Water Reflects Peach Blossoms

"That makes sense." Elder Xue nodded in agreement.

Elder Hua glared at Steward Jia, "Who ordered you to switch the medicine for Zhiren, the Young Master, and Yunzheng? Tell me! If you don't tell the truth, I'll take you away and torture you!"

“Have mercy, have mercy…” Manager Jia was so frightened that he kowtowed repeatedly and could not speak clearly.

Seeing that he was frightened out of his wits, Gong Yuanzheng stepped forward and pressed him, "Is it Gong Ziyu? If you don't tell me, I'll feed you poisoned wine!"

Gong Ziyu clenched his fists and said, "What? You want to force a confession?"

"How could he tell the truth without torture?" Gong Yuanzheng hinted, "So nervous? Are you scared?"

"What a joke! What am I afraid of? Why would I want to harm my father, brother, and sister Ayun?"

"While my brother is away from the palace, it's possible that you're plotting to take over the position of wielder of the sword. As for the reason for murdering my sister... I'll make you tell the truth once you fall into my hands."

"Enough!" Elder Xue couldn't bear to hear it any longer. "The most important thing now is to interrogate Manager Jia, not engage in a useless verbal battle."

Yuanzheng was young and impatient, so how come Ziyu, now a Blade Master, is still like Yuanzheng?!

Both of them are outrageous!

After being reprimanded, Gong Ziyu and Gong Yuanzheng shut up.

Elder Hua had a temper that could easily explode. Seeing that Manager Jia kept begging for mercy and said nothing else, he immediately ordered Gong Yuanzheng to feed him poison and torture him!

Gong Yuanzheng walked up to Manager Jia, pulled a pill from his medicine bag, and kindly explained, "This poison is called Bone Tempering. Once ingested, it starts at the fingers and spreads throughout the body, as if every bone in the body were being broken and crushed. Oh—and don't worry about passing out from the pain. The medicine contains an expensive, top-grade stimulant to ensure that no matter how much pain the victim experiences, they won't pass out until they die from the pain."

Ugh~ Hearing him say that, Gong Zishang felt like all the hairs on his body were about to stand on end.

The little poisonous kid is really scary.

Gong Yuanzheng: "Did Gong Ziyu instruct you to do this? Do you want to tell me now, or do you want to tell me after you eat it?"

"No! No, no..." Manager Jia kowtowed repeatedly, his voice breaking and hoarse: "I'm not holding a blade, I really am not holding a blade!"

Grabbing Manager Jia by the collar and lifting him up, Gong Yuanzheng reached out to pinch his chin.

At the last moment, Manager Jia finally changed his words: "Yes... I am holding a blade..."

Letting go of the collar, Gong Yuanzheng looked at Manager Jia, who was lying on the ground with his legs limp. A cruel smile appeared on his lips, and he stared at Gong Ziyu with eyes as if filled with poison.

Steward Jia stammered, as if drained of energy. "The night Young Master Zheng ordered me to deliver the Heart-Protecting Pill, I encountered Zhiren. He replaced the pill in the porcelain bottle right in front of me and threatened that if I dared to reveal anything, he would report me to the Council of Elders for helping Young Master Zheng replace the Divine Feather Flower with the Spiritual Grass."

Gong Yuanzheng was shocked: "What nonsense are you talking about?! The Divine Feather Flower was clearly not replaced by me!"

Gong Ziyu was also quite frightened: "I didn't exchange Sister Ayun's elixir! I didn't even know that Manager Jia was helping Gong Yuanzheng exchange the Divine Feather Flower at that time!"

"You two, shut up!" Elder Hua, unable to bear it any longer, pointed at Manager Jia and said, "Keep talking!"

Steward Jia spoke cautiously and tremblingly, "Later, Zhiren and the Young Master passed away, and the Second Young Lady suffered a heart attack. Young Master Zheng believed I had switched the medicine and wanted to interrogate me. I had no choice but to tell him that I had encountered Zhiren along the way and had even dragged Miss Qinglan out to distract them. Unexpectedly, Miss Qinglan's suspicion was cleared by the Second Young Lady."

"I was shocked and terrified, fearing that Master Zheng would suspect me again. I didn't dare tell him that it was Zhiren who replaced the medicine. Otherwise, Zhiren would report me to the Council of Elders for helping Master Zheng. I could only tell him that it wasn't Zhiren, and that Zhiren didn't touch the medicine bottle in my hand that night."

"Since Gong Yuanzheng has already suspected you, why don't you tell him that you were coerced by Gong Ziyu, so as to atone for your crime. Why do you have to suffer between two people?" Gong Zishang found a loophole.

Steward Jia gave a bitter laugh and said, "If I tell Young Master Zheng, I'm afraid I'll die even faster. This involves the Second Young Lady. Even if I was coerced, Young Master Zheng will not let me go."

"Later, at the clinic, Master Zheng noticed that the old slave was more concerned about protecting the blade than his own safety. He felt that something was wrong and immediately demanded an interrogation."

"It so happened that when Master Zheng was dragging me to the dungeon, Master Jiao returned. Master Zheng then had the guards of the Zheng Palace lock me up in a room there and sent someone to watch over me to prevent any accidents or suicide."

Elder Yue's eyebrows knitted into a "川" shape: "And then?"

"Then... Zhi Ren somehow got the news that this old slave was imprisoned by Young Master Zheng. As soon as this old slave was released, Jin Fan brought him to Zhi Ren."

