Chapter 317

"What do you mean by saying this, royal physicians? Do you now believe Furen Mu? If you let her suggest the method, wouldn’t that play right into her hands?" The head of the Wei family was cunning. Allowing Yueqian to explain the verification method would give her control. These were not words that people could simply ignore.

Therefore, many people sided with him after this statement.

"What if Furen Mu had planned this all along? She has the expertise in this area and could persuade us to let her off the hook."

"Exactly. Whatever method she proposes, we wouldn’t know if it’s truly accurate. She might manipulate the results to fit her scheme."

"If the royal physicians found poison, then there is poison, right? Whether it’s highly dangerous or not, it’s still a threat. Who would want to risk the life of their grandson or unborn child?"

"Only an utter fool would do such a thing! She must be trying to mislead us. Now that she’s cornered, she’s bringing up this prepared poison excuse."

Although many opposed her, there were also several who thought listening to Furen Mu wasn’t problematic, especially those from the Yan family who supported her.

"Why not let the royal physicians examine it first? If Furen Mu’s information is correct, it will be beneficial. But if it’s not, then we must investigate further."

His words caused many to look unfavorably at the Yan family. However, the Emperor, present in the room, made a resolute announcement.

"Let the royal physicians test the poison as Furen Mu suggested."

"B-But, Your Majesty, Furen Mu might have orchestrated this. I don’t want someone who threatens the royal bloodline to go unpunished. Please reconsider," the head of the Wei family had swayed public opinion to his side. How could he allow the Emperor to let Furen Mu handle the situation?

"I’m not saying this just because this is Noble Consort Wei’s child, but also to protect Your Majesty’s dignity. If people see that harming the royal bloodline goes unpunished, they’ll think they can do it easily. This matter requires severe punishment to deter others from following suit."

Hearing the head of the Wei family speak, the Emperor’s lips twitched further in anger. He looked at the head of the Wei family and spoke with a vengeful tone.

"Of course, I will never let anyone who threatens my bloodline go free. Once I know who is responsible, I will deal with them decisively!" As he spoke, he fixed his gaze on the overly vocal head of the Wei family.

This caused the old man to tremble with fear, even stepping back three steps in shock! This demonstrated the power of the ruler of Bai Region, which had rarely been seen before due to the Wang managing most affairs. But now that the Wang was in the Du Region, today’s events fell under the Emperor’s jurisdiction.

If he didn’t show decisiveness, the people would surely make comparisons.

"Isn’t the head of the Wei family overstepping today? Even though we understand your concern, such behavior is inappropriate," said the consort of the Second Prince, who was nearby, seriously.

Her gaze was filled with righteous indignation, and it was as if she stood before an enforcer of justice. The head of the Wei family’s repeated attempts to instruct the Emperor and act as if the Emperor knew nothing were blatantly disrespectful and could warrant a whipping if truly investigated.

"C-Consort Jia," the head of the Wei family seemed to regain his senses, stepping back and kneeling.

"I beg your pardon, Your Majesty. I did not think properly. I am deeply saddened and shocked that the fetus of Noble Consort Wei is in danger," he confessed, thus ending the matter.

The Emperor couldn’t pursue the issue further because the other party had a legitimate reason to express concern. He then turned to the young woman who stood with her arms crossed, watching the scene with amusement.

"Furen Mu, you may continue." Upon receiving this order, Yueqian then opened her mouth to speak.

         "I fear that some might accuse me of providing false information for my own benefit, so could I trouble the soldiers to bring the ’Ten Directions of Unified Sciences’ manual?"

"Very well, soldiers, fetch it," the Emperor said nonchalantly. Shortly, the book was placed before them. Yueqian opened it to page 32 and handed it to the royal physician.

"This is the method for testing herbs according to the manual. You can perform the test with peace of mind," Yueqian said, then turned to the head of the Wei family.

"Wei family’s leader, do you trust the results of this test? I need to ask if you have any doubts. Because if you do, even after the test, you will still blame me. Such a test would be pointless."

Yueqian gave him a cold smile. The head of the Wei family dared not deny the results from a manual within the palace. He could only suppress his emotions and not reveal his thoughts; otherwise, he would surely reveal his guilt.

Seeing him remain silent, Yueqian shrugged impolitely. She then glanced at the royal physician and nodded. Even if the head of the Wei family sensed something was wrong, others would believe the royal physician and the manual.

Yueqian glanced at the group who initially sympathized with Noble Consort Wei. This group was significant. Without prior knowledge and having read the manual, it would be impossible to gain their trust. No one would believe that the mother of the child planned such a scheme, risking the child’s life just to eliminate someone. Unfortunately, Noble Consort Wei was such a woman.

