The Apo Master dressed up as Concubine Ling and killed the Ruyi sisters

The emperor wanted Ruyi to be the queen, so he naturally refused to believe that Ruyi and Master Anji had an affair, but he still had some doubts in his heart.

Li Yu could tell that although the emperor still had some suspicions in his heart, he would not use the existing evidence to convict the imperial concubine. The emperor was still protecting the imperial concubine, so that惢心 would not be implicated, and Li Yu felt at ease.

Aunt Fujia, who was beside the Queen Mother, had already searched the Yikun Palace, and then came to the Qixiang Palace. Concubine Jia said, "There is an assassin in the palace, and the whole palace is in turmoil. Since Aunt has already searched the Yikun Palace, I can't say anything. Please do as you please."

At this time, Ai'er, a maid in the ice room, came to deliver ice to Qixiang Palace with a cart loaded with ice. The cart was heavy and Ai'er took a lot of effort to get here.

Ai'er was hot and tired. When she saw the beeswax Buddhist beads given to her by Master Anduo on her wrist and thought of Master Anduo's gentle and compassionate face, Ai'er smiled knowingly and was filled with strength.

Fujia noticed at a glance that a little palace maid had a string of Buddhist beads on her wrist, and immediately walked over to interrogate her, "What is this? Buddhist beads? Where did you get them from?"

Ai'er was startled and stammered, unable to utter a complete sentence.

Jia Fei knew that Ai Er had gone to Anhua Temple to pray, so she deliberately reminded him, "Oh, this looks like a man's thing. Auntie, you have to take a closer look."

Aunt Fujia pulled off the string of Buddhist beads, looked at it and said, "These Buddhist beads are made of top-grade beeswax, and the quality is excellent. They are not something that the little palace maids and eunuchs can own. The size of these Buddhist beads is not something that women can have, and the emperor doesn't have such a thing either. How did you get them?"

Concubine Jia said, "Okay, now we have caught her red-handed. Aunt, take her away."

Ai Er finally reacted and cried out in injustice: "Aunt, please spare me, I didn't steal it! Aunt, you can see clearly!"

The emperor and the queen mother were talking in the Cining Palace. The queen mother sent Fujia to search the palace, but only Ai'er was found. The emperor wondered if Master Anduo had an affair with Ai'er and accidentally went to the Yikun Palace, which led to this misunderstanding.

The Queen Mother said that Master Anduo was guarding the lights in Anhua Palace that night, and many people saw it. And Ai'er lived in the ice room, so even if Master Anduo wanted to meet Ai'er secretly, how could he go to Yikun Palace?

Seeing that the emperor had sealed up the evidence presented by Concubine Jia and seemed to be unwilling to deal with it, the empress dowager had no choice but to deal with Ai'er first. She punished Ai'er with 100 lashes to serve as a warning to others.

At night, Concubine Jia and Zhenshu changed into Yu's clothes and sat together to talk.

Zhenshu asked, "Even though I, Kexin, and many other physical evidences are involved in this matter, the emperor has kept it to himself. Is the master a little anxious?"

"The Crown Prince has inherited the throne and become the new King of the Yu Clan. He is also on his way to meet the Emperor. I am only one step away from becoming the Queen. Master Anji rarely enters the palace. How can I miss this good opportunity?"

"Of course I know that these few pieces of evidence alone are not enough for the Emperor to severely punish the Imperial Concubine. I don't expect to bring her down in this way. If you want to be the Empress, family background and offspring are important, but a clean reputation is more important!"

"I originally thought that if the emperor listened to me, the Imperial Noble Consort would have no chance of ascending to the throne of empress. Even if this matter is over, there will be a rift between them. If the matter of establishing a queen is brought up again in the future, a woman who is involved in rumors of lust will inevitably be pointed at by the subjects!" said Concubine Jia.

Zhenshu said, "My Lord, what you said is correct, but it's not a good idea for the Emperor to not mention it."

Concubine Jia thought of Ai'er who was caught by Aunt Fujia today, and said, "Since the emperor wants to pretend that nothing happened, then we should think of a way to make this fire burn more vigorously. That clumsy Ai'er helped us by accident!"

In the Ministry of Punishment, Ai'er was locked in a cell and crying. A eunuch in his thirties or forties came to bring her food.

The eunuch said, "It's time to eat. Hey, I'm talking to you. Stop crying and eat."

