao retorted stubbornly, "I don’t understand."

"It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand, just confess and accept your punishment obediently."

Yuanbao was seething, "Song Yuanbao, this is coercion! I didn’t kill Wan Qiu, I’m the Empress’s person. If you want to touch me, you need her consent first!"

"What a coincidence," Song Yuanbao smirked, "The Empress is sitting in the Chengming Hall right now, meeting her is too easy."

Even the Empress has come over. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Yuanbao shivered, "You, you all..."

"That’s right, we dug a pit waiting for you to jump in. To my surprise, you were so foolish you jumped in without me doing much, which is great. We can send you to King Yan sooner, saving me the trouble of having you around in the Eastern Palace being an eyesore."

Yuanbao wanted to refute but found herself utterly limp, unable to muster any strength. She could only grit her teeth in hatred.

Upon reaching the East Palace Chengming Hall, they indeed saw Empress Qi and Crown Prince Zhao Xi sitting inside, seemingly waiting for a long time.

Besides the Empress and the Crown Prince, Wan Qiu’s two good friends, Nian Chun and Xiu Dong, were also present.

When those two saw Yuanbao, they were so grieved with hatred that they could chew her to pieces.

Upon seeing her former master, Yuanbao became emotional and knelt on the ground with a thud, "Empress, please save your servant, I am being wronged."

She crawled forward on her knees, eyes filled with tears, appearing extremely aggrieved.

Empress Qi looked at her coldly without a word, even Jingzhe by the side couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head.

On the way here, Empress Qi had already heard some of the story from Eunuch Sanbao, mainly that Yuanbao, out of jealousy, had killed the Eastern Palace’s bedroom maid Wan Qiu.

This matter seemed baffling to Empress Qi. Yuanbao was someone with a loose tongue, usually people like this lack intelligence, but hearing from Eunuch Sanbao, it was a meticulously planned murder, which made it even more inconceivable to Empress Qi.

Therefore, seeing Yuanbao in such a state, she asked, "Who wronged you?"

Yuanbao glared venomously at Song Yuanbao, "It’s him, he falsely accused me of harming Wan Qiu, but in fact, I did nothing at all, I have no idea how Wan Qiu died."

Empress Qi asked again, "If you did nothing, why do they suspect you instead of others?"

Yuanbao slightly lowered her head, "I admit, when Wan Qiu was around, I had some minor conflicts with her for certain reasons, but I did it all for her own good and for the good of the Eastern Palace. If I wanted to harm her, I would have killed her that day; my disposition, the Empress knows best, I have just a bit of brains, even if I were to kill, it would be a straightforward beating to death, how could it be meticulously planned murder? Since they couldn’t find the murderer, they had to slander me. Empress, I’m being wronged!"

Empress Qi looked at Song Yuanbao, "What do you say?"

Song Yuanbao chuckled, "Aunt Gu going to the Cleansing Room early this morning was due to receiving a letter from Eunuch Hai last night, right?"

Yuanbao’s spine went stiff.

Song Yuanbao chuckled softly, "Coincidentally, I also received one. Eunuch Hai asked me to find him at the Cleansing Room early this morning, saying he needed to tell me something."

Yuanbao’s face lost all color in an instant, "No! It’s not like that! Empress, don’t listen to his nonsense, I went to the Cleansing Room just to find Song Yuanbao, he said he wanted to investigate with me. I didn’t see him early today and asked around, and I was told he was at the Cleansing Room, that’s why I went. I don’t even know Eunuch Hai, how could I have any correspondence with him?"

Song Yuanbao did not wait for Empress Qi to speak and asked Yuanbao, "So what did you find?"

Yuanbao bit her lip, "Just when I was catching onto some clues, I was tied up by you all."

"So tell us about the clues you found."

Song Yuanbao walked back and forth with his hands behind his back, "Why did those eunuchs go to Qingfang Palace?"

"I haven’t had time to interrogate them yet," Yuanbao replied stiffly.

Song Yuanbao answered for her, "It’s because they have something being held over their heads by the person behind the scenes. What kind of hold could make them willing to take such a big risk to violate the Eastern Palace’s bedroom maid?"

"Naturally, it’s the most fatal leverage against them," Song Yuanbao answered for her again.

He said as he bent down and leaned close to Yuanbao, a curve formed on his lips, "It’s Aunt Gu who meddled with the things in the Immortal Pavilion, right?"

Everyone present knew well what the Immortal Pavilion in the Cleansing Room was.

As soon as this was mentioned, Empress Qi’s expression turned sour.

Even Jingzhe furrowed his brows, if not for the investigation, Young Master Song daring to say such things in front of the Empress would surely have his mouth bashed in.

Yuanbao firmly denied it, "I don’t know what you are talking about."

"You don’t know? Then I’ll slowly explain it to you."

Song Yuanbao straightened up, cupped his hands towards Empress Qi above, "Reporting to the Empress, yesterday I went to the West Courtyard. At that time, Aunt Gu was assigning tasks, I was very tired, so I went to rest in her room. Upon entering, I was hit by a strong pungent incense smell. I couldn’t stand it and came out. I just thought Aunt Gu liked incense, but then I realized something was wrong. His Highness hates incense, all the girls in the Eastern Palace never have it in their rooms. Even when they wear makeup, it’s light, to avoid offending His Highness. Aunt Gu, however, did the opposite, with the entire place full of it. Apparently, she didn’t love the fragrance but was masking some scent."

"What scent?" Empress Qi’s expression worsened.

"The burnt smell of something," Song Yuanbao said, "Aunt Gu had something shady in her room, that couldn’t be burned outside for fear of being discovered, so she burned it in her room but feared someone would catch the smell, so she used incense to cover it. Nonetheless, this backfired."

Yuanbao countered, "Even if I had something to burn in my room, what evidence do you have to prove it was something illicit?"

Song Yuanbao chuckled lightly, "Auntie burnt the letter Eunuch Hai wrote to you, right?"

As he spoke, he took out a letter from his bosom, opened it, and waved it in front of Yuanbao, "Take a good look, is it like this?"

Initially, Yuanbao did not want to look, but when her peripheral vision caught the handwriting on the letter paper, she was frozen on the spot.

This letter, hadn’t it been already burned last night? How did it end up in Song Yuanbao’s hands?

"You must be quite curious," he said, "that this letter you burned last night ended up in my hands today," Song Yuanbao chuckled lightly and glanced at her face as it turned from pale to even paler.

"You must be wondering," Song Yuanbao said, "but it’s simple. This letter was perfectly replicated by the Shadow Guard with the Crown Prince, imitating Eunuch Hai’s handwriting. I can take out as many as you want."

"I don’t believe it." Yuanbao paled visibly, "I’ll never believe it. I didn’t do it, I swear!"

"Eunuch Hai already confessed, how long does Aunt Gu plan on denying this?"

Not waiting for Empress Qi’s response, Song Yuanbao continued questioning Yuanbao, "When I went to your room yesterday, it was intentional, just to gather evidence. Unfortunately, all links between you and Eunuch Hai have already been burned, and because I suspected you, I used a scheme of substitution today to test you, which you surely fell for.Indeed, you took something out of the Immortal Pavilion, and used it to threaten the old eunuchs with their lives, going so far as to have them kill Wan Qiu on your behalf."

Yuanbao, with her whole body limp, looked with tear-filled eyes towards Empress Qi, "I didn’t do it, sob, please, Your Majesty, I’ve been wrongly accused!"

Empress Qi had been listening to it all, finally picked up the gist, her face taut, "You mean to say, Yuanbao, how much longer do you intend to repudiate this?"

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