The disguised
emperor did not trust her 100%, and Qiu Che had always known it.
When they first got married, they were also watched by people. The emperor wanted to see if she really liked Li Qingwu. It
was not so obvious at that time.
Now that the case was handed over to Qiu Che, it was expected that she would be monitored by the Jinyiwei.
Li Qingwu's stiff arms slowly relaxed, and he let her lead him to the bedroom. As soon
as he entered the room, Qiu Che stretched out his hand to her: "Bird whistle."
Li Qingwu was surprised, but he opened his mouth and said: "I have used that whistle..."
Qiu Che calmly said: "I gave you all my little gadgets, and now I can only use yours."
Li Qingwu was speechless, took out the bird whistle from his sleeve bag and handed it to the other party.
Yuming and Fuling were originally following them, and they stopped as usual when they saw the door of the room close in front of them.
Soon, Yuming heard a few familiar bird calls.
She frowned slightly, then returned to normal. Just as she was about to raise her hand to knock on the door, she heard the bird singing again.
This time it had a different meaning.
She changed her hand and said to Fuling beside her: "It's cold in the palace at night. Your Highness just came back, so he might be cold. How about you go get a cloak for Your Highness while I make some ginger soup?"
Fuling agreed. The bedrooms of the two masters were now filled with summer clothes, and there were indeed not many autumn clothes. So she quickly went to get a goose yellow fine velvet cloak and followed Yuming to knock on the bedroom door without noticing anything.
When she entered the door, her Highness was sitting in front of the dressing table, talking to the prince consort beside him, with a faint smile on his face.
Before the two of them spoke, Qiu Che looked back at them and said, "Are you sure you can do it?"
This was obviously not said to them.
Li Qingwu nodded, stood up and said to Fuling who was confused: "Fuling, come here."
"What?" Fuling almost jumped up in shock, realizing that her voice was too loud, she immediately covered her mouth again, but her eyes were still full of shock, "I... How can I do it!"
"Why can't you?" Li Qingwu comforted her, "Didn't you do it well when you were dressing me in the palace? I've seen you change Fufeng's face... Just like before, it's fine."
Fuling waved her hands repeatedly: "I was just joking with Afeng before, but I dare not try it on you, Your Highness..."
"I dare, why don't you dare?" Li Qingwu said softly, "Others have no experience, and now only you can do it... It doesn't matter, come on, time is tight."
Fuling wanted to say something else, but was afraid that it would really delay things, so she walked forward nervously and began to dress Li Qingwu.
Soon, Li Qingwu saw her face in the mirror slowly changing from a very recognizable look to another face.
There was also a bit of Yuming's shadow beside her.
If she changed into a maid's dress like Yuming, it would be hard to mistake her for a real one if you didn't look closely.
Qiu Che looked at the two people standing in front of her and chuckled, "It's really unexpected."
She didn't expect that Fuling, who was beside Li Qingwu, was also a capable person. Although the change of appearance was a little unfamiliar, the effect was real.
Li Qingwu also smiled, and there was almost no trace of "Li Qingwu" on his face.
Qiu Che reached out and pulled her, saying, "Let's go, there's no time."
In fact, when Li Qingwu heard that Qiu Che wanted to take her to the imperial prison, her first reaction was to refuse.
As a princess, she couldn't be a regent, let alone go with the prince consort to interrogate the prisoner.
If the emperor knew about it, he would definitely take this opportunity to warn Qiu Che.
She couldn't give Qiu Che more help, and she didn't want to cause trouble for Qiu Che.
But Qiu Che meant that if he let Yuming change clothes with her, he could take her with him as a maid.
This was actually a bit risky.
But even if there were masters of disguise in Yeming City, it was too late to rush over at this time. They could only settle for the second best, hoping that the Jinyiwei who were monitoring would be blinded for once and not notice that the "Yuming" behind Qiu Che was the princess in disguise.
But Li Qingwu said that if they had to go together, they had to reduce the risk and could let Fuling try.
While the palace maids were learning etiquette in the palace, they also learned a lot in this regard in order to serve the nobles in dressing up.
Fuling was even more skillful, and she also changed her appearance for Fufeng as a joke.
That time, Li Qingwu happened to see it and was only surprised. He didn't expect that one day he would be useful.
Qiu Che originally thought that she meant to try it out of desperation, but who knew that the effect was so unexpected.
It seems that Fuling can also be trained with emphasis.
In any case, it is still safer to use someone around you than the Jianghu people found in Yeming City.
