I am imprisoned in Kaifeng Mansion

"Are you convicted?" Empress Dowager Liu asked coldly.

Cui Tao immediately confessed her guilt obediently, without refuting or explaining for herself.

Obviously this girl expected that she was looking for her for other things this time, so she confessed the crime very simply, and seemed very confident that she would not be punished.

After Empress Dowager Liu took a leisurely sip of tea, she commented on Cui Tao again: "You are really smart."

"Thank you Queen Mother for your approval." Cui Tao hurriedly thanked her.

"Ouch!" Luo Chongxun pointed at Cui Tao helplessly, and complained to Empress Dowager Liu, "Look at her, you're really welcome."

Empress Dowager Liu laughed, "He is the right candidate."

As soon as Cui Tao saw her, she was able to figure out her thoughts, so clever, so rare.

If people are not smart enough to deal with them calmly, she is not at ease.

"Recently something happened in the palace. If you find out, I will personally approve your father's note. Otherwise, you may not get what you want." Mao's book was sent to Cui Tao.

After Cui Tao roughly glanced at the content of the memorial, she was not too surprised.She expected that Cui Mao would not be able to hold his breath after returning home, and if he could bear it, she would look at him with admiration.

It's just that she didn't expect Empress Dowager Liu to pay attention to this matter, otherwise she could have passed this level smoothly.

Women always look at women with sharp eyes, not to mention Liu E, who has climbed from a humble orphan girl to the empress dowager, her eyes are naturally a hundred times more powerful than ordinary women.In front of a smart woman, there is no need to quibble, just find out what she really wants and scratch her itch.

"I will do my best." Cui Tao promised.

Empress Dowager Liu stopped talking and waved her hand.

Luo Chongxun took Cui Tao and left the Ciming Hall. After walking for a long time, they arrived at a place called Zhilan Hall.Luo Chongxun told Cui Tao that there were three Feng concubines living in this hall, namely Gong Meiren and Jia Meiren, and there was also a Yuxian Lord.

Luo Chongxun took Cui Tao directly to the room of Lord Yuxian.

Because Luo Chongxun hadn't specifically reminded her before, Cui Tao couldn't help being surprised when she saw a woman with disheveled hair lying hunched under the table as soon as she entered the room.Because the woman turned her back to them, Cui Tao was not sure whether the woman was asleep, unconscious or dead.

However, this woman is well dressed, which is obviously different from the attire of ordinary palace people, and the room is quiet everywhere, no other palace servants are seen serving her.Cui Tao guessed that this person was likely to be the Lord of Yu County, and [-]% of the people might have died.

"Madam Cui, please take a look, what's the matter with her." Luo Chongxun raised his head high, creaking the handle of the dust whisk on his left side, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and spoke in a loose tone.

Cui Tao glanced at Luo Chongxun, and walked around to the other side of the table, but she couldn't fully see the face of the Lord of Yu County. Her disheveled hair covered most of her face, only a sticky nose was visible.Her hands were hanging on the ground in front of her, and there were obvious corpse spots on the back of her hands, so she must be dead.

Cui Tao told Luo Chongxun that she needed autopsy tools.

It was only then that Luo Chongxun thought of calling for someone to come over, and even if an internal servant brought Cui Tao's special wooden box for autopsy.

Even her box is ready, it seems that Empress Dowager Liu really wants to find out the cause of Yu County Lord's death.

Cui Tao put on her gloves, lowered her waist down to the table, and gently brushed aside the hair that covered the face of the deceased.After seeing the face of the deceased clearly, Cui Tao opened her eyes slightly.This Lord of Yu County should have been beautiful in his lifetime, but the state of his death at this moment is not so good-looking, it can even be said to be very scary.Her eyes were wide open, blood oozed from her eyes, mouth and nose, and she had both the conditions of 'bleeding from the seven orifices' and 'death without eyes'.

