The Emperor Xiao San's Little Concubine

Chapter 8: Research (Part 1)

After both are healthy again and can move. The emperor ordered the special palace guards to investigate the case of poisoning the prince. Xixi and Prince Xiao San were in court with emperor Xiao Ge and the court magistrate.

Prince Xiao San sat quietly before the emperor with Xixi in tow. The two are interrogated by several judges and palace guards to find out the chronology and get the common thread of the case.

Both tell the chronological story of the events they experienced in a row. No one has forgotten them. Until the palace guards get a meeting point that is to find out a palace ladyboy who disguised himself as a Xixi palace ladyboy and prepare the food. They kept thinking if there was anything else they had forgotten. But only one spot of red thread was newly discovered.

The entire palace lady in the western palace was summoned by the palace magistrate. They marched in an orderly manner and the prince was given the opportunity to listen to their voices one by one. All have been asked and the prince shook his head as a sign that all the palace ladies here are nothing suspicious.

"Prince is it possible that they changed their voice at that time?" xixi.

"Hm, just maybe." the prince hesitated a little.

"Did the prince touch or smell the smell coming from the palace lady?" ask Xixi

"Truely, I just remembered that I smelled roses on his body" said the prince.

"Judge Han, try to order the palace guards to kiss their bodies. If they smell the roses drag them to prison." the prince orders firmly.

All the palace guards began to smell the bodies of the palace ladies one by one. Finally the palace guards found 5 palace ladies who had the smell of roses. The five palace ladies were taken into the dungeon for further interrogation. The prince gave the five palace ladies a chance to tell the truth before the palace guards interrogated and tortured them just as Xixi felt.

The next day the five court ladies were brought to the court of the palace. They were interrogated by the court magistrate. But none of the five palace ladies admitted his actions. The court judge did not want to give up and carried out a deeper interrogation. The court magistrate began to flog their bodies, so that they would confess. Slowly but painfully, the hard lash hit their bodies. A hundred times their lashes had been felt, but the five palace ladies still endured with their words. They don't want to admit it.

The court judge grew furious. Until finally the palace judge made the last step by cutting the honor of a woman that is cutting their hair. Since time immemorial the honor of a woman lies in her hair, until it is said to be the crown of a woman. The palace magistrate ordered one of the palace executioners to trim their hair, the five palace ladies-in-waiting shouted. They pleaded with great effort, so as not to cut their hair.

"We beg the magistrate, please don't torture us like this. We are innocent. We are innocent." said the five palace ladies at the same time.

The judge did not listen to their request. The court judge gave the order to cut their hair. The executioner was already preparing to cut their hair. The judge threw a sign of execution.

"Stop" the prince's orders abruptly

The palace magistrate listened to him and ordered the palace executioner to stop. The prince explained that they were innocent. The prince will prove it in his own way. Xixi came to the prince.

The five palace ladies were ordered to be taken back to the dungeon. There Xixi with eunuch Li had prepared the equipment to do the proof. The prince secretly brought only the emperor, some trusted palace judges, some palace guards, eunuchs Li and Xixi.

Xixi began to show off her abilities gained from her family. He started concocting simple ingredients used to detect poison. Everyone looked at it carefully. They noticed everything that Xixi was doing. After everything was done, Xixi started to call the palace ladies one by one. Every day the lady was summoned by Xixi, her hands dipped in a special potion. It took them about 10 minutes to see his reaction. If it was true that they had ever touched the poison, their whole body would feel itchy and come out red rashes around the skin of his hands. It had been 10 minutes and there was no sign of any suspicious reaction. All the palace ladies were calm, this proved that they were innocent.

"Look at the emperor, all these palace ladies are innocent. They are the real perpetrators are indeed very sneaky." said the prince.

"Then what's your plan, my son?" ask the emperor wisely.

"We plan to lure the real culprit. We believe he's still in the palace. Let us take care of everything. The emperor just needs to make an order, that the real culprit has been caught and will be put to death" the prince said.

"Alright" said the emperor with a proud look at his changed crown's son.

The Emperor was delighted to see the change of his already wiser and mature son. There was no despair in his eyes. Perhaps his decision to let palace lady Xixi stay by his side was the best. The next day, the emperor and the prince pretended to execute the perpetrator by drinking poison in front of the entire palace. Xixi had given a special medicine that could block the poison from entering the esophagus of the palace ladyboy while drinking the poison from the emperor.

All of the palace's inhabitants, the palace lady-in-waiting drank poison and spewed out thick black blood. They all witnessed the death of the palace lady. After the execution ended, all the people and court officials left the place of execution. The palace executioner brought the body of the palace lady-in-waiting back to the palace prison to remove any traces. There Xixi helped the palace lady to recover her body by providing an antidote.

The prince smiled happily at the extremely clever Xixi. He never expected that Xixi had such a vast knowledge of medicine. The prince hoped that Xixi would not be hurt anymore due to the actions of the bad guys. To the prince, Xixi was his confidant and favorite. The prince will protect her and take good care of her.

"Prince, servant is done. We'd better leave this palace lady here until the investigation is complete" Xixi said.

"All right, we're back" said the gentle prince.

Xixi held the prince and brought him to her residence. They walk side by side. Xixi was very happy to be able to walk alone with the prince. The smiling prince's face looked very handsome.

"Prince, I will always take care of you. So keep on being happy." Xixi said in her heart.

"Xixi, stay with me. I will always take good care of you." said the prince in his heart.