chapter 102

The emperor could not help asking, “What is the matter with you? What do you see?”

Concubine Mei looked at Concubine Anli. After noticing Concubine Mei’s eyes, Concubine Anli felt very nervous. She opened her mouth to speak, but Concubine Mei said blandly, “I saw Concubine Anli’s niece An Suying giving a cup of honey water to the princess.”

“A cup of honey water?” asked the Queen, shocked.

Concubine Mei nodded, “I saw An Suying giving the princess honey water, but the princess seemed to think that it was just ordinary tea. She did not know that it was honey water, so she drank it. I was standing on the bridge when I saw Miss Nangong was walking along a path between the rockery and going in the direction that led to the place where the princess was playing.”

The Queen looked at the Emperor in surprise and said, “Your Majesty, I don’t think that princess Qingle can drink honey water, can she?”

The Emperor’s face was now very dark, and he looked at Concubine Anli coldly.

Concubine Anli did not know how to explain, she did ask An Suying to give the princess some honey water, but she did not expect that Concubine Mei would watch it all!

“Your majesty……”

The emperor interrupted Concubine Anli and asked directly, “Doesn’t your niece know that Qingle cannot drink honey water?”

“How is that possible?” Said the Queen, “An Suying is Concubine Anli’s niece, and she often goes to the Lihua Palace to see Concubine Anli, and often plays with princess Qingle. How could she not know!”

Nor did Concubine Anli dare to say that An Suying did not know.

Concubine Anli looked at Concubine Mei, narrowed her eyes, slightly raised her chin, and asked, “Concubine Mei, is it possible that you heard it wrong?”

Concubine Mei was not nervous and said faintly, “Maby. After all, I was a little far away from the princess.”

Concubine Anli’s face changed. She knew that if Concubine Mei said directly that she had heard wrong, she could make up some reasons to fool the emperor. Or if Concubine Mei insisted that she had not heard wrong, she could find out Concubine Mei’s flaws and also cheat the emperor. But now that Concubine Mei said she wasn’t sure, she really didn’t know how to make it up.

Anyway, An Suying probably couldn’t get away now.

The Emperor was very angry and said in an angry voice, “Bring Me An Suying!”

Gao Kui was taken aback and hurried to find An Suying.

No one in the room now spoke, and the air seemed to have stopped flowing. Nangong Ning broke the silence by asking Concubine Mei, “Lady, what else did you see?”

Hearing Nangong Ning’s words, the others looked at Concubine Mei, too.

Concubine Mei said calmly, “I didn’t see anything anymore. I was going to the Royal Hospital to get some medicine, so I didn’t want to spend much time on the way. I went to the Royal Hospital directly after I saw you coming.”

Nangong Ning listened, nodded, and smiled gratefully at Concubine Mei.

Concubine Mei smiled back at her and didn’t show anything.

Nangong Ning looked at the Emperor and said, “Now, your Majesty, do you think I am free from suspicion?”

The Emperor was a little nicer to Nangong Ning, and the Queen laughed and said, “Certainly.”

Concubine Anli bit her lip and insisted, “How can you get rid of suspicion? Didn’t you hear That Concubine Mei said you were going towards where the princess was?”

Nangong Ning felt really speechless, thinking that Concubine Anli might think she was a fool, or that everyone else in the room was. “It was because Concubine Mei saw me go so that she was able to prove my innocence. No sooner had I approached the princess than she fainted, which means I had no time to poison her.”

“You could also poison Qingle when you touched her!” Concubine Anli said, gritting her teeth.

“If you think that’s the case, you can have someone check when the princess was poisoned. Of course Dr. Song can check it out, and so can Dr. Qiao, whom you trust. See if it’s before or after I get there!” Nangong Ning went on with a little snort, “Well, even checking the time of poisoning can prove my innocence, because I was with Xun Xia before I met the princess, and the Queen is my witness.”

“Yes,” said the Queen, nodding, “It was I who asked Xun Xia to go with Nangong Ning. I can attest to that.”

Concubine Anli’s face slowly turned pale.

Concubine Anli had always insisted that Nangong Ning was the culprit because she didn’t think Nangong Ning had any evidence or witnesses to prove her innocence, but now that she had one, she was cleared of any suspicion. Although Concubine Anli insisted that Nangong Ning was a prisoner, she had no proof that she had poisoned Qingle!

The Emperor said, “It seems that Nangong Ning has nothing to do with the poisoning of Qingle.”

“Not only that,” said the Queen, who was so glad to see Concubine Anli’s pale face and the sweat on her head that her voice was even sweeter, “She also saved the princess, and even to save the princess, she transferred the poison into her own body and suffered a lot.”

The emperor nodded.

Seeing the emperor’s manner, the Queen glanced suggestively at Nangong Ning, and then said, “Your Majesty, you ought to comfort her a little later.”

The Emperor nodded again, but his eyes turned to Jun Qianye, who had been standing silently watching. The Emperor narrowed his eyes, and from Jun Qianye’s face the Emperor could not see what he was thinking.