It can be seen that the cornea is slightly turbid, and the rigor state is strong. Combined with the characteristics of the corpse spots, the preliminary estimate of the time of death is about three to four hours, and the time may be at dawn this morning.There were large bruises on the back of the deceased's neck, more obvious bruises on the outside of the wrists of both hands, swollen cheeks, and signs of burns on the lips and mouth.Judging from the shape of the scars, the deceased was restrained and tortured during his lifetime.If there were no accidents, there should be bruises on her knees as well.

Now it is just a preliminary inspection of the corpse. A detailed autopsy requires undressing. Now Luo Chongxun and other servants are present.Although they are all rootless people, after all Yu County Lord is the emperor's concubine, so it must be inappropriate to be in front of so many people.

When Cui Tao withdrew from under the table, she noticed that a piece of dry tea was stuck in the gap between the table leg and the ground.

Cui Tao stood up straight, glanced at the neatly arranged tea bowls and four plates of snacks on the table, and looked at Luo Chongxun suspiciously.

"What's wrong?" Luo Chongxun noticed Cui Tao's eyes and asked her arrogantly.

"The scene has been cleaned up," Cui Tao said.

Luo Chongxun's face changed slightly, and then he put down his arms that were originally wrapped around his chest, and looked sharply at Cui Tao.

"However, if the crime scene is destroyed, it will affect a lot of important evidence, and it is likely to miss the opportunity to find the real culprit." Cui Tao explained.

Luo Chongxun frowned and stared back at Cui Tao: "If you can't find out, it's because you are incompetent! You must have heard what the Queen Mother just said very clearly. If you can't find out this case, your affairs will not be so easy to handle."

"Luo Duzhi has served the Empress Dowager for many years, and no one in this palace understands the Empress Dowager's thoughts better than Luo Duzhi." Cui Tao complimented.

Luo Chongxun raised his chin and said quite proudly, "This is natural."

"Everyone should know why the Queen Mother ordered me to come here. If you want to find out the cause of Lord Yu's death, you must know the original scene." Cui Tao continued.

Luo Chongxun put away his raised chin and glanced at Cui Tao, "It's no wonder the Queen Mother said you are smart."

"Thank you, Eunuch, for your compliment."

When Luo Chongxun heard Cui Tao's blunt acceptance, he couldn't help but sneered, "Forget it, I'll tell you. You are so smart, so you should know what to say, and you will lose your head if you talk nonsense."

"Forget it." Cui Tao agreed.

"Mr. Yuxian relied on his good looks, deep knowledge of tea ceremony, and ability to win the favor of the officials, so he repeatedly flattered the emperor and deceived the lord, and slandered the mother-child relationship between the queen mother and the officials. The queen mother came here this morning and taught her a lesson In a few words, who knows that not long after the Queen Mother left, this man died under the table.

At that time, the house was a bit messy, our house was an eyesore, so we ordered someone to tidy it up, but did not move other places, just cleaned the floor and tidied up the table. "

Luo Chongxun explained it casually, obviously he didn't care much about Yu County Lord's death, and he didn't feel guilty or regretful about his behavior of cleaning up the crime scene, and he didn't feel that there was anything wrong at all.

The residence of Mr. Yu County faces south, the room is spacious and bright, and all kinds of interior furnishings are brand new and exquisite, which shows that she is quite favored.Although she is a county monarch with no rank now, looking at the place where she lives, she can compare with the other two beauties in the same hall, and she will be promoted to be a fourth-rank beauty soon.Such a favored concubine, in the eyes of eunuch Luo Chongxun, is not a person of any importance.

"I want to know exactly what was cleaned up and what the original condition was like."

There has always been deep water in the palace, Cui Tao does not know the whole picture and will not comment, now she only focuses on the case itself.

Luo Chongxun glanced at the young waiter beside him, and the waiter hurriedly told Cui Tao that a tea bowl was broken on the ground, and the dessert plates on the table were overturned and it was very messy.

Cui Tao asked again how big the bowl was, and the waiter looked at Luo Chongxun in fear, as if he didn't know whether he should tell the truth.

