The palace maid's speech was so forceful as if she had used all her strength, which led to an uproar in the hall.

Concubine Xu stood at the head of the concubines, staring blankly at the various eyes cast on her. She was stunned and only reacted after a while. She quickly knelt down with her chief maid Jinzhu.

Putting her hands together and lowering her eyebrows, Concubine Xu was very angry, but slowly argued with indignation,

"Your Majesty, that is not true. Concubine Yu and I are like sisters. How can I harm her? I am already a mother and know the hardships of pregnancy and nurturing. Now that my sister was pregnant, how could I be so cruel to poison the child of Your Majesty and her!"

Gu Yunxi gazed incredulously at what was happening in front of her, feeling that she was in a vague dream.

As Concubine Xu said, she and Concubine Yu had always been good friends. Gu Yunxi believed that someone had harmed Concubine Yu during her pregnancy. But she would never believe that Concubine Xu was the mastermind of this whole thing!

By her side, Leng Qingtang solemnly opened his eyes wide in silence.

At this moment he understood that a net of conspiracies had been quietly spread in the harem.

The eyes of Emperor on the dragon chair shone with murderous intentions. Yet, with some reluctance and heartache, slowly turning to Concubine Xu who knelt on her knees, he grumbled exhaustedly,

"Yuanjiao... How could it be you?"

"Your Majesty, I have been wronged!"

Concubine Xu raised her head. Her bleak eyes met those of Emperor.

At that moment, Liu Xia raised her face and shouted.

"Your Majesty, I got the drug from Fang Mo in her palace. You'll know it if you take Fang Mo here, Your Majesty!"

Squinting, Emperor narrowed his blade-sharp eyes, looked at the palace maid, and immediately ordered,

"Bring Fang Mo here!"

"Summon Fang Mo, the maid of Chuxiu Palace."

Shaking the horsetail whisk, Lord Zhang announced with the eunuch's unique penetrating voice that pierced out of Qinming Hall and into the vast night.

Within a quarter, a eunuch led a palace maid into the hall.

The palace maid kept her eyes lowered and shivered with every step.

Gu Yunxi carefully examined her features and quickly recognized her. It was Fang Mo, one of the five maidservants who served Concubine Xu in the main hall of Chuxiu Palace.

Fang Mo stopped behind Concubine Xu and collapsed on the floor.

Concubine Xu turned to see her and instantly a light of shock flashed across her eyes. Her face changes.

Fang Mo was kowtowing and shouting,

"Your Majesty, Your Grace, please spare my life!"

Emperor Jingxiao lifted his brows to shoot a stern look at the maid who pled guilty.

Needless to say, one who was terrified to death before being questioned must have ulterior motives.

Ruthlessly, Emperor questioned her,

"Speak. How did your mistress instruct you to force Liu Xia, the Jingyang Palace maid, to poison the royal child of Concubine Yu?"

Fang Mo's hands were tightly folded. She lowered her head to hide her distress while intermittently replying.

"I will say everything. Since Concubine Xu learned that Concubine Yu was pregnant, she had been sighing often in Chuxiu Palace.”

“She arranged for a person surnamed Lin to enter the Palace and bought the position of Observatory Director for him. She then compelled Director Song to fabricate the ominous celestial phenomena and poison the wells in the capital, and so people of the capital mistakenly believed that Concubine Yu was pregnant with a demonic fetus that had incurred the plague...”

"You're lying!"

Furious, Concubine Xu didn’t wait for Fang Mo to finish her words and glared at her. Her eyes were burning with rage. Even her delicate face was distorted.

"I even didn’t know such a man called Director Zheng and I never forced him to poison the wells! Why are you slandering my name?"

"Xu Yuanjiao, shut up!"

Emperor Jingxiao gloomily roared with indignation. He raised his right hand and smashed a beeswax three-legged toad figure in his palm into pieces on the floor.

"Your Majesty, please calm down."

Empress Qian rose in fear and knelt down at the same time as the crowd.

The hall was frozen with the discordant air.

Emperor leaned against the dragon chair and panted. Thanks to Yu Xuanji, who was patting his back, he finally composed himself. Staring coldly at Fang Mo, he urged her on,

"Go on!"

Fang Mo's bent body trembled violently as she continued,

"When Her Grace failed, she spent all day making new plans to abort Concubine Yu's child.

Not long ago she took caught the handle of Liu Xia and forced her into her service. I was given the job to contact her.

Today, when my mistress learned that the Imperial Noble Concubine had summoned Concubine Yu to Yongning Palace, she thought the time had come. So she instructed me to bring Liu Xia the drug and push her to make the move. As long as Concubine Yu lost the child, my mistress would put the blame on the Imperial Noble Concubine and take the opportunity to pull her down."

Emperor's face changed drastically after hearing the whole story. Petrified, he did not remember to breathe unit his face was red. Taking a deep breath, he acted as if he had woken up from a horrible nightmare.

