Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 387 - 321 - My Father-in-law (Two-in-One Update)_1

Chapter 387: Chapter 321 - My Father-in-law (Two-in-One Update)_1

Inside the Taihe Gate, the eunuch Wang Chuanhua, who was the leader of the Duzhi Bureau, once again rushed into the hall and knelt down.

"Your Majesty, Earl Jingan has just found a new clue, confirming that the Wujing Boshi, Fei Yuanji, is highly likely to have committed suicide!"

All the cabinet ministers inside the hall, and the nine ministers of various sizes who have arrived by the decree, suddenly made a noise, and everyone’s expression was incredulous.

"Fei Yuan committed suicide? How is that possible?"

"How did he commit suicide? There are strict prohibitions in the Forbidden City, how can an official bring poison in?"

"This is ridiculous!"

Wang Chuanhua in the center of the main hall ignored the comments from the crowd. His face flushed with rage as he raised his head: "It was mixed poisoning! Lord Jingan found a kind of powder under Fei Yuan’s nails, which in itself is non-toxic. But when mixed with the pastries sent from the Renshou Palace, it could turn into the deadly ’Blood Cherry’ poison!"

At this moment, the hall is eerily silent.

"Why was it not discovered before?" The energized Jingtai Emperor who was sitting on the throne shook his head, "Never mind, Minister Li is indeed deserving of his title as my Earl Jingan. Now go, announce this matter to the officials and students of the Guozi Bureau waiting outside the gate. Make sure your voice is loud enough for everyone within and outside the palace to hear. Then summon the leaders inside. Let them hear the truth!"

At this time, almost everyone in the hall could hear the satisfaction and sarcasm in the emperor’s words.

The Emperor Jingtai switched the topic, "Also, where is Li? Why hasn’t he come over?"

"Earl Jingan is still investigating." Wang Chuanhua bowed down to report, "The cause of death for the cook and the two Neishi has not yet been determined. Earl Jingan has set out with others to the kitchen of the Renshou Palace."

Upon hearing this, Shaobao Yujie nodded in satisfaction. This protector of Neo-Confucianism was indeed worthy of his recommendation.

※※※※

At this moment, Li Xuan was indeed in the Renshou Palace.

To save time, he had the bodies of the cook and the two Neishi brought directly into the kitchen of the Renshou Palace.

—This was actually quite ominous, so the chief eunuch in charge of the gate of the Renshou Palace was extremely unwilling.

However, Princess Yu Yunhuang still forced the chief eunuch to let them pass with her grim face.

Li Xuan’s investigation had cleared most of the emperor’s suspicions. On the other hand, the tea and refreshments all came from the small kitchen in the Renshou Palace, making things look ambiguous for Empress Sun and the Crown Prince.

If the chief eunuch still refused to let Li Xuan pass, there would surely be a great commotion amongst the officials.

"There are three main kitchens in the royal palace of the Jin Dynasty, the Shangshan Bureau, the South and the North Imperial Kitchens. However, they are all located outside Donghua Gate of the outer palace, separated by a palace wall and the Defensive Moat. The food from there is basically cold when it gets here, and it’s easy for someone to tamper with it. Therefore, wherever it’s possible inside the palace, private cooks are hired to run small kitchens."

The Dudu Tongzhi of the Xiuyiwei, Zuo Daoxing, led the way, bringing Li Xuan to a row of green-brick rooms, "The Renshou Palace’s kitchen has three rooms in total. The main kitchen is responsible for the meals for the Empress Dowager and the Crown Prince. The secondary kitchen is specially in the Empress Dowager’s favour, and is solely responsible for the meals of the palace attendants and Neishi of the Renshou Palace and the Ciqing Palace. The smallest one is specifically for preparing tea and delicate pastries. Because there are not many nobles in Renshou and Ciqing Palaces, there are only three chefs on daily duty. The chef on the day of the incident was Li Jiudi. After the case, we found his body in this kitchen."

"The other two Neishi were found dead in the back garden of the Ciqing palace, where they were serving meals to the Crown Prince’s wife. They were also killed by the Blood Cherry poison, and our forensic examiner found the ’Zinuo’ rice balls in all three of their stomachs. We also found three bowls with remaining soup in this pastry room. We conjectured that the two Neishi were greedy and ate the rice balls with the pastry chef, which led to their death—"

At this point, Zuo Daoxing’s tone was devoid of the certainty it had before, and he simply explained the situation.

Li Xuan stood at the door, first looking around. He found that although the entire area around the pastry room was covered with snow, there were corridors connecting it with the main kitchen and the secondary kitchen nearby.

"Why do you think Li Jiudi committed suicide? And why did he want to kill the two Neishi who were delivering meals? This seems unnecessary?"

"Actually, it is not yet clear why Li Jiudi died, it is only temporarily presumed that it was suicide, so that we can provide an explanation to the outside. The reason he poisoned the two Neishi is also a question mark, and the reason has not yet been determined. However, at the time of the incident, Princess Changning and I interrogated all the cooks here."

Zuo Daoxing patiently explained, "It was lunchtime, so everyone was in the kitchen working. We have repeatedly asked all the duty chefs for that day, and they all have alibis. Only the palace maids and Neishi entered the pastry room to get meals, and their footprints in the heavy snow can serve as evidence. Surely, they couldn’t have made the ’Zinuo’ rice balls?

If Earl Jingan has suspicions, you can go over there to continue questioning, those cooks are still being held in the inner Jishi Bureau."

Li Xuan did not say anything more after that. He first looked at the three bodies at the entrance of the kitchen.

He examined very meticulously again, but found out that everything was pretty much as Zuo Daoxing described, and he could not find anything abnormal on these three people.

It was only the hand of the chef that made Li Xuan frown slightly, making him gaze at it for a while.

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