"Ah!" Concubine Liu shouted, and the tea cup in her hand fell to the ground.
Princess Zhao and Mrs. Xie were also shocked.
The palace servants and maids were even more panicked and scattered.
Yan Cheng frowned, but before he could scold him, Du Ming quickly pushed the lid back and ordered the guards to lift it down.
Only after watching the rattan basket being sent out did the people in the palace relax.
Du Ming turned to Yan Cheng and asked, "Your Majesty, can you see clearly? Is it exactly the same as the snake that bit you that day?"
Yan Cheng recalled it for a moment, nodded, and felt a turmoil in his heart.
This snake was actually released by man? Doesn't that mean someone has been watching him? Has his behavior in front of Liu's tomb been known for a long time?
Princess Zhao stroked her chest, her face still pale, and asked: "Ayin, what's going on? Someone wants to harm Acheng?"
Xu Yin nodded: "Mom will know after listening to it."
After receiving her look, Du Ming pressed his sword to the man's neck and shouted, "Tell me! Who is the person who ordered you?"
The snake-keeper couldn't help but look up, his lips moved but he didn't speak.
Concubine Liu's heart skipped a beat.
"If you don't think about yourself, you also think about your family." Du Ming said coldly, "Isn't it just to let them live a good life?"
The snake-keeper had hope in his eyes and asked in a low voice: "Will the official do what he promised?"
Du Ming nodded: "In front of the princess and the prince, I can say it again, as long as you recruit it honestly, this matter does not have to involve your family."
"That's right." Xu Yin added, "Your crime depends on the inside story. First, do you know that it is the prince? Second, did you have any intention of harming others when you released the snake? Only by clarifying these two points can you be convicted.
But if you are dishonest, you will be guilty of murdering the prince!"
The snake releaser hurriedly said: "I said, I said!"
Du Ming moved his sword away, and the man poured the beans into the bamboo tube and poured them all out: "The common man is just a wanderer. He catches and raises snakes on weekdays, sells them to those who like to eat game, or performs acrobatics to earn some hard money.
.A few days ago, the poor people were performing acrobatics under the overpass. Someone came over and said that he wanted to ask the poor people to help him with something. If he succeeded, he would give the poor people a large amount of money, enough to travel far away..."
"You will do whatever he says? Aren't you afraid that your snake will bite someone to death?" Du Ming asked.
The snake herder hurriedly said: "The snakes raised by the grass people themselves are well aware that although they look scary, they are actually not very poisonous and can be used to find the doctor. Moreover, the man did not say that he would kill anyone, otherwise the grass people would definitely not agree."
He spoke righteously and righteously, as if he wanted to prove that he was a good citizen.
Du Ming didn't want to talk about irrelevant things with him, so he raised his chin: "Continue."
The snake herder hurriedly continued: "He said that his master had made a grudge with someone who was drinking and fighting for prostitutes, and wanted to scare the other party to vent his anger. Then he told the grassroots the date and asked the grassroots to wait on the mountain..."
At this point, things are clear.
Xu Yin glanced at everyone's faces. Princess Zhao and Yan Cheng were both shocked and angry. Mrs. Xie looked in disbelief. Mrs. Xie tightened the handkerchief in her hand, not knowing what she was thinking.
Du Ming asked again: "What does that person look like?"
"A man in his forties, with a long face and a thin face. The corners of his eyes are turned upward. He looks very fierce..."
Xu Yin winked, and the guards outside escorted a tightly bound and gagged man in.
"is it him?"
When the snake herder saw it, he nodded repeatedly: "Yes! It's him! The common people remember that there is a scar on the palm of his right hand."
Du Ming took out the man's hand and broke it open. Sure enough, there was a scar.
Xu Yin shifted his gaze to Concubine Liu and asked slowly: "Who is this person? Concubine Liu, don't you need me to say more?"
Yan Cheng's expression changed, and he stood up rudely: "Empress!"
Of course he recognized this as Concubine Liu's coachman, the coachman who followed her all the way to Tongyang last year!
Princess Zhao and Mrs. Xie had never met before, so they looked confused at this time.
