"Gosh—"

Looking at the broken bracelet on the ground, Lanxin screamed in shock and trembled continuously. Her pretty face turned deathly pale.

With mind completely blank, Gu Yunxi stood there still and widely opened her eyes in amazement as if she had gotten petrified.

Among the three, only Prince Chen was elated. He clapped and laughed at the broken bracelet.

"Bravo! Great! The treasure is broken now! Hahaha, interesting!"

An idea flashed into Gu Yunxi's mind. Gu Yunxi suddenly looked excited and smoothed her knitted eyebrows. She slammed on her palm and said with her sharp and bright eyes.

"Good! I have come up with a plan to make the one self-exposed. Thank you, His Highness."

As soon as she finished her words, she hurriedly and urgently turned to whisper in Lanxin's ear.

Prince Chen, opposite Gu Yunxi, gazed at her quietly. The light gleaming in his eyes was transitory as an epiphyllum's blossom. He chuckled and slightly raised his eyebrows, and the depression on his face became dissolved a bit.

...

The next morning, the weather was perfect. It was sunny but not hot. With the breeze blowing, there was less fierce heat of late summer.

The courtyard of Chuxiu Palace was full of people kneeling on the ground. Chief Eunuch Yan Gui kept a cold face and stood under the porch, and behind him was a row of eunuchs holding sticks with solemn expressions.

"There was a thief in the Main Hall yesterday that stole Concubine Xu's bracelet rewarded by the Emperor. All the servants in Chuxiu Palace are under suspicion. If the prisoner refuses to stand out and surrender, all of you will kneel in the courtyard for days and nights!"

The palace maids all bowed their heads in terror and kept silent.

Gu Yunxi had been on guard for a long time, so she was not as nervous as others. Secretly, she raised her head slightly, and Lanxin kneeling opposite her happened to look up at this moment.

The two girls exchanged a knowing look quietly.

The noon sun above the courtyard became more and more scorching as time passed by. Its rays seemed like the fierce fire waves splashing down from the sky to bake the earth to ashes.

Gradually, the palace maids kneeling on the ground couldn't stand it anymore, and some passed out from time to time. The eunuch dragged them away, woke them up with ice water, and then dragged them back to kneel where they had been. Those maids trembled and looked so pathetic that they seemed on the brink of collapse.

However, Concubine Xu was indeed annoyed this time. She was certainly determined to find back the lost bracelet that the Emperor rewarded her, and it was inevitable to impose heavy punishment on her servants.

Gu Yunxi's knees turned to be numb after she kept kneeling for a long time. With headache and back pain, she felt uncomfortable and seemed to suffer from sunstroke.

Dripping with sweat, she forced herself to open eyes to look directly at the ground which was shimmering in the sunshine, dazzled and dizzy.

"Who is so hateful that have stolen Concubine Xu's bracelet and wants to frame me?"

If the one still refused to stand out, no one knew how many days the people in the courtyard would have to kneel for days and nights!

When Gu Yunxi was suspecting with resentment, someone in the queue spoke aloud.

"Lord Yan, I know who stole Concubine Xu's bracelet!"

The person who spoke was the maid Yunmei. She was always on duty in the side palace hall, but sometimes she would be sent to the Main Hall if there was something to pass.

As Yunmei just finished her words, the gaze with various emotions all shot at her. Yunmei looked surprised, but soon she quickly hid her mood, maintaining a moderate calm.

Gu Yunxi turned her head to look at Yunmei more and more sternly. She knew in her heart.

The one turned out to be her, Yunmei!

Yan Gui rushed to Yunmei. His feminine voice kept a trace of chill and caution.

"Tell me. Who is it?"

Yunmei's eyes moved. She gave a cold glance at the left of the queue and said harshly.

"It was Muxue that stole it!"

In the crowd's murmurs and whispers, Gu Yunxi, pretending to be angry and panic, retorted and stared at Yunmei from far.

"Nonsense—"

Yan Gui was also surprised and asked while frowning.

"Yunmei, is there evidence since you said that Muxue stole the bracelet? Besides, when you knew the truth, why didn't you tell me until now?"

Yunmei raised her eyebrows and kept calm, answering with a slight smile.

"Lord, I saw Muxue wander in front of Concubine Xu's dressing table in the Main Hall yesterday, and there was an awkward bulge in her clothes. I felt it strange at that time and said hello to her, but she ran away in a panic."

"Now there is a theft in the Palace, and it reminded me of what happened yesterday. Lord, since you asked the prisoner to surrender herself, I did not immediately expose her."

Gu Yunxi kept kneeling in silence. Neither humble nor pushy, she was surprisingly calm, and her delicate lips faintly showed a smile with a hidden murderous intention.

After Yunmei finished speaking with certainty, Yan Gui was furious. He strode to Gu Yunxi angrily and pointed at her, asking in a harsh voice.

"Tu Muxue, do you admit? Concubine Xu has been pretty good to you, and why do you bite her hand that feeds you?"

Gu Yunxi bowed her head with a dark face.

"Lord! I'm wronged!"

Yan Gui rolled his eyes and motioned to the eunuch under the porch.

"Go to search her room!"

The eunuch took the order. He walked to a side room and kicked in. Not long after, he returned to the courtyard and gave Yan Gui an embossed red brocade box.

