C23

The long table was filled with all sorts of delicacies: bird's nest, abalone, fish fin, everything. They were all commonly seen in the palace, and there was nothing special about them.

"What's the problem?" Nangong Zhen asked in confusion.

"That's the key point." Everyone followed Yan Xiaoxi's gaze and looked over. They saw a black bowl in the lower right corner of the table that Liu Zhixue was sitting on. The bowl was half filled with yellow liquid medicine.

"There's poison in here?" Liu Zhitian asked.

With that, the imperial physician immediately went to investigate the falsehood.

After he confirmed it over and over again, the imperial physician came up with an answer. "Reporting to your majesty, this is a bowl of ordinary medicine used to nourish the body."

"Audacious Prince Lin's Mansion, you actually tried to deceive the Emperor." Hearing that, Nangong Zhen immediately scolded angrily.

"This imperial concubine doesn't have it. I'm not done yet. There really is no poison in this soup. How about the imperial physician take a look at the chicken soup next to it?" Indeed, there was a jar of chicken soup beside the soup.

Nangong Lin told Xiao Cui to order the imperial kitchens to make chicken soup for Yan Xiaoxi. Originally, he only wanted to joke around with Yan Xiaoxi and tease her on purpose.

Why is it that every table has chicken soup now?

The imperial physician carefully moved to the side of the chicken soup and carefully examined it. When he found the answer, he reported to Nangong Xiao again, "Your majesty, this chicken soup isn't poisonous."

Liu Zhixue heaved a sigh of relief when she heard the imperial physician's words. She shifted her gaze away from the soup and chicken soup and asked, "What else does Princess Lin have to say?"

Yan Xiaoxi smiled slightly and looked at the imperial physician. She continued, "Imperial Physician, please adhere to the chicken soup and the herbs within it."

The imperial physician was startled at these words and nodded in realization. He immediately made his second move. First, he looked at the ingredients inside the chicken soup before sniffing the ingredients inside carefully.

When he thoroughly investigated, he was truly shocked by this truth.

So this was what happened. Why didn't he think of it earlier?

"It's high, it's really high." The imperial physician couldn't help but praise him.

"What do you mean?" Besides Yan Xiaoxi, no one else knew what had happened.

The imperial physician clasped his hands together, a serious expression on his face as he reported, "Your majesty, there really is poison inside."

What?

The imperial physician had clearly said earlier that it was harmless, so how could she change her mind in the blink of an eye?

Yan Xiaoxi's words had actually changed the outcome.

This …

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, it was too bizarre.

"Ridiculous! You talk too much, you must have colluded with Princess Lin." Nangong Zhen was angered. He openly pulled out his sword and placed it against the imperial physician's neck.

"Your majesty, please forgive me. The crown prince, please calm your anger. This old servant was too careless to notice it. Luckily, I was able to come to a realization after Princess Lin's advice." The imperial physician hastened to kneel on the ground and plead for mercy.

"Speak, what happened?" Nangong Xiao glanced at Nangong Zhen. Nangong Zhen immediately retracted his weapon.

It's like this, inside the soup and in the chicken soup there's a medicinal herb, it can strengthen the body by itself, and it's good for the body, but once consumed, these two herbs can't be used together. Once combined, it'll produce poison, and once it's hidden in the body, it'll poison the body for a long time, and Miss Liu's poison can be discovered so quickly, it's all because her previous body was too weak, and she couldn't receive any kind of stimulation. So that's how it was. The Imperial Physician's words made everyone suddenly understand.

"Everyone heard that Crown Princess is the mastermind behind everything. The food was prepared by her, and Miss Liu was poisoned because she drank the soup." With the Imperial Physician's testimony, he seemed to have gotten rid of all suspicion for Yan Xiaoxi, and pushed all suspicion onto Crown Princess.

However, things didn't go as smoothly as she had expected.

Crown Princess's next words brought the matter back to its original point.

Crown Princess smiled and said with confidence, "Princess Lin was wrong. The food for the banquet was indeed prepared by me, but only the soup and chicken soup were prepared."

Right now, everything in the harem would temporarily be left to her, so she had personally prepared this banquet.

As for the medicinal soup, she knew that Liu Zhixue had taken the initiative to suggest it to her, and the chicken soup was something that Nangong Lin had instructed Imperial Study to make.

However, the only thing that puzzled her was that she had heard from the girl next to Yan Xiaoxi that she was only given chicken soup by her wife. Why was there chicken soup at every table now?

"Crown Princess's words are true. The medicinal soup on my table was indeed brought out by the attack." Before long, Liu Zhixue had confirmed the authenticity of her words.

"The chicken soup was ordered by This King to be prepared for the wangfei by the imperial kitchens." Nangong Lin also agreed.

However, with just that one sentence, Yan Xiaoxi was pushed to the forefront of the conversation.

Liu Zhixue was poisoned because of the herbs in between the two soups, and the soup was added by herself to nourish her body, while the other was related to Yan Xiaoxi.

This further increased the suspicion that she was the murderer.

Even Yan Xiaoxi herself had not expected to make such a huge detour and return everything back to its original point.

In that case, what she had just done was in vain.

Everyone present still believed that she was the culprit. Yan Xiaoxi was truly speechless, unable to speak.

Since Crown Princess wasn't the killer, then what went wrong?

In the end, who wanted to poison Liu Zhixue? Yan Xiaoxi couldn't think of anyone with a suitable reason for doing so at the moment.

While she was racking her brains to think, Nangong Zhen was already impatient. "Royal Father, now that the evidence is conclusive, Princess Lin attempting to poison Miss Liu, she is shaming our royal family, worthy of being Royal Younger Brother's first wife."

"Please seek justice for my daughter." Liu Zhitian couldn't take it anymore. He was such a precious daughter, he definitely couldn't let the murderer escape so easily.

Nangong Xiao was silent and lost in thought.

Yan Xiaoxi's identity was already awkward and could not be casually dealt with. The war between the two countries had just ended and if the punishment was inappropriate, it would cause people to become tongue-tied and start another war.

Actually, he wasn't afraid of East Mirror Kingdom, it was just that after the previous battle, although Nanshui Kingdom had won, it had suffered heavy losses, and had to have a chance to catch his breath.

"This King shall see who dares to touch a single hair on my woman." When Nangong Lin said this, the crowd fell into silence.

Yan Xiaoxi glanced at Nangong Lin in surprise. She didn't expect him to defend her again.

Hmph, what are you trying to do?

Since he suspected her, he would just let her fend for herself.

Why did he do this? It was as if he was showing off his authority. So everyone was afraid of him.