C304

When Yin Lin came early in the morning to report about this matter, she was stunned when Xiao Ruyue was eating.

"Yao Ziyan suddenly died?!"

"Yes, Empress. The matron of the prison said that she had been well the night before, but when she went there early this morning, she was already cold, and it must have been in the latter part of the night. Furthermore, Yao Ziyan does not have any traces of struggling, but his expression is somewhat sinister. "

Xiao Ruyue sunk, "When Yao Ziyan was at Big Sister Ya Yin's place, she was fine, but she died suddenly when we reached the Sky Prison?"

"Empress, you mean to say that it is very likely that Yao Ziyan died suddenly?"

Xiao Ruyue said, "En, if she can't handle it and suddenly dies, that's good too. I am only worried that she died an abnormal death. The Celestial Prison has always had some shady tricks up its sleeves, but I don't think that they would dare to do so. Unless … it was someone else who was controlling the situation from behind, or perhaps it was someone else who had infiltrated the Sky Prison.

After a moment's thought, she placed the silver on the table and stood up. "Take it away, change your clothes."

Yin Lin was startled, "Empress, you?" Could he be going to the Sky Prison by himself?

"To the Sky Prison." Xiao Ruyue's words were concise and short.

Yin Lin had been by Xiao Ruyue's side for a few months, so she naturally understood her temperament and character.

However, His Majesty had already said that the Empress would stay behind in the Phoenix Palace to recuperate, so he didn't want to go anywhere.

This put her in a dilemma.

"When your master gets off court, I'll go tell him myself." Xiao Ruyue's words pierced Yin Lin's hesitation.

Yin Lin could only smile.

After waiting on Xiao Ruyue to dress up, they left for the Heavenly Prison.

Along the way, Yin Lin spoke. The cell that held Yao Ziyan was still locked, but Yao Ziyan was still inside. It was the matron's matchmaker who had personally guarded the door, not allowing any bystanders to approach.

Because Yuwen He had long ago instructed everyone to pay attention to everything in the Sky Prison, he was able to report the news to the Imperial Palace as soon as something happened.

Xiao Ruyue walked in quickly and kneeled down in the prison.

Originally, it wasn't strange for a person to die in a female prison of the Celestial Prison to have someone retrieve his corpse. If the royal family were to have a distinguished official, they would have the palace's experienced mama collect the corpse.

Even if Yao Ziyan had a special identity and was worried about the cause of death, she would at most find a medicine woman to examine him. Who knew that even the empress would be alarmed?

At this moment, Zou Kai, the head teacher of the Ministry of Justice, Cui Jingxuan, as well as the prison warden of the Sky Prison, as well as the female overseer's matchmaker and prison warden were all present.

"Both of you, rise." Xiao Ruyue waved her hand, "Who is the manager of this woman, come forward and answer."

Just as Xiao Ruyue's words fell, she raised her head and said, "Reporting to the Empress, this one is the Sun Erniang, the female official matchmaker from the female prison."

The others all stood up.

Xiao Ruyue instructed her to open the cell door, and went into the cell. Yin Lin and Shen Liang followed closely behind, the few behind them were the old woman, the overseer, Sun Erniang, Zou Kai and Cui Jingxuan Cui Lang.

The others waited outside.

Yao Ziyan's corpse was already covered with a white cloth. The last time they met, Yao Ziyan had sworn that he would scold her, that she did not cherish her love, and that she was fortunate enough to not know of her fortune. However, Yao Ziyan had now become a corpse.

She hoped that Yao Ziyan would accept the punishment from the national law.

Xiao Ruyue squatted down and lifted the white cloth with the intention to do so, but Yin Lin hurriedly beat him to it, "Empress, let me do it. This Wei Wangfei died a terrible death. " As she spoke, she flipped it open.

Xiao Ruyue frowned slightly. She was afraid that His Majesty would come back and scold him.

She did not speak, and her gaze landed on Yao Ziyan's face.

Just as Yin Lin said, Yao Ziyan's appearance was indeed a little sinister. Her eyes were wide open and her mouth was open, as if she had experienced something before her death.

It would be better to say that she saw something.

But then again, if there was nothing in the Celestial Prison, it could also be explained as her old illness was struggling in extreme discomfort.

She allowed General Shen and the other men to turn their bodies and inspected the rest of Yao Ziyan's body. She had even examined her head. Sister Ya Yin had once said that there was an expert who could use his internal energy to prick a fine needle like a cow's hair into a human's head.

The Sun Erniang shuddered at the sight. The empress was carrying a dragon throne, why would she be willing to personally examine a corpse and touch a dead person?

Yin Lin actually wanted to go up and substitute her, but the Empress didn't want to, so she could only stand to the side and watch.

After a long while, Xiao Ruyue finished checking everything in the cell, and then led everyone out. After asking for some clean water, she called Sun Erniang, the female overseer's matchmaker over for a private interview.

"Sun Erniang, you were the first one to find the corpse of the female inmate last night. Tell me in detail about the situation at that time." Xiao Ruyue paused as he spoke. "I've heard that there are several methods to deal with death row prisoners in the Sky Prison. You tell them to me too."