Immediately, Yan Gui's white face showed shock and anger. He turned to glare at Gu Yunxi harshly and then cautiously opened the box.

In a moment, he yelled as if he had been insane, and his face alternated with dark and red. He trembled and panted with his mouth so violently that he nearly fainted.

Fortunately, he had been the governor for a long time and had experienced a lot, and soon he forced himself to calm down. He clasped the lid tightly with one hand and shouted to the sides.

"Arrest Tu Muxue!"

The current course of events was all as Gu Yunxi expected. Seeing eunuchs rushing at her viciously, she immediately put on a frightened look and crawled forward in terror. She cried bitterly at the feet of Yan Gui.

"Please spare me, Lord! I'm innocent! I indeed didn't steal anything—"

"The evidence is here, and what else can you say!"

With an angry expression on his dark face, Yan Gui watched eunuchs pin the arms of Gu Yunxi and then clapped the brocade box in his hand in front of her.

However, when he thought of what the bracelet rewarded by the Emperor looked like now in the box, Yan Gui couldn't help but feel astounded and stomp around.

"You not only stole the treasure rewarded by the Emperor but even... Ow! Hurry up and tie the da*ned idiot and wait for Concubine Xu to deal with her!"

Gu Yunxi was pinned on the ground and struggled a few times, crying.

"Lord, please spare me! I have some words to say, and I will die without regret after finishing speaking."

"You even dare..."

Yan Gui was so angry that he raised his hand and was about to slap Gu Yunxi severely. A delicate and graceful voice came behind him, stopping his madness.

"Since it has been found, let's listen to what she wants to say. It won't be too late to punish her after that."

Yan Gui was slightly startled, and he hurriedly turned around and knelt, lowering his head and eyes.

"Your Grace."

Concubine Xu steadily stepped across the threshold with Jinzhu's support and stood under the colored glazed porch.

Her emotionless gaze gently fell on Gu Yunxi's tearful cheeks. Her indifferent eyes could make Gu Yunxi clearly feel a chilly coldness from a few feet apart.

Gu Yunxi struggled to break away from eunuchs, and then she kneeled and sobbed in a grievance.

"Your Grace, please! I am deeply indebted to you for your kindness since I entered the Palace. I am even afraid of being unable to repay it, and how dare I betray you and commit such treachery? The previous event just ended, and now I am wronged again. I feel wronged!"

While speaking, Gu Yunxi deliberately used the word "again" to warn Concubine Xu that there should be a causal link between this theft event and her being taken into the Imperial Ceremony Office last time.

Concubine Xu snorted with her nose, and her eyes looked clouded and dark.

"My thing has been found in your room, and you actually say that you are wronged!"

Gu Yunxi kowtowed hard with a thump and struck her forehead against the ground.

She solemnly said aloud.

"I'm just a humble maid, and it does not matter if I die, but there's something in my heart that puzzles me. Your Grace, since I have been your maid for so long a time, please give me a chance to ask Yunmei a question. Then I will accept the punishment immediately."

Concubine Xu slowly shook her head and looked down at her.

"Just ask what you want to ask."

"Thank you, Your Grace. I want to ask Yunmei what's wrong with my behavior since I originally work in the Main Hall and dust the dressing table every day. Well, I also want to ask her why she, as the side palace hall's maid, came to the Main Hall without your order yesterday? When did she see me and say hello to me?"

Her thoughtful questions just hit the nail on the head. The truth was self-evident now.

All the people present looked horrified, including Yunmei, who was domineering just now.

Concubine Xu also looked astonished for an instant, and then her beautiful eyes moved and glanced admiringly at Gu Yunxi.

Yan Gui nodded secretly. He quietly approached Concubine Xu and said to her in a lowered voice, looking embarrassed and anxious.

"Your Grace, it's all my fault, and please don't get angry. Please have a look at this first."

Concubine Xu watched Yan Gui open the brocade box, and instantly her exquisite face became tightened with shock, just like a heavy rock had suddenly fallen into a pool of calm lake in her heart, rippling unending waves.

Half a quarter later, Concubine Xu gritted her teeth with a grim expression, and she suddenly waved her fists clenched in her sleeves.

"Yunmei, how come did you dare to be the robber acting like a cop and frame others? Guards, drag her out and flog her to death immediately!"

Yunmei knelt and trembled. She got driven to the wall under Gu Yunxi's questions.

As soon as Concubine Xu finished speaking with rage above her head, several eunuchs came and surrounded her.

Yunmei had never faced such a situation before. Besides, due to her guilty conscience, she immediately got so frightened that her soul seemed to leave her body and fly to heaven, and her body fell to the ground as soft as mud.

With a hint of hope to leave things to luck, Yunmei raised her head to look at Concubine Xu and yelled.

"Your Grace, I am innocent! I went to the Main Hall in my spare time yesterday, but I just went to ask Mandong if any objects needed to be sent to the bathroom. It does not mean that I stole something and deliberately framed Muxue!"

Concubine Xu snorted coldly and glanced at Yan Gui sideways. Getting her hint, Yan Gui approached Yunmei in quick and short steps and then opened the brocade box in front of her.

Yunmei stared straight into the box. She was too stunned that her tongue instantly stiffened as if it had gotten knotted. She stuttered indistinctly.

"How could... how could it be... It was still intact when I saw it yesterday... How would it be..."