The two left quickly. According to Qiu Che's instructions, Yuming put on Li Qingwu's clothes, and Fuling was guarding the door again.
Everything looked normal.
This was not the first time Qiu Che came to the Imperial Prison. In her previous life, when Qiu Zhe caused trouble in her name, she also came here.
But the difference from now is that she was a prisoner at that time.
There are eighteen prisons in the Imperial Prison, and each prison has different tortures.
All those who were arrested by the Jinyiwei on the order of the emperor were imprisoned here.
From ancient times to the present, almost no one who has entered the Imperial Prison, whether it is a high-ranking official or a commoner, can survive.
Because this place is best at forcing confessions.
The current Zhenfusi is named Liu, and his name is Liu Buxiu. He is a big and strong man with a face full of flesh and looks ferocious.
But Qiu Che had dealt with him in her previous life, and this man was the most transparent one among the Jinyiwei who didn't look at people in the right eye.
Fortunately, he was the Zhenfusi, otherwise these noble ladies would probably be beaten to pieces on the first day they came in.
Seeing the gold medal, he raised his eyebrows in surprise, as if he was surprised that the emperor would hand over such a case to a young tutor.
Then he quickly recovered and raised his hand to let her go.
Li Qingwu also followed Qiu Che in with his eyebrows lowered.
But as a woman, the maid was not allowed to enter such a place of heavy punishment in the court.
Some Jinyiwei wanted to stop them, but Liu Buxiu stopped them and shook his head.
After entering the imperial prison, there were only Jinyiwei people here, and Liu Buxiu was beside them, so the two could not communicate too much.
Qiu Che interrogated all the noble ladies, but only asked simple questions and did not do anything extra.
They stayed in the imperial prison for a day and were dressed neatly. It seemed that Liu Buxiu did not do anything to them.
At first, some noble ladies did not cooperate. They all looked up to the sky and did not realize the seriousness of the matter. They were still shouting for them to release the people quickly, otherwise they would call their fathers/brothers/brothers to teach them a lesson.
If it weren't for the strict discipline of the Jinyiwei, Qiu Che could almost imagine how everyone around him would burst into laughter.
Of course, most of the noble ladies were very sensible of the times. The deep mansions taught them the most about intrigue, and the thing they were best at was to act according to the situation.
Some young ladies did not know her. During the interrogation, they looked at her from time to time. Perhaps because they saw her good appearance, they blushed as they spoke.
No matter what the other party's reaction was, Qiu Che asked the questions he should ask calmly from beginning to end without looking away.
When the last noble lady stood up, perhaps because she saw her gentle and approachable tone, she mustered up the courage and asked boldly: "May I know your name?"
The atmosphere then became strangely quiet.
The two Jinyiwei who led her away looked at each other, and Liu Buxiu next to her also watched with interest, but did not speak to stop her.
Behind Qiu Che, Li Qingwu lowered his eyes and slightly clenched his fingers in front of him.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Qiu Che smiled and said, "Miss Qi, you are joking. I am a humble official. If you want to criticize me later, I dare not tell you my name."
This was actually a tactful refusal.
Miss Qi blushed, not knowing whether she understood or not, but she did not ask any more questions and bowed and left.
Li Qingwu loosened his hand slightly, and somehow, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
Liu Buxiu looked at him with a smile, and said jokingly: "Lord Qiu is really unromantic. The lady is not trying to blame you, but she is obviously fond of you."
Qiu Che seemed to have just reacted, and said in surprise: "In this case, it is right to refuse. I already have the eldest princess as my wife, I am afraid that I will disappoint Miss Qi's kindness."
Liu Buxiu smiled and shook his head, and said no more, and turned to say: "Lord Qiu has interrogated so many people, but what did you find out?"
Qiu Che said: "No hurry."
The next person to be interrogated was Yaotai.
When she saw Qiu Che, she couldn't tell whether the expression on her face was surprise or understanding. In short, after seeing the Jinyiwei next to her, she quickly entered the acting state.
She cried and told how she was forced, and she knew nothing about other things.
Qiu Che waved her hand to let her go, and asked someone to bring Yuan Fu up.
Yuan Fu, the commander of the Jinwu Guard, who was a third-rank official and could be considered a colleague of Cui Wenshen, was now being held in the Jinyi Guard's territory. It was obvious that he was unhappy.
He was handsome and did not look angry even when he was frowning.
Qiu Che did not indulge him. The first thing he said was, "Who took Commander Yuan to the backyard room yesterday?"
