Abandoned Woman Busy Farming
Chapter 1146 - 1148: It’s Their Unlucky Turn_1

Chapter 1146: Chapter 1148: It’s Their Unlucky Turn_1

Liu Sitong hurriedly nodded, "I understand."

At this moment, he was being extra careful around Bai Ruozhu, and his respect for her had grown. Wu Shangzhi, who was a Royal Guards Captain just like him, was well-known for his martial arts prowess, yet didn’t he turn into a mere shrimp in front of Lady Jiang?

It was fortunate that Lady Jiang was formidable, or else he might have lost his head today.

As Liu Sitong escorted Wu Shangzhi out, he passed by Ning Yu’s prison cell and couldn’t help but glance inside. He saw Ning Yu lying quietly in the corner, sleeping, and muttered to himself, wondering whether Ning Yu knew about last night’s events or not.

Upon reaching the Main Gate, the others saw him holding Wu Shangzhi and looked at him with suspicion. Liu Sitong glared at them and said, "Last night, Captain Wu was on duty and sneakily drank alcohol. This is dereliction of duty. Now tell me frankly, who else drank with him last night?"

There were two other guards on duty last night who had been drugged and knocked out by Wu Shangzhi. When they woke up, they thought they had accidentally fallen asleep while on watch. Fearing punishment, they dared not make a sound. Hearing Liu Sitong’s interrogation, they quickly replied, "I definitely didn’t drink any alcohol, if you don’t believe me, Captain Liu, smell for yourself."

Liu Sitong didn’t want anyone getting close to Wu Zhishang. He snorted and said, "Wu Zhishang will definitely be punished. You all better watch out, don’t end up dead without knowing how you died!"

The two shivered. Dereliction of duty usually meant a beating, but if a serious criminal escaped, they could indeed end up losing their heads.

Liu Sitong, holding the unconscious Wu Zhishang, left the Sky Prison. He heaved a deep sigh of relief in his heart. Fortunately, no one thought too much about it, and even less did they connect Wu Zhishang with Bai Ruozhu.

Soon, Liu Sitong went to Cining Palace and sent a message to announce his arrival. The Empress Dowager immediately summoned him.

He saw the unconscious Wu Zhishang thrown on the ground, performed a salute to the Empress Dowager, and said, "Your servant Liu Sitong greets the Empress Dowager and wishes her peace."

The Empress Dowager looked at the person on the ground, thinking, isn’t this man the close confidant of Consort Liu?

"What happened?" the Empress Dowager quickly inquired.

Liu Sitong glanced around, and the Empress Dowager got the hint. She sent the other people away, leaving only Hao Mu by her side.

"Reporting to the Empress Dowager, this man was found by this official early in the morning during my inspection. He trespassed into Lady Jiang’s prison cell and attempted to extract a confession through torture. Fortunately, Lady Jiang’s medical skills are exceptional, and she used medicine to knock him down," Wu Zhishang said.

"What?" The Empress Dowager jumped up. Being a woman herself, she understood the implications. Hao Mu also widened his eyes with anger, as if wanting to pierce a few holes in the unconscious Wu Zhishang.

How dare someone whom the Empress Dowager had instructed to be looked after carefully insult her like this? Did they really think the harem belonged to Consort Liu?

"Good, good. Hao Mu, send someone to relay this matter to His Majesty. I must discuss this properly with the Emperor today!" The Empress Dowager wanted to chop off Wu Zhishang’s head, but that wasn’t enough. The Emperor had to severely punish Consort Liu. Consort Liu was becoming more and more lawless.

Liu Sitong thought that since he had conveyed the message, he at least wouldn’t have to bear the responsibility. He quickly repeated the words that Bai Ruozhu had asked him to relay.

The Empress Dowager sighed, "Ruozhu was also a woman of strong character, after all, it is my fault for not protecting her well enough." The Empress Dowager said, her eyes reddening and looking as if she was about to cry, Liu Sitong was greatly surprised, thinking to himself that the Empress Dowager actually valued the Bai Family to this extent, fortunately, there had been no mishap, and it was a good thing he had gone early in the morning, otherwise, he dared not imagine what punishment he would have received.