Luo Chongxun looked at Cui Tao again, and saw Cui Tao looked at them calmly, waiting for them to tell the answer calmly.Luo Chongxun, who didn't intend to make his subordinates tell the truth, suddenly changed his mind and ordered his subordinates to speak directly.

"Such a big bowl." The waiter roughly measured it with his hands, and the distance between his hands was about one and a half feet.

Cui Tao nodded indifferently on the face, but sighed in her heart, is that called a 'bowl'?The diameter he measured can be regarded as a cylinder, a small cylinder.

"I've already said what needs to be said, Mrs. Cui, please check." Luo Chongxun said that the queen mother still needs his service, and turned around to leave.

"Then where are the palace people who were serving the Lord of Yu County? I need to ask them! Also, if I work in the palace and no one knows me, what should I do?" Cui Tao asked.

Luo Chongxun sighed trouble, and left his subordinate Qi Diantou to cooperate with Cui Tao in investigating the case.

Qi Diantou is the young waiter who Cui Tao described just now as big as a bowl.Compared with Luo Chongxun, he is not only younger, but also handsome, and his attitude is also much more humble and friendly.

Cui Tao told Qi Diantou that she would conduct a detailed autopsy.

Qi Diantou agreed, and led his subordinates to remove the table above the corpse, and then he waited outside, so that Cui Tao could call him if he had something to do.

Cui Tao squatted down, flattened the body of Mr. Yu County, lifted her skirt to check her knees, and they were indeed bruised.Although the clothes are dry now, it can be seen that the front of the clothes has more folds, two pieces of tea leaves are stained on the inside of the neckline, and the stomach is full.

Based on Qi Diantou's previous description, it can be guessed that the Yu County Lord should have been held down by the back of the neck, grabbed his hands, forced to kneel on the ground, and poured a stomach full of tea before he was alive.Moreover, the tea should be hot, so it would cause burns to the lips and mouth.

Cui Tao looked at Lord Yu's hands and found some white powder in her nails, and was about to ask Qi Diantou to get her a piece of black paper, when someone outside reported that the emperor was coming.

When Cui Tao slowly put down Lord Yu's hands, he heard hurried footsteps outside the house, and the sound of Qi Diantou kneeling in panic.

"Why are you here?" The footsteps stopped suddenly, and then Zhao Zhen asked.

Qi Diantou faltered, but didn't make it clear.He probably wanted to show that he was ordered by the queen mother, but in this situation, he was afraid that the emperor would be even more angry if he knew that he was ordered by the queen mother, so he dared not speak casually in order to protect the lord.

"What's wrong with Lord Yuxian?" Zhao Zhen asked again, but it was still Qi Diantou who faltered.

The next moment, the door was kicked open, and Zhao Zhen rushed into the room.

When Zhao Zhen saw that Cui Tao was here, he was taken aback for a moment, and then saw Lord Yu lying on the ground with disheveled hair, his eyes were wide open, obviously shocked by the death of Lord Yu and her death.

"Mistress Yu!"

Zhao Zhen called out, swayed, and was hurriedly supported by the servant beside him.

"What's the matter?"

The emperor, who had always been good-tempered and soft-spoken, became furious at this moment. When he roared, his face flushed, his eyes were full of sadness, burning with anger.

"Where are people, those who serve her!" Zhao Zhen glared at Qi Diantou coldly.

Qi Diantou hurriedly kowtowed, begging Zhao Zhen to appease his anger, "I don't know why Yu County Lord behaved like this, and I am specially ordered by the Queen Mother to ask Madam Cui to investigate the cause of Yu County Lord's death and find out the real culprit who killed her."

After a moment of silence, Zhao Zhen suddenly sneered, "At the order of the Queen Mother?"

Qi Diantou agreed.

Everyone present could basically hear that Zhao Zhen's rhetorical question was actually not confirming, but questioning. It can be said that he didn't believe it at all.

Zhao Zhen turned his head to take another look at the state of Yu County Lord's death, slowly closed his eyes, and ordered someone to place Yu County Lord's body, how could she just let her lie on the cold ground like this.

Zhao Zhen ordered Cui Tao to go out with him in a cold voice.