Yuan Fu's expression was a little strange, but it was only for a moment, and he quickly returned to normal: "It was Yingyu who was beside the Queen."
Qiu Che was not surprised: "Reason?" Yuan
Fu paused: "It is not our turn to ask what the Queen has ordered."
The implication was that there was no reason, so he just went there.
Qiu Che's face did not show any expression, and it was hard to tell whether he believed it or not: "In other words, the Queen was not with you at the time?"
Yuan Fu paused again: "Of course."
But Qiu Che saw the guilty conscience that flashed across his eyes.
Her tone was calm, but her question was extremely sharp: "Your Excellency was clearly ordered to protect the Empress, so why wasn't you by her side at that time?"
Yuan Fu swallowed with his Adam's apple not very obvious, his brows gloomy: "This seems to have nothing to do with the case."
Qiu Che smiled: "Your Excellency is wrong. Since I have taken over this case, I must investigate the whole story of this case thoroughly to know what happened that day."
"Your Excellency thinks it is not important whether it is related or not," Qiu Che pointed at the table and said with a smile, "I think it is important that it is related." Yuan Fu
's cheeks suddenly showed a few bulging blue veins.
He lowered his eyes and did not look at Qiu Che again, but fell silent instead.
It seemed that if I don't say it, what can you, a small civil servant, do to me.
Qiu Che waited for a while, and in this dead silence, he calmly said: "If your Excellency doesn't want to say it, you can only stay in the imperial prison."
Yuan Fu raised his head suddenly: "What do you mean?"
Could it be that he can get out if he says it?
Qiu Che tilted his head: "Resisting silence means that you have something to hide. You must stay here and wait for the interrogation of Lord Liu... Commander Yuan, don't you understand?"
Liu Buxiu glanced at her beside her and said nothing.
Yuan Fu's chest rose and fell twice, and he seemed a little angry.
But soon, he suppressed his emotions and said quickly: "I ate something bad and needed to go to the toilet, so I naturally couldn't stay with the queen. This is a private matter. I was afraid that the queen would blame me, so I didn't tell her and left privately - how is it? Are you satisfied?"
Qiu Che smiled and looked at him, and it was hard to tell whether he was satisfied or not.
After a moment, she said slowly, "Where did Yingyu go after taking you to the wing room?"
Yuan Fu frowned, "I don't know."
Before Qiu Che could speak, Liu Buxiu beside him suddenly asked, "With Commander Yuan's ability, after entering the wing room, didn't you notice anything wrong with the incense burner?"
Yuan Fu broke out in a cold sweat, but still said with a sullen face, "Of course there was, but that woman insisted on pestering me, and by the time I was able to get away, I could no longer control the situation - we are all men, Lord Liu should understand what I mean."
Liu Buxiu didn't say anything, but leaned back, showing Qiu Che a somewhat apologetic look, motioning her to continue.
Qiu Che didn't ask any more questions, but just said, "Bring the Duke's wife here."
Yuan Fu thought he could leave, but he was led around by two Jinyiwei and returned to the prison just now.
He turned around angrily and said, "Why can't I leave?"
The Jinyiwei locked the prison door with a click, glanced at him lightly, didn't answer, and guarded the door diligently.
You bastard! How dare you lie to him!
Yuan Fu was so angry that he punched the wall.
But the prison was solid as a rock, and nothing happened after the punch, but his fist was broken.
Yuan Fu stood in the prison in a rage, and in his heart he made a serious note of the civil servant named Qiu.
On the other side, the wife of the Duke was brought up, coughing every three steps, and sat on the chair for interrogation.
She had been pampered for most of her life, and seemed not used to sitting on such a simple chair. She frowned and looked at Qiu Che.
Finding that she did not recognize this young face, the wife of the Duke coughed twice and said slowly: "Your Majesty, what exactly does this mean?"
Qiu Che did not answer this question. Instead, he wrote something on the scroll in front of him and asked directly: "Why did Madam hold this flower-viewing banquet yesterday?"
The wife of the Duke coughed a few more times and asked in confusion: "Of course it is the season when the lotus flowers are in full bloom. It is rare for women like us in the backyard to have a chance to appreciate the flowers. Is this not allowed?"
Qiu Che smiled: "That's not what your humble servant meant."
"I wonder if you and the Queen were together when you went to the backyard wing?"
The wife of the Duke nodded: "I am not in good health. She has been following me, never leaving."