Soon, the Emperor made his way to the Cining Palace, he had already heard a summary of the incident from Hao Mu on the way, his face also horribly grim, he might not trust Bai Ruozhu, but Bai Ruozhu was still Jiang Yichun’s wife, if he had just sent Bai Ruozhu to prison and on the heels of that someone else had encroached upon the Bai Family, how could he face Jiang Yichun? Would it not show him to be an inept and incompetent Emperor?

"Go, have someone wake up Wu Zhishang, I want to interrogate him thoroughly," the Emperor said to Wang Shun, a servant standing by his side.

Wang Shun was a shrewd man, and instead of asking someone to find the Imperial Doctor, he ordered the Little Eunuch to pour a basin of water over Wu Zhishang’s head.

Now, in the dead of winter, the effects of the sleeping powder on Wu Zhishang had almost worn off, and the shock from the cold water made him jump up at once.

Hao Mu and Wang Shun struck at the same time, knocking Wu Zhishang back to the ground, and Wu Zhishang then realized he was no longer in the dark prison, but in front of him was the current Emperor draped in a bright yellow robe!

The events of the previous night flashed through his mind, and he hurriedly prostrated himself and said, "Your subordinate has an urgent matter to report, last night during my inspection of the jail, I discovered Ning Yu attempting to escape from prison to rescue the Bai Family. I clashed with Ning Yu, only to be knocked unconscious by Bai Ruozhu."

The Empress Dowager, angry, slapped her hand down on the table, "Nonsense, Ning Yu and Bai Ruozhu both were obediently in prison, when did they escape? It was you who took advantage of your position to go and coerce a confession from Bai Ruozhu’s cell, wasn’t it?"

"The Empress Dowager is wise, I truly saw Bai Ruozhu’s room door open, and Ning Yu was trying to take Bai Ruozhu away. That’s when I engaged them, but unfortunately, I was no match for them. Please punish me, Your Majesty, Your Highness Empress Dowager!" Wu Zhishang was quick to respond, pushing all the blame away.

The Emperor glanced at Liu Sitong, "Tell me what happened."

Liu Sitong quickly said, "Your subordinate went on an early patrol, and I saw Young Master Ning’s prison cell securely locked, and he was resting, not at all as Wu Zhishang claimed. The locks of the Sky Prison are not ordinary ones, how could Ning Yu escape without a key?"

"Further, when I went to Bai Ruozhu’s prison cell, I found Wu Zhishang lying unconscious, the door to the prison cell was open, and a set of keys from inside the jail was on Wu Zhishang’s waist. If Bai Ruozhu and Ning Yu had conspired to escape, they would have fled by now, why would they continue to stay in the cell?"

Wu Zhishang panicked and shouted, "That’s because they were discovered by me, they could only temporarily give up their plan."

At this point, the Emperor chuckled lightly, "You were unconscious, what threat could you pose to them? Did they need to change their plans because of you? Speak, who sent you to extract a confession? If you confess honestly, I don’t wish to make things difficult for you."

Wu Zhishang still wanted to argue, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing hard, saying, "Your Majesty, your subordinate would not dare to lie, I indeed fought with Ning Yu, that’s right, I remember landing a palm strike on his shoulder, if you send someone to check Ning Yu’s shoulder, you’ll know."

"I am well aware of Ning Yu’s temperament, he would not try to escape from prison, your excuse is full of holes," the Emperor said coldly.

At that moment, a shadow flashed into the Main Hall, approached the Emperor to bow, and said, "Your subordinate has already investigated, last night the two guards on duty were all drugged into unconsciousness, before fainting they had only been in contact with Wu Zhishang."

Seeing that person, all wrapped in black fabric with a somewhat ethereal look, Wu Zhishang knew at once that this was one of the infamous Shadow Guards.

With the Shadow Guard involved, it was clear how seriously the Emperor regarded this matter, Wu Zhishang’s body trembled, weren’t Ning Yu and Bai Ruozhu charged with spouting demon ravings to the crowd? Why did he feel there was more to it than that?