At this time, the other two beauties from Zhilan Palace also showed up and saluted Zhao Zhen together.When the two of them heard that Lord Yu was dead, they both showed strange expressions. Looking at their expressions, they seemed to be surprised, but they were not particularly surprised.

Zhao Zhen didn't have a good temper at the moment. After reprimanding them both to go back to the room, he turned around and asked why Cui Tao was in the palace.

Cui Tao honestly explained how she was invited into the palace by the Empress Dowager Liu, but of course Cui Tao could not say that the Empress Dowager Liu threatened her with Cui Mao's book.

"The queen mother has always looked down on her." After Zhao Zhen was silent for a long time, he said to Cui Tao again, "I have already drawn up a script and plan to make her a beauty."

Cui Tao naturally understood what Zhao Zhen's words meant, and he expressed again that he suspected that Queen Mother Liu had killed Lord Yuxian.

After a while, Zhao Zhen didn't hear Cui Tao's response, so he frowned at her.He knew that as Cui Tao, he was unable to comment on the affairs of the palace, let alone the actions of the Queen Mother.But Zhao Zhen believed in Cui Tao's ability to solve the case. She was able to quickly solve so many major cases in Kaifeng Mansion, so this one should not be a problem for her.

Zhao Zhen sent away all irrelevant palace people, and only kept his close servants by his side.

"Your father joined the Kaifeng mansion and wants you to go home." Zhao Zhen said.

Cui Tao heard that Zhao Zhen also mentioned this matter, and couldn't help feeling in his heart that he really deserves to be the son of Empress Dowager Liu.Although it is not biological, it is better than biological. Both mother and son can think about problems together.Of course, at this moment, Zhao Zhen still doesn't know that he is not the Queen Mother Liu, and has always treated the Queen Mother Liu as his own mother.

"I know this very well." Zhao Zhen gave Cui Tao a meaningful look.

I understand you, so I made an accommodation, so you should be grateful and loyal to me.

Cui Tao immediately translated Zhao Zhen's nonsense.

This pair of mother and son really knows how to plan, each of them 'threatening' her with the same thing.But compared to Queen Mother Liu's straight ball, Zhao Zhen's expression is much gentler.But both of them are big bosses, and she is not easy to offend either one.Then if she had to choose a side to offend, she would choose Zhao Zhen.For no other reason, whoever bullies someone honestly, Empress Dowager Liu is a ruthless person.

Of course, in this case, there is no difficulty in choosing between the two.

"The officials seem to have doubts in their hearts."

Zhao Zhen didn't understand why Cui Tao pretended to be confused.Wasn't it obvious enough that he just stated his position?The Empress Dowager has always looked down upon Lord Shangyu!

"My concubine thinks that the facts are not what the officials think." Cui Tao continued.

"No matter what the queen mother threatens you, I can keep you safe."

Zhao Zhen gritted his teeth, and deliberately used the "zhen" that he called himself only on big occasions, implying that his promise was very solemn.

"You have seen how miserable her death is. She will not rest in peace! I will avenge her and ask her for an explanation!"

Zhao Zhen hated himself for leaving the palace on this day, and failed to prevent Yu County Lord from being persecuted by the Queen Mother Liu in time.On weekdays, the queen mother is in charge of him. She wants to control his government affairs, and she also wants to control whoever he makes queen.Thinking of his filial mother, he could only endure what he could.Now he is just looking for a confidant who can finally say something about himself, but she doesn't like it, and actually drives him to such a tragic situation.How can this be tolerated?If he endured it any longer, he would be in vain as an emperor, and in vain as Miss Yu's lover.

"The situation of not dying in peace does not necessarily mean that there must be injustice."

"What do you mean by that?" Zhao Zhen thought that Cui Tao was going to help the Queen Mother, his face darkened immediately, and he questioned Cui Tao in a very severe tone.

The human eye is opened and closed by the action of the orbicularis oculi muscle and the levator palpebrae muscle.After death, the muscles assume their pre-mortem state.Whether to close one's eyes depends on whether the deceased has received a signal from the brain before death, causing the orbicularis oculi muscle to respond and close the eyes.Without this signal, the eyes will remain open after death.

