Chapter 2659: Identifying the Suspect

After a while, two guards brought in a young man who looked like a shop assistant.

"Kneel down." The guard rudely grabbed his arm and kicked him hard in the knee.

"Thud!"

The young man felt the pain and his knee buckled, forcing him to kneel on the ground.

The guard announced loudly, "Princess Consort, this is the man who delivered the explosives."

Xuexue nodded, "Hmm!"

The young man looked bewildered. He had just delivered a box of gifts. How could the people from War Prince’s Mansion say he delivered explosives!

"No, no, I didn’t deliver explosives to the Prince’s Mansion...!" In a panic, he stood up from the ground while trying to explain.

"Bold Unruly Person, kneel down." The two guards shouted, pressing him firmly to the ground.

The man struggled hard, loudly protesting, "Princess Consort, it’s a false accusation! I really didn’t deliver explosives."

The steward, with a face covered in soot and disheveled hair, angrily stepped forward and said, "Still claiming to be wronged? Look at the state of our Princess Consort and you’ll see that there’s no mistake."

The man glanced at the woman sitting in the Taishi Chair and noticed she had a similar appearance to the steward, making him feel uneasy. He thought, could it be that he really did deliver explosives to the War Prince’s Mansion?

Otherwise, the War Prince’s Mansion wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of sending so many guards to chase him down, capturing him after pursuing him through nine streets.

The nearby guard also angrily kicked him, saying, "If you weren’t guilty, why were you running?"

The man said matter-of-factly, "I had the shopkeeper’s payment in my hands. Seeing so many people with knives and swords chasing me, I thought they were bandits. Of course, I ran."

The guard was furious, "Are you sick? Didn’t you see we’re wearing government office uniforms?"

The man replied, "I’ve had an eye condition since I was young. I can’t see far away clearly."

The guard was nearly outraged to the point of fainting, "Yet you can see swords and knives clearly? Do you have selective blindness?"

The man looked up at Xuexue and pleaded, "Princess Consort, have mercy! I truly didn’t know the box was explosives. If I’d known, even if given ten water barrels, I wouldn’t have dared to deliver it to the Prince’s Mansion."

Xuexue glanced at a woman in pink clothes among the crowd, noticing her trying to hide and seemed to want to sneak away.

So, she waved to Zi Xia who stood behind her.

Zi Xia understood, immediately leaned forward, and brought her ear close to Xuexue.

Xuexue whispered a few words to her.

Zi Xia acknowledged and began walking toward the crowd.

Once everything was arranged, Xuexue focused on the man again and said, "Tell the Princess Consort who asked you to deliver the gift to the War Prince’s Mansion?"

The man lowered his head to think for a moment and said, "It was a girl in a carriage, very pretty. She passed by our inn at noon today and dropped off the box, asking the inn’s staff to pass it to the Princess Consort of War Prince. Our inn typically doesn’t deliver things for guests, but I was greedy. The lady took out two taels of silver as a reward, and I rashly agreed."

Finally, he pleaded with fear and unease, "Princess Consort, have mercy! I truly didn’t know it was explosives."

Xuexue looked at him coldly and, after a while, slowly said, "Stand up."

The man looked up, bewildered, "Ah?"

Xuexue raised her arm and pointed to the large group of women nearby, saying, "Look closely and see if the woman who asked you to deliver the gift is in there."