In the years of famine, I led a comfortable life with my husband

Although she was mentally prepared, Su Zhizhi was stunned when she was suddenly identified as the murderer. She never thought that she would be targeted.

Seeing the emperor looking at her, Su Zhizhi quickly knelt on the ground, "Your Majesty, please understand. I would never dare to do such a thing. Moreover, I don't know which lady is in the cold palace, so why would I attack Concubine Xiang?"

"You're lying!" the young palace maid who had stepped forward to identify Su Zhizhi said excitedly, "The Empress asked you to go to Fengyi Palace today, but you didn't come. That's why the Empress ordered me to look for you. Unexpectedly, just as I reached the cold palace, I saw Su Yuchu emerging from it in a panic. And Concubine Xiang was found dead after you left the cold palace. Who else could it be but you?"

Everything the palace maid said was true. Su Zhizhi had no way to refute it and could only repeat what she had encountered at that time.

The emperor's expression was extremely grim. She interrupted Su Zhizhi's explanation and asked, "Is there anyone here who can prove it?"

Su Zhizhi was stunned. Yeah, how could anyone prove it? The cold palace was full of crazy people, so how could she believe what they said? But apart from them, only the palace maid saw her walk out of the cold palace. She had no other sober witnesses.

After thinking all this through, Su Zhizhi's heart sank to the bottom. At this point, she couldn't say whether it was an accident or man-made, but she was more inclined to believe that someone wanted to kill her on purpose.

But who was this person? Why was he targeting her? Su Zhizhi had no idea.

Su Zhizhi couldn't think of anyone other than the Queen who could have orchestrated all this, but she couldn't figure out what benefits targeting herself would bring to the Queen.

But now is not the time to think about these things. The emperor looked at Su Zhizhi with increasingly sharp eyes.

Su Zhizhi swallowed, her throat tightening. "Your Majesty, no one else saw it."

Although Su Zhizhi didn't want to admit it, it was the fact and she had no way of making so many excuses.

The emperor's eyes gradually grew deeper, and his words were filled with icy coldness: "Chef Su, what else do you have to say? The witness is right here, what else do you have to say?"

Su Zhizhi bit her lips tightly, but still fell to the ground and said, "I swear to heaven that I have never done such a thing. I hope Your Majesty will understand."

The emperor carefully observed Su Zhizhi's actions. Seeing that she showed no sign of guilt, he couldn't help but become suspicious. However, with all the concubines watching, he couldn't say anything. He could only give the order, "Come here, take Su Yuchu to the Ministry of Punishment to await his sentence."

After saying that, the emperor turned around and took the queen back to Fengyi Palace, while Su Zhizhi was carried to the Ministry of Punishment by two imperial guards.

Su Zhizhi returned to the Ministry of Punishment again, still in the same cage. Su Zhizhi looked around at the very familiar furnishings and couldn't help but sigh heavily. Since entering the palace, she has been often framed. She sometimes wondered who she had offended to be targeted like this.

As for the emperor, after staying in the queen's Fengyi Palace for a while, he left the palace on the pretext that he had state affairs to deal with.

After returning to the Yangxin Palace, the emperor was also thinking about Su Zhizhi's problem. Su Zhizhi got into trouble again and again, and the emperor was very confused. He could also see that Su Zhizhi was maliciously targeted by others and someone wanted to kill her.

Now the incident with Concubine Xiang has made the emperor even more confused.

If it were according to the past, no matter what the final truth was, Su Zhizhi would not be able to escape death, but at the moment Xie Chengjin is still very useful to the emperor, and Su Zhizhi is Xie Chengjin's wife. No matter what, the emperor cannot go too far, so the matter of Concubine Xiang can only be handled lightly.

Thinking of this, the emperor called his personal eunuch in and whispered something in his ear. The eunuch hurriedly took the order and did it.

Su Zhizhi was waiting in the Ministry of Punishment to be summoned when she saw someone from the emperor's entourage walk in.

"Why are you here, eunuch? Does His Majesty have any instructions?" Su Zhizhi hurried to greet him.

The eunuch lowered his voice and said to Su Zhizhi, "Chef Su, please come with us quickly. His Majesty knows that Concubine Xiang's affairs have nothing to do with you, but there are many people in the harem and now that something like this has happened, I'm afraid Chef Su can no longer work in the imperial kitchen."

Hearing this, Su Zhizhi actually breathed a sigh of relief. "Your Majesty is merciful. I will only obey your orders."

Seeing that Su Zhizhi was very sensible, the father-in-law was very satisfied and walked in front to lead the way for Su Zhizhi.

After leaving the Ministry of Punishment, Su Zhizhi originally wanted to go to the imperial kitchen to pack up her things, but was stopped by her eunuch.

"Chef Su, you'd better leave the palace quickly. His Majesty has already instructed me to notify Master Xie. I believe Master Xie should be waiting outside the palace now. As for your things, Chef Su, I'll send someone to take them to you later."

Seeing this, Su Zhizhi no longer insisted, but left the palace as quickly as possible. Sure enough, Xie Chengjin was already waiting outside.

Seeing Su Zhizhi come out, Xie Chengjin hurried forward to check on her. After confirming that she was fine, Xie Chengjin turned to his father-in-law, nodded slightly, and said, "Thank you for escorting Zhizhi out, Xie Chengjin is very grateful."

"Thank you, Sir, you are too kind. These are all orders from His Majesty. Moreover, this is an unprovoked disaster for Su Yuchu, no, for Madam. I hope Sir Xie will not blame me."

"I dare not. Consider this silver as a gift to my father-in-law for his wine. Now I will take my wife and leave first." After saying that, Xie Chengjin stuffed a purse into his father-in-law's pocket and turned to get on the carriage with Su Zhizhi.

The carriage sped towards the palace. As it got farther and farther away from the palace, Su Zhizhi actually breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at Xie Chengjin with a look of relief that showed she had survived a disaster.

"When Xu Chao was brought down, I already didn't want to stay in the palace, but I didn't know how to talk to the emperor. Now it's just a coincidence." Su Zhizhi's tone was full of emotion.

Xie Chengjin then asked, "What exactly happened in the palace?"

Su Zhizhi briefly explained Xiangpin's affairs to Xie Chengjin, who frowned tightly. "I never thought such a thing would happen. Fortunately, the emperor still believed in you. Perhaps he only cared about my usefulness to him."

Su Zhizhi did not interrupt. After all, she also felt that Xie Chengjin was right.