Qiu Che nodded:
"Has the Queen ever expressed her idea of going to the backyard alone?"
The wife of the Duke was even more confused: "No...what would she do in the backyard for nothing?"
Qiu Che paused, still without answering, and then asked: "Then have you noticed when Yingyu disappeared from the Empress's side?"
The Duke's wife recalled, and this time shook her head: "I am old, and I can't remember clearly... But Yingyu has always been with the Empress, and never left her side."
"Her death was strange, and the adults must find out and redress her injustice."
Qiu Che agreed, saying that it was natural.
She asked a few more small questions, and although the Duke's wife was puzzled, she answered them one by one.
At this point, the interrogation ended.
Except for Yuan Fu, the rest of the noble ladies, including the Duke's wife and Yaotai, were all released, but they were asked to keep silent about the case.
Otherwise, they would be imprisoned.
Qiu Che came out of the imperial prison and said goodbye to Liu Buxiu.
The other party asked her if she had any clues, Qiu Che just smiled and said that she would go to the palace to ask the Empress again.
Liu Buxiu didn't ask any more questions.
Anyway, the case was in Qiu Che's hands. No matter how she investigated, the emperor could not blame the Jinyiwei.
After getting on the carriage, Li Qingwu finally dared to look up. She loosened her stiff neck and asked Qiu Che: "Are you going to the palace again?"
Qiu Che said: "Yes. It's okay. You don't have to go in this time. I'll tell you in detail later."
The queen and Li Qingwu have been together day and night for more than ten years. After all, no one else can compare. If
someone recognizes who Li Qingwu is, it will be more trouble than gain.
Li Qingwu nodded and had no objection.
Seeing Qiu Che finished speaking, he sat there and fell into deep thought again. She swallowed the words in her throat, afraid of disturbing her thoughts, and quietly stopped talking.
Qiu Che silently recalled the content of the questioning just now, combined with the confessions of the ladies, and began to outline a case in his mind.
When she came out of the palace, it was already sunset.
Li Qingwu was waiting until she was about to fall asleep in the carriage, and then she heard the sound of someone getting on the carriage.
"How is it?"
Qiu Che smiled and said, "Everything went well."
It was not convenient to chat in the carriage, so they went all the way back to the princess's mansion. Li Qingwu changed out of her maid's clothes, and then they sat in the study and began to check the accounts one by one.
Qiu Che was stunning as soon as she opened her mouth: "Prime Minister Wu is suspected of treason."
Li Qingwu choked for a moment: "...Why do you say that?"
Qiu Che did not continue, but asked her in a persuasive manner: "When you interrogated Yuan Fu and the Duke's wife today, did you see anything?"
Li Qingwu knew that she was testing him, so he straightened his waist calmly and answered cautiously: "Yuan Fu has a problem. The Duke's wife should indeed be unaware of what happened at the banquet."
Qiu Che nodded: "How did you know that Yuan Fu had a problem?"
"For every question, he needs to stop and think about it. Although the interval is very short, it is a bit strange."
"When you asked him why he was not with the Queen, he did not answer immediately. He only spoke when you said that if he did not answer, he would have to stay here."
Li Qingwu hesitated, and said, "I think he lied."
This time it was Qiu Che who asked: "Why do you say that?"
Li Qingwu felt helpless and ashamed: "It's just a kind of... intuition. I don't have this experience and don't know how to describe it. Sorry."
Qiu Che smiled and said: "That's good too - you are right, he lied."
"The silence at the beginning means that he knows that there will be serious consequences if he speaks out."
"And later, when I threatened him, the reason he gave was that he left privately because he went to the toilet - did you notice that he removed the Queen's suspicion in this reason, and he was trying to tell us: the Queen didn't know about his departure."
Li Qingwu listened carefully, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, and he interrupted: "You mean, he is trying to prevent the Queen from not knowing that he lied and his testimony was inconsistent. So in his reason, the Queen herself didn't know about this matter."
This was a bit confusing, but both of them could understand it.
Qiu Che snapped his fingers and praised: "Not bad."
"Leaving the Queen's side privately because of going to the toilet is a serious crime, so his previous silence is also explained - this is indeed a good reason."
Li Qingwu said: "Then how did you know he was lying?"
"Because it's too frivolous," Qiu Che pulled the corner of his mouth, "Would the commander of the Jinwu Guard leave privately because of going to the toilet?
"He chose to remain silent because the real reason would be more serious than staying in the imperial prison. And the reason he gave later, the consequences are obviously not more serious than staying in the imperial prison--"
"This can only mean that he lied."