Just then Gao Kui came over with An Suying.

An Suying looked very frightened. As soon as she came in, she looked at Concubine Anli first, while Concubine Anli stared at her and felt a terrible headache.

“Aunt……”

“An Suying, Did you give Qingle honey water? Don’t you know Qingle can’t drink honey water?” ‘Concubine Anli asked sharply, interrupting An Suying.

When hearing Concubine Anli’s words, Nangong Ning immediately understood what she meant. Concubine Anli clearly wanted to remind An Suying to deny it, because in the present situation, only An Suying firmly denied that she had done this thing, Concubine Anli could find a way to get them off!

But she had been bullied by them for a long time, and she could not let them get away with it.

After hearing Concubine Anli’s question, An Suying did not understand what Concubine Anli wanted for a moment. Concubine Anli had told her before she came to the Fengyu Palace that there was absolutely no way that Nangong Ning could prove her innocence, so Concubine Anli had gone with great confidence, without giving her any instructions, , so An Suying now had no idea what Concubine Anli meant by asking.

“Aunt, I……”

Concubine Anli felt that the fire of anger was burning in her heart and even almost killed herself. An Suying was a complete fool and could only be used by as a pawn, which could be useful only when she asked clearly her what she should do. Now she hoped An Suying would be clever enough to know what she meant, and she couldn’t.

“An Suying! “Cried the Queen sternly.

Startled, An Suying stopped looking at Concubine Anli and fell to her knees and kowtowed.

“Your Majesty.”

The emperor looked at An Suying coldly and asked, “An Suying, you gave Qingle a cup of honey water, did you?”

An Suying’s face changed and she looked subconsciously at Nangong Ning.

In fact, she did give the princess a cup of honey water, but she did not know what was added in it. But she knew it was part of Concubine Anli’s plan to frame Nangong Ning. She was now in great panic and fear, for the exposure of one thing meant that the exposure of others.

Nangong Ning looked at her coldly and said, “An Suying, what are you looking at me for? Do you mean that it was me who gave princess Qingle the honey water?”

Nangong Ning said this deliberately in order to guide An Suying. Because An Suying did not know what was going on, and Concubine Anli had no way of reminding her, Nangong Ning was sure that An Suying would follow her lead and say that Nangong Ning had given the princess the honey water.

And sure enough, An Suying at once exclaimed, “It’s you! You gave the honey water to the princess!”

What a fool! Nangong Ning smiled and said, “You know that princesses can’t drink honey water, don’t you?”

“Of course I know,” An Suying said loudly, nodding her head, “Princess Qingle and I are Cousins. We are very close!”

“Since you say that I gave the princess honey water, I want to ask you, you saw me do it, why didn’t you stop me? You know the princess couldn’t drink it, and you were watching me give it to her?” “Nangong Ning asked, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows slightly.

An Suying froze.

In fact, she just tried her best to frame Nangong Ning without thinking her words through. Because of what Nangong Ning had said, she thought the main point of the argument was who had given the princess the honey water.

“I, I……At the time……”

Nangong Ning then turned to the emperor and said, “Your Majesty, Concubine Anli said that Concubine Mei might have misheard. Now it seems that Concubine Mei did not. An Suying did give the Princess honey water.”

The emperor nodded.

Concubine Mei had said before, that she saw An Suying gave the princess honey water, while Concubine Anli said Concubine Mei may make a mistake, and Concubine Mei did not deny.

They all knew that what Nangong Ning was doing was leading An Suying to frame her, in order to let An Suying reveal some flaws. An Suying did not know her behavior was watched by Concubine Mei, so she just tried to refuse that she had poisoned the princess, and affirm that it was Nangong Ning who did it. What An Suying did also proved that it was really her who gave the princess honey water, Concubine Mei did not hear wrong!

“An Suying, you are so cruel as to give my daughter honey water when you know she cannot drink it! Do you intend to murder Princess Qingle?!” said the Emperor angrily.

An Suying was only a daughter of a prime minister and, of course, had never seen the angry emperor, so she trembled with fear. She did not understand. She was only trying to frame Nangong Ning. Why did the emperor immediately find that she was the culprit?

“Your Majesty, I have not, indeed I have not…”

Concubine Anli felt her headache getting worse than ever. She stared at Nangong Ning and her eyes were like knives stabbed Nangong Ning, and she said to the Emperor, “Your Majesty, An Suying has always been very foolish. She sometimes gets very confused, and I’m sure she doesn’t mean it. I’m her aunt and Qingle’s mother, and I wouldn’t lie.”

Concubine Anli’s explanation was far-fetched, but there was some truth in it.

“Well,” Nangong Ning said, nodding her head, “I think Concubine Anli was right, your Majesty.”

After hearing Nangong Ning’s words, the Emperor, the Empress, and even Concubine Mei all looked at her in surprise, thinking that Nangong Ning might be crazy. Otherwise, how could she help Concubine Anli?

Even Concubine Anli looked at her in shock, wondering if she was hearing imaginary voices!