Lady Baili had been living in constant fear these past few days, not having a single peaceful night's sleep, and deeply regretting getting involved in Zhen'er's plan. Even if she were to be made a concubine, she wouldn't deserve to live up to it.

"I just don't understand. I wrote the words 'Consort Zhen' myself. There was no one around at the time, and the powder dissolved immediately after it fell to the ground, leaving no trace. How could it have turned into other words?"

This was something that Baili couldn't understand. She then deliberately dug out the sachet that had been buried under the flowerpot, the same sachet that Zhen'er had given her to hold the medicine powder.

There was very little powder inside; it was used up after writing just two words, and now only a tiny bit of powder remains stuck to the inside of the purse.

It seems the problem doesn't lie with her. Wherever things went wrong, Baili Shi has lost all interest in pursuing anything, spending her days holed up in the Liu'an Palace, anxiously waiting for the day she might be dragged down with them.

Hearing Baili's words, the Empress was also puzzled, and at the same time, she cursed Zhen'er inwardly for coming up with such an idea. Not only did it involve many people, but its effectiveness could not be guaranteed.

"Go back first and keep this to yourself. Be careful and don't give anything away."

The Empress waved her hand, too lazy to look at Baili Shi anymore, and felt a tightness in her chest.

"Your Majesty, if anything happens, you must stand up for me!"

Now, Lady Baili no longer aspires to become a concubine; instead, she is extremely afraid that she will bring trouble upon herself.

"Go back, I know what to do."

After letting Lady Baili leave, the Empress felt a surge of annoyance. No matter what, this matter had blown up now and needed to be resolved.

That evening, Liu Heng first went to the Empress's palace.

He had already heard about this matter, and he had reviewed the records of the Empress's interrogation today. Now, the matter seemed to have no clue whatsoever, and it even involved the Lin family, which made him unhappy.

At the same time, Liu Heng was also secretly alarmed. He realized that his control over the harem was so weak that he couldn't even find timely and effective clues to investigate after something happened.

After the incident with Liu Feng, he became very careful to control his inner palace. After ascending the throne, he was too busy with state affairs to keep an eye on the harem. He thought that since the number of people in the harem was small and they were all old servants who had served him for many years, and the empress was also shrewd and capable, nothing should happen.

The current incident involving Consort Lü serves as another wake-up call for him. The affairs of the inner palace must always be attended to with equal attention; once a loophole appears in the oversight, problems are bound to arise.

"Although we don't know who did it, Consort Lü has not offended anyone and has been out of favor for many years. I'm afraid the key to this matter lies in those few words. I have already blocked the news, but there are many people in the harem. If those few words are accidentally leaked outside, it will not be good for the Third Prince and Consort Lin. Everyone will think that Consort Lin did it."

Liu Heng put down the cup in his hand, looked at the Empress, and asked with a cryptic expression, "Do you think this was done by the Imperial Concubine?"

The Empress quickly denied it, saying, "Of course I don't suspect the Noble Consort, but this matter is not good for others. It's inevitable that some uninformed people will mistakenly believe that the Noble Consort was responsible. So I thought I should investigate this matter as soon as possible, clarify the truth, and prevent the Noble Consort from being misunderstood."

Hearing the Empress's words implying that she was bringing up the Lin family, Liu Heng sighed inwardly.

He had always thought that although the Empress was somewhat overly controlling, she was still tolerant and virtuous. Now he suddenly realized that, without knowing when, she had become the treacherous and cunning person she is now.

Perhaps, after more than a decade of marriage, he never truly understood the Empress.

After making some simple arrangements, Liu Heng left Kunning Palace. After he left, the Empress flicked her sleeves.

"This kind of charlatanry is exactly what the Lin family did. He doesn't believe it now, but once the truth is revealed, His Majesty won't know who is truly loyal."

