The vicious female supporting role is ruthless and arrogant

Chapter 284 The Truth

The princess pursed her lips and shook her head, "Old man, I am an envoy from a neighboring country.

Yesterday I went to the palace to attend a banquet, but was framed by villains and stuffed into a swill bucket. I was only rescued by you.

Don't worry, I'm not a bad person. When I feel better, I will leave and won't cause any trouble for you."

She snatched off her purse and stuffed it into the old couple's pockets.

"Old man, this will be the money for my medicine, food and lodging during this period of time here."

The two old men pushed the purse back to the princess, "Girl, you can't do that..."

"Old man, I am weak and need nourishment. Just take it."

The old man knew that if he pushed it any further, it would seem a bit fake, so he had no choice but to tie up his purse.

"Well, I'll ask my wife to buy you a chicken this afternoon to nourish your body."

The princess nodded, said nothing more, and slowly closed her eyes.

The reason why she didn't say that she was the princess of the Lingwang Palace was that she didn't want to go back at all.

After she fainted, her whole body went limp, but she was still conscious.

She knew everything that happened after she fainted.

She also knew that one of the three people who harmed her was a concubine in her family.

How could she, a modern person who traveled from thousands of years in the future, accept having three wives and four concubines?

Because the identity she inherited was rather special, and for the sake of peaceful coexistence between the two countries, she had to accept her current marital status.

In addition, King Ling repeatedly assured her that he would not provoke concubines or expand his backyard.

Only then did she stay.

It seems that nowadays, you can’t live a peaceful life just because you don’t want to offend others.

It's not that she was afraid of anyone, but she didn't want to get involved in those meaningless palace fights and house fights. That kind of life was too tiring.

So, since she had already left the Lingwang Palace, she had no plans to go back.

Of course, I will never return to Xingyue Kingdom.

If I go back, King Ling can still take her back.

The world is so big, she decided to travel around and finally find a beautiful place to settle down and retire.

After the court session, Lord Zhang returned home and saw his second daughter, Zhang Xiaoyue, standing at the door waiting for him.

"Dad, are you back?"

"Why did Yueyue think of picking up Dad at the door after court today?"

"My daughter misses her daddy."

"You are good at talking nonsense. When a weasel pays New Year's greetings to a chicken, it is bound to be bad news.

Tell me, what's going on."

"It's nothing, my daughter just wanted to ask, has the Princess Ling been found?"

"Why are you asking about this?"

Zhang Xiaoyue said evasively:

"This is the biggest news in Kyoto right now. My daughter is just curious, so I just asked casually."

Mr. Zhang sighed, "Oh..., I've been searching all night and there's no news at all.

I'm afraid it's most likely to be a bad outcome.

King Ling's secret guards found two pieces of cloth that were scraped off the thief's body by the thorn cage behind the toilet.

One piece belongs to Princess Ling, and the other piece belongs to the thief.

King Ling gathered a large number of people and searched everywhere for Princess Ling. They also went to various cloth shops to look for the thief's cloth purchase records, and followed the clues to find the thief.

If the thief who harmed the imperial concubine is caught, I'm afraid his entire clan will be punished.

You haven't been out much lately, it seems Kyoto is not peaceful recently."

"Yueyue, you don't look too well, are you feeling unwell?

Do you need daddy to call a doctor to your home to see you?"

Zhang Xiaoyue clenched her fists and shook her head with her lips trembling slightly.

"Dad, I'm fine. Maybe I didn't sleep well because I came back late from the palace banquet last night."

He looked calm on the outside, but he was actually very nervous inside.

Last night she just wanted to help her good friend vent her anger, and she didn't intend to cause any death or implicate the entire family.

If the Zhang family was implicated because of her, wouldn't she be too ashamed to face the ancestors of the Zhang family even if she died?

The more he thought about it, the more panicked he became. His eyes rolled back and he fainted.

"Yueyue..., Yueyue..."

Zhang Xiaoyue's mentality had completely collapsed, and the other two were not much better.

Jiang Mi, another close friend of the concubine, threw a white silk thread onto the beam and committed suicide after hearing what her father said when he returned home from court.

By the time he was found by his family, he had been dead for more than an hour.

The concubine was also unable to sleep or eat well in her own courtyard. She heard from the servants that a piece of woman's clothing was found, and now the King Ling's men were searching all the cloth shops in Kyoto.

She quickly found the clothes she had worn to last night's party and examined them carefully.

Seeing that his clothes were intact, he breathed a sigh of relief.

But in the afternoon, I heard that Jiang Mi had hanged himself and fainted.

After searching for a day and a night, although I didn't find the person, I did find the purchase record of the fabric.

In Kyoto, there were only two families who bought this cloth.

One family is the wealthy businessman Wang in the city, and the other is the family of Mr. Zhang, the Minister of Revenue.

There were no female members of the Wang rich man's family attending the banquet last night, which clearly indicated that it was purchased by Lord Zhang's family.

King Ling personally brought people to the door, but Lord Zhang was still confused.

"Lord Zhang, please hand over Zhang Xiaoyue." King Ling sat steadily on the main seat.

The Zhang family stood at the bottom, trembling, "King Ling, is there any misunderstanding?"

"Misunderstanding? Your family and the wealthy merchant Wang's family were the only ones in Kyoto who bought this fabric.