Du Ming looked at the snake releaser again: "Do you know where we found him? Just outside your house! He had no intention of paying you at all, but wanted to kill people and silence them!"
After saying that, he took out a dagger and threw it on the ground.
The snake releaser was shocked: "Ah!"
A person like him is bound to do things in the gray area. Unexpectedly, he almost lost his life this time.
Xu Yin laughed and said to the coachman: "You must have learned the lesson from last time, right? The previous one was from a rich family and it was not easy to silence him. This time he is a busker and is easy to deal with after killing him, right?"
Having been tied up like this, the coachman still had a sinister look in his eyes and showed no sign of repentance.
"Ayin, who is this person?" Princess Zhao asked, "What happened last time?"
Xu Yin replied: "This man is a dead soldier raised by the concubine. He was born in the Forbidden Army. He committed a crime and was imprisoned. When the concubine was still a good concubine, she rescued him and kept him outside to work for her. As for the last time,
Mother, do you still remember the playboy who teased Miss Liu during the New Year's Eve Lantern Festival?"
"What?"
Xu Yin signaled that the young master was also brought in. He had been taught a lesson a long time ago, and he honestly told the story of how he collected money and pretended to molest Liu Xi'er.
Princess Zhao felt her head buzzing and looked towards Concubine Liu.
"Wu Niang, did you really do this?"
Concubine Liu lowered her eyes and said nothing.
But the driver was fierce. He suddenly knocked away the guard who was holding him, spat out the strip of cloth in his mouth, and said in a hoarse voice: "It's none of your business, I did it! Your Majesty, she doesn't know!"
"Oh?" Xu Yin was not anxious at all and said with a smile, "What reason do you have for doing these things?"
The coachman first pointed at the rich man and said: "The false emperor usurped the throne, and the empress finally escaped with her life, so she had to hide in the alleys and live a hard life. In order to repay the kindness of the empress, I thought of this way to ask the empress to return to the throne."
In the palace."
Xu Yin nodded: "The relationship between master and servant is truly touching. It's not a bad thing to say. No wonder you didn't risk silence."
The driver continued to point to the snake releaser: "As for him, I saw that Miss Xi'er admired the prince, but the prince refused to marry him. Seeing that Miss Xi'er was about to be forced to marry, I found someone to scare the prince in order to vent my anger."
Xu Yin couldn't help but clapped his hands: "What a loyal servant! He doesn't even need to speak to his master. He only cares about his needs."
The coachman suddenly knelt down and kowtowed heavily to Concubine Liu: "Mother, it's all my fault. I ask you not to argue with me. I owe you a debt of gratitude, and I hope to repay it in the next life!"
As he said this, he was about to hit the pillar.
Unfortunately, Du Ming was prepared and stopped him, knocking him to the ground. The coachman went to grab the dagger again, but Du Ming kicked it away, twisted the man up with his backhand, quickly gagged him, and called him
Can't even bite my tongue.
"If you want to get away with death, you're dreaming!" he said coldly.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu""The coachman's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked at Concubine Liu sadly.
Concubine Liu covered her face and cried bitterly: "Lao Peng, why are you doing this! You share the joys and sorrows with us. It's not that family is better than family, but what if I continue to live a miserable life? What I am doing now is just tearing out my heart!"
It is a touching scene of a master benevolent and a servant righteous.
Xu Yin laughed again: "Ms. Princess, I really have to admire you for how you can still pretend to be nonchalant when you are in such a situation."
Concubine Liu looked like she was about to faint, and said feebly: "Princess Yong'an, you have offended me a lot when you were in the capital earlier, so please show mercy. I can not misbehave with this concubine, and I can admit the crime.
I just ask you to let Lao Peng live."
Her eyes moved to Yan Cheng, and her tears gathered again: "You don't know, I am determined not to hurt the prince."
Princess Zhao and Yan Cheng's eyes flickered and they said nothing.
But I heard Xu Yin say calmly: "Does the concubine think that I can do nothing to you? It's a pity that I still have a witness in my hand."
Concubine Liu's tears hung in her eyes.
Then I saw Liu Xier, who had kept his head lowered, slowly stood up and knelt down in front of Princess Zhao: "Princess, please forgive me..."