Everyone felt their hairs stand on end when they heard the tale.
Mrs. Zhou was tortured to death in such an extremely ruthless manner. So if the nanny had dared to put the blood jade in the mouth of the deceased, then...
"The nanny witnessed how cruel my sister could be and feared that her niece Cuilian, and herself might end up sharing the same fate. In fact, Cuilian's face was scratched by my sister with her plum hairpin all because I had praised her hairpin that night. My sister had disfigured her and broke her plum hairpin!"
Princess Huiling spoke extremely confidently and her crisp and cold words shook everyone's hearts.
The Emperor's fists clenched and his Empress' face turned very pale. Cold sweat filled her palms but she couldn't do anything to save her precious daughter.
"So, the Nanny secretly put the princess' blood jade into Mrs. Zhou's mouth in order protect herself and Cuilian. This also ensured that she could retaliate if the princess ever tried to do them harm... Father, please send your elite men to quickly open Mrs. Zhou's coffin to retrieve the blood jade and clear her name!"
Princess Huiling spoke convincingly and despite Huizhen's cries of innocence, Changlong Emperor no longer wanted to listen. He immediately ordered Commander Wang to lead his best men to open Rong Qiyue's coffin!
They were to open the coffin that very night and retrieve the blood jade as evidence. If the blood jade existed, then, Princess Huizhen was doomed!
Suddenly, no one dared to speak nor walk around during these two hours. They waited quietly for the elite men to return.
The Emperor's eyes were as malicious as an eagle. His two daughters had brought shame upon him and the entire imperial family. He truly didn't want those two daughters any longer!
However, they were ultimately still his flesh and blood. If this was true... he abruptly gulped down a mouthful of wine. The maidservant hurriedly refilled his glass, then politely retreated to a corner.
An hour later, the elite men returned and presented the piece of evidence on a white cloth. "Your Highness, we have removed this piece of blood jade from Mrs. Zhou's mouth under Commander Wang's supervision!"
The Emperor immediately recognized that blood jade as the blood jade he had bestowed upon Huizhen. After all, blood jade was priceless in Changjin Kingdom, so he hoped that by wearing this jade, his daughters could nourish their bodies and blood, get rid impure thoughts, repel evil and so on.
The Emperor's face immediately grew thunderous as though a tempest had swept across his features and Princess Huizhen trembled as she kowtowed repeatedly, "Father, Mother... please trust me, I had lost the blood jade a long time ago... I..."
Princess Huizhen was momentarily at a loss for words and Huiling scoffed and said, "You lost it? I saw you carrying the blood jade with you on the night of the sixth of June. You even said that this was how you were going to let everyone see how precious and expensive the blood jade was!"
"From this night onward, Princess Huizhen shall be stripped of her imperial title and removed from the imperial family records. She shall be thrown into prison and be sentenced to death in seven days!"
The Emperor said ruthlessly and each word was like a knife through Princess Huizhen's heart, as she cried out, "No... father, please trust me, please believe me.... I've been maligned, I've been maligned.."
The Empress couldn't bear to see her in this state and begged tearfully, "Your Highness, perhaps the blood jade had been stolen..."
"Empress, we have both a witness and the evidence. Nanny Shao's blood letter alone is enough for me to believe Huiling's word! Men, drag the princess to prison. If anyone dares to speak up for her, they will be punished!" Emperor Changlong bellowed angrily.
The guards dragged the screaming princess away and a strange silence descended upon Qingchun Palace.
"It is the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet tonight and such an incident only happened because I failed at raising my daughters well. Please punish me!"
The Empress hurriedly knelt on the floor when she saw that she couldn't turn the situation around. Changlong Emperor looked exhausted. Although he didn't like Princess Huizhen, she was still his flesh and blood, so he felt very sorrowful when he gave the order for her death.
"Let the banquet continue!" The Emperor commanded despite losing interest in the proceedings. The feasting continued but very few dared to mention what had happened earlier.
Princess Huiling shed a few crocodile tears when she saw that she had accomplished her mission. She then left, giving the excuse that she felt unwell.
Hua Qiyue felt a little happy when she witnessed her enemy being sentenced to death, but her face turned slightly grave at the thought of something.
After the banquet, it was time to admire the gardens for about 30 minutes before they could leave.
Hua Qiyue accompanied the Old Madame to walk the gardens. Many flowers bloomed beautifully in the imperial gardens, competing for attention, the exotic rocks and pavilions were extremely exquisite, an enchanting sight to behold.
Hua Qiyue helped the Old Madame to Tingyu Pavilion and sat down. Ji Jing, Ji Feng and the others were also present, together with Prince Nan and Huangfu Xuan.
Huangfu Xuan scoffed coldly when he saw Hua Qiyue and his lips twisted. He felt very disgruntled at the thought of how that dim-witted woman had gone from the First Miss of the Hua's Mansion to a princess in a matter of one night.
This meant that she was now his equal in terms of status.
"Sister Qiyue, I can't believe you have divine herbs. He he he, how about giving me one?" Ji Jing said half-jokingly as she walked to Hua Qiyue's side.
The Old Madame looked at Ji Jing with a smile and after Hua Qiyue introduced her, she nodded and said, "Sure, if I have any more, I'll give one to you."
