I don't want to be the favorite concubine of this palace anymore

Two days later, the big drum in front of the Jingzhao Prefecture gate was struck, and a crowd of onlookers quickly gathered around.

The imperial capital was in a state of peace and prosperity during those years, and it had been a long time since anyone had beaten drums to protest injustice, so the news soon spread.

An Muxi also heard what happened in Prince Rui's Mansion.

Qiu Shuang and her companions spent two days to get clues from the waiter of the restaurant where Song Lan was kidnapped.

It turned out that Xue Fei had put drugs in Song Lan's wine. When he passed out after drinking the wine, Xue Fei asked the waiter to help carry him onto the carriage.

Then he was sent to the gambling house on West Street. A manager in the gambling house received instructions from above in advance. After tying Song Lan up, he wrote an IOU for a gambling debt of five thousand taels and took Song Lan's hand to press his fingerprint.

The coachman was also found, and he confessed that it was indeed Xue Fei who took Song Lan to the gambling house that day.

At this point, the clues were basically all there, but it was not convenient for Qiu Shuang and the others to capture the manager of the gambling house, so they asked Song Lan to go directly to Jingzhao Yin to report the case.

Song Lan reported the case directly with the witness testimony. The prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, Lord Gu, saw that the case was clear and obvious, except for the two important suspects Xue Fei and the manager of the gambling house who were absent.

So they sent people to arrest the two. Lord Gu of Jingzhao Prefecture was also a royalist. This position was easy to offend people, but he had always been impartial in enforcing the law and was not afraid of anything.

Because as long as the evidence of the crime is solid and the case is serious, he can directly sentence the person to death in court. So most people really don't dare to provoke this Lord Gu.

When Xue Fei arrived, he was frightened by Lord Gu's majestic appearance and confessed the crime in just a few words, which was basically consistent with Song Lan's statement.

The gambling house manager, however, was still a little dissatisfied and secretly tried to hand over a banknote to Lord Gu, but was rejected. Then he said that he was Prince Su's man, trying to threaten her with this.

Lord Gu didn't buy it at all and tortured the steward severely, forcing him to tell him if there was any mastermind behind it.

The steward's family all worked in Prince Su's mansion, so they didn't dare to say that it was Prince Su who was instigating it, so they could only accept it themselves.

So Lord Gu asked the manager of the gambling house to compensate Song Lan for the five thousand taels of silver that he was blackmailed from, and also asked Xue Fei to pay Song Lan five hundred taels of mental damages.

The steward was a close confidant of Prince Su, and he had indeed made a lot of money in private, but this time he lost everything because he only kept one thousand taels of the extortion money for himself and handed over the rest to Prince Su.

As a result, he had to come up with five thousand taels this time, and he had to sell all his family assets to raise enough money.

Xue Fei was also very angry, but he had no choice but to ask for 500 taels from his family and give it to Song Lan. He was scolded by his parents. Who the hell stipulated that there was compensation for mental damage?

After the two of them collected the silver and gave it to Song Lan, they thought that it would be fine as a loss of money to ward off disaster. They would think of a way to get back at the place later.

As a result, Song Lan was sentenced to eight years, and the gambling house manager was sentenced to five years. The two were dumbfounded and went straight to jail.

Even after being put in jail, the two still couldn't figure it out. Isn't it normal to just pay the money and everything will be fine? Why did they have to be sentenced? Who can tell them?

Lord Gu walked into the back hall and took out the note from his sleeve. It only had the words "severe punishment" written on it. Then there was Li Rui's private seal.

This was brought by a guard beside Li Rui when the drum was beaten just now.

He smiled bitterly and shook his head. This Prince Rui was really good at making trouble for him. This time he had offended Prince Su completely.

Forget it, it was because he owed Li Rui a life-saving favor. When his wife gave birth to their youngest son, she suffered from dystocia and hemorrhage and was in critical condition. He heard that there was a great doctor in the Rui Palace.

He asked Li Rui for help. Li Rui admired Lord Gu very much, so he persuaded Doctor Gao to save Mrs. Gu's life and keep her and her child safe.

When Prince Su heard that the manager of the gambling house had been thrown into jail when he got into trouble, he was furious, but there was nothing he could do.

He knew that Lord Gu was the emperor's confidant and a tough guy. He could only give up at this time.

This manager had been managing the gambling house well. Although he would make some money, he was smart and did things properly, which saved him a lot of worry, so he had always turned a blind eye.