Turning his dim eyes at Concubine Xu, Emperor felt his heart fraught with hatred. Frowning, he said sorrowfully,

"Yuanjiao, you have disappointed me so much."

Such an unexpected affliction!

Concubine Xu's eyes became stern. She would not allow herself to be framed willingly.

Tuning back, Concubine Xu faced Fang Mo and shouted,

"Shameless wench, how much are you paid to set me up here? Everyone in the harem knows that I am as close as a sister to Concubine Yu. What benefit can I gain by harming her?"

Tears hung from Fang Mo's eyes as she smiled bitterly.

"No one gave anything to me. There is no one who treats me better than you, Your Grace. I did everything you said in return for your kindness.

Some concubines visited Chuxiu Palace in the past, and Concubine Yu accidentally dropped the Seventh Prince. Your Grace thought that Jieyu Jin had been jealous of your child. So from then on, you have hated her.

In order to take revenge on Jieyu Jin, you wanted to sow discord between Jin and Sun. Hence, you asked me to bribe Miao Lan, the maid of Weiyan Chamber, and deliberately let out the news that the Imperial Noble Concubine would go to the Imperial Garden that day when Duke Min came to court. Jieyu Jin was tricked to go there and lost her manners before Emperor. She had been grounded since then."

"..."

Concubine Xu's chest heaved with the heartbeat. Dumbfounded, she refuted no more.

All people were in shock.

Next to Emperor, Empress Qian looked disoriented, and her thoughts were in turmoil. Covering her mouth, she asked with a trembling voice,

"What is this all about?"

Fang Mo huffed and wiped her face.

"That my mistress is friendly with Concubine Yu is indeed known to all. But they don't know she had another purpose.

Back then, Concubine Yu was still an agreeable and docile Zhaoyi without family. My lady wanted to bring her in as a shield in the harem.

But then Concubine Yu was pregnant and turned out to be Duke Min's daughter. My mistress was afraid that once Concubine Yu gave birth to a son, the boy would be a threat to the Seventh Prince. So she secretly tried to hurt her several times.

Also, she knew Your Majesty valued the Eastern Depot Master. When she heard Tu was the agent Master Leng set in the palace to investigate the mannequin case, she kept Tu in Chuxiu Palace to show her goodwill to Master Leng. Thus, she could pave the way for a future alliance with the Eastern Depot to help the Seventh Prince onto the throne.

She did not expect the Eastern Depot would crack the poisoned wells. Fortunately, Director Lin escaped, so no one would suspect her.

She also bitterly realized that the Eastern Depot was leaning to the Mins. So she found an excuse to drive Tu out of the Palace. Many saw it the day Tu left."

Leng Qingtang listened to the maid's confession. His dark eyes were as deep as the night, shimmering coldly in candlelight.

He raised his hand to rub an itch on his cheek and touched cold sweat.

Wan Yuyao was quite vicious!

It was just like a wasp. She seemed to be harmless until she gave that deadly sting.

Gu Yunxi's heart was once again ignited by hatred. She hated those who would call black white and the unjust world even more.

Without the consent of Master, she stepped out without permission and spoke aloud with a bow,

"Your Majesty, Your Grace, Concubine Xu didn’t know my identity when I worked in Chuxiu Palace. Fang Mo's words are too sketchy to trust."

"Watch it!"

Lord Zhang glared beside the dragon chair. His eyes, full of creepy chills, were fixed at Gu Yunxi.

Alarmed, Leng Qingtang went forward and bowed his head,

"I hope that Your Majesty and Your Grace will forgive my ill-mannered subordinate. But Tu always said Concubine Xu had treated him generously after he returned to the Eastern Depot. I'm afraid someone is plotting against Her Grace. Please reconsider, Your Majesty and Your Grace."

"Your Majesty..."

Empress Qian turned her eyes to Emperor, cautiously pleading.

Emperor Jingxiao did not speak. Narrowing his hazy eyes, he seemed to be meditating on the thought.

Next to Concubine Xu, Jinzhu could restrain her anger no longer. Losing her senses, she jumped up towards Fang Mo and fought against her with bitter crying.

"You bitch. Her Grace treats you well. Why are you framing her?"

Lord Zhang waved, "Pull them apart quickly."

Two eunuchs rushed to separate the entangled women and Jinzhu was then dragged outside the hall.

As soon as Fang Mo was released, she burst into tears and sobbed before Concubine Xu.

"Your Grace, I remember the flood in my hometown. It was you who funded the local magistrate to retrieve the remains of my parents and buried them in graves. Now that we are exposed, I do not want you to make the same mistake again and again. I can only repay your kindness in my next life!"

And then came a heavy bang. When the crowd recovered from the shock, they realized that Fang Mo had killed herself by bumping her head into the east dragon pillar in the hall.

Her corpse fell softly on the floor and her blood stained the gold scales of the dragon circling the column.