The Prime Minister's Darling

Chapter 1509: Behind the Scenes Culprit (Second Update)

Gu Changqing’s eyes were deep, “Turns out it’s not Consort Han.”

Yes, they all thought that the mastermind behind this would definitely be the Crown Prince’s mother.

…

Wang Xu returned to Duwei Prefecture with the murderer, imprisoned the culprit in the dungeon, and then hurriedly went to report to the monarch.

The monarch had Zhang Dequan summon Consort Li, but Zhang Dequan returned only with news about her: “Your Majesty, Consort Li has hanged herself.”

After obtaining permission from the monarch, Wang Xu borrowed an experienced coroner from the Punishment Department to carefully examine Consort Li’s body, confirming that she had indeed killed herself, rather than being strangled or murdered and then hung up posthumously.

The hard-earned clues were suddenly severed.

With the person gone, they could only start with Consort Li’s belongings and the people close to her.

After a whole night of severe torture for a confession, a young eunuch finally couldn’t bear it any longer, confessing that Consort Li had once ordered him to deposit a draft at the bank, totaling three thousand taels.

Consort Li’s annual salary was no more than three hundred taels. It would take ten years of saving without spending a single coin to amass such a sum. The problem was, she hadn’t even been there for ten years, and she had already spent a lot on tipping the servants and paying respect to higher-ranking consorts.

She herself was already living from hand to mouth; where could she have had any extra money?

The close associate of Consort Li, Worthy Consort Wan, became the first suspect.

Worthy Consort Wan cried injustices, stating that she had never given such an amount to Consort Li, but when the monarch tortured the palace maids and eunuchs close to Worthy Consort Wan, a young palace maid confessed the truth.