Although the Empress felt that those few abrupt words wouldn't change the Crown Prince's status, she was still furious. If this matter spread outside the palace, it would become increasingly chaotic, and it might even lead to the conclusion that the Third Prince was ordained by Heaven as the Crown Prince. After all, this matter was too mysterious, and public opinion was a powerful force to be reckoned with.

When Liu Heng arrived at Yanqing Palace, Lin Yuqiao was playing with Mengmeng, holding a rattle drum.

"You seem quite relaxed."

The news about those words has spread far and wide, and everyone is craning their necks to wait for what will happen next. As the prime suspect, she remains remarkably calm.

Is it because they feel they have nothing to hide and have no conscience, or do they simply believe that the truth will eventually come out?

"Just do what you're supposed to do, what else can you do?"

Lin Yuqiao spoke casually, and Liu Heng could only smile helplessly.

He then bent down and looked at his son's chubby little face, and Liu Heng couldn't help but gently pinch it.

"Don't pinch me, don't pinch me. It'll make your mouth water."

Lin Yuqiao quickly grabbed Liu Heng's hand and handed him a rattle drum, telling him to use it to amuse his son.

Holding the exquisite rattle drum in his hand, Liu Heng raised an eyebrow. The fact that she could say such a thing meant that she must have pinched her son's cheek before, only to be stopped by Granny Jiang or the wet nurse.

He held his son's soft little hand, and his heart softened as well.

His youngest son, who couldn't even speak yet, was being manipulated and even implicated in the position of crown prince, which angered Liu Heng the most. Furthermore, the inner palace wasn't as peaceful as he had imagined, and he didn't have as much control as he thought, which also infuriated him.

After playing with her son for a while, Lin Yuqiao let the wet nurse take her away. She snuggled into Liu Heng's arms, looking quite resentful.

“Our Mengmeng is still so young, and yet there are already malicious people plotting against her. How annoying.”

"We'll find out who did it eventually."

Liu Heng put one arm around her waist and stroked her soft, slightly cool hair with the other, making a firm promise.

After a morning of various interrogations, no useful information had been obtained. Lin Yuqiao felt she should try a different approach. She also agreed with the Empress's assessment that the longer the matter dragged on, the worse the consequences would be; it should be resolved as soon as possible.

"Consort Lü's condition is rather strange; the imperial physicians should examine her again. And the ants swarming together to spell out words disappeared overnight—how could they leave no trace? Something must have been used to do that. I don't understand what benefit the person who did this could possibly gain?"

Lin Yuqiao lamented that the medical system of this era was too backward. If it were modern times, blood tests and various X-rays would surely reveal the cause of Lü Liangdi's illness. The four diagnostic methods of traditional Chinese medicine—observation, auscultation, inquiry, and palpation—are not very effective for examining lesions inside organs.

Turning back, Lin Yuqiao pressed her cheek against Liu Heng's and continued to discuss the case with him.

“Let’s speculate. If it was done by someone who wanted to harm me, then they would have had a backup plan, leaving behind evidence to prove that I was the one who spelled out the words with ants. However, so far there is no clear evidence pointing to me, proving that I have ulterior motives and want my son to inherit the position of crown prince.”

There was one more thing Lin Yuqiao didn't say. The infant mortality rate in this era was far too high. A baby under one year old had such a long road ahead of him, and no one could guarantee that he would grow up safely. Anyone with a brain would think of this. No matter how anxious she was, she wouldn't plan this so early.

"If it's not targeting me, then why bring up Mengmeng? Who would benefit from it? If you investigate everyone in the harem one by one, no one will gain anything from it."

Listening attentively to Lin Yuqiao's analysis, Liu Heng silently agreed. Her deduction was reasonable; it was exactly as she described. It was unclear who could possibly benefit from it, which was precisely what made the case so suspicious.

As he pondered, Liu Heng frowned.

There's no reason for someone inside the palace to do this, so could it be someone outside the palace?

The next day, immediately after court, Liu Heng learned of the passing of Consort Lü the previous night.

