Chapter 450 Wind Chimes
The children only whimpered a few times, but with the wet nurse's gentle comfort and the warm milk, they quickly fell into a deep sleep again, breathing evenly and with normal body temperature, as if the little episode was just a normal nighttime awakening.
But Jiang Huan couldn't sleep at all, her mind racing with thoughts.
This is wrong; it's wrong in a hundred percent of all aspects.
That old hag, the Empress Dowager, has a heart blacker than ink, and her methods are both insidious and vicious.
Huo Lin's harsh rebuttal regarding the witchcraft incident must have terrified her, but it also fueled her hatred.
If she fails once, she will never give up easily; she may have some more hidden and disgusting tricks up her sleeve.
No, we have to do something.
We need to thoroughly investigate every possible risk inside and outside Weiyang Palace, in every nook and cranny.
Once the thought arose, it grew wildly in her heart like weeds.
As dawn broke, Jiang Huan summoned her palace maid.
"Go and invite Consort Hui over. Tell her I want to have a word with her."
He Ling arrived quickly, her face still showing signs of sleepiness. She rubbed her eyes as she walked into the inner hall, yawning as she did so.
"Your Majesty, why are you awake so early?"
Jiang Huan pulled her aside and quickly recounted the children's unusual behavior last night and her own doubts.
"I have a bad feeling about this. The Empress Dowager definitely has another trick up her sleeve. Could we have the system do a full screening of Weiyang Palace to see if there's anything abnormal or harmful to infants?"
Upon hearing this, He Ling was wide awake and her expression turned serious. She immediately said, "System, perform a full scan of the inner palace of Weiyang Palace and its surrounding environment."
"Command received, initiating full-range environmental scan... Scanning in progress... Beep beep... Warning!"
"A special low-frequency sound wave source has been discovered, continuously emitting abnormal frequency bands."
"Source location: Gilded openwork wind chimes hanging from the eaves of the main hall and the window lattices of the warm pavilion, a total of three."
"Analysis: The vibration frequency of sound waves in this frequency band is unique and almost imperceptible to adults, but it can cause continuous interference and stimulation to infants and young children, leading to irritability, poor sleep quality, and in severe cases, it may affect auditory development and the stability of the nervous system, or even induce death."
Upon hearing this, He Ling's face turned red with anger, and her fists clenched tightly.
"That's so insidious, so disgusting! This is way too simplistic for a palace drama! Using wind chimes to harm people, how could she even think of that!"
A cold glint flashed in Jiang Huan's eyes. Using seemingly harmless everyday objects to make a move was indeed clever.
If it weren't for He Ling's cheat code, she wouldn't have been able to hear that sound wave on her own.
With Chen'er and Yue'er being bombarded with these horrific sounds every day, it's hard to say whether they'll even be able to grow up in the future.
Okay, very good, she'll remember this debt!
Jiang Huan immediately ordered the palace servants to remove all the wind chimes inside and outside Weiyang Palace.
Around noon, Huo Lin returned after handling official business. As soon as he stepped into Weiyang Palace, he felt that something was different.
I stopped and looked around, and suddenly realized that all the wind chimes that used to tinkle in the wind were gone.
He stepped into the inner hall and casually asked, "When I came in just now, I saw that the wind chimes had all been taken down. Why did you suddenly think of taking them down?"
Jiang Huan had already prepared her explanation, and upon hearing this, she said, "I was just about to tell you that I've been feeling that the children haven't been sleeping well these past few days, especially when it's windy."
“The wind was quite strong last night. I heard the wind chimes ringing rather urgently, and the children started whimpering a few times. Listening to the sound myself, I also felt a bit irritable, so I had someone take the wind chimes down first.”
Upon hearing this, Huo Lin looked at his daughter carefully and noticed that she did indeed seem less energetic than usual.
[A child's ears are delicate; continuous background noise is indeed inappropriate.]
It's better to believe it exists than not; it's good to take it anyway.
[She's so thoughtful; I'm a terrible father.]
He walked to Jiang Huan's side, reached out and took his daughter. The little one squirmed in his arms and whimpered twice.
