Chapter 52: Seeing the Clues

Song Zhao sent the pastries to Yonghe Palace overnight.

When she was outside the palace gate, she vaguely heard the sound of opera singing coming from inside the palace.

The palace servant led her all the way to the outside of the concubine's bedroom, and the sound of the opera became clearer and clearer:

"The young man entered the concubine's room and wanted that vicious woman to go away without a conscience. He was full of hatred and resentment, and he chilled the wife's feelings. He made her bow down to the hall and kowtow eighteen times, so that she would know the difference between superiors and subordinates..."

Yingxiang, who was standing outside the door, glanced at Song Zhao and said in a cold tone without even greeting her:

"The Empress Chen is listening to the opera inside. Please wait at the door for a while."

Song Zhao smiled and nodded, "Thank you, aunt."

The singer in the room was singing the Henan opera "The Hairpin Embroiderer".

This opera is not presentable on stage. It tells the story of a nobleman who favors his concubine over his wife, leading to misfortune for his family.

The singer was inside, but the lyrics were meant for Song Zhao.

Song Zhao waited outside the door for a full hour without getting impatient.

After the singer left, the lazy voice of the Concubine Chen was heard from the palace.

"Bring someone in."

When Song Zhao entered, the Concubine Chen was sitting cross-legged on a warm seat, flipping through a storybook leisurely without even glancing at her.

Song Zhao knelt down and bowed, "Your concubine greets Her Majesty the Concubine."

The Concubine Chen did not look up or respond, and let Song Zhao be polite.

Song Zhao thought for a moment, silently placed the food box on the small warm seat table, and then knelt in front of the concubine and kowtowed:

"I pay my respects to Her Majesty the Concubine Chen. May Her Majesty be blessed with good health and good health."

The Concubine Chen sneered and then closed the book.

She opened the food box with her slender white fingers and took out a piece of brown sugar gardenia cake that had just been taken out of the drawer. After looking at it for a while, she sneered and said:

"Your craftsmanship is really good. The process of making pastries is complicated, but you can make them so well. It shows that when you serve the emperor on weekdays, you also make some exquisite and delicious food for him, right?"

Song Zhao hurriedly said, "I was reckless for a moment, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

"You are the emperor's concubine. How can you offend me by bringing food to the emperor?"

The concubine put the cake into her mouth, chewed it carefully with her white teeth.

"Although the cakes are delicious, the emperor has never liked desserts. You know, sometimes good intentions lead to bad results. It's better not to do anything at all."

Song Zhao listened to the opera outside the door for an hour. How could she not understand what Concubine Chen wanted to say to her?

What she meant was to tell Song Zhao,

She could let Song Zhao sleep with her, but she would never allow Song Zhao to take away even a bit of Xiao Jingheng's favor.

If Song Zhao did something inappropriate and displeased her, she would beat her like the wife of the official in the lyrics, so that her soul would be torn to pieces and she would never be able to be reincarnated.

Song Zhao said: "Today, I was confused and offended the emperor, violating his taboo. The Empress Chen is teaching me that I must abide by my duties in the future, do less and make fewer mistakes, and do nothing to avoid mistakes."

The Concubine looked at her with a smile and nodded slightly, saying, "This is also for your own good. It's best if you are sensible. This cake is accepted by this palace. It's late at night and the dew is heavy. Go back and rest early."

The Concubine Chen didn't like any woman who competed with her for favor, but Song Zhao was still under her control, and she did need a chess piece to check and balance the Queen, so she would not bother with Song Zhao about this matter for the time being. 桏右葱鹰_%弧茄芒果This dessert was something she always ate when she was at home, and it was made by her mother herself.

Later, my father was promoted and our family moved to Sichuan and Shaanxi. My mother could no longer often ask people to send things to the palace.

The arrogance of Concubine Chen was mostly caused by the pampering she received from her family when she was at home.

Thinking of the kindness of her family, she unconsciously ate two more pieces of cake.

*

In recent days, Liu Changzai, who entered the palace with Song Zhao and others, always went to Yonghe Palace.

She tried to curry favor with Concubine Chen in order to gain someone to rely on in the harem.

But the Concubine Chen looked at her because she had no family background and was not very pretty, so she was always unwilling to pay attention to her.

However, Liu Changzai was like a dog-skin plaster, serving diligently by the side every day, and Chen Fei just treated her like a servant and ordered her around.

When Liu Changzai was serving the Concubine Chen that day, she saw that she wanted to eat a raw and cold seafood dish for lunch, so she advised:

"I remember that these two days are your Majesty's small days, so you should avoid eating raw or cold food."

The Concubine Chen had already picked up a piece of shellfish with her chopsticks, but after hearing these words, she was dazed for a moment and turned to Yingxiang and asked:

"How many days late?"

Yingxiang said: "The Queen's menstruation should have come three days ago, and now..."

She paused, her dark eyes turned, and joy immediately spread across her brows.

"Your Majesty rarely has delayed her period, and these days I've noticed that you're often listless and sleepy... Isn't this exactly the same symptom as when you first got pregnant?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Changzai immediately flattered her, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! If you are really pregnant again, it would be a great joy!"

The Concubine Chen dreamed of being pregnant day and night. Even if she just retched a few times, she would rush to call the imperial physician to check her out.

She has basically experienced all the symptoms of early pregnancy this time, so how can she sit still?

He immediately asked Yingxiang to invite a master doctor who was worth a fortune in the palace to diagnose her.

In the end, I was full of joy, but it was all in vain.

The imperial physician said, "From the pulse, it seems that the Majesty is not pregnant... Instead, there are signs of menstrual blood loss. I dare to speculate that the Majesty seems to have been drugged..."

"What did you say?" The joy on Concubine Chen's face suddenly disappeared. She slapped the table hard, causing her palms to go numb. "Drug? Who in this palace is tired of living and dares to drug me?"

The Concubine Chen called the eunuch in her palace who was in charge of tasting meals, and checked everything she had eaten and drunk in recent days.

The problem was eventually found in the brown sugar gardenia cake.

The concubine was furious and said, "Is Song Zhao tired of living? Yingxiang, report this to the emperor immediately!"

Yingxiang received the order and hurried to go, but Liu Changzai stopped her.

"Don't worry, madam. I feel like this is a little weird."

"What do you want to say?"

"Who would poison someone so blatantly? And Concubine Song wants to be close to the Empress. If she does something like this, she will be exposed immediately. What good will it do her?"

The concubine thought for a moment and said to the eunuch who was tasting the food, "Can you explain clearly what is wrong with this cake?"

"My queen, there are two extra ingredients in this brown sugar gardenia cake, namely 'Qionghua honey' and 'toad licorice'. The problem lies with the 'toad licorice'. This ingredient and brown sugar are incompatible and cannot be taken together."

Concubine Chen didn't know what 'Toad Licorice' was, but Concubine Yun was the only one in the entire harem who had 'Jeonghua Honey'. I heard that she gave some to Song Zhao a few days ago.

She sorted out her thoughts silently and soon realized:

I'm afraid Concubine Yun wanted to plot against Song Zhao and accuse Song Zhao of faking pregnancy to win favor.

Song Zhao thought that magnolia honey was a good thing, so he added it when making brown sugar gardenia cakes, and that's how she accidentally ate it.

The Concubine frowned, and after a brief silence, she said to Liu Changzai:

"Just pretend you know nothing about what happened today. If you say anything you shouldn't, be careful with your tongue."

Liu Changzai quickly agreed and sent her away. Then the Concubine Chen's face darkened again and she said to Yingxiang:

"Go to Changchun Palace and call that idiot Concubine Yun over to me."