The Cining Palace was surrounded by three layers of guards inside and outside, the courtyard was full of people, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.
Wei Shaohui and the Wuyi Guards also came and searched every corner of the room.
The Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court interrogated all the palace maids in the Cining Palace separately and brought them to court one by one.
The imperial doctors examined the unconscious patient over and over again, working together to identify the poison.
The emperor is personally in charge of the scene and is determined to find out the truth.
The eldest prince got the news after class, it was already too late. He hurried over sweating profusely. No one dared to stop him, so he ran straight in.
"Are Father, Grandmother, and Commander Du all right?"
The Imperial Grandmother has always loved him, and the relationship between the two is very good. Du Shuai is his great uncle, and he grew up listening to stories about Du Shuai and is full of admiration for him.
Something suddenly happened to these two people, and he was extremely anxious.
As he was rushing inside, Concubine Xi hugged him and said, "My son, this place is too chaotic and not very safe. Your Majesty, I will take my son back to take care of him."
She was afraid that others didn't know that the eldest prince was born to her, so she deliberately emphasized, "My son, come back to the palace with me."
The eldest prince didn't want to go with her because he hadn't met the Empress Dowager yet.
The emperor's cold voice sounded, "The eldest prince stay."
Concubine Xi's expression changed several times. "Your Majesty, this is not good, right? We haven't found out who poisoned the emperor yet. The emperor is the only child of the royal family, and there can't be any mistakes."
The emperor ignored her and looked at his son. "You are a prince. You are destined to enjoy wealth and glory from birth, but you also have to bear corresponding responsibilities. The higher you stand, the more you have to bear."
"It would be good for you to see more of the world. Stay and see more."
A princess can be pampered, but a prince cannot. Only by experiencing the world and the complexity of human nature can he grow faster.
If one wants to inherit the throne, both character and means are essential.
The eldest prince always follows his father's lead. "Yes, father."
Concubine Xi was humiliated by the father and son and felt unhappy. "Your Majesty, don't you worry about our prince at all? If that cruel poisoner sets his sights on our prince, the consequences will be disastrous."
The emperor never looked at her straight in the eye, nor paid any attention to her. The purpose of the harem was only to give birth to children.
There is honor in having children, but don't expect anything else.
"My dear, do you want to stay here? Or do you want to go back to the palace?"
The eldest prince spoke without hesitation, "You taught me that the royal family enjoys the support of the people, so naturally we must also bear the responsibility of protecting the people. I want to be a responsible prince. I will not leave. I want to stay and accompany my grandmother and father."
There was a hint of warmth in the emperor's eyes, "Very good, this is the prince of our Great Qi."
"Go and follow Princess Qingping."
"Yes." The eldest prince had grown into a young boy. He had grown taller and was only a head shorter than Mu Wanqing when standing next to her.
Mu Wanqing touched his head.
When Concubine Xi saw this scene, she felt unwilling, wronged and angry.
She is the biological mother of the eldest prince, why should other women take advantage of her? Why?
"Your Majesty, I..."
The emperor frowned slightly, "All concubines, please step down. Queen, you must manage the harem and prevent any chaos."
"Yes, Your Majesty." The Queen bowed and left with all the concubines.
Concubine Xi didn't want to leave and wanted to use her child as a trump card. Unfortunately, the emperor's heart was as hard as iron. The child grew up with his father and naturally stood on his side.
After an unknown amount of time, an imperial physician came over in a hurry and said, "Your Majesty, there is something wrong with this."
Everyone looked over, and the emperor frowned slightly, "Snake Oil?"
Mu Wanqing took a look at it. The Tiger Balm was invented by her. It sold quite well and everyone got one.
The imperial physician looked nervous and apprehensive. "Yes, a kind of Wuchen poison was added to it. It is a secret medicine from the previous imperial palace. If you are poisoned, you will fall into a coma. If you can't find an antidote within three days, then..."
He didn't finish his words, but everyone understood.
The emperor took a deep breath and asked, "Where did this balm come from?"
