The next morning, Bai Ruozhu heard numerous pieces of news, including that many people in Cining Palace and the nearby palaces had been arrested. Some committed suicide by poisoning on the spot, some were beaten half to death yet still cried out in their innocence, and others confessed they had been planted by Prince Duan. One need not see to imagine the methods used to make these traitors confess.
Bai Ruozhu's nose was very sensitive; she always felt she could smell blood. She dared not think about how many were spies, how many were merely implicated, or even how many had been wrongfully accused.
Even the usually benevolent Empress Dowager had no objections; her entire focus was on Prince Xi, wishing she could keep an eye on him all the time, as if she feared that the moment she stopped watching, Prince Xi would succumb to the effects of witchcraft.
