PFC Chapter 174 Bad News
Chapter 174 Bad News
"Your servant greets His Majesty, His Majesty, and His Majesty the Concubine."
Lu Junze raised his hand and said, "Get up."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I found these two people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and they are the most suspicious." Su Deyuan pointed at the two people who were forced in, one man and one woman. Judging from their clothes, they should be palace maids and eunuchs.
"What's your name?" Lu Junze asked.
The two of them had been shaking since they came in, especially the palace maid, whose face turned pale. She didn't look like someone who had the courage to poison someone.
"Minion Xiao Shunzi."
"Slave...slave girl Cuihua."
When Gu Shijin heard the name, he closed his eyes. After all, he couldn't escape the name Cuihua.
Gu Shijin asked: "Did you poison the Third Prince?"
Gu Shijin's voice was very soft, like a gentle breeze and drizzle, which made people relax unconsciously.
Cuihua quietly raised her head and looked at Shi Jin's gentle face. She shook her head with tears in her eyes and knelt on the ground and said, "My queen, it's not me. I have never harmed the third prince."
The eunuch Xiao Shunzi was much calmer. It was unclear whether he really did not harm the third prince or if he just had such a good attitude.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am innocent. I did not harm the Third Prince, let alone poison him."
Both of them denied it, but Su Deyuan must have had a reason for arresting them. Lu Junze glanced at Su Deyuan and motioned for him to speak.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, not many people in the Imperial Household Department have come into contact with cribs and rattles. The others all had legitimate reasons, but these two people were the only ones who shouldn't have been exposed to these two things," Su Deyuan explained.
The Imperial Household Department is just a general term, and there are many departments with different divisions of labor within it. For example, these small things are made by the Craftsmen Department, and after they are finished, they are directly delivered to the people who want them.
In other words, only people from the Craftsmen's Bureau could access these two things, but during the investigation, Su Deyuan discovered that these two people who were not from the Craftsmen's Bureau had also accessed them.
When Su Deyuan asked them why they were in the Craftsmen's Bureau, the two men couldn't explain clearly, so Su Deyuan arrested them.
Gu Shijin didn't rush to deal with these two people, but asked about another matter. She said, "Who applied the wax on the crib and the rattle?"
After the crib and rattle are made, a layer of wax oil should be applied on the surface to prevent corrosion and cracking, and to improve the texture.
This step is the easiest to poison. The poison can be put into the wax without anyone noticing, and then the wax is applied to the crib. If you don't check it specifically, it can easily be overlooked.
Especially things like rattles, Gu Shijin received a lot of them, and even after checking, there was a possibility that some of them were mixed up.
Su Deyuan is worthy of being Lu Junze's chief eunuch. He is indeed very reliable in doing things. He can answer Gu Shijin's questions as soon as he is asked.
Applying wax oil is not a job that requires skills, but the crib and rattle of the third prince were painted by this little Shunzi. Su Deyuan also checked the wax oil, but the remaining wax oil in the craftsman's department was fine.
Gu Shijin then turned his gaze to Xiao Shunzi and asked sharply, "Who told you to do this?"
Sometimes too many coincidences are no longer coincidences.
A person who did not belong to the Craftsmen's Department happened to do such an important job in the Craftsmen's Department. Both Gu Shijin and Lu Junze found it hard to believe that this was a coincidence or an accident.
Even now, Xiao Shunzi was still very calm. He said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I went to the Craftsmen's Department to help my fellow villager. That day, my fellow villager was sick, and he gave me some wax and asked me to help him do this job."
Xiao Shunzi's behavior made Gu Shijin and Lu Junze suspicious. He was too calm. This was not the calmness that a eunuch should show when facing the emperor.
"What's the name of your fellow countryman?" Lu Junze asked.
"My fellow countryman is Feng Yu."
Su Deyuan gave a look, and the two guards understood and retreated.
"So you helped him when he asked you to?" Gu Shijin said.
There are no real fools in the palace, because the real fools have died long ago, so how could they kneel so calmly in front of Lu Junze and Gu Shijin?
Xiao Shunzi shook his head and said, "No, I don't have a deep friendship with Feng Yu. It's just that Feng Yu gave me a jade pendant and a hairpin, so I agreed to help him."
"Where is the thing?"
"Under the bed where the servant lives."
Gu Shijin looked at Xiao Shunzi even more strangely. From the time this man came in until now, he had answered every question they asked, and it seemed that there was nothing wrong with his answers. What's more important was that this man was so calm that people felt that he really had no problems.
But the problem is that most people would be worried, even if they are not terrified, if they knew that they had indirectly harmed the prince. But this person acted as if nothing had happened.
"Feng Yu gave you such a valuable thing, didn't you have any doubts?" Lu Junze asked.
No one would give a large sum of money to help for no reason. Feng Yu just asked Xiao Shunzi to do a job. If there was no problem, why would he give such a valuable gift? Lu Junze didn't believe that this little eunuch had no idea.
The young eunuch lowered his head and rolled his eyes, saying, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, these things are not all the rewards he asked me to do. Feng Yu borrowed some money from me before, and these things are also his repayment to me."
At this time, the people who went to search Xiao Shunzi's residence also came back. The jade pendant and hairpin did not look particularly valuable and were not worth much money.
But this is only for Gu Shijin and others. For the young eunuchs in the palace, this is a huge sum of money.
"Then where did you get the money to lend to Feng Yu?"
Xiao Shunzi was not afraid at all, and said, "I often have to go out of the palace to purchase things, and sometimes I bring some things for the nobles in the palace, and these nobles will give me some rewards."
This kind of thing is very normal. As long as it is not something prohibited, the palace will not check it very strictly.
As for what the truth is, Feng Yu will have to wait until he arrives to find out.
Gu Shijin focused his eyes on Cuihua. Cuihua was still shaking and terrified, but this was a normal reaction for a palace maid. How could she not be afraid when she knew that she might have harmed the prince?
Seeing Gu Shijin looking at Cuihua, Su Deyuan came out to explain, "Madam, this rattle was sent to Shoukang Palace by Cuihua, but the person arranged by the Artisan Department was not Cuihua at the beginning. I don't know why it became Cuihua who sent it."
Gu Shijin: "Cuihua."
Cuihua raised her head tremblingly and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the Craftsmen's Department was too busy that day, and I happened to pass by. The head of the Craftsmen's Department asked me to deliver the things to Shoukang Palace. I really didn't hurt the two little princes."
Gu Shijin was stunned. They had been saying that the Third Prince was poisoned and had not mentioned the Fourth Prince. But the fact was that the Fourth Prince's crib was also poisoned.
"Is it such a coincidence?" Gu Shijin stared at Cuihua and said.
"Your Majesty can go find the person in charge of the Craftsmen Department."
The person in charge of the Craftsmen's Department had not yet gone to look for him, but the person who went to look for Feng Yu came back first, and brought back some bad news.