Huo Lin gently patted her back and said to Jiang Huan, "Yes, I will pay more attention in the future."
That night.
The disturbing sound waves disappeared, and the two children slept soundly without crying for no reason.
Jiang Huan leaned on Huo Lin's shoulder, looking at the children's peaceful sleeping faces, and went over the words she had prepared that morning in her mind once again.
Huo Lin must not know about the system's existence, but he must be informed of the danger posed by the wind chimes, so that he will notice the Empress Dowager's unusual behavior.
She thought for a moment, then said seemingly unintentionally, "I originally collected the wind chimes just for psychological comfort, but I didn't expect them to actually work. I always hear musicians talking about how musical notes can have a heart-touching effect, making people happy or disturbing. I didn't believe it before, but now I have to believe it."
"However, this incident also gave me some inspiration. If used correctly, the sound of wind chimes can be a good thing for prenatal education. You see, if you find a capable person and find the right angle of the eaves, the wind chimes might produce a calm and pleasant rhythm."
"Your Majesty, are there such people in our palace?"
"A person skilled in music? Let me think about it."
Huo Lin pondered for a moment, gazing at the intricate patterns on the tent ceiling. Perhaps it was Jiang Huan's gentle persuasion that had an effect, for a fragment of memory suddenly flashed through his mind.
Wait, I remember now!
[It must have been many years ago, when I was still a prince.]
At that time, the Empress Dowager was still the Empress, and she had a very favored palace maid by her side. Not only was she exceptionally beautiful, but more importantly, she was proficient in music and could mix incense beautifully.
At all palace banquets, she was often the one to play music, and the incense she blended was highly praised by the late emperor.
However, the side hall where the palace maid lived suddenly caught fire, and the maid was burned beyond recognition. The matter was eventually settled by saying that the maid had accidentally knocked over a candlestick, and the case was dropped.
A terrifying thought crossed his mind, and Huo Lin's eyes suddenly sharpened like knives.
He gently patted Jiang Huan's back: "You stay with the child. I need to confirm something, but the situation is unclear right now. I'm afraid that if I tell you rashly, you will be in danger. Can you wait until I find out the truth...?"
Before Huo Lin could finish speaking, Jiang Huan nodded, her tone soft but her eyes bright and resolute: "I understand, go quickly."
She truly understood, not only that she heard his innermost thoughts, but also that he was genuinely sincere.
Back in the imperial study, Huo Lin immediately called out in a deep voice, "Shadow One!"
A dark figure appeared like a ghost and knelt silently before him.
"Go to the Imperial Hospital and bring me all the medical records from the early years of the Yuanxi reign to the twentieth year of the Yuanxi reign, concerning the pregnancies of the concubines, the births of princes and princesses, and their deaths. Focus on the records related to the Empress Dowager's palace expenses and banquets. If there are any signs of alteration or concealment, find a way to restore them for me!"
"Yes." Yingyi accepted the order and vanished instantly.
Several hours later, Yingyi brought back several scrolls of old files with yellowed paper and torn edges.
Huo Lin personally read through it, and his expression grew increasingly grim with each reading.
"In the fifth year of Yuanxi, Consort Hua was three months pregnant. After attending a flower-viewing banquet in the Empress's palace, she bled the next day and miscarried."
"In the eighth year of Yuanxi, Consort An gave birth to a prince. He was not yet full-term, was weak, and his cries were faint. It was found that she often accompanied the Empress to worship Buddha during her pregnancy."
...
Each and every incident coincided with the time when the Empress Dowager was changing spices and holding banquets in her palace.
The veins on the back of Huo Lin's hand, which was gripping the file, bulged, and his eyes were filled with raging anger.
From such an early stage, the Empress Dowager was using these insidious methods to harm the imperial heirs.
The late emperor had few children, and how many of them were due to her?
But...why?
She was already the Empress at that time, the head of the inner palace, and held an extremely prestigious position.
After the late emperor passed away, she naturally became the empress dowager, enjoying the highest level of wealth and honor among all women in the world.
Even if the children of those concubines were not her own, she could still win them over, raise them under her wing, and help them achieve their goals.
Why go to such lengths and take such great risks to commit such a potentially disastrous act?
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