Last night, Mr. Wang and his family did not attend the palace banquet.

Moreover, I have already asked the guests who attended the banquet last night.

Proof: At the palace banquet last night, your Zhang Xiaoyue was indeed wearing a light blue dress."

When Mrs. Zhang saw the cloth on the table, her heart skipped a beat and fell into an ice hole.

Lord Zhang didn't recognize the cloth, but she did.

This is what happened to Zhang Xiaoyue last night.

"Since Lord Zhang is unwilling to hand the person over, I will have no choice but to search for him myself."

The Spiritual King stood up from the madman with a "swoosh".

Before he could take a step, a little maid stumbled in.

"No, no, no...

The second young lady hanged herself. "

"Oh, Yue'er..." The Zhang family no longer cared about etiquette and rushed to the backyard.

When King Ling heard this, he quickly chased after them, becoming even more anxious than the Zhang family.

The disappearance of Princess Ling is definitely related to Zhang Xiaoyue.

If Zhang Xiaoyue died, the clue would be gone.

When a large group of people rushed to Zhang Xiaoyue's boudoir, she was still hanging on the rope and had not been taken down.

The Spirit King immediately pulled out a hidden weapon, cut the rope, and threw him down.

He reached out to feel Zhang Xiaoyue's breath, but found that she was no longer breathing.

But this is the only clue to find the princess. He absolutely cannot let Zhang Xiaoyue die. If he wants to die, he must tell the whereabouts of the princess before dying.

"An Yi, go get an imperial physician and save Zhang Xiaoyue for me no matter what."

Half a quarter of an hour later, the imperial physician came running over breathlessly carrying a medicine box.

An hour later, Zhang Xiaoyue leaned against the head of the bed with a weak look on her face.

It wouldn't have taken that much time to give first aid. The moment she opened her eyes and saw the Spirit King, she was so frightened that she fainted again.

Seeing Zhang Xiaoyue's various behaviors, the Zhang family felt that the thief was most likely her.

But what the Zhang family didn't understand was that Zhang Xiaoyue and Princess Ling had no interactions on a daily basis, and they had no grudges or hatred in the past or present.

Why did she want to harm Princess Ling?

It was not until the second half of the night that Zhang Xiaoyue was forced to catch her breath.

Why is it forced?

Because as long as she didn't wake up and explain everything, King Ling would pick up a stool and sit beside the bed to watch over her.

"Zhang Xiaoyue, tell me what happened and I can let your family go.

Murdering the imperial concubine is a serious crime, and you can expect all the members of your Zhang family to be buried with you."

Zhang Xiaoyue’s grandmother was very worried and quickly sat down beside the bed to persuade her.

“Yueyue, grandma doesn’t believe you want to kill the Spirit Princess.

What's going on? Please explain it to King Ling immediately.

Moreover, no one has been found for a whole day and a night.

If nothing happens, it's fine, but if something happens, it's a life at stake."

Zhang Xiaoyue just cried at first without saying a word.

After about half an hour, King Ling completely lost his patience and was ready to start with the maids and servants of the Zhang family.

She finally spoke up, and in about twenty minutes she explained what had happened.

"You said that you are taking out your anger on my concubine in the Lingwang Mansion?"

Zhang Xiaoyue nodded fearfully.

"Well, you are all great."

"Someone, take her away and give her twenty heavy beatings. Whether she survives or not will depend on her own luck."

After that, he stood up and left.

The reason why he did not execute Zhang Xiaoyue was because Shangshu Zhang's family had been serving the royal family diligently for generations.

As the saying goes, don't look at the monk's face, look at the Buddha's face.

After twenty strokes of the cane, it depends on whether Zhang Xiaoyue can hold on. If she can't, she will die, and the Zhang family will have nothing to say.

For murdering the imperial concubine, the Zhang family got a great bargain by being sentenced to twenty lashes of the cane.

Prince Ling came out of Minister Zhang's house and went straight to Prince Ling's Palace.

The concubine had done something bad, and she was already feeling uneasy. She tossed and turned in bed, always feeling that something bad was going to happen.

The door to the outer room was suddenly kicked open with a bang.

The concubine sat up from the bed in horror.

Two maids rushed into the inner room, pulled the concubine out, pressed her on a stool and tied her up.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to commit treason?"

The concubine struggled desperately on the stool.

"The prince has ordered that Concubine Luo, who colluded with outsiders to murder the princess, shall be severely punished with fifty strokes of the cane, demoted to concubine from today, and removed from the royal jade butterfly."

"I didn't, I didn't murder the princess..."

The concubine explained with a pale face.

"No?

Your best friend Jiang Mi committed suicide out of fear of punishment, and Zhang Xiaoyue was about to follow suit, but unexpectedly she was rescued.

Zhang Xiaoyue has explained everything you did at the palace banquet."

"What are you still doing?

Hit him, hit him hard..."

The sound of the board hitting flesh again and again could be heard.

It was finally over after half an hour.

"Mrs. Luo, the prince said that if it happens again, it won't be as simple as a spanking or a demotion, but she will be expelled from the palace directly."

From beginning to end, King Ling never showed up.

He was sitting in the study, waiting for the secret guard to find out who the workers who transported the泔水桶 were and where they lived.