When the other daughters of the officials heard her words, their eyes lit up. They were thinking off flattering Hua Qiyue when Princess Mingzhu suddenly said, "Sister Qiyue, you must be younger than me, right? Congratulations on your new title. I'd like to speak privately with you, please come with me."
Princess Mingzhu said with a smile, making it hard for anyone to refuse her request.
Hua Qiyue rose to her feet and after instructing Lv Xin and Youshui to keep the Old Madame company, she left with Princess Mingzhu.
Prince Nan couldn't stop his brows from raising as he watched them leae. Then, he soundlessly rose to his feet.
Princess Mingzhu led Hua Qiyue to a lotus pond behind the willow grove. There were very few people around and it was indeed a good place to talk secretly.
The grass beside the river was green and lush. Hua Qiyue stood in the grass patch and looked coldly at the blooming lotuses in the pond. "What would the Princess like to speak about?"
Princess Mingzhu smiled and pointed at the lotus, "Princess Qiyue, look at that lotus. It is a rare breed and cannot compare to the wild lotuses outside. The commoners would not be able to grow this lotus because it is exclusive to the imperial family... When we speak about compatibility between man and woman, shouldn't we pay attention to their status too?"
Princess Mingzhu said warmly. She seemed to be a polite and refined princess on the surface but her words made people feel uncomfortable.
Hua Qiyue blinked innocently, then she looked at Princess Mingzhu pretending to be all noble and said with a laugh, "What are you talking about? All lotuses look pretty to me, so no matter what breed the lotus is, I would still find it beautiful. As for the second part of your statement, please forgive me for my ignorance but I didn't really understand what you meant."
Princess Mingzhu wanted to have a civil discussion with Hua Qiyue so she was stunned when Hua Qiyue didn't understand the implied meaning of her words.
Princess Mingzhu's eyes grew cold and her warm expression completely disappeared from her face, to be replaced by a disdainful coldness as she said, "Hua Qiyue, do you really intend to be with Prince Nan? You are merely a useless legitimate daughter, how could you possibly match up to Prince Nan? Furthermore, your status..."
"What's wrong with my status? I'm now a Princess. Even if I'm not a princess, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary if I were to marry Prince Nan. I'm the daughter of a general, and a legitimate daughter at that, so I'm sure my status isn't that lowly either, right?"
Hua Qiyue said with a soft laugh, a flash of contempt in her eyes. Princess Mingzhu had finally revealed her savage side.
After putting on this act for such a long time, it was probably time for her to drop the act, right? When she saw Princess Mingzhu's fingers digging into her palm during their encounter at Wangyue Restaurant, she had already deduced that this woman was just pretending to be noble and kind.
Indeed, she had revealed her true self today. This savage woman was now arrogantly saying that she was not compatible with Prince Nan and even hinted that her status was so lowly that she was no different from a commoner.
However, she was the descendant of a general. Even if she was useless when she was younger, it didn't mean that she was useless!
"You, you... Hua Qiyue, how dare you try to snatch my husband from me?" Princess Mingzhu said coldly, "Don't think that you're safe because the Emperor thinks highly of you and has bestowed you with the title of Princess, if you refuse to give up on Prince Nan, I will make sure that your name is ruined!"
Hua Qiyue's smile grew even wider as she gently tucked her black hair that had fallen from its confines away. "Your Highness, you really know how to crack a joke. What do you mean when you say I'm snatching your husband? Princess Nan isn't even your husband, am I wrong?"
She didn't want to make an enemy of this woman but since Princess Mingzhu's words were so vicious, she couldn't possibly beg for mercy like a coward.
Princess Mingzhu flashed coldly and she said icily, "Great! Great! Hua Qiyue, how audacious of you! Just you wait!"
After she finished speaking, she suddenly leaned forward and fell into the pond with a splash.
Hua Qiyue raised her brows and scoffed. Princess Mingzhu screamed and Hua Qiyue also cried for help.
There were many people in the backyard but there were also guards all around the area. When they heard Princess Mingzhu's and Hua Qiyue's screams, they flew over and dived into the river with a splash, dragging the struggling Princess Mingzhu back to shore.
The daughters and sons of officials came over to see what was happening and stared at Princess Mingzhu who had just been rescued from the pond. Although it was July, she was shivering as she held herself, as though she had a fright, and she looked fearfully at Hua Qiyue.
Everyone looked at Hua Qiyue since she was the only other person with Princess Mingzhu earlier but Princess Mingzhu had fallen into the pond without any rhyme or reason, so if it wasn't Hua Qiyue, who could it be?
They looked at the state Princess Mingzhu was in and felt sorry for her. The fear in her eyes was convincing enough.
"What's going on?" Huangfu Xuan also arrived at the scene. When he saw Princess Mingzhu's drenched clothing, he quickly turned away and didn't dare to look at her.
It only took one glance for the other sons of officials to see that her wet clothes hugged her figure, revealing the shape of her body and her snowy fair skin aroused strong feelings in her. They hastily retreated but didn't go too far since they wanted to know how she fell.
"Oh no, what happened here?" Ji Jing cried out in surprise when she saw the state Princess Mingzhu was in.
Princess Huiya also approached them. She wasn't feeling that great because of what happened between Princess Huiling and Princess Huizhen but neither was she in bad spirits, so she had been roaming around the gardens when she unexpectedly heard this commotion.
She saw Princess Mingzhu trembling on the ground while Hua Qiyue stood upright nearby.