In fact, through scientific statistics, it is not uncommon for people to die with their eyes closed.Moreover, the probability of death caused by different diseases is also different.For example, the probability of brain tumors will be higher, because brain tumors can easily affect neurotransmission, and it will be more likely to hinder the sending of the eye-close signal.

Cui Tao regretted that she couldn't speak out what she had said, so she could give Zhao Zhen some popular science.

Cui Tao had no choice but to explain to him in another way: "The concubine is just telling the truth. If the officials don't believe it, they can send people to investigate the situation of some dead people in the future. There must be many cases of natural illnesses and unsatisfactory deaths. The so-called unsatisfactory death is just because people have seen too few deaths, and because they don't understand the unknown, they feel fear, and speaking out scares both themselves and others.

The reason why the concubine said this is to comfort the officials to think twice, and they must not arbitrarily conclude the cause of Yu County Lord's death because of this situation. "

Only then did Zhao Zhen calm down a little, "You know a lot." I don't know how many dead people she has seen!

Zhao Zhen didn't question Cui Tao's explanation of the situation of "death can't rest in peace", and he could listen to Cui Tao's advice.In fact, it was precisely because of Cui Tao's two words of advice that Zhao Zhen realized that Cui Tao's investigation was based on facts and evidence. Since he would not please him because he was the emperor, he probably would not give in because of the empress dowager's lust.Now what he needs is someone who is not afraid of power, to thoroughly investigate the cause of Yu County Lord's death.

"Mr. Yuxian's eyes, mouth and nose are bleeding. This death is in line with the symptoms of arsenic poisoning." Cui Tao said that the main direction of the investigation now is when Lord Yuxian swallowed the poison this morning, resulting in his death.

Zhao Zhen immediately ordered someone to summon the people around Lord Yuxian for questioning.

Even if a servant told Zhao Zhen that the maids and servants serving Lord Yu County were all detained by the queen mother.

Zhao Zhen became even more angry, and ordered the guards to take those people back to him even if they used force.

Cui Tao persuaded Zhao Zhen to calm down, and she immediately discussed with Qi Diantou.

Qi Diantou agreed and went to do it immediately.

Zhao Zhen ordered the servant to move a chair, and he sat on the chair and personally supervised Cui Tao's investigation.

Cui Tao returned to Lord Yuxian's room in this spare time, and collected the shimmering white powder from Lord Yuxian's fingernails.Then she was in front of Zhao Zhen, using the silver needle to test it, and it could be seen that the tip of the shiny silver needle was slightly blackened.

"There's poison in her nails? Why?" Zhao Zhen was puzzled.

Cui Tao shook her head, saying that she couldn't make a clear judgment at the moment, and she would listen to the testimony of the people around Mr. Yu County first.

Immediately, a total of eight palace servants and servants were brought to Zhao Zhen.Eight people lined up in two rows, kneeling neatly in front of Zhao Zhen. Everyone was sobbing. Among them, four court ladies cried the most. in a sad state.

These four maids are named Xianle, Xiange, Xianwu and Xianhua respectively, and they are the four most useful maids to serve Yuxian Lord.

Zhao Zhen asked the four of them to explain what happened happily.

String music: "Early this morning, Lord Yu County just woke up, and the maid was waiting to comb the hair of Lord Yu County, but suddenly it was said that the Queen Mother was coming, so the Lord Yu County and the maidservants rushed to greet him. When the Queen Mother saw Yu County County Lord, let’s talk about her, talk about her—”

String music choked up at this point, not knowing whether to talk about the next thing.It just so happened that at this time, Xian Ge, Xian Wu and Xian Hua cried even more fiercely, which directly drove the other four to cry too.

The onlookers could more or less see that they were wronged, and there must be a major inside story involved, and the Yu County Lord must have suffered a lot of bullying from the Queen Mother.

Zhao Zhen's eyes were spitting fire, but he didn't speak, but the waiter beside him yelled at Xianle to speak quickly.