Ai'er had been locked up here for a day. Finally, someone came. She stood up and asked, "Where are my Buddhist beads? When will they return them to me? They were not stolen. I asked Master Anduo for them to pray for blessings!"

The eunuch hurriedly said, "It's already this hour and you're still thinking about that string of Buddhist beads. You should worry about your own life! You don't know if you can survive the 100 lashes tomorrow!"

Ai'er didn't care much, she cried, "What does it matter whether I can survive or not? Anyway, I have no relatives or friends in this palace and I am bullied. What's the difference between being whipped to death and being tortured to death by that aunt? But Master Anduo is the only person in the palace who treats me well. I can't hurt him! Can you tell me, how is Master Anduo?"

The eunuch hurriedly asked Ai'er to speak softly, and he also whispered, "Keep your voice down, Master Anduo was killed by you! You were only given a string of Buddhist beads but you were punished with a whip. Why don't you think about what kind of punishment Master Anduo, who gave you the beads, will receive?"

"The reason why Master Anduo is safe now is because they are holy monks from the Southern Border Holy Land. But what if they leave the palace? Will they be held accountable later?!"

Ai'er got anxious when she heard this and cried, "No! Master Anduo is such a kind person, I can't hurt him because of my affairs!"

The eunuch immediately said, "I want to find a way to make the emperor not bother to punish Master Anduo. It depends on whether you dare to do it."

On the second day, Ai'er was tied to a wooden frame and was executed by many palace servants. Zhenshu and Lixin deliberately discussed the assassin in the palace among the crowd.

Ai Er was determined to save Master Anduo. While being tortured, she shouted, "I asked Master Anduo for a string of Buddhist beads in order to pray for blessings. I accept the 100 lashes. What about the Imperial Concubine? Didn't she also accept the incense and seven-treasure beads from Master Anji? Why doesn't the Emperor punish the Imperial Concubine?!"

As soon as Ai'er's words came out, they immediately caused discussions among the palace people.

"Ai'er just took a string of Buddhist beads, but the Queen Mother punished her with a hundred lashes, saying that it was to enforce palace rules and serve as a warning to others. Isn't this too severe a punishment?"

"I heard that there was an assassination attempt in Yikun Palace a few days ago. A man in a white robe went to the east warm room of Yikun Palace. When the night patrol guards chased him, they found a square pennant and a string of Buddhist beads. That's why the Queen Mother conducted a thorough investigation of the six palaces."

"I heard that the assassin might be Master Anji. Since Master Anji entered the palace, the Imperial Concubine has been going to Anhua Hall to pray every day. Many people have seen them behaving intimately. Maybe there really is a love affair between them!"

"This incident happened a few days ago. There are witnesses and evidence. I haven't heard that the emperor wants to investigate further. Instead, he has locked up Anhua Palace first."

"Everyone in the palace knows that the Imperial Concubine is the apple of the Emperor's eye, so naturally they are reluctant to punish her. But isn't this against palace rules?"

"How can we, the slaves, be compared with the Imperial Concubine?"

"If this is true, and the Emperor is so protective of the Imperial Concubine, then the Imperial Concubine still did something so immoral, she is really unworthy of the Emperor's favor to her!"

……

The rumors in the palace continued, and the emperor was furious. But since the matter had become a big deal, he had to give an explanation to the whole palace.

The emperor had no choice but to order the guards on duty that night and惢心 to be sent to the Ministry of Punishment for interrogation.

Suo Xin had just heard from Li Yu that there was nothing unusual about the physical evidence and that the emperor had sealed it up. Jin Zhong then led four Jingqi maids and two eunuchs to the Yikun Palace.

Jinzhong explained his purpose, and Ruyi said in dissatisfaction: "I don't even know this Ai'er. How can you take away my head maid just because of her words?"

Jinzhong said, "It was nothing at first, but this Ai'er shouted in public that you and Master Anji had an affair during the execution, and everyone in the palace knew about it. For the sake of the reputation of the Imperial Noble Consort, the Emperor sent a servant to ask Aunt Suo Xin to go to the Ministry of Punishment."

惢心 knew that Ruyi had never done such a thing, so she was not afraid of being questioned. She said to Ruyi, "This matter concerns the innocence of the master. I have to go!"

Ruyi was comforted by such a loyal servant. She sat on the chair and reached out to grab惢心's hand, promising: "You can go without worry. I will find out the truth as soon as possible and rescue you from the Ministry of Punishment!"