The maid in the Queen Mother's palace reported carefully, "Commander Du brought him in. He was feeling a little unwell just now, and the Queen Mother saw him and rubbed some on his temples."
Everyone present changed their expression, and the imperial physician quickly asked the palace maids to help the patient clean his body and change his clothes, inside and out.
The Dali Temple Minister asked loudly, "Where are General Du's followers?"
Soon, the attendant was pushed forward and honestly said, "This Tiger Balm is indeed my master's. He often feels dizzy and has to carry it with him wherever he goes."
The Dali Temple official carefully checked the Tiger Balm, which was a newly opened box. "How could this personal belonging be tainted with poison? Did you take care of all this?"
The attendant was trembling with fear, "No, no, no, it's Madam."
Mu Wanqing narrowed her eyes slightly, feeling weird.
The Dali Temple Minister bowed to the emperor and requested that Madam Du be allowed to enter the palace for investigation.
The emperor agreed and said, "Immediately summon Madam Du Shuai to the palace."
After returning to Beijing, Mrs. Du never showed up in the palace, nor did she enter the palace to attend palace banquets. Many people had never seen her.
When she came in, everyone couldn't help but take a second look.
She is a delicate and beautiful woman with a graceful figure and a temperament that makes people pity her. It turns out that Du Shuai likes this type of woman.
Mrs. Du had heard on the way that her husband was in trouble. As soon as she came in, she ran straight to the couch, "Husband, husband, wake up quickly, don't scare me."
She was frightened, her eyes were red, and tears as big as beans rolled down her cheeks. I felt pity for her when I saw such a beautiful woman crying.
She only had her husband in her eyes and didn't care about etiquette at all.
The only sound in the room was her heartbroken crying, which was too painful to listen to.
Mu Wanqing looked at her steadily, observing coldly.
She was truly awake, more gentle and vulnerable than ever.
In the past she had the bearing of a lady of a wealthy family, but now she looks more like a delicate little woman.
The queen stepped forward and persuaded him, "Madam, please don't cry. Marshal Du will be blessed by heaven and will be fine. The imperial doctors will definitely cure him."
Mrs. Du stared at her blankly, tears in her eyes, "Really?"
The queen hesitated, "Really."
Mrs. Du didn't know whether there was a letter or not. Her eyes were dull and she muttered to herself, "How could this happen? How could my husband be poisoned in the palace?"
The Dali Temple Minister was wearing gloves and holding a tray with a box of Tiger Balm in it. "Mrs. Du, did you prepare these things?"
Madam Du nodded dumbly, "Yes, I take care of all these trivial matters, but what does this have to do with my husband being poisoned?"
The Dali Temple Minister stared at her expression closely and said, "This balm is poisonous."
Mrs. Du was shocked. "What? How is this possible?"
She seemed to be greatly stimulated, angry and anxious, and suddenly pointed her finger at Mu Wanqing, "It's you, Mu Wanqing, you did it."
The whole audience was in an uproar, and everyone stared at Mu Wanqing. No way? I heard that the two families had a very good relationship and exchanged gifts during festivals.
Mu Wanqing also has a special relationship with Du Shaoxuan, so she has no reason to harm Du Shuai and the Queen Mother.
Mu Wanqing was not surprised at all. Instead, she felt a sense of relief that the boot had finally landed.
"Me? Say it again."
Mrs. Du's eyes were red, and she angrily accused, "This Tiger Balm was produced by your family, and you also sent it in. Who else could it be except you?"
She was so angry that she was shaking all over and her face was red. "My husband is so good to you, why do you want to hurt him? Why?"
The sharp accusations made everyone look at Mu Wanqing with a strange look in their eyes.
Mu Wanqing looked indifferent. She asked the palace maid for a pair of gloves, then reached out to the Dali Temple Minister for the Tiger Balm to take a closer look.
She tore off the sachet again, took out a palm-sized magnifying glass from it, and shone it on the Tiger Balm box.
Her behavior was very strange, and the emperor asked, "Princess Qingping, what are you looking at?"