"Although you tell all the inside information truthfully, the officials will make decisions for you!"

The stringed music kowtowed and continued to tell what happened next.

"The Empress Dowager ordered Yu County Lord to be punished on the grounds that her appearance was faulty, and ordered someone to force Yu County Lord to kneel down and confess her mistake. Yu County Lord felt wronged. At that time, everyone had just woken up, so how could there be time to make Ziyi decent? No matter how the Yuxian Lord explained it was useless, the Queen Mother also scolded the Yuxian Lord for committing crimes, which was disrespectful, and ordered someone to slap the Yuxian Lord. She also said that the Yuxian Lord was good at the tea ceremony, so he charmed the king and punished the Yuxian Lord to drink a cup of tea. Big bowl of tea."

When Xuan Yue said this, she cried even more fiercely, and she couldn't cry anymore.

On the side, Xianhua kowtowed to Zhao Zhen again and again, explaining with tears how big the bowl was and how hot the tea was.

Zhao Zhen's eyes turned red when he heard this, and he clenched his fists tightly.

"What about after that?" Cui Tao asked.

Xian Hua fell to the ground crying and said: "Afterwards, the Empress Dowager reprimanded Lord Yu for a lot of things that should be followed, saying that Lord Yu corrected his mistake without knowing it, and ordered someone to pour a bowl of hot tea for Lord Yu. The county magistrate fainted, and the maids saw the situation and went to check the situation, but the Empress Dowager did not allow the maids to serve and take care of her, and ordered the maids to wait outside, and they were allowed to enter after three hours.

Three hours later, when the maidservants entered, they saw Lord Yu lying motionless under the table.The maidservants approached to check the situation of Yu County Lord, and found that Yu County Lord had, already..."

"The servant girl immediately went to the Chuigong Palace, and wanted to report to the officials, but unexpectedly, the servants around the queen mother saw us and stopped us. After that, the maidservant and others were locked up." Xian Ge continued Xian Hua's words.

"I beg the officials to be the masters of Yu County!" Xian Wu repeatedly kowtowed to Zhao Zhen, but after a few strokes, his forehead bled.

Zhao Zhen stood up suddenly and knocked over the chair behind him.He strode away in a hurry, and the accompanying servants immediately caught up after seeing this, shouting loudly to persuade Zhao Zhen to calm down, but it seemed to have no effect.

After a while, when Zhao Zhen didn't come back, Cui Tao guessed that Zhao Zhen should have confronted the Queen Mother Liu, thinking that their mother and son would have a big fight.

Cui Tao's status is small now, so naturally she can't intervene in the matter of the war between the emperor and empress.Just ask the four maids how they were at the scene where Lord Yu was found dead.

"The person was lying under the table, motionless. The ground was covered with water and tea leaves, and there were broken bowls—" the string paused, took a breath, and added to Cui Tao, "It was the Empress Dowager. The big bowl that Lord Yu county pours tea into."

She measured it with her hands, and Cui Tao saw that the size she measured was bigger than what Qi Diantou described, and she felt that the diameter should be more than two feet, more like a tank.

Cui Tao confirmed and asked the remaining seven people if the situation was as described by Xian Yue.

Xian Ge, Xian Wu and Xian Hua nodded immediately, expressing that this is indeed the case.The other two maids and two servants responded for a while, and then nodded accordingly.

"I think the four of you are not sure?" Cui Tao asked.

The two maids and two servants hurriedly explained that they usually served outside the house. At the time of the incident, they were also outside, but through the door, they vaguely saw a person lying under the table, and then listened to the voice standing at the door. Xian Wu and others cried out that Lord Yuxian was dead.They became flustered, and either stood there in shock, or were busy looking for someone, but they didn't know who to look for, so they had to go around in circles.

Cui Tao nodded, and then asked Xian Wu and the others if they saw anything else at the scene.

Xian Wu then told Cui Tao that several plates of snacks on the table were also overturned, and the table was very messy anyway.Then he described the state of Yu County Lord when he died, which was similar to what Cui Tao saw, with his back facing the direction of the door, lying curled up under the table.