A woman who entered the palace seeking power to bully her, who let herself get pregnant to become the Empress Dowager and use her son to destroy Yueqian and her family! Such a wicked woman wouldn’t hesitate to risk her unborn child. She loved no one, not the child, not her husband. Worst of all, she didn’t even love herself!

Noble Consort Wei only loved revenge! She desired victory and clung to it desperately!

With the manual in hand, the royal physicians didn’t need to listen to Yueqian further. It didn’t take long for the results to prove Yueqian’s words entirely accurate. This caused a split among the people. Some believed in the evidence and acknowledged Yueqian’s knowledge, while others thought that if Yueqian truly intended harm, she wouldn’t have stopped at this. Moreover, she had no need to commit such a heinous act!

However, what people didn’t expect was that the Emperor didn’t even suspect Furen Mu!

"Empress, tell me how this poison got here," he suddenly directed his accusation towards the Empress, who had been standing silently in her corner. Although the Empress thought she would be punished for not handling the situation well, she didn’t expect her husband to ask such a question. Wasn’t this accusing her of poisoning?

"Your Majesty, it wasn’t me, truly it wasn’t me," she fell to the floor, and the court ladies immediately knelt in fear.

"Not you? Then how do you explain the poison?"

"I, I truly don’t know, Your Majesty, please believe me," she shook her head vehemently. She really didn’t put the poison in there. Why would she? She had announced to everyone that she was getting the ingredients from Furen Mu. If something happened, she and Furen Mu would be the ones in trouble. She wouldn’t take such a risk.

Moreover, her son had embarrassed himself today. It seemed someone was really targeting her.

"Your Majesty, although I prepared the food, regarding the poison in the ingredients... you should ask Furen Mu," she looked around desperately, then decided to follow someone else’s foolish plan and shamelessly put all the blame on Furen Mu.

"Ask Furen Mu? So... why don’t you think that I poisoned my own son!" the Emperor roared angrily!

"W-what do you mean? How could I ever think you would do such a thing," the Empress was confused. Others were as well. They looked at the Emperor, who had been protecting Furen Mu all along, with suspicion. Wasn’t the evidence clear? Furen Mu was the owner of those ingredients, and there was poison in them. Why didn’t the Emperor suspect her?!

"Don’t think so? Do you know that those ingredients have been in my palace since the day you sent people to get them from Furen Mu?"

"W-what do you mean..."

"Yes, it’s quite strange that Furen Mu said she feared tampering with her ingredients and asked me to be her witness. Don’t you see why these royal physicians don’t suspect Furen Mu at all? Because from the first day until the last, these physicians have been testing the ingredients for poison every single day!"

Hearing this, the Empress’s eyes widened, and even the head of the Wei family found it hard to believe Furen Mu’s audacity! While it was common to suspect foul play, who would dare use the Emperor as a witness for such minor matters?

No one imagined Furen Mu would be bold enough to use the Emperor as her witness! How did she dare go to the palace and negotiate with the Emperor? Naturally, others wouldn’t have such privileges. Even if their cooking was half as good as Furen Mu’s, bothering the busy Emperor would be like committing suicide!

"Until the last day, when these ingredients were taken to your palace, the court lady who delivered the containers was one of my own people. So... don’t you think I’m the one who poisoned Noble Consort Wei?"

As the most powerful person in the region said this, people could only gulp nervously!

Many who had initially sympathized with Noble Consort Wei, thinking the Second Prince’s faction was behind it, changed their minds immediately.

After all, the Second Prince’s faction did nothing. They didn’t even know Noble Consort Wei was pregnant! So the only people who knew about the pregnancy from the beginning were those in the Wei family, right?

Or was the Empress involved too?

"Y-Your Majesty, I truly didn’t orchestrate this, and I didn’t even know Noble Consort Wei was pregnant! Like Furen Mu said, if someone intended to harm her pregnancy, why use a poison that wasn’t lethal?"

Earlier, the Empress had not taken Yueqian’s words to defend herself, but now she shamelessly used them. People could only feel pity for her lack of shame.

"Your Majesty, I don’t think the Empress is behind this either. It’s been strange from the start. Suddenly, no one expected the concubine to be in a court lady’s attire, and the Crown Prince got involved. Moreover, things seemed to be framed against the Empress. The culprit must have planned this well. This matter needs thorough investigation. May I take charge of finding the real culprit as soon as possible?!"The minister, who had listened to all the various accounts, glanced at his daughter who had faltered so easily. He did not display the foolish demeanor of the head of the Wei family. His words and tone were full of seriousness.