The dim back

Concubine Xiao had a strange smile in the corner of her eyes and glanced at Liu Zhongqing secretly.

Liu Zhongxing didn't understand why the imperial concubine looked at me so strangely? Was something going to happen?

Liu Zhongqing watched Concubine Xiao pick up the wine glass on the table and gently drink the wine in the glass.

After putting down the wine glass, the emperor happily asked Concubine Xiao: "How is it? Is it delicious?"

As soon as Concubine Xiao opened her mouth, a mouthful of blood spurted out, and the scene seemed extremely chaotic.

The emperor was so frightened that he quickly shouted to the palace maid beside him: "Go and call the imperial physician quickly."

All the palace maids were so scared that they fled. When the imperial physician came to the palace and made a diagnosis, he said in a panic, "Your Majesty, Concubine Xiao has been poisoned by a Western poison that is extremely toxic."

The emperor began to get angry: "Who did it?"

The palace maids and eunuchs around were kneeling down, and no one dared to speak.

Doctor Hu then asked, "Your Majesty, what did Concubine Xiao take before she was poisoned?"

The emperor pointed to the wine cup and said, "Drink the wine in this luminous cup."

Doctor Hu took out a silver needle and placed it in the wine glass. The remaining drops of wine immediately turned black.

Everyone's first impression was that the wine was poisoned. Everyone stared at Liu Zhongqing. Liu Zhongqing felt that he was the target of everyone's criticism: "Your Majesty, I really don't know what's going on. I did get this wine from the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

The emperor said to the eunuch beside him, "Go and get the chief steward of the Imperial Household Department right away. I want to see who is so bold."

When the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs entered the room, he immediately knelt on the ground and said to the emperor tremblingly: "Your Majesty, I really don't know what happened. When the Marquis came to get the wine, I personally handed over the luminous wine."

Liu Zhongqing also said righteously: "After I took the wine, it never left my sight. No one has poisoned it."

The emperor looked at Liu Zhongqing suspiciously: "I know in my heart that you are not very satisfied with Zhang Laojiu? But Zhang Laojiu is indeed Concubine Xiao's cousin, you can't hold such a grudge against him, right?"

This made Liu Zhengqing feel very angry: "Your Majesty, how can you say that? No matter how bad I am, I can't do such a despicable thing. No wonder my mother told me not to serve as an official in the court. It seems that there are traps everywhere."

When the emperor heard Liu Zhongqing say this, he looked up and asked Liu Zhongqing: "What do you mean by that? Did the imperial concubine drink the poisoned wine herself?"

Liu Zhongqing began to defend himself: "Your Majesty should also be able to understand that you saw the Imperial Concubine drink the wine with your own eyes. At that time, the Imperial Concubine had a smile in the corner of her eyes, and it was obvious that she wanted to frame me."

The emperor was a little desperate and tried every possible means to cure his illness, so he didn't pay attention to these things.

In desperation, the emperor said to Liu Zhongqing: "Now you are suspected, you should go back to Yiren Villa and wait for my judgment."

Liu Zhongqing began to resign on his own initiative: "Your Majesty, I am willing to take the initiative to investigate the case. Give me three days. If the murderer cannot be found, Your Majesty will deal with it."

Seeing this, the emperor nodded and said, "I hope you won't let me down. For the sake of my elder sister, I hope you can prove your innocence."

Liu Zhongqing returned to the gate of Yiren Villa in a very depressed state. Zhang Yulu saw Liu Zhongqing's appearance and began to feel nervous: "Did something happen to you?"

Liu Zhongqing told Zhang Yulu everything in detail. Zhang Yulu became sad: "I reminded you this morning to be careful at all times. Why didn't you pay attention? It's obvious that someone is trying to harm you."

Hearing Zhang Yulu's complaints, Liu Zhongqing also felt sad: "If you want to accuse someone, you can always find a pretext. I really didn't expect things to get to this point."

Zhang Yulu suddenly remembered: "Maybe this matter is related to Zhang Laojiu. Zhang Laojiu is such a hateful person. I heard that the poison from Miaojiang can only be used by Miaojiang people. Could Zhang Laojiu come from Miaojiang?"

Liu Zhongqing recalled: "It seems that Concubine Xiao is a woman who was sent as tribute from Miaojiang. I still need to ask my mother about this matter."

Everyone knew that the reason why Concubine Xiao was favored by the emperor was because she always had some strange things that always won the emperor's favor.

Zhang Yulu asked the system in her mind: "What exactly is going on here? Where is the problem?"

The system reminded Zhang Yulu: "Master Host, this Miaojiang poison will be adsorbed on the cup, so Concubine Xiao must have turned the cup many times when she took it, and the poison was completely soaked in the wine."

Zhang Yulu heard the system's prompt and came up with an idea: "Okay, I understand it clearly. I know what to do."

Zhang Yulu reminded from the side: "Liu Zhongqing, you must have found out about the Qiu family and threatened Zhang Laojiu, which is why things got so bad."

Liu Zhongqing said at the side: "It seems that this time the dog has jumped over the wall. I must think of another way to make Zhang Laojiu jump out and take responsibility himself."

Zhang Yulu thought of someone at this time: "Since the Third Prince is behind Zhang Laojiu, there must be some deal between the Third Prince and Concubine Xiao. Why not redo it? Why not start from this point?"