The twenty or thirty palace maids and eunuchs who originally served Lü Liangdi have all been detained and interrogated. The palace maids serving her now are people transferred from elsewhere by the Empress.

Last night, Lu Liangdi's cough flared up again. Feeding her water and patting her back didn't help. Before she could even take her medicine, she couldn't catch her breath and passed away.

"The palace maid who served me last night has also been locked up. The imperial physician went to examine her and said that she suffocated because phlegm clouded her mind and she couldn't breathe."

After listening to the report, Liu Heng ordered his men to continue investigating and then pondered in his study. He tried to piece together the whole affair from beginning to end, but each point seemed disconnected.

There must still be some crucial clues missing.

Liu Heng carefully analyzed and considered where to start.

On the rosewood table, a Yue ware celadon censer with lotus petal patterns slowly emits faint white smoke, which rises and transforms into fleeting shapes.

Li Silai, the steward who had been standing by the door with concern in his eyes, saw his apprentice Wei Jiang peeking in at the door, raised his eyebrows and glared at him fiercely.

Seeing what Wei Jiang was holding, Li Silai glanced up at the Emperor, who was deep in thought, and silently walked to the door, signaling Wei Jiang to get to the point.

Hearing that it was sent by Consort Lin in a hurry, Li Silai took the exquisite letter and, without delay, quickly went to Liu Heng's desk, bowed his head, and presented it with both hands for instructions.

"Your Majesty, this was sent by the Imperial Concubine."

Taking the letter and inhaling the faint scent of peach blossoms, Liu Heng was momentarily stunned. He opened it and saw her writing; it was still messy, but the handwriting was firm and proud.

It turned out that after hearing of Consort Lü's death, Lin Yuqiao, unable to go to the Zhengqing Hall in person, hurriedly wrote a letter and sent it to Liu Heng, asking him to send someone to carefully examine Consort Lü's body, as she still felt that she could find something amiss.

Nowadays, people generally respect the deceased and believe that proper burial is essential for their well-being and a safe return to the afterlife. Without strong reasons, no one will do anything to dishonor the deceased's body.

Lin Yuqiao, being a modern person, feels that autopsy is more intuitive and can reveal problems more deeply.

Because Consort Lü was an imperial concubine, for the sake of appearances, the imperial physicians conducted a normal examination of the cause of death in the morning and reported that no abnormalities were found.

After thinking for a moment, Liu Heng decided to send Li Silai to deliver a message, instructing that someone be sent to conduct a more detailed autopsy on Lü Liangdi.

In the evening, as Liu Heng was heading to Yanqing Palace, he received new information.

After the imperial coroner examined the body, he found that Lü Liangdi's bones were black, indicating signs of poisoning.

With this breakthrough, Liu Heng ordered his men to interrogate the imperial physicians who treated Consort Lü and the people in Consort Lü's palace who obtained, prepared, and brewed the medicine.

Soon, Wu Yi, the eunuch in charge of delivering medicine to Consort Lü every month, revealed a useful clue.

On his most recent trip to pick up his medicine, he was bumped by a eunuch at the entrance of the alley. The paper wrapping the medicine came undone, and two herbs fell to the ground.

The other party was very nice and even helped him pick up the herbs again and wrap them up. He figured they would need to be soaked before decocting the herbs, so he didn't pursue the matter and went home.

Although the previous questioning was intense, it wasn't specifically targeting anyone, so Wu Yi didn't reveal the matter for fear of causing trouble for himself.

According to Wu Yi's description, the eunuch who hit him had big eyes and a round face, with a black mole under his eye. After checking some people, it was found that the person was Feng Qicai, who worked at Xifu Palace.

Originally intending to have someone take him in for interrogation, Liu Heng suddenly changed his mind after thinking about the manipulator behind it all.

"Send secret guards to follow Feng Qicai and focus on investigating Xifu Palace, the two concubines, and the concubines who have recently become close to Xifu Palace."