Bring a scumbag girl to bully me, and you are afraid of using modern weapons.

"It is your servant." Xie Ruyan answered with her head lowered.

"I'd like to know what disease you have? Do you need to drink human heart blood to control it?" Emperor Kunming asked in a majestic voice.

"Your Highness... I don't know either..." Xie Ruyan felt a chill down her spine, and in panic she made up a lie:

"I just felt a severe pain in my chest. I took many medicines but it didn't help... Later I met a doctor... He said I had a heart disease and needed the blood of a loved one as a medicine.

At first…I didn’t believe it either. But that day, Sister Jinglan happened to be there, and the prince took pity on me, so he tried using her heart blood as a medicine. After I drank the medicine, I didn’t expect that the pain in my heart really went away.”

She had to put the blame on Beitang Hong, otherwise her lies would not stand up to the emperor's scrutiny.

"This is so true." The Queen Mother, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke:

"Since you need the blood of your relatives, why don't you take the blood of your own brothers and sisters? You seem to have several half-brothers and half-sisters, right? Why do you choose to take the blood of Xie Jinglan?"

Seeing that his father and the empress dowager were questioning Xie Ruyan, Beitang Hong felt unfair for her, "Grandmother, their grandchildren have tried it, and it doesn't work at all."

"That's strange. Didn't you just say you wanted the blood of a relative? If we're talking about kinship, then it wouldn't be Xie Jinglan's turn, right?" The Queen Mother looked puzzled. "Prince Mu, what doctor is so skilled? Call him here. I'd like to see him for myself."

"Grandmother, that person..."

Beitang Hong was about to speak, but the Queen Mother didn't give him a chance to speak. "Your Majesty, my headache has come back recently. I've been drinking the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician for a few days, but it hasn't helped. Why don't you ask this miracle doctor to come and see me?"

"To answer your Majesty, the doctor left after examining me, and I don't know where he is now." Xie Ruyan was anxious and looked to Beitang Hong for help.

"So that man is just a traveling doctor? That's ridiculous!" The Queen Mother was angry and pointed at the man kneeling on the ground.

"You actually trusted a traveling doctor with unknown origins and cut Xie Jinglan's heart blood. What on earth are you thinking? You said that King Mu had pity on you, but I think you just wanted to use him to murder Jinglan."

The Empress Dowager was furious, and the Emperor would definitely investigate the matter thoroughly. Xie Ruyan panicked and quickly cried out, "Empress Dowager, I did nothing. I am innocent!"

She secretly resented that she was better than Xie Jinglan in every way, so why did this damn old woman only favor that bitch?

"You are being wronged? Your little tricks can only deceive a fool like Prince Mu. Let me tell you, even if Xie Jinglan is dead, it will not be your turn to sit in the position of Prince Mu's principal wife."

The Queen Mother's words put an end to Lin Ruyan's dream of becoming Princess Mu.

"Grandmother, that doctor was invited by my grandson. Yan'er really doesn't know about it. Please don't make things difficult for her." Beitang Hong hurriedly explained for Xie Ruyan.

"You are all fine." The Queen Mother has been immersed in the harem for many years. What kind of intrigue and bloody scenes have she not witnessed? How could she believe her flawed words?

The Queen Mother stood up and pointed at Xie Ruyan and said to the Emperor:

"Emperor, this person has a strange disease that causes her to drink human blood. She almost killed Xie Jinglan. She must be possessed by some demon. We must lock her up to prevent her from harming others again."

"Grandmother, you can't do that." Beitang Hongxin was anxious and knelt beside Xie Ruyan. "Yan'er is suffering enough from this strange disease. If you lock her up again, how can she survive? Please let her go!"

"She's suffering enough? Then why didn't she think of harming another life when she drank human blood?

But a daughter of a bastard, in other words, a lowly slave, dares to cut the blood of a legitimate heir as a medicine. You are so bold..."

The Queen Mother grew angrier as she spoke, and her hands began to tremble as she pointed at people.