After Zhang Yulu's reminder, Liu Zhongqing finally understood.

Liu Zhongqing said to Zhang Yulu: "To tell you the truth, the Third Prince said a few days ago that he would come to the capital. I think he must have an important mission this time."

Since there was a mission, Zhang Yulu had an idea: "Since you know his whereabouts, who should we take advantage of the opportunity to follow?"

The two of them nodded in understanding, and early the next morning, they came to the Nanjia Inn in the south of the city.

Liu Zhongqing told Zhang Yulu: "The Third Prince has been staying in the private room of the Nan Family Inn. Let's go over and take a look now."

As soon as the two of them came upstairs, they heard someone talking in the house: "Why are you so careless this time? I didn't ask you to deal with my nephew?"

The other party spoke in a strong voice: "That's because he meddled in other people's business. Otherwise, I would have spared his life. Let's see how he escapes this time."

When the Third Prince heard what the other party said, he felt particularly upset: "I didn't expect that you would even involve your own cousin. It seems that you really can't be a hero without being vicious."

Zhang Yulu and Liu Zhongqing were very sure that the other person talking in the room should be Zhang Laojiu.

Zhang Yulu pushed Liu Zhongqing beside him and said, "Let's hide in the dark first. If I'm not wrong, Zhang Laojiu will definitely make the next move."

At this time, the Third Prince was heard saying to Zhang Laojiu: "If you can turn danger into safety, don't ask me to do such things in the future."

Zhang Laojiu laughed out loud: "Didn't you benefit from this as well? Why do you have to clear yourself of all charges?"

The Third Prince laughed and said, "You said it so lightly. Didn't I tell you that if there are any mistakes, it has nothing to do with me? It was obviously you who sold the grain and grass, and I just acquiesced."

Zhang Laojiu also told the truth: "Then Your Majesty, please don't forget that it was you who leaked the information to us at that time, otherwise we would not know where the food and grass were hidden."

Zhang Laojiu then said, "You set the fire on purpose. When the fire started, everyone was rushing to put it out. You took advantage of that time to transport the grain away and announced to the public that the grain had been burned by the fire."

The Third Prince glared at him: "You don't need to take care of my business. You are so ridiculous. You should just finish your task well."

Hearing the Third Prince say this, Zhang Laojiu disagreed: "To me, he is just a scoundrel, but you are different. You are the honorable Third Prince. If it weren't for your gambling addiction, things wouldn't be so bad."

The Third Prince now realized that he had been fooled: "Back then, you were the one who asked someone to make a bet with me at the gambling table. Now that I think about it, I fell into your trap. You just wanted to drag me down with you."

Seeing that the Third Prince realized it later, Zhang Laojiu laughed and said, "Then I don't need to go through so much trouble to get close to you. It's because you were the vanguard officer escorting the grain and grass at that time. Everyone knew that if something went wrong, the officials would definitely be punished."

The Third Prince felt a little regretful: "I was really blind at the time. How could I cooperate with someone like you? Thinking about it now, it's really hard to explain."

Hearing what the Third Prince said, Zhang Laojiu told the truth: "Don't forget, we had something on you at that time, otherwise you wouldn't have easily told us the whereabouts of Master Qiu."

When the Third Prince mentioned this matter, he became even more angry. "What can I say? If you hadn't told me there was a treasure there, how could I have collected the four paintings? I followed your arrangements, but you set me up at the gambling table. For Concubine Xiao's sake, I have to admit this bad debt."

I think this must have been planned for a long time, and it seems that their mission is also to get the treasure.

Zhang Yulu heard this, right, Liu Zhongqing said: "Do you understand here? Lord Qiu was framed by them at that time. Afterwards, because of your noble status, only Lord Qiu was punished."

After hearing these words, Liu Zhongqing felt at a loss: "How can I make Qiu Feng forgive me? I don't want Qiu Feng to know about this for the time being. Is there anything you can do?"

Zhang Yulu thought about it and said, "You should make amends and clarify this matter. Maybe if you help Mr. Qiu to redress his grievances, Miss Qiufeng will forgive you."

Liu Zhongqing felt that this was the only thing he could do now: "I will follow your arrangements in everything. I really have no idea at the moment."

When the two were talking, they heard some noises in the room. Zhang Yulu pulled Liu Zhongqing to a dark place and said, "Don't say anything. Let's see what they are doing. If anything happens, we will stop them."

At this moment, Zhang Laojiu walked out of the house with a very wretched look.

Liu Zhongqing suddenly had an idea and knocked on the Third Prince's door. After seeing the Third Prince, he said to him confidently, "Uncle, I have heard about the matter. I wonder what you think now?"

The Third Prince stood there in a daze for a long time, and then he used wild laughter to hide his helplessness.

The Third Prince laughed and said to Liu Zhongqing, "You shouldn't know this, so don't talk nonsense. I still have a lot of things to do. If there is nothing else, go back to Liuzhou as soon as possible."

Seeing the Third Prince issuing a tenant order, Liu Zhongqing used his trump card: "What evidence did you have? Why did you tell Zhang Laojiu about your whereabouts? What exactly are Concubine Xiao and Zhang Laojiu plotting?"

The Third Prince was helpless and had to say to Liu Zhongqing: "You still have a chance to investigate your own case of poisoned wine."