"After listening to this old servant's report, I knew that Young Master Zheng had become suspicious of his wielding of the blade, and realized that this was Young Master Jiao's tactic of playing hard to get. He immediately brought this old servant to find the three elders, deciding to strike first and catch Young Master Jiao off guard."

"I really had no choice! I was forced... and it wasn't me who changed the medicine! Spare my life... Elders, please spare my life..."

Elder Xue pondered, "You said it was Ziyu who first discovered that Yuanzheng asked you to replace the Divine Feather Flower with the Spirit Grass Flower, and used this to threaten you, and also exchanged it for Yunzheng's Heart-Protecting Pill?"

Manager Jia nodded: "Yes."

Elder Xue asked again, "If Yuanzheng ordered the wrong herbs, he would have known immediately when the Lingzhi grass was replaced with Chenglan. How come he didn't notice his sister's herbs were swapped? Moreover, according to the time you mentioned, the replacement should have been completed by then. So where did the Chenglan in Ziyu's hand come from?"

As if he had expected this, Manager Jia remained calm. "The Ganoderma Lucidum we received at the clinic wasn't replaced. Only the Divine Feather Flower was. As for the Chenglan that Zhiren used to replace the medicine, I heard Zhiren mention it. He got it when he secretly went to the Old Dust Valley."

"Before he took up arms, he often left the palace without permission. The elders knew this!"

The three elders looked at each other; they did know that Gong Ziyu had left the palace secretly.

"You're talking nonsense!" Gong Ziyu glared at him.

"I'm telling the truth!" Steward Jia said confidently, "I don't want to think about anything else right now. I just want to save my life. I beg the elders to be lenient with me!"

"Flattering words and deceptive demeanor." Gong Yunzheng glanced at Manager Jia, warning Gong Ziyu and Gong Yuanzheng, who were arguing with each other: "On the surface, they appear to be coerced and forced into a pitiful state, but in reality, they harbor sinister intentions, hiding their venom beneath a false facade of innocence."

Manager Jia was puzzled: "What are you talking about, Second Miss?"

Gong Yunzheng's lips curled up in an icy arc as he pointed out the problem: "Based solely on your one-sided statement, you dragged two powerful figures, the Blade Master of the Palace Gate and the Palace Master of Zheng Palace, into this mess, causing internal strife within the palace. What else could this be but a sinister intention?"

Manager Jia objected, "The Second Miss is very clever and considerate of the overall situation. She knows how to be patient. She knows that if I want to save Young Master Zheng, I must lie. But if I do that, the Second Miss will also let her real murderer go."

He said this ostensibly to Gong Yunzheng, but actually he was speaking to Gong Yuanzheng.

Sure enough, the boy was furious the next second, but he was not angry about the fact that he thought Gong Ziyu was also spared, but rather -

"You bastard! How dare you insult my sister?!" Gong Yuanzheng was about to step forward to teach Manager Jia a lesson, but Gong Shangjiao raised his hand to stop him.

Seeing that his younger brother and Gong Ziyu did not listen to his hint, Gong Yunzheng stopped talking.

If you give too many reminders about some things, you will alert the enemy.

At the head, the three elders discussed it and asked Gong Shangjiao for his opinion.

Gong Shangjiao said, "This is a serious matter. In this case, we should thoroughly interrogate Manager Jia to see if there is any suspicion of frame-up. We will then make a decision."

"No!" Gong Ziyu immediately objected, "You are the one who interrogated Manager Jia. If you side with Zheng Gong, wouldn't I be making clothes for you?!"

Gong Shangjiao looked at Gong Ziyu solemnly: "Brother Ziyu, I didn't say I was going to interrogate you. I was already very polite to you."

"Since Brother Zi Yu has objections, then we will interrogate both sides. You interrogate Manager Jia, mainly asking him about the matter of the Divine Feather Flower. I will interrogate Jin Fan, mainly asking him whether Brother Zi Yu actually replaced Sister Yun Zheng's medicine."

"No! What does this have to do with Jin Fan?!" Gong Zishang immediately disagreed.

Gong Shangjiao felt helpless: "Manager Jia said that Jin Fan brought him to Yu Palace. Moreover, he is also Brother Ziyu's personal bodyguard. He must know whether Brother Ziyu has done these things or not."

"I do." Jin Fan said, indicating that he was willing to accept torture to prove his innocence.

"I don't agree!" Gong Ziyu stepped forward to block Jin Fan: "Zheng Palace has plenty of poisons that can make a person's life worse than death. Even if Jin Fan survives, what about the damage he suffered?"

"In that case, whatever poison you use, we will use. If you don't use poison, we won't use poison either."

"Jin Fan is extremely important to me! Manager Jia is dispensable to you, how can they be the same!"

Taking a step forward, Gong Shangjiao stared at Gong Ziyu's angry face with calm, unfathomable eyes. His expression was stern. "Brother Ziyu, Jin Fan is loyal to you, but Manager Jia identified Brother Yuanzheng from the beginning. Since neither you nor I used poison, it would be much more difficult to get the truth out of Jin Fan than it was for you to interrogate Manager Jia."

"That won't work either." Gong Ziyu insisted: "Even if you don't use poison, your other methods are still outrageous!"

Gong Zishang nodded repeatedly, fearing that if he nodded a little slower, Jin Fan would be thrown into the dungeon and tortured by Gong Shangjiao and Gong Yuanzheng.

"Oh?" Gong Shangjiao just found it funny, and asked word by word with a sense of pressure: "Jin Fan cannot be tried. So, does Brother Ziyu mean that you want me to try you?"