He didn't expect that he would suffer a setback this time. He lost a capable assistant for Aunt Lin's family clinic.

I couldn't help but feel a little dislike for Aunt Lin. Fortunately, the steward took the responsibility for this matter. If he had exposed him, it would have definitely alerted the emperor, and that would have been troublesome.

After An Muxi knew the result, she laughed happily. It was really gratifying. If it were in modern times, she really wanted to make a banner and send it over.

This Lord Gu is simply the modern-day Justice Bao.

An Muxi happily used the red string to string the five poison-repelling beads together. She had worked hard for several days and finally finished making them.

Apart from the two given to Dai Meng and Li Yian, she kept one for herself and planned to give the remaining two to Li Rui and Lu Qingxue.

There were also a few bottles of detoxifying pills, beauty pills, and hemostatic pills. She planned to send them as gifts at Dai Meng's wedding.

I heard that Dai Meng's sister Dai Zhen actually came to Tiansheng Kingdom with Queen Tianyue's marriage proposal and betrothal gifts.

Now she lives in Prince An's Mansion. I am speechless. As a foreign envoy, shouldn't she live in the post station arranged by Tiansheng?

I don't know how Dai Meng is doing, but luckily I invited her to the hot spring villa to attend the flower viewing party tomorrow. We can catch up then.

-

In the backyard of the Ningguo Mansion, Bai Yueli has locked herself in her room and has been on a hunger strike for three days since returning from the last palace banquet.

The Duke's wife, Wu, and Nanny Gui came to comfort her every day, and finally persuaded her. She probably couldn't stand the hunger anymore, so she started eating again.

She had been having nightmares recently, in which she was pinned to the ground and ravaged by King Cheng, and then she would suddenly wake up.

She looked much more haggard. This blow was really too great for her.

This was the first time that the spoiled young lady suffered such humiliation, but she had no way to resist. She had clearly agreed with her brother the Crown Prince that she would enter the Crown Prince's Mansion as a concubine and then become the Queen in the future.

But now she has become the princess of King Cheng. She has never looked down on men like King Cheng who are always romantic. She hates it so much when she thinks that her second half of life will be ruined by King Cheng.

Duke Ningguo had also wanted to find out who had plotted against Bai Yueli, but the emperor had already issued a gag order on matters in the palace, so it was not easy for him to intervene.

It was nothing more than a fight between the princes, and it affected her own daughter. What else could she do? At least this time she was married to the king as his principal wife. She could only accept it with a pinch of her nose.

Wu was afraid that she would be depressed, so she visited her every day and talked with her.

Today, Mrs. Wu came and brought her an invitation.

"Li'er, look at what this is? Princess Rui has sent you an invitation today. There will be a flower viewing party at the hot spring villa in the Rui Palace tomorrow. Why don't you go and take a look?"

Mrs. Wu felt that it was abnormal for her to stay at home every day since she loved going out so much in the past. It would be better to let her go out for a walk, which would make her feel better.

When Bai Yueli heard the invitation from Princess Rui, her face turned cold: "Who wants to attend the flower viewing party at the Rui Palace?"

Wu said kindly: "It's not good for you to stay at home every day. Mother knows that you are sad, but now the matter has been settled.

The emperor personally issued an edict to grant you the marriage. From now on, you will be the king's principal wife, which is better than being the crown prince's concubine.

Since things cannot be changed, we must face it bravely. The more you do this, the more people will think that you are dissatisfied with the emperor's decree."

Bai Yueli remained unmoved: "I don't like that Princess Rui. She and Concubine An are on the same page. They must want to laugh at me, so they invited me. I won't go."

Mrs. Wu sighed. She didn't know who her daughter inherited her temper from.

At this time, Nanny Gui said, "I heard that several princes will also be there."

When Bai Yueli heard this, she quickly asked, "Will the prince go?"

Nanny Gui didn't dare to answer and looked at Wu. Wu had no choice but to say, "Li'er, you should care about His Royal Highness Prince Cheng now. You'd better not meet the Crown Prince again in the future. Otherwise, Prince Cheng will be unhappy if he finds out."

Bai Yueli still didn't give up: "I just want to ask if the prince will go?"

Wu had no choice but to say, "It is said that they have all been invited. Your brother will also go, so why don't you go with him to relax?"

Bai Yueli did not refuse this time: "Okay, I'll go."