Sun Erniang was so scared that she immediately kneeled on the ground, "Esteemed Empress, it isn't this old one! This old one does not have one! "

"I didn't say it was you." Yin Lin reminded her with a straight face, "Our Empress is kind, and will not wrongly accuse a good person. She will also not let a bad person go, and you can answer any question she asks."

This time, Sun Erniang's hands were not as shaky as before. She swallowed two mouthfuls of saliva and slowly said, "Empress, it's like this. I wasn't on duty last night, and she was still sitting in her cell on the last patrol, mumbling to herself against the wall. That Wei Wangfei girl, she had been like that ever since she came in, and since she knew that she was going to die, she did not pay attention to anyone, so she repeated it all day long to say that she was going to meet her beloved one. The old man and the guards weren't surprised, so they didn't take it to heart. But this old woman did not expect her to …

This old woman was really nagging endlessly.

"Get to the point."

"Oh, yes. The Wei Wangfei ignored her, she liked to eat or not eat food when given to her. Last night when she was old, she had specially instructed Seventh Aunt who was on duty to take good care of this prisoner. She also promised that she would be fine. She said she was fine on the night shift, and when I came in this morning, I had a shift with her. When I went to the jail, I saw that they were all cold. "

"Do you know how long it takes for a dead person to cool down? Look at that dead person, does she look like she died without making a sound? " Xiao Ruyue was infuriated.

The more he listened, the angrier he got.

The prison warden was obviously lazy and negligent, but this matchmaker said it quickly as if she didn't know anything and was innocent.

Xiao Ruyue instructed Yin Lin with a cold expression, "Where is that Seventh Aunt? Bring her over here for me!"

Yin Lin acknowledged and walked out.

Just as he was about to enter, Cui Jingxuan saw that Yin Lin was in a hurry and immediately asked: "Is this aunt going to summon the female prison warden Seventh Aunt who was on duty last night? This official has already found the person and brought him here. "

"Thank you, Lord Cui." Yin Lin indifferently nodded his head and brought her into the secret room.

This place was normally used for interrogating people. Currently, the Empress was seated at the head and the Sun Erniang was kneeling on the ground, complementing each other's actions.

The female prison guard called Seventh Aunt was already scared out of her wits, she peed her pants when Cui Jingxuan brought his men to arrest them. Right now, she was lying down on the ground, and it was two female prison guards who helped her in.

"Empress, we have brought him."

Xiao Ruyue took a glance, that Seventh Aunt was also a woman, but she was not as fat as Sun Erniang, and was also a few years younger.

"Seventh Aunt, right?" Tell me, what did you do when you were on duty last night? "

"I, this lowly person, really don't have anything. I didn't do anything, esteemed wangfei! Empress, please spare my life! "

"Then are you not greedy for a cup of wine and fall asleep in the middle of the night?"

Xiao Ruyue's single sentence had exposed Seventh Aunt's lie. Her face was as white as a ghost, as she knelt on the ground. "My Empress, please spare my life! This little one doesn't dare to do it anymore! "

With this scare, she admitted to everything. She said that because she felt that she had nothing better to do last night, she had drunk two more cups of wine. As a result, she didn't know whether it was due to the strong alcohol or the bright red wine, so she fell asleep unconsciously.

When she woke up, it was almost dawn. She patrolled around the prison and didn't think too much about it when she saw the prisoners were all sleeping. Who knew they would die?

While she was talking, Seventh Aunt was crying so hard that she was crying. She was apologizing and begging for mercy. She almost cried out loud.

When the Empress rose to her feet, she showed no mercy at all. Her eyes narrowed as she said indifferently, "Drag him out."

Xiao Ruyue carefully interrogated them again, asking if anyone had come in and out of the cells or come in contact with their corpses after she found out about Yao Ziyan's death.

And according to Sun Erniang's instructions, she felt that she had been guarding the area ever since, not allowing anyone else to get close. The prison wardens who rushed over were the only ones who were frightened by her scream. With the lazy Seventh Aunt as an example, Sun Erniang was afraid that she would not be able to keep her head, and did not dare to lie. Xiao Ruyue believed in the authenticity of her words.

Just now when she examined Yao Ziyan's corpse, it was true that there were no external injuries on her body, but there was a trace of something similar to powder mixed with the scent of medicine on her body.

She had seen everyone who had gotten close to Yao Ziyan's corpse, including Yin Lin who had just barely touched Yao Ziyan's corpse, but no one had this smell.

Thus, it was not difficult to piece together what happened last night.

Last night, someone had drugged Seventh Madame's wine and used incense in the prison. There weren't many prisoners in the prison, and with just a bit of medicine, the guards and prisoners wouldn't be able to sleep well.

Yao Ziyan also currently had a physique that was immune to poisons, so medicine basically had no effect on her, thus she was the only one who saw the infiltrators while awake.

Yao Ziyan was not killed, nor was she poisoned, but she was scared to death. One could tell by the fear and malevolence in her eyes.