Mu Wanqing put down the thing in her hand and frowned slightly, as if she had seen something incredible. "This is not the panacea I sent to Marshal Du's mansion."
Mrs. Du was furious. How dare she lie with her eyes closed? How despicable and shameless. "Nonsense, you are the only one selling the panacea!"
Mu Wanqing was not affected at all, and her expression was extremely calm. "Have you ever purchased Tiger Balm in your house?"
Mrs. Du's mind was filled with anger. "What do you mean? Huh? Are you trying to shirk responsibility?"
Mu Wanqing looked impatient, "Let me ask you one last time, has the Du family ever paid for Tiger Balm?"
Madam Du didn't want to pay attention, so the emperor shouted coldly, "Answer her."
He was really worried about Mrs. Du's IQ, fortunately his cousin was not like her.
Mrs. Du then answered reluctantly, "No, you always send a big box, which I can't use up at all."
Mu Wanqing looked at her deeply, with a complicated and strange expression, "This is not what I sent to the Du Mansion."
Madam Du was furious. "Mu Wanqing, how dare you talk nonsense in front of the emperor? Why on earth did you want to harm my husband? How did he offend you? Obviously, he has been very kind to you, how dare you repay kindness with hatred?"
She was too noisy, disrupting Mu Wanqing's train of thought. "Shut up."
Madam Du was as if she was slapped in the face. "Mu Wanqing, hello, that's great. My son is not in the capital, so you can bully us? Dream on. The emperor will make the decision for us."
Mu Wanqing ignored him and looked at the emperor, "Do you have any panacea?"
The emperor looked at his personal eunuch, who immediately pulled out a box of Tiger Balm from his bosom.
Mu Wanqing handed over the magnifying glass and pointed to a location, "Your Majesty, look here."
The emperor took a magnifying glass and easily found the content at that location, "102, what does this mean?
Mu Wanqing pursed her lips and said, "It's the product number."
The emperor had never noticed this before. "Each box has a number on it? This is too detailed."
Mu Wanqing explained softly, "No, only the things I sent out have numbers. Yours starts with 1, and Du Shuai's is 3."
The emperor had learned Arabic numerals, so he knew that 1 was the largest, so this was a sign of respect for him. "What about 2?"
"For my own use." Mu Wanqing took out everything in the sachet, including candies, gold leaves, small silver coins, a small jade seal, and a box of Tiger Balm.
She brought the Tiger Balm to the emperor, and the emperor used a magnifying glass to find the mark in the dark, 206.
The emperor motioned to several officials who were investigating the case to come over and take a look. They all looked at it for a long time with complicated expressions. They were all smart people and had thought of many things.
The emperor ordered, "Go outside the palace and buy a few boxes of Tiger Balm."
Mu Wanqing said calmly, "Why bother? Who has the panacea?"
"I have it." The Minister of Justice took out a box of Tiger Balm without hesitation. This stuff can cool and refresh the mind, and can isolate odors. It is a necessity for people who often handle cases.
Each member of the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple received a copy.
"I have one too." The Dali Temple Minister also took it out.
The chief eunuch also took the initiative to say, "I have it in my room."
"Bring them all here. Oh, and I still need to leave the palace to go to the Du family and get a few more boxes of Tiger Balm as evidence." Mu Wanqing had a calm demeanor, as if a mountain had collapsed before her. "Your Majesty, the things you sent out should be of good quality, right?"
The emperor understood and said, "Go and get the file records."
The items arrived, and Mu Wanqing checked them in front of everyone, "Look, these two boxes are missing."
One box was for the Minister of Justice. "This was prepared by my wife. I asked the servants to buy it from the store."
One box is for the Dali Temple official. "I bought it in the store."
The box that the eunuch had was numbered, starting with 1. "This is a reward from the emperor to me."
This Tiger Balm is good stuff, the smell is not strong, it has a light minty smell, very comfortable to smell.
Mu Wanqing said calmly, "Come, let's take another look at this box of poisoned Tiger Balm. Is there a number on it?"
Everyone looked over with different expressions.
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