As for other places, Xian Wu said that they don't know anymore.

"The maidservants were terrified when they found out that Lord Yuxian was dead. They didn't care about seeing too many places. They just wanted to tell the officials as soon as possible." After Xian Wu finished speaking, she couldn't help crying bitterly, feeling sad that Lord Yuxian died. awful.

Xian Hua hugged Xian Wu, patted her on the back, and apologized to Cui Tao, asking her to forgive her.

"Mr. Yu County is a very good person. He takes care of his maids on weekdays and never treats them as humble people. Once Xianhua made a mistake outside and offended Luo. Everyone knows that it was Yu County Jun stepped forward to protect it, and after a big fight with Luo Duzhi, Xian Wu was able to save Xian Wu's life."

Cui Tao agreed, expressing her understanding, and then took out her handkerchief and handed it to Xianwu.

Xian Wu hurriedly thanked her, and wiped her swollen eyes with a handkerchief.

"If you can get ice in the future, apply it. If not, use cold well water to moisten the veil and apply it. Otherwise, you may not be able to open your eyes tomorrow morning." Cui Tao instructed.

"Thank you Mrs. Cui." Perhaps it was also because Cui Tao sent the handkerchief and asked her kindly, Xian Wu was not as unfamiliar with Cui Tao as before, knelt down, grabbed Cui Tao's dress, kowtowed and begged her to investigate impartially Case, complained for the death of Lord Yu County.

"Do you know who you are going to face?" Cui Tao raised Xian Wu, telling them not to be polite, just sit on the stone steps with her and talk.

Several people sat side by side with Cui Tao, and compared with the previous state, they were a little more relaxed.

"Of course I know, I know too much, and I also know that after this incident, we are afraid that we will all die." Xian Le sighed.

Xian Wu nodded, "But we can't let down Lord Yu County. She treated us so kindly, but now she has suffered so much and died tragically. If we want to save our lives, we betray her. We are guilty of living, and we can't face it when we die. She, besides, if I don't believe in justice in this world, it's really unfair, and such a blatant thing happened right under everyone's noses, so it's impossible to turn black and white!"

"After the Queen Mother's people took control of you, did they ever threaten you?" Cui Tao asked again.

String music and string dance and others did not expect Cui Tao to dare to ask such a question, and directly used the word 'threat' to describe the Queen Mother.

After they glanced at each other, they looked at Cui Tao with respect.

"Naturally, we were threatened, we are not allowed to talk nonsense, otherwise we will die!" Xian Wu said.

Cui Tao nodded, she patted her clothes and stood up, telling them that if they remembered something special, they could come and tell her again.

Cui Tao went back into the room where Lord Yuxian lived, and looked around inside and out.

The Lord of Yu County is supposed to be a talented woman with profound knowledge in calligraphy and painting. There are many paintings drawn by herself in the house, such as cranes, pine bamboos, and lotus flowers. Each painting is quite charming.Needless to say, the crane has a noble posture and is full of fairy spirit.The pine stands on the cliff with a proud posture.The lotus blooms in the center of the pond, the flower diameter is straight, and it is not a demon.Looking at the inscriptions on his paintings, they are quite rooted.Occasionally, there are two different lines of handwriting that can be seen in two pictures, which probably came from the hand of Zhao Zhen.

It's no wonder that Zhao Zhen dotes on Mr. Yuxian. If it were her, she would also like a handsome and talented woman like Mr. Yuxian.

Cui Tao then saw a chessboard, a guqin, and many books that men often read on the desk table, and even complicated and difficult mathematics in the room of Lord Yuxian.

This Lord of Yu County can be regarded as an all-rounder.

"It's a pity." Cui Tao's fingertips slid across the strings, and then made a sound.

She felt footsteps approaching behind her, looked back, saw that Zhao Zhen had returned with red eyes, and hurriedly saluted.

"It's a pity." Zhao Zhen responded, staring at the guqin for a long time unable to regain his senses.