"Mother, please calm down." Emperor Kunming, who was standing next to her, quickly supported her.

Xie Jinglan had never expected the Queen Mother to speak up for them, and she was very grateful. With the Queen Mother around, she had hope of canceling her marriage with Beitang Hong.

"This is all the good work of King Mu." The Queen Mother was originally dissatisfied with her grandson Beitang Hong, but the Emperor liked him. But this time she really couldn't stand it anymore.

Empress Changsun's expression changed and she glared at Beitang Hong secretly.

Although the empress dowager is partial to the crown prince, she rarely interferes in the affairs of the previous dynasty. But today she came to the council hall and used the matter of Xie Jinglan to blame Hong'er. What does this old woman want to do?

"Hong'er, why don't you apologize to your grandmother?"

Beitang Hong frowned and remained motionless. He was not wrong at all.

I felt even more hatred towards Xie Jinglan.

The Queen Mother became even more furious when she saw this, and pointed her finger at Lin Ruyan, "And this Lin Ruyan? It's obvious that she has evil intentions. She dares to lie here. Your Majesty, such a person cannot be spared..."

"Mother, please don't get sick from anger. I will take care of this matter." The emperor was afraid that the empress dowager would get sick from anger, so he helped her sit down.

Looking at Xie Wanying who was still kneeling, the emperor felt a headache. "Old Lady Xie, you should get up too!"

"Grandma, please get up quickly." Xie Yunqing had long felt sorry for his grandmother, and when he heard the emperor speak, he hurriedly helped her up.

"Don't worry, I will take care of it for you today." The Queen Mother took Xie Wanying's hand and comforted her.

"Thank you, Empress Dowager." Xie Wanying nodded gratefully.

"Xie Jinglan, since this matter was caused by you, you should tell me the whole story." said the emperor.

"Yes."

Xie Jinglan recounted everything from how she was bloodied yesterday at Prince Mu's mansion to what happened this morning.

"Your Majesty, everything I said is true. Lin Yuansheng wanted to kill me and my grandmother. There were so many of them. If it weren't for saving my own life, I wouldn't kill them."

The emperor nodded after listening and looked at Lin Yuansheng's family. "Lin Yuansheng, Xie Ruyan, I will also give you a chance to explain."

"I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have used sister Jinglan's blood to treat the disease." Xie Ruyan was the first to admit her mistake. Now the situation was not favorable for them, so they could only admit their mistake and show weakness.

"I shouldn't have expected Prince Mu's love and affection, and made Sister Jinglan angry. From now on, I will stay away from Prince Mu. I only ask Sister Jinglan to forgive me and not to make him angry again."

The implication is that the incident started because Beitang Hong liked her, which made Xie Jinglan jealous and she refused to take blood to treat her illness, causing such a farce.

"Yan'er, it was me who wanted to like you, and it was me who had someone take the blood from your heart. You did nothing wrong, and you don't have to apologize." Beitang Hong said with concern.

"Shut up, we'll talk about your business later." The emperor scolded him.

Beitang Hong pursed his lips and said nothing more, but held Xie Ruyan in his arms with a protective attitude.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty." Lin Yuansheng admitted his fault as soon as he spoke, his attitude sincere and heartbroken:

"Ruyan and Jinglan are both my granddaughters. They are as close as flesh and blood. I only learned about the blood-drawing incident today. Ruyan has contracted this disease, and I am extremely worried about her. As a grandfather, I hope the children are well.

But Jinglan is a girl with such a bad temper. She always wants to fight and kill. Her parents died early. It’s all my fault that I didn’t teach her well, which is why she became like this!

Thinking that she will be marrying into Prince Mu's Mansion in half a month, I just wanted to teach her the rules, but I didn't expect that she would actually kill someone!

Xie Gao, Xie Tianci, and Xie Rumei were all crippled by her. I was so angry that I attacked her.

Ultimately, it is because I failed to manage the affairs of the harem that this happened. It is all my fault. Your Majesty, please punish me."