Consort Yi now gets a headache just looking at Liang Jiugong.

He felt pain all over his body after hearing Liang Jiugong's decree.

"I understand. I will take people to Cining Palace now."

Although Emperor Kangxi entrusted this matter to Consort Yi, she and Consort Wenxi held the same rank and had a fairly good relationship.

Last night, after receiving Emperor Kangxi's decree, Consort Yi immediately sent someone to inform Consort Wenxi. The two of them barely slept all night before thoroughly searching the entire harem.

Even so, the two never considered thoroughly investigating the Cining Palace and the Shou Kang Palace.

Now that Emperor Kangxi had issued a decree, the two discussed the matter and decided that Consort Yi would thoroughly investigate Cining Palace, while Consort Wenxi would be in charge of Shou Kang Palace.

At this moment, inside the Cining Palace, the Crown Princess was tending to Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang's bedside, feeding her medicine.

Seeing Su Ma La Gu walk in with a complicated expression, Wen Ying handed the medicine bowl to her before walking towards Su Ma La Gu. "Has something happened?"

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang is still in a coma, but the two of them still lowered their voices when they spoke.

"Consort Yi led people to search the palace, claiming that she had an imperial decree from His Majesty."

The Crown Princess raised an eyebrow. "I'll go out and take a look."

Why would His Majesty suddenly search the Cining Palace?

When Consort Yi saw the Crown Princess come out with Su Ma La Gu, she first breathed a sigh of relief, then recounted Emperor Kangxi's decree, and then looked at Su Ma La Gu.

"I couldn't really count the search of Cining Palace before, but since His Majesty has given the order, I have no choice but to comply. Although doing so has disturbed the Empress Dowager's recovery, catching the person who sold the information is of paramount importance."

Seeing this, Sumalagu had no choice but to nod and arrange for Zhao Lihe to lead his men to cooperate along the way, and not to obstruct them in the slightest.

The Crown Princess sat in the main hall waiting for news. Although Su Ma La Gu's expression was somewhat unpleasant, she was aware of some of the rumors circulating outside.

The two had originally planned to go into the inner palace to take care of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang after Consort Yi finished her investigation, but Zhao Lihe walked in with a displeased expression.

After glancing at Sumalagu, he looked at Guarjia and said, "Reporting to the Crown Princess, we have captured an old palace maid who does rough and chores. She seems to have some connections with the outside world. She has now been taken to the Qianqing Palace by Consort Yi."

Lady Guarjia immediately stood up. "They're actually from the Cining Palace?"

Sumalagu never expected that there was a traitor in her own family. For a moment, her face was filled with shock and resentment.

“Those who can serve in Cining Palace are all clean-cut. What’s the story behind that old palace maid?” Su Mala Gu looked at Zhao Lihe, wishing she could rush out right now to find that palace maid and get the answers.

"We don't know yet, but we found large banknotes of unknown origin at her residence."

Guarjia glanced at Sumalagu and instructed, "I will go to the Qianqing Palace to see what is going on. You stay here to take care of the Empress Dowager. I will send someone to inform you when there is any news from there."

After thanking her gratefully, Sumalagu personally escorted the Crown Princess out of Cining Palace.

"Your Highness, the person came from Cining Palace. Was the Empress Dowager's sudden illness genuine, or was it orchestrated..."

Guarjia glanced at Wenying, who immediately shut up.

The two walked silently to the Qianqing Palace. From a distance, they saw several important officials coming out. After exchanging greetings, Wei Zhu came out to greet them.

"Your Highness, His Majesty requests your presence."

When Guarjia led her people inside, they saw Yinreng holding Hongxi, sitting next to the dragon throne, while Kangxi was reclining on the throne. All three generations of the family were looking at the palace maids who were being forced to kneel on the ground with unfriendly expressions.

In just a short while, the palace maid showed signs of having been severely tortured.

“Mother.” Hongxi happily reached out to Guarjia, who quickly took the child into her arms and then sat down next to Yinreng.

"How is Grandmother Empress Dowager doing?" Kangxi asked Guarjia.

“Grandma Ukuma hasn’t woken up yet, but the imperial physician says her pulse is still relatively normal.”

"Hmph," Kangxi said unhappily, "Since their pulses are all normal, why haven't they woken up yet? They're all a bunch of useless trash."

Lady Guarjia dared not say more, but simply held Hongxi and looked at the palace maid kneeling on the ground.

On the other side of Kangxi sat Consort Yi, who was also rubbing her temples with a tired expression.

Seeing that everyone had fallen silent, Liang Jiugong bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I just interrogated this palace maid. She only said that she found the silver notes and hid them. She won't say anything else."

"Hmph, Liang Jiugong, you're getting better and better at getting things done."

Liang Jiugong hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, "Your Majesty, spare my life! This servant will take him away immediately to continue the interrogation."

Check if there have been any recent changes in her family members, or if anything has happened to them.

For a palace maid of this age to commit such a rebellious act, it must either be to help her family or she must have encountered some trouble that someone has been able to use against her.

Yinreng put down his teacup, looked at Liang Jiugong who hadn't yet left, and asked, "Does she have any family?"

Liang Jiugong immediately replied, "Your Highness, all palace maids have records of their circumstances when they enter the palace. According to the records, she had no family when she entered the palace and was all alone."

[To be all alone at this age and still do this kind of thing, it seems unlikely that it's for money. Could there be another reason? Wait a minute.]

Hongxi's mind raced. [Why is she without family? Where did they all go? Judging by this palace maid's age, she should have been born in the Ming Dynasty. Could it be related to the anti-Qing restoration movement?]

Yinreng pondered it for a while and felt that there was some truth to it.

"Was Liang Jiugong born in the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty?"

Upon hearing this, the expressionless old palace maid suddenly stiffened, abruptly looking up at Yinreng, as if she hadn't expected him to ask such a question.

Her reaction naturally did not escape the notice of Kangxi and others who had been observing her.

Kangxi grabbed the inkstone beside him and threw it at the old palace maid. "Yes, you are not much younger than the Empress Dowager, so you must have been born in the Ming Dynasty. Your family members probably all died during the dynastic change. That's why you are still selling palace information at your age. You probably can't stand seeing the Qing Dynasty doing even the slightest bit well."

As Kangxi's words fell to the ground, the palace maid's body trembled even more.

In the end, he collapsed to the ground as if he had gone mad, pointing at Kangxi and cursing loudly.

"Yes, I was born in the Ming Dynasty. I was born into an official family and lived a life of luxury from a young age. But because you Tartars entered the pass, my father refused to submit to the Qing Dynasty, which is why you caused my family to be destroyed."

She cried her heart out.

The time of dynastic change is also a time of chaos. When her family was raided, she was buying rouge on the street. When she returned, she found a group of soldiers surrounding her house.

Then he saw his family members being dragged out and beheaded. There was almost no time for interrogation before they were beheaded on the spot.