"Have the officials and the Queen Mother cleared up their theory?" Cui Tao's question was very bold.

Zhao Zhen glared at Cui Tao, "Are you joking in your heart that I'm so incompetent that I can't even protect my own woman?"

"The officials worry too much. There are too many emperors who can't protect their women since ancient times. For example, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty couldn't protect Concubine Yang. If I make a joke, those emperors can't stop laughing. Compared with them, the matter of the officials is slightly It’s so small. What’s more, the word filial piety is justifiable.” Cui Tao told Zhao Zhen that she felt the same way as Zhao Zhen in this regard, and she also had a close relative who didn’t get along.

Zhao Zhen knew that Cui Tao was talking about Cui Mao's situation, and it was the same reason after thinking about it, but he didn't expect that they were connected by fate.

"I will help you with your father's affairs. No matter how great the power of the father is, it is not as great as the power of the monarch. But you have to help me with this matter." Zhao Zhen already had a conversation with Cui Tao as a friend.

"It's really hot today." Cui Tao looked out the window at the sun that hadn't set yet, and said with emotion, "If you walk a few steps outside right now, you'll be sweating."

Zhao Zhen frowned, wondering why Cui Tao suddenly had such emotion.

"Officials should be careful in their actions and words. Don't confront the Queen Mother again on this matter." Cui Tao advised.

"What do you mean?" Zhao Zhen asked Cui Tao in confusion.

"Because the empress dowager didn't kill the person, but it is true that the empress dowager made things difficult for Lord Yu County, the method—" Cui Tao sighed, "it is just a common method in the palace."

Zhao Zhen stared at Cui Tao in surprise, but he didn't like her description of "common use", but when he thought about it, isn't the secret in the palace just like that?It is indeed a commonly used method.It's just that Cui Tao has never been in the palace, so how could he know the situation here so clearly.

"you--"

"It's not difficult. Once you enter this palace, look around, listen more, and watch words and deeds, you will know a lot." Cui Tao said.

Zhao Zhen: "..." It's barely an explanation.

Cui Tao then told Zhao Zhen that if he wanted conclusive evidence in this case, he couldn't rush for a while, the scene was destroyed, and he had to wait to find new evidence.In short, it will definitely not break today.

Then Zhao Zhen heard Cui Tao mutter a few words in a low voice, his brows became tighter and tighter, and then a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

"you said--"

"Yes or no, just wait and see the development." After Cui Tao saluted Zhao Zhen, he left from the Zhilan Hall. After walking a few steps, he was invited back to the Ciming Hall by the Empress Dowager's people.

Looking at the lingering anger on the Empress Dowager's face, one can guess that she had a very unpleasant quarrel with Zhao Zhen just now.However, the queen mother did not make things difficult for Cui Tao, but only asked her about the progress of the investigation. She heard Cui Tao said that she would have to wait a little longer, but she didn't ask too many details, so she allowed Cui Tao to go back to Kaifeng Mansion first.

Luo Chongxun deliberately sent Cui Tao out of the palace, and specially warned Cui Tao in a strong threatening tone: "Miss Cui, don't disappoint the Queen Mother's love for you!"

"Luo Du knows not to be too arrogant."

"What did you say!" Luo Chongxun didn't expect that Cui Tao would dare to accuse him like this. He stared at Cui Tao fiercely, and even raised his hand to hit him.

"This is kind words." Cui Tao saluted Luo Chongxun, then turned and walked away.

Luo Chongxun had never seen a little girl who dared to be so arrogant in front of him, and turned around to complain to the Queen Mother.

He must make this little girl regret what she just said!

After Cui Tao left the palace, she hurried straight to Han Qi's house without going through the door, and went straight over the wall to Han Qi's study.

It was getting dark now, and it looked like a figure hunched over, sneaking around.

Just as Cui Tao was about to knock on the door of the study, she suddenly felt a chill in her neck.

This touch is obviously like a cold weapon!

Cui Tao immediately raised her hands in surrender: "My lord, it's me! Keep someone under the sword!"