There was a corpse covered with white cloth in the distance, some dry firewood was set up, and soon there was a blazing fire and thick smoke billowing.
Zhao An saw a little girl with braids behind a flower bed staring intently at the sea of fire, her eyes red and her tears falling like broken beads.
Zhao An was startled and came to the girl.
She was very frightened, so she quickly took a few steps back and hid her body behind the vegetation. There was a trace of hatred in her big tearful eyes.
"Little girl, what's your name?"
"Ayuan."
The girl is six or seven years old, and her speech is a bit mechanical and cold.
In the distance, several maids were crying loudly inside the door.
Zhao An glanced at the burned corpse and wanted to touch the girl's head, but she avoided it.
"Would you like uncle to take you to have something to eat?"
"No, I want to see my mother off."
The girl shook her head and continued to stare at the fire, nagging.
She was very persistent, so Zhao An couldn't hold on any longer, so he called the maid to come over and keep an eye on her. Don't let her get close to the fire. It was best to take her back to the house before the fire went out.
I don’t know if such a young child understands what hatred is.
Judging from her attitude, it was obvious that she understood how the Chen family perished.
The seeds of hatred have been planted. Will she follow the path of Yun Zhi and others in the future and seek revenge against the Empress and him?
If it were someone else who dealt with Chen, I'm afraid they would have been eradicated long ago...
Zhao An laughed at himself and forced himself not to think deeply.
The entire mansion smelled of burning and charcoal fire.
The imperial doctors were busy giving acupuncture treatments to the female relatives to relieve their symptoms.
Zhao An came to the residence of Chen's wives and concubines and did not break in rashly.
"lady."
"Madam, please open the door, otherwise I will go in."
Zhao An knocked on the door and shouted several times, but there was no movement in the room.
Zhao An was stunned for two seconds, and suddenly he was startled. He pushed the door open and was frightened by the sight in front of him.
Mrs. Chen was dead, hanging naked under the beams. Her body was covered with terrible wounds, her lower body was torn, and blood flowed down her thighs and dripped to the ground from her toes, which was shocking.
Her body hung swaying in mid-air, as if silently telling something.
When Qiao Yan and others hurried over, they were all shocked out of their bodies by this terrifying scene.
The eyes of the Imperial Guards were strange and suspicious.
Zhao An's heart completely sank to the bottom.
Trouble!
"Tell me, who did it!"
Qiao Yan was furious and grabbed a guard.
The guard said in shock: "Sir, I really don't know. Without orders, we don't dare to approach the room. We have been patrolling the night and haven't heard any movement!"
"I didn't know it even if I waited!"
The soldiers of the Imperial Guard fell to their knees and said one after another that they did not do it.
"Sir, this..."
Qiao Yan was numb. As the commander of the Imperial Guard, he knew what this meant.
There is a hint of conspiracy in it.
Zhao An took a deep breath, signaled to the imperial guards to put the person down, and then asked Qiao Yan to send a message to inform the empress.
Soon the imperial doctors arrived, and when they looked at Mrs. Chen's body, their faces turned the color of pig liver.
The autopsy results clearly showed that Mrs. Chen was tortured to death.
An imperial doctor surnamed Jiang said seriously: "I have performed autopsies on some maids who died of illness in the harem, and the death conditions are almost the same as those of Mrs. Chen."
"Ahem, Lao Jiang, do you know what you are talking about?"
A fellow imperial doctor glared at him and told him to shut up and stop talking nonsense.
Zhao An said coldly: "There's no need to hide it. If you want to say it was me who killed him, just be blunt."
Doctor Jiang clasped his fists and said, "Mr. Factory Supervisor, please don't misunderstand me. I have no intention of doing this. Besides, you were with Miss Xu last night, so there is no way you could kill someone."
Qiao Yan said: "So, someone deliberately used this method to frame..."
The murderer's purpose can be determined at a glance, and he plans to pour dirty water on Zhao An.
Zhao An is the first eunuch in the harem, and as we all know, the great eunuchs have a history of torturing and killing maids. Now that the Chen family is under the law, as a powerful eunuch, isn't it normal to torture and kill the wife of a prince?
As long as the matter spreads, Zhao An will be known as a traitor. The most terrifying thing is that this move kills two birds with one stone. The queen has been begging the emperor to forgive her mother, but the emperor handed the matter over to Zhao An. As a result, this is what his majesty gave him. The answer?
The queen's mother was at least half a relative of the emperor. Even if she was the wife of a rebellious minister, she should not be ravaged to death by a eunuch.
So there was a nail stuck between the queen and the emperor. Zhao An was the culprit. Either kill him and tell the world.
Either the government and the public are in unrest, the emperor and the empress are at odds, and the position of the prince becomes no longer certain.
Zhao An thought about this, and a coldness appeared in the corner of his mouth.
So damn sinister!
Chen Guogong is not so ruthless, who is he? I plan to press him to death!
After Qiao Yan conveyed the news to the outside world, he immediately summoned the imperial guards and began to interrogate him personally.
Zhao An frowned and returned to the room. Xu Ruqing had just gotten up and was stunned when he heard what was going on, "Who is so vicious!"
She was sure that Zhao An had been with her last night and could not kill anyone.
Zhao An said: "From the moment His Majesty handed over the Chen family's female family members to me, I have been remembered."
"Is it your Majesty? No way. If His Majesty is afraid of you, he will not recognize you as the factory supervisor." Chen Yuru couldn't figure it out at all.
"Why not? I'm a eunuch in name. Your Majesty won't reward you, and you can't kill me directly. So it's normal to get promoted but actually dig a hole to kill me. Don't forget, everyone here is The Praetorian Guards, the iron wings of His Majesty’s imperial power.”
Zhao An's words were indeed terrifying.
Xu Ruqing was extremely frightened and uneasy when she thought about it carefully.
She is a smart woman, but the Emperor wants to kill people, and she really doesn't know how to deal with it.
Zhao An paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, going over the situation in the court in his mind.
The empress is consolidating the imperial power, the Chen family's party members have been basically eliminated, and the northern and southern holy sects are in a period of relative peace.
The family was suppressed because of their salt-making business, so they did not cooperate with the imperial decree.
They had the motive to kill. They killed Ling Qiaoer first, and then got rid of Mrs. Chen. This was an extremely cruel move, and it was not impossible for a sophisticated person to do such a thing.
Xu Ruqing said: "So, either His Majesty took action against you, or the family deliberately retaliated and framed you because Chen Guogong blocked the financial path. There are only two possibilities."
Zhao An nodded. Apart from this, he couldn't think of a third force.
In short, the opponent this time is much more difficult to deal with than Chen, and it is almost foreseeable how much turmoil it will cause when the news spreads.
Xu Ruqing came quickly, her pretty face full of worry, "You'd better run away. If His Majesty wants to kill you, she won't give you any chance. It's still too late to leave now."
"Why should I leave? I also want to see if I really paid wrongly. I am a die-hard royalist."
Although Zhao An said this, he was actually very unsure.
The identity of the empress is a mystery. She seems sincere, but in fact, like Luo Qingshuang, she is covered in fog and cannot see through.
