The sudden scene stunned everyone.
Nangong Mo's deep eyes flashed with killing intent. With a wave of his sleeve, a powerful force surged towards the old woman.
This caused Gu Qianying, who was about to make a move, to retract the internal energy from her palm.
With a clang,
The sword broke, and the person fell backward, landing on the ground. The old woman clutched her chest and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Madam Han was extremely nervous at this moment. She wanted to help the old woman but retracted her outstretched hand in mid-air.
Lowering her gaze, she quickly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. Supported by a maid, she deliberately created some distance between herself and the old woman.
The old woman glanced back at her, a bitter smile curling the corners of her lips. Beneath this smile was endless disappointment.
Turning her head, she glared at Gu Qianying, "Gu Qianying! Listen to me. If I cannot kill you today, there will be those who wish to kill you in the future. On that day, I will watch from the heavens as you die, hahaha!"
He put his fingers into his mouth and closed his eyes. The scent of the Datura flower dispelled the taste buds. Just then, a jade hand suddenly grasped his neck, "Want to die? It's not that easy!"
Gu Qianying roughly pulled the old woman up and then quickly took out a detoxification pill she always carried from her pouch.
Seeing that the old woman refused to open her mouth, Gu Qianying directly dislocated her jaw and forced the detoxification pill into her mouth, then closed her jaw again. This fluid motion stunned the onlookers.
Following this, no one understood Gu Qianying's purpose in doing this.
Having failed to die, she was even saved by Gu Qianying, which reignited the old woman's desire to kill Gu Qianying.
However... she was not as quick as Gu Qianying.
Gu Qianying picked up the long sword from the ground, turned, and thrust it into the old woman's wrists, flicking them upwards.
"Ah!"
A scream echoed.
The old woman collapsed onto the ground, sweat beading on her forehead from the intense pain.
This led everyone to silently curse Gu Qianying's cruelty in their hearts.
But their attention shifted as Gu Qianying tore off the human skin mask from the old woman's face.
When the human skin mask was removed, the person had regular features, thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a sparse black stubble on their chin.
"Ah? Who is he?"
The astonishment on everyone's faces grew more exaggerated as Gu Qianying tore open the old woman's clothes, revealing a well-defined chest.
"Ah, he's actually a man? Ah, this... this is unbelievable."
Nangong Mo looked towards the old woman, his deep gaze filled with coldness.
Everyone in the Gu Mansion was shocked, but only Madam Han became increasingly flustered.
"As this Princess Consort guessed, you are not a woman, nor an old woman. You are a middle-aged man with some martial arts skills. This Princess Consort has never seen you in the Gu Mansion before, so you must have only appeared recently."
Saying this, Gu Qianying looked at the man, and after a brief appraisal, she spoke again, "Disguising yourself as a woman and appearing as an old woman by Madam Han's side, it seems Madam Han's methods of seduction are indeed quite skillful."
As these words fell,
Gu Kun's fierce eyes shot towards Madam Han. He cursed, "You dead slut, actually keeping a man in the mansion, do you think I, your husband, am dead?"
He snatched a stick from a nearby servant and threw it at Madam Han.
Madam Han, terrified, dodged. She clutched her handkerchief and cried out, "My lord, you wrong me! This concubine did not know this person was a man, nor did I have any illicit relations with him."
As she cried, Madam Han glanced at the man slumped on the ground.
This glance, however, deepened the bitter smile on the man's lips.
"You don't know?"
At this, Gu Qianying chuckled, "Does Madam Han truly take everyone for a fool? If you didn't know, then why was he always serving by your side? If you didn't know, why wasn't his sudden appearance questioned? It seems your courtyard has long been taken care of. Otherwise, his disguise as a woman would have been exposed long ago.
Most of the household servants live and sleep together. Even for bathing and using the latrine, there are designated places. Even though his appearance has changed and he wears women's clothing, he is no different from a woman. However, the daily necessities of life cannot be hidden. If it weren't for Madam Han's arrangements, how else can this be explained?"
"No, no, no, I really didn't know. Please, my lord, believe me."
Madam Han remained stubborn, still denying it.
As for the man, he did not admit his connection to Madam Han, nor did he admit that Madam Han knew about his affairs.
"Since things have come to this, I have nothing more to hide. The reason I infiltrated the Gu Mansion, disguised as an old woman, and stayed by Madam Han's side, was simply to find an opportune moment to kill the Ninth Princess Consort. I have no relationship with Madam Han, and she knows nothing of my affairs."
The man took all the blame upon himself, refusing to expose his relationship with Madam Han.
Gu Qianying looked at him, "Why kill me?"
The man said fiercely, "To kill you, to uphold justice!"
"Heh!"
Gu Qianying's smile widened. She did not believe this excuse.
"What a devoted lover. It's a pity that your devotion to Madam Han is misplaced."
Saying this, Gu Qianying ordered Cai Xia, "Bring out that black box."
Cai Xia complied.
Gu Qianying fiddled with the hidden compartment inside the black box. The compartment opened, and Gu Qianying took out a small white jade bottle containing powder. She held it in her hand and faced Gu Kun, "Father, you always thought I, your eldest daughter, framed third sister, didn't you? But the materials used to make this poisonous smoke are all in this small bottle. If Father doesn't believe me, he can pour out the contents of this small jade bottle and give it to an ordinary physician. They will surely be able to produce poisonous smoke.
And all these things were found in Madam Han's possession. Therefore, Madam Han is the one who poisoned this Princess Consort."
Of course, these could be fakes, but the place where these fakes were kept was extremely secret, and only Madam Han knew of such secrecy. This indicates that Madam Han was the mastermind.
After this explanation,
Everyone turned their gaze towards Gu Qianying.
They felt that the eldest daughter of the Gu Mansion was speaking the truth. If things weren't as Gu Qianying described, how could this have happened?
Saying this, Gu Qianying took out the last item from the hidden compartment.
It was a confession letter filled with words. In the bottom left corner of the confession letter was a name: Zhu Li!
Gu Qianying threw the confession letter at the man's feet. The small section with the name caught the man's eye.
The man was initially a little shocked, then as he turned to look at Madam Han, despair filled his eyes.
"So, you had already made preparations! Hahaha, I am truly so foolish!"
After laughing heartily, the man turned to Gu Qianying, "Stop asking questions. Just kill me!"
From the moment he decided to act, he had already put his life and death aside.
Even if his identity were not exposed, assassinating the Ninth Princess Consort was a capital offense.
The man was utterly disappointed in Madam Han, but he still did not reveal the details of his relationship with her.
Gu Qianying looked at the man's reaction, which further solidified her suspicions.