Li Qingwu thought: "Indeed."
"Not only that, he lied in almost every sentence-except for the first sentence about who took him to the wing room."
Qiu Che smiled and took a sip of water: "It can be seen that he is not good at lying. Every time he asked a question, he would pause subtly for a moment when answering, just like you just said."
"Do you know what the answer I got from the queen is?"
"What?"
Qiu Che said lightly: "She didn't want to say it, but I told her that I already knew it."
In fact, the original words were: It doesn't matter if you don't say it. This matter involves a lot of things. If you don't tell me, someone else will come to interrogate you.
By then, it may not be in the Fengyi Palace in the palace.
"Her reaction told me that it was indeed as I thought."
Li Qingwu blinked and reacted: "Could it be..."
"Yes." Qiu Che affirmed, "When Yuan Fu left, he looked at her very strangely, and then disappeared. "
She wanted to go over and ask what was going on, but the Duke's wife was still around, and she couldn't just leave him there."
As a result, not long after, Yuan Fu was caught cheating.
When the Queen said this, the handkerchief in her hand was about to be torn to pieces. It was obvious that she was really tired and angry.
Qiu Che asked her if Yingyu was still with her at that time, and the Queen answered with certainty that she was not.
At that time, a little maid poured tea on the Queen, and Yingyu left for a short time because she had to get her a piece of clothing.
When she came back, she told the Queen in a panic that she saw Yuan Fu having an affair in the backyard.
It was just that the sound was a little loud, and was heard by the other ladies around.
Then the Queen had no choice but to bite the bullet and let Yingyu lead the way.
But when they entered the wing room in the backyard, after a chaos, Yingyu disappeared again.
When she was found again, her body was lying in the pond, without any breath.
The timeline was too confusing, and Li Qingwu was confused when he heard it. He tried to sort it out, but finally sighed and said, "I really can't figure it out... So, what's going on? "
"Everything started with the affair between Yuan Fu and the Queen." Qiu Che said seriously:
"In the beginning, the Ying Yu who took Yuan Fu away was a fake."
Li Qingwu subconsciously said: "How is it possible?"
"I know you won't recognize the wrong person," Qiu Che comforted, "but what if the other party disguised himself - just like you disguised yourself as Yu Ming today."
Li Qingwu opened his mouth, unable to speak.
"I only thought of this today after seeing Fuling disguise you," Qiu Che sighed, "Fake Yingyu took Yuan Fu away on the pretext that the queen would wait for Yuan Fu in the backyard wing room to make out with her." This kind of thing
has happened before. Wasn't
the last incident in the imperial garden an example?
Although Yuan Fu was nervous, he still went.
As soon as he entered, he saw Yaotai changing clothes inside.
Maybe he recognized the wrong person and thought the other person was the queen. It may be that he was attracted by the beauty, or it may be that the drug worked too fast...
In short, he didn't think deeply about why the queen came so quickly, but chose to pounce on her.
The two rolled together.
Yuan Fu, who was discovered afterwards, faced the queen's rage, and naturally could only put all the blame on Yaotai, saying that she deliberately seduced him.
And just when the two were in love, fake Yingyu appeared for the second time, and took Li Qingwu to the wing room again on the pretext that the queen was looking for her.
Li Qingwu was puzzled: "Why did you take me there? Besides...it only took a moment for the Queen and the others to arrive at the wing room. The distance was not short, and Yingyu couldn't have brought the Queen here immediately after bringing me here..."
At this point, she suddenly got stuck again.
Qiu Che laughed again: "You also found out, right?"
"So, this can only mean that there is more than one fake Yingyu - this is why I am sure that there must be a fake Yingyu present."
"There are only two possibilities. One, Yingyu betrayed the Queen and disguised herself with others to plan this case, but this does not explain why she died in the pond later." "
And I asked the Queen, she was very sure that Yingyu had no father or mother, no worries, and Lianyi was her dowry maid, loyal and devoted, and it was impossible for her to betray her."
"So I can only think of the second one - she was taken away and replaced when she was changing the Queen's clothes."
"The Yingyu who appeared in front of each of you later was fake."
I have tried my best to write it in great detail (collapsed to the ground). Everyone should be able to understand it, right?
The debt is completed! From now on, I will update every day! Stable daily update!
Today's personal tip: The Eighteen Prisons of the Imperial Prison are fictitious, but